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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Give Me Liberty, by Thomas J. Wertenbaker
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Give Me Liberty
+ The Struggle for Self-Government in Virginia
+
+Author: Thomas J. Wertenbaker
+
+Release Date: November 27, 2010 [EBook #34455]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIVE ME LIBERTY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Patrick Hopkins and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+1. This text has a Rule 6 copyright clearance. Research has indicated
+the copyright on this book was not renewed.
+
+2. The position of some illustrations has been changed to facilitate
+reading flow.
+
+3. Footnotes are located at the end of each chapter.
+
+4. In general, geographical references, spelling, hyphenation, and
+capitalization have been retained as in the original publication.
+
+5. Minor typographical errors--usually periods, commas and hyphens--have
+been corrected without note.
+
+6. Significant typographical errors have been corrected. A full list of
+these corrections is available in the Transcriber's Corrections section
+at the end of the book.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+ GIVE ME LIBERTY
+
+
+
+
+ MEMOIRS OF THE
+
+ AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
+
+ _held at Philadelphia
+ for Promoting Useful Knowledge_
+
+ VOLUME 46
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: Thomas Jefferson. Portrait by Thomas
+ Sully in the Hall of the American Philosophical
+ Society.]
+
+
+
+
+ GIVE ME LIBERTY
+
+ _The Struggle for Self-Government
+ in
+ Virginia_
+
+
+ THOMAS J. WERTENBAKER
+ _Edwards Professor Emeritus of American History
+ Princeton University_
+
+
+ THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
+ INDEPENDENCE SQUARE
+ PHILADELPHIA
+ 1958
+
+
+
+
+ COPYRIGHT 1958 BY THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
+
+
+ _Library of Congress Catalog_
+ _Card Number: 58-9093_
+
+
+ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+ BY J. H. FURST COMPANY, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
+
+
+
+
+_Preface_
+
+
+None of the American colonies "will ever submit to the loss of those
+valuable rights and privileges which are essential to the happiness of
+every free state," George Washington wrote in October, 1774. Perhaps the
+British officer to whom he made this statement was startled to have him
+speak of the colonies as free. Yet at the time the American people were
+the freest in the world, freer even than the people of England. It was
+to defend this freedom, not to gain new rights, that the colonists
+rebelled against Great Britain. For decades they had been governing
+themselves, so when the British Ministry tried to govern them from
+London, they would not submit.
+
+To understand what was in the minds and hearts of George Washington,
+Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and the other patriots, it is necessary to
+know how the colonies became self-governing. One must follow the
+political battles and hard-earned victories of their fathers, and
+grandfathers, and great-grandfathers in the colonial Assemblies.
+
+This volume treats of the struggle for self-government in Virginia from
+the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the Declaration of Independence.
+The story of the gradual lessening of the King's prerogative, of the
+weakening of the power of the Governor, of the emergence of the Assembly
+as the ruling body could be paralleled in other colonies. But it is of
+especial importance in Virginia, where was held the first representative
+Assembly in the New World, and which gave so many leaders to the
+American Revolution.
+
+I wish to express my appreciation to my Alma Mater, the University of
+Virginia, for its award of a Thomas Jefferson Research Fellowship,
+without which this volume would not have been written.
+
+ THOMAS J. WERTENBAKER.
+
+ Princeton, N. J.
+ April 1, 1957.
+
+
+
+
+_Contents_
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ I. The Cornerstone of Liberty 1
+
+ II. Self-government 17
+
+ III. We Prefer Another Governor 36
+
+ IV. Royalty Overthrown 54
+
+ V. A Bacon! A Bacon! 76
+
+ VI. Reconstruction and Despotism 97
+
+ VII. The Glorious Revolution 122
+
+ VIII. The Virginia Hitler 133
+
+ IX. The Virginia House of Lords 151
+
+ X. Spotswood 160
+
+ XI. Peace and Prosperity 177
+
+ XII. At Stake--Liberty and a Continent 194
+
+ XIII. The Widening Rift 209
+
+ XIV. Independence 232
+
+ Essay on Sources 258
+
+ Index 265
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations
+
+
+ Thomas Jefferson. Portrait by Thomas Sully in the Hall
+ of the American Philosophical Society _frontispiece_
+
+ The Old Capitol at Williamsburg, showing the north
+ elevation which is a duplicate of the historic Virginia
+ Capitol originally completed in 1705. Courtesy of
+ Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. _facing page_ 134
+
+ The House of Burgesses in the Old Capitol at Williamsburg.
+ Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. 134
+
+ Governor Dinwiddie. Portrait in the National Portrait
+ Gallery of London 196
+
+ The General Court in the Old Capitol at Williamsburg.
+ Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. 196
+
+ Lord Dunmore. From the copy in the possession of the
+ Virginia Historical Society of the original portrait by
+ Sir Joshua Reynolds 238
+
+ The Governor's Palace, Williamsburg. Courtesy of Colonial
+ Williamsburg, Inc. 238
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE CORNERSTONE OF LIBERTY
+
+
+Three little vessels--the _Susan Constant_, the _Godspeed_, and the
+_Discovery_--left England in December, 1606, under the command of
+Captain Christopher Newport, to found a colony on the distant shores of
+Virginia. Two decades earlier Sir Walter Raleigh had sent out a group of
+settlers to what is now North Carolina, and they had disappeared
+mysteriously. What had happened to them? men asked. Had they been killed
+by the Indians? Had they fallen victims to disease? Had they starved?
+Those who shared in this new venture must have wondered if a like fate
+awaited them in this strange new land.
+
+But their spirits rose when they entered Chesapeake Bay. Landing parties
+were delighted with the "fair meddowes ... full of flowers of divers
+kinds and colors," the "goodly tall trees," and the streams of fresh
+water. It was a smiling country which seemed to bid them welcome. But
+when they entered the mouth of a broad river, which they called the
+James in honor of their King, and made their way up into the country,
+new doubts must have assailed them. They knew that savages lived in the
+dense forests which lined both banks; might not strange wild beasts live
+there also? Might there not be fatal diseases unknown in Europe?
+
+Possibly they wondered what type of government Englishmen would live
+under here. In the charter granted the Virginia Company of London in
+1606 it was promised that they should "enjoy all the liberties,
+franchises, and immunities" of Englishmen, "as if they had been abiding"
+in England. Even without this promise they would have taken it for
+granted that they were not surrendering the freedom derived from their
+ancestors. This was the view taken six decades later by Francis Moryson
+and Thomas Ludwell, agents for the colony. If the King planted a colony
+of Englishmen, they and their heirs ought by law to enjoy the "same
+liberties and privileges as Englishmen in England." After all, the
+colony would be but "an extension or dilation of the realm of
+England."[1]
+
+The men who came to Virginia had, in the mother country, participated in
+the government through representatives of their own choosing, so they
+insisted upon this right in their new home. They claimed, also, the
+habeas corpus, jury trial, and freedom from taxation save by their own
+consent. In England not even the King could take a man's money legally
+until it had been granted by the House of Commons. Upon this recognized
+principle English liberty was chiefly based; upon its acceptance in
+America depended the future of liberty there.
+
+Yet when the first band of settlers stepped ashore at Jamestown, liberty
+in England still hung in the balance. At the conclusion of the Wars of
+the Roses the King was almost absolute. The people were desperately
+tired of anarchy; they were tired also of the oppressions of the barons.
+So long as the King put an end to both they had no desire to limit his
+power. The Commons ate out of his hand. Henry VIII might tear the Church
+from the Roman see, Mary might restore it, Edward might once more break
+with Rome--in each case the people submitted. Those who dared resist
+faced the headsman's block or the pyre.
+
+But in time the memory of the Wars of the Roses grew dim. And the growth
+of the artisan class, the development of trade, the birth of a great
+literature, the work of the universities, the expansion of world
+horizons fired the imagination and awakened men to their own
+potentialities. Self-government is a tender plant which withers in the
+soil of poverty and ignorance, and it was the advance of prosperity and
+enlightenment under the Tudors which made possible the flowering of
+liberty under the Stuarts.
+
+James I had been on the throne only three years when the little town
+which bore his name was founded. James has been called the wisest fool
+in Christendom; but he was neither wise nor a fool. His conception of
+the King's office was logical and simple. It was his function to rule;
+the duty of the people was to obey. If they did not, like bad children
+they should be scolded and perhaps punished, since it was not only
+illegal but wicked to question the King's authority. "As to dispute what
+God may do is blasphemy, so it is sedition in subjects to dispute what a
+King may do," he said. Parliament he considered a nuisance. "I am
+surprised that my ancestors should have permitted such an institution to
+come into existence," he said. "I am a stranger and found it here when
+I arrived, so that I am obliged to put up with what I cannot get rid
+of."[2]
+
+The House of Commons were not inclined to accept the King's theory of
+the relations between himself and Parliament. When James told them that
+they had no privileges save by royal grace, they replied that he had
+been misinformed. When in answer to James' demand that they refrain from
+meddling in foreign affairs, they entered on their journal a
+protestation of their right of free speech, he was so enraged that he
+sent for the book and with his own hands tore out the page.
+
+The Commons considered it a precious privilege to be "governed by
+certain rules of law ... and not by uncertain or arbitrary form of
+government." There is a general fear among the people, they told James,
+that royal proclamations might eventually assume the nature of laws.
+Then their ancient freedom would be abridged, "if not quite taken away,"
+and "a new form of arbitrary government" brought on the realm.
+
+The conflict between King and Parliament foreshadowed the conflict
+between the Governors and the people of the colonies. The provincial
+Assemblies were not less determined to resist any infringement on their
+rights than was Parliament. And the fortunes of the contending forces in
+the mother country affected profoundly those in the colonies. Echoes of
+the First Stuart Despotism, the Civil War and Commonwealth, the
+Restoration, the Second Stuart Despotism, the Glorious Revolution, the
+laissez-faire period, and the reaction under George III reverberated in
+the colonies.
+
+But the development of self-government in America was by no means
+entirely dependent upon events in England. There were forces in the New
+World which favored democracy. The wide spaces of the frontier made men
+self-reliant and resourceful and impatient of control by a distant
+monarch, ever ready to defend old rights, quick to demand new ones.
+"People remote from the seat of government are always remarkable for
+their disobedience," wrote Governor Gooch, in 1732.[3] As the historian
+Foote has pointed out, they and "their children were republicans; in
+England they would have been styled rebels."
+
+The creating of a vast middle class in the colonies also tended toward
+democracy. The men who turned their backs on the homes of their
+ancestors to start life over again in the tobacco fields of Virginia
+were, most of them, desperately poor. Many came under terms of
+indenture. But they had, prior to the introduction of slaves in large
+numbers, every opportunity to rise. As a result there emerged a
+vigorous, intelligent, freedom-loving yeomanry, who had a profound
+influence in winning self-government.
+
+But the victory at first seemed to be with the King. When James granted
+a charter to the Virginia Company of London, he took care that it should
+include no provision for representative government. Instead he kept the
+control of the proposed colony in his own hands. There was to be a
+Council resident in England appointed by him and responsible to him.
+This body was to name another Council which was to reside in Virginia
+and administer the "Articles, Instructions, and Orders" which the King
+drew up with his own hand. In practice this body assumed administrative,
+legislative, and judicial powers, and ruled the infant colony by their
+own arbitrary will.[4]
+
+Not only was this constitution undemocratic, but it proved inefficient.
+Had the Council in England made better selections for the Council in
+Virginia, the colony would have been saved much disorder and suffering.
+But never was there a more quarrelsome set of men. The fleet had been at
+sea but a few days when Captain John Smith was accused of plotting to
+overthrow the government and murder his associates, and was kept in
+prison below decks. Only some weeks after the landing at Jamestown was
+he released and permitted to take his seat on the Council.[5]
+
+On the Council with him were Captain Christopher Newport, Edward
+Wingfield, Bartholomew Gosnold, George Kendall, John Ratcliffe, and John
+Martin. One would think that this little group, set down in the
+wilderness and faced with many perils, would have occupied their time
+better than with plotting against each other. They had enough to do to
+defend themselves against the Indians, for in a sudden attack four of
+them were wounded and another had a narrow escape when an arrow passed
+through his beard.[6]
+
+Kendall was the first to be expelled from the Council. Gosnold died.
+Wingfield, who was President of the Council, was accused of being an
+atheist, of plotting to desert the colony, and of misappropriating
+public funds, and was ousted from his seat. Since Newport had sailed
+with the fleet for England, Ratcliffe, Smith, and Martin were now the
+only remaining Councillors. But this did not bring harmony. Kendall was
+accused of plotting against the other two, tried, and hanged. Smith,
+too, was in danger of the gallows, when he was held responsible for the
+death of two men who had been killed by the Indians. Were the "whipping,
+lawing, beating, and hanging in Virginia known in England, I fear it
+would drive many well affected minds from this honorable action,"
+Wingfield stated after his return to England. With the drowning of two
+new Councillors, Captain John Smith alone remained, and for several
+months was the sole ruler of the colony.[7]
+
+When word of what was going on in Virginia reached the London Company it
+was obvious to all that the original plan of government had proved a
+failure. So they secured a new charter empowering them to change it. But
+for a remedy they turned, not to self-government, but to despotism. They
+abolished the old Council, and turned the colony over to a Governor who,
+within the limits of his instructions, was to "rule and govern by his
+own discretion or by such laws" as he should decree. To assist him he
+was to choose an advisory Council.
