USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the colonial period. 1492-1692 v. I > Part 13
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Morton has had his apologists among those who suppose he has been unfairly treated ; his "revelries " have been styled " harmless amusements ; " and his May Pole, which was destroyed, has been pathetically lamented as " the only one that ever exhilarated New England." 3. And doubtless " mine Host," as he is pleased to term himself, deemed him- self justified in his erratic career by the example of King James, who gave orders that, even upon the Sabbath, none should be " disturbed or discouraged from dancing, archery, leaping, vaulting, having May games, whitson-ales, morrice dances, setting up May Poles, and other sports therewith used, or any other harmless recreations, on Sundays after di- vine service. "4 Such laxity may have comported with the character of a Prince, in whose presence even women are said to have "reeled in a state of disgusting inebriety,"5 but, for the honor of the Church of which he was the Head, we would fain hope, that neither his precepts nor his example will be
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1 We derive our account of this colony, not from the ex-parte state- ments of Gov. Bradford and N. Mor- ton, but from the writings of T. Mor- ton himself; and, if the correctness of our picture is doubted, we refer to his N. Eng. Can., 91, for proof of what we have said.
2 Yet Morton professed to be a
zealous Episcopalian, and to cherish a tender regard for the book of Common Prayer. N. Eng. Can., 9. 3 Chalmer's Revolt, 1. 40; Hali- burton's Rule and Misrule, 30.
4 King Jame's Book of Sports, 4to, 1618 ; Prince, N. E. Chronol.
" Harrington's Nuga Antique, in Bancroft, 1. 292.
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143
MISCONDUCT OF MORTON.
defended at the present day. It may be that the Puritans CHAP. were too "rigid" in condemning such practices, and it may n 1625-8.
V. be that their "morality " was sterner than that of their co- temporaries ; but it will reflect little honor upon the Church of England to sanction the proceedings of Morton, or to ascribe to jealousy and hatred of Episcopacy, that which is too evidently chargeable to the hero of Merry Mount.
In addition to his other malpractices, he began to inveigle servants away, and to sell arms to the natives ; and, having taught the latter the use of these weapons, he employed them to hunt for him, and purchased their peltry. With their usual facility and aptness to learn, the savages in a short time became expert marksmen, and passionately devoted themselves to hunting and the chase. Their bows and arrows were cast aside as worthless; and they would buy muskets at any price, if it was possible to obtain them. They were taught, likewise, the use of the pistol and rapier, and the art of moulding balls and repairing defective arms, so that they became formidable antagonists ; and, by their superior cunning, agility in racing, and quickness of sight, they were more than a match for a majority of the colonists.
Stimulated by success, - having sold upwards of twenty guns, and one hundred pounds of powder and ball, - Mor- ton sent to England for fresh supplies. But the English, in their scattered settlements, meeting these savages in the woods thus armed, and fearing the evils that might ensue, were alarmed ; and, aware that the mischief would spread unless speedily checked, and might become incurable, a meeting of the chief planters was held, and they agreed to solicit the people of Plymouth to join with them to stop Morton's career. The reply of the Pilgrims was, that " they had no authority to do any thing; but seeing it tended to the utter ruin of the whole country, they would join with them against so public a mischief."
An embassy was accordingly sent to admonish Morton of
144
THE SETTLEMENT AT MOUNT WALLASTON BROKEN UP.
CHAP. the offense he was giving, and to warn him to desist, as his V. , conduct was contrary to the laws of England ; but the mes- senger was received with oaths and curses. "Proclama- tions," said Morton, "are no laws, and enforce no penalties. The King is dead, and his displeasure dies with him. I shall trade with the natives despite of your protests." Upon this, Capt. Standish was sent with eight or nine men to arrest him; and on arriving at Merry Mount, Morton armed his companions, heated them with liquor, and putting powder and balls on the table, barred the door. Standish summoned him to surrender ; but he scoffed at, and defied him. At length, fearing his house might be forced, he came out, with a great show of courage, as if to an assault ; but Standish, fixing that eye upon him before which many a savage had quailed, stepped resolutely up, seized his musket, and dispersing the more turbulent, with Morton as his pris- oner he returned to Plymouth. 1
Here " mine Host " was detained some time - several vessels refusing to take him on board -and at length was June 9, sent to England in the custody of John Oldham, with letters 1.628. to the Council for New England, and to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, setting forth his offenses, which, " on the faith of Christians,". they averred to be true; but the artful attor- ney so well pleaded his own cause, and so poisoned the minds of the Council against the colonists by his " auda- cious and colored pictures," and his insinuations against their religious principles, that he was set at liberty, and the very next spring, with singular coolness, he returned to Plymouth as the Secretary of Mr. Allerton, -an act on the part of the latter for which he was severely censured.
