George Bancroft, History of the Colonization of the United States, Vol. 1, 17th edition.

[303] to their nationality as Englishmen, and to the lan-

Chap. VIII.} 1617

guage of their line. A secret but deeply-seated love of their country led them to the generous purpose of recovering the protection of England by enlarging her dominions, and a consciousness of their worth cheered them on to make a settlement of their own. They were ‘restless’ with the desire to live once more under the government of their native land.

And whither should they go to acquire a province for King James? The fertility and wealth of Guiana had been painted in dazzling colors by the brilliant eloquence of Raleigh; but the terrors of the tropical climate, the wavering pretensions of England to the soil, and the proximity of bigoted Catholics, led them rather to look towards ‘the most northern parts of Virginia,’ hoping, under the general government of that province, ‘to live in a distinct body by themselves.’ To obtain the consent of the London company, John Carver, with Robert Cushman, in 1617, repaired to England. They took with them ‘seven articles,’ from the members of the Church at Leyden, to be submitted to the council in England for Virginia. These articles discussed the relations, which, as separatists in religion, they bore to their prince, and they adopted the theory which the admonitions of Luther and a century of persecution had developed as the common rule of plebeian sectaries on the continent of Europe. They expressed their concurrence in the creed of the Anglican Church, and a desire of spiritual communion with its members. Towards the king and all civil authority derived from him, including bishops, whose civil authority they alone recognised, they promised, as they would have done to Nero and the Roman pontifex, ‘obedience in all ’