VIRGINIA UNDER THE COMMONWEALTH.

41 missioners were dispatched by the Parliament to reduce it. A treaty was made with them, securing to the Virginia people "such freedoms and privileges as belong to the free-born people of England." Sir William Berkeley retired to his plantation near Jamestown. A Provisional Government was set up on the return of the Commissioners from Maryland. 1652. The new Governor was elected by the Assembly, by whom all officials were chosen. On the death of Cromwell, the House of Burgesses restored Sir William Berkeley. Virginia had been almost independent during the English Commonwealth. It was the first British possession to proclaim Charles II. From its loyalty it obtained the name of the Old Dominion, and commemoration in the titles and on the coins of the British sovereign.*

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES.

31. The Northern parts of America early attracted English enterprise. A plantation in that quarter was projected in the very opening of the seventeenth century. A year before Raleigh's patent was forfeited, Capt. Gosnold discovered Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and named it from the abundance of codfish in the waters around. He built a small fort, but the garrison refused to remain, from dread of the Indians. A second attempt to establish a colony was made by Raleigh Gilbert.

The coast continued to be visited by English traders. Many adventurers resided for brief periods along those shores. Capt. John Smith, with the office of Admiral of New England, explored the coasts, and expressed his wonder at the plenty of

* Charles II. added to the royal motto: "En dat Virginia quintam "—Virginia gives the fifth crown. The five crowns were those of England, France, Scotland, Ireland, and Virginia.

To this loyalty may, perhaps, be ascribed the uncertain origin of the designation, the "Old Dominion," applied to all of Virginia east of the mountains.

fish, and of the trade that might be thus supported. The danger from Indians was slight; for an infectious disease, caught from the Europeans, had swept away multitudes from those bleak regions. The whole tract had been assigned to the Plymouth Company. The name of New England was bestowed upon it by Smith, at the suggestion of Prince Henry, eldest son of James I.

32. No permanent colony was attempted within the Plymouth grant till the closing years of James. A small band of English pilgrims from Holland, where they had sought a refuge from religious persecutions at home, founded a settlement in that inclement wilderness. They did not select the locality. They were dropped there against their will. They desired a more southern abode. They had received slight encouragement from the Plymouth Company. The king had expressed his readiness to overlook their heresy if they did not otherwise violate English law. He inquired how they proposed to make a living. "By fishing," they replied. "By my soul," said the king, "a most apostolic vocation."

1620.

33. One hundred and one Puritan pilgrims, the pioneers of a larger number soon to follow, started from Delft, in Holland, under the charge of Elder Brewster. They purchased a small vessel and hired another to transport them across the ocean. The Speedwell, which they bought, proved crazy, and was abandoned. The Mayflower, which Sept. 6. they hired, sailed alone from Plymouth, and landed them near Cape Cod. Their intention was to settle on richer lands and under happier skies. The season was late, and the captain of the Mayflower was in haste to return. They were compelled to land in a country which did not attract them, and which they had not designed to occupy.

34. The emigrants signed an agreement for their government before landing. They elected John Carver, Governor, and Miles Standish, Captain. A committee of three determined the place of settlement. A hamlet was begun on

THE ENGLISH COLONIES.

43

Christmas-day, 1620.* It was called Plymouth, after the English harbor from which they had set sail. The new abode was begun in midwinter, in a severe climate. In January, eight died; in February, seventeen; in March, fourteen. the victims were Governor Carver and his wife. the settlers were not troubled by Indians, as pestilence had left scarcely any in the country around.

Among Fortunately

35. A single Indian straggled into the little settlement before the return of spring. He saluted the strangers with the greeting: "Welcome, Englishmen !" He had picked up a few words of English from traffickers on the coast. This visit produced an alliance with Massasoit, the chief of the Wampanoags, which lasted for fifty years. Other tribes professed friendship, but Canonicus, the head of the Narragansetts, sent a bundle of arrows, bound with the skin of a snake, as a symbol of hostility. Governor Bradford sent back the skin, stuffed with powder and shot. Canonicus remained quiet. The Indians were provoked by some settlers who had been established in the neighborhood, by Weston, a trader. Disturbances ensued. Capt. Standish was sent to discover an alleged plot of the Narragansetts. He stabbed one of the chiefs with his own hand. John Robinson, the Puritan pastor in Leyden,

*The main body of the Pilgrims landed on Monday, December 25th. The rock on which they stepped from their boats when they reached the shore is celebrated as the Plymouth Rock. A part of it still remains in position and may be recognized. A part was conveyed to the heart of the town more than a century ago. A handsome arch has been built over it, as a monument. Seventeen men landed on Monday, December 11th, but the main body disembarked two weeks later, December 25th.

