the Dutch to do so, and knowing that he and his Company would
be obnoxious to the Leyden leaders, suggested, as he admits, to Weston,
perhaps to Sandys, as the Leyden brethren's friends, that they ought to
secure them as colonists for their (London) Company;

(e) Weston was dispatched to Holland to urge the Leyden leaders to drop
the Dutch negotiations, come under English auspices, which he guaranteed,
and they, placing faith in him, and possibly in Sandys's assurances of
his (London) Virginia Company's favor, were led to put themselves
completely into the hands of Weston and the Merchant Adventurers; the
Wincob patent was cancelled and Pierces substituted;

(f) Weston, failing to lead them to Gorges's company, was next deputed,
perhaps by Gorges's secret aid, to act with full powers for the
Adventurers, in securing shipping, etc.;

(g) Having made sure of the Leyden party, and being in charge of the
shipping, Weston was practically master of the situation. He and
Cushman, who was clearly entirely innocent of the conspiracy, had the
hiring of the ship and of her officers, and at this point he and his acts
were of vital importance to Gorges's plans. To bring the plot to a
successful issue it remained only to effect the landing of the colony
upon territory north of the 41st parallel of north latitude, to take it
out of the London Company's jurisdiction, and to do this it was only
necessary to make Jones Master of the ship and to instruct him
accordingly. This, with so willing a servant of his masters, was a
matter of minutes only, the instructions were evidently given, and the
success of the plot--the theft of the MAY-FLOWER colony--was assured.

To a careful and candid student of all the facts, the proofs are
seemingly unmistakable, and the conclusion is unavoidable, that the
MAY-FLOWER Pilgrims were designedly brought to Cape Cod by Captain
Jones, and their landing in that latitude was effected, in pursuance of
a conspiracy entered into by him, not with the Dutch, but with certain
of the nobility of England; not with the purpose of keeping the planters
out of Dutch territory, but with the deliberate intent of stealing the
colony from the London Virginia Company, under whose auspices it had
organized and set sail, in the interest, and to the advantage, of its
rival Company of the "Northern Plantations."

It is noteworthy that Jones did not command the MAY-FLOWER for another
voyage, and never sailed afterward in th