Corpus Bilingüe Tomo I Vol. 1 - Archivo Abierto Institucional de la ...

LUIS GRAU
justly past unto Cap t : Robert Gorges long before, who being made Govern r of
those parts, went in person & tooke an absolute seizure, & actuall possession of y t
country, by a setled Plantation he made, in the Massachusets Bay, w ch afterwards
he left to the charge & custody of his servants & certain other undertakers & Tenants
belonging unto some of us, who were thrust out by those Intenders that had
exorbitantly Bounded their Grant from East to West through all that main Land
from Sea to Sea, being neer about three thousand Miles in length, with all riding
over y e heads of all those Lords & others that had their portions assigned unto
them in his late Maj ties presence, & w th his Highnesse approbation by lot, upon
the South coast from East to West, some eighty or one hundred leagues long. But
herewith not yet content, they laboured & obtained unknown to us a confirmation
of all this from his Maj tie , & unwitting thereof. by w ch meanes they did not
only Enlarge their first extents to the West limits spoken of, but wholly excluded
themselves from y e Public Governm t of y e Councill Authorized for those affairs,
& made y m selves a free people, & for such hold themselves at y e p r sent. Whereby
they did rend in peeces the first foundation of the Building & so framed unto
y m selves both new Lawes, and new conceits of matters of religion, and formes
of Eclesiastical & Temporal Orders & government. Punishing diverse y t would
not approve thereof, some by whipping others by burning their Houses over their
Heads & some by banishing & the like, And all this partly under other pretences,
thô indeed for no other cause save only to make y m selves absolute Masters of
y e Country, & unconscionable in y r new Lawes. So as those complaints posting
first to o r selves, y t had no sufficient meanes to redresse or give satisfaction to y e
persons aggreived, they were at last of necessity petitioners unto his Ma ie who pittying
y r cases referred y m to y e Lords, to examine y e truth thereof, & to consider of
y e meanes of reformation, who calling some of us to give acco t , 9 by w t Authority,
or by whose meanes these People were sent over, & conceiving some of us to be
guilty thereof, we were called for from o r houses farre remote in y e country at unseasonable
times to o r great charge & trouble. But as innocence is confident, so we
easily made it appear y t we had no share in y e evils com̃ itted, & wholly disclaimed
having any hand therein, humbly referring to y r Lrd ps to do w t might best sort w th
y r wisedoms who found matters in so desperate a case, as that they saw as tht they
saw [sic.] a necessity for his Ma tie to take ye whole buisnesse into his own hands,
9. Quiere decir “account”.
398