+
+The danger of this system was at first obscured by the wise choice of a
+Governor. Thomas Lord De la Warr was a man of distinction and ability.
+He had studied at the Queen's College, Oxford, had served with Essex in
+Ireland, and had been a member of the Privy Council under both Elizabeth
+and James.[8]
+
+Upon landing at Jamestown, De la Warr listened to a sermon by the good
+minister, Mr. Buck. He then addressed the people, "laying some blames on
+them," and promising, if forced to it, to draw the sword of justice. But
+there seems to have been no need for this. The people, forgetting former
+quarrels, were united in their efforts to serve their Governor and bring
+a degree of prosperity to the colony. The sound of hammering and sawing
+was heard on all sides as little houses were built, the fort repaired,
+the church restored. "Every Sunday, when the Lord Governor went to
+church, he was accompanied by all the Councillors, Captains, and other
+officers, and all the gentlemen, and with a band of fifty halberdiers in
+his Lordships livery, fair red cloaks, on each side and behind him. The
+Lord Governor sat in the choir in a green velvet chair, with a velvet
+cushion before him on which he knelt."[9]
+
+But that Lord De la Warr proved to be a mild and just Governor by no
+means obscures the evils inherent in absolutism. A good ruler may be
+succeeded by a bad one. In ancient Rome the people benefited by the
+establishing of law and order under the great Augustus, but they
+suffered from the cruelty of the insane Caligula and the dissolute Nero.
+So it boded no good for Virginia when De la Warr fell ill. "I was
+welcomed by a hot and violent ague," he tells us. This was followed by
+an attack of dysentery. "Then the cramp assaulted my weak body with
+strong pains, and afterward the gout." Finally scurvy came to add to his
+woes, so that he "was upon the point to leave this world." In
+desperation he set sail for the West Indies in the hope of recovering
+his health.[10]
+
+A few weeks after De la Warr's departure Sir Thomas Gates assumed
+command of the colony. In 1614 he, in turn, was followed by Sir Thomas
+Dale, Dale by Captain George Yeardley, and Yeardley by Samuel Argall.
+When Gates was in Virginia in 1610 he had brought with him certain laws,
+orders, and instructions which he posted in the church at Jamestown. As
+the people crowded into the little building to read them they must have
+expressed their resentment and horror, for the laws were more suited to
+a penal colony than to a community of free Englishmen. In 1611 Dale
+brought additional laws, and the whole body was revised in England and
+published. Gates and Dale had both served with the English army in the
+Netherlands, and these laws were "chiefly extracted out of the laws for
+governing the army" there.
+
+It was ordered that "every man and woman daily twice a day upon the
+first tolling of the bell shall upon the working days repair into the
+church to hear divine service upon pain of losing his or her day's
+allowance for the first omission, for the second to be whipped, for the
+third to be condemned to the galleys for six months." Equally severe was
+the law that "no man shall give any disgraceful words or commit any act
+to the disgrace of any person ... upon pain of being tied head and feet
+together upon the guard every night for the space of one month." To kill
+any cattle, or horse, goat, or pig, or chicken without leave was
+punishable with death. No doubt conducive to health but not to liberty
+was the order that no man or woman should wash linen or pots and pans
+"within twenty foot of the old well ... upon pain of whipping."[11]
+
+De la Warr was a humane man, who thought that order could be maintained
+without cruelty. Gates, also, seems not to have enforced the severe
+laws. But the situation changed when Dale, and after him Argall assumed
+power. These two men were guilty of reigns of terror that would have
+shamed an Ivan the Terrible or a Hitler. The Virginia Assembly of 1624
+testified that the colony suffered "under most severe and cruel laws
+sent over in print," contrary to the King's promise. And these laws were
+"mercilessly executed, often times without trial or judgment." Some who
+sought relief by fleeing to the Indians were captured and executed,
+either by hanging, or shooting, or even by being broken on the wheel.
+One man who had stolen some oatmeal had a knife thrust through his
+tongue, and then was tied to a tree where he was left to starve. In 1612
+several men tried to steal a barge and a shallop in order to risk their
+lives in a desperate attempt to reach England. For this they were "shot
+to death, hanged and broken upon the wheel."[12]
+
+But better things were in store. Many of the leading spirits of the
+London Company, who "stood best affected to religion and liberty" were
+"distasted with the proceedings of the Court." This group began now to
+dream of migrating to Virginia to set up a government there which would
+be sympathetic with their views. "Many worthy patriots, lords, knights,
+gentlemen, merchants, and others ... laid hold on ... Virginia as a
+providence cast before them."[13] Had not the Pilgrim fathers shown the
+way to New England a few years later, it might have been in Virginia
+rather than in Massachusetts that the Bible commonwealth was
+established.
+
+Prominent among the liberal faction in the Company was Sir Edwin Sandys.
+In his youth he had studied at Corpus Christi, Oxford, under Richard
+Hooker, the future founder of Connecticut, and this ardent Puritan
+influenced profoundly his views and career. It was from Hooker that he
+got the theory that the King derived his authority from a contract with
+the people, and not by divine right. Later, when as a member of the
+Commons he enunciated this theory, he drew down on his head James'
+bitter hatred. Sandys, who had long been a member of the Council of the
+London Company, was elected to the important post of Treasurer in 1617.
+To prevent his re-election three years later, the King sent the names of
+four other men to the Company with the demand that they elect one of
+them. When the Company sent a delegation to him to protest against this
+interference with their affairs, James blurted out: "Choose the devil if
+you will, but not Sir Edwin Sandys."
+
+Sandys seems to have planned to secure successive charters, each
+granting the Company greater powers than its predecessor, under the
+pretext that this was necessary for the success of the enterprise. The
+second charter, granted in 1609, is of especial importance because by it
+the King resigned the immediate control of the colony into the hands of
+the Company. The charter of 1612 still further strengthened their hands.
+
+But the Sandys faction met strenuous opposition in the Company itself.
+Many of the stockholders thought it a mistake to involve the Company in
+the political and religious struggle which was convulsing the nation. At
+times the Quarter Courts resounded with the angry debates of the
+contending parties. A momentous struggle it was, since upon the outcome
+depended the establishing of self-government in America. So there was
+rejoicing among the liberal party when Sandys was victorious.
+
+It is probable that Sandys drew up with his own hand what has been
+called the Magna Carta of Virginia in the fall of 1617, granting the
+colony the right to representative government. Lord De la Warr, who was
+still the Governor, had expected to leave at that time with this famous
+document. But his sailing was delayed until April, 1618. Unfortunately
+De la Warr, who probably had never fully recovered his health, became
+ill during the voyage and died.
+
+When news of De la Warr's death reached the London Company, they chose
+Captain George Yeardley to be his successor. In January, 1619, Yeardley
+sailed from England with several documents, probably duplicates of the
+Magna Carta, authorizing him to hold an election for a General
+Assembly.[14] His instructions have been preserved, but his commission,
+or constitution for the colony, has been lost. Yet undoubtedly it was
+similar to, if not identical with the Magna Carta of 1617, and with the
+"Ordinance and Constitution" of July 24, 1621, given Sir Francis Wyatt.
+
+This constitution called for a Council to be chosen from time to time by
+the Company to assist the Governor in maintaining the "people in justice
+and Christian conversation amongst themselves, and in strength and
+ability to withstand their enemies." Another body "to be called by the
+Governor once yearly and no oftener but for very extraordinary and
+important occasions, shall consist for the present of the said Council
+of State, and two Burgesses out of every town, hundred, or other
+particular plantation, to be respectively chosen by the inhabitants."
+This body, which was called the General Assembly, was to "have free
+power to treat, consult, and conclude, as well of all emergent occasions
+concerning the public weal of the said colony ... as also to make,
+ordain, and enact such general laws and orders ... as shall from time to
+time appear necessary." To the Governor was reserved a negative voice.
+
+The Governor and Assembly were directed "to imitate and follow the form
+of government, laws, customs, and manner of trial, and other
+ministration of justice used in the realm of England." And a limit was
+put to the authority of the Assembly by a provision that no law should
+"continue in force" unless ratified by the Company. But a degree of
+independence was granted in the instruction that "after the government
+of the said colony shall once have been framed ... no orders of court
+afterwards shall bind the said colony, unless they be ratified in like
+manner in the General Assemblies."[15]
+
+There must have been rejoicing in Virginia when Yeardley arrived with
+orders "for the better establishing a commonwealth." Perhaps there were
+cheers, perhaps tears of joy in the crowd which assembled in Jamestown
+to listen to his proclamation. It promised that those cruel laws by
+which they had so long been governed were now abrogated, and that they
+were to be governed by those free laws which his Majesty's subjects in
+England lived under.[16]
+
+On August 9, 1619, the first representative assembly in American
+history met in the crude little church at Jamestown. When Governor
+Yeardley had taken his seat in the choir, the members of the Council sat
+beside him, some on one side, some on the other. "But forasmuch as men's
+affairs do little prosper when God's service is neglected, all the
+Burgesses took their places in the choir till a prayer was said by Mr.
+Buck, the minister." Then the Burgesses were called in order by name,
+and so every man took the oath of supremacy.[17]
+
+The Assembly assumed from the first that it was to be the Parliament of
+Virginia. But they realized that they must make no laws which
+contravened those of England, or the charter, or the instructions of the
+London Company. During the first session, acts were passed concerning
+the Church, Indian affairs, land patents, morality, prices, trade, etc.
+But by far the most important law was one ordering "that every man and
+man servant above sixteen years of age shall pay into the hands and
+custody of the Burgesses ... one pound of the best tobacco."[18]
+
+The control of taxation by the representatives of the people was to play
+a vital role in the development of self-government in America. It was
+based on the fact, universally recognized by Englishmen, that no power
+had the right to take a man's property without his own consent. A
+century after the first session of the Virginia Assembly the New York
+Assembly reminded Governor Robert Hunter that their inherent right "to
+dispose of the money of the freemen" did "not proceed from any
+commission, letters patent, or other grant from the Crown, but from the
+free choice and election of the people, who ought not to be divested of
+their property (nor justly can) without their consent." Similarly the
+Virginia House of Burgesses declared: "The rights of the subjects are so
+secured by law that they cannot be deprived of the least part of their
+property but by their own consent."
+
+The Virginia Assembly of 1619, when they assumed the right to tax the
+people, probably did not realize that they were laying the cornerstone
+of the structure of American liberty. Yet it was the control of taxation
+by the representatives of the people in all the colonies which made it
+possible to win victory after victory over the royal Governors. It is an
+old saying that one dare not quarrel with one's paymaster. Yet that was
+just what most of the Governors had to do. They needed money, money to
+cover their own salaries, money with which to pay other government
+officials, money to raise and equip men to fight the Indians, or the
+Dutch, or the French. The price they had to pay was a part of the royal
+prerogative.
+
+It is to be noted that the money raised by the levy of 1619 in Virginia
+was to be paid, not to the Governor or to a Treasurer appointed by the
+Governor, but to the Burgesses. The question of who was to receive the
+revenues and who to decide upon their use was second in importance only
+to who had the right to levy taxes. It was to give rise to many disputes
+between Governors and Burgesses.
+
+The people of Virginia in their happiness in the setting up of
+representative government seem to have overlooked the King's hostility.
+But they could not have expected him to assent meekly to the duplication
+in the infant colony of the Parliament, the body which was causing him
+so much trouble and vexation. They might have been warned of what was
+coming when James threw Sir Edwin Sandys in the Tower.
+
+This was followed by a frontal assault on the London Company. John
+Ferrar wrote: "The King, notwithstanding his royal word and honor
+pledged to the contrary ... was now determined with all his force to ...
+give the death blow...."[19] He began by ordering a certain Nathaniel
+Butler to write a pamphlet describing conditions in Virginia. In his
+_Unmasking of Virginia_, as he called it, Butler drew a vivid picture of
+the suffering of the people from disease, hunger, and the Indians. In
+reply the Company published _A True Answer_, explaining the misfortunes
+which had plagued the colony, and denying responsibility for them.[20]
+
+The King now appointed a commission to inquire into "all abuses and
+grievances" in Virginia. In July, 1623, this body reported that most of
+the people sent to the colony were now dead, and that the blame must
+rest on the Company. "If his Majesty's first grant of April 10, 1606,
+... had been pursued, much better effects had been produced than had
+been by the alteration thereof into so popular a course."[21] The King
+was elated. He was determined, he said, to "resume the government, and
+... reduce that popular form so as to make it agree with the monarchical
+form."
+
+Should the Company agree, he was willing for them to retain their
+charter. But he told them that he was resolved "by a new charter to
+appoint a Governor and twelve assistants, resident here in England, unto
+whom shall be committed the government." These assistants were to
+appoint a Governor and twelve assistants to reside in Virginia, "whereby
+all matters of importance may be directed by his Majesty."[22] In
+essence this was the original plan of 1606. There was "hot debate" in
+the Company when they met to consider this proposal. Every man present
+knew that the fate of the Company hung in the balance. Yet when the
+King's offer was put to the vote, it was rejected by an overwhelming
+majority.[23]
+
+The Company now appealed to the House of Commons. But before the Commons
+could act a message came from the King warning them not to meddle in the
+affair. "Ourselves will make it our work to settle the quiet and welfare
+of the plantations," he said. So, with some "soft mutterings," they
+submitted.