These dates are according to the Old Style. The New Style was adopted in England in 1752. By this, 11 was added to the number expressing the day of the month. Thus, Dec. 11th, O. S., became Dec. 22d, N. S., the day which has long been celebrated by the descendants of the Pilgrims as " Forefathers' Day." In 1620, there was, in fact, a difference of only 10 days between the two styles, and December 21st is the true anniversary of the landing, and the date inscribed on the new monument at Plymouth.

"In three months past die half our company. The greater part in the depth of winter, wanting houses and other comforts; being infected with scurvy and other diseases, which their long voyage and uncomfortable condition brought upon them. Of a hundred scarce fifty remain-the living scarce able to bury the dead." * -GOV. BRADFORD."

* *

44

wrote, when he heard of the barbarity, "How happy a thing it would have been that some had been converted before any were slain!"

*

36. The new Plymouth Colony advanced slowly, and suffered much from the harsh climate, and from insufficient subsistence. Other settlements were attempted. Capt. John Mason obtained a tract of country between Salem and the mouth of the Merrimac. This he named Mariana. Sir Ferdinando Gorges procured a grant of the lands between the Merrimac and the Kennebec, and called it Laconia. Thus began the settlement of New Hampshire and Maine. An effort was made to establish Scotch emigrants east of the Saint Croix, on lands granted to Sir Alexander Sterling, in what is now Nova Scotia.

37. The successful settlement of New England was achieved by a different enterprise. A strictly Puritan colony was begun at Salem, to which John Endicott led settlers, after

a charter for Massachusetts Bay had been obtained. Little was accomplished till it was decided to remove the council and the government of the new colony to America. John Winthrop and eleven other gentlemen conducted the scheme. They resolved "to colonize only their best men." Winthrop took out seven hundred colonists, "for the most part yeomen, mechanics, and farm laborers, with their women and children." They removed to Charlestown, as they

IN 1632.

1629.

1630.

*The Plymouth Colony was annexed to that of Massachusetts Bay by the charter of William and Mary, in 1691.

+ The name by which the country was first known was the Indian name, Norimbega. It was called Maine in compliment to Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., and daughter of Henry IV. of France. She had some connections with the French duchy of Maine.

THE ENGLISH COLONIES.

45

found Salem in distress. In two years new settlements and churches sprang up. The villages clustered round the places of worship.

38. The Puritans in America were as intolerant as those from whose persecutions they had fled. Only members of their churches were allowed to vote. Only Puritans of approved faith could be deputies to the General Court or Legislature. Religious and political dissensions resulted from this rigor. Winthrop, who had been elected Governor four times successively, was replaced by Henry Vane, a young and earnest fanatic fresh from England.

Further divisions were caused by the appointment of Roger Williams to the charge of the church at Salem. Williams was desirous of tolerating all creeds. He was banished, and strayed through the wilderness till he got beyond the limits of the colony. Anne Hutchinson and others were also driven into exile for upholding doctrines different from those prescribed.

39. The stern community prospered in the midst of strife. In ten years 21,000 emigrants arrived. The fisheries were very lucrative and supported a large trade. The people were industrious, enterprising, and frugal. Settlements spread widely through the surrounding country. Earnest encouragement was given to education. Harvard College was founded

on a small bequest of John Harvard.

40. Charles I. and his ministers were alarmed by the growth of the Puritan colonies. These provided a retreat for numbers of the political and religious opponents of the king. They gave strength and support to the discontented at home. Archbishop Laud was placed at the head of a commission for the government of New England. Emigration to the new country was restrained. It has often been represented that Oliver Cromwell and John Hampden were thus prevented from emigrating to it. The civil war in England, and the overthrow of the king favored the fortunes of the New England colonies and rendered them almost independent. For a time