The "Fine
Italian Hand" Of Sir Ferdinando Hence Appears At Every Stage, And In
Every Phase, Of The Leyden Movement,
From the mission of Weston to
Holland, to the landing at Cape Cod, and every movement clearly indicates
the crafty
Cunning, the skilful and brilliant manipulation, and the
dogged determination of the man.
That Weston was a most pliant and efficient tool in the hands of Gorges,
"from start to finish" of this undertaking, is certainly apparent.
Whether he was, from the outset, made fully aware of the sinister designs
of the chief conspirator, and a party to them, admits of some doubt,
though the conviction strengthens with study, that he was, from the
beginning, 'particeps criminis'. If he was ever single-minded for the
welfare of the Leyden brethren and the Adventurers, it must have been for
a very brief time at the inception of the enterprise; and circumstances
seem to forbid crediting him with honesty of purpose, even then. The
weight of evidence indicates that he both knew, and was fully enlisted
in, the entire plot of Gorges from the outset. In all its early stages
he was its most efficient promoter, and seems to have given ample proof
of his compliant zeal in its execution. His visit to the Leyden brethren
in Holland was, apparently, wholly instigated by Gorges, as the latter
complacently claims and collateral evidence proves. In his endeavor to
induce the leaders to "break off with the Dutch," their pending
negotiations for settlement at "Hudson's River," he evidently made
capital of, and traded upon, his former kindness to some of them when
they were in straits, - a most contemptible thing in itself, yet
characteristic of the man.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 128 of 340
Words from 35810 to 36092
of 94513
