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VI.

religious conformity by law was universally advocated, CHAPTER by none more heartily than by the Puritans themselves, who signalized their religious zeal by calling loudly for 1582. severe penal statutes against the Catholics, whom they denounced as idolaters. The Court of High Commission 1584. was established as a check upon Puritan and Catholic separatists. All persons absent four Sundays in suc- 1593. cession from the regular church service were liable to be interrogated by this court, and were exposed to, arbitrary punishment.

Delivered by the accession of James from the stern 1603. oversight of Elizabeth, who allowed no authority to compete with her own, the English bishops, by a sort of natural reaction against the Puritans, begun to put forth new pretensions. Not content to rest their authority upon the acts of Parliament and their appointment by the crown, they claimed to be bishops by divine right, possessed of a peculiar sacred authority, conveyed to them, in the act of ordination, by uninterrupted tradition from the apostles. To episcopal ordination, baptism, and other ceremonies they ascribed an efficacy which the Puritans could hardly reconcile, with their favorite dogma of salvation by faith alone. The Court of High Commission already alluded to, an arbitrary tribunal without juries, which the courts of law attempted in vain to restrict, exercised an authority hardly less dreadful than that of the Spanish Inquisition. Most of the separatist congregations were broken up, and all of them were obliged to hold their meetings in secret.

Two such congregations existed in the north of England, composed of scattered members in the counties of Nottingham, Lincoln, and York. Pursued by the bishops with eager severity, and harassed by repeated fines and imprisonments, the more zealous and persevering

CHAPTER members were induced, as other separatists had been beVI. fore them, to seek refuge abroad. Even in this they 1608. were obstructed by a law enacted during the reign of

Elizabeth, which made such migrations unlawful without license from the Privy Council. By degrees, however, and in small parties, they escaped to Holland, and established themselves at Amsterdam, where there was already a church of English exiles. Between that church and some of the new comers disputes presently arose, to avoid which John Robinson, one of the recent emigrant 1609. preachers, removed with his followers to Leyden, where they remained for several years in the enjoyment of their separate church organization.

But they found it difficult to obtain a livelihood; they did not like the free manners of the Dutch, which partook but little of Puritan austerity; their children left them, some as soldiers, others as sailors; and their congregation was thus in danger of dying out. Colonization in America, which had lately come into vogue, seemed particularly suited to their circumstances. They had thoughts of going to Guiana, where the Dutch already had some trading posts on the Essequebo. To that region of fabulous wealth public attention had just 1617. been attracted by the last unlucky voyage of Sir Walter Raleigh, which he had been released from the Tower to undertake, and which resulted in his execution under the old sentence, kept so long hanging over his head.

They preferred, however, on second thought, to remove to Virginia, provided they might establish a separate settlement, and be allowed to arrange religious matters according to their own ideas. Robert Cushman and John Carver, two of their principal men, went to England as agents. A grant of land was readily promised by the company; and there was even a prospect of obtaining

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from the king, not, indeed, the desired guarantee on the CHAPTER subject of religion, but a promise that they should not be molested. A bare promise of this sort was not quite 1617. satisfactory, and an attempt was made to procure the countenance of the Dutch government for a settlement at or near the mouth of the Hudson, which some Dutch merchants trading thither were ready to assist in planting. That scheme having failed, as already mentioned, 1619. Cushman again proceeded to England, in company with William Brewster, the ruling elder of the congregation. The patent promised by the Virginia Company was readily granted, and some merchants of London, among the most active of whom was Thomas Weston, out of sympathy with the religious views of the proposed emigrants, agreed to advance the necessary means; upon a bargain, however, not very favorable to the colonists. For every ten pounds paid in (less than fifty dollars), an interest was to be acquired in the joint stock equivalent to that of an able-bodied emigrant who contributed his personal services to the enterprise. The whole property was to remain a joint stock for seven years, at the end of which a division was to take place.

It was arranged that Robinson should remain behind 1620. with such of the Leyden congregation as were not yet ready to embark, or were not thought fit for pioneers. After a fast, a sermon, and a solemn parting from Robinson and his flock, the selected adventurers, under the guidance of Brewster, the ruling elder, passed over to Southampton in the Speedwell, a small vessel purchased in Holland for the use of the colony. Here they were joined by Cushman in the Mayflower, a London ship hired for the voyage, and having on board their provisions and outfit. The passengers were distributed between the two vessels, which soon set sail; but the leakiness Aug. 5.

CHAPTER and bad trim of the Speedwell, which belied her name, VI. joined to the faint-heartedness of her hired crew, not very 1620. well disposed to a service which would detain them as exiles on a distant and unknown coast, obliged the little squadron to put first into Dartmouth and then into Plymouth. At this latter port the leaky vessel was given up as unfit for the voyage. Some of her passengers were accommodated on board the Mayflower; but Cushman, with some twenty others, unwillingly remained behind.

Sept. 6.

Thus deprived of her consort, the Mayflower recommenced her lonely voyage. Hudson River was the point aimed at; and, guided by difference of latitude merely— for the difference of longitude was as yet very imperfectly known-the master of the vessel expected to find it at no great distance from Cape Cod. After a tedious and boisterous passage of two months, the extremity of that famous headland was seen. The ship was then turned to the south, but soon became entangled among shoals. The crowded passengers were very anxious to land; and, Nov. 10. under the circumstances, it was judged best to enter Cape

Cod harbor, a spacious haven at the extremity of that long and crooked promontory. The tale has often been repeated that the Dutch, alarmed for their trade on the Hudson, had bribed the master of the Mayflower not to land there. The cotemporary documents find no fault. either with the honesty or the skill of the master, who, it is probable, was no Dutchman, but a citizen of London, where the Mayflower belonged. The jealousies which afterward arose between these colonists and the Dutch of New Netherland might easily give rise to this story, first told by Secretary Morton many years after the foundation of the colony.

Finding themselves out of the limits of the Virginia Company, whose grant they held, they judged it fit, be

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fore landing, especially as some signs of insubordination CHAPTER appeared, to enter into a voluntary agreement, which might serve as foundation for their social polity. After 1620. thanksgiving for their safe arrival, and prayers for future protection and guidance, they signed a paper, mutually promising to submit to all such "just and equal laws and ordinances" as should from time to time be thought most convenient for the common good. Such was the first of those voluntary combinations for purposes of government, so common afterward in America, in which authority was based on general consent. John Carver was chosen to act as governor for one year. An assistant to the governor was also chosen. The infant state, thus organized, consisted of one hundred and one persons, men, women, and children.

Explorers were sent inland, while a boat's company cruised along the shore. The country was covered with pine forests. A number of deserted wigwams were found, and a quantity of Indian corn, in baskets, buried in the sand. This corn, which was taken possession of, served the next spring for seed, and the Indian proprietors, when they afterward became known, were compensated for it. The boat followed the concave shore, and from time to time exploring parties landed. Some distant glimpses were occasionally caught of the natives, who once ventured an attack, but speedily fled. The Indians of Cape Cod had not been without their experience of Europeans, both French and English. Hunt's kidnapping exploits, some six years before, were not yet forgotten. Shortly previous to the arrival of the Mayflower, these coasts had been repeatedly visited by Captain Dormer, who had arrived at Monhiggon some eighteen months before, in the service of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and, after sending home his two ships laden with fish,

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