Your very loving friend in our Lord Jesus,
THOMAS DUDLEY.
Newtown, May 22nd, 1634.
Sir,
I am deeply sorry for the news that Captain Standish and others of your colony, and my beloved friends, are bringing with them to New Plymouth, in which I suffer with you, because of the difference of my opinion from that of others who are godly and wise amongst us here, reverence for whose judgments causes me to suspect my own ignorance. But I cannot alter it until I am convinced otherwise. I did not intend to show your letter to me, but to do my best to reconcile the differences as best I could; but Captain Standish demanding an answer to it publicly in court, I was forced to produce it, which made the breach the wider, as he will tell you. I proposed to the court that they should answer the letter from Mr. Prince, your Governor; but the court ruled that it required no answer, since it was itself an answer to a former letter of ours. Pray inform Mr. Prince of this, and others whom it concerns, so that they may not impute neglect or ill manners to me on this score. The recent letters I have received from England cause me to fear[9] that some trials are likely to fall upon us shortly, and this unhappy dispute between you and us, and between you and Piscataqua, will hasten them, if God with an extraordinary hand does not help us. To reconcile this for the present will be very difficult; but time cools distempers, and a common danger approaching us both will necessitate our uniting again. I pray you therefore, Sir, set your wisdom and patience to work, and exhort others to do the same, that things may not proceed from bad to worse, making our divisions like the bars of a palace; but that a way of peace may be kept open, where the God of peace may have entrance at His own time. If you are wronged, it is to your honour to bear it patiently; but I go too far in needlessly putting you in mind of such things. God has done great things for you, and I desire His blessings may be multiplied upon you more and more. I will commit no more to writing, but commending myself to your prayers, I rest
Your truly loving friend in our Lord Jesus,
THOMAS DUDLEY.
June 4th, 1634.
This shows what troubles arose, and how hard they were to allay; for though they were heartily sorry for what had happened, they considered they had been unjustly injured and provoked, and that their neighbours, who had no jurisdiction over them, exceeded their bounds thus to imprison a member of their settlement and bring the question before their Court. But being assured of their Christian love, and convinced that it was done out of godly zeal, that religion might not suffer nor sin be in any way concealed or countenanced,—especially the guilt of blood, of which all should be very conscientious,—they endeavoured to appease them as best they could, first by giving them the truth of it all; secondly by their willingness to refer the case to any indifferent judgment here, and to answer it elsewhere when they should be called upon to do so; and further, by asking Mr. Winthrop and other respected magistrates there, for their advice and direction. This mollified them and brought things to a comfortable end at last.
The advice given them by Mr. Winthrop and others was, that from their court at New Plymouth they should write to the neighbouring settlements, especially to that at Piscataqua and theirs in Massachusetts, appointing a meeting at some suitable place, to deliberate on the subject, full powers being delegated to those attending the meeting from the various colonies, but nothing to be done which should infringe the liberties of any of them. The law of God being, that for conscience’ sake the priests should be consulted with, it was thought desirable that the ministers of every colony should be present to give their advice on points of conscience. Though this suggestion seemed dangerous to some, they were so well assured of the justice of their cause and the equity of their friends, that they agreed to it, and appointed a time, of which notice was given a month beforehand, viz.: to Massachusetts, Salem, Piscataqua, and others, requesting them to produce any evidence they could in the case. The place of meeting was Boston. But when the day came, there only appeared some of the magistrates and ministers of Massachusetts and of New Plymouth. As none had come from Piscataqua or other places, Mr. Winthrop and the others said they could do no more than they had done, and the blame must rest with them. So they opened up a fair discussion of the subject, and after all evidence had been fully sifted, the opinion of each of the magistrates and ministers was demanded, with the result that though all wished the trouble had never occurred, they could not but lay the blame and guilt on Hocking’s own head. Whereupon such grave and godly counsels and exhortations were given as they thought fitting, both for the present and future, which were received with love and gratitude, with promises to endeavour to profit by them. And so it ended, and their love and concord renewed. Further, Mr. Winthrop and Mr. Dudley wrote very effectually on their behalf to Lord Say and others interested, which with their own letters, and Mr. Winslow’s further declarations when in England, satisfied them fully.
They sent Mr. Winslow to England this year, partly for this object, and partly to notify the partners in England that the period of their contract for the company’s trade here having expired, they instructed him to close the accounts with them, and to find out how much they still remained debtors to the account, and what further course would be best to pursue. The outcome of it all will appear in next year’s narrative. They sent over with him a substantial cargo which was very acceptable to them: in beaver 3738 lbs. mostly coat beaver which sold at twenty shillings per lb.; and 234 otter skins at fourteen shillings per skin. So altogether it arose to a large sum of money.
Early this year they sent a boat to trade with the Dutch colony, where they met with a Captain Stone who had lived in Christophers, one of the West Indian Islands, and had now been some time in Virginia, and had come up from there. He kept company with the Dutch Governor, and in some drunken fit got his leave to seize their boat, just as they were ready to leave and had finished trading, having £500 worth of goods aboard. There was not the least provocation or ground for such an act, but having made the Governor so drunk that he could scarcely utter an intelligible word, he urged him to do it, and got the answer “as you please.” So he got aboard, most of their men being ashore, and with some of his own men made the rest weigh anchor, set sail, and carry her away towards Virginia. But several of the Dutch sailors ashore, who had often been at New Plymouth and kindly entertained there, said to each other: “Shall we allow our friends to be wronged in this way, and have their goods carried away before our faces whilst our Governor is drunk?” They vowed they would not permit it, and got a vessel or two, and chased him and brought him back again, and delivered them their boat and goods.