121 



previouply obtainod by other companies that designed to adventure for 

 tish and furs elsewhere in America. The original plan of Winthrop, 

 Saltonstall, and their associates, while it embraced a s(;ttlement of 

 their domain, still provided that the controlling power should remain 

 in f^ngland. Mathew Cradock, a rich London merchant, in accord- 

 ance with this arrangement, was appointed by the patentees their first 

 governor, in the sense that the head of the Bank of England is 

 denominated "the governor" of that institution. Cradock,* subse- 

 quently, not only relinijuished his olHce volnntarily, but proposed the 

 measure of transferring the government to the actual settlers. 



The wise, magnanimous, and patient Winthrop was his successor, 

 and the first governor of the company who came to America. He 

 arrived in IG^iO, with a considerable body of colonists. Disembarking 

 at Salem, he soon removed to Charlestown, and thence crossed the river 

 to Boston, where he fixed his permanent home. These, as I under- 

 stand the subject, are the principal facts that relate to the origin of 

 Massachusetts. 



In passing from the topic, a single word more of Roger Conant. 

 His history has not been written ; it exists only in fragments. He 

 was a good man. He possessed the true test of merit, for he never 

 clamored, or even asked, for reward. In his old age, he did indeed 

 petition, that as "Budleigh," in England, was his birth-place, so 

 *'Budleigh,"f in America, might be his burial-place; but this poor 

 boon was denied to the Christian hero, who stood by and saved the 

 colony in the hour of extremity. If men would be remembered by 

 tliose who come after them, they must win battles, or acquire position 

 in the State. Roger Conant was but an humble superintendent of a 

 fishery, and of a plantation undertaken among the bare rocks of Glou- 

 cester, and is forgotten. 



William Brewster, of the Pilgrim band of Plymouth, was an accom- 

 plished scholar, and a man of distinguished talents; in Europe he was 

 engaged In diplomacy, and was an intimate friend of the minister of 

 Queen Elizabeth, who signed the death-warrant of the beautiful Mary 

 Stuart, Queen of Scotland; but in America he was simply "a ruling 

 elder in the church;" and he, too, has passed from the memory of all, 

 save the students of history. 



We are now to trace the progress of the fisheries of Massachusetts, 

 and record a serious quarrel at the outset. The circumstances, briefly 

 related, were these: The Pilgrims at Plymouth, and the merchants in 

 England who were interested with lliem, seem to have built a fishing- 

 stage and provided other accommodations at Cape Ann, in 1G24,| 



* Governor Cradock waR a nicmbor of Parliament for London in 1640. "A doscendant, 

 Griiru.1' Cni<l(K'k, was an iahiil)itiiiit of I'osloii in tiitMiiiddlfMif the lust century." — C'liron. Mass. 



t TliiK was in J()71, after tiie second division of Salem, and after tlio ineorporaticin of Hev- 

 erly, which name was ado])ted wiUiont consiiitiMy Conant and his friends. H(> pave two reasons 

 in his petition for a eiiant;e of the name; one, that the ]teo|)it> were constantly nick-named 

 "bfirirfirhi;" anil the other, that those who remained with him in tlie crisis meniioiicd in tho 

 t<?xt, as well as himself, were l)orn in " 15iidlei:,'li." lie Itiiijt the lirst house in Salem, and hia 

 son Kot,'er was the lirst white child horn there. He died in IJevt^rly, KiTil, at the aye of s'.t. 



t The coliiny of Plymouth ohiained a patent ef Ciipe Aim ahout the year Ki'Jii, and sent 

 ves.sejs ih(!re to fish. A "stage," for the uccuiumodatiou of ihcir litjherinfu, was built ut the 

 Cape in l(J24. 



