USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Lives of the governors of New Plymouth, and Massachusetts bay; from the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620, to the union of the two colonies in 1692 > Part 21
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" And of the people who came over with us, from the time of their setting sail from England, in April. 1630, until December following, there died, by estima- tion, about two hundred at the least-so low hath the Lord brought us! Well, yet they who survived, were not discouraged, but bearing God's corrections with hu-
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mility and trusting in his mercies, and considering how, after a great ebb, He had raised our neighbors at Ply- mouth, we began again, in December, to consult about a fit place to build a town upon, leaving all thoughts of a fort, because upon any invasion we were necessarily to lose our houses when we should retire thereunto; so after divers meetings at Boston, Rocksbury and Water- town, on the 28th of December, we grew to this resolution to bind all the Assistants ( Mr. Endecott and Mr. Sharpe excepted, which last purposeth to return by the next ships into England,) to build houses at a place, a mile. east from Watertown, near Charles river, the next spring, and to winter there the next year, that-so, by our exam- ples, and by removing the ordnance and munitions thither, and such as shall come to us hereafter to their advan- tage be compelled so to do ; and so, if God would, a for- tified town might there grow up, the place fitting rea- sonably well thereto."*
In the same letter to the Countess of Lincoln, Mr. Dudley gave the following advice to those who were hoping to better their worldly condition by emigration. It reminds us of similar judicious counsels given six years before by Governor Winslow :
" But now having some leisure to discourse of the motives for other men coming to this place, or their ab- staining from it, after my brief manner I say this-that if any come lither to plant for worldly ends that can live well at home, he commits an error of which he will soon repent him. But if for spiritual, and that no par- ticular obstacle hinder his removal, he may find here
* The whole of this letter may be found in Coll. N. Il. Hist. Soc , iv. 221- 210; and in Force's Historical Tracts, vol. 2, No. 4.
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what may well content him, viz : materials to build. fuel to burn, ground to plant, seas and rivers to fish in. a pure air to breath in, good water to drink till wine and beer can be made, which, together with the cows, hoy- and goats brought hither already, may suffice for food. for as for fowl and venison, they are dainties here as well as in England. For clothes and bedding, they must bring them with them till time and industry produce them here. In a word, we yet enjoy little to be envied. but endure much to be pitied in the sickness and mor- tality of our people. And I do the more willingly use this open and plain dealing, lest other men should fall short of their expectations when they come hither, as we to our great prejudice did, by means of letters sent us from hence into England, wherein honest men, out of a desire to draw over others to them, wrote somewhat hyperbolically of many things here. If any godly men. out of religious ends, will come over to help us in the good work we are about, I think they cannot dispose of themselves nor of their estates more to God's glory and the furtherance of their own reckoning, but they must not be of the poorer sort yet for divers years. For we have found by experience that they have hindered, not furthered the work-and for profane and debauched per- sons, their oversight in coming hither is wondered at. where they shall find nothing to content them. If there be any imbued with grace, and furnished with means to feed themselves and theirs for eighteen months, and to build and plant, let them come into our Macedonia and help us, and not spend themselves and their estates in a less profitable employment : for others, I conceive they are not yet fitted for this business."
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Mr. Dudley, as has already been stated, was in favor of making Newtown, now Cambridge, the metropolis of the colony; and after consultation, Governor Winthrop, and the assistants, agreed to settle there, and streets and squares, and market places, were duly surveyed and laid out. In the spring of 1631, Mr. Dudley and others commenced building. Governor Winthrop had set up the frame of a house, but soon after changed his mind, and removed it to Boston. Mr. Dudley finished his house, and moved into .it with his family. The first houses were rude structures, the roofs covered with thatch, the fire-places generally made of rough stones, and the chimneys of boards, plastered with clay. The settlers were publicly enjoined to avoid all superfluous expense, in order that their money might be reserved for any un- forescen necessities. Mr. Dudley having finished his house with a little more regard to domestic comfort, exposed himself to public censure. At a meeting of the governor and assistants, he was told, that "he did not well to bestow such cost about wainscoting and adorning his house, in the beginning of a plantation, both in regard to the expense, and the example." Dudley's answer was, that it was for the warmth of his house, and the charge was little, " being but clapboards nailed to the wall in the form of wainscot."
