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[Illustration: _BURIAL HILL, PLYMOUTH._]
MILES STANDISH
THE
PURITAN CAPTAIN.
[Illustration]
BY
JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.
NEW YORK:
DODD & MEAD, No. 762 BROADWAY.
1872.
_AMERICAN PIONEERS AND PATRIOTS._
MILES STANDISH,
THE
PURITAN CAPTAIN.
BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.
ILLUSTRATED.
NEW YORK:
DODD & MEAD, No. 762 BROADWAY.
1872.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
DODD & MEAD,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
MIDDLETON & CO.,
Stereotypers,
Bridgeport, Conn.
Press of LANGE, LITTLE & HILLMAN.
108 Wooster St., N. Y.
TO THE DESCENDANTS OF
CAPTAIN MILES STANDISH,
NOW NUMBERING THOUSANDS,
THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED;
WITH THE HOPE THAT NO ONE OF THEM MAY EVER DIM
THE LUSTRE OF THAT NAME,
TO WHICH THE VIRTUES OF THEIR DISTINGUISHED ANCESTOR
HAVE ATTACHED IMPERISHABLE RENOWN.
JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.
PREFACE.
The adventures of our Pilgrim Fathers must ever be a theme of absorbing
interest to all their descendants. Their persecutions in England, their
flight to Holland, their passage across the stormy ocean, this new
world, as they found it, swept by the storms of approaching winter,
their struggles with the hardships of the wilderness, and conflicts
with the ferocious savage,--all combine in forming a narrative replete
with the elements of entertainment and instruction.
Fortunately, there can be no doubt in reference to the essential facts.
All these events have occurred within the last three hundred years,
a period fully covered by authentic historical documents. In giving
occasional extracts from these documents, I have deemed it expedient to
modernize the spelling, and occasionally to exchange an unintelligible,
obsolete word for one now in use.
For a period of about forty years, Captain Miles Standish was
intimately associated with the Pilgrims. His memory is inseparably
connected with theirs. It has been a constant pleasure to the author
to endeavor to rear a worthy tribute to the heroic captain and the
noble man, who was one of the most illustrious of those who laid the
foundations of this great Republic.
JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.
FAIR HAVEN, CONN.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Elizabeth’s Act of Uniformity.--Oppressive Enactments.--
King James and his Measures.--Persecution of the
Non-Conformists.--Plans for Emigration.--The Unavailing
Attempt.--The Disaster near Hull.--Cruel Treatment of the
Captives.--The Exiles at Amsterdam.--Removal to Leyden.--
Decision to Emigrate to America.--The reasons.--Elder
Brewster Selected as Pastor.--The Departure from Leyden.--
Scene at Delft Haven.--The Embarkation. 9
CHAPTER II.
The Departure from Southampton.--Hindrances.--Delay at
Dartmouth and Plymouth.--Abandonment of the Speedwell.--
Sketch of Miles Standish.--Death at Sea.--Perils and
Threatened Mutiny.--Narrow Escape of John Howland.--
Arrival at Cape Cod.--Testimony of Governor Bradford.--The
Civil Contract.--John Carver Chosen Governor.--The First
Exploring Tour.--The Sabbath. 30
CHAPTER III.
Repairing the Shallop.--The Second Exploring Tour.--Interesting
Discoveries.--Return to the Ship.--A Week of Labor.--The
Third Exploring Tour.--More Corn Found.--Perplexity of the
Pilgrims.--The Fourth Expedition.--The First Encounter.--
Heroism of the Pilgrims.--Night of Tempest and Peril.--A
Lee Shore Found.--Sabbath on the Island. 44
CHAPTER IV.
The Voyage Resumed.--Enter an Unknown Harbor.--Aspect of the
Land.--Choose it for their Settlement.--The Mayflower
Enters the Harbor.--Sabbath on Shipboard.--Exploring the
Region.--The Storm and Exposure.--The Landing.--View from
the Hill.--Arduous Labors.--The Alarm.--Arrangement of the
Village.--The Evident Hostility of the Indians.--Gloomy
Prospects.--Expedition of Captain Standish.--Billington
Sea.--Lost in the Woods.--Adventures of the Lost men.--The
Alarm of Fire. 71
CHAPTER V.
