be called by another name, viz.  New England, unto which Mr. Weston and the chiefe of them begane to incline;” Bradford leaves us in no doubt as to Weston’s attitude toward the matter itself.  It is certain that the governor, writing from memory, long afterward, fixed the time at which the Honble:  Lords had obtained “their large grante” much earlier than it could possibly have occurred, as we know the exact date of the patent for the, “Council for New England,” and that the order for its issue was not given till just as the Pilgrims left Leyden; so that they could not have known of the actual “grante” till they reached Southampton.  The essential fact, stated on this best of authority, is, that “Mr. Weston and the chiefe of them [their sponsors, i.e.  Weston and Lord Warwick, both in league with Gorges] begane to incline to Gorges’s new Council for New England.”  Such an attitude (evidently taken insidiously) meant, on Weston’s part, of necessity, no less than treachery to his associates of the Adventurers; to the (London) Virginia Company, and to the Leyden company and their allied English colonists, in the interest of Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his schemes and of the new “Council” that Gorges was organizing.  Weston’s refusal to advance “a penny” to clear the departing Pilgrims from their port charges at Southampton; his almost immediate severance of connection with both the colonists and the Adventurers; and his early association with Gorges,—­in open and disgraceful violation of all the formers’ rights in New England,—­to say nothing of his exhibition of a malevolence rarely exercised except toward those one has deeply wronged, all point to a complete and positive surrender of himself and his energies to the plot of Gorges, as a full participant, from its inception.  In his review of the Anniversary Address of Hon. Charles Francis Adams (of July 4, 1892, at Quincy), Daniel W. Baker, Esq., of Boston, says:  “The Pilgrim Fathers were influenced in their decision to come to New England by Weston, who, if not the agent of Gorges in this particular matter, was such in other matters and held intimate relations with him.”

The known facts favor the belief that Gorges’s cogitations on colonial matters—­especially as stimulated by his plottings in relation to the Leyden people—­led to his project of the grant—­and charter for the new “Council for New England,” designed and constituted to supplant, or override, all others.  It is highly probable that this grand scheme —­duly embellished by the crafty Gorges,—­being unfolded to Weston, with suggestions of great opportunities for Weston himself therein, warmed and drew him, and brought him to full and zealous cooperation in all Gorges’s plans, and that from this time, as Bradford states, he “begane to incline” toward, and to suggest to the Pilgrims, association with Gorges and the new “Council.”  Not daring openly to declare his change of allegiance and his perfidy, he undertook, apparently, at first, by suggestions,