So Cradock, with generous self-abnegation, himself proposed the transfer of the charter to such of the freemen of the company as should themselves inhabit the colony.[655] A heated debate ensued. Both _pros_ and _cons_ had their say, and the formers of the project strengthened their argument by pointing to such men as Winthrop, Saltonstall, Johnson, Dudley, and Humphrey, all of whom had recently bound themselves at Cambridge to sail for Massachusetts Bay, accompanied by their families, provided the colonial government should be transferred to the Plantation.[656] This decided the company, and a general assent was given to the alienation of the patent.[657] Then came an obstacle. The crown lawyers said, “It is not so nominated in the bond; you have no right, standing under this corporation charter in London, to transfer your power.” Our fathers replied: “King Charles has granted us certain authority, but our charter does not bind us to exercise that authority in England; locality is not specified. We choose to vote that emigrants shall be freemen, and to summon a meeting beyond the Atlantic. You say this was not contemplated; but where is it forbidden? If you can quibble, so can we. If we have not the right, we will create it. In the light of our success lawyers may read the reason and hunt up a precedent fifty years hence.” It was thus that Puritanism, strong in faith, bold in emergencies, met the exigencies and trod down the difficulties of its epoch. “The corporation did not sell itself—it emigrated. The patent could not be assigned; but the patentees could call a legal meeting in the metropolis, or on board ship in an English harbor; and why not in the port of Salem as well as at the Isle of Wight? in a cabin or under a tree at Charlestown as well as at the house of Goffe in London?” Thus it was that a unique and daring construction transformed a trading company into a municipality—a change fraught with momentous consequences. Before this decision all hesitation fell. The Cambridge friends announced their readiness to sail, and the old authorities of the Company at once resigned, in order that their offices might be filled by the chief emigrants.[658] John Winthrop was elected governor; John Humphrey was appointed deputy; and these were reinforced by eighteen assistants.[659] Just on the eve of embarkation, Humphrey’s place was supplied by Thomas Dudley, he being for a space unavoidably detained in England.[660]