Whereas his majesty has lately been informed of great distraction and much disorder in that plantation in the parts of America called New England, which if they be true and suffered to run on, would tend to the great dishonour of this kingdom and the utter ruin of that plantation. For prevention whereof and for the orderly settling of the government according to the intention of those patents which have been granted by his majesty and by his late royal father King James, it has pleased his majesty that the lords and others of his most honourable Privy Council should take the same into consideration. Their lordships in the first place thought fit to make a committee of this board to examine the information; which committee, having called several of the principal adventurers in the plantation, and heard those that are complainants against them, most of the things informed being denied and remaining to be proved by parties that must be called from that place, which would require a long lapse of time; and at present their lordships finding the adventurers occupied in the dispatch of men, victuals, and merchandise for that place, all of which would be at a standstill if the adventurers should be discouraged or suspect that the state had no good opinion of the plantation; their lordships, not laying the fault or fancies (if any be) of some individuals upon the general government of the principal adventurers, which in due time is to be further enquired into, have thought fit in the meantime to declare that the appearances were so fair and the hopes so great, and that the country would prove both so beneficial to this kingdom and so profitable to the particular adventurers, that the adventurers had cause to go on cheerfully with their undertakings, and rest assured that if things were carried on as was claimed when the patents were granted and as by the patents is appointed, his Majesty would not only maintain the liberties and privileges heretofore granted, but supply anything further that might tend to the good government, prosperity, and comfort of his people there of that place....
WILLIAM TRUMBALL.
CHAPTER XIII
Sale of the White Angel to Allerton—The White Angel sold in Spain—Hatherley settles in New England—Rapid increase of the Colonists’ Prosperity—Divisions in the Church of New Plymouth—Wreck of William Pierce in the Lyon: 1632.
Mr. Allerton returned to England, little regarding his bond of £1000 to perform his contract; for though bound to take the ship to London, and to pay £30 per month for her hire, he did neither, for he stopped at Bristol to fit her out again there; and this he did three times. She had been ten months on the former voyage, but he never paid a penny for her hire. It would seem he knew well enough how to deal with Mr. Sherley—he, though he must needs foist her upon the general account, disposing of her as he pleased. And though Mr. Allerton had thus broken his contract in every way, Mr. Sherley goes and sells him both the ship and all her accounts from first to last in a bond for £2000,—in effect he might as well have given her to him,—and not only this, but as good as gives him sanctuary, for he allows him one year to prepare his account and present it to the partners here, and another year to make payment of what should be due upon the account. In the meantime he wrote earnestly to them not to hinder him in his business, or delay him for the sake of the accounts, etc. The result was that in the interim he collected all the money due for freight and any other amounts belonging to her or the Friendship, as his own private debts; and, after all, sold ship, ordnance, fish, and other lading in Spain, as he had first planned, and what became of the money he best knows. Meanwhile their hands were tied and they could, do nothing but look on, till he had transferred everything to other men’s hands, except a few cattle and a little land and a few things he had here at New Plymouth, and so ultimately removed all his belongings, as he had already done himself, from hence.
Mr. Hatherley came over again this year upon his own business, and began to make preparations to settle in the country. As appeared later, he had closed out his share in the business, and remained a partner in name only, nor did he trouble about their affairs in any way, except as regards his engagements in connection with the Friendship. In connection with that, and some dealings between Mr. Allerton and him, and some debts that Mr. Allerton owed him on private transactions, he drew up an account of over £2000, and tried to thrust it upon the partners here on the ground that Mr. Allerton had been their agent. But they told him they had been fooled long enough in that way, and showed him that it was no concern of theirs. As for the debts of the Friendship he must expect to meet them.
Mr. Pierce did the same, Mr. Allerton having got into his debt also in their private dealings. However, the partners here easily shook off these worries! but Mr. Allerton brought much trouble and vexation upon himself, as he had upon others, for Mr. Denison sued him for the money he had disbursed for one-sixth share in the White Angel, and recovered it with damages.
Though the partners were thus plunged into heavy engagements and unjust debts, the Lord prospered their trading, and they made large returns yearly, and would soon have freed themselves if they had been fairly dealt with otherwise. The settlers, too, began to grow in prosperity, through the influx of many people to the country, especially to the Bay of Massachusetts. Thereby corn and cattle rose to a high price, and many were enriched, and commodities grew plentiful. But in other regards this benefit turned to their harm, and this accession of strength to weakness. For as their stocks increased and became more saleable, there was no longer any holding them together; they must of necessity obtain bigger holdings, otherwise they could not keep their cattle; and having oxen they must have land for ploughing. So in time no one thought he could live unless he had cattle and a great deal of land to keep them, all striving to increase their stocks. By this means they were quickly scattered all over the Bay, and the town in which they had lived compactly until now was left very thinly peopled, and in a short time almost desolate.
If this had been all the ill that resulted, it would have been small in comparison with the rest; but the church also was disunited, and those who had lived so long together in Christian and comfortable fellowship, must now part and suffer many divisions. First, those who lived on their lots on the other side of the Bay, called Duxbury, owing to the trouble of bringing their wives and children to public worship and church-meetings here, growing to a considerable number, sued to be separated and become a distinct body. So they were allowed to separate about this time though very unwillingly. To prevent any further scattering from this place and weakening of it, it was thought best to give out some good farms in the neighbourhood to special persons who would promise to live at New Plymouth, likely to be helpful to the church and commonwealth, and so tie the lands to New Plymouth as farms for its inhabitants, so that their cattle and their ploughed land might be kept there by servants, and they retain their dwellings here. So some special lands were granted at a place called Green’s Harbour, where no allotments had been made in the former division, very well-meadowed and suitable for raising cattle. But alas! this remedy proved worse than the disease; for within a few years those who had thus got footing there, seceded from the church, partly deliberately, and partly by wearing out the rest with importunity and pleas of exigency, so that they either had to let them go or live in continual contention. Others again, thinking themselves impoverished, or for want of accommodation, broke away on one pretence or another, thinking their own imagined necessity or the example of others sufficient warrant. This I fear will be the ruin of New England,—at least of the churches of God there,—and will provoke the Lord’s displeasure against them.