The removal of Winthrop to Boston, in violation of his first understanding with Dudley, Bradstreet and others, was a source of mutual uneasiness ; and the mis- understanding, on that and other matters, led Dudley, in April, 1632, to resign his offices of deputy governor and assistant of the colony. He even meditated for a time an abandonment of the colony, and a return to
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England. But the ministers and the magistrates saw the evil of this dispute between the two foremost men of the plantation, and after repeated and earnest meeting -. succeeded in bringing about a reconciliation. Dudles". resignation was adjudged by the court of assistants to in a nullity, and he again entered upon the duties of his sta- tion .* "Ever after (says Winthrop) they kept peace and good correspondency together in love and friendship."
Mr. Wilson, the first minister, having left Boston. in March, 1631, on a visit to England, the religious ser- vices of the church were performed alternately by Gor- ernor Winthrop, the deputy-governor Dudley, and Mr. Nowell, the ruling elder, until November of that year. when Mr. John Eliot arrived, and preached with them until his settlement at Roxbury. Hubbard says these men, in the absence of their pastor, accepted the charge. "knowing well that the princes of Judah, in King He- zekiah's reign, were appointed to teach the people out · of the law of God."
In 1632, there being frequent alarms from the In- dians, a palisade was commenced about Newtown. Mr. · Dudley " impaled above a thousand acres," and the court of assistants ordered a tax of £60 to be raised for the purpose of enclosing Newtown with the palisade. Each town made choice of two men to advise with the gov- ernor about raising a public stock.
In 1634, at the meeting of the general court in Mar, Mr. Dudley was chosen governor. This was the begin- ning of a new era in the history of the colony. It was the first legislature in which the representative principle was recognized. Three delegates from each of the * Savage's Winthrop, i. 72-78, 82-80.
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towns were in attendance --- the session was continued during three days -- and Winthrop remarks, as if glad to escape from doubt, that " all things were carried very peaceably, notwithstanding that some of the assistants were questioned by the freemen for some errors in govern- ment," &c. The powers of the general court were now defined, the trial by jury was ordained, and orders were made regulating the future elections of the representa- tive body. It was decided that there should be four general courts every year, the whole body of freemen hereafter assembling only at the court of election .; the other courts to be held by the deputies. Each town was authorized to choose two or three deputies to represent them in the general court. This was the second house of representatives, in the American colonies.
The origin of the representative body, is an impor- tant event in our history, well worth a more deliberate scrutiny than has been freely bestowed upon matters of more trifling interest. Hutchinson says, it seems to have been agreed upon or fallen into by a general consent of the towns, and that it was a thing of necessity. Savage conjectures that the " assistants were become weary of the exercise of all the powers of government, and desired others to participate in the responsibility."* But a consid- eration of the tendencies of the age may well lead to the conclusion, that it was not so much that the assistants were tired of governing, as that an ardent desire existed and was increasing among the people for a more efficient share in the responsibility of government-a desire which has been conspicuous among their descendants. The towns were allowed two or three deputies each, and it
* Savage's Winthrop, i. 123.
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appears that they accepted the grant with eagerness, ar ..? almost invariably chose the larger number. The tru ... origin, after all, may be traced, perhaps, to the commit- tees of two from each town, chosen in 1632, to agree upon the method of providing a public stock. The mat- ter of taxation, has always been a topic of interest with the people, as connected with representation ; and the ex - penses of the proposed fortification of Newtown, prob :- bly, had its effect-in other words, Governor Dudley's old ditch around the college, the remains of which were visible not many years since, may have been the im- mediate cause of the establishment of the first house of representatives in New England !