Days of Sunshine and Storm.--Ravages of Pestilence.--A Raging
Storm.--New Alarm of Fire.--Twelve Indians Seen.--
Two Indians Appear on the Hill.--Great Alarm in the
Settlement.--Measures of Defense.--More Sunny Days.--
Humanity and Self-Denial of Miles Standish and Others.--
Conduct of the Ship’s Crew.--Excursion to Billington Sea.--
The Visit of Samoset.--Treachery of Captain Hunt.--The
Shipwrecked Frenchmen.--The Plague.--The Wampanoags.--More
Indian Visitors.--Bad Conduct of the Billingtons. 92
CHAPTER VI.
Two Savages on the Hill.--The Return of Samoset with Squantum.--
The Story of Squantum.--The Visit of Massasoit and His
Warriors.--Etiquette of the Barbarian and Pilgrim Courts.--
The Treaty.--Return of the Mayflower to England.--A View
of Plymouth.--Brighter Days.--Visit of Messrs. Winslow and
Hopkins to the Seat of Massasoit.--Incidents of the Journey.
117
CHAPTER VII.
The Lost Boy.--The Expedition to Nauset.--Interesting
Adventures.--The Mother of the Kidnapped Indians.--
Tyanough.--Payment for the Corn.--Aspinet, the Chief.--
The Boy Recovered.--Alarming Intelligence.--Hostility
of Corbitant.--The Friendship of Hobbomak.--Heroic
Achievement of Miles Standish.--The Midnight Attack.--
Picturesque Spectacle.--Results of the Adventure.--Visit
to Massachusetts.--The Squaw Sachem.--An Indian Fort.--
Charming Country.--Glowing Reports. 145
CHAPTER VIII.
Arrival of the Fortune.--Object of the Pilgrims in their
Emigration.--Character of the New-Comers.--Mr. Winslow’s
Letter.--The First Thanksgiving.--Advice to Emigrants.--
Christmas Anecdote.--Alarming Rumor.--The Narragansets.--
Curious Declaration of War.--The Defiance.--Fortifying
the Village.--The Meeting in Council and the Result.--The
Alarm.--The Shallop Recalled. 164
CHAPTER IX.
The Double-Dealing of Squantum.--False Alarm.--Voyage to
Massachusetts.--Massasoit Demands Squantum.--The Arrival
of the Boat.--The Virginia Massacre.--Preparations for
Defense.--Arrival of the Charity and the Swan.--Vile
Character of the Weymouth Colonists.--Arrival of the
Discovery.--Starvation at Weymouth.--Danger of the Plymouth
Colony.--Expeditions for Food.--Death of Squantum.--Voyage
to Massachusetts and the Cape. 187
CHAPTER X.
Search for Corn.--Trip to Buzzard’s Bay.--Interesting
Incident.--Energy and Sagacity of Captain Standish.--
Hostile Indications.--Insolence of Witeewamat.--The Plot
Defeated.--Sickness of Massasoit.--The Visit.--Gratitude
of the Chief.--Visit to Corbitant.--Condition of the
Weymouth Colony.--The Widespread Coalition.--Military
Expedition of Captain Standish.--His Heroic Adventures.--
End of the Weymouth Colony. 209
CHAPTER XI.
Letter from Rev. Mr. Robinson.--Defense of Captain Standish.--
New Policy Introduced.--Great Destitution.--Day of Fasting
and Prayer.--Answer to Prayer.--The First Thanksgiving.--
The Colony at Weymouth.--Worthless Character of the
Colonists.--Neat Cattle from England.--Captain Standish
Sent to England.--Captain Wollaston and His Colony.--
Heroism of Captain Standish.--Morton Vanquished.--
Difficulty at Cape Ann.--Increasing Emigration.--The
Division of Property. 232
CHAPTER XII.
