William Bradford of Plymouth Part 4

Bradford replied with an equally cordial tone, in which lay no lack of sincerity:

"To the Honoured, &c.

"The Gov^r & Counsell of New Plim: wisheth, &c. We have received your letters, &c. wherin appeareth your good wills & frends.h.i.+p toward us; but is expressed with over high t.i.tls, more than belongs to us, or is meete for us to receive. But for your good will, and congratulations of our prosperitie in these smale beginings of our pore colonie, we are much bound unto you, and with many thanks doe acknowledge y^e same; taking it both for a great honour done unto us, and for a certaine testimony of your love and good neighborhood."

After this modest beginning of his message, one discerns in the next sentence, underneath its tenor of genuine amity, a deep note of well disguised warning, that no open question exists in the matter of mutual territorial relations. Thus the subordinate and latent inference is couched, almost like some unintended meaning which nevertheless carries more weight than with a studied significance; for Bradford's very honesty itself was his constant safety:

"Now these are further to give your Wor^{pps} to understand, that it is to us no smale joye to hear, that his majestie hath not only bene pleased to confirme y^t ancient amitie, aliance, and frends.h.i.+p, and other contracts, formerly made & ratified by his predecessors of famous memorie, but hath him selfe (as you say) strengthened the same with a new-union the better to resist y^e prid of y^t comone enemy y^e Spaniard, from whose cruelty the Lord keep us both, and our native countries."

Following the adroit but legitimate suggestion, that their harmony is the more desirable in view of their natural foes, he concludes with this reminder of their former happy concord in Holland:

"Now forasmuch as this is sufficiente to unite us togeather in love and good neighbourhood, in all our dealings, yet are many of us further obliged, by the good and curteous entreaty which we have found in your countrie; haveing lived ther many years, with freedome, and good contente, as also many of our freinds doe to this day; for which we, and our children after us, are bound to be thankfull to your Nation, and shall never forgett y^e same, but shall hartily desire your good & prosperity, as our owne, for ever."

Notwithstanding these veiled admonitions, the Dutch sent further epistles, a.s.serting now a claim over English territorial and trade rights, and declaring that they would defend the claim. Yet the Plymouth Governor's versatile mind and ready tact were equal to this new crisis, delicate as it was, and fraught with momentous possibilities. There was considerable correspondence, and mutual insistence, though always with conventional courtesy of language. Bradford preserved part of these diplomatic communications in his Letter Book. He remained firm in the English t.i.tle, knowing the ground therefor, and requested the Manhattan magistrates to refer to their own home government, while he deprecated any future trouble to them from the British crown.

In the conclusion of one of his missives he offers this advice:

"We desire your Honours, that ye would take into your wise and honorable considerations, that which we conceive may be a hindrance to this accordation, and may be a means of much future evil, if it be not prevented, namely, that you clear the t.i.tle of your planting in these parts, which his Majesty hath, by patent, granted to divers his n.o.bles and subjects of quality; least it be a bone of division in these stirring evil times, which G.o.d forbid: We persuade ourselves, that now may be easily and seasonably done, which will be harder and with more difficulty obtained hereafter, and perhaps not without blows; so there may be a.s.sured peace and good correspondence on all parts, and ourselves more free and able to contract with your Honours. Thus commending our best service to our most n.o.ble Lords, praying for the prosperous success of your worthy designs, we rest your Lords.h.i.+ps'

Most sincerely affected and bounden, William Bradford, Governour, &c.

Plymouth, Oct. 1, Anno 1627."

This seemed to be enough. They desisted from such designs as might not be deemed "worthy" by the benevolent English Governor, and for which he did not say he might pray. The unwarranted question was dropped, as to the Dutch prerogative.

Nevertheless next year the Manhattan correspondent, Secretary Isaac de Rasier, came to the Monumet station with trumpeters and a retinue, and was conveyed to Plymouth by a boat sent to meet him. After several days'

entertainment, he returned to his s.h.i.+p under escort, having been permitted to accomplish his unprofessed purpose, to observe the condition of the fortified English Colony, of which he delivered a description, still extant, to his superiors at New Amsterdam.

In 1633 Bradford also sustained the British claim in the Connecticut valley above the Hollanders' holdings, sending a vessel up the river to the navigable limits, past the threatening Dutch fort at Hartford, and establis.h.i.+ng a trading post at present Windsor. Both New Amsterdam and Ma.s.sachusetts had repeatedly encouraged them to do this, but repented.

This mercantile base was embarra.s.sed by a wide-spread plague among the Indians, most of whom were unfriendly. After this reverse it was taken up by a party from Dorchester and, on Bradford's protest, only a sixteenth share in it was returned to Plymouth. The matter caused some feeling in the Old Colony toward its newer northern neighbor. Such rivalries and questions of debate between the two English sections made evident the need of the inter-colonial union which later arose. Harmony was sought and usually prevailed.

Captain John Endicott, the new Governor of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay residing at Salem, proceeded promptly to recognize Plymouth's head in this truly fraternal manner (his spelling modernized):

"To the wors.h.i.+pful and my right worthy friend, William Bradford, Esq.

