Part 26 (1/2)
savouring of ye place whenc it came. And indeed the many discouragements I find her,[London] togeather with ye demurrs and retirings ther,[Leyden]
had made me to say, I would give up my accounts to John Carver, & at his comeing aquainte him fully with all courses, and so leave it quite, with only ye pore cloaths on my back. But gathering up my selfe by further consideration, I resolved yet to make one triall more, and to acquainte Mr. Weston with ye fainted state of our bussines; and though he hath been much discontented at some thing amongst us of late, which hath made him often say, that save for his promise, he would not meadle at all with ye bussines any more, yet considering how farr we were plunged into maters, & how it stood both on our credits & undoing, at ye last he gathered up him selfe a litle more, & coming to me 2. hours after, he tould me he would not yet leave it. And so advising togeather we resolved to hire a s.h.i.+p, and have tooke liking of one till Monday, about 60. laste, for a greater we cannot gett, excepte it be tow great; but a fine s.h.i.+p it is.
And seeing our neer freinds ther are so streite lased, we hope to a.s.sure her without troubling them any further; and if ye s.h.i.+p fale too small, it fitteth well yt such as stumble at strawes already, may rest them ther a while, least worse blocks come in ye way ere 7. years be ended. If you had beaten this bussines so throuly a month agoe, and write to us as now you doe, we could thus have done much more conveniently. But it is as it is; I hope our freinds they, if they be quitted of ye s.h.i.+p hire, will be indusced to venture ye more. All yt I now require is yt salt and netts may ther be boughte, and for all ye rest we will here provid it; yet if that will not be, let them but stand for it a month or tow, and we will take order to pay it all. Let Mr. Reinholds tarie ther, and bring ye s.h.i.+p to Southampton. We have hired another pilote here, one Mr. Clarke, who went last year to Virginia with a s.h.i.+p of kine.
You shall here distinctly by John Turner, who I thinke shall come hence on tewsday night. I had thought to have come with him, to have answered to my complaints; but I shal lerne to pa.s.s litle for their censurs; and if I had more minde to goe & dispute & expostulate with them, then I have care of this waightie bussines, I were like them who live by clamours & jangling. But neither my mind nor my body is at libertie to doe much, for I am fettered with bussines, and had rather study to be quiet, then to make answer to their exceptions. If men be set on it, let them beat ye eair; I hope such as are my sinceire freinds will not thinke but I can give some reason of my actions. But of your mistaking aboute ye mater, & other things tending to this bussines, I shall nexte informe you more distinctly. Mean s.p.a.ce entreate our freinds not to be too bussie in answering matters, before they know them. If I doe such things as I canot give reasons for, it is like you have sett a foole aboute your bussines, and so turne ye reproofe to your selves, & send an other, and let me come againe to my Combes. But setting aside my naturall infirmities, I refuse not to have my cause judged, both of G.o.d, & all indifferent men; and when we come togeather I shall give accounte of my actions hear. The Lord, who judgeth justly without respect of persons, see into ye equitie of my cause, and give us quiet, peacable, and patient minds, in all these turmoils, and sanctifie unto us all crosses whatsoever. And so I take my leave of you all, in all love & affection.
I hope we shall gett all hear ready in 14. days.
Your pore brother, ROBART CUSHMAN.
[London]
June 11. 1620 [O.S.].
VI A LETTER OF MR. JOHN ROBINSON TO JOHN CARVER, JUNE 14. (N.S.), 1620
[Professor Arber (”The Story of the Pilgrim Fathers,” p. 317) has apparently failed to notice that in the original MS. of Bradford, this letter is dated ”June 14, 1620, N. Stile,” which would make it June 4., O.S., while Arber dates it ”14/24 June,” which is manifestly incorrect. A typographical error in Arber (p. 317) directs the letter to ”Leyden” instead of to London. ]
June 14. 1620. N. Stile.