The Virginia Emigrants.--Humanity and Enterprise of the
Governor.--Envoy Sent to England.--Trading-Posts on the
Kennebec and Penobscot Rivers.--Capture by the French.--
The Massachusetts Colony.--Its Numbers and Distinguished
Characters.--Trade with the Indians.--Wampum the New
Currency.--Trading-Post at Sandwich.--Sir Christopher
Gardener.--Captain Standish Moves to Duxbury.--Lament of
Governor Bradford. 257
CHAPTER XIII.
Removal to Duxbury.--Intercourse with the Dutch.--Trading-Posts
on the Connecticut.--Legend of the Courtship of Miles
Standish.--Personal Appearance of the Captain.--Proposition
to John Alden.--His Anguish and Fidelity.--Interview
with Priscilla.--The Indian Alarm.--Departure of Captain
Standish.--Report of his Death.--The Wedding. 281
CHAPTER XIV.
Menace of the Narragansets.--Roger Williams.--Difficulty on
the Kennebec.--Bradford’s Narrative.--Captain Standish
as Mediator.--The French on the Penobscot.--Endeavors to
Regain the Lost Port.--Settlements on the Connecticut
River.--Mortality Among the Indians.--Hostility of the
Pequots.--Efforts to Avert War.--The Pequot Forts.--Death
of Elder Brewster.--His Character. 301
CHAPTER XV.
Friendship Between Captain Standish and Mr. Brewster.--Character
of Mr. Brewster.--His Death and Burial.--Mode of Worship.--
Captain’s Hill.--Difficulty with the Narragansets.--
Firmness and Conciliation.--Terms of Peace.--Plans
for Removal from Plymouth.--Captain Standish’s Home in
Duxbury.--Present Aspect of the Region. 332
CHAPTER XVI.
The Will of Captain Standish.--His Second Wife.--Captain’s
Hill.--The Monument.--Letters from President Grant and
General Hooker.--Oration by General Horace Binney Sargent.--
Sketch of his Life.--Other Speakers.--Laying the Corner
Stone.--Description of the Shaft. 358
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I.
_The Pilgrims in Holland._
Elizabeth’s Act of Uniformity.--Oppressive Enactments.--King
James and his Measures.--Persecution of the Non-Conformists.--
Plans for Emigration.--The Unavailing Attempt.--The Disaster
near Hull.--Cruel Treatment of the Captives.--The Exiles
at Amsterdam.--Removal to Leyden.--Decision to Emigrate to
America.--The reasons.--Elder Brewster Selected as Pastor.--
The Departure from Leyden.--Scene at Delft Haven.--The
Embarkation.
Elizabeth, the maiden queen of England, commenced her long and eventful
reign by issuing in May, 1659 a law concerning religion entitled the
“Act of Uniformity.” By this law all ministers were prohibited from
conducting public worship otherwise than in accordance with minute
directions for the Church of England, issued by Parliament. Any one who
should violate this law was exposed to severe penalties, and upon a
third offence to imprisonment for life.
England, having broken from the Church of Rome, and having established
the Church of England, of which the queen was the head, Elizabeth
and her counsellors were determined, at whatever cost, to enforce
entire uniformity of doctrines and of modes of worship. In their new
organization they retained many of the ceremonies and much of the
imposing display of the Papal Church. There were very many of the
clergy and of the laity who, displeased with the pageantry of the Roman
Catholic Church, with its gilded robes and showy ceremonial, were
resolved to cherish a more simple and pure worship. They earnestly
appealed for the abolition of this oppressive act. Their petition was
refused by a majority of but one in a vote of one hundred and seventeen
in the House of Commons.
The queen was unrelenting, and demanded uniformity in the most
peremptory terms. Thirty-seven out of the ninety-eight ministers of
London were arrested for violating this law. They were all suspended
from their ministerial functions, and fourteen of them were sent to
jail.
