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GEORGE MORTON'S PREFACE.

who, either by purse or person or both, are agents in the same. So I take leave, and rest

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Thy friend,

Who was G. Mourt? From his Preface it is evident that he was a person in England interested in the success of the Plymouth Colony,. identifying himself with it, as appears from the expression, even beyond our expectation," having "much desired" to embark with the first colonists, and intending soon to go over and join them. It is also evident that he had familiar and friendly relations with some of them, ("these Relations coming to my hand from my both known and faithful friends,") and that he was one in whom they reposed such entire confidence as to send to him their first despatches of letters and journals.

The only individual answering to this description that I can ascertain, is George Morton, who had married a sister of Gov. Bradford, and came over to Plymouth in July, 1623, in the first ship that sailed for the Colony after this Journal was printed. He is represented in the Memorial, p. 101, as " very faithful in whatsoever public employment he was betrusted withal, and an

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G. MOURT.1

unfeigned well-willer and promoter of the common good and growth of the plantation of New Plymouth." Mourt may have been written designedly for Morton, from a disinclination on his part to have his name appear publicly in print, or it may have been a mistake of the printer, the final letters, from some flourish of the pen or otherwise, not being distinctly legible. Several other typographical errors, more important and palpable than this, occur in the Journal. It will be scen hereafter that Carver's name was printed Leaver, and Williams, by a flourish of the pen, was converted into Williamson.

Prince, p. 132, errs in saying that this Journal was published by Mourt; and his editor, p. 439, (ed. 1826,) errs in stating that Prince had only Purchas's abridgment of it. He had the entire work, on the title-page of which it is stated that it was printed for John Bellamy," who continued for at least twentyfive years from that time (1622,) to be the principal publisher of books relating to New England.

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113

2.) WIP. Edw. Southway

WM. BRADFORD.

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XXXIV

4-3

TO HIS MUCH RESPECTED FRIEND, MR. I. P.'

GOOD FRIEND,

As we cannot but account it an extraordinary blessing of God in directing our course for these parts, after we came out of our native country,- for that we had the happiness to be possessed of the comforts we receive by the benefit of one of the most pleasant, most healthful, and most fruitful parts of the world, — so must we acknowledge the same blessing to be multiplied upon our whole company, for that we obtained the honor to receive allowance and approbation of our free possession and enjoying thereof, under the authority of those thrice honored persons, The President and Council for the Affairs of New England; by whose bounty and grace, in that behalf, all of us are tied to dedicate our best service unto them, as those, under his Majesty, that we owe it unto; whose noble endea

These are probably the initials of John Pierce, in whose name their second patent was taken. See Prince, p. 204.

2 The Pilgrims, by coming so far north, had got beyond the limits of the Virginia Company, and accordingly their patent was of no value. On the return of the Mayflower in May, 1621, the merchant adventurers applied, in

their behalf, to the President and Council of New England, for a grant of the territory on which they had unintentionally settled. This, it seems, was readily accorded. The President and Council put forth in 1622, "A Brief Relation of the Discovery and Plantation of New England," which is reprinted in the Mass. Hist. Coll. xix. 1-25.

ROBERT CUSHMAN'S LETTER.

vours in these their actions the God of heaven and earth multiply to his glory and their own eternal comforts.

As for this poor Relation, I pray you to accept it as being writ by the several actors themselves,' after their plain and rude manner. Therefore doubt nothing of the truth thereof. If it be defective in any thing, it is their ignorance, that are better acquainted with planting than writing. If it satisfy those that are well affected to the business, it is all I care for. Sure I am the place we are in, and the hopes that are apparent, cannot but suffice any that will not desire more than enough. Neither is there want of

This constitutes its great value, and confers on it the highest authority. George Morton, in his Preface, alludes to the same fact. Edward Winslow, in a postscript to his "Good News from New England," printed in 1624, states that this Relation was "gathered by the inhabitants of this present plantation at Plymouth, in New England," and in the body of his work alludes to "former letters written by myself and others, which came to the press against my will and knowledge.' The Journal, too, directly and by implication, repeatedly testifies to the same point. Under Dec. 6, in mentioning their third excursion, it says, "the narrative of which discovery follows, penned by one of the company."