+
+The people of Virginia waited impatiently for the outcome of the
+struggle which concerned them so deeply. When in March, 1624, the
+_Southampton_ arrived with word that James was determined to change the
+government, they were in despair. Was liberty to be overthrown? Were
+they to be subjected again to the brutality of a Dale or an Argall? They
+wrote the Privy Council praying that future Governors should not have
+absolute authority. "But above all we humbly entreat your Lordships that
+we may retain the liberty of our General Assembly, than which nothing
+can more conduce to our satisfaction or the public utility."[24]
+
+If this letter ever reached the Privy Council, it did not stay the
+King's hand. Attorney General Coventry had already issued a _quo
+warranto_ against the Company. Sandys and others fought the case before
+the King's Bench, but the outcome was foregone. On June 26, 1624, the
+charter was overthrown and Virginia became a royal colony.
+
+Certain historians have contended that, in destroying the Company, James
+was actuated chiefly by economic motives. They point out that the
+Company was divided into factions, that the situation in Virginia was
+desperate, and that the Company was practically bankrupt. Nothing was
+left to show for the £100,000 which had been expended, and unless this
+charge was wiped off the books by dissolving the Company, it would
+remain for decades as a burden on the colony. No doubt this may have
+influenced James in his decision. But he himself said that it had not
+been his intention to revoke the charters until the Company drove him to
+it by refusing to resign the government into his hands. He had resolved,
+he said, "by altering the charters ... as to point of government ... to
+settle such a course as might cause the said plantation to flourish, ...
+But because the said Treasurer and Company did not submit their charters
+to be reformed, our proceedings therein were stayed for a time until ...
+the said charters ... were ... avoided."
+
+The future of the colony was now left in doubt. James declared his
+intention of issuing a new charter. But since this would require "much
+time and care," he appointed a commission headed by Lord Henry
+Mandeville, to manage the colony in the meanwhile. This body's first
+step was to reappoint Governor Francis Wyatt and his Council, and to
+authorize them to exercise all the powers granted to Yeardley and his
+Council. But they made no mention of an Assembly.
+
+James, in issuing the new charter, no doubt intended to make it conform
+to the charter of 1606. Had he done so, he might have delayed the
+development of self-government in Virginia by decades. But before he
+could complete the draft, death overtook him. This dissolved the
+Mandeville commission, and postponed indefinitely a final settlement of
+Virginia affairs.
+
+Charles I was in sympathy with his father's plans for the colony, but he
+seems not to have been deeply concerned about carrying them out. His
+first step was to place the matter before the Privy Council. The Council
+called on Sir Edwin Sandys for his opinion. Sir Edwin replied in a long
+document entitled "The Discourse of the Old Company of Virginia,"
+advising the King to restore the Company. This Charles had no intention
+of doing. On May 23, 1625, he issued a proclamation declaring "that his
+intention was that the government of Virginia should immediately depend"
+upon himself. It might be proper to commit matters of trade and commerce
+to a corporation, but not state affairs. He next outlined a plan of
+government for the colony which was essentially the same as that under
+the charter of 1606.
+
+In the meanwhile, the people of Virginia awaited anxiously. Would the
+King abolish the Assembly? Would another Dale or Argall be sent over for
+a new reign of terror? They had opposed the dissolution of the Company
+because they feared it might lead to the abolishing of representative
+government. Now that the Company no longer existed they pleaded
+earnestly to be permitted to keep the Assembly. In June, 1625, the
+Governor and Council wrote the Privy Council asking that the "liberty,
+of General Assembleys" be continued in order "to avoid the oppressions
+of Governors." This letter they entrusted to Sir George Yeardley, who
+sailed with it for England and laid it before the Privy Council.[25]
+
+This body hastened to assure the Virginians that the King "doth take all
+the country and people into his royal protection and government," and
+that they were to enjoy all their former privileges. Still they made no
+promise that the people should have a voice in the government. And the
+King, because of "many other urgent occasions," still delayed making a
+permanent settlement of Virginia affairs. At last, in March, 1626, he
+appointed Yeardley to succeed Wyatt, with orders to "continue the same
+means that was formerly thought fit for the maintenance of the said
+colony."
+
+Wyatt and Yeardley were men of a different stamp from Dale and Argall.
+Had they chosen to do so, they could have ruled the colony with no
+restraint save from the Council. But they preferred to keep alive the
+spark of representative government. So they called together unofficial
+gatherings of leading citizens to sit with the Governor and the Council
+instead of the House of Burgesses. This body they called the "Governor,
+Council, and the colony of Virginia assembled together."[26]
+
+The Assembly of 1624 was automatically dissolved by the death of James
+I. So there must have been a new election, since the unofficial House of
+Burgesses, had they been appointed by the Governor and Council, would
+not have presumed to tax the people for the funds necessary for carrying
+on the government. As there was no legal authority for the gatherings
+their acts were translated into proclamations.[27]
+
+Legal authority came in an unexpected way. With the demonstration by
+John Rolfe, the man who married Pocahontas, that tobacco could be raised
+in Virginia, the Indian weed had become more and more the staple of the
+colony. Had it been assured of a monopoly of the English market by the
+exclusion of foreign tobacco and the prohibition of tobacco planting in
+England, and not hampered by high custom duties, it would have brought
+prosperity and rapid growth.[28] But both James and Charles were
+constantly in need of money, and the revenue from the duty on Spanish
+tobacco had been important to them. So in excluding all foreign leaf
+they sought to make good their losses from Virginia tobacco.
+
+In 1627 Charles decided to buy the entire colonial crop in the hope of
+selling it at a profit. But this he did not venture to do without
+securing the consent of the planters. That would have violated the
+principle that a man's property must not be taken without his consent,
+either directly or through his representative. So he directed the
+Governor to hold a general election of Burgesses, summon an Assembly,
+and place his proposition before them. Thus he gave official recognition
+to the House of Burgesses, and it was upon this recognition that its
+authority rested.[29] The Virginians rejected the King's proposal, but
+they kept their Assembly. From this date it became habitual for the
+Kings to insert in the instructions to a new Governor that he hold an
+election of Burgesses.
+
+The setting up of representative government in the first English colony
+in America has a double significance. It may be viewed as a part of the
+struggle for supremacy between King and Parliament. Sir Edwin Sandys,
+the champion of liberty in Virginia, was also a champion of liberty in
+the mother country. Had absolutism won in England, its victory in the
+colony would have been certain. And had the King succeeded in ruling the
+colony unrestrained by any representative body there, it would have
+strengthened his hand in England, would have been a defeat for the
+liberal group in Parliament.
+
+When the first Assembly met in Jamestown, the year before the Pilgrims
+landed on Cape Cod, they established a precedent which was followed in
+future English settlements. Had absolutism been firmly rooted in
+Virginia, the Stuart Kings might have tried to set it up in all the
+colonies. The Massachusetts Bay charter might have been voided, the
+charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island might have had no provision for
+representative government.
+
+On the other hand, as it was the need for money which forced the hand of
+Charles I and gave legality to the House of Burgesses, so the needs of
+all the colonial governments made necessary the calling of legislatures
+which had the right to levy taxes. It is this which forced the Duke of
+York to call an Assembly in New York in 1684. When the American patriots
+of 1775 took up arms because Parliament insisted on taxing them, they
+were not defending some new principle. The principle that one's property
+could be taken only with one's consent antedated the founding of
+Jamestown. And upon it American liberty was based from the first.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Bath papers_ II, p. 44.
+
+[2] R. W. K. Hinton, Government and liberty under James I, _Cambridge
+Historical Journal_ 11 (I).
+
+[3] Gooch to the Lords of Trade, March 30, 1732.
+
+[4] A. Brown, _Genesis of the United States_ 1: 55, 56.
+
+[5] Edward Arber, _Works of Captain John Smith_, 91.
+
+[6] _Ibid._, lii.
+
+[7] _Ibid._, lxxxiv.
+
+[8] A. Brown, _The first republic_, 84.
+
+[9] _Ibid._, 130.
+
+[10] A. Brown, _Genesis of the United States_ 1: 479.
+
+[11] Peter Force, _Tracts_ 3(2).
+
+[12] A. Brown, _The first republic_, 148, 172.
+
+[13] _Ibid._, 85.
+
+[14] A. Brown, _The first republic_, 293.
+
+[15] _Bath papers_ I.
+
+[16] A. Brown, _The first republic_, 312.
+
+[17] L. G. Tyler, _Narratives of early Virginia_, 257.
+
+[18] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1619-1659, 16.
+
+[19] A. Brown, _The first republic_, 531, 532.
+
+[20] _Ibid._, 524.
+
+[21] _Ibid._, 541.
+
+[22] _Ibid._, 542.
+
+[23] _Ibid._, 554.
+
+[24] William Stith, _History of Virginia_, 313, 315.
+
+[25] A. Brown, _The first republic_, 573.
+
+[26] CO1-3, p. 5. This and similar notations all refer to documents in
+the British Public Record Office.
+
+[27] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 129, 130.
+
+[28] CO1-4.
+
+[29] CO1-20.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SELF-GOVERNMENT
+
+
+With the calling of the Assembly of 1627 Virginia entered a new epoch.
+The people no longer looked to a commercial company for instructions and
+the appointment of the Governor and other officials, but to the King.
+
+On the whole this was a fortunate change. The Company could not finance
+the enterprise, and it might have bled the colony to make good its own
+losses. The reactionary group in the Company might in time have won
+control, and have gone back to the original form of government.
+
+It was this which made the people of Virginia resist all attempts to
+re-establish the Company. They were greatly alarmed in 1631 when word
+reached them that some of the former members had "continually importuned
+his Majesty to renew the charter," and that the King had actually given
+orders that a new one be drawn up. Someone, no doubt an agent for the
+colony, protested vigorously. The Governor and Council had "oftentimes
+petitioned ... against the renewing of any such corporation," he said,
+and he pleaded that nothing be done until they were heard from.
+
+But though the Virginians wished to remain under the jurisdiction of the
+King, and not be "subjects to their fellow subjects," they wanted to
+place their government upon a firmer basis as a guarantee that there
+would be no renewal of the "illegal proceedings and barbarous tortures"
+of former years. On three separate occasions they tried to secure a
+charter guaranteeing their liberties. In 1639, George Sandys, whom they
+appointed agent to petition for a charter, seems to have misunderstood
+his instructions, for instead of doing so he attempted to revive the
+Company. When this news reached Virginia, the Assembly hastened to
+disavow his action, and to beg the King to let them remain a royal
+colony. Their yearly Assemblies, authorized in his instructions, insured
+their present happiness, they said. So they were much relieved when
+Charles told them that he had not the least intention of placing any
+corporation over them.
+
+This satisfied the Virginians for the moment, but during the Restoration
+period, on learning that the King had made a series of grants in the
+colony to favorites, they once more petitioned for a charter. And
+though, after prolonged negotiations, a charter was passed under the
+Great Seal,[1] it was so unsatisfactory that in 1691 they made still
+another attempt. When this failed, the colony was forced to remain under
+its unwritten constitution, based on precedents, royal letters,
+proclamations, and instructions.
+
+This constitution provided that the Governor be appointed by the King.
+Consequently he represented the authority of the Crown, and through the
+Crown the interests of England. If he failed to uphold the royal
+prerogative against the assaults of the Burgesses and the Council he was
+sure to incur the frowns of his royal master. If the King were bent on
+ruling the colony with as little interference from the Assembly as
+possible, it was the Governor who tried to carry out his orders. In
+other words, in the century long battle between the King and the
+representatives of the people, it was the Governor who bore the royal
+banner.
+
+The Governors varied widely in character and ability. Sir John Harvey
+and Francis Nicholson were egocentric men, who tried to lash all who
+surrounded them into obedience to their will. Alexander Spotswood and
+Robert Dinwiddie, though not friends of representative government, were
+able administrators. Hugh Drysdale, William Gooch, and Lord Botetourt,
+because of their amiable dispositions, won lasting popularity. Culpeper
+and Effingham were hated as instruments in the hands of Charles II and
+James II in imposing the Second Stuart Despotism on the colony. Dunmore
+was detested for his role in the opening years of the Revolutionary War.
+
+It is strange that Nicholson, who was in many respects one of the worst
+of the Governors, should have given an excellent description of the
+ideal colonial executive. "It is absolutely necessary ... that the
+Governor ... may be esteemed by the people, ... to be a lover of them
+and their country ... and above all distributes equal justice."[2] Had
+he followed his own advice his second administration would not have
+ended in failure.
+
+The powers of the Governor were great, so great that even the British
+government at times thought they should be used with caution. "All
+things are made so entirely dependent on the Governor's single will and
+pleasure, that whenever there may happen an ill man in that post, it
+cannot reasonably be expected any person ... should either oppose such
+an one in whatever he may attempt or so much as give any advice," wrote
+the Lords of Trade in 1698.[3]
+
+The Governor's powers differed from time to time, depending upon the
+situation in England, upon developments in the colony, and upon the
+character of the Governor. Sir William Berkeley based his power chiefly
+on the use of the patronage; Effingham's authority was but a reflection
+of the despotism of the late Stuart Kings. On the whole, the Governors
+of the seventeenth century exercised more power than those of the
+eighteenth century.
