season, they met with many contrary winds and fierce storms, with which their ship was shrewdly shaken, and her upper works made very leaky, and one of the main beams of the midships was bowed and cracked, which put them to some fear that she would not be able to perform the voyage; on which the principal of the seamen and passengers had serious consultation what to do, whether to return, or hold on. But the ship proving strong under water, by a screw the said beam was brought into his place again; which being done, and well secured by the carpenter, they resolved to hold on their voyage, and so after many boisterous storms in which they could bear no sail, but were forced to lie at hull many days together; after long beating at sea, they fell in with the land called Cape Cod,* the which being made, and certainly known to be it, they were not a little joyful. After some little deliberation had amongst themselves with the master of the ship, they tacked about to stand to the southward, to find some place about Hudson's river, (according to their first intentions,) for their habitations: but they had not sailed that course above half a day, before they fell amongst perilous shoals and breakers, and they were so far entangled therewith, as they conceived themselves in great danger; and the wind shrinking upon them withal, they resolved to bear up again for the cape aforesaid: the next day, by God's providence, they got into the cape harbor. Thus they arrived at Cape Cod, alias Cape James, in November, 1620, and being brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees, and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from many perils and miseries.†

Cape Cod, so called at the first by Capt. Gosnold and his company, Anno, 1602, because they took much of that fish there; and afterwards called Cape James, by Capt. Smith. The point of the cape is called Point Care, and Tucker's Terror; and by the French and Dutch, Mallacar, by reason of the perilous shoals.-M.

†They made the land November 9, and anchored in Cape Cod harbor on the 11th; on the same day they landed 15 or 16 men well armed, to procure wood and reconnoitre the place. They found neither house nor person; but laded their boat with juniper (red cedar.) — Mourt's Rel.

Nevertheless, it is to be observed, that their putting into this place was partly by reason of a storm by which they were forced in, but more especially by the frauduleney and contrivance of the aforesaid Mr. Jones, the master of the ship; for their intention, as before noted, and his engagement, was to Hudson's river; but some of the Dutch having notice of their intentions, and having thoughts about the same time of erecting a plantation there likewise, they fraudulently hired the said Jones, by delays, while they were in England, and now under pretence of the danger of the shoals, &c., to disappoint them in their going thither.* But God outshoots Satan oftentimes in his own bow; for had they gone to Hudson's river, as before expressed, it had proved very dangerous to them; for although it is a place far more commodious, and the soil more fertile, yet then abounding with a multitude of pernicious savages, whereby they would have been in great peril of their lives, and so the work of transplanting the gospel into these parts much endangered to have been hindered and retarded; but God so disposed, that the place where they afterwards settled was much depopulated by a great mortality amongst the natives, which fell out about two years before their arrival, whereby he made way for the carrying on of his good purpose in promulgating of his gospel as aforesaid.

But before we pass on, let the reader, with me, make a pause, and seriously consider this poor people's present condition, the more to be raised up to admiration of God's goodness towards them in their preservation; for being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succor. The barbarians that Paul the apostle fell amongst in his shipwreck, at the isle Melita, showed him no small kindness, Acts xxviii., but these savage barbarians, when they met with them (as after will appear),

*Of this plot between the Dutch and Mr. Jones, I have had late and certain intelligence. — M.

were readier to fill their sides full of arrows, than otherwise; and, for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country, know them to be sharp and violent, subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men? And what multitudes of them there were, they then knew not; neither could they, as it were, go up to the top of Pisgah, to view from this wilderness a more goodly country to feed their hopes; for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to heaven), they could have little solace or content in respect of any outward object, for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weather-beaten face, and the whole country full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hue; if they looked behind them, there was the mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar and gulf to separate them from all the civil parts of the world. The master of the ship and his company pressing with speed to look a place for a settlement at some near distance, for the season was such that he would not stir from thence until a safe harbor was discovered by them with their boat; yea, it was sometimes threatened, that if they would not get a place in time, that they and their goods should be turned on shore, and that the ship would leave them; the master expressing himself, that provisions spent apace, and that he would keep sufficient for himself and his company for their return. It is true indeed, that the love and affections of their brethren they left behind them in Holland were cordial and entire towards them, but they had little power to help them or themselves; what could now sustain them but the spirit of God and his grace? Ought not, and may not the children of these fathers rightly say, our fathers were Englishmen, which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voice, and looked on their adversity. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because he is good, and his mercy endureth for ever; yea, let them who have been the redeemed of the Lord, show how

he hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor, when they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in; both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them: let them therefore confess before the Lord his loving-kindness, and his wonderful works before the children of men, Psal. cvii. 1, 2, 4, 5, 8.*

OF THE FIRST PLANTERS, THEIR COMBINATION, BY ENTERING INTO A BODY POLITIC TOGETHER; WITH THEIR PROCEEDINGS IN DISCOVERY OF A PLACE FOR THEIR SETTLEMENT AND HABITATION.

BEING thus fraudulently dealt with (as you have heard), and brought so far to the northward, the season being sharp, and no hopes of their obtaining their intended port; and thereby their patent being made void and useless, as to another place: being at Cape Cod upon the eleventh day of November, 1620, it was thought meet for their more orderly carrying on of their affairs, and accordingly by mutual consent they entered into a solemn combination, as a body politic, to submit to such government and governors, laws and ordinances, as should by a general consent, from time to time, be made choice of, and assented unto. The contents whereof followeth.†

In the name of God, amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King

* Many attempts had been made to settle this rough and northern country; first by the French, who would fain account it part of Canada, and then by the English, and both from mere secular views. But such a train of crosses accompany the designs of both these nations, that they seem to give it over as not worth the planting, till a pious people of England, not allowed to worship their Maker according to his institutions only, without the mixture of human ceremonies, are spirited to attempt the settlement, that here they might enjoy a worship purely scriptural and leave the same to their posterity. New Eng. Chron. p. 98.

†This was the first foundation of the government of New Plimouth.-M.

James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the faith, etc. Having undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and the honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof, do enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names, at Cape Cod, the eleventh of November, in the reign of our sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Dom. 1620.*

"By this instrument they formed themselves into a proper democracy, and if they had gone no further, perhaps they would have done but little towards preserving order. But one great reason of this covenant seems to have been of a mere moral nature, that they might remove all scruples of inflicting necessary punishments, even capital ones, seeing all had voluntarily subjected themselves to them. They seem cautiously to have preserved as much of their natural liberty as could be consistent with the maintenance of government and order. This was rational, and every thinking man, when he quitted the state of nature, would do the same. Lord Chief-Justice Holt said, in the case of Blankard v. Galdy, that in case of an uninhabited country, found out by English subjects, all laws in force in England, are in force there, and the court agreed with him. Until they should agree upon laws suited to their peculiar circumstances, our Plymoutheans resolved to make the laws of England their rule of government; and it seems they differed much in this respect from the Massachusetts colonists, and never established any distinct code or body of laws of their own, but in such cases where the common law and the statutes of England could not well reach and afford them help in emergent difficulties, they added some particular municipal laws of their own, following the advice of Pacuvius to his neighbors of Capua, 'not to cashier their old magistrates till they could agree upon better to place in