He Well Knew That It
Would Be Matter Of Some Expense And Difficulty To Bring The Leyden
Congregation Into Agreement
To go to either of the Virginia grants, and
he doubtless, and with good reason, feared that his repute and
The
character and reputation of his own Company, with its past history of
failure, convict settlers, and loose living, would be repellent to these
people of "conscience." If they could be brought to the "going-point,"
by men more of their ilk, like Sir Edwin Sandys, Weston, and others, it
would then be time to see if he could not pluck the ripe fruit for
himself, - as he seems to have done.
"This advice," he says, "being hearkened unto, there were [those] that
undertook the putting it in practice [Weston and others] and it was
accordingly brought to effect," etc. Then, reciting (erroneously) the
difficulties with the SPEEDWELL, etc., he records the MAY-FLOWER'S
arrival at Cape Cod, saying, "The . . . ship with great difficulty
reached the coast of New England." He then gives a glowing, though
absurd, account of the attractions the planters found - in midwinter
- especially naming the hospitable reception of the Indians, despite the
fact of the savage attack made upon them by the Nausets at Cape Cod, and
adds: "After they had well considered the state of their affairs and
found that the authority they had from the London Company of Virginia,
could not warrant their abode in that place," which "they found so
prosperous and pleasing [sic] they hastened away their ship, with orders
to their Solicitor to deal with me to be a means they might have a grant
from the Council of New England Affairs, to settle in the place, which
was accordingly performed to their particular satisfaction and good
content of them all." One can readily imagine the crafty smile with
which Sir Ferdinando thus guilelessly recorded the complete success of
his plot. It is of interest to note how like a needle to the pole the
grand conspirator's mind flies to the fact which most appeals to him
- that they find "that the authority they had . . . could not warrant
their abode in that place." It is of like interest to observe that in
that place which he called "pleasant and prosperous" one half their own
and of the ship's company had died before they hastened the ship away,
and they had endured trial, hardships, and sorrows untellable, - although
from pluck and principle they would not abandon it. He tells us "they
hastened away their ship," and implies that it was for the chief purpose
of obtaining through him a grant of the land they occupied. While we
know that the ship did not return till the following April, - and then at
her Captain's rather than the Pilgrims' pleasure, - it is evident that
Gorges could think of events only as incident to his designs and from his
point of view. His plot had succeeded. He had the "Holland families"
upon his soil, and his willing imagination converted their sober and
deliberate action into the eager haste with which he had planned that
they should fly to him for the patent, which his cunning had - as he
purposed - rendered necessary.
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