THE RIVAL COLONIES
“Look here, upon this picture, and on this.”
SHAKSPEARE, _Hamlet_.
It was towards the close of May, 1622, that the seven pioneers from
Weston’s fishing-smack had landed at Plymouth. About a month later,
in the end of June or beginning of July, a new colony arrived. Two
vessels, the “Charity” and the “Swan,” rounded Cape Cod and anchored
off the Pilgrim settlement.[367] They brought out a fresh batch of
home letters, which Bradford and his coadjutors eagerly opened,
hoping to discover the hidden meaning of these strange movements.
Weston’s missive was first searched. It was to this effect: “The
‘Fortune’ is arrived, whose good news touching your estate and
proceedings I am very glad to hear. And howsoever she was robbed
on the way by the Frenchmen, I hope your loss will not be great,
for the conceit of a vast return doth animate the merchants. As for
myself, I have sold my adventure and debts unto them, so I am quit
of you and you of me. Now, though I have nothing to pretend as an
adventurer among you, yet I will advise you a little for your good,
if you can apprehend it. I perceive and know as well as any one the
disposition of the Merchant-adventurers, whom the hope of gain hath
drawn on to this they have done; yet that hope will not draw them
much farther. Besides, most of them are against the sending of the
Leyden congregation, for whose cause this business was first begun;
and some of the most religious of the company except against them for
their creed.”[368]
This presaged disaster, and Weston’s desertion after his volunteer
promises, made the Pilgrims profoundly sad. Next a letter from two
of the Merchant-adventurers was read. This warned the colonists to
beware of Weston, as one who sought his own single end, and “whom the
company had bought out and were glad to be quit of.”[369]
Then a letter from their old friend Cushman was opened. “Weston,” he
said, “hath quite broken off from our company, and hath now sent two
small ships on his own venture for a new plantation. The people which
they carry are no men for us, wherefore I pray you, entertain them
not. If they offer to buy any thing of you, let it be such as you can
spare, and make them give the worth of it. ’Tis like they will plant
to the south of the cape. I fear these people will deal harshly with
the savages. I pray you signify to Squanto that they are a distinct
body from us, and that we have nothing to do with them, neither must
be blamed for their faults, nor can warrant their fidelity.”[370]
Weston had overhauled these letters, and so become familiar with
their contents. After criticising them severely, he added: “Now if
you be of the mind of these writers, deal plainly with us, and we
will seek our residence elsewhere. If you are friendly, as we have
thought you to be, give us the entertainment of friends. I shall
leave in the country a little ship—if God send her safe thither—with
mariners and fishermen, who shall coast and trade with the savages
and the old plantation. It may be that we shall be as helpful to you
as you to us. I think I shall see you in person next spring.”[371]
The Pilgrims were in a quandary. They stood on the verge of
starvation. The recent comers had brought out no stock of provisions,
but were dumped destitute upon the charity of those whom they had
come to supplant. “As for the harsh censures and suspicions intimated
in these letters,” remarks Bradford, “they desired to judge as
charitably and wisely of them as they could, weighing them in the
balance of love and reason; and though the epistles of warning came
from godly and loving friends, yet they conceived that many things
might arise from over-deep jealousy and fear, together with unmeet
provocation; though they well saw that Weston pursued his own ends,
and was embittered in spirit. All these things they pondered and well
considered, yet concluded to give his men friendly entertainment;
partly in regard to that gentleman’s past kindness, and partly in
compassion to the people who were now come into the wilderness—as
themselves were—and were by their ships to be presently put ashore;
for they were to carry other passengers into Virginia;[372] and they
were altogether unacquainted, and knew not what to do. So, as they
had received Weston’s former company of seven men, and victualed them
as their own, now they also received these, being about sixty lusty
men, and gave housing for themselves and their goods; and many, being
sick, had the best the place could afford them.”[373]
Of course, so great and unexpected an accession of numbers added
vastly to the embarrassment of the Pilgrims, and “amidst these
straits, and the desertion of those from whom they had expected a
supply, when famine began to pinch them sore they knew not what
course to take.” But God stood behind the cloud, “keeping watch
above his own.” One day a boat came into Plymouth, and brought
word of a massacre in Virginia,[374] and gave a warning to the New
England colonists. The kind sender of this message was captain of a
fishing-smack then fishing off the Maine coast.[375]
When this boat returned, “the governor sent back a thankful answer,
as was meet, and also despatched the shallop of the colony in its
company, in which was Edward Winslow, whose object was to secure
what provisions he could from the fishermen. He was kindly received
by the mentor captain, who not only spared what he could of his own
stock, but wrote others to do the same. By these means Winslow got
some good quantity, and returned in safety; whereby the plantation
had a double benefit; first, a refreshing by the food brought;
and secondly, they knew the way to those parts for their benefit
hereafter. Still, what was got and this small boat brought, being
divided among so many, came but to little, yet, by God’s blessing, it
upheld them till harvest.”[376] The daily allowance was a quarter of
a pound of bread to each person; and this the governor doled out, for
had it not been in his custody, it would have been eaten up and all
had starved; but thus, with what eels they could catch, they “made
pretty shift till corn was ripe.”[377]
The Pilgrims soon perceived the truth of Cushman’s estimate of the
character of Weston’s colonists, and found, indeed, that “they
were not the men for them.” In the lump they were a rude, profane,
improvident, thievish set, and peculiarly unfit to be the founders of
a state.[378] They ate of the bounty of their entertainers, wasted
their corn, brought riot and profanity into the quiet, devout homes
of the Pilgrims, and repaid kindness by backbiting and reviling.[379]
Their coming was purely a business affair. It was a speculation.