The general court at this session also established a military commission, vested with the most unlimited au- thority. At the head of this commission Governor Dud- ley was placed, having Winthrop, Humphrey, Haynes. Endecott, Coddington, Pynchon, Nowell, Bellingham and Bradstreet for his associates. They were deputed, in the words of the record,* "to dispose of all military affairs whatsoever ; shall have full power and authority to ser all former laws concerning all military men and munitions executed; and also shall have full power to ordain or remove all military officers, and to make and tender to them an oath suitable to their places ; to dispose of all companies, to make orders for them, and to make and tender to them a suitable oath, and to see that strict dis- cipline and trainings be observed, and to command them forth upon any occasion they think meet ; to make either offensive or defensive war; as also to do whatsoever may be further behooveful for the good of this plantation
* I Col. Records, p. 139.
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in case of any war that may befal us; and also that the aforesaid commissioners, or a major part of them, shall have power to imprison or confine any that they shall judge to be enemies to the commonwealth ; and such as will not come under command or restraint, as they shall be required, it shall be lawful for the said com- missioners to put such persons to death." This was a formidable power to be intrusted to any man, or body of men, but it seems never to have been exerted to the injury or discontent of the people.
In the following year, Governor Dudley was super- seded by John Haynes, afterwards Governor of Connec- ticut. He was chosen assistant in 1635, and in the fol- lowing year, when Sir Henry Vane was governor. For the years 1637, 8, and 9, he was deputy governor. At a general court in 1636, it was ordered that a certain number of the magistrates be chosen for life-and Gov- ernors Winthrop and Dudley were raised to this new dignity. " Only three years (says Savage,) did this council for life subsist." The object of the change was to tempt over some of the nobility and other leading men of England, who were ambitious of titles, by assuring them of a similar tenure of power in this new country. It was a weak device, which met no favor among the people, and was soon abandoned.
In 1636, Anne Hutchinson, a woman of familistic prin- ciples, and an ardent enthusiast, held meetings and gave lectures for the propagation of her peculiar sentiments. Her zeal and eloquence attracted numerous hearers, and her adherents rapidly increased. The whole colony was soon divided into two parties, the one called Antino- mians, and the other Legalists. Governor Dudley, al-
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ways foremost in what he believed to be his duty, op- posed the new heresy with great zeal, and with Winthrop. Wilson, and others, maintained the principles and prac- tices of the churches as they stood before this woman came into the country. With them in sentiment and feeling were the ministers and people of the other con- gregations; but Mr. Vane, the governor, and the Rev. Mr. Cotton, countenanced the opinions of Mrs. Hutch- inson-her party became strong-the church was divided in twain-mutual censures passed between the brethren. and every thing in ecclesiastical affairs wore the aspect of disunion and change. The civil power of the colony was at last brought in to crush the heresy, and proved effectual for the time. Mrs. Hutchinson was banished, as was Wheelwright, her brother-all the principal men in the colony who had favored their preaching, were dis- armed-and many, to escape banishment, became volun- tary exiles from the colony .* The trial of Mrs. Hutchin- son is a precious document for those who would under- stand the manners, customs, and principles of our fathers. It is preserved by Governor Hutchinson, in the Appen- dix to his History of Massachusetts.t
* Rev. John Wheelwright came from Lincolnshire to New England in 1636. He is said to have been at the University with Cromwell, who when Wheelwright waited upon him in England, after he was Protector, remarked to the gentlemen about him " that he could remember the time when he had been more afraid of meeting Wheelwright at foot-ball, than of meeting any army since in the field, for he was infallibly sure of being tript up by him." Mather, in App. to Belknap, iii. 225. Wheelwright, after his banishment, went to Exeter, New Hampshire, from thence to Welle, in Maine, afterwards to Hamp- ton, and finally settled in Salisbury, Massachusetts, having been released from his sentence of banishment. He died at Salisbury, 15 Nov. 1679, at an ad- vanced age.
t See further particulars in relation to Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, in Memoirs of Winthrop and Vane, in the present volume.
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In 1640, Mr. Dudley was again chosen governor, taking the place of Winthrop. The latter thus modestly notices the event. "Some trouble there had been in making way for his election, and it was obtained with some difficulty ; for many of the elders labored much in it, fearing lest the long continuance of one man in the place should bring it to be for life, and, in time, heredi- tary. Besides, this gentleman was a man of approved wisdom and godliness, and of much good service to the country, and therefore it was his due to share in such honor and benefit as the country had to bestow."