There were now three ecclesiastical parties in England--the Papal
or Roman Catholic, the Episcopal, or Church of England, and the
Presbyterian or Puritan party. The sympathies of the queen and of her
courtiers was much more with the Papists than with the Presbyterians,
and it was greatly feared that they would go over to their side. The
queen grew daily more and more determined to enforce the discipline of
the English Church. The order was issued that all preachers should be
silenced who had not been ordained by Episcopal hands, or who refused
to read the whole service as contained in the Prayer book, or who
neglected to wear the prescribed clerical robes. Under this law two
hundred and thirty-three ministers, in six counties, were speedily
deposed. A Court of High Commission was appointed invested with
extraordinary powers to arrest and punish all delinquents.
Any private person who should absent himself from the Episcopal Church
for a month, or who should dissuade others from attending that form of
worship, or from receiving the communion from an Episcopal clergyman,
or who should be present at any “conventicle or meeting under color
or pretence of any exercise of religion,” should be punished with
imprisonment and should be held there until he signed the “Declaration
of Conformity.” Or in default of such declaration he was to be sent
to perpetual exile under penalty of death if he were ever again found
within the British realms.
Notwithstanding that many were banished, and some died in prison and
several were hanged, the cause of dissent secretly gained ground. As
they were deliberating in the House of Commons upon a more rigid law to
compel all to adopt the same creed and the same modes of Worship, Sir
Walter Raleigh said that he thought that there were then nearly twenty
thousand dissenters in England. Many driven from their homes by this
violent persecution emigrated to Holland where, under Protestant rule
there was freedom of religious worship.
Upon the accession of James the Sixth of Scotland to the throne of
England, eight hundred clergymen petitioned for redress. Among other
things they prayed for the disuse of the cap and surplice in the
pulpit, for an abridgement of the Liturgy, for the better observance
of the Lord’s day, and for a dispensation of the observance of other
holy days; that none but pious men should be admitted to the ministry,
and that ministers should reside in their parishes and preach on the
Lord’s day. To this appeal the king turned a deaf ear. In a conference
which was held upon the subject, in Hampton court, the petitioners
were received with contumely and insult. The king refused to pay any
respect to private consciences, saying, “I will have one doctrine, one
discipline, one religion. And I will make you conform or I will harry
you out of this land or else worse.”
A book of Common Prayer was published as “the only public form
established in this realm,” and all were required to conform to its
ritual and discipline as the king’s resolutions were unchangeable. Ten
of the petitioners for a redress of grievances were sent to jail. The
king himself, a conceited pedant, drew up a Book of Canons consisting
of one hundred and forty-one articles, expressed in the most arrogant
style of pretensions to infallibility. The clergy and the laity were
alike commanded to submit to them under penalty of excommunication,
imprisonment and outlawry. The importation of all religious books from
the Continent was prohibited. No religious book could be published in
England unless approved by a court of Bishops. It is estimated that,
at that time there were fifteen hundred Non-Conformist clergymen in
England. Bishop Coverdale, with many others of the most prominent
ecclesiastics of the Episcopal church, publicly announced their refusal
to subscribe to the Liturgy or to adopt the ceremonies it enjoined. In
their protest they declared that since “they could not have the Word
freely preached, and the sacraments administered without idolatrous
gear, they concluded to break off from the public churches and separate
in private houses.”
