The Mayflower And Her Log, Complete, By Azel Ames


























































































































































 -   Their contracts were with the Adventurers alone, and hence they
were not directly concerned in the contracts of the latter - Page 33
The Mayflower And Her Log, Complete, By Azel Ames - Page 33 of 178 - First - Home

Enter page number    Previous Next

Number of Words to Display Per Page: 250 500 1000

Their Contracts Were With The Adventurers Alone, And Hence They Were Not Directly Concerned In The Contracts Of The Latter, Their "Agents" Being But Co-Workers With The Adventurers (Under Their Partnership Agreements), In Finding Shipping, Collecting Moneys, Purchasing Supplies, And In Generally Promoting The Enterprise.

That they were not signing-parties to this contract, in particular, is made very certain by the suggestion of

Cushman's letter of Sunday, June 11, to the effect that he hoped that "our friends there [at Leyden] if they be quitted of the ship-hire [as then seemed certain, as the Adventurers would hire on general account] will be induced to venture [invest] the more." There had evidently been a grave fear on the part of the Leyden people that if they were ever to get away, they would have to hire the necessary ship themselves.

There is just the shadow of a doubt thrown upon the accuracy of Smith's statement as to the non-corporate status of the Adventurers, by the loose and unwieldy features which must thereby attach to their business transactions, to which it seems probable that merchants like Weston, Andrews, Beauchamp, Shirley, Pickering, Goffe, and others would object, unless the law at that time expressly limited and defined the rights and liabilities of members in such voluntary associations. Neither evidences of (primary) incorporation, or of such legal limitation, have, however, rewarded diligent search. There was evidently some more definite and corporate form of ownership in the properties and values of the Adventurers, arrived at later. A considerable reduction in the number of proprietors was effected before 1624 - in most cases by the purchase of the interests of certain ones by their associates - for we find their holdings spoken of in that year as "sixteenths," and these shares to have sometimes been attached for their owners' debts. A letter of Shirley, Brewer et als., to Bradford, Allerton et als., dated London, April 7, 1624, says: "If it had not been apparently sold, Mr. Beauchamp, who is of the company also, unto whom he [Weston] oweth a great deal more, had long ago attached it (as he did other's 16ths)," etc. It is exceedingly difficult to reconcile these unquestionable facts with the equal certainty that, at the "Composition" of the Adventurers with the Planters in 1626, there were forty-two who signed as of the Adventurers. The weight, however, of evidence and of probability must be held to support the conclusion that in June, 1620, the organization was voluntary, and that the charter-party of the MAY-FLOWER was signed - " on the one part " - by each of the enrolled Adventurers engaged in the Leyden congregation's colonization scheme. Goodwin' alone pretends to any certain knowledge of the matter, but although a veracious usually reliable writer, he is not infallible, as already shown, and could hardly have had access to the original documents, - which alone, in this case, could be relied on to prove his assertion that "Shortly articles were signed by both parties, Weston acting for the Adventurers." Not a particle of confirmatory evidence has anywhere been found in Pilgrim or contemporaneous literature to warrant this statement, after exhaustive search, and it must hence, until sustained by proof, be regarded as a personal inference rather than a verity.

Enter page number   Previous Next
Page 33 of 178
Words from 17107 to 17651 of 94513


Previous 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Next

More links: First 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 Last

Display Words Per Page: 250 500 1000

 
Africa (29)
Asia (27)
Europe (59)
North America (58)
Oceania (24)
South America (8)
 

List of Travel Books RSS Feeds

Africa Travel Books RSS Feed

Asia Travel Books RSS Feed

Europe Travel Books RSS Feed

North America Travel Books RSS Feed

Oceania Travel Books RSS Feed

South America Travel Books RSS Feed

Copyright © 2005 - 2022 Travel Books Online