Soon after his return, being forced to leave the town, the " lord of Merry Mount" resorted to his old haunts. Here
1 Bradford, in Prince, 175-6, and in 1 M. M. II. Coll., 3. 61; Mor- ton's Mem., 68-72; Hubbard, 104; T. Morton, N. Eng. Can., 93-6.
145
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MORTON RE-ARRESTED-THE END OF HIS CAREER.
he was again arrested, under a warrant from the Lord Chief CHAP. V. Justice of England, on suspicion of murder. By the Mas- sachusetts Colony, which was then established, he was sen- 1628, to 1630. tenced to be " set in the bilbowes ; "1 his goods were confis- cated for the payment of his debts and the expenses of his transportation ; for the "wrongs he had done " his house was burnt down in the sight of the Indians ; and he was sent to England, in the Handmaid, to await his trial. On being liberated - for the charge was not proved against him-he became the avowed enemy of the colonies ; labored zealously for their overthrow; and finally ended his life in obscurity at Piscataqua. . The more sober portion of the colony at Mount Wollaston are said to have remained at the place; and, being joined by others from England, "of a different character," the place "became the seat of an honest, thriving, and sober township." 2
As it has been recently intimated that no true history of the colony at Mount Wollaston has appeared,3 we have been careful, in preparing our sketch, to consult as well the wri- tings of Morton himself, as the statements of the Plymouth colonists ; and although we may have erred, it is believed that the above account is substantially correct, and is in accordance with facts so far as the same can be now ascer- tained. The work of Morton is a singular performance. That part of it relating to the customs of the Indians, and
1 This, according to Hudibras, was
" A Bastile. made to imprison hands, By strange enchantment made to fetter The lesser parts and free the greater."
2 Bradford, in Prince, 193, and in 1 M. II. Coll., 3. 61-4; Dudley's Lett., in Chron. Mass., 321-2; Mass. Records, 1. 75; Josselyn, in 3 M. H. Coll., 3. 376; Hubbard, 104; Savage's Winthrop, 1. 194, 346-7; T. Morton, N. Eng. Can., 109, 150. It was probably in the fall of 1628 that Mr. Endicott visited Merry
Mount, prostrated the May Pole o Morton, and changed the name of the place to Mt. Dagon; and though this act has been censured as an un- warrantable stretch of authority, it should be borne in mind that Mor- ton was but an interloper into the country, and Endicott acted under the authority of the Charter of Charles I., which included the lands upon which this colony was settled. 8 Drake's Boston.
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146
ALLERTON REVISITS ENGLAND-A NEW PATENT OBTAINED.
CHAP. the natural history of the country, is interesting and val- V uable ; but the rest abounds in low wit, and that species of lampoonery better befitting a denizen of Billingsgate than a champion of the " honor and dignity of the Episcopal Church." His " seasoning " may be relished by some for its coarseness, but it lacks the true Attic flavor, and is but a miserable attempt to imitate the most execrable and dis- gusting of the Classic authors, with whose scurrillity, buf- foonery and mendacity, he fully sympathized. Were the whole work like a few of its chapters, it would add much to its character, and to the fame of its author; as a more favorable estimate of his moral qualities would be war- ranted, were not the lack of these qualities so striking and palpable even by his own showing.
1628 In the fall of 1628, Mr. Allerton was again sent to Eng- land, as the agent of the colony, to solicit an enlargement of the Kennebec Patent, and a new Patent for Plymouth ; but 1629. not succeeding in these objects, in the ensuing fall he was sent once more, and this time with better success ; for, after indefatigable labor on his part, and by the help of Mr. Shirley, the Earl of Warwick, and others, he obtained of Jan. 13 the Council for New England a grant, under which the 1629-30. affairs of the colony were conducted for some years. It . was the desire of the people to procure a Charter, if possible, and it is said their views were so far seconded, that the Lord Keeper was instructed to give orders to the Lord So- licitor to draw one up in their favor ; but, through the jeal- ousy of some of the Massachusetts Colonists,1 and the opposition of others,2 their object was defeated, and no Charter was obtained. Hence the colonists were thrown back upon the Patent from the New England Council ; and,
1 " We have some privy enemies in the Bay." Dr. Fuller's Letter to Gov. Bradford, in 1 M. H. Coll., 3. 74.