My dear freind & brother, whom with yours I alwaise remember in my best affection, and whose wellfare I shall never cease to comend to G.o.d by my best & most earnest praires. You doe throwly understand by our generall letters ye estate of things hear, which indeed is very pitifull; espetialy by wante of s.h.i.+ping, and not seeing means lickly, much less certaine, of having it provided; though withall ther be great want of money & means to doe needfull things. Mr. [Edward] Pickering, you know before this, will not defray a peny hear; though Robert Cushman presumed of I know not how many 100li. from him, & I know not whom. Yet it seems strange yt we should be put to him to receive both his & his partners [William Greene's] adventer, and yet Mr. Weston write unto him, yt in regard of it, he hath drawne upon him a 100li. more. But they is in this some misterie, as indeed it seems ther is in ye whole course. Besids, wheras diverse are to pay in some parts of their moneys yet behinde, they refuse to doe it, till they see s.h.i.+ping provided, or a course taken for it. Neither doe I thinke is ther a man hear would pay anything, if he had againe his money in his purse. You know right well we depended on Mr. Weston alone, and upon such means as he would procure for this commone bussines; and when we had in hand an other course with ye Dutchmen, broke it of at his motion, and upon ye conditions by him shortly after propounded. He did this in his love I know, but things appeare not answerable from him hitherto. That he should have first have put in his moneys, is thought by many to have been but fitt, but yt I can well excuse, he being a marchante and haveing use of it to his benefite; whereas others, if it had been in their hands, would have consumed it.
But yt he should not but have had either s.h.i.+pping ready before this time, or at least certaine means, and course, and ye same knowne to us for it, or have taken other order otherwise, cannot in my conscience be excused.
I have heard yt wen he hath been moved in the bussines, he hath put it of from him selfe, and referred it to ye others; and would come to Georg Morton [in London] & enquire news of him aboute things, as if he had scarce been some accessarie unto it. Wlether he hath failed of some helps from others which he expected, and so be not well able to goe through with things, or whether he hath feared least you should be ready too soone & so encrease ye charge of s.h.i.+ping above yt is meete, or whether he hath thought by withhoulding to put us upon straits, thinking yt therby Mr. Brewer and Mr. Pickering would be drawne by importunitie to doe more, or what other misterie is in it, we know not; but sure we are yt things are not answerable to such an occasion. Mr. Weston maks himselfe mery with our endeavors aboute buying a s.h.i.+p, [the SPEEDWELL], but we have done nothing in this but with good reason, as I am perswaded, nor yet that I know in any thing els, save in those tow: ye one, that we imployed Robart Cushman, who is known (though a good man & of spetiall abilities in his kind, yet) most unfitt to deale for other by reason of his singularitie, and too great indifferancie for any conditions, and for (to speak truly) that we have had nothing from him but termes & presumptions.
The other, yt we have so much relyed, by implicite faith as it were, upon generalities, without seeing ye perticuler course & means for so waghtie an affaire set down unto us. For s.h.i.+ping, Mr. Weston, it should seeme, is set upon hireing, which yet I wish he may presently effecte; but I see litle hope of help from hence if so it be. Of Mr. [Thomas] Brewer, you know what to expecte. I doe not thinke Mr. Pickering will ingage, excepte in ye course of buying [s.h.i.+ps?] in former letters specified.
Aboute ye conditions, you have our reason for our judgments of what is agreed. And let this spetially be borne in minde, yt the greatest pane of ye Collonie is like to be imployed constantly, not upon dressing they perticuler land & building houses, but upon fis.h.i.+ng, trading, &c. So as ye land & house will be but a trifell for advantage to ye adventurers, and yet the devission of it a great discouragmente to ye planters, who would with singuler care make it comfortable with borowed houres from their sleep. The same consideration of comone imploymente constantly by the most is a good reason not to have ye 2, daies in a week denyed ye few planters for private use, which yet is subordinate to comone good.
