Bradford prepared this clear and direct rejoinder to the unjust charges, at the urgent request of the planters' foreign agent. And the unexpected defense "did so confound ye objecters, as some confessed their falte, and others deneyed what they had said, and eate their words, & some others of them have since come over againe and heere lived to convince them selves sufficiently, both in their owne & other mens judgments."
The Governor further justified Plymouth's course by a series of replies, which became useful locally and for posterity, but were not sent abroad, as the letters of complaint were intercepted and seized. He had now to cope with internal revolt, headed by John Lyford and John Oldham. Lyford was an exceedingly disreputable and discredited clergyman of the Established Church who, like Morell of Wessagusset previously, had been sent in hope of superseding Elder Brewster and breaking up the much disliked Separatist order in New England. Morell had perceived the strength of the Pilgrim fellowship, and was wise enough to make no vain attempt to subvert its order, only daring to mention, on leaving the country, the ecclesiastical authority with which he had been invested. His successor, in this dark scheme of foreign persecution, sought with serpentine cleverness to ingratiate himself; but his effusive servility nauseated those sterling souls. As Bradford graphically recorded, "when this man first came a shore, he saluted them with that reverence & humilitie as is seldome to be seen, and indeed made them ashamed, he so bowed and cringed unto them, and would have kissed their hands if they would have suffered him; yea, he wept & shed many tears, blessing God that had brought him to see their faces; and admiring ye things they had done in their wants, &c. as if he had been made all of love, and ye humblest person in ye world."
Nevertheless, not knowing his reprobate nature, they gave the clerical the best entertainment they could, a larger allowance from the stored food than any other had, and, "as the Govr had used in all waightie affairs to consulte with their Elder, Mr. Brewster, (togeither with his assistants,) so now he caled Mr. Liford also to counsell with them in their waightiest bussineses." Soon he desired admission to the church, and was received, confessing that his conscience had been troubled by much wrong doing, and professing gratitude for "this opportunity of freedom and liberty to enjoy the ordinances of God in purity among his people."
Oldham also, who had been a malcontent and evil informant to parties abroad, now, to quote again the magisterial historian, "tooke occasion to open his minds to some of ye cheefe amongst them heere, and confessed he had done them wrong both by word & deed, & writing into England; but he now saw the eminente hand of God to be with them, and his blesing upon them, which made his hart smite him, neither should those in England ever use him as an instrumente any longer against them in any thing; he also desired former things might be forgotten, and that they would looke upon him as one that desired to close with them in all things, with such like expressions. Now whether this was in hipocrisie, or out of some sudden pang of conviction (which I rather thinke), God only knows. Upon it they show all readynes to imbrace his love, and carry towards him in all frendlyness, and called him to counsell with them in all cheefe affairs, as ye other, without any distrust at all."
Thus generous and patient was the Governor and his Pilgrim comrades. They were ready to let a man make amends for his misdeeds. But very soon Bradford had opportunity to show that he had discretion as well as mercy.
Lyford saw no prospect of his becoming the "spiritual" head at Plymouth, although by his encouragement some of the Merchant Adventurers in England succeeded in still keeping the Pilgrims' true pastor from coming to his own, as he desired to do, writing to them concerning his unwilling absence. They even pleaded lack of funds to transport him and Mrs. Robinson, though they could send Lyford with his numerous family. This man and Oldham secretly lapsed back into their congenial ways, and they busied themselves in efforts to stir up discontent and sedition, among those who had been generously allowed residence at Plymouth without assuming the colonial foreign obligations. There were stealthy gatherings and whisperings, which the government discovered. There was industrious writing of letters intended for English consumption.
As the mail carrier sailed, the Governor and several others accompanied her in the shallop until well out, when he called for all the letters of Lyford and Oldham. The ship master, knowing the evil conduct of those men on both sides of the sea, cheerfully co-operated, finding over a score of vicious epistles, many of them bulky, and full of slanders sufficient to ruin the reputation of the Colony if believed.
At night the Governor returned and nothing was said, the uneasy malcontents concluding Bradford had gone with messages of his own. Instead of this, he waited to see what their intentions were, and who were their adherents, particularly as one of the intercepted letters promised a change in church and state, and that they would bring this about soon after the ship's sailing. Therefore, mistaking the Governor's caution for timidity, without notifying him or the Elder they presumed to call a meeting of the conspirators, on a certain Sunday.
This was what Bradford had been waiting for, to know the disloyal constituency. Swiftly he acted now, summoning the whole company to court. They were urged to state, frankly and fully, all their grievances, in the open and proper manner; but they had nothing to say, and stoutly denied the charges laid against them. Their letters being produced, Lyford was struck dumb; but Oldham began to rage, affecting righteous wrath over the interference with his mail. He called upon his supposed sympathizers to have courage and stand forth, but none of them spoke or moved. The Governor explained to the people the necessity of suppressing mutinous missives; and the assembly was shocked at the produced evidence, of seditious plotting in return for uniform kindness. The weak and variable Lyford, when some of his voluminous writing was read, suddenly gave way to copious tears, cursing himself and confessing everything, declaring that his actions were the result of his pride, vainglory and self-love, though he involved Billington and others who at once grew emphatic in denial.
By way of illustration, and to show the breadth of the colonial policy, the first two charges, and their refutations, are here given.