I

464 James I. Naval Expeditions, &c. of the English,

Arrival atNew Eng-land.

1620. te It was a good and honest Proposal,

M r. Prewjler (for Mr. Robinson didnot live to go thither in Person) madean Agreement with the Company, fora large Tract of Land , in the South-West Parts of New England ; Whichdone, he, and his Companions, em-barked at Delft , and failed to Southamp-ton , where they met with another Ship,which went with them. This Ship hadseveral Disienters on Board, who beingtired out, with the Persecutions theymet with, on Account of their Non-conformity, were resolved to accom-pany them.

They arrived at Cape Cod, the mostremarkable Point of New England, inthe Beginning of November. ( b ) Theycame to an Anchor in the Bay, andfound it very good and commodious,capable of entertaining a ThousandSail, and giving sufficient Recruits ofWood and Water.

Being now come on the Coast theyintended to postefs, they resolved ona Form of Government, before theylanded, and signed an Instrument, asthe Foundation of it: By this Instru-ment, they declared themselves; " To" be Subjects of the Crown of England,“ joining in a Body Politick, and fo-" lemnly engaging Submission and O-" bedience to the Laws, that

,c should, from Time to Time, be" made for the Good of the Colony.”This was done, the eleventh of Novem-ber ; After which, they chose Mr .JohnCarver to be their Governour.

Their Business now was to makesome Discovery of the Country, andfind out a convenient Place to feat them-selves in. In Order to this, they madeseveral Attempts, byCompanies sent outfor that Purpose : And having a goodAccount of the Country from these,the Company went altogether to makea Judgment of it, and to come to theirThe Adven- Resolutions about a Place to settleturers pitch in. On the twenty-third of December,upon their they pitched upon a Spot, on the mainGround: Land, a high Ground, where there was

a great deal of Land cleared, that hadbeen used to Corn, and was well wa-tered with Springs and Brooks. Therewas also hear it a good Harbour forShippings, ind other Conveniences suf-ficient to encourage a Settlement there.This Harbour was a Bay, larger thanCape Cod, and so near to it, that froma Hill adjacent, where they proposedto build their Fort, it was to be seen.In this Bay were two fine Islands, Rhode-and Elizabeth Islands. Here then theywent to Building as fast as they could,dividing themselves into nineteen Fami-lies, that the fewer Houses might serve,and in three or four Months Space theFoundations of a Town appeared.

About this Place they found no Peo-ple ; But were told by an Indian, whocame to them from the next Part whichwas inhabited, that the Natives therehad all died lately of a Plague. ThisSavage brought some of the neighbour-ing People to them, with whom theyconcluded Peace and Amity.

They had yet no Authority fromEngland, to confirm them in their Pos-sessions ; This Place being too far to theNorthward of that they had treated for.And ’till they were empowered to pro-ceed legally, by Charter from the King,they agreed among themselves to chuseRulers, who were, as near as possible,to govern them by the Laws of Eng-land.

The following Year, this new Colo-ny was re-insorced with five and thirtyMen from England, and supplied withProvisions and Necessaries, and calledNew Plymouth, in New England. AWar soon breaking out with another' Indian Prince, the English fortified theirColony, to secure themselves against allAttempts of their Enemies. Fromhence all other Colonies were, by De-grees, sent into other Parts of the Coun-try ; And from this small Beginning itbecame the great trading Province itnow is.

King James afterwards confirmedtheir Possession by a Patent, and (re-serving the Sovereignty to the Crown

of

1620*.

And begin tobuild.

MakeFriendshipwith theNatives.

The Colonyre-inforced-

Andconfirrred by a Pa-tent.

Smith’s Gen. ( a ) Smith, whose Relation of this Settlementfhft, of Vir- ag rees pretty well with what I have here collect-ginia, ed from other Authors, takes no Notice of these

first Planters of New England from Holland ; Butonly fays, some well-disposed Gentlemen, andMerchants, of London , and other Places, &?c.

(b) They designed to have fate down uponffudson-R iver ; But their Dutch Pilot had been

bribed by his Countrymen, to carry them moreto the Northward ; They themselves intendingto take Poffeffion of that Part of the Continent,which they did afterwards; And were, in the Se-quel, dispossessed by the Englijh , who call theCountry New Tork, as we shallsee, in its properPlace.