"All which," says Morton,--and some other annalists agree with him,--"he liked very well, and withal, at the same time, acknowledged himself content to become the subject of our Sovereign Lord the King aforesaid, his heirs and successors; and gave unto him all the lands adjacent, to him and his heirs forever." This acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the King, if it really made a part of the agreement, certainly deserved a place as a distinct article; being by far more important than all the others. The grant of land,--and this grant constituted the entire title of the Plymouth settlers, as against the natives,--is confirmed by subsequent transactions, and especially by the acts of Massasoit. But his submission to the authority of King James, as a subject to a sovereign, is more doubtful; nor does it by any means accord with the seventh express article. That the treaty itself also was not preserved precisely as it was probably understood, may be inferred from the variations of it given by Mourt in his Relation. According to _his_ sixth article, for example, a just reciprocity is maintained, by providing that the English should leave their _pieces_ behind them in their interviews with the Indians. This distinction between alliance and subjection,--at least in the mind of one of the parties,--seems to have been too much overlooked. Such, however, was the first treaty made with the Indians of New England,--a passage in its history of great interest. It was made upon peaceable and honorable terms. The Indians came in voluntarily to make it; and though they received as a consideration for the immense territory granted at the time, only a pair of knives, and a copper chain with a jewel in it for the grand sachem; and a knife, a jewel to hang in his ear, a pot of strong water, a good quantity of biscuit, and some butter for Quadepinah, [FN]--yet were all parties satisfied with the substance as they were gratified by the ceremonies of the agreement. It is pleasing to learn from history, that this simple negotiation was remembered and adhered to on both sides for the unparalleled term of half a century; nor was Massasoit, or any of the Wampanoags during his lifetime, convicted by the harshest revilers of his race, of having violated, or attempted to violate, any of its plain, just, and deliberate provisions. * * * * * [FN] So minutely is the transaction described in _The Journal of a Plantation at Plymouth,_ preserved by Purchas, and re-published among the Historical Collections of Massachusetts. There is reason to think that Winslow was the author.