Such was the effect of this revolution in the system of government, that, early in the following year, fifteen hundred persons, among whom were several of family and fortune, embarked, at an expense of upwards of twenty thousand pounds, and arrived at Salem in July. Boston founded.Dissatisfied with this situation, they explored the country in quest of better stations; and, settling in many places around the bay, they laid the foundation of several towns, and, among others, of Boston.
The difficulty of obtaining subsistence, the difference of their food from that to which they had been accustomed, the intense cold of the winter, against which sufficient provision was not yet made, were still severely felt by the colonists, and still carried many of them to the grave; but that enthusiasm which had impelled them to emigrate, preserved all its force; and they met, with a firm unshaken spirit, the calamities which assailed them. 1631Our admiration of their fortitude and of their principles, sustains, however, some diminution from observing the sternness with which they denied to others that civil and religious liberty which, through so many dangers and hardships, they sought for themselves. Their general court decreed that none should be admitted as freemen, or permitted to vote at elections, or be capable of being chosen as magistrates, or of serving as jurymen, but such as had been received into the church as members. Thus did men who had braved every hardship for freedom of conscience, deny the choicest rights of humanity, to all those who dissented from the opinion of the majority on any article of faith, or point of church discipline.
The numerous complaints of the severities exercised by the government of Massachusetts, added to the immense emigration of persons noted for their enthusiasm, seem, at length, to have made some impression on Charles; 1633and an order was made by the King in council, to stop the ships at that time ready to sail, freighted with passengers for New England. This order, however, seems never to have been strictly executed, as the emigrations continued without any sensible diminution.
Hitherto the legislature had been composed of the whole body of the freemen. Under this system, so favourable to the views of the few who possess popular influence, the real power of the state had been chiefly engrossed by the governor and assistants, aided by the clergy. The emigration, however, having already been considerable, and the settlements having become extensive, it was found inconvenient, if not impracticable, longer to preserve a principle which their charter enjoined. 1634In the year 1634, by common consent, the people elected delegates who met the governor and council, and constituted the general court. This important improvement in their system, rendered familiar, and probably suggested, by the practice in the mother country, although not authorised by the charter, remained unaltered, so long as that charter was permitted to exist.[58]
Commission for the government of the plantations.
The colony of Massachusetts having been conducted, from its commencement, very much on the plan of an independent society, at length attracted the partial notice of the jealous administration in England; 1635and a commission for "the regulation and government of the plantations" was issued to the great officers of state, and to some of the nobility, in which absolute power was granted to the archbishop of Canterbury and to others, "to make laws and constitutions concerning either their state public, or the utility of individuals." The commissioners were authorised to support the clergy by assigning them "tithes, oblations, and other profits, according to their discretion; to inflict punishment on those who should violate their ordinances; to remove governors of plantations, and to appoint others; and to constitute tribunals and courts of justice, ecclesiastical and civil, with such authority and form as they should think proper;" but their laws were not to take effect until they had received the royal assent, and had been proclaimed in the colonies. The commissioners were also constituted a committee to hear complaints against a colony, its governor or other officers, with power to remove the offender to England for punishment. They were farther directed to cause the revocation of such letters patent, granted for the establishment of colonies, as should, upon inquiry, be found to have been unduly obtained, or to contain a grant of liberties hurtful to the royal prerogative.[59]
From the first settlement at Salem, the colony of Massachusetts had cultivated the friendship of their neighbours of New Plymouth. The bonds of mutual amity were now rendered more strict, not only by some appearances of a hostile disposition among the natives, but by another circumstance which excited alarm in both colonies.
The voyages for discovery and settlement, made by the English and French, to the coast of North America, having been nearly cotemporaneous, their conflicting claims soon brought them into collision with each other. The same lands were granted by the sovereigns of both nations; and, under these different grants, actual settlements had been made by the French as far south and west as St. Croix, and, by the English, as far north and east as Penobscot. During the war with France, which broke out early in the reign of Charles I., that monarch granted a commission to captain Kirk for the conquest of the countries in America occupied by the French; under which, in 1629, Canada and Acadié were subdued; but, by the treaty of St. Germains, those places were restored to France without any description of their limits; and Fort Royal, Quebec, and Cape Breton, were severally surrendered by name. In 1632, a party of French from Acadié committed a robbery on a trading house established at Penobscot by the people of New Plymouth. With the intelligence of this fact, information was also brought that cardinal Richelieu had ordered some companies to Acadié, and that more were expected the next year, with priests, Jesuits, and other formidable accompaniments, for a permanent settlement. The governor of Acadié established a military post at Penobscot, and, at the same time wrote to the governor of New Plymouth stating, that he had orders to displace the English as far as Pemaquid. Not being disposed to submit quietly to this invasion of territory, the government of New Plymouth undertook an expedition for the recovery of the fort at Penobscot, consisting of an English ship of war under the command of captain Girling, and a bark with twenty men belonging to the colony. The garrison received notice of this armament, and prepared for its reception by fortifying and strengthening the fort; in consequence of which Girling, after expending his ammunition and finding himself too weak to attempt the works by assault, applied to Massachusetts for aid. That colony agreed to furnish one hundred men, and to bear the expense of the expedition by private subscription; but a sufficient supply of provisions, even for this small corps, could not be immediately obtained, and the expedition was abandoned. Girling returned, and the French retained possession of Penobscot till 1654. The apprehensions entertained of these formidable neighbours contributed, in no small degree, to cement the union between Massachusetts and Plymouth.[60]
Two persons, afterwards distinguished in English annals, arrived this year in Boston. One was Hugh Peters, the coadjutor and chaplain of Oliver Cromwell; the other was Mr. Henry Vane, the son of Sir Henry Vane, who was, at that time a privy councillor of great credit with the King. 1636The mind of this young gentleman was so deeply imbued with the political and religious opinions of the puritans, that he appeared ready to sacrifice, for the enjoyment of them, all his bright prospects in his native land. His mortified exterior, his grave and solemn deportment, his reputation for piety and wisdom, his strong professions of attachment to liberty and to the public good, added to his attention to some of the leading members in the church, won rapidly the affections of the people, and he was chosen their governor.
His administration commenced with more external pomp than had been usual, or would seem to be congenial either with his own professions, or with the plain and simple manners of the people whom he governed. When going to court or church, he was always preceded by two sergeants who walked with their halberts. Yet his popularity sustained no diminution, until the part he took in the religious controversies of the country detached from him many of its most judicious inhabitants.[61]