It was entirely destitute of every religious element, though it
abounded with irreligious ones. Fearing neither God nor man, they
hated the Puritans, and ought never to be confounded with the
Forefathers.[380] They were, in fact,
“A lazy, lolling sort,
Unseen at church, at senate, or at court,
Of ever-listless loiterers, that attend
No cause, no trust, no duty, and no friend.”[381]
These godless drones remained at Plymouth most of the summer, until
their ships came back from Virginia.[382] Then, under Weston’s
direction, or that of some one whom he had set in authority over
them, these pests removed into Massachusetts Bay, and selecting a
spot called by the Indians Wessagusset, now Weymouth, they essayed
to plant a settlement.[383] “Yet they left all their sickly folks
with us, to be nursed and cared for,” says Bradford, “till they
were settled and housed. But of their stores they gave us nothing,
though we did greatly want, nor any thing else in recompense of our
courtesy; neither did we desire it, for ’twas seen that they were an
unruly company, having no good government,—sure soon to fall into
want by disorder.”[384]
Such a colony “was not, nor could it come to good.” Mismanagement
and lazy improvidence invited penury. Ere long they ran foul of the
Indians; already the bane of the Pilgrims, they speedily became
a pest among the savages, whom they robbed and swindled without
conscience. In this way they exasperated the Indians, and by their
bad courses were nigh bringing ruin on their neighbors as well as
on themselves.[385] On one occasion they stood provisionless. They
could expect no succor from the natives, and they had despoiled every
Indian corn-field in their vicinity. In this extremity, Sanders,
their chief man, sent to inform Bradford of his intention to get
some corn from the Indians by force. The Pilgrims sent back a strong
protest against the pillage; advised the new planters to make shift
to live, as they did, on ground-nuts, clams, and mussels; and from
their own well-nigh exhausted storehouse sent their disorderly and
wasteful rivals a supply of corn.[386]
This stock was soon gone; then the Westonians desired the Pilgrims
to unite with them in an expedition to the Indian settlements
on the coast-line, in search of corn, beans, and other kindred
commodities. They, not unwilling to assist the needy planters in
all honest ways, assented, and terms of agreement were signed
designating the division of the articles obtained.[387] Detachments
from both colonies embarked in the “Swan,” the smaller of Weston’s
vessels, and the shallop was also taken. Squanto accompanied the
forage as interpreter.[388] The Indians were very shy and could
hardly be approached. But finally the kindness and tact of Bradford
and Standish thawed their icy reserve, so that the enterprise was
crowned with success. Twenty-seven hogsheads of corn and beans were
bought.[389] Owing to the stranding of the shallop, the Plymouth
governor was compelled to foot it home, some fifty miles; but he
“received all the respect that could be from the Indians on the
journey.”[390]
The “Swan” returned, a day or two later, with the provisions, and,
after their distribution, Weston’s men sailed from Plymouth in her to
their plantation.[391]
This was destined to be Squanto’s last service. A violent fever,
which struck him on the expedition, soon laid him low. “Pray for
me,” said the dying Indian to Governor Bradford, “pray for me,
that I may go to the white man’s God in heaven.” Shortly after, he
distributed various trinkets among his English friends as memorials,
and expired.[392] Despite his pranks and vanity, Squanto was a
true friend to the Pilgrims, and his loss was a severe blow to the
colonial interests.[393]
Immediately on recovering from the fatigue incident to the late
voyage, the Pilgrims went out into their fields to reap the
harvest. The crop was slender, owing partly to the ignorance of the
planters of the culture of Indian corn; partly to their many other
employments; but chiefly to their inability properly to attend it,
caused by weakness from want of food.[394]
It was apparent that famine must be entailed upon the next year also,
unless some other source of supply should be opened. This seemed
impossible. There were no markets; and they were out of trinkets for
their Indian traffic. “Behold now another providence of God,” says
Bradford; “a ship sent out by English merchants to discover all the
harbors betwixt Virginia and the shoals of Cape Cod, and to trade
along the coast where it could, entered our bay. She had on board
a store of beads—which were then good trade—and some knives, but
the crew would sell nothing save in the bunch and at high prices.
However, we bought of them, and by this means were fitted again to
trade for beaver and for corn with the red men.”[395]
In this same summer a new fort was built, “both strong and comely,
which was a sure defence.” Isaac De Rasières, who visited Plymouth at
a somewhat later day, has left this description of the block-citadel:
“Upon the hill they have a large square house, with a flat roof,
made of thick-sawn planks, stayed with oak-beams. On the top are
ranged six cannon, which shoot iron-balls of four or five pounds, and
command the surrounding country. The lower part they use for their
church, where preaching is had on Sundays and the usual holidays. The
settlers assemble by beat of drum, each with his musket or firelock,
in front of the captain’s door; they have their cloaks on, and place
themselves in order, three abreast, and are led by a sergeant without
beat of drum. Behind comes the governor, in a long robe; beside
him on the right hand walks the preacher, and on the left hand the
captain, with his side arms and cloak on, and with a small cane in
his hand. So they march in good order, and on reaching the fort each
sets his arms down near him and within easy grasp.”[396]
An open Bible in one hand, a shotted musket in the other—such was the
manner in which the Pilgrim fathers went to church.