4. Towards the maintenance of government, and public officers of the said colony, every male above the age of 16 years shall pay a bushel of Indian wheat, or the worth of it, into the common store.
5. That according to the agreement the merchants made with them before they came, they are to be debarred from all trade with the Indians for all sorts of furs and such like commodities, till the time of the communality be ended.
About the middle of September Captain Robert Gorges arrived in the Bay of Massachusetts, with sundry passengers and families, intending to begin a plantation there; and pitched upon the place that Mr. Weston’s people had forsaken. He had a Commission from the Council of New England, to be Governor-General of the country, and they appointed for his counsel and assistance, Captain Francis West,—the admiral aforementioned,—Christopher Levett, Esquire, and the Governor of New Plymouth for the time being, etc. They also gave him authority to choose such other as he should see fit. Also, they gave (by their commission) full power to him and his assistants, or any three of them, whereof himself was always to be one, to do and execute what should seem to them good, in all cases capital, criminal, and civil, etc. with various other instructions. Of these and also his commission, it pleased him to let the Governor here take a copy.
He gave them notice of his arrival by letter, but before they could visit him, he went eastward with the ship he came in; but a storm got up, and as they lacked a good pilot to harbour them there, they bore up for this harbour. He and his men were kindly entertained here, and stayed fourteen days.
In the meantime Mr. Weston arrived with his small ship, which he had now recovered. Captain Gorges, who informed the Governor here that one purpose of his going east was to meet with Mr. Weston, took this opportunity to call him to account for some abuses he had to lay to his charge. Whereupon he called Weston before him and some other of his assistants, with the Governor of this place; and charged him first with the ill carriage of his men in Massachusetts, by which means the peace of the country had been disturbed, and he himself and the people he had brought over to settle there were much prejudiced. To this Mr. Weston easily answered, that what had been done, was in his absence, and might have befallen anyone; he left them sufficiently provided, and supposed they would be well governed; for any error committed he had sufficiently smarted. This particular charge was passed by.
The second charge was of a wrong done towards his father, Sir Ferdinand Gorges, and to the State. The offence was this: Mr. Weston had used him and others of the Council of New England, to procure him a license for the purchase and transportation to New England of many pieces of great ordnance, on the plea of great fortifications in this country, etc. Having obtained them, he went and sold them beyond the seas for his private profit; at which, he said, the State had been much offended, and his father had been sharply rebuked, and he had order to apprehend him for it. Mr. Weston excused it as well as he could, but could not deny it, it being the main reason why he had left England. But after much argument, by the mediation of the Governor and some other friends here, he was inclined to be lenient, though he foresaw the vexation of his father. When Mr. Weston saw this he grew more presumptuous, and made such provoking and cutting speeches, that the Governor-General rose up in great indignation and distemper, and vowed that he would either curb him or send him home to England. At which Mr. Weston was somewhat daunted, and came privately to the Governor here, to know whether he would allow him to be apprehended. He was told they could not prevent it, and blamed him much that, after having pacified things, he should again break out and by his own folly and rashness bring trouble upon himself and them too. He confessed it was his temper, and prayed the Governor to intercede for him, and smooth things if he could. At last he did so with much ado; so he was summoned again, and the Governor-General consented to accept his own bond, to be ready to make further answer, when either he or the Lords should send for him. Finally, he took only his word, and there was a friendly parting on all hands.
But after he had gone, Mr. Weston, in lieu of thanks to the Governor and his friends here, gave them this quip behind their backs, for all their pains: That though they were but young justices, they were good beggars. Thus they parted for the time, and shortly after the Governor took his leave and went to Massachusetts by land, very grateful for his kind entertainment.
The ship stayed here and fitted herself to go to Virginia, having some passengers to deliver there, and with her there returned several of those who had come over privately, some from discontent and dislike of the country, others because of a fire that broke out, burning the houses they lived in and all their provisions. The fire was caused by some of the seamen, who were roystering in a house where it first began. It being very cold weather, they had made a great fire, which broke out of the chimney and set alight the thatch, and burnt down three or four houses, and all the goods and provisions in them. The house in which it began was right against the common storehouse, in which were all their provisions; and they had much difficulty in saving it. If it had been lost, the plantation would have been ruined. But through God’s mercy it was saved by the great efforts of the people, and the care of the Governor and some about him. Some advised that the goods be thrown out; but then there would have been much stolen by the rough crews of the two ships, who were almost all ashore. But a reliable company was placed within, so that if necessity required they could have got them all out with speed, and others with wet cloths and other means kept off the fire outside. For they suspected some malicious dealing, if not plain treachery; though whether it was only suspicion or no, God knows. But this is certain, that when the tumult was greatest, a voice was heard—from whom it was not known—that bid them look well about them, for all were not friends near them. And shortly after, when the worst of the fire was over, smoke was seen to rise from a shed adjoining the end of the storehouse, which was wattled up with boughs, the withered leaves of which had caught fire. Those who ran to put it out found a large firebrand, about a yard long, lying under the wall on the inside, which could not possibly have come there by accident, but must have been put there intentionally, as all thought who saw it. But God kept them from this danger, whatever was intended.
Shortly after Captain Gorges, the Governor-General, had got home to Massachusetts, he sent a warrant to arrest Mr. Weston and his ship, and sent a seaman to sail her thither, and one, Captain Hanson, of his suite, to be in charge of him. The Governor and others were very sorry to see him take this course, and took exceptions to the warrant, as not legal or sufficient, and wrote to him to dissuade him from this course, showing him that he would but entangle and burden himself by doing this, and that he could not do Mr. Weston a better turn, as things now stood with him, for he had a great many men in his service in the ship to whom he was deeply in debt for wages, and that he was practically out of provisions, and winter was at hand: for all of which Captain Gorges would be responsible if he arrested his ship. In the meantime Mr. Weston had notice to shift for himself; but it was supposed that he did not know where to go or how to better himself, but was rather glad of the issue, and so did not move. But the Governor-General would not be dissuaded, and sent a very formal warrant under his hand and seal, with strict orders, as they would answer for it to the State; he also wrote that he had better considered things since he was here, and he could not answer for it to let him go, besides other things that had come to his knowledge since, which Mr. Weston must account for. So he was allowed to proceed; but he found in the end that what had been told him was true; for when an inventory was taken of what was in the ship, food was found sufficient for only fourteen days, at a bare allowance, and not much else of any worth, and the men clamoured so for wages and rations in the meantime, that he was soon weary. So in conclusion it turned to his loss, and the expense of his provisions; and towards the spring they came to an agreement, after they had been east, and the Governor-General restored him his vessel again, and made satisfaction in biscuit and meal and such like provisions for what he had used of his, or what had been wanted or consumed. So Mr. Weston came here again, and afterwards shaped his course for Virginia, and so for the present I shall leave him. He died afterwards at Bristol, at the time of the war, of the sickness there.