+
+At all times the Governor was respected because back of him was the
+awe-inspiring figure of the monarch. If the Councillors or the Burgesses
+defied him, he might report their "disobedience" to the King with
+serious consequences. On more than one occasion the King ordered the
+Governor to rebuke the Burgesses for their "presumption" in disregarding
+his wishes.
+
+The Burgesses seem not to have hung their heads at these reprimands, and
+it was only when the King tried to abridge their privileges that they
+were deeply concerned. But the greatest danger lay, not in overriding
+the House, but in undermining it by political bribery. The Governor had
+in his hands many lucrative offices with which to reward those who voted
+as he wished. "Don't you know there is a sheriff and a clerk in every
+county, besides other offices of profit in the country?" Benjamin
+Harrison wrote Philip Ludwell, in 1703. "Is it not the wise man's phrase
+that a gift will blind the eyes of the wise?... Places are now shifted
+as often as the occasion requires, to put out or in, as men will or will
+not serve a turn. Sheriffs are turned out in the middle of their
+collection. Clerks are turned out without ever knowing why and so are
+other officers.... I need not tell you what men too many of our House of
+Burgesses are, how greedy they are to catch at any little place of
+profit, without considering the ill consequence that attends it; like
+the poor harmless fish that eagerly catches at the bait without
+considering the hook of destruction is under it.... Add a sheriff, a
+clerk, or a naval officer's place, and pray who would consider the
+Queen's service, the interest of the country, or the discharging a
+Burgess's oath!"[4]
+
+The most tempting plum was a seat in the Council. Though this was in the
+gift of the King, he almost invariably named the man recommended by the
+Governor. So the Burgess who aspired to it was a patriot indeed if he
+set the welfare of the country above his own ambition by opposing the
+Governor in the House.
+
+It was not necessary for the Governor to make a direct promise; every
+man of prominence and wealth knew that he was being watched. But in one
+case at least a bargain was struck. In 1683 Governor Culpeper wrote the
+Privy Council that Isaac Allerton had assured him "of his utmost
+services in whatsoever the King should command him by his Governor," and
+he had promised in return "that he should be of the Council ... though
+not to be declared till after the session of the next Assembly."[5] One
+wonders whether Allerton's conscience hurt him when, several years
+later, he took the seat which he had gained by betraying the interests
+of those who had elected him.
+
+In February, 1691, Governor Nicholson wrote the Lords of Trade
+explaining why he had deferred sending a list of recommendations for
+appointment to the Council until after a meeting of the Assembly. "I
+think it a proper time to try men in, especially considering how many of
+his Majesty's affairs are to be transacted there."[6]
+
+Even when a Carter, or a Byrd, or a Ludwell had taken his seat in the
+Council, he had to watch his step. If he opposed the Governor too
+vigorously he might be suspended. In 1677 Deputy Governor Herbert
+Jeffreys reported that "one Ballard of the Council" was "a fellow of a
+turbulent, mutinous spirit," and that he had "found very just cause of
+suspending him at present both from the Council and collectorship ...
+and advancing others more loyal, fit, and honest in his place."[7]
+
+The Governor could crack the whip over the head of any Councillor who
+defied him by threatening to kick him out of certain places of profit
+and honor. The Councillors "have all along held the places of profit in
+Virginia by the Governor's gift and during his pleasure," Henry
+Hartwell reported to the Lords of Trade, "which I have always observed
+has restrained them from due freedom of ... debate."[8] It was taken for
+granted that as soon as a man became a Councillor he was to have the
+next vacancy as colonel of militia, or collector of the export duty, or
+naval officer. In the Council of 1692 all save three were colonels. And
+if a Councillor were in high favor with the Governor, he might be in
+line as Secretary or Auditor.[9]
+
+It was the Governor who appointed sheriffs, justices of the peace, and
+other local officers. Since the county court had legislative and
+administrative as well as judicial powers it was the ruling body in the
+county. It even had the right to tax. That the justices were not elected
+by the people not only made local government undemocratic, but added
+greatly to the Governor's power. He could always appoint men who were
+favorable to his policies or turn out those who opposed him.
+
+Although the Governor was directed by his instructions to secure the
+advice of the Council before making appointments, he claimed that he did
+not have to accept it, and he often ignored it. Nicholson was bitterly
+assailed for appointing sheriffs "without the advice of the Council,"
+and for putting in and turning out "colonels, lieutenant colonels,
+majors, captains, and other officers of the militia."
+
+On the other hand, as the decades passed it became more and more the
+custom for the Governor to accept the recommendations of the Councillors
+in making appointments, until it assumed almost the character of an
+unwritten law that he must do so. In fact it was a colonial precedent
+for Senatorial courtesy in the government of the United States.[10]
+
+The Governor had the right to summon, to prorogue, and to dissolve the
+Assembly. But he was usually instructed to hold an Assembly at least
+once a year. On the arrival of a new Governor, or the accession of a
+King or Queen, the Assembly was automatically dissolved. The power of
+prorogation made it possible for a Governor, when he had a House of
+Burgesses to his liking, to continue them indefinitely. That Sir William
+Berkeley refused for at least fourteen years to hold a general election
+prior to Bacon's Rebellion was bitterly resented by the people.
+
+The Governor's veto over legislation, though absolute, was not
+frequently used. If he objected to a bill which came up from the House,
+he could, except on rare occasions, influence the Council to kill it. If
+the Council insisted on passing it, he might affix his signature but
+advise the King to disallow it.
+
+The handing out of fat jobs gave the Governor a strangle hold on the
+courts, if we may believe the testimony of Philip Ludwell and Stephen
+Fouace. "The influence of a Governor will be great both on judges and
+witnesses, particularly by the multitude of places and other favors he
+has to promise in case they favor him in the trial.... There is little
+possibility of having a fair examination."[11] Robert Beverley testified
+to the bribing of a grand jury by Governor Nicholson. "The foreman was
+favored with a naval officer's place, ... others had sheriff's places,
+etc."[12]
+
+Nicholson was accused, also, of bullying witnesses, lawyers, and juries.
+"I have heard him at trials, when judges have asked a question or argued
+or voted contrary to his humor, snap them up and revile them in a very
+contemptible manner," reported Robert Beverley. In the case of Swan
+versus Wilson "he did so grosely abuse Mr. Benjamin Harrison, who was
+counsel for Swan, that everybody cried out shame on it." Finally, James
+Blair, who was a member of the court, could stand it no longer. So,
+taking off his hat, he rose and said:
+
+ "If Mr. Harrison has done any ill thing ... I hope your Excellency
+ will find another time to call him to an account for it.... I am
+ sorry to see so much of the court's time taken up ... by reason of
+ your Excellency's prejudice against him."
+
+ "Sir, I deny the prejudice, put it down in writing," shouted
+ Nicholson.
+
+ "I hope I have liberty to speak my opinion," replied Blair.
+
+ "Who hinders you?"
+
+ "I am ashamed to sit here and see people so used," retorted Blair.
+
+ "Get you gone then. It had been good for the country if they had
+ never seen your face."[13]
+
+The Governor was the legal head of the Church, though his authority was
+disputed after the appointment of a Commissary for the Bishop of London.
+And both Governor and Commissary exercised very limited powers because
+of the resistance of the vestries. The Governor had the right to induct
+ministers after they had been presented by the vestries, but in most
+cases they refused to do so. The Governor's power of collation to vacant
+parishes remained throughout the colonial period practically a dead
+letter.
+
+The Council of State exercised administrative, legislative, and judicial
+powers. Hartwell, Blair, and Chilton, in their _The Present State of
+Virginia_, thus describe their functions: "They are the Council of State
+under the Governor, who always presides; and in the vacancy of a
+Governor and Lieutenant Governor, the eldest of the Council is
+President. They are the Upper House of Assembly, answering to the House
+of Peers in England. They are by custom, but without commission, the
+supreme judges (together with the Governor who presides) in all causes
+... and there lies no appeal from them but to the King in Council."[14]
+
+As the advisory body to the Governor, the Council wielded great
+influence. A Governor who had just taken office and was ignorant of
+conditions in the colony had to turn to them for information and advice.
+Later, when he was better informed, he still relied upon them for
+support in upholding the King's authority. If he were confronted with a
+mutiny, or an invasion by a hostile fleet, or an Indian war, or a
+decline in the price of tobacco, he was glad to get their views on what
+he should do.
+
+The members of the Council originally sat with the Burgesses during
+sessions of the Assembly, and did not constitute a separate house.
+Though this denied them an equal voice with the Burgesses, since they
+could always be outvoted, it permitted them to enter into debates with
+the Burgesses and serve on committees. It was at the suggestion of
+Governor Culpeper that the King, in 1680, gave orders that the Council
+should sit as a separate house.
+
+No doubt Culpeper did this so that he could preside at their legislative
+sessions as he did when they sat as a Privy Council or as a court. In
+this way he could keep an eye on them, could argue with them, and bring
+pressure on them to vote as he wished. It also created a buffer between
+him and the Burgesses, behind which he could take refuge against popular
+criticism. The position of the Councillors was not an easy one since as
+appointees of the King they were supposed to defend the royal authority,
+and as natives of Virginia they wished to defend her interests. Often
+they found a way out of this difficulty by voting one way and privately
+urging the Burgesses to vote the other.
+
+The members of the Council all sat on the General Court. Hartwell,
+Blair, and Chilton thus describe this body: "It is strange that they
+never had a commission for holding of this court, nor never took the
+oath of judges, perhaps it was not designed by the Crown that they
+should hold it, since besides that they are unskilful in law, it is
+thought an inconvenient thing in all governments that the justice and
+policy of the government should be lodged in the same persons, who ought
+indeed to be a check upon one another."[15] It was as though the United
+States Senate were also the Supreme Court. In other words, in colonial
+Virginia the same men who, as members of the Upper House of Assembly,
+had voted on a law were called upon to interpret it. Prior to 1680 if a
+man thought himself injured in point of law or equity by a decision of
+this court he could appeal his case to the Assembly. But after that
+date, when the judicial powers of the Assembly were voided, his only
+appeal was to the King and Privy Council, a step seldom taken because of
+the difficulty "of either prosecuting or defending matters at such a
+distance."
+
+The judicial function of the Councillors added greatly to their power
+and prestige. "They are the sole judges of law and property, which makes
+all depend on them," reported Colonel Quary.[16] The Councillors were
+well aware of the power and prestige which their judicial position gave
+them. This is shown by the bitterness with which they resisted when
+Governor Spotswood tried to weaken it by setting up a court of oyer and
+terminer with others than Councillors on the bench.
+
+The members of the Council were invariably selected from the wealthiest
+men in the colony. In their own counties they were respected and feared.
+To insult a Byrd, or a Custis, or a Carter would land one in jail. But
+if we may believe Governor Nicholson, the poor man would not cringe
+before them. "The ordinary sort of planters that have land of their own,
+though not much, look upon themselves to be as good as the best of
+them, for they know, at least have heard, from whence these mighty dons
+derive their originals." They know that they or their "ancestors were
+their equals if not their superiors, and that their getting such estates
+and places of honor was more by accident than any extraordinary honesty
+or ability in them."[17]
+
+The Council reached the height of its power during the first thirty or
+thirty-five years after the Glorious Revolution. Then it was that they
+defied the Governors, and in three cases were largely responsible for
+their removal. Nicholson complained that they "set up to have the power
+and interest of turning out and putting in Governors, and affect the
+title that the great Earl of Warwick had." Quary said they "had vanity
+enough to think themselves almost upon equal terms with the House of
+Lords." "They have by degrees endeavored to lessen the prerogative and
+render the Governor little better than a cypher, and in truth they have
+in effect gained their point."[18]
+
+The Burgesses were the representatives of the people. They were expected
+by all, wealthy landholders and owners of but a few acres, carpenters,
+coopers, clergymen, to uphold the liberties of all against the assaults
+of the King or the Governor. The poor turned to them for protection
+against the rich. Any attempt by the Governor to rule despotically or
+illegally was sure to arouse their stubborn resistance. They were in
+effect the House of Commons of Virginia, claimed the same privileges,
+and observed the same form in their proceedings. Since each county
+normally sent two Burgesses to the Assembly, the House grew in numbers
+as new counties were organized.
+
+The Assembly, during its century and a half of existence, was often
+forced to meet in private houses or taverns because of the burning of
+the statehouses, now at Green Spring, the residence of Sir William
+Berkeley, now at William Sherwood's house; now at the ordinary of Thomas
+Woodhouse. The first statehouse, which occupied a double row of little
+buildings, went up in flames in 1656, the second, which was also the
+Governor's residence, burned in 1660. The third statehouse was more
+pretentious than its predecessors, being two stories high, with a
+medieval porch in front, the tile-covered roof dominated by chimney
+stacks probably in the Tudor style. It was burned by Bacon's rebels in
+1676. The fourth statehouse, which seems to have been built on the
+foundations of the third, was destroyed by fire in 1698. It was after
+this last disaster that the seat of government was moved to
+Williamsburg, where a lovely Capitol, which has been accurately restored
+by Colonial Williamsburg Inc. in recent years, was completed in 1704.
+
+The sessions of the Burgesses in the hall provided for them in this
+building presented a picturesque scene. The Speaker, in his gown, sat in
+a high chair on a raised platform at the semicircular end of the room.
+Before him, in the center of the hall, was a table covered with green
+cloth, resting on it the mace, the emblem of the authority of the House.