Governor of New Plymouth, these.

"Right Worthy Sir,

"It is a thing not usual, that servants to one master and of the same household should be strangers; I a.s.sure you I desire it not, nay to speak more plainly, I cannot be so to you: G.o.d's people are marked with one and the same mark, and sealed with one and the same seal, and have for the main one and the same heart, guided by one and the same spirit of truth; and where this is, there can be no discord, nay, here must needs be sweet harmony; and the same request (with you) I make unto the Lord, that we may, as Christian brethren, be united by an heavenly and unfeigned love, bending all our hearts and forces in furthering a work beyond our strength with reverence and fear, fastening our eyes always on him that only is able to direct and prosper all our ways."

In the following summer of 1629 the sincere and cultured pastors at Salem, Higginson and Skelton, though ordained clergymen, wished to be set apart anew. To this religious a.s.sembly William Bradford and other delegates from the Plymouth church were invited. Adverse winds delayed their arrival by sail, and even the days of the stagecoach were then in the future; but happily they were in time to give the right hand of fellows.h.i.+p to their brethren of the Bay.

The closely allied civil and religious interests of the time were further promoted between north and south, under Governor John Winthrop, in his third year at Boston, the new and growing colonial seat. This excellent man wished to visit his gubernatorial brother, Bradford, and a.s.sociates. There had been great sickness at Boston in its beginning, as in Plymouth at first, though proportionately not so severe in the colony which started with much better numbers. These Bostonians in their crisis bought every available commodity from Plymouth, and for cattle they exchanged horses. Thus by their very exigencies, a good degree of commercial intercourse and brotherly regard was facilitated.

With Governor Winthrop went the Boston pastor, Reverend John Wilson, and two other companions. Their journey was partly by water and latterly by land. Informed of their coming, a party headed by Governor Bradford and Elder Brewster hastened forth to meet them in the evening, and attended them into the town. During their stay of some days, they received the best entertainment that could be given them, at the executive residence and other homes. And when they returned, they were accompanied for some distance on their way, Bradford having his horse carry Winthrop.

The Boston chief dignitary, historian of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay as Governor Bradford was of Plymouth, wrote of the Sabbath which he and his comrades spent with their Pilgrim brethren. At that time Roger Williams, afterwards the devoted missionary and pioneer among the Rhode Island Indians, was living at Plymouth for a couple of years, and was mentioned by Winthrop in his narration, as was Reverend Ralph Smith, first pastor there for a short time, a good but mediocre man. Thus the record reads, in modern spelling:

"On the Lord's Day was a sacrament, which they did partake in; and in the afternoon Mr. Roger Williams, according to their custom, propounded a question, to which their pastor, Mr. Smith, spoke briefly. Mr.

Williams prophesied the topic he had submitted; and after, the Governor of Plymouth spoke to the question; after him, the Elder; then some two or three more of the congregation. Then the Elder desired the Governor of Ma.s.sachusetts and Mr. Wilson to speak to it, which they did. When this was ended, the deacon, Mr. Fuller, put the congregation in mind of the contribution, upon which the Governor and all the rest went down to the deacon's seat and put into the bag, and then returned."

Edward Winslow also once described another feature of their wors.h.i.+p:

"We refresht ourselves ... with synginge of Psalmes, making joyfull melodie in our hartes, as well as with y^e voice, there being manie in y^e congregation verie experte in musick."

V

THE GOVERNOR: LAST ACTS

_I venture the prophecy that for countless years to come and to untold thousands these mute pages shall eloquently speak of high resolve, great suffering and heroic endurance made possible by an absolute faith in the over-ruling providence of Almighty G.o.d._

Governor Roger Wolcott of Ma.s.sachusetts, at the Bradford History Presentation, May 26, 1897.

_Quae patres difficillime adepti sunt nolite turpiter relinquere._ (_What the Fathers with greatest difficulty effected do not basely abandon._)

Inscription on the monument of William Bradford at Plymouth.

_Sicut patribus, sit Deus n.o.bis._ (_As with the Fathers, so may G.o.d be with us._)

SEAL OF BOSTON.

In their personal visitation the colonial leaders had opportunity to confer on matters of mutual interest, before there was any thought of their respective territories becoming merged indissolubly into a n.o.ble Commonwealth. In 1630 Bradford had received in his name a patent, which ten years later the Plymouth court requested to have; but on his ready compliance, it returned the same at once to him, to whom and his heirs it had been made out by the authorities in England. This charter specified the area of the Old Colony, which, under the jurisdiction of Plymouth, extended from Scituate, considerably below Boston harbor, to Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, with Cape Cod on the east. Not long after this it included ten towns.

Soon a decided forward step was taken, toward unity. In September 7, 1643, a confederation was formed, composed of the colonies of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven, and named The United Colonies of New England. Probably this coalition was in the minds of those who founded the United States of America. There are similarities in the very const.i.tutions of the two governmental organizations, small and large. The four colonial sections were a.s.sociated on a basis of political equality. A federal congress was formed, there being two representative delegates from every Colony, who were called commissioners, with one of them presiding. William Bradford was four times a commissioner from Plymouth; and twice he was chosen president, the second time in 1656, the last full year of his life.

