Oldham also, who had been a malcontent and evil informant to parties abroad, now, to quote again the magisterial historian, "tooke occasion to open his minds to some of y^e cheefe amongst them heere, and confessed he had done them wrong both by word & deed, & writing into England; but he now saw the eminente hand of God to be with them, and his blesing upon them, which made his hart smite him, neither should those in England ever use him as an instrumente any longer against them in any thing; he also desired former things might be forgotten, and that they would looke upon him as one that desired to close with them in all things, with such like expressions. Now whether this was in hipocrisie, or out of some sudden pang of conviction (which I rather thinke), God only knows. Upon it they show all readynes to imbrace his love, and carry towards him in all frendlyness, and called him to counsell with them in all cheefe affairs, as y^e other, without any distrust at all." Thus generous and patient was the Governor and his Pilgrim comrades. They were ready to let a man make amends for his misdeeds. But very soon Bradford had opportunity to show that he had discretion as well as mercy. Lyford saw no prospect of his becoming the "spiritual" head at Plymouth, although by his encouragement some of the Merchant Adventurers in England succeeded in still keeping the Pilgrims' true pastor from coming to his own, as he desired to do, writing to them concerning his unwilling absence. They even pleaded lack of funds to transport him and Mrs. Robinson, though they could send Lyford with his numerous family. This man and Oldham secretly lapsed back into their congenial ways, and they busied themselves in efforts to stir up discontent and sedition, among those who had been generously allowed residence at Plymouth without assuming the colonial foreign obligations. There were stealthy gatherings and whisperings, which the government discovered. There was industrious writing of letters intended for English consumption. As the mail carrier sailed, the Governor and several others accompanied her in the shallop until well out, when he called for all the letters of Lyford and Oldham. The ship master, knowing the evil conduct of those men on both sides of the sea, cheerfully co-operated, finding over a score of vicious epistles, many of them bulky, and full of slanders sufficient to ruin the reputation of the Colony if believed. At night the Governor returned and nothing was said, the uneasy malcontents concluding Bradford had gone with messages of his own. Instead of this, he waited to see what their intentions were, and who were their adherents, particularly as one of the intercepted letters promised a change in church and state, and that they would bring this about soon after the ship's sailing. Therefore, mistaking the Governor's caution for timidity, without notifying him or the Elder they presumed to call a meeting of the conspirators, on a certain Sunday.