+Here sat the clerk, pen in hand, jotting down notes for the journal.
+Along either side of the room were two rows of benches covered with
+green serge, where sat the Burgesses. All wore their hats. A strange
+medley they were, with the "handsome, well dressed, complete" gentlemen
+from the tidewater contrasting with the roughly clad frontiersmen.
+
+The House was quick to resent any disrespect to themselves as
+individuals or as a body. It was in October, 1693, that Mr. Matthew Kemp
+rose to complain of insults offered him and the House by a certain
+Thomas Rooke. We do not know whether he displayed a bloody nose or a
+black eye, but he accused Rooke of striking him. Thereupon a committee
+was appointed to look into the matter, Rooke was arrested and forced on
+his bended knees to apologize. "Having now a deep sense and abhorrence,
+and out of a true and unfeigned sorrow and repentence," he repeated, he
+asked forgiveness.[19] After they had released him he may have cursed
+them all under his breath, but for the future he kept his resentment to
+himself.
+
+The qualifications for the right to vote changed from time to time. On
+the whole they were liberal, for throughout the colonial period most
+freemen could voice their choice when the candidates for the House of
+Burgesses were presented. The constitution of 1621 stated that Burgesses
+were to be chosen by the "inhabitants." If this was interpreted to mean
+that all men, including indentured workers, enjoyed the franchise, it
+was later modified by a law restricting the right to vote to those who
+paid taxes. It is revealing of the high value placed on representative
+government even by the humblest, that when Governor Berkeley suggested
+that taxes be assessed, not by the poll, but only on landholders, the
+Burgesses protested that this would disfranchise great numbers of
+freemen who owned no land at all. "We are so well acquainted with the
+temper of the people that we have reason to believe they had rather pay
+their tax than lose their privilege."
+
+Seven years later another attempt to restrict the suffrage was more
+successful. Probably at Berkeley's suggestion the Assembly passed a law
+that no man should vote unless he were a landholder or housekeeper. At
+this time poor men who were apt to "make tumults at the elections" were
+pouring in, and the Governor thought it the part of wisdom to deny them
+any participation in the government. In England only property owners
+could vote, he argued, why have a different practice in Virginia?
+
+Unfortunately this happened at a time when the people were "ripe for
+rebellion," and it merely added to their resentment against the Governor
+and his puppet Assembly. It was in an effort to appease them that
+Berkeley called for a new election, in 1676, and, ignoring the law, took
+it on himself to extend the franchise to "every free born man." When
+this Assembly met, and when Bacon's army was marching on Jamestown, they
+confirmed this ruling by passing a law to give the right to vote to all
+freemen. But with the repeal of Bacon's Laws in 1677, the franchise was
+once more restricted to landowners and housekeepers.
+
+When Culpeper was appointed Governor in 1679, he was ordered to make a
+vigorous assault upon liberty in the colony. Among other repressive
+measures he was instructed to deprive mere housekeepers of the suffrage
+and limit it to freeholders. Although this measure was unjust to the
+large and intelligent artisan class--carpenters, masons, coopers, house
+painters, shipwrights, saddlers, gunsmiths, etc., it seems to have
+remained in force throughout the remainder of the colonial period.
+
+The wages of the Burgesses changed from time to time. At one time the
+pay was ten shillings a day, at another thirteen shillings, at still
+another 130 pounds of tobacco. In 1718 it was thirty shillings, a sum
+which Governor Spotswood thought far too much. His criticisms of the
+politicians of his day show that the species has not changed greatly in
+the past two and a half centuries. The salary "makes needy men try for
+the place who are not qualified for a Senate house," he said. "Those
+upon an approaching election set themselves to inventing most false and
+malicious stories.... The country to be sure is ever represented as if
+it was to be undone, and none can be judged capable of saving it but
+some of their own mobbish politicians, who engage to pursue the wild
+schemes of the electors."[20] But when he tried to cut the ground from
+under these false patriots by urging a law requiring the Burgesses to
+serve without salary, and restricting further the qualifications for
+voters and for candidates for office, it was overwhelmingly voted down.
+
+It was customary for each county to pay the salaries of its two
+Burgesses. This was unjust, for it made the burden fall much more
+heavily upon the taxpayer in a small county than one in a large county.
+It was harmful, also, as implying that the Burgess was concerned with
+the interests of his county rather than those of the colony as a whole.
+So the people of the thinly settled counties rejoiced when, in the
+mid-eighteenth century the Burgesses were paid from the revenue from the
+duty on the imports of liquors whenever there was a surplus in this
+fund.
+
+The Burgesses elected their own Speaker. This officer presided over the
+deliberations of the House, voiced their determinations, and issued
+warrants to execute their orders. In case of a tie he cast the deciding
+vote. The office was eagerly sought after, for it carried great
+influence. In 1699, when Robert Carter was elected, he said in his
+address of acceptance: "The House of Burgesses, consisting of the better
+sort of gentlemen from all parts of the country, to be in this fashion
+the object of their choice I take to be of no small reputation to
+me."[21]
+
+The prestige of the office grew with the increasing power of the House,
+until the Speaker became, next to the Governor, the most influential man
+in the colony. It became a fixed custom for the Burgesses to enhance his
+pay by making him Treasurer. In 1758, when Governor Fauquier was
+instructed to separate the two offices, he was greatly perplexed. The
+Speaker, Mr. John Robinson, is "the most popular man in the country," he
+wrote the Lords of Trade, "beloved by the gentlemen and the idol of the
+people." Any slight to him would put a stop to all legislative
+business.[22]
+
+With the growth of the House of Burgesses its business more and more was
+transacted by committees. The most important were the committees on
+Propositions and Grievances, Elections and Privileges, and on
+Proportioning the Levy. To the first of these came all manner of
+complaints. One county asks that ship captains be forbidden to throw
+ballast into the rivers, another wants a ceiling put on doctors' bills,
+still another objects to having taverns extend credit to sailors.
+
+The House kept a close watch on elections, and the Committee on
+Elections and Privileges always went over the writs in search of
+irregularities. If a sheriff should fail to make a return or should make
+an imperfect return, the messenger was sent to bring him before the
+House to explain why. Should he take it upon himself to judge who was
+eligible or not eligible for election, he was certain to receive a stern
+reprimand. In 1692 a resolution "that the House of Burgesses are the
+sole and only judges of the capacity or incapacity of their own members"
+passed unanimously.[23]
+
+The Committee on Private Causes prior to 1680 was in effect the supreme
+court of Virginia, to which appeals were made, for the House invariably
+accepted its findings. But it ceased to function when the Assembly was
+deprived of its judicial power.
+
+The Burgesses were wary of bills of attainder, the weapon used with such
+great effect by Parliament. They realized the danger in condemning
+persons without trial, especially when the colony had so much at stake
+in preserving liberty and justice. But the Assembly of February, 1677,
+which had been "hand picked" by Governor Berkeley, did attaint Bacon and
+fifteen of his followers in defiance of the King's pardon.[24] Since all
+of the victims were dead, the attaint affected only their property. When
+Charles II heard what had been done, he promptly nullified the law.[25]
+
+The Burgesses were well aware from the first that the universally
+accepted principle that no Englishman could be legally taxed without his
+own consent was the basis of liberty. They alone, as the representatives
+of the people, could take their property. If a Governor, as the
+substitute for the King, so far stretched his authority as to attempt to
+lay a levy, they were quick to call him to order. As early as 1624 the
+Assembly passed a law "that the Governor shall not lay any taxes or
+impositions upon the colony, their lands or commodities, other way than
+by the authority of the General Assembly, to be levied and imployed as
+the said Assembly shall appoint."[26] Similar laws were passed in 1631,
+1632, 1642, and 1645.
+
+Several times the Governor and Council requested the Burgesses to
+authorize them to lay taxes not to exceed a specified sum and for a
+limited period. In 1661 the House did grant such a power, but
+thereafter, despite several attempts, the Governor and Council met with
+emphatic refusals. In 1680, when Charles II was aiming deadly blows at
+liberty in the colonies, the Burgesses yielded to threats, and
+surrendered a part of the people's birthright by voting a perpetual
+revenue to the King.
+
+When the Parliamentary fleet came into the James in 1652 to force the
+Virginians to recognize the Commonwealth, the Assembly insisted on
+inserting in the articles of surrender the promise "that Virginia shall
+be free from all taxes, customs, and impositions whatsoever, and none to
+be imposed on them without the consent of the General Assembly."[27]
+
+In 1675, when the Virginia Assembly sent agents to England to petition
+for a charter, they took pains to point out that "neither his Majesty
+nor any of his ancestors or predecessors had ever offered to impose any
+tax upon this plantation without the consent of his subjects here."[28]
+It was so universally accepted that only the Assembly could tax the
+people, that the agents thought it necessary to explain why they
+considered it wise to insert an article confirming this right. "Not
+being taxed but by the General Assembly, as it hath been ever the
+practice there and the other plantations, so it is a power given them by
+royal instructions, which we conceive ought to be confirmed under the
+Great Seal, for though it might be taken for granted that as they never
+have been, so they never should be otherwise taxed, and that as of right
+they ought to be; yet the power of the Assembly being only in
+instructions, we ordered this further confirmation of it."[29]
+
+Certain historians have assumed that the Americans a century later
+annunciated a new principle in claiming that taxation without
+representation is tyranny. The fact is that the principle was older than
+the colonies themselves. All the Revolutionary patriots did was to give
+it a new and more striking wording. When Parliament passed the Stamp Act
+they were taking an unprecedented step, a step which violated the
+age-old rights of Englishmen. And in so doing, they struck a deadly blow
+at liberty in America.
+
+The most common and the most hated source of income in Virginia was the
+poll tax. It was not entirely unequal since it was imposed on all male
+whites over sixteen, all white women over sixteen who worked in the
+fields, and all slaves old enough to work. Thus the poor man paid only
+for himself and members of his family, while the rich man paid for his
+servants and slaves as well. The poll tax provided revenue, not only for
+the general government, but for the counties and parishes.
+
+Though the poll tax usually was not excessive, it was a source of
+constant irritation. The poor planter who had worked hard to raise a
+crop of tobacco just large enough to buy necessities for his family,
+thought it hard indeed when the sheriff took the government's share.
+
+The quit rents paid to the King for all land were an even greater source
+of trouble. It was impossible to make men of large estates pay in full,
+there were frauds in disposing of the tobacco in which the rents were
+paid, at times the people were so far behind that to enforce payment of
+arrears would ruin them. The quit rent fund was drawn upon for war
+purposes, building of forts, paying salaries, etc. In 1693 Commissary
+Blair received a grant of £1985.14.10 from the quit rent fund to found
+the College of William and Mary. When Attorney General Seymour objected
+to paying the money, Blair explained that it was the chief purpose of
+the college to train young men for the ministry, and begged him to
+consider that they in Virginia had souls to be saved as well as those in
+England. "Souls! Damn your souls! Make tobacco," snapped Seymour.[30]
+
+Local government was administered by the county courts. Hartwell, Blair,
+and Chilton wrote: "There is a county court in every county, which
+consists of eight or ten gentlemen ... to whom the Governor gives a
+commission during pleasure to be justices of the peace for that county.
+He renews that commission commonly every year, for that ... gives him
+an opportunity to admit into it new favorites and exclude others that
+have not been so zealous in his service.... They have court once a
+month, ... and have a power of deciding all sorts of causes."[31] But
+they did not have jurisdiction in cases involving loss of life or limb.
+
+That the people had no voice in selecting the justices was greatly
+resented, especially since the courts had the power of levying taxes.
+The people of Charles City County complained in 1677 that the justices
+had "illegally ... taken upon them without our consent from time to time
+to impose, raise, assess, and levy what taxes, levies, and impositions
+upon us ... they liked, great part of which they have converted to their
+own use."[32] The people of Surry County made a similar complaint: "It
+has been the custom of the county courts at the laying of the levy to
+withdraw into a private room by which the poor people not knowing for
+what they paid their levy did always admire how their taxes could be so
+high."[33]
+
+In each county was one or more parishes, presided over by a vestry of
+twelve men each. Since the vestry had the right to lay the parish levy,
+it was of great importance that they should be elected by the people.
+This was the practice until Berkeley's second administration, when it
+became the custom for a vestry, when once chosen at the establishing of
+a new parish, themselves to fill vacancies in their ranks, and thus to
+become self-perpetuating.
+
+Hartwell, Blair, and Chilton thought it deplorable that the vestries
+habitually refused to present their ministers for induction, so that
+they could "keep them in more subjection." This was such a hardship on
+the clergy that none who "were informed of it would come into the
+country." When one did come, he would have to be wary of preaching
+against any vices "that any great man of his vestry was guilty of," for
+fear of losing his place.[34] Yet the vestries themselves were supposed
+to be the guardians of the morals of the parishioners. In 1648 a vestry
+in Northampton found the wife of a prominent citizen guilty of adultery,
+and ordered the minister and church warden to present her to the county
+court for punishment.
+
+The most eagerly sought after offices in the colony were those of
+President of the Council, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Auditor,
+and Treasurer. It was the custom for the senior member of the Council in
+point of service to become President when the office of the Governor was
+temporarily vacant.[35] This was an unsatisfactory arrangement since it
+might happen that the senior Councillor was too old to take on important
+and arduous duties. In 1749, when Governor Gooch was about to leave for
+England, it was decided by the Council that Colonel John Custis, the
+senior member, was "utterly incapable of managing the business of the
+government."[36] At their request the Governor suspended him from the
+Council, so that Thomas Lee, next in order of seniority, could become
+President.