The persecution of the Non-Conformists was continued with so much
vigor, that the friends of religious reform became hopeless. Some
sought refuge in concealment, while many fled from their country to
Holland where, the principles of Protestantism prevailing, there was
freedom of worship. In the county of Nottinghamshire, England, there
was a small village called Scrooby, where there was a congregation of
Non-Conformists, meeting secretly from house to house. This was about
the year 1606. A recent traveller gives the following interesting
description of the present appearance of the little hamlet, which
more than two and a half centuries ago was rendered memorable by the
sufferings of the Puritans:
“The nearest way from Austerfield to Scrooby is by a path through
the fields. Unnoticed in our history as these places have been till
within a few years, it is likely that when, towards sunset on the 15th
of September 1856, I walked along that path, I was the first person,
related to the American Plymouth, who had done so since Bradford
trod it last before his exile. I slept in a farm-house at Scrooby
and reconnoitered that village the next morning. Its old church is a
beautiful structure. At the distance from it of a quarter of a mile
the dyke, round the vanished manor house, may still be traced; and
a farmer’s house is believed to be part of the ancient stables or
dog kennels. In what was the garden is a mulberry tree so old that
generations, before Brewster, may have regaled themselves with its
fruit. The local tradition declares it to have been planted by Cardinal
Wolsey, during his sojourn at the manor for some weeks after his fall
from power.”
The little church of Non-Conformists at Scrooby had Richard Clifton
for pastor and John Robinson for teacher. William Brewster, who
subsequently attained to much distinction as pastor of the Puritan
church in Plymouth, New England, was then a private member of the
church. This little band of christians decided to emigrate in a body to
Holland that they might there worship God in freedom.
It was a great trial to these christians to break away from their
country, their homes, and their employments, to seek exile in a land
of strangers. To add to their embarrassments cruel laws were passed
forbidding the emigration of any of the Non-Conformists or Puritans
as they began to be called. Bands of armed men vigilantly guarded all
the seaports. Governor Bradford, who shared conspicuously in these
sufferings, wrote:
“They could not long continue in any peaceable condition, but were
hunted and persecuted on every side. Some were taken and clapped up
in prison. Others had their houses beset and watched night and day,
and hardly escaped capture. The most were fain to fly and leave their
houses and habitations and the means of their livelihood. Yet seeing
themselves thus molested, by a joint consent they resolved to go into
the Low Countries where they heard was freedom of religion for all
men; as also that sundry persons from London, and other parts of the
land, had been exiled and persecuted for the same cause, and were gone
thither, and lived at Amsterdam and other places of the land.
“Being thus constrained to leave their native soil and country, their
lands and living, and all their friends and familiar acquaintance, it
was much, and thought marvellous by many. But to go into a country they
knew not except by hearsay, where they must learn a new language, and
get their livings they knew not how, it being an expensive place and
subject to the miseries of war, it was by many thought an adventure
almost desperate, a case intolerable, and a misery worse than death.
Especially seeing they were not acquainted with trades or traffic,
by which the country doth subsist, but had been only used to a plain
country life and the innocent trade of husbandry.
“But these things did not dismay them, though they did at times trouble
them, for their desires were set on the ways of God and to enjoy his
ordinances. But they rested on His providence and knew whom they had
believed. Yet this was not all; for though they could not stay, yet
were they not suffered to go; but the ports and havens were shut
against them; so as they were fain to seek secret means of conveyance,
and to bribe and fee the mariners, and give extraordinary rates for
their passages. And yet they were often betrayed, many of them, and
both they and their goods intercepted and surprised, and thereby put to
great trouble.”
The company at Scrooby however secretly chartered a vessel, at Boston,
in Lincolnshire, about fifty miles south-east from Scrooby, the nearest
port for their purpose. The peril of the enterprise was so great that
they had to practise the utmost caution and to pay exorbitant passage
money. They travelled by land to the appointed rendezvous, where to
their bitter disappointment, they found neither captain nor vessel.
After a long delay and heavy expenses, for which they were quite
unprepared, the vessel made its appearance and, in the night, all
were received on board. Then this infamous captain, having previously
agreed to do so for his “thirty pieces of silver,” betrayed them, and
delivered them all up to the search officers.
Rudely they were seized, their trunks broken open, their clothing
confiscated, and even the persons of their women searched with cruel
indelicacy. Thus plundered and outraged they were placed in open boats
and taken to the shore, where they were exhibited to the derisive gaze
and the jeers of an ignorant and a brutal populace. A despatch was
immediately sent to the Lords of the Council in London, and they were
all committed to prison. After gloomy incarceration for a month, Mr.
