Winthrop at once accepted the charge; and when he informed his son of the decision, the younger Winthrop replied: “I shall call that my country where I may most glorify God and enjoy the presence of my dearest friends. Therefore herein I submit myself to God’s will and yours, and dedicate myself to Heaven and the Company, with the whole endeavors both of mind and body. The motives for emigration are unimpeachable; and it cannot but be a prosperous action which is so well allowed by the judgment of God’s prophets, undertaken by so religious and wise worthies in Israel, and indented to God’s glory in so special a service.”[661] And now preparations for an extensive emigration were ardently pushed. The finances of the Company were put on a new basis. All contributors to the fund were _ipso facto_ entitled to a share in the profits of the colonial trade and to a grant of Massachusetts land.[662] “The outlay was distributed in such proportions that it was not burdensome in any quarter. The richer emigrants submitted to it joyfully, from public spirit; the poorer as a panacea for existing evils.”[663] Early in the spring of 1630, ten vessels were ready to weigh anchor. Richer than the argosies of the old Venetian or Genoan merchants, this fleet was freighted with the seed of a future empire; with the planters of a renovated England, secure in freedom, firm in religion; with the builders of a transatlantic Saxon state, bound to realize in its beneficent order the noblest dreams of English patriots and sages. Troops of ministering angels hovered round it to ward off danger, and God’s own benediction sealed and sanctified the daring venture. Let us descend into the little cabin of the “Arbella,” and scan the faces and take the hands—if we are worthy—of some of the most famous personages of this august Company of devout _voyageurs_. The cabin is long, and low, and dark. But ’tis lighted now, somewhat dingily, indeed, yet still sufficiently to enable us to discern a table covered with maps and legal parchments, round which are ranged a score of deeply-interested talkers.