+
+The Secretary of State was appointed by the King. Until 1723 he held
+office only "during the pleasure" of the Governor, but thereafter for
+life. The Secretary claimed the right to appoint the clerks of the
+county courts, who acted as his deputies, and paid him a percentage of
+the income from fees arising from lawsuits and other court proceedings.
+But he seldom made an appointment "without the Governor's knowledge and
+good liking."
+
+Contemporary writers agree that the Secretary's office was a jungle of
+court records, surveys, commissions, deeds for land, probates of wills,
+writs of elections, marriage certificates, etc. If we may believe
+Benjamin Harrison it was usually in wild confusion. "Nothing hath been
+more common of late years than to hear people complain that they could
+not find the records of their patents or other deeds for their
+lands."[37] Apparently all kinds of documents were piled up together
+instead of being sorted and filed separately. "It is almost impossible
+to give a full and perfect account of the Secretary's office, there is
+such a medley in it that its scarce credible," wrote Hartwell, Blair,
+and Chilton.
+
+The Auditor for Virginia was appointed by the Auditor of the
+Plantations, usually upon the recommendation of the Governor. This
+officer audited the accounts of the quit rents, the export duty,
+escheats, etc., certified their accuracy, and reported to England. He
+received 7-1/2 per cent of all the monies passing through his hands.
+There seems to have been great laxness at times in the handling of
+funds. When Auditor William Byrd died in December, 1704, it was found
+that the account was overdrawn by £7,698.9.10.[38] It is not surprising
+that Governor Nicholson, while waiting for William Blathwait, the
+Auditor of the Plantations, to appoint Byrd's successor, decided to
+"take that trouble" on himself.[39]
+
+Philip Ludwell, who was made Auditor in 1712, seems to have been just as
+careless as Byrd. In December, 1715, Governor Spotswood called the
+attention of the Council to the confusion in his office. "Only gross
+sums are entered in one general account," he said, "and the particular
+accounts of the receivers ... only kept in loose papers."[40] When he
+recommended several reforms, Ludwell told him in effect to mind his own
+business, and that he would take orders only from the Auditor General.
+Thereupon Spotswood suspended him from his office. Ludwell came back
+with a letter "stuffed with virulent invectives," denying the legality
+of this action.
+
+Prior to 1691 the Treasurer was appointed by the Governor, but that year
+the Burgesses claimed the right of naming him, and despite the
+opposition of the Governors, eventually had their way. The Treasurer
+received the funds from various taxes and made up the accounts. He
+received six per cent of the money collected.
+
+Outwardly the government of Virginia changed little during the century
+and a half from the fall of the London Company to the Declaration of
+Independence. Actually throughout the colonial period vital developments
+were taking place. Both the Council and the House of Burgesses were
+tireless in whittling away at the King's prerogative; the Council
+gradually took out of the Governor's hands the right of naming local
+officials; the control of the purse by the Burgesses was used to such
+good effect that by the middle of the eighteenth century their influence
+was greater than that of either Governor or Council.
+
+We gain glimpses of the changes which were taking place, not by changes
+in the laws, but by seemingly unimportant incidents, and by the spirit
+of the times. What would Charles II have thought had Sir William
+Berkeley written him, boasting of his influence with the Speaker of the
+House of Burgesses? Yet that is just what Governor Fauquier did in
+1758.
+
+It was the determined, unflagging, bitter battle for self-government
+which brought victory to the people. We see them putting Governor John
+Harvey aboard a vessel and sending him back to England, when he tried to
+play the despot; we see them rising in wild rebellion against the
+misgovernment of Sir William Berkeley; we see them defending their
+liberty against the assaults of Charles II and James II.
+
+The English government was warned repeatedly of what was going on. "I
+may truly say that now or never is the only time to maintain the Queen's
+just prerogative and put a stop to these wrong, pernicious notions which
+are improving daily, not only in Virginia, but in all her Majesty's
+other governments," wrote Colonel Robert Quary, in 1705. "A frown now
+from her Majesty will do more than perhaps an army hereafter."[41] In
+another report he said that the Assembly "conclude themselves entitled
+to all the rights and privileges of an English Parliament." Nicholson
+said that the Virginians wished to set up a commonwealth.
+
+But Nicholson was wrong. The Virginians of his day, and their sons and
+grandsons after them were loyal to the British Kings, wished to remain
+in the British Empire. But they were determined to govern themselves in
+all except imperial matters. What they wanted was liberty, not
+independence. And liberty they attained decades before the Stamp Act,
+decades before Patrick Henry said: "Give me liberty or give me death."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 531-533.
+
+[2] CO5-1359, p. 344.
+
+[3] CO5-1359, p. 255.
+
+[4] CO5-1314, Doc. 15G.
+
+[5] CO5-1356, pp. 125, 126.
+
+[6] CO5-1359, p. 320.
+
+[7] CO1-40, p. 104.
+
+[8] CO5-1359, pp. 95, 96.
+
+[9] _Ibid._, 97, 98.
+
+[10] H. J. Ford, _Rise and growth of American politics_, 267.
+
+[11] CO5-1314, Doc. 17.
+
+[12] _Ibid._, Doc. 10.
+
+[13] CO5-1314, Doc. 23.
+
+[14] P. 34.
+
+[15] P. 46.
+
+[16] CO5-1315, Sept. 1, 1706.
+
+[17] CO5-1314, Doc. 43.
+
+[18] CO5-1315, Sept. 1, 1706.
+
+[19] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 477.
+
+[20] CO5-1318.
+
+[21] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1695-1702: 133.
+
+[22] June 28, 1758.
+
+[23] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693, 381.
+
+[24] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 363, 369.
+
+[25] CO1-41, p. 118.
+
+[26] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1.
+
+[27] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 363-365.
+
+[28] _Bath papers_, IIa, 44.
+
+[29] _Ibid._, 142.
+
+[30] _The complete works of Benjamin Franklin_, J. Bigelow, ed., 10:
+369.
+
+[31] _The present state of Virginia_, 44, 45.
+
+[32] _Virginia Magazine_, 3: 142.
+
+[33] _Ibid._ 2: 172.
+
+[34] _The present state of Virginia_, 66, 67.
+
+[35] CO5-1359, 344.
+
+[36] _Executive journals of the Council_ 5: 299.
+
+[37] CO5-1361, p. 426.
+
+[38] _Executive journals of the Council_ 2: 406.
+
+[39] _Ibid._, 407.
+
+[40] _Ibid._ 3: 421.
+
+[41] CO5-1314, Doc. 63I.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WE PREFER ANOTHER GOVERNOR
+
+
+The people of Jamestown in the years from 1626 to 1640, when they saw a
+vessel coming up the river, must have crowded around the landing place
+to ask sailors and passengers for the latest news from England. Was King
+Charles still raising funds with which to run the government by means of
+forced loans? Was he still billeting his soldiers on the people? Was
+martial law in force? They must have been thrilled to hear of the
+Petition of Rights in which the House of Commons protested against
+Charles' arbitrary rule.
+
+When the Burgesses came to town for a session of the Assembly, the
+struggle between King and Parliament must have been the chief topic of
+conversation around the table in each crude little tavern. Now it was
+the jailing of nine members of the House of Commons; now the granting of
+monopolies; now the collecting of ship money; now the suppression of
+free speech; now the proceedings of the Star Chamber; now the efforts of
+Archbishop Laud to enforce religious conformity.
+
+The Virginians were fully aware that these events affected them
+profoundly. They had just won a degree of self-government. If the King
+succeeded in his efforts to make himself absolute in England, all their
+gains might be lost. Might he not overthrow their Assembly? If he could
+imprison men arbitrarily in England, he would not hesitate to do so in
+Virginia. If he could tax the people of England under the thin veil of
+loans, or the revival of ancient laws, would he hesitate to tax the
+colonists without their own consent? Might he not place over them
+another Dale or Argall to hang men or break them on the wheel?
+
+So when Sir George Yeardley, their liberal Governor, died in November,
+1627, they were filled with grief. They remembered that it was he who
+had brought over the Virginia Magna Carta, and had called the first
+Assembly. We have lost "a main pillar of this our building and thereby a
+support to the whole body," wrote the Council.[1]
+
+Their concern must have been all the greater because Yeardley's
+commission of March 14, 1626, named John Harvey as his successor. The
+Virginians knew this man well. He had been one of the King's
+commissioners who came to the colony in 1624 to draw up a report on
+conditions there to be used in overthrowing the charter of the Company.
+Just why it was thought that he was the right man to act as Governor is
+not apparent, for he was a mariner by vocation and had served as captain
+of a ship which went to the East Indies in 1617. In November, 1625, we
+find him in command of a ship in the expedition against Cadiz. He may
+have owed his appointment as Governor to Viscount Dorchester, the
+Secretary of State, whom he thanked for his "wonted nobleness" to him.
+
+But Virginia was to have a breathing space before Harvey's arrival.
+Yeardley's commission had specified that in the absence of Harvey the
+Council should elect one of their number to act in his place. They chose
+Captain Francis West, brother of Lord De la Warr.[2] West was a seasoned
+Virginian, for he had come to the colony in 1608 with Captain Newport.
+He had been commander of Jamestown many years, and a member of the
+Council since 1619. It was during his brief administration that the
+first legal Assembly since the dissolution of the London Company was
+called together, the Assembly which rejected the King's proposal for a
+tobacco contract.
+
+In March, 1629, West was appointed agent for the colony and sent to
+England. To serve as Governor until his return or the arrival of Harvey,
+the Council chose Dr. John Pott. This man had been in Virginia since
+1621, when he came over as "Physician to the Company" and member of the
+Council. He was described as "a Master of Arts ... well practiced in
+chirurgery and physic, and expert in distilling of waters, besides many
+other ingenious devices."[3] He seems to have consumed a goodly quantity
+of "distilled waters" himself, for he was fond of his cups and jovial
+company. George Sandys wrote of him that "he kept company too much with
+his inferiors, who hung upon him while his good liquor lasted."[4]
+
+The most notable of Pott's "ingenious devices" was the poisoning of a
+large number of Indians after the massacre of 1622. In justification of
+this act, his friends explained that the barbarous and perfidious
+savages knew nothing about the rules of war, so it was fair play to
+resort to anything that tended to their ruin. But this did not save Pott
+from criticism in England. The Earl of Warwick was so shocked that at
+his request Pott was left out of the Council because "he was the
+poisoner of the savages there." But he seems to have been forgiven, for
+in 1626 we find him once more in his seat.
+
+It was during Pott's administration that Lord Baltimore visited
+Virginia. In 1623 he had received a grant of land in Newfoundland, and
+had planted a colony of English Catholics there. But when four years
+later he visited the place, he found "the air so intolerable cold as it
+is hardly to be endured." He wrote King Charles that he had decided to
+move with some forty persons to Virginia, and petitioned for "a precinct
+of land there."
+
+On October 1, 1629, he, with his wife and children, arrived at
+Jamestown. Here he met with a cool reception. A certain Thomas Tindall
+got into an altercation with him, called him a liar, and threatened to
+knock him down. The Virginians did not want in their midst a group of
+Catholics who were trying to lop off one of the most fertile parts of
+their territory. So to get rid of them the Governor and Council tendered
+my Lord the oath of supremacy, knowing that as a Catholic he could not
+take it, for to do so was to acknowledge the King as the supreme
+authority in ecclesiastical matters. When he refused they asked him to
+leave. This he did, but since he left his family in Virginia, it was
+obvious that he intended to return. So William Claiborne was sent after
+him as agent for the colony to oppose his designs.
+
+To add to the troubles of the people, in the early spring of 1630 Harvey
+arrived and took his seat as Governor. He had lingered in England to
+make sure that the office would yield a good return. Only after the King
+had promised him the fines imposed by any of the courts did he set sail.
+His voyage was far from being pleasant, for his ship was leaky, he was
+delayed at the Cape Verde Islands by a Dutch fleet, and he was laid low
+by "a great sickness" that attacked him at sea.[5]
+
+After landing it was several weeks before he was able to take over his
+duties. But after he had done so, his intentions at once became
+apparent. The man was by nature a despot. The despotism of Sir Edmund
+Andros in New England and of Lord Howard of Effingham in Virginia in the
+years just preceding the Glorious Revolution stemmed, not so much from
+the character of these men, as from the deliberate policy of Charles II.
+There is no evidence that Charles I ordered Harvey to make himself
+absolute. He had too many troubles at home to give much thought to
+Virginia.
+
+It may have been Harvey's training as a sea captain which made him
+impatient of restraint. In Virginia he acted as though he were still on
+the deck of his ship thundering out commands which no one must question.
+If the King were in Virginia, would not his orders be obeyed? Then why
+not the orders of his Governor? He never tired of reminding the members
+of the Council and others that he was the King's substitute. When to his
+passion for power are added his rudeness and violence, his avarice and
+disregard for the rights of others, we have the picture of one utterly
+unsuited to be the chief executive of a liberty loving people.
+
+Harvey was accused of diverting public funds to his own pocket, but of
+this we have no direct proof. It is probable that he tried to levy taxes
+without the consent of the Assembly. Otherwise one wonders why the
+Assembly should have thought it necessary to order "that the Governor
+and Council shall not lay any taxes or impositions upon the colony ...
