NEWS FROM HOME.

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tions were for a long time maintained, a treaty of amity and mutual aid having been very soon made. This was renewed in 1639, and again in 1662, but it was broken in 1675, by Philip, successor of Massassoit who made it.

John Carver was elected Governor of the colony for the first year. He died just after the Mayflower had sailed on

Myles Standishy

AND DISH.

her return voy.

age, and Wil. liam Bradford was chosen to

fill the vacancy. Miles Standish was the military man of the party, and achieved

great reputation by his suc

cessful deal. ings with the natives. It ap

pears that the Indians about Plymouth were in a state of decline at this time, their numbers having been weakened by disease, pestilence and war.

The colonists first heard from home in November, 1621, when the ship Fortune arrived with some thirty emigrants and a patent from the Plymouth Company,* for all efforts to obtain a charter directly from the King had been unavailing. After a few years of

*"It was dated June 1st, 1621, and is interesting as being the first grant of which we have any record, made by the great Plymouth Com

hardship the colony began to thrive and the governing power was, in 1641, transferred to the entire body of freemen, and a settlement was made with the partners in England, by which their interest in the enterprise was extinguished. It had been at first a joint stock. company, but in 1623, the lands were divided, and each man became an individual property holder. Subsequently the government was administered by a governor, a council of five (afterwards of seven) and a legislature comprising the entire male population. This organization was not given up until 1692, when Plymouth united with the colony of Massachusetts Bay.*

Meantime other efforts had been made to settle the shores of New England. The history of these attempts is a succession of records of conflicting grants, and for a long period, of inconsequent expeditions. The coast had been explored by Bartholomew Gosnold, in 1602-3, and in November, 1603, a patent was obtained by Pierre Du Gast, Sieur De Monts, including the region from the fortieth to the fortysixth degree (from the present site of Philadelphia to the site of Montreal), which he called Acadie. In 1605

pany." (Bradford's "History of Plymouth Plantation," p, 108, note by Charles Deane.)

A second charter was granted in 1622, but soon after cancelled, and a third in 1630, to the Plymouth colony, represented by "William Bradford, his heirs and associates." This last was by Bradford formerly assigned to the body of freemen, in 1641.

Before the arrival of Andros, in 1686, there were six governors of Plymouth colony: John Carver, 1620-21; William Bradford, 1621–32 1635, 1637, 1639-43, 1645-56; Edward Winslow, 1633, 1636, 1644, Thomas Prince, 1634, 1638, 1657, 1672; Josiah Winslow, 1673-80; and Thomas Hinckley, from 1681 to 1686

SUNDRY SETTLERS.

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De Monts explored as far south as Cape Cod, and claimed the country for France. A portion of this territory, extending from the Passamaquoddy River to the St. Lawrence, was granted, by the Plymouth Company, in 1621, to Sir William Alexander, Lord Stirling, a favorite of James I. Alexander ignored the French claim, and intended to interpose a colony of Scotch Presbyterians between the settlements of the French on the north and those of the Puritans to the south of him. He called the region Nova Scotia. No permanent settlement resulted from his efforts.

In 1613, Madame De Guercheville, who had come into possession of the title of De Monts to Acadie, sent out a missionary expedition, which made an attempt to settle on Mount Desert Island, but it was attacked by Captain Argall, from Virginia, and dispersed.

In 1620, King James made a division of the great grant of 1606, giving to the Plymouth Company (of England) the territory between the fortieth and fortyeighth degrees, and to the Virginia Company the portion of the original grant which lay to the south.

Sir Ferdinando Gorges was one of the leading spirits of the Plymouth Company, and in 1622, he obtained from it a grant to himself and John Mason of the territory between the Merrimac and the Kennebec, the sea and the St. Lawrence. The region was named Laconia. Under this grant settlements were begun at Dover and Portsmouth.

In 1629, this partnership was dissolved, and Mason obtained the region between the Merrimac and the Piscataqua, which he called New Hampshire, though the name was not used to any extent for nearly half a

century. In 1635 the Plymouth Company was dissolved, the members receiving patents for the portions they were entitled to. By this division the right of Gorges to the tract between the Piscataqua and the

Kennebec, then called for the first time Maine (the mainland), was confirmed.

In 1623, Captain Christopher Levett explored the coast of Maine, and built a house near the site of the present city of Portland, but did not establish any permanent settlement.