Brewster and six others of the most prominent men were bound over for
trial, and the rest were released, woe-stricken, sick and impoverished,
to find their way back, as best they could, to the Scrooby which they
had left, and where they no longer had any homes. Oh man! what a fiend
hast thou been in the treatment of thy brother man!
The next Spring a portion of these resolute men and women made another
attempt to escape to Holland. They did not venture again to trust one
of their own countrymen, but made a contract with a Dutch shipmaster,
from Zealand. He agreed to have his vessel, at an appointed day, in a
retired spot upon the river Humber, not far from the seaport of Hull.
Arrangements were made for the women and children, with their few
goods, to be floated down the Humber in a barque, while the men made
the journey by land. This was all done under the protection of night.
The Humber here swells into a bay, a long and wide arm of the sea.
The wind was high, and the little barque, plunging over the waves,
made the women and children deadly sea sick. Having arrived near
their point of destination, before the dawn of the morning and the
vessel not yet having arrived, the boatmen put into a little creek to
find still water. Here the receding tide left them aground. In the
morning came the ship. The captain, seeing the barque containing the
women and children aground, and the men, who had come by land walking
near by upon the shore, sent his boat to bring the men on board, that
they might be already there when the returning tide should float the
barque. One crowded boat load had reached the ship when a body of armed
men, horse and foot, was seen rapidly approaching. The captain was
terrified. Fine, imprisonment, and perhaps a worse fate awaited him.
Uttering an oath, he weighed anchor, spread his sails, and a fresh
breeze soon carried him out to sea.
Dreadful indeed was the condition of those thus abandoned to the
insults and outrages of a brutal soldiery. Husbands and wives, parents
and children were separated. The anguish of those, thus torn from their
families, on board the ship, was no less than the distress of the
mothers and daughters left upon the shore.
A storm soon rose--a terrific storm. For seven days and nights the
ship was at the mercy of the gale, without sight of sun or moon or
stars. The ship was driven near to the coast of Norway; and more than
once the mariners thought the ship sinking past all recovery. At length
the gale abated and, fourteen days after they had weighed anchor, the
vessel reached Amsterdam, where from the long voyage and the fury of
the tempest, their friends had almost despaired of ever again seeing
them.
But let us return to those who were left upon the banks of the Humber.
They were all captured. Deplorable was the condition of these unhappy
victims of religious intolerance, women and children weeping bitterly
in their despair. Some of the men, who knew that the rigors of the law
would fall upon them with the greatest severity, escaped. But most
of those who had been left behind by the ship allowed themselves to
be taken to share the fate of the destitute and helpless women and
children, that they might if possible, assist them. The troops were
very cruel in the treatment of their prisoners. They were roughly
seized and hurried from one justice to another, the officers being much
embarrassed to know what to do with them.
Governor Bradford, who witnessed these scenes, writes:--“Pitiful it
was to see the heavy care of these poor women in this distress; what
weeping and crying on every side; some for their husbands that were
carried away in the ship; others not knowing what would become of them
and their little ones; others melted in tears seeing their little ones
hanging about them, crying for fear and quaking with cold.”
In view of their sufferings general sympathy was excited in their
behalf. It seemed inhuman to imprison, in gloomy cells of stone and
iron, women and innocent children, simply because they had intended to
accompany their husbands and fathers to another land. It was of no use
to fine them, for they had no means of paying a fine. Neither could
they be sent to their former homes, for their houses and lands had
already been sold, in preparation for their removal.