+otherwise than by the authority of the Grand Assembly."[6]
+
+But it was chiefly through the courts that he carried out his designs.
+He himself presided over the quarter court, and it was he who appointed
+the commissioners or justices who sat on the local courts. Thus it was
+not difficult for him to secure any verdict he wished. So he had at hand
+an instrument to satisfy his lust for power by crushing those who
+resisted him, and his lust for money by imposing heavy fines. It should
+have been obvious to Charles I when he agreed to give Harvey all fines
+and amercements, that it was a dangerous thing to permit a judge, or one
+who appointed judges, to profit from his or their decisions.
+
+The most notorious abuse of the judicial power by Harvey was his
+prosecution of Dr. Pott. Charging the pleasure-loving physician with
+pardoning murder and marking other men's cattle for his own, he
+suspended him from the Council, and confined him to his plantation
+pending the day of his trial. When Pott defied the Governor's order and
+came to Elizabeth City, Harvey put him in prison and set a guard around
+it. In July, 1630, he was put on trial.
+
+We have only one detail of the proceedings, but that like a flash is
+revealing of Pott's character and of the farcical character of the
+prosecution. When a certain Richard Kingswell testified against him,
+Pott declared that he was as great a liar and hypocrite as Gusman of
+Alfrach. He was referring to the book by Mateo Alemán, of Seville, in
+which Gusman is shown first as a scullion, then as an errand boy, then
+as a thief, then as a pretended gentleman who cheated his creditors.[7]
+But this thrust did not save him. He was convicted, and his entire
+estate confiscated.[8]
+
+It would seem that in this case Harvey was actuated more by a desire to
+show his power than by avarice. If he could humble so prominent a man as
+Pott, one who had been acting Governor, others would stand in awe of
+him. "It will be a means to bring people to ... hold a better respect to
+the Governor than hitherto they have done," he wrote.[9] But having
+shown his power to ruin, he now sought to show that he could also
+restore. So he wrote the King suggesting clemency. "For as much as he is
+the only physician in the colony, and skilled in the epidemical diseases
+of the planters ... I am bound to entreat" your Majesty to pardon
+him.[10]
+
+A more sincere plea came from the doctor's wife, Elizabeth. Getting up
+from a sick bed, she made the long and dangerous voyage to England to
+complain to the King "touching the wrong" done her husband. Charles
+referred the case to the Virginia Commissioners, who listened
+sympathetically as she poured out the story of injustice and
+persecution.[11] They concluded that there had been "some hard usage
+against" Pott, and recommended that the King pardon him. Accordingly,
+Charles forgave his "offences" and restored his property.[12] But the
+jovial doctor never regained his seat in the Council.
+
+The prosecution of Pott set the example for others. "The Governor
+usurped the whole power in all causes without any respect to the votes
+of the Council," reported Samuel Mathews, "whereby justice was done but
+so far as suited his will to the great loss of many men's estates and a
+general fear in all." If other members of the court opposed him, he
+would revile them and tell them they were there merely to advise him. He
+could accept or reject their opinions as he liked, since "the power lay
+in himself to dispose of all matters as his Majesty's substitute."[13]
+
+With the General Court dominated by the overbearing and avaricious
+Governor no man was safe. At any moment one might be hauled before the
+bar, charged with some petty offence, found guilty, and given a ruinous
+fine. Mathews said that there were an "infinite number of particular
+men's grievances."[14] William Claiborne thought it strange that Harvey
+"should so demean himself," for "all men were wronged, and even good and
+bad had forsaken him."[15] It was in every man's mouth that "no justice
+was done." When a report of these things reached England, Sir John
+Wolstenholm, one of the Virginia Commissioners, said that "Sir John
+Harvey stunk in Court and city."[16]
+
+Harvey's attempts to make himself absolute, his disregard of other men's
+rights, his perversion of justice did not go unchallenged. Soon the
+meetings of the Council became stormy. The Governor insisted that he, as
+the King's substitute, had a right to determine all things. The
+Councillors were merely his assistants, whose duty it was to advise him,
+but not to oppose him. But the Councillors dissented vigorously. Look at
+your commission, they told him, and you will see that it directs that
+all matters must be determined by the majority of voices. Does it not
+say that the King grants to the Governor and Council "and the greater
+number of you respectively full power and authority to execute" the
+duties of the executive body?
+
+Soon Harvey was filling his letters with complaints of the opposition of
+the Council. "For instead of giving me assistance, they stand contesting
+and disputing my authority, averring that I can do nothing but what they
+shall advise me, and that my power extendeth no further than a bare
+casting voice."[17] He had shown them a letter from the King
+strengthening his commission, but they refused to budge from their
+position. He would be grateful if his Majesty would be so explicit "that
+the place of Governor and the duty of Councillors may be known and
+distinguished."[18]
+
+The Privy Council answered by warning both sides to put an end to their
+disputes and cooperate with each other in advancing the good of the
+colony. So they drew up and signed a formal reconciliation. They
+promised "to swallow up and bury" all complaints, and to turn their
+"alienated and distempered" minds to thoughts of love and peace. The
+Councillors vowed to give the Governor "all the service, honor, and due
+respect which belongs to him as his Majesty's substitute."[19]
+
+The reconciliation proved a sham. Harvey continued to be overbearing and
+arbitrary; the Councillors were as bitter as ever. When one of them,
+Thomas Hinton, in an outburst of anger gave Harvey some "ill words," he
+ousted him from his seat. Love and peace were far indeed from the
+Governor's mind when he responded to some "ill language" from Captain
+Richard Stevens by landing a blow in his face with a cudgel and knocking
+out some of his teeth.[20]
+
+In 1634 a certain Captain Thomas Young arrived in Virginia with a
+commission from the King authorizing him to discover and search the
+unexplored parts of the colony. Needing two shallops, and hearing that
+one of the planters had an indentured worker who was a skilled
+shipwright, he seized him and put him to work. In this violation of
+property rights he was supported by the Governor. But it aroused the
+anger of the Council, and several of them came to Harvey to demand an
+explanation.
+
+Harvey may have had in mind the Forced Loans as a precedent for taking
+the property of the subject, when he replied that his Majesty had given
+Young "authority to make use of any persons he found there." Young
+needed the shipwright "to prosecute with speed the King's service," he
+said. Speaking for the others, Samuel Mathews retorted angrily that if
+things were done in that fashion it would breed ill blood in Virginia.
+Turning his back he whirled a truncheon he carried in his hand, and
+lashed off the heads of some high weeds.[21] The Governor, ignoring
+this, said: "Come, gentlemen, let us go to supper, and for the night
+leave this discourse." But they were in no humor to be appeased. With
+one accord they turned their backs and left "in a very irreverent
+manner."
+
+The Virginians were further embittered against Harvey for the aid he
+gave to Lord Baltimore's settlers. It was on February 27, 1634, that the
+_Ark_ and the _Dove_, with Leonard and George Calvert, twenty "gentlemen
+adventurers," and three-hundred laborers, arrived at Point Comfort. They
+bore a letter to the Governor from the King requiring him to treat them
+with courtesy and respect, permit them to buy cattle and other
+commodities, and do all he could to advance their settlement.
+
+Harvey did his best to comply. He sent them some of his own cows and
+promised to procure more. But this was not easy. The planters were so
+outraged at having a part of their territory torn away for a colony of
+Catholics that they swore they would knock their cattle on the head
+rather than sell them to the Marylanders. Some of the members of the
+Council had been informed by letters from England of Lord Baltimore's
+plans. When Samuel Mathews opened one of them, he threw his hat on the
+ground in a fury, stamped, and cried: "A pox upon Maryland!"[22] He,
+with William Claiborne and other members of the Council, held many
+secret meetings to decide upon a course of action. But they were
+powerless to prevent the _Ark_ and the _Dove_ from moving up the
+Chesapeake Bay with the newcomers, and the founding of a little town
+near the mouth of the Potomac.
+
+Three years before their arrival Claiborne had made a settlement on Kent
+Island in the Chesapeake near the site of Annapolis. So now he found
+himself torn from Virginia and handed over to another government. The
+result was open warfare. It was prophetic of the battle between the
+Merrimac and the Monitor in Chesapeake waters more than two centuries
+later, when two pinnaces full of armed men captured an armed vessel sent
+out by the Kent Islanders.
+
+When this news reached Jamestown there was great indignation. Harvey
+tried to justify the Marylanders, but this merely intensified the
+people's hatred of him. So he not only aids in the dismemberment of
+Virginia, it was said, but upholds the intruders in murdering our
+people. Is it right that one who is Governor of the colony should side
+with her enemies?
+
+The crisis came in 1635. King Charles, ever pressed for money, tried
+once more to secure a tobacco contract. So he wrote Harvey directing him
+to call an Assembly and to ask for "the sole pre-emption of all
+tobacco," at a lower price and a reduced quantity. The members of the
+Council, especially Samuel Mathews, John Utie, and William Pierce,
+opposed the contract "very saucily."[23] As for the Burgesses, they
+hated all contracts. So they drew up an answer which was in effect a
+refusal. In order to give the paper the character of a petition they all
+signed it. This they gave to Harvey to send to the King.
+
+But instead of forwarding it, the Governor detained it. In excuse of
+this arbitrary action he said he feared the King "would not take well
+the matter thereof, and that they should make it a popular business by
+subscribing a multitude of hands thereto, as thinking thereby to give it
+countenance."[24] The people were outraged. So our Governor takes it on
+himself to decide what or what not we shall say to our King. Is it not
+the right of all Englishmen to address their sovereign? "The wrong done
+by the Governor to the whole colony in detaining the foresaid letters to
+his Majesty did exceedingly perplex them, whereby they were made
+sensible of the condition of the present government," wrote Samuel
+Mathews.[25]
+
+Things had now come to a head. A petition demanding a redress of
+grievances was drawn up, which Francis Pott, brother of Dr. John Pott,
+took about the country. Everywhere he found the people tired of Harvey's
+arbitrary conduct, tired of his injustice to individual persons. So they
+pressed forward eagerly to sign the petition. Harvey says that only in
+Accomac did they refuse.[26]
+
+It was in April, 1635, that Pott, Captain Nicholas Martian, and William
+English, the sheriff of York County, addressed a gathering at the house
+of William Warren. This meeting has a special significance in the long
+struggle for American liberty, for Warren's house was on or near the
+site of the Moore House, at Yorktown, where the British army under Lord
+Cornwallis surrendered a century and a half later. The speakers were
+denouncing Harvey's despotic government when some friends of the
+Governor tried to enter. A servant kept them out, but they hung around
+outside and "bended themselves to hearken to the discourse among
+them."[27] When the speeches were concluded those present gathered
+around the petition and affixed their signatures.
+
+When this was reported to Harvey, he flew into a rage. Calling the
+Council, he issued warrants for the arrest of Francis Pott, English, and
+Martian. They were brought up in irons. Pott handed over the petition
+and declared that if he had offended he appealed to the King. "He was
+sure of no justice from Sir John Harvey." When the prisoners asked why
+they were arrested, the Governor told them that they would be told at
+the gallows. So they were hustled off to prison.[28]
+
+Harvey then called the Council together again and told them that it was
+necessary to try the prisoners by martial law. But the Councillors
+insisted on a legal trial. In the dispute which followed Harvey became
+violently angry. Finally, he sat down and ordered the others to sit.
+Looking around with a frown, he said: "I am to propound a question to
+you.... What do you think they deserve that have gone about to persuade
+the people from their obedience to his Majesty's substitute?"
+
+Turning to George Menefie, he said, "I begin with you." Menefie answered
+that since he was but a young lawyer he did not dare give an opinion
+"upon the sudden." Here Nicholas Farrar interposed to protest against
+this method of proceeding. But Harvey cut him short with the command to
+hold his tongue until he was spoken to. Thereupon Samuel Mathews spoke
+up to enter his protest. But instantly, in the King's name, he was told
+to be silent. Mathews insisted there was no precedent for this attempt
+to make men incriminate themselves unless it was that by a tyrant. Here
+he was alluding to the passage in Shakespeare's _King Richard_ III in
+which Richard asked Lord Hastings what should be done to the women who
+had bewitched him. Hastings replied that if they had done so they ought
+to die. "Talk'st thou to me of ifs," replied Richard, "thou art a
+traitor. Off with his head." Harvey evidently did not relish being
+compared to Richard, and so retorted with many "bitter languages."[29]
+
+The Councillors were now determined to bring their dispute with the
+Governor to an issue. The next time he summoned them to meet, they
+brought with them fifty musketeers and concealed them near the house.
+Harvey asked them with a stern look what they thought was the reason for
+the petition against him. "The chief cause was the detaining of the
+letters to his Majesty," replied Mr. Menefie. This infuriated Harvey.
+Rising from his chair, he struck Menefie a resounding blow on the
+shoulder, saying: "I arrest you on suspicion of treason to his Majesty."
