territory, and willing to grant them a patent with as ample privileges, as they had power to convey; yet they could prevail with the king no farther, than to engage, that he would connive at them, and not molest them, provided they should conduct peaceably. Toleration in religious liberty, by his public authority, under his seal, was denied. The agents returned to Leyden the year following (1618), to the great discouragement of the congregation. Resolved however to make another trial, they sent two other agents to England in February of this year (1619), to agree with the Virginia company; but, dissensions then arising in that body, the business was necessarily procrastinated. After long attendance, the agents obtained a patent, granted and confirmed under the seal of the Virginia company; but though procured with much charge and labor, it was never used, because it was taken out in the name of a gentleman, who, though at that time designing to accompany the Leyden congregation, was providentially prevented. This patent, however, being carried to Leyden for the consideration of the people, with several proposals from English merchants and friends for their transportation, they were requested to prepare immediately for the voyage. It was agreed by the English congregation at Leyden, that some of their number should go to America, to make preparation for the rest. Mr. Robinson, their minister, was prevailed on to stay with the greater part at Leyden; Mr. Brewster, their elder, was to accompany the first adventurers; but these, and their brethren remaining in Holland, were to continue to be one church, and to receive each other to Christian communion, without a formal dismission, or testimonial. Several of the congregationsold their estates, and made a common bank, which, together with money received from other adventurers, enabled them to purchase the Speedwell, a ship of sixty tons, and to hire in England the Mayflower, a ship of one hundred and eighty tons, for the intended enterprise. Preparation being thus made, the adventurers having left Leyden for England in July, sailed on the fifth of August from Southampton for America; but, on account of the leakiness of the small ship, they were twice obliged to return. Dismissing this ship, as unfit for the service, they sailed from Plymouth on the sixth of September in the Mayflower. After a boisterous passage, they at break of day on the ninth of November, discovered the land of Cape Cod. Perceiving that they had been carried to the northward of the place of their destination, they stood to the southward, intending to find some place near Hudson's river, for settlement. Falling, however, among shoals, they were induced The same, which Gosnold called Point Care and Tucker's Terror; but which the French and Dutch call Malebar. from this incident, together with the consideration of the advanced season of the year, and the weakness of their condition, to relinquish that part of their original design. The master of the ship, availing himself of the fears of the passengers, and of their extreme solicitude to be set on shore, gladly shifted his course to the northward; for he had been clandestinely promised a reward in Holland, if he would not carry the English to Hudson's river. Steering again therefore for the cape, the ship was clear of the danger before night; and the next day, a storm coming on, they dropped anchor in Cape Cod harbor, where they were secure from winds and shoals. Finding the harbor to be in the forty-second degree of north latitude, and therefore beyond the territory of the South Virginia company, they perceived that their charter, received from that company had become useless. Symptoms of faction at the same time appearing among the servants on board, who imagined, that, when on shore, they should be under no government; it was judged expedient, that, before disembarkation, they should combine themselves into a body politic, to be governed by the majority. After solemn prayer and thanksgiving, a written instrument, drawn for that purpose, was accordingly subscribed on board the ship, on the eleventh day of November. This solemn contract was signed by forty-one of their number; and they, with their families, amounted to one hundred and one persons. Mr. John Carver was now unanimously chosen their governor for one year. Thus did these intelligent colonists find means to erect themselves into a republic, even though they had commenced their enterprise under the sanction of a royal charter; "a case, that is rare in history, and can be effected only by that perseverance, which the true spirit of liberty inspires.' Government being thus established, sixteen men, well armed, with a few others, were sent on shore the same day, to fetch wood, and make discoveries; but they returned at night, without having found any person, or habitation. The company, having rested on the Lord's day, disembarked on Monday, the thirteenth of November; and soon after proceeded to make further discovery of the country. On Wednesday the fifteenth, Miles Standish and sixteen armed men, in searching for a convenient place for settlement, saw five or six Indians, whom they followed several miles, until night; but not overtaking them were constrained to lodge in the woods. The next day they discovered heaps of earth, one of which they dug open; but, finding within implements of war, they concluded these were Indian graves; and therefore, replacing what they had taken out, they left them inviolate. In different heaps of sand they also found baskets of corn, a large quantity of which they carried away in a great kettle, found at the ruins of an Indian house. This providential discovery gave them seed for a future harvest, and preserved the infant colony from famine. Before the close of November, Mrs. Susanna White was delivered of a son, who was called Peregrine; and this was the first child of European extraction, born in New England. On the sixth of December, the shallop was sent out with several of the principal men, Carver, Bradford, Winslow, Standish and others, and eight or ten seamen, to sail around the bay, in search of a place for settlement. The next day this company was divided; and, while some traveled on shore, others coasted in the shallop. Early in the morning of the eighth, those on the shore were surprised by a flight of arrows from a party of Indians; but, on the discharge of the English muskets, the Indians instantly disappeared. The shallop, after imminent hazard from the loss of its rudder and mast in a storm, and from shoals, which it narrowly escaped, reached a small island on the night of the eighth; and here the company the next day, which was the last day of the week, reposed themselves, with pious gratitude for their preservation. On this island they the next day kept the Christian Sabbath. The day following, they sounded the harbor, and found it fit for shipping; went on shore, and explored the adjacent land, where they saw various cornfields and brooks; and, judging the situation to be convenient for a settlement, they returned with the welcome intelligence to the ship. On the fifteenth they weighed anchor, and proceeded with the ship for this newly discovered port, where they arrived on the following day. On the eighteenth and nineteenth they went on shore for discovery, but returned at night to the ship. On the morning of the twentieth, after imploring divine guidance, they went on shore again, to fix on some place for immediate settlement. After viewing the country, they concluded to settle on a high ground, facing the bay, where the land was cleared, and the water was excellent. On Saturday the twenty-third, as many of the company, as could with convenience, went on shore, and felled and carried timber to the spot, designated for the erection of a building for common use. On Lord's day the twenty-fourth, the people on shore were alarmed by the cry of Indians, and expected an assault; but they continued unmolested. On Monday the twentyfifth they began to build the first house. A platform for their ordinance demanding the earliest attention, they on the twentyeighth began one on a hill, which commanded an extensive prospect of the plain beneath, of the expanding bay, and of the distant ocean. In the afternoon they divided their whole company into nineteen families; measured out the ground; and assigned to |