name. She began to leak, and both vessels put back. Again they sailed, and again, for the same reason, put back, this time to Plymouth, England. Finally, the Mayflower, crowded with about a hundred passengers, sailed alone; and, after a THE MAYFLOWER. (FROM THE MODEL IN PILGRIM tedious passage of more than two months, dropped anchor in Cape Cod Bay (November, 1620). 49. A month was spent in finding a good spot for their settlement. The ground was covered with snow. One day a warwhoop and a flight of arrows gave notice that the Indians were near. Before the landing of the Pilgrims, they adopted a form of govern In ment. They agreed to obey the will of the majority. the cabin of the Mayflower the paper was spread upon the table, and every man signed it. John Carver was elected governor for one year. From the boat which conveyed them 49. What is said of the arrival of the Pilgrims in America and their compact in the cabin of the Mayflower? Their landing and the name given to their new home? Where is Cape Cod (map 1)? Plymouth? What is stated in the two notes on page 69! from the ship, they stepped upon a rock,* and all landed (December, 1620). Remembering the kind treatment which they had received at Plymouth, their last resting place in England, they called their new home Plymouth. For many years the landing of the Pilgrims was celebrated on the 22d of December: now the 21st is regarded as the true Forefathers' Day. (Read note 35, Appendix, p. 53.) 50. Each head of a family built his own house, and as the "Here is a stone which the feet of a few outcasts pressed for an instant, and it became famous. It is treasured by a nation. Its very dust is shared as a relic."-De Tocqueville. + Six years before, as we have seen, John Smith examined the shores of New England (§ 25). Three years later he published a map showing the extent of his explorations, but it is not known that the Pilgrims ever saw the map. It is a curious fact that on this map, on the very spot chosen by the Pilgrims for their settlement, is found the name Plymouth. 50. Relate the Samoset episode. What treaty was made? Indians were seen hovering near, a military body was formed with Miles Standish as its leader. But the Indians made no attack. On the contrary, one of them, in the early spring, walked boldly into the village, and to the surprise and delight of its inhabitants exclaimed, "Welcome, Englishmen!" He was a petty chief, Samoset by name, who had been among the English fishermen of Maine. He soon brought other friendly Indians, and these were not long in inducing Mas-sasoit, the great chief of the Wam-pa-no'-ags, to visit the Pilgrims. Presents were exchanged, and, what was of vast importance, a treaty of friendship was "concluded in a day, and sacredly kept for more than half a century" (1621). 51. The frequent showers of sleet, snow, and rain, to which the colonists were exposed before their houses could be occupied, caused much sickness. Before the Mayflower, in April, left for England, there were not more than fifty whom death had spared. Among the fallen was Carver. His place as governor was filled by William Bradford. In the autumn other members of the Leyden congregation arrived, but Robinson was not among them. He died before arrangements were completed for conveying him and the rest of his flock to Plymouth. The Indians continued friendly. Once, Canonicus, chief of the tribe on the west of Narragansett Bay, showed hostility. He sent some arrows in the skin of a rattlesnake. It was a message of war. Bradford sent back the skin, filled, in place of the arrows, with powder and shot. The chief's courage failed. He repented, and promised frendship. 52. King James's grants of land were made with looseness and lavishness. What he did one day he undid the next. 51. What is said of the sufferings of the Pilgrims? What is said of Canonicus ? Of Carver and Bradford? What further can you state of Bradford? Ans. Every year, for thirty-one years, except five when he refused to serve, he was elected governor. He wrote a history of the colony called the History of the Plymouth Plantation. 52. What is said of Virginia's charters issued by King James? Of Virginia's popular legislature (note)? When and why was it abolished? Virginia's Charters. What he gave one day to one party he gave to another party another day. He looked upon his vast domain in America as the speculator nowadays looks upon his town lots. To the Virginians, in the course of time, he gave no less than three charters, the second widening the land limits of the first, and the third of the second. In favor of the last charter was its liberal provision permitting the freemen of the colony to elect representatives to an assembly. This body, which made laws, was the first people's legislature in America (1619).* But this great right enjoyed by the Virginians was not enjoyed long. The king, pretending that they discussed affairs with too much freedom, in other words, that they were too democratic, revoked all his gifts to them (1624). Virginia thus again became the sole property of the Crown (§ 80). The Council of Plymouth. 53. In another case the king gave with a right royal generosity. To a body of forty men, called the Council of Plymouth, he granted a belt of territory north of Virginia, six hundred miles wide, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. By a stroke of the pen, a million square miles were presented to forty rich and powerful noblemen (November, 1620). No conditions were. attached to the gift. Was there ever in the history of the world a present of such magnitude! Men called it the “Great Patent,” meaning that it was a great monopoly, and that they did not like it. Without the consent of the Council, no man could lawfully build a house or buy a bit of fur anywhere on their vast domain. No man could catch a fish in any of its waters. While men said that the king had done "A perpetual interest attaches to this first elective body that ever assembled in the western world, representing the people of Virginia, and making laws for their government, a year before the Mayflower, with the Pilgrims, left England, and while Virginia was still the only British colony on the continent of America."-Bancroft's History of the United States. 53. State what you can of the king's grant to the Council of Plymouth. wrong, the Pilgrims came, as we have seen, and at Plymouth, on the land just ceded to the forty men, planted their colony. The monopolists complained, but the Pilgrims remained, and, without license from the Council, fished in forbidden waters. New Hampshire. 54. In spite of popular opposition the Council sold great tracts of their domain. In 1621, John Mason obtained a tract south of the Merrimac. Next year, he and Sir Ferdinando Gorges (gor'-jez) obtained jointly all the territory between the Merrimac and the Kennebec, to which they gave the name Laconia. At Portsmouth and Dover fishermen built huts (1623). Mason and *"Straggling settlers were planting themselves along the coast. A party of some thirty, under Captain Wollaston, set up a plantation at a place which they called Mount Wollaston, now Quincy. This plantation presently fell under the control of one Morton, who changed its name to Merry Mount, sold powder and shot to the Indians, gave refuge to runaway servants, and set up a May Pole, upon which occasion he broached a cask of wine and a hogshead of ale, and held high revel and carousal." The people of Plymouth were requested by the other settlers to put the scandal down; "and Morton was seized by the redoubtable Miles Standish, and sent prisoner to England."Hildreth's History of the United States. (Read note 7, Appendix, p. 44.) 54. How, when, and where was New Hampshire first settled? What is said of John Mason and his part in the early history of New Hampshire? Where is Portsmouth (map 2)? Dover? (See map on this page.) 55. Where is Salem (map 2)? Give its early history. What charter did the king give to Massachusetts? Why and when did he give it ? |