At last the poor creatures were turned adrift. No historic pen has
recorded the details of their sufferings. Some undoubtedly perished
of exposure. Some were kindly sheltered by the charitable, and some
succeeded in various ways in crossing the sea to Amsterdam. There were
similar persecutions in other parts of England. Quite a large company
of pilgrims from various sections of England had succeeded, some in one
way and some in another, in effecting their escape to Holland. They
had nearly all taken up their residence in Amsterdam. This flourishing
city was so called because it had sprung up around a _dam_ which
had been thrown across the mouth of the _Amstel_ river. It was even
then renowned for its stately buildings, its extended commerce and
its opulence. Ships, from every clime, lined its wharfs; water craft
of every variety and in almost countless numbers floated upon its
canals, which took the place of streets. From many parts of Europe
Protestants had fled to this city, bringing with them their arts,
manufactures and skill in trade. The emigrants from Scrooby were nearly
all farmers. They had no money to purchase lands, and they found it
very difficult to obtain remunerative employment in the crowded streets
of the commercial city. Governor Bradford writes, of his companions in
affliction:
“They heard a strange and uncouth language and beheld the different
manners and customs of the people with their strange fashions and
attires; all so different from their plain country villages, wherein
they were bred and had so long lived, as it seemed they were come into
a new world. But these were not the things they much looked on, or
which long took up their thoughts. For they had other work in hand and
another kind of war to urge and maintain. For it was not long before
they saw the grim and grisly face of poverty come on them, like an
armed man, with whom they must buckle and encounter and from whom they
could not fly.”
The new-comers did not find perfect harmony of agreement with those who
had preceded them. After a few months tarry at Amsterdam they retired
in a body to Leyden, a beautiful city of seventy thousand inhabitants,
about forty miles distant. In allusion to this movement Governor
Bradford writes:
“For these and some other reasons they removed to Leyden, a fair and
beautiful city, and of a sweet situation; but made more famous by the
university, wherewith it is adorned, in which of late had been so many
learned men. But wanting that traffic by sea which Amsterdam enjoys, it
was not so beneficial for their outward means of living. But being now
established here, they fell to such trades and employments as they best
could; valuing peace and their spiritual comfort above any other riches
whatever.
“Being thus settled, after many difficulties, they continued many
years in a comfortable condition, enjoying much sweet and delightful
society, and spiritual comfort together in the ways of God, under the
able ministry of Mr. John Robinson and Mr. William Brewster, who was
an assistant unto him, in the place of an Elder, unto which he was now
called and chosen by the church. So they grew in knowledge and other
gifts and graces of God, and lived together in peace and love and
holiness; and many came unto them from diverse parts of England so as
they grew a great congregation.
“And if at any time any differences arose, or offenses broke out, as it
cannot be but some time there will, even among the best of men, they
were even so met with and nipped in the head betimes, or otherwise so
well composed as still love, peace and communion were continued.”
The condition of the Pilgrims in Holland was a very hard one. They were
foreigners; they found the language difficult to acquire. They were
generally poor, and notwithstanding their honesty and frugality, could
obtain but a scanty support. Their sons were strongly tempted to enlist
as soldiers, or to wander away as sailors. The future of their families
seemed very gloomy.
“Lastly,” writes Governor Bradford, “and which was not least, a great
hope and inward zeal they had of laying some good foundation, or at
least to make some way thereunto for propagating and advancing the
kingdom of Christ, in those remote parts of the world,--yea, though
they should be but the stepping stones unto others for the performing
of so great a work.”
“Their numbers assembled at Leyden can only be conjectured. It may,
when at the largest, have counted between two and three hundred
persons. Rev. John Robinson was chosen their pastor, and William
Brewster their assistant pastor.”