' Even Gorges is said to have in- terfered with their plans. 1. M. H. Coll., 3. 71.
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147
LEGISLATION OF THE COLONY-PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT.
as this was in the name of William Bradford and his asso- CHAP. ciates,1 on the 2d of March, 1640, Governor Bradford, with V. great magnanimity, surrendered the instrument to the peo- 1640. ple, only reserving to himself three tracts of land, one of which was particularly designed for the benefit of the Indians.2
In 1636, the Laws of the Colony were for the first time 1636. revised, the foundation of the government was established on a permanent basis, and the powers of the Governor and Assistants were specifically defined ;3 and in 1638, the pow- 1638. ers which had been lodged in the whole body of the free- men, were vested in deputies from the several towns, who assembled in June, 1639, and annually afterwards.4 The 1639. towns settled in this colony before 1643, besides Plymouth, 1643. were Duxbury, Scituate, Taunton, Barnstable, Sandwich, and Yarmouth. The progress of settlement was far less rapid here than in the Massachusettss Colony. The Pil- grims were poor, and belonged to the laboring classes. Not blessed with wealth, they were unable to extend their operations with flattering facility. But their poverty was no crime, however great its disadvantages. It fostered a spirit of humility, and was, at the same time, favorable to the development of industry and prudence. Quietly and noiselessly they pursued their way, asserting their rights with dignity and calmness, yet fearlessly and firmly main- taining and defending them. Peaceably disposed, they fo- mented no quarrels. And there was a simplicity, a fresh- ness, a cordiality, and a whole-heartedness which charac- terized their course, which were distinguishing qualities in their carly history.
+
1 The Patent is in Plym. Col. Laws, 21-6, and Hazard, 1. 298- 303. Hubbard and others mistake in saying a Charter was obtained from the King. The Plymouth people never had a Charter.
2 The Deed of Surrender is in Plym. Col. Laws, 305-7.
' Plym. Col. Laws, 36-57.
4 Plym. Col. Laws, 63.
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148
THE MISSION OF THE PILGRIMS.
CHAP. V. Their legislation was without show, for the community was moral, and a multiplicity of laws was wholly unneces- sary. Penalties were annexed to principal offenses, and a few crimes were capital; but the occasions which called for the interference of the magistrates were comparatively rare. Many of their laws were sumptuary ; most of them were civil, providing for the allotment of lands, and the management of the fisheries, and consisting of such muni- cipal regulations as are requisite to the safety of every com- munity. The first printed edition of their Statutes, issued in 1671. 1671, is exceedingly scarce; so much so that neither Hutch- inson, the Historian of the Province, nor Baylies, the Memorialist of the Colony, seem ever to have seen a copy. . The author is the fortunate possessor of one of these rari- ties. We shall have occasion hereafter to speak farther of the legislation of the colony, in the continuance of our sketch.
As we look back upon the career of the Pilgrims, traced in their annals, we are impressed with the magnitude and the importance of their mission. With no outward pomp, with no gorgeous ceremonies, with no popular applause, with no acclamation of multitudes, was the foundation of their humble settlement laid. Favored by no royal protec- tion did they prosecute their enterprise. For all that was achieved the honor is theirs. And of them may it be truly said, that they laid the corner stone of our beloved Commonwealth, and were instruments, in the hand of God, of initiating that work, which has scattered broad cast over the surface of our country the seeds of great princi- ples, destined, by their development, to confer upon us still greater blessings, and to multiply the fruits which have already abounded, from their unwearied and unmurmuring labors and struggles.
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CHAPTER VI.
THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY.
IN the preceding pages, we have sketched the history CHAP. VI.
1624. to 1626.
of the Plymouth, the primitive Colony of our State, from its inception to its peaceful and permanent establishment ; and we are now prepared to turn our attention to a similar view of the Massachusetts Colony, which, though subse- quent in its origin, and several years the junior, soon took the lead upon the theater of action, and, owing to the superior advantages attending its advent, was more rapid in its growth, and more prosperous in its enterprises. In one respect, both colonies sprung from the same source, religious persecution having ushered them into life, and a desire to rear an asylum, a refuge for the oppressed, dis- senting from the views and policy of the Anglican Church, being the groundwork or foundation upon which they were built. But, though both were the offspring of religious persecution, in other respects there was a striking and an inherent distinction in the views, the rank, the talents and the resources of the two ; a distinction which, as it marked their beginnings, so it influenced, moulded, and determined their destiny.
