ny, and an order was issued that
"Morton, of Mount Wolliston, should presently be sent for by process."
Two weeks later his trial was had, and he was ordered "to be set into
the bilboes," and afterwards sent prisoner to England. To defray the
charges of his transportation, his goods were seized, and "for the
many wrongs he had done the Indians" his house was burned to the
ground,[3] a sentence which, according to Morton, caused the Indians
to say that "God would not love them that burned this good man's
house."[4]

Death was still playing havoc with the immigrants at Charlestown.
Several hundred men, women, and children were crowded together in a
narrow space, and had no better protection than tents, wigwams,
booths, and log-cabins. By December two hundred of the late arrivals
had perished, and among the dead were Francis Higginson, who had taken
a leading part in establishing the church at Salem, the first in
Massachusetts.[5] The severity of the diseases was ascribed to the
lack of good water at Charlestown, and, accordingly, the settlers
there broke up into small parties and sought out different places of
settlement.

On the other side of the Charles River was a peninsula occupied by
William Blackstone, one of the companions of Robert Gorges at
Wessagusset in 1626. It was blessed with a sweet and pleasant spring,
and was one of the places now selected as a settlement. September 7,
1630, the court of assistants gave this place the name of Boston; and
at the same court Dorchester and Watertown began their career under
legislative sanction.[6] Before winter the towns scattered through
Massachusetts were eight in number--Salem, Charlestown, Dorchester,
Boston, Watertown, Roxbury, Mystic, and Lynn.[7]

October 19, 1630, a general court, the first in New England, was held
in Boston. The membership consisted of the governor, deputy, eight
assistants, and one or two others, for these were all at that time in
Massachusetts possessing the franchise of the company.[8] The former
officers were re-elected, and a resolution was adopted that "the
freemen should have the power to choose assistants when they are to be
chosen, and the assistants to choose from among themselves the
governor and his deputy." The rule implied a strong reluctance to
leave out of the board any person once elected magistrate.

From the last week in December to the middle of February, 1631, the
suffering in the colony was very great, especially among th