Richard Bellingham succeeded Governor Dudley in 1641, and Winthrop was governor in 1642. Although uniformly chosen one of the assistants, when not in a higher station, Dudley refused to accept that place in the latter year, unless the general court would give him lib- erty to remove from their jurisdiction whenever it might suit his convenience, without being bound in any existing oath or regulation, either as an officer, counsellor, or as- sistant. To these conditions the general court readily assented.
About this period, there was something like a strug- gle between the magistrates and ministers for power and influence. Mr. Cotton preached the doctrine, that the priesthood ought to be consulted by the magistrates, not only before they went to war, but in all civil affairs of the Commonwealth, and Mr. Rogers, another minister, told the people, that no governor ought to be contin- ued in office for more than a year. These opinions met the indignant opposition of Governor Dudley, and even the milder spirit of Winthrop was roused against them. But however the ministers and magistrates might disa-
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gree as to their separate powers, they were sufficiently united to preserve for many years, through their regula- tions as to the qualifications of freemen,# the closest union of church and state.
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In 1644, there being twenty-six training bands and a troop of horse in the colony, it was ordained that there should be one general officer in time of peace, whose title should be Sergeant-Major General. Governor Dud- ley, although sixty-eight years of age, was chosen to this office.
In 1645, Mr. Dudley was again chosen governor. and he was deputy governor from 1646 to 1649. In 1650, he was for the fourth time elected governor ; was deputy governor in the two following years; and assist- ant in 1653, in which office he died.
* By the old colony laws, no man could have a share in the administration of civil government, or give his voice in any election, unless he was a member of one of the churches. A citizen was required to become a member of the church, before he could be a freeman, until 1664, when the general court re- pealed the law relating to the admission of freemen, but passed another law allowing English subjects, being freeholders to a certain value, who were cer- tified by the minister of the place to be orthodox, and not vicious in their lives, to be made freemen, although not members of the churches. The following is the form of the
FREEMAN'S OATH .- "I, A. B., being by God's providence an inhabitant and freeman within the jurisdiction of this commonwealth, do freely acknowl. edge myself to be subject to the government thereof, and therefore do here swear by the great and dreadful name of the ever living Gon, that I will be true and faithful to the same, and will accordingly yield assistance and support thereunto, with my person and estate, as in equity I am bound, and will also truly endeavor to maintain and preserve all the liberties and privileges thereof; submitting myself to the wholesome laws and orders, made and established by the same; and further that I will not plot nor practice any evil against it, no? consent to any that shall so do, but will timely discover and reveal the same to lawful authority, now here established, for the speedy preventing thereof; more- over I do solemnly bind myself in the sight of God, that when I shall be called to give my voice touching any such matter of this state wherein freemen are to deal, I will give my vote and suffrage as I shall judge in mine own conscience may best conduce and tend to public weal of the body, without respect of per- sons, or favor of any man. So help me Gop, in the Lord Jesus Christ."
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Covernor Dudley, shortly after the removal of the Rev. Mr. Hooker and his associates from Newtown ( Cam- bridge ) to Hartford, in 1636, himself removed to Ispwich ; but his public engagements rendering it inconvenient for him to be so far from the seat of government, he es- tablished himself at Roxbury, where he died on the 31st July, 1653, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. He was a man of sound judgment, the most inflexible integ- rity, of great public spirit, and exemplary piety. With strong passions, he was still placable and generous in dis- position. He was intolerant towards religious sectaries ; and his zeal against heretics did not content itself with arguments addressed to the understanding, or reproofs for the conscience. IIe was shocked at the heresy of Roger Williams, who preached liberty of conscience, and voted for his banishment. Even more alarmed was he at what he believed to be the progress of error, when the famous Antinomian controversy a short time after shook the foundations of the churches; and with proportionate zeal did he exert himself to procure the banishment of Wheelwright, Anne Hutchinson, and others, as opposers of God's word, and enemies of the state. Through the whole of his life, Governor Dudley opposed and denoun- ced what he deemed to be heresy, with an honest zeal, which, in these days of universal toleration, is sometimes referred to as a blot upon his fame. But the candid and judicious, who are acquainted with the history of the Pu- ritans, and the circumstances under which "they came into a corner of the new world, and, with an immense toil and charge, made a wilderness habitable, on purpose there to be undisturbed in the exercise of their worship," will never be found censuring and railing at their errors.