4
The Pilgrims were Separatists, having openly withdrawn from the communion of the National Church. Few of them had been reared in opulence or luxury. Few had enjoyed extensive opportunities for literary culture. Early inured to hardship and toil, unaccustomed to the ease and the refine- ments of wealth, simple in their habits, and moderate in
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150
CHARACTER OF THE COLONISTS.
CHAP. their desires, they were eminently fitted as pioneers to New VI. England, preparing the wilderness for the possession and
1626.
1624. to occupancy of succeeding generations. Men of unwavering faith and of exemplary morals, with a profound reverence for God and his word, they were "the servants of pos- terity," "instruments to break the ice for others," and, though cast into the shade by the success of the second Colony, they are entitled to the honor which springs from true worth, and their magnanimous spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion, will ever endear their memories to all capable of appreciating their virtues and comprehending their ex- cellencies.
The Massachusetts Colonists were Puritans, connected with the National Church, though not fully conforming to its service and ritual. Their ministers were men of stand- ing and influence. Receiving a finished education at the leading universities, their talents, which were conspicuous, were acceptably exercised until their zeal for reform and opposition to ceremonies induced the censure of the bishops and expulsion from their parishes. Of the laity, many were well versed in public affairs, possessed fortunes, accu- mulated or inherited, and lived in the enjoyment of the external comforts which wealth can command. A few moved in the higher circles of society, bore titles of no- bility, and were genuine representatives of the conventional dignity of the mother country. Able of themselves abund- antly to furnish both followers and funds, and exempted from the necessity of depending upon others, they could easily equip, not one bark but a fleet, and send, not one hundred but many hundreds, to inhabit the territory selected for their residence. More fortunate than the Pilgrims, who acted worthily their part, their fortune and rank enabled them to obtain what was wanting to the former, - a charter from the crown, with privileges greater than could be derived from a subordinate patent. Hence the
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151
CHARLES THE FIRST AND ARCHBISHOP LAUD.
history of the second Colony, though not destitute of inci- CHAP. dents of hardship and suffering, is of a stamp very different VI. from that of the first. Its enterprises were prosecuted with vigor and success. Its superior advantages gave it an immediate ascendancy. It stretched out its arms, scat- tered abroad its means, became the patron of the arts and the sciences, founded seminaries of learning, reared flour- ishing villages, engaged in commerce, established manufac- tures, and, taking the lead both in secular and in spiritual affairs, attained to such power and strength that its name became identified with the name of the State.
The colony at Plymouth was commenced during the reign of James I., who ascended the throne in 1603, and died in 1603. 1625. On the accession of Charles I., who inherited his 1625. father's political theories, the government of the National Church, not yet divested of its persecuting spirit, was entrusted to men of arbitrary principles and papistical pro- clivitics. Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, too lenient to subserve the rigorous views of the Court, was suspended from his office, and the notorious Laud,1 zealous to promote uniformity in religion, became the head of the Church, and the instrument to forward the purposes of the King. From this period, the Monarch surrendered himself to the per- versities of his humor, and, with Strafford and Laud as his temporal and spiritual advisers, both in the civil and in the ecclesiastical administration of the realm, a system of insolent invasion of every right most valued by freemen and revered by Protestants was deliberately pursued, with a stubborn- ness and cruelty which finally exhausted the patience of the people. Threc-fourths of the clergy were at this time Calvinists ; but Charles and Laud having sympathy with the Arminians, an edict was issued prohibiting the promul- gation of the former tenets under the severest penalties ;
1 Sce Burnet's character of Laud, IJist. Own Times, 1. 49.
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152
THE STAR CHAMBER AND THE HIGH COMMISSION.
CHAP. the Star Chamber and the High Commission, fit engines VI. of despotism, were brought into requisition, and distin- guished themselves by a course of such wantonness and barbarity, that the latter, especially, was stigmatized as the Protestant Inquisition. Fines, imprisonment, banishment and the pillory, were the most lenient punishments inflicted by its judges. Its victims were not infrequently condemned to excoriation by the lash of the executioner, the incision of their nostrils, and the excision of their ears, and in this mutilated condition were brutally cxhibited as monuments of the "justice of the sovereign, and the picty of the pre- lates." 1
1627-8.