Consider also how much unfite that you & your liks must serve a new prentis.h.i.+pe of 7. years, and not a daies freedome from taske. Send me word what persons are to goe, who of usefull faculties, & how many, & perticulerly of every thing. I know you wante not a minde. I am sorie you have not been at London all this while, but ye provissions could not want you. Time will suffer me to write no more; fare, you & yours well allways in ye Lord, in whom I rest.
Yours to use, JOHN' ROBINSON.
VII THE LETTER OF THE PLANTERS TO THE MERCHANT ADVENTURERS (FROM SOUTHAMPTON)
Aug. 3. Ano. 1620.
Beloved freinds, sory we are that ther should be occasion of writing at all unto you, partly because we ever expected to see ye most of you hear, but espetially because ther should any difference at all be conceived betweene us. But seing it faleth out that we cannot conferr togeather, we thinke it meete (though brefly) to show you ye just cause & reason of our differing from those articles last made by Robert Cushman, without our comission or knowledg.
And though he might propound good ends to himselfe, yet it no way justifies his doing it. Our maine diference is in ye 5.& 9. article, concerning ye deviding or holding of house and lands; the injoying whereof some of your selves well know, was one spetiall motive, amongst many other, to provoke us to goe. This was thought so reasonable, yt when ye greatest of you in adventure (whom we have much cause to respecte), when he propounded conditions to us freely of his owne accorde, he set this downe for one; a coppy wherof we have sent unto you, with some additions then added by us; which being liked on both sids, and a day set for ye paimente of moneys, those in Holland paid in theirs.
After yt, Robert Cushman, Mr. [John] Pierce, & Mr. [Christopher] Martine, brought them into a better forme, & write them in a booke now extante; and upon Robarts [Cushmans] shewing them and delivering Mr. [William]
Mullins a coppy thereof under his hand (which we have), he payed in his money. And we of Holland had never seen other before our coming to Hamton, but only as one got for him selfe a private coppy of them; upon sight wherof we manyfested uter dislike, but had put of our estats & were ready to come, and therfore was too late to rejecte ye vioage. Judge therefore we beseech you indifferently of things, and if a faulte have bene comited, lay it where it is, & not upon us, who have more cause to stand for ye one, then you have for ye other. We never gave Robart Cushman comission to make any one article for us, but only sent him to receive moneys upon articles before agreed on, and to further ye provissions till John Carver came, and to a.s.siste him in it. Yet since you conceive your selves wronged as well as we, we thought meete to add a branch to ye end of our 9. article, as will allmost heale that wound of it selfe, which you conceive to be in it. But that it may appeare to all men yt we are not lovers of our selves only, but desire also ye good & inriching of our freinds who have adventured your moneys with our persons, we have added our last article to ye rest, promising you againe by leters in ye behalfe of the whole company, that if large profits should not arise within ye 7. years, yt we will continue togeather longer with you, if ye Lord give a blessing.--[Bradford adds in a note, ”It is well for them yt this was not accepted.”]--This we hope is sufficente to satisfie any in this case, espetialy freinds, since we are asured yt if the whole charge was devided into 4. parts, 3. of them will not stand upon it, nether doe regarde it, &c. We are in shuch a streate at presente, as we are forced to sell away 60li. worth of our provissions to cleare ye Haven [Southampton] & withall put our selves upon great extremities, scarce haveing any b.u.t.ter, no oyle, not a sole to mend a shoe, nor every man a sword to his side, wanting many muskets, much armoure, etc. And yet we are willing to expose our selves to shuch eminente dangers as are like to insue, & trust to ye good providence of G.o.d, rather then his name & truth should be evill spoken of for us. Thus saluting all of you in love, and beseeching ye Lord to give a blesing to our endeavore, and keepe all our harts in ye bonds of peace & love, we take leave & rest, Yours, &c
Aug. 3. 1620.
[”It was subscribed with many names of ye cheefest of ye company.”
--Bradford, ”Historie,” Ma.s.s. ed. p. 77.]