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They will rather wonder at the wisdom of the views. the disinterested nobleness of principle, and self-sacri- ficing heroism displayed by these wonderful men, to whom the world is indebted for the most perfect insti- tutions of civil and religious freedom known among men.
Morton thus speaks of the merits of Governor Dud- ley :- " His love to justice appeared at all times, and in special upon the judgment seat, without respect of per- sons in judgment, and in his own particular transactions with all men, he was exact and exemplary. His zeal to order appeared in contriving good laws, and faithfully executing them upon criminal offenders, heretics, and underminers of true religion. Ile had a piercing judg- ment to discover the wolf, though clothed with a sheep- skin. His love to the people was evident in serving them in a public capacity many years, at his own cost, and that as a nursing father to the churches of Christ. He loved the true Christian religion, and the pure worship of God, and cherished, as in his bosom, all godly minis- ters and Christians. He was exact in the practice of piety, in his person and family, all his life. In a word, he lived desired, and died lamented by all good men."* A less favorable estimate is placed upon his character by Dr. Savage, who says, " A hardness in public, and rigidity in private life, are too observable in his charac- ter, and even an eagerness for pecuniary gain, which might not have been expected in a soldier and a states- man." Hutchinson says " he was zealous beyond meas- ure against all sorts of heretics." Of him Roger Wil-
* Morton's Memorial, 130. See also Jolinson's estimate, in Wonder-Work- ing Providence, p. 52.
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liams spoke, when he said, "it is known who hindered, who never promoted the liberty of other men's con- sciences."
The following lines were found in his pocket, after his death, written apparently a short time before he died :
" Dimeyes, deaf ears, cold stomach, shew My dissolution is in view. Eleven times seven near lived have I,
And now God calls, I willing die. My shuttle's shot, my race is run,
My sun is set, my deed is done,
My span is measur'd, tale is told, My flower is faded, and grown old,
My dream is vanish'd, shadows fled,
DIy soul with Christ, my body dead.
Farewell, dear wife, children, and friends !
Hate HERESY ; make blessed ends ;
Bear poverty ; live with good men ; So shall we meet with joy again.
Let men of God in courts and churches watch,
O'er such as do a TOLERATION hatch ;
Lest that ill egg bring forth a cockatrice,
To poison all with heresy and vice.
If men be left, and otherwise combine, My Epitaph's, I DIED NO LIBERTINE."
Governor Dudley had an anagram sent to him in 1645, by an unknown hand, which is yet preserved in the files of the first Church in Roxbury.
" THOMAS DUDLEY. Ah ! old must dye.
A death's head on your hand you neede not weare ; A dying head you on your shoulders beare ;
You neede not one to mind you, you must dye, You in your name may spell mortalitye.
Young men may dye, but old men, these dye must ; 'Twill not be long before you turn to dust.
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Before you turn to dust ! ah ! must ! old ! dye !
What shall young doe, when old in dust do lye ? When old in dust lye, what New England doe ? When old in dust do lye, it's best dye too."
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Dudley, however, survived this solemn warning sev- eral years. The amusement of anagramatising the names
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of men, was much indulged in by our forefathers, and was in practice, says Mather, " as long ago as the days of old Lycophron." Camden, in his "Remaines," has a chapter upon anagrams, and cites numerous instances in various languages. The acrostic is another species of false wit nearly allied to the anagram. Numerous ex- amples may be found in our early books. "The rude rhymes of the Pilgrims, (says Judge Davis, ) will find a ready apology with all who consider their circumstances and the literature of the age. Ample compensation for any literary defects will be found in the history of their lives." "Hitherto, (says Camden, ) will our sparkefied youth laugh at their great-grandfather's English, who had more care to do well, than to speak minion-like ; and left more glory to us by their exployting of great acts, than we shall do by forging of new words, and uncouth phrases."*
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