In civil affairs, the two favorite projects of Charles were, the recovery of the Palatinates from the Emperor and Duke of Bavaria, and the establishment of arbitrary power in his own dominion. To effect the latter, many members of Parliament, then the citadel of Protestantism, were imprisoned for opposing his measures ; and the resolution of the King to trample upon the national legislature, and his open approval of the infamous sentiment advanced by one of the clergy, that his royal command in the impo- sition of loans and taxes obliged the conscience of the sub- ject under pain of eternal damnation, alarmed the fears of the thoughtful, and induced apprehensions of the increase of the persecuting spirit which raged in the Church. Nat- urally, the question arose, whither should they fice ? France, externally embroiled with Austria and England, was inter- nally convulsed by a contest of intense acrimony between Protestants and Catholics. A puissant Protestant league of Holland, Sweden, Saxony and Denmark, waged inter- necine war with the Emperor of Germany. Sweden was in collision with Poland; Holland with Spain ; and every other petty State was drawn into the vortex as inclination
' Neal's N. E., 1. 120; Macauly, 1. 83, 91; Grahame, 1. 150-1.
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153
THE COLONY AT CAPE ANNE.
prompted or necessity forced. The whole political horizon CHAP. was shrouded in gloom, and the prospect of a refuge on any VI. part of the continent was dark and forbidding.1
The tendency of these commotions in Church and State, was to call attention more earnestly to the colonization of America ; and especially the Puritans, the objects of mo- narchical vengeance and prelatical rage, turned their eyes hitherwards with eager desire to secure a retreat from the storms of violence which threatened to engulph them in irretrievable ruin. The success of the Plymouth Colony had decided the question of the possibility of supporting & settlement upon these shores ; and the hope that here would be none to disturb them in the exercise of their rights, was a powerful inducement to encounter the perils of the ocean, and the miseries of the land, for the tranquil and peaceable enjoyment of these rights.2
We have elsewhere referred to the establishment of a colony at Cape Anne, in 1624, by the Dorchester Company, 1624. of which Roger Conant was appointed Governor. In the 1025. following year, partly from the unprofitableness of the ex- 1626. periment, and partly from the misconduct of a portion of the colonists, this Company was dissolved, the settlement was abandoned, and the planters were paid ; but Mr. Conant, who was as dissatisfied with the location as the Adventurers with the business, determined to remove to "a fruitful neck of land" at Naumkcag, now Salem, " secretly conceiving in his mind that in following times it might prove a receptacle for such as upon the account of religion would be willing to begin a foreign plantation in this part of the world, of which he gave intimation to his friends in England."3
1 Hallam, Const. Hist., 238; Prince, N. E. Chronol. ; 1 M. II. Coll., 3. 50; Chron. Mass., 274; Macauly, 1. 79-81, 86.
? Bradford, in Prince, 161; Parl. Hist. Eng., 9, 69.
8 Hubbard, 102, 107; Planter's
Plea, ed. 1630, chap. 8, or in Force, vol. 2 .- Chalmers, Ann., 135, errs in saying Conant emigrated from England in 1626; and Grahame, 1. 151, errs in assigning 1625 as the date of the first settlement. at Cape Anne.
154
REMOVAL TO NAUMKEAG.
CHAP. VI. The position of this excellent man at Gloucester, where the settlement was first established,1 was one of as great responsibility, perhaps, as could have been expected under the circumstances ; and though the colony of which he was Governor contained, in all, less than fifty persons, and he held his office by appointment from abroad, rather than by the choice of the people, yet, as his colony was the germ of that which afterwards became so famous when known as the Massachusetts Colony, he is entitled to all the honor which such a position could confer, and justice requires that his true position should be defined, and that his ser- vices should be neither overlooked, nor entirely forgotten.
The services of Mr. White, the father of this first col- ony, and, " under God, one of the chief founders of the Massachusetts Colony," should also be held in grateful remembrance ; and, unwilling that the work which had been hastily abandoned by his associates should be wholly overthrown, no sooner did he hear of the determination of Mr. Conant, than he wrote him, faithfully promising that if he and three others, John Woodbury, John Balch, and Peter Palfreys,2 would remain at Naumkeag, he would obtain a patent, and forward men and supplies. This prop- osition was accepted; but before an answer could be re- ceived, the companions of Conant, "for fear of the Indians and other inconveniences," repented their engagement, and inclined to a removal to Virginia with Mr. Lyford. The leader of this little band, however, "as one inspired by some superior instinct, though never so earnestly pressed to go with them, peremptorily declared his mind to wait the provi- dence of God in that place where they now were, yea, though all the rest should forsake him."2 Finding him thus reso-
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