been transported to Virginia at a great expense, 1622. eighteen hundred only survived these disasters." land. Much as the colony lost of its inhabitants and pos- Supplies sessions by the recent calamities, its losses were con- from g siderably counterbalanced by supplies from the parent country. From May 1621 to May 1622, twenty ships transported thirteen hundred persons, and eighty cattle, from England to Virginia. King James made the colonists a present of arms out of the tower, and lent them twenty barrels of powder; lord St. John, of Basing, gave them sixty coats of mail; the city of London, and many private persons, made them generous contributions. 3 Such had now become the extent of the settle- Inferior ments, and the number of the inhabitants, in the courts ap Virginian colony, that it was found very inconveni- pointed. ent, to bring all causes to James Town. Inferior courts were therefore appointed in convenient places, to relieve the governor and council from the heavy burden of business, and to render justice less expen sive, and more accessible, to the people. This is the origin of county courts in Virginia." I Purchas, v. 1792. Chalmers, i. 59. In the year 1626 there were a» bout 2216 inhabitants in Virginia. [See p. 204 of this volume.] In 1621 governor Wyat brought over nearly 700, which addition makes 2916. Deduct from this number 347 for the loss in the massacre, and the remainder is 2519. If, as Purchas leads us to believe, there were but 1800 left after the massacre and famine, upwards of 700 are still unaccounted for. Thè natural deaths in the colony since 1620 may partly account for this deficiency; but some accessions to it have probably been omitted, which might counterbalance that loss. It is indeed expressly said [Purchas, v. 1785.], that "in the yeeres 1619, 1620, and 1621, there hath beene provided and sent for Virginia two and fortie saile of ships, three thousand five hundred and seven tie men and women for plantation, with requisite provisions." I am inclined, therefore, to ascribe this extraordinary reduction in part to an emigration from the colony, seldom noticed by historians. It is affirmed, that several English families, to shun the massacre in Virginia, fled to the Carolinian coasts, and settled at a place, called Mallica, near the river May. It is also affirmed, that they converted the inhabitants of the neighbouring Apalaches. Atlas Geographus Americ. v. 688. Univ. Hist. xl. 420. Brit. Emp. iii. 210. This last history says, they were driven on the coasts of Carolina; which seems to imply, that they made their escape by water. 2 Purchas, v. 1783. 3 Smith Virg. 147. Stith, 233. Univ. Hist. xli. 529. 4 Beverly, 60. Stith, 207. Brit. Emp. iii. 68. 1622. Tobacco. Wine. Bermudas. Fishery. Restraint on the trade to N. Eng. land. State of The tobacco, exported from Virginia to England, on an average for the last seven years, was one hundred forty two thousand and eighty five pounds a year. Previous to the massacre, a successful experiment of wine had been made in that colony; and a specimen of it was now sent to England. The English had now ten forts at Bermudas three thousand people; and fifty pieces of ordnance. ; Thirty five ships sailed this year from the west of England, and two from London, to fish on the New England coasts; and made profitable voyages.* The Plymouth company having complained to king James of the encroachments and injuries of interlopers on their American commerce and possessions, and applied to him for relief; the king issued a proclamation, commanding, that none should frequent the coasts of New England, but the adventurers and planters; or traffick with the Indians otherwise, than by the licence of the council of Plymouth, or according to the orders of the privy council. "This remarkable edict, far from proving beneficial to the company, really brought on its dissolution." s All the colony of Quebec, at this period of Canadian annals, consisted of no more than fifty persons, men, women, and children. An establishment however had been formed at Trois Rivieres; and a brisk trade continued to be carried on at Tadoussac." I Stith, 246. 2 Ibid. 218. French vinedressers, brought over to Virginia in 1621, wrote to the English company, that the Virginian climate and soil surpass the province of Languedoc. Beverly, 191. 3 Josselyn Voy. 250. In the years 1619, 1620, 1621, there were sent to Bermudas 9 ships, employing 240 mariners, and carrying about 900 peo~ ple for settlement. Purchas, v. 1785. 4 Smith's N. Eng. tryals, in Purchas, v. 1840-1842. "Where in Newfoundland they shared sixe or seven pounds for a common man, in New England they shared fourteene pounds; besides six Dutch and French ships made wonderfull returnes in furres." Ibid. 5 Chalmers, i. 91. This Proclamation, dated 6 November, is in Hazard Coll. i. 151, 152; and in Rymer's Fœdera, xvii. 416; and is entitled, “A Proclamation, prohibiting interloping and diforderly trading to New England in America." 6 Champlain Voy. II partie, 49. Charlevoix Nouv. France, i 158. Univ. Hist. xxxix. 