I do not hesitate to ascribe this Journal to Bradford and Winslow, chiefly to the former. They were among the most active and efficient leaders of the Pilgrims; and one or the other of them went on almost every expedition here recorded, and were therefore cognizant of the facts as eye-witnesses. They were also the only practised writers among them. We are not

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aware that any of the other colo-
nists were accustomed to writing;
at least none of their writings have
come down to us. Standish, though
"the best linguist among them,'
in the Indian dialects, was more
expert with the sword than the
pen; and Elder Brewster, then fifty-
six years old, was prevented by his
office, if not by his age, from going
on any of the excursions, and was
therefore not competent to write
the journal of them. Carver had
the weight of government on his
shoulders, which would leave little
time for writing; he died too in
April, five months after their arri-
val at the Cape. Allerton, Fuller,
and Hopkins, are the only other
persons likely to have had any
hand in writing the Journal; and
the part they contributed to it, if
any, would probably be confined to
furnishing the rough sketches of
such expeditions as those to Nau-
set, Namaschet, and Massachusetts,
in which Bradford and Winslow
may not have been personally en-
gaged. The style, too, seems to
correspond, in its plainness and
directness, with that of Bradford, in
his History.

115

116

ROBERT CUSHMAN'S LETTER.

aught among us but company to enjoy the blessings so plentifully bestowed upon the inhabitants that are here. While I was a writing this, I had almost forgot that I had but the recommendation of the Relation itself to your further consideration, and therefore I will end without saying more, save that I shall always

rest

Yours, in the way of friendship,

From Plymouth, in New England.

Who was R. G. At the time this Journal was sent over from Plymouth, in Dec. 1621, the only person there whose initials were R. G. was Richard Gardiner. He was one of the signers of the Compact on board the Mayflower, as will be seen hereafter. In that list it is apparent that the 41 names are, for the most part, subscribed in the order of the reputed rank of the signers. The two last, Dotey and Leister, were servants; the two next preceding, Allerton and English, were seamen ; then comes Richard Gardiner. Now it is very unlikely that such an obscure person as this, No. 37, of whom nothing is known, whose name docs not appear in the assignment of the lands in 1623, nor in the division of the cattle in 1627, and occurs no where subsequently in the records of the Colony, should be selected and deputed by the leading men in it to endorse "the recommen. dation" of their Journal. Such a person, even had he been chosen for this purpose, would not have presumed to speak of his superiors as having written their narrative "after their plain and rude manner, " and apologize for "their ignorance," by saying they were "better acquainted with planting than writing. Such language would be used only by one of their compeers.

Nor could R. G. have been

R. G.1

Richard Greene, as is suggested in Mass. Hist. Coll. xxvii. 298, 300; since Greene did not arrive at Plymouth till July, 1622, and this Relation was sent to England in Dec. 1621. See note 1 on page 236, and pages 296 and 299. . R. G. (or R. C. as I think it should be,) was Robert Cushman, their active and efficient agent, who being prevented from coming over in the Mayflower, came in Nov. 1621, in the Fortune, and returned in her the next month. Cushman brought the intelligence that a charter had been procured for them by the merchant adventurers from the President and Council of New England, "better than their former, and with less limitation." It was very natural, under these circumstances, that the leading colonists should request him to write a letter in their behalf, enclosing a copy of their Journal, to Pierce, in whose name the charter had been taken; and it was no less natural, that in writing it, he should render a deserved tribute of acknowledgment to the Company, for their "bounty and grace " in allowing them the free possession and enjoyment of the land on which they had involuntarily settled. See Prince, p. 198.

This letter of Cushman is followed in the original by Robinson's parting Letter of Advice, which has already been printed on page 91.

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