87 



hope from the colonists at Jamestown, who although their 

 countrymen, bore them a hatred more intense than even for- 

 eigners . Tliere was therefore nothing on the whole to regret 

 in this deviation from their original plan, and whatever may 

 have been the motives of man in accomplishing it, Providence 

 liad evidently designed it should result in their permanent ad- 

 vantage. Alone therefore, and without sympathy or human 

 aid to assist them in their weary struggle for existence, they 

 at once commenced the establishment of a self constituted gov- 

 ernment. Here this little colony nestled, conciliating the 

 neighboring savages, and making almost superhuman eiforts for 

 its perpetuity, until at length, in 1624, its success was so fa- 

 vorably represented in the West of England, that the Rev. 

 John White, a distinguished minister in Dorchester, prevailed 

 upon some merchants and others to undertake another settle- 

 ment in New-England. Having provided a common stock, 

 they sent over several persons to begin a plantation at Cape 

 Ann, vy^here they were joined by some disaffected individuals 

 from the Plymouth settlement. This project was soon aban- 

 doned as unprofitable, and a portion of the settlers removed 

 westward within the territory of Naumkeag, which extended 

 to. and included, within its limits, what is now Manchester. 

 By the intercession and great exertions of Mr. White, the pro- 

 ject of a settlement in this neighborhood was not altogether 

 relinquished, and a new company was soon afterward formed, 

 composed, like that of Plymouth, of the persecuted non-confor- 

 mists of the Episcopal church. 



Since the departure of the Plymouth Pilgrims, a new mon- 

 arch sat upon the throne of England. But the Puritans gain- 

 ed nothing by the exchange. Charles inherited all his father's 

 prejudices and animosity against this proscribed sect, and was 

 troubled with no very nice scruples of conscience. According 

 to Macaulay he " liked a Papist better than a Puritan." The 

 court of High Commission, released by him from all control 

 of the Parliament, and guided only by the will of the Primate, 

 was enabled to fine, imprison, pillory, and mutilate without re- 

 straint. As a natural consequence of such unmitigated perse- 

 cution, the tide of emigration towards the New-England colo- 

 nies now set in so strong that it almost threatened to depopu- 

 late the mother country, and the King and Council, in their 

 endeavors to arrest it, laid an embargo upon all vessels bound 

 to New England. But true to the promptings of religious 

 liberty, and despite the adverse gales of royal displeasure, our 

 puritan ancestors continued to leave England and seek an asy- 



