nd remained under Dutch rule the people had no voice in
the choice of those officers whose duties were more than local in
character. The governor was an appointee of the West India Company, and
responsible solely to it; though the latter was subject to a certain
amount of control from the States-General. That the people desired the
privilege of electing their general officers, is shown by a petition sent
in 1649 to the States-General from the Nine Men. A request was made in
this document for a suitable system of government, and it was accompanied
by a sketch of the methods of written proxies used by the New England
colonies in selecting their governors. On the other hand, a letter sent
two years later by the magistrates of Gravesend to the directors at
Amsterdam, stated that it would involve "ruin and destruction" to
frequently change the government by allowing the people to elect the
governor, partly on account of the numerous factions, and partly because
there were no persons in the province capable of filling the office. Nor
did the Dutch colonists possess any voice in the making of laws. There
was no regular representative assembly, although we find that there were
several emergencies when the advice of the people was asked by the
governors.[1]

[1] See "History of Elections in the American Colonies." Columbia
College Series.

CHAPTER V.

Landing of the Pilgrims--Their Abiding Faith in God's Goodness--The
Agreement Signed on the Mayflower--A Winter of Hardship--The Indians Help
the Settlers--Improved Conditions--The Colony Buys Its Freedom--Priscilla
and John Alden--Their Romantic Courtship and Marriage.

It is usual to celebrate the landing day of the Pilgrim Fathers on the
bleak shore of New Plymouth, December 11 (22) 1620, as the beginning of
New England. It was an event which richly deserves all the commemoration
in song and story and banquet-hall which it has received or ever will
receive, but the real and substantial foundation of New England was laid
about ten years later, when a numerous and well-to-do body of Puritans,
under a charter granted by the crown, formed the colony of Massachusetts
Bay. The Pilgrim Fathers were merely a handful in number, and as poor as
they were loyal and conscientious. Exiles to Holland, they declined an
offer from the Dutch West India Company to accept lands in New
Netherland. They wished to remain English, and with the aid of some
London merchants whose