England. His mission, however, bore no fruit, owing to the paralysis of public business by the plague, and he returned to Plymouth in the following April. The merchant adventurers finally, in November 1626, surrendered their claims in consideration of the payment of 1,800l., in nine annual instalments. Eight leading planters, of whom Standish was one, with four London friends, undertook to meet the first six payments, in return for a monopoly of the foreign trade.
The colonists were troubled by independent adventurers, attracted by their success, who intercepted their trade and prejudiced them with the Indians. In 1628 Standish arrested one of these, named Thomas Morton (d. 1646) [q. v.], who had established himself at Merry Mount, now Quincy, near Boston, where he sold guns and ammunition to the Indians, and instructed them in their use, contrary to the provisions of the royal charter. Standish, it is said, wished to have him shot, but was overruled by the governor, William Bradford (1590–1657) [q. v.], who sent Morton to England for trial (cf. Motley's Merry Mount, a romance).
Besides their troubles with their own countrymen and the Indians, the colonists were harassed by the French, who were jealous of their growing trade. In 1635 a fort which Standish's friends had established on the Penobscot for trading purposes was seized by the Seigneur d'Aulnay de Charnisé, a Canadian landed proprietor, and Standish was sent to dispossess him. In this he failed, owing chiefly to the misconduct of the captain of the vessel conveying him and his men, who fired away all his ammunition at long range. This was the last enterprise of importance undertaken by Standish. The fortunes of the colony grew more peaceful, and he passed the remainder of his days on his estate at Duxbury, on the north side of Plymouth Bay, whither he removed in 1632. In 1643 he commanded the force sent against the Narragansetts, and in 1653 he headed that raised to assail the Dutch; but in neither case was there actual conflict. In addition to his military office, Standish frequently filled the post of assistant to the governor, and from 1644 to 1649 he was treasurer to the colony. He died at Duxbury on 3 Oct. 1656. He was twice married. His first wife, Rose, died on 29 Jan. 1620–1. By his second wife, Barbara, who came out in 1623, and who by tradition was a younger sister of Rose, he had four surviving sons: Alexander, Miles, Josiah, and Charles, and a daughter, Lora. In religious matters Standish never belonged to the pilgrim communion, but the extraordinary conjecture that he was a Roman catholic is probably without warrant (Mag. of American Hist. i. 390).
No authentic portrait of Standish exists (Massachusetts Hist. Soc. Proceedings, xi. 478; Winsor, Memorial Hist. of Boston, i. 65). In person he was slender and of small stature, but strong and well knit. In character he was essentially a man of action, excitable and passionate, prompt in coming to a determination and unperturbed by sudden danger. Brought into constant contact with the most treacherous race in the world, he went among them alone or almost unguarded, and, though frequent plots were formed to destroy him, the respect inspired by his magnanimity preserved him in every case. The importance of his battles must not be gauged by the number of combatants. The success of the settlement at New Plymouth decided which of the European races should be dominant in North America. Standish was the most vivid and interesting of the ‘pilgrim fathers,’ and romance has always attached itself to his name. In modern times the legend of the ‘Courtship of Miles Standish’ has been versified by Longfellow. Although the poet's treatment of the subject is always interesting and frequently inspiring, he has marred his poem by inaccuracies and anachronisms which detract from its vraisemblance. Lowell has also celebrated the memory of the ‘pilgrim father’ in his ‘Interview with Miles Standish.’
The estate of Duxbury is still in the possession of his descendants. The present house was built by his son Alexander. In 1872 the corner-stone of the Standish memorial was laid at Duxbury. It consists of a granite shaft rising one hundred and ten feet, surmounted by a bronze figure of Standish.