Thus gradually the Pilgrims came to the conviction that Holland was
not a desirable place for their permanent home. Notwithstanding the
oppression which they had endured from the British government, they
were very unwilling to lose their native language or the name of
Englishmen. They could not educate their children as they wished, and
it was quite certain their descendants would become absorbed and lost
in the Dutch nation. They therefore began to turn their thoughts to
the New World, where every variety of clime invited them, and where
boundless acres of the most fertile land, unoccupied, seemed to be
waiting for the plough of the husbandman. “Hereby they thought they
might more glorify God, do more good to their country, better provide
for their posterity, and live to be more refreshed by their labors than
ever they could do in Holland.”[1]
Unsuccessful attempts had already been made to establish colonies
in Maine and Virginia. They had also received appalling reports of
the ferocity of the savages. Deeply, solemnly, they pondered the all
important question with many fastings and prayers. Bradford writes that,
“They considered that all great and honorable actions were accompanied
with great difficulties, and must be both enterprised and overcome with
answerable courages. The dangers were great, but not desperate; the
difficulties were many, but not invincible. For, though there were many
of them likely, yet they were not certain. It might be, sundry of the
things feared might never befall; others, by provident care and the
use of good means, might, in a great measure, be prevented. And all of
them, through the help of God, by fortitude and patience, might either
be borne or overcome. Their ends were good and honorable, and therefore
they might expect the blessing of God in their proceeding.”[2]
The Dutch endeavored to induce them to join a feeble colony which they
had established at the mouth of the Hudson river. Sir Walter Raleigh
presented in glowing terms the claims of the valley of the Orinoco, in
South America, which river he had recently explored for the second time.
“We passed,” writes the enthusiastic traveller, “the most beautiful
country that my eyes ever beheld. I never saw a more beautiful country
or more lively prospects. There is no country which yieldeth more
pleasure to its inhabitants. For health, good air, pleasure, riches, I
am resolved that it cannot be equalled by any region either in the east
or west.”[3]
There was a small struggling English colony in Virginia which they
were urged to join. But Bradford writes that they were afraid that
they should be as much persecuted there for their religion as if
they lived in England. After pondering for some time these questions
and perplexities, they decided to establish a distinct colony for
themselves, obtaining their lands from the Virginia Company in England.
A delegation was sent to the king of England, soliciting from him a
grant of freedom of worship. The Virginia Company gladly lent its
co-operation to the emigrants. The king, however, was so unrelenting in
his desire to promote religious uniformity throughout all his domains,
that though the Secretary of State, and others high in authority, urged
him to liberality, he could only be persuaded to give his reluctant
assent to the assurance “that his majesty would connive at them, and
not molest them, provided they carried themselves peaceably.”
The very important question now arose, Who should go. Manifestly all
could not be in a condition to cross a wide and stormy sea, for a new
world, never to return. As only a minority of the whole number could
leave, it was decided that their pastor, Mr. Robinson, should remain
with those left behind, while Elder Brewster should accompany the
emigrants as their spiritual guide. For nearly twelve years they had
resided in Leyden. The hour of their departure was a sad one for all.
Many very grievous embarrassments were encountered, which we have not
space here to record.
A small vessel of but sixty tons burden, called the Speedwell, was
purchased, and was in the harbor at Delft Haven, twelve miles from
Leyden, awaiting the arrival of the pilgrims. Their friends, who
remained, gave them a parting feast. It was truly a religious festival.
[Illustration: _DELFT-HAVEN._]
“The feast,” writes Winslow, “was at the pastor’s house, which was
large. Earnest were the prayers for each other, and mutual the pledges.
With hymns, prayers, and the interchange of words of love and cheer,
a few hours were passed.” The pilgrims, then, about one hundred and
twenty in number, accompanied by many of their Leyden friends, repaired
on board canal boats, and were speedily conveyed to Delft Haven. Here
another parting scene took place. The description of it, as given by
Bradford, in his “Brief Narration,” is worthy of record:
“The night before the embarkation was spent with little sleep by the
most; but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and
other real expressions of true Christian love. The next day, the wind
being fair, they went on board, and their friends with them, where
truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting. To see
what sighs and sobs did sound among them; what tears did gush from
every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each heart; that sundry of the
Dutch strangers that stood on the quay as spectators, could not refrain
from tears. Yet comfortable and sweet it was to see such lively and
true expressions of dear and unfeigned love. But the tide, which
stays for no man, calling them away that were thus loath to part, their
reverend pastor falling down upon his knees, and they all, with him,
with watery cheeks, commended them, with most fervent prayers to the
Lord and His blessing. And then, with mutual embraces and many tears,
they took their leaves one of another.”