Among the many persons of distinction who left England the ensuing year, on account of the stringent measures of the government in regard to affairs both of church and state, are found the names of Isaac Johnson, John Winthrop, Thomas Dudley, and Sir Richard Saltonstall. These gentlemen, by their persuasions, were the means of having the charter and government of the company transferred to New England. They left with fifteen hundred other persons, in a fleet of seventeen sail, Winthrop having been chosen governor under the new order of things. They arrived in safety, eleven ships at one time, and six at another; and before the conclusion of the season, commenced settlements in several places; which, at present, constitute some of the fairest towns of New England. Governor Winthrop, and a portion of the company, laid the foundation of Boston. Several most highly esteemed ministers accompanied the expedition just spoken of; Mr. Wilson, Mr. Warham, and others. These were placed over the several churches that soon began to be formed in this vicinity. The first general court of Massachusetts, was held in Boston this year, on the 19th of October, at which time many of the planters attended, and were made freemen of the colony. The winters of 1630 and 1631, were very fatal to the Massachusetts colony. Frost and sickness carried off a number, and famine at length threatened the suffering survivors. They were, however, providentially relieved by the arrival of a ship from England with provisions, the day previously to a public fast, which had been appointed on account of the alarming state of things. This circumstance turned the intended fast into a general thanksgiving. The colony continued to increase by fresh accessions of emigrants till the year 1640, up to which time, it is computed that four thousand families had arrived in New England. From this small beginning have arisen the population, power, wealth, piety, and freedom of the New England states. In the year 1633, the Plymouth colony suffered from a pestilential disease, which not only thinned their number, but, extending to the neighboring territory, swept off many of the Indians. In the same year, arrived those lights of the New England church, Mr. John Cotton, Mr. Thomas Hooker, and Mr. Samuel Stone, and that model of a magistrate, Mr. William Collier, whose services, to the Plymouth colony, were so considerable. Generally, the emigrants of this period were actuated by the same spirit of opposition to tyranny in church and state, and of love to the institutions of Christianity, which had characterized their predecessors. The men placed at the head of the new colonies were, universally, men of sterling worth of character.