Your power of attorney has been received, and the goods have been sold by your friend and agent, Mr. Allerton, I having been in Holland nearly three months, at Amsterdam and in other parts of the Low Countries. I see, also, the agreement you have made with the main body of the settlers, and think you have done very well, both for them, for you, and for your friends at Leyden. Mr. Beauchamp, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Hatherley, and myself so thoroughly approve of it, that we are willing to join you, and, God directing us, will assist you the best we possibly can. Indeed, had you not taken this course, I do not see how you could ever have accomplished the end originally aimed at. We know it must cause further delay in realizing profits, for most of those who we sent in May, and those now sailing, though honest and good people, are not likely to be helpful at present—indeed, for some time they will be an expense to you and us. Had you not taken this wise and astute course, the main body of your colonists would probably have grudged their coming. Again, as you say well in your letter, the burden being now on the shoulders of only a few, you will manage it the better, having no discontent or contradiction, but all lovingly joined together in affection and counsel, so that God will no doubt bless and prosper your honest labours and endeavours. So in all respects I consider you have been marvellously discreet and well-advised, and have no doubt it will give all parties satisfaction—I mean all who are reasonable and honest men, and make conscience of fulfilling their obligations to the uttermost, not with regard to their own private interests so much as the accomplishment of the good object for which this enterprise was first started.... Thus desiring the Lord to bless and prosper you and all yours, and all our honest endeavours, I rest,
Your unfeigned and ever loving friend,
JAMES SHERLEY.
London, March 8th, 1629.
I have mentioned here the coming of both these companies from Leyden, though they actually came at two different times. The former party, numbering 35 persons, sailed in May, and arrived here about August, 1629; the latter sailed at the beginning of March, and arrived here the latter end of May, 1630. Their expenses, according to Mr. Allerton’s accounts, came to above £550 (in addition to their transportations from Salem and the Bay, where they and their goods were landed), viz.: their transportation from Holland to England, and their expenses while there, and their passages out here, with clothing provided for them. I find in the account for the one party 125 yards of kersey, 127 ells of linen, 66 pairs of shoes, with many other particulars. The cost of the other party is reckoned by families, some £50, some £40, some £30,—more or less, according to numbers, etc. Besides all this expense their friends here had to provide corn and other provisions for them till they could reap a crop, which was some time. Those that came in May had to be maintained upwards of 16 to 18 months; the others proportionately. All they could do in the meantime was to build houses and prepare land for planting next season. The expenses of maintaining them all this time was little less than the former sum. I make special note of this for various reasons: first, to show a rare example of brotherly love and Christian care in performing their promises to their brethren. Secondly, to prove that there was more than the work of man in these achievements,—thus successfully to have persuaded such able friends to join them in the enterprise, and to stand by them so faithfully in the face of such risks, most of them never having seen their faces to this day; it must needs be, therefore, the special work of God. Thirdly, that these poor people here in a wilderness should, notwithstanding, be able in time to repay all their engagements, and others unjustly put upon them through unfaithful service, besides other great losses which they sustained, all of which will be related if the Lord be pleased to give me life and time. In the meantime I cannot help but wonder at His ways and works towards His servants, and humbly desire to bless His holy name for His great mercies hitherto.
The Leyden people having come over, and several members of the general body of the settlers seeing how great the expense was likely to be, began to murmur at it, notwithstanding the burden lay on other men’s shoulders,—especially at paying the three bushels of corn a year, according to the agreement. But to satisfy them, it was promised that if they could do without it they would not demand it of them. And it never was paid, as will appear.
Mr. Allerton’s proceedings about the enlarging and confirming of the patents, both at home and at Kennebec, are best explained in another letter of Mr. Sherley’s. Though much time and money was expended, he left it unaccomplished this year, and came without them.
James Sherley in England to the New Plymouth Colony:
Most worthy and loving Friends,
Some of your letters I received in July, and some since through Mr. Pierce; but till our main business, the patent, was granted, I could not settle my mind or pen to writing. Mr. Allerton was so turmoiled about it, that I neither would nor could have undertaken it, if I had been paid a thousand pounds; but the Lord so blessed his labours that he obtained the love and favour of important men of repute and position. He got granted from the Earl of Warwick and Sir Ferdinand Gorges all that Mr. Winslow desired in his letters to me, and more besides, which I leave him to relate. Then he sued to the king to confirm their grant, and to make you a corporation, and so to enable you to make and execute laws as freely as the government of Massachusetts. This the king graciously granted, referring it to the Lord Keeper to give order to the solicitor to draw it up, if there were a precedent for it. So the Lord Keeper furthered it all he could, and also the solicitor; but as Festus said to Paul: With no small sum of money obtained I this freedom. For, by the way, many riddles had to be solved, and many locks must be opened with the silver, nay, the golden key! Then it came to the Lord Treasurer, to have his warrant for making you custom-free for a certain time; but he would not do it, and referred it to the Council Table. And there Mr. Allerton attended day by day, when they sat, but could not get his petition read; and as Mr. Pierce was waiting with all the passengers at Bristol, he was forced to leave the further prosecution of it to a solicitor. But there is no fear nor doubt but that it will be granted,—for the chief of them are friendly; but he should certainly return by the first ship that comes, for if you had this confirmed, you would be in a position to govern with the power befitting your rank and the position God has called you to, and to stop the mouths of the base and scurrilous individuals who are ready to question and threaten you in every action. Besides, if you are freed of customs dues for seven years inward and twenty-one outward, the expense of the patent will be soon covered; and there is no doubt of ultimately obtaining it. But such things must work by degrees,—they cannot be hastened; so we (I write on behalf of all our partners here) beg you to urge Mr. Allerton to come, and his wife to spare him this one year more, to finish this important business, which will be so much for your good, and I hope for that of your posterity for many generations to come.