The preamble to this federal const.i.tution thus commences: "Wheras we all came into these parts of America with one and y^e same end and aime, namly, to advance the kingdome of our Lord Jesus Christ, & to injoye y^e liberties of y^e Gospell in puritie with peace; and wheras in our setling (by a wise providence of G.o.d) we are further disperced upon y^e sea coasts and rivers then was at first intended, so y^t we cannot, according to our desires, communicate in one governmente & jurisdiction;--"

This union was highly desirable, from considerations foreign and domestic. The supreme home government was in a condition of uncertainty suggestive of either radical change or revolution itself; and so it would be less able to attend to its provinces in case of need. And need might be at any time, with rival neighboring colonies under other national flags, and with the growing realization of the savages that if they wished for their former independence they must fight for it, soon or never. These facts were plainly perceived in the English settlements, with their loose and informal interconnection of only national and religious sympathy.

The Ma.s.sachusetts Bay Colony, beginning at Salem, had been powerfully augmented at Charlestown and Boston in the summer of 1630, by the arrival of its Governor John Winthrop and others who were soon followed by the New England fleet of no less than ten more vessels carrying about fifteen hundred colonists. The great natural facilities of Boston harbor and its environments encouraged a steady and numerous immigration, so that in 1643, the year of confederation, it is estimated that five times as many were found there as in the Old Colony.

Connecticut comprised now about the same number as the latter, three thousand, and New Haven half a thousand less. Numerically, therefore, the English in New England were not yet strong. Yet they were constantly growing in this and every respect, having now nearly fifteen thousand acres of grain and a thousand acres in gardens and orchards, with two thousand cattle and three thousand sheep.

The limited body of legislators in this confederation, was composed, however, of truly representative men. And Bradford had much previous experience in law. The first few and simple statutes of Plymouth were revised and enlarged in 1636, when eight delegates, representing also Duxbury and Scituate, co-operated with the Governor and his seven a.s.sistants.

The seal of authority which he was accustomed to use was a double eagle.

He was Chief Justice, Speaker of the General Court, which granted him a double vote, and Auditor of the Treasury, all these functions being, however, on a scale so limited as to forbid what in larger setting would seem an excess of prerogatives. The record of the 1621 meersteads are in his hand, as was the lost register of early deaths, marriages and punishments.

Bradford felt keenly the numerical loss of Plymouth colonists who went out to form new communities. Everywhere the pioneer mood was for expansion. In this way he was also deprived of a group of able men. Yet they remained mostly in the Old Colony, except Edward Winslow, who finally returned to England. In the year of colonial union Elder Brewster pa.s.sed away, who had been not only a most worthy and acceptable preacher and virtual pastor at Plymouth, but a close adviser to the Governor, even as he had been the counsellor of his youth. The efficient military head, Myles Standish, was released by death from further responsibilities in 1656; and Bradford survived him only into the next year, having still the company of the public-spirited and helpful John Howland, of the remaining Mayflower Pilgrims.

Many of the best people of England were leaving for America. Much alarm was felt by the home government on this account, in whose eyes colonial New England always represented protest. The former vacillated between aggression and hesitating aloofness toward this uncomfortable element of dissent, exceedingly vexed at such persistent survival and vigorous increase, and yet recognizing its most promising contribution to the strength of the realm. But always again, where royalty wavered, or on the other hand in desperation leaped to violent opposition, the prelacy was close behind it with an urgency which often bordered upon dictation.

Of course the exception to this otherwise uniformly uncongenial Anglo-American interrelation was the regime of the Commonwealth. Had Cromwell sat on the throne of George IV, we would undoubtedly have been a lower Canada for a period of time difficult to delimit. It has been aptly stated that the Oriental idea of conquest was without incorporation, the Roman idea was conquest with incorporation but without representation, and the English idea of empire building was incorporation with representation. This is eminently true as regards England, to her credit be it said. And herein was her folly in forcing the American Revolution, because at that time she fell from her own ideals, which have so signally succeeded in the policy of practical colonial autonomy, vastly promoting her beneficent power.

This happy principle of provincial administration was not yet developed in the seventeenth century, which was a season of preparation for the stupendous blunder of the eighteenth, perpetrated by a head-strong despot without the sympathy of his own home people or a large part of Parliament. The root of the trouble then was taxation without representation, and England learned a valuable lesson after quite an awkward experience. But regal antagonism found its provincial object in religious dissent as early as 1634, when a warrant was issued to stay several vessels about to sail for America. In King Charles' reign, three s.h.i.+ps were a.s.signed to convey a governor and bishops to the west.

Ma.s.sachusetts was greatly stirred up in regard to this, forts were ordered built, and resistance was meditated. The program of absolutism lagged. Nevertheless it looked like a critical juncture, before the tension was relieved by the rise of revolution in Scotland, which resulted in the monarch's dethronement and decapitation. The lords accepted the colonists' pet.i.tion, and gave forth that they did not intend to curtail their liberties.