about. He vacated the chair to his successor, on the spot. Still
forgetting the provisions of the charter, they declared Winthrop
elected "for the ensuing year, to begin on this present day," the 20th
of October, 1629. By the language of the charter, he could only be
elected to fill the vacancy "in the room or place" of Cradock; that
is, for the residue of the official year established by the express
provision of that instrument, namely, until the "last Wednesday in
Easter term" ensuing. All usage is in favor of this construction. The
terms of the charter are explicit; and, if persons chosen to fill
vacancies during the course of a year could thus be commissioned to
hold an entire year from the date of their election, the provision
fixing a certain day "yearly" for the choice of officers would be
utterly nullified. Whether this subsequently occurred to Winthrop and
his associates is not known; but, if it did, it was impossible for
them to act in conformity to the view now given; for, in the ensuing
"last Wednesday of Easter term," he was at sea, in mid ocean, and the
several members of the company dispersed throughout his fleet. When he
arrived in Salem, he found Endicott--who, in the records of the
company before its transfer to New England, is styled "the Governor
beyond the seas"--with his year of office not yet expired. The company
had not chosen another in his place, and his commission still held
good. It was so evident that the vote extending the term of Winthrop's
tenure to a year from the day on which he was chosen, Oct. 20, 1629,
was illegal, that when that year expired, in October, 1630, no motion
was made to proceed to a new election. In the mean time, however,
Endicott's year had expired; and, for aught that appears, there was
not, for several months, any legal governor or government at all in
the colony. When the next "last Wednesday of Easter term" came round,
on the 18th of May, 1631, Winthrop was chosen governor, as the record
says, "according to the meaning of the patent;" and all went on