419,95 1623. Intelligence being received at Plymouth, that Ma- visit to sassoit was likely to die, and that a Dutch ship was Masassoit. driven ashore near his house, the governor sent Edward Winslow and John Hambden with Hobomack, to visit and assist him, and to speak with the Dutch. They found Masassoit extremely ill; but, by some cordials, which Winslow administered, he revived. After their departure Hobomack informed them, that Masassoit had privately charged him to tell Mr. Winslow, that there was a plot of the Massachu- Indian con setts against Weston's people at Wessagusset; that, lest the English of Plymouth should avenge their countrymen, they also were to be destroyed; and that the Indians of Paomet, Nauset, Mattachiest,* Succonet, the Isle of Capawick, Mahomet,3 and Agawaywom; had joined with the Massachusetts in this conspiracy; and that he advised them to kill the conspirators, as the only means of security. spiracy. of Stan The governor, on receiving this intelligence, which Expedition was confirmed by other evidences, ordered Standishi dish, to sup to take with him as many men, as he should judge press it. sufficient, and, if a plot should be discovered, to fall on the conspirators. Standish, with eight men, sailed to the Massachusetts, where the natives, suspecting his design, insulted and threatened him. Watching his opportunity, when four of them, Wit i Mr. Hambden is said to have been a gentleman of London, who then wintered with the Plymouth colonists, and "desired much to see the country" [Winslow Relat.]; and is supposed by Dr. Belknap [Biog. ii. 229.] to be the same person, who afterward distinguished himself by his opposition to the arbitrary demands of Charles I. 2 This seems to be the country between Barnstable and Yarmouth harbours. Prince, 108. Belknap Biog. ii. 313. 3 This is the name of a creek or river, which runs through the town of Sandwich into the upper part of Buzzard's Bay, formerly called Manomet Bay. Between this and Scusset Creek is the place, which, for more than a century, has been thought of as proper to be cut through, to form a communication by a navigable canal, from Barnstable Bay to Buzzard's Bay. Prince, 126. Belknap Biog. ii. 314. many 1623. tuwamet,' Pecksuot,' another Indian, and a youth of eighteen, brother of Wittuwamet, and about as of his own men, were in the same room, he gave a signal to his men; the door was instantly shut; and, snatching the knife of Pecksuot from his neck, he killed him with it, after a violent struggle; his party killed Wittuwamet, and the other Indian; and hung the youth. Procceding to another place, Standish killed an Indian; and afterward had a skirmish with a party of Indians, which he put to flight. Weston's men also killed two Indians. Standish, with that generosity, which characterises true bravery, released the Indian women, without taking their beaver coats, or allowing the least incivility to be offered them. The English settlers now abandoned Wessagusset ; and their plantation was thus broken up, within a year after its commencement. Standish, having supplied them with corn, and conducted them safely out of Massachusetts Bay in a small ship of their own, returned to Plymouth, bringing the head of Wittuwamet, which he set up on the fort. This sudden and unexpected execution so terrified the other natives, who had intended to join the Massachusetts in the conspiracy, that they forsook their houses, and fled to swamps and desert places, where they contracted diseases, which proved mortal to many of them; among whom were Canacum, sachem of Manomet; Aspinet, sachem of Nauset; and lanough, sachem of Mattachiest. Wesgus doned by the Eng set aban lish. I A chief of the Massachusetts, said to be a notable insulting Indian." Prince, 128. 2 "A notable Pinese, i. e. Counsellor and Warrior." Ibid. 131. Wins low says, Pecksuot had made the point of his knife as sharp as a needle, and ground the back also to an edge. Purchas, v. 1864. The natives were in the habit of wearing knives, suspended at the breast, in sheaths tied about the neck. One of these Indian sheaths, a part of the spoils in the old wars with the French and Indians, is in my possession. It is seven inches long, and terminates in a point. It is made of leather, curiously wrought with some hard but pliant substance, of various colours, and trimmed at the upper edge with a fringe with little pendant rolls of brass or some other metal. It was probably manufactured by the French. 3 Purchas, v. 1860-1865. Coll. Hist, Soc. viii. 257–263. Mather A severe drought prevailing at this time in Plym- 1623. outh, the government set apart a solemn day of humiliation and prayer; and soon after, in grateful and pious acknowledgment of the blessing of copious showers, and supplies of provisions, a day of public thanksgiving.' The first patent of Plymouth had been taken out in the name of John Pierce, in trust for the company of adventurers; but when he saw the promising state of their settlement, and the favour, which their success had obtained for them with the council for New England, he, without their knowledge, but in their name, procured another patent, of larger extent, intending to keep it for his own benefit, and hold the adventurers as his tenants, to sue and be sued at his courts. In pursuance of this design, he, in the autumn of the last year, and beginning of this, made repeated attempts to send a ship to New England; but it was forced back by storms. In the last attempt, the mariners, about the middle of February, were obliged, in a terrible storm, to cut away their main mast, and return to Portsmouth. Pierce was then on board, with one hundred and nine souls. After these successive losses, he was prevailed on by Pierce'spathe company of adventurers, to assign to them, for tent assignfive hundred pounds, the patent, which had cost him to the but fifty. The goods, with the charge of passen- adventur- ́ gers in this ship, cost the company six hundred and ers. forty pounds. Another ship was hired, to transport the passengers and goods; and it arrived at Plymouth in July, Soon after arrived a new vessel, of forty four tons, which the company had built, to remain in the country; both brought supplies for the plantation, and about sixty passengers. Magnal. book i. 11. Morton. 47. Prince, 128-132. I. Mather N. Eng. 14-16. Belknap Biog. ii. 314-327. I Purchas, v. 1866. Prince, 137, 138. 2 Morton, 50-53. Mather Magnal. book i. 12. Prince, 136-139. Neal N. Eng. i. 113, 115. Belknap Diog. ii. 234, 235. ed Plymouth |