ve regions they had acquired, without the aid of more
opulent partners. These were soon found in the capital; but they
required that a new charter should be obtained from the crown,
comprehending their names, which should confirm the grant to the
council of Plymouth, and confer on the grantees the powers of
government. So seldom is man instructed by the experience of others,
that, disregarding the lessons furnished by Virginia, they likewise
required that the supreme authority should be vested in persons
residing in London. The proprietors having acceded to these
requisitions, application was made to Charles for a patent conforming
to them, which issued on the 4th day of March, 1628.

This charter incorporated the grantees by the name of "The governor
and company of Massachusetts bay in New England."

The whole executive power was vested in a governor, a deputy governor,
and eighteen assistants; to be named, in the first instance, by the
crown, and afterwards elected by the company. The governor, and seven,
or more, of the assistants, were authorised to meet in monthly courts,
for the dispatch of such business as concerned the company, or
settlement. The legislative power was vested in the body of the
proprietors, who were to assemble four times a year in person, under
the denomination of the general court; and besides electing freemen,
and the necessary officers of the company, were empowered to make
ordinances for the good of the community, and the government of the
plantation and its inhabitants; provided they should not be repugnant
to the laws of England. Their lands were to be holden in free and
common soccage; and the same temporary exemption from taxes, and from
duties on exports and imports, which had been granted to the colony of
Virginia, was accorded to them. As in the charter of Virginia, so in
this, the colonists and their descendants were declared to be entitled
to all the rights and privileges of natural born subjects.

The patent being obtained, the governor and council engaged with
ardour in the duties assigned them. To support the expenses of a fresh
embarkation, it was resolved that every person subscribing fifty
pounds, should be entitled to two hundred acres of land as the first
dividend. Five vessels sailed in May, carrying about two hundred
persons, who reached Salem in June. At that place they found Endicot,
to whom they brought a confirmation of his commission as governor. The
colony consist