+But now he had gone too far. Utie and Mathews seized him, exclaiming:
+"And we you upon suspicion of treason to his Majesty."[30]
+
+At this juncture Dr. Pott, who was standing near the door, held up his
+hand as a signal, and the musketeers came running up "with their pieces
+presented." "Stay here until there be use of you," Pott commanded. In
+the meanwhile, Mathews had forced Harvey down into a chair. "Sir, there
+is no harm intended against you only to acquaint you with the grievances
+of the inhabitants," he told him. So he poured out the recital of the
+wrongs done the colony and demanded that they be redressed. But the
+Governor, who was in no mood for making concessions, denied that any
+wrong had been done. After an ominous pause Mathews said: "Sir, the
+people's fury is up against you and to appease it is beyond our power,
+unless you please to go for England." Harvey replied that the King had
+sent him to Virginia to be Governor, and he would not leave until he
+ordered him to do so.
+
+But he soon changed his mind. That night a courier came riding up with a
+letter to Harvey from Thomas Purifie, who seems to have been one of his
+few friends in the Council, giving an alarming report of the threatening
+attitude of the people. At first the Governor said he would defy them to
+do their worst. Would it not be better to remain, though he be cut in a
+thousand pieces, than to desert his charge? he asked Secretary Richard
+Kemp. Kemp replied that for him to remain might "hazard the King's
+service" by provoking the infuriated people to further acts of violence.
+So at last he yielded and promised to leave.[31]
+
+The rebellious Councillors now took over the government. They released
+English, Martian, and Francis Pott, forced Harvey to deliver his
+commission and instructions to Secretary Kemp, set an armed guard around
+him ostensibly to protect him from violence, posted armed men in "all
+ways and passages," called a General Assembly, and sent out a
+proclamation inviting the people to lay their grievances before it, and
+appointed their senior member, John West, a brother of Lord De la Warr,
+acting Governor.[32]
+
+In the meanwhile, Harvey had left Jamestown to seek refuge in the house
+of Mr. William Brocas, "whose wife was generally suspected to have more
+familiarity with him than befitted a modest woman." Here he thought
+himself secure enough to dismiss his guard. And from here he wrote a
+threatening letter to the members of the Assembly, commanding them in
+the King's name to disperse. He also wrote Secretary Kemp demanding the
+return of his commission and instructions. The Councillors seized the
+first letter, refused to read it to the Burgesses, and the Assembly went
+on with the consideration of the grievances, "which were innumerable."
+As for the commission and the instructions, they had taken them from
+Kemp and turned them over to Menefie for safe keeping.[33]
+
+The Assembly now passed resolutions accusing Harvey of misgovernment and
+injustice, and explaining why the people had been driven to the extreme
+expedient of sending him back to England. As their agent to deliver
+these papers to the King they appointed one of the Burgesses, Thomas
+Harwood. With him went Francis Pott to plead his case before the King.
+Since it would be several months before the tobacco ships sailed for
+England, there seems to have been only one vessel leaving at the time.
+So Harvey, as well as Pott and Harwood, had to embark on it.
+
+As events turned out this was unfortunate. Not that Harvey's frowns and
+threats frightened Pott and Harwood, but that it gave him a chance to
+frustrate their plans when they landed at Plymouth. Hardly had the ship
+touched dock when he hastened to see the mayor of the city to tell him
+of the "late mutiny and rebellion" in Virginia. So the mayor put Pott
+under arrest "as a principal author and agent thereof," and seized the
+trunk containing the papers entrusted to Harwood. Pott was dragged off
+to London and locked up in the old debtors' prison called the Fleet.[34]
+
+In the meanwhile, Harwood had set off post haste to get to London ahead
+of Harvey so as to make friends and tell of his misgovernment. He got a
+ride with the postman who was carrying the mail. At Exeter he stopped at
+the Sign of the Valiant Soldier, and drank a pint of wine with the
+proprietor. This seems to have loosened his tongue, for he poured out
+the story of Harvey's misdeeds to this stranger, told him of his
+mission, and added that if Harvey ever returned to Virginia "he would be
+pistolled or shot."[35]
+
+We do not know whether Harwood or Harvey won the race to London. But it
+was the Governor who succeeded in gaining the support of the King and
+the Privy Council. It is possible that his accusation that Harwood "was
+one of the chief of the mutineer Burgesses that opposed his Majesty's
+service in the tobacco contract and in stirring up the country to this
+mutiny," may have landed him in prison. At all events, when the Privy
+Council met, the Governor had things his own way.
+
+The King was greatly surprised that the Virginians had dared defy him by
+ousting their duly appointed Governor. He was determined to send Harvey
+back if but for one day, he said. And should he clear himself of the
+charges against him, he would keep him there longer than he had
+intended. As a further vindication of his authority, he gave orders that
+West, Mathews, Utie, and Pierce, the leaders of the mutiny, be brought
+to England "to answer their misdemeanors." He also directed the Attorney
+General to draw up a new commission for Harvey with an enlargement of
+his powers.[36]
+
+Though Harvey may have been a bit nervous over the threat of
+"pistoling," he was too anxious to regain his confiscated property and
+get revenge on his enemies to hesitate to return to Virginia. He made no
+secret of his intention to confiscate the property of those who had so
+humiliated him. As for Samuel Mathews, whose estate consisted largely of
+cattle, he vowed he would leave him not worth a cow's tail.[37] Yet he
+thought it prudent to ask for one of the King's ships, explaining that
+this would "much abate the boldness of the offenders." So on October 2,
+1636, he set forth proudly in the _Black George_. But he did not get
+very far. The _Black George_ proved so leaky that for a while it seemed
+that it might prove a Godsend to Virginia by taking Sir John to the
+bottom. But it turned back and succeeded in reaching port. The Governor
+set sail again, this time on a merchant vessel.
+
+When he reached Virginia, in January, 1637, Harvey could not wait for
+the ship to wend its way up to Jamestown before asserting his authority,
+but landed at Point Comfort and established a temporary capital at
+Elizabeth City. Here he began immediately to turn sheriffs and justices
+out of office and replace them with men more to his liking.[38]
+Messengers were sent to summon the Council to meet in the Elizabeth City
+church. It must have been with an air of triumph that he greeted the
+Councillors, for now the day of retribution had come.
+
+One would think that Harvey's expulsion would have taught him a lesson.
+Instead, his desire for revenge drove him into new excesses. With the
+enlarged powers of his new commission, with the Council submissive to
+his will, with the courts manned by his favorites, with the prestige of
+the King's backing, he went to great extremes. The Reverend Anthony
+Panton accused him of "many arbitrary and illegal proceedings in
+judgment, tyranny, extortion." The "unjust whippings, cutting of ears,
+fining and confiscation of honest men's goods," must have brought back
+memories of Dale and Argall. The converting of fines to his "own profit
+and use," or to reward his henchmen, convinced the people that men were
+accused and sentenced, not because they were guilty of any crime, but
+merely to have an excuse for taking their property.[39]
+
+In the meanwhile, West, Mathews, Utie, and Pierce had been sent as
+prisoners to England to answer the charge of mutiny, where a bill was
+exhibited against them in the Star Chamber. But here the matter hung
+fire. George Donne, Muster General of Virginia and a member of the
+Council, who had come to England to prosecute them, became ill. Harvey
+neglected to put up the money for necessary fees. The great cost of the
+voyage across the Atlantic prevented the sending over of witnesses.
+
+But in the absence of the accused men, Sir John took ample revenge on
+them. They were informed by letters from Virginia that "divers of their
+goods, cattle, and servants" had been confiscated. So they complained to
+the Privy Council. Mathews assured them that Harvey was bent on ruining
+him, and that he had been heard to say that if one "stood, tother should
+fall, and if he swum, the other should sink." He seems to have convinced
+the Privy Council, for on May 25, 1637, they wrote Harvey ordering him
+to restore Mathews' property.[40]
+
+But so reluctant was Harvey to be cheated out of his revenge that he
+postponed compliance in the hope that something might occur to give him
+an excuse for not obeying. This excuse he found in a letter from the
+Privy Council expressing satisfaction with his administration. It was
+his excuse, also, for further severities against Mathews. Kemp and
+others entered his house, broke open the doors of several rooms,
+ransacked his trunks, examined his papers, and carried off a part of his
+goods and eight of his servants.[41]
+
+When word of this reached the Privy Council, the sub-committee to whom
+the case was referred gave it as their opinion that Mathews had been
+"very hardly dealt with." "We cannot but clearly discern somewhat of
+passion in the said proceedings," they reported. So the Privy Council
+wrote again to Harvey, commanding him once more to restore Mathews'
+property. This time the Governor complied, writing the Privy Council a
+long, but lame excuse for what he had done.[42]
+
+Another victim of Harvey's malice was the Reverend Anthony Panton,
+minister of the parishes of York and Chiskiack. Panton had quarreled
+with the Governor's warm friend, Secretary Kemp, and had incurred his
+lasting enmity by calling him a "jackanapes," who was "unfit for the
+place of secretary," adding that "his hair-lock was tied up with ribbon
+as old as St. Paul's." So he was now brought to trial, charged with
+mutinous speeches and disobedience to the Governor, and with disrespect
+to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The farcical character of justice as
+administered by Harvey is shown by the fact that in the trial Kemp acted
+not only as prosecutor but as one of the judges. Panton's conviction was
+a matter of course. He was fined £500, forced to make public
+submission, and was banished from Virginia and forbidden ever to return
+on pain of death, and authority was given "to any man whatsoever to
+execute him."[43]
+
+Throughout Virginia colonial history the parties to any dispute who were
+in London to urge their side had a great advantage. So Mathews, Utie,
+Pierce, and Francis Pott, after they secured their liberty under bail,
+devoted their time to undermining Sir John at Court. The Governor
+charged that they planted spies in all parts of the city to invite
+persons who had just arrived from Virginia into taverns, treated them to
+wine to make them talkative, and got them to state their grievances. So
+they poured out the stories of Harvey's confiscations, extortions,
+whippings, and pressure on the courts of justice.[44]
+
+As the evidence against Harvey piled up the exiles gained the support of
+the sub-committee of the Privy Council to whom colonial affairs were
+usually referred. Sir John wrote at length to refute what he called "the
+malicious untruths of such who by all means do go about and study to
+traduce us." But in vain, for the Privy Council decided to remove
+him.[45]
+
+The shoe was now on the other foot. On January 11, 1639, Sir Francis
+Wyatt received a commission as Governor of Virginia. When this news
+reached the colony there was rejoicing, for Wyatt had shown himself a
+staunch defender of liberty during his previous administration. The
+people could be sure that he would redress their wrongs and see to it
+that justice was done all men. Nor were they disappointed. No sooner had
+Wyatt arrived than he summoned the General Court and brought Harvey
+before it to answer for his misdeeds.[46]
+
+Kemp, who was retained as Secretary and Councillor by order of the Privy
+Council, was helpless to prevent his fellow judges from passing sentence
+on the deposed Governor. "They of the old commission have been
+persecuted with much malice," he wrote in March, 1640, "the weight
+whereof hath hitherto principally fallen on Sir John Harvey, whose
+estate is wholly sequestered at present, and at the next court now
+approaching will assuredly be swept away."[47] Harvey wrote that he
+groaned under the oppression of his enemies, and that he was so closely
+watched that he hardly had privacy enough to write a letter. His enemies
+had now been advanced to be his judges, and were tearing his estate from
+him by inviting his creditors to clamor against him. Both Harvey and
+Kemp asked permission to go to England, but this was refused. Not only
+were they held to answer charges, but because the new administration had
+no desire to have them clamoring against them at Court.
+
+"Sir John being ... laid flat," Wyatt next took up the case of Anthony
+Panton against Kemp.[48] This matter had been sifted out by the Privy
+Council, who reported that they could find no proof of the charges
+against the minister. It seemed strange to them that he should be
+accused of mutinous behavior throughout six or seven years, in view of
+the fact that ten months previously Harvey had presented him to a
+benefice. So they suspended the harsh sentence, and referred the matter
+to Governor Wyatt. The Virginia court promptly reversed the previous
+action, declared Panton guiltless, and restored his estate. So he
+returned in triumph and resumed his duties in his two parishes. To Kemp
+this was the crowning humiliation. "I am exceedingly injured, and shall
+suffer without guilt unless my friends now assist me," he wrote. "The
+Governor and Council aim at my ruin."[49]
+
+The men employed to watch Harvey and Kemp must have relaxed their
+vigilance, for both escaped and made their way back to England. Thomas
+Stegg, who aided Kemp in getting away, had to pay dearly, for the
+Governor and Council fined him £50 and imprisoned him. In London, Harvey
+and Kemp sought influential friends, poured out their complaints to
+them, and tried to undermine Wyatt at Court. Kemp later returned to
+Virginia, where he resumed his place as Secretary, and his seat in the
+Council. Harvey seems to have given up politics as a bad business and
+returned to the sea as what he probably considered a less dangerous
+vocation. He died in 1650.
+
+The thrusting out of Sir John Harvey is a landmark in the long struggle
+for self-government in Virginia. It showed that there was a point beyond
+which no Governor dared go in trampling upon the rights of the people.
+It was a daring thing for the Virginians to defy the King by deposing
+the man he had sent as their Governor, and notifying him in effect that
+they wanted him to make a better selection. That Charles sent Harvey
+back and that he was as tyrannical after his return as he had been
+before, does not obscure the meaning of this uprising as a clash between
+the royal assertion of despotic right and the American devotion to
+liberty.
+
+Harvey based his claims to supreme power on the theory that he was the
+King's substitute, and as such should have the unquestioning obedience
+of the people. The Virginians contended that his power was limited by
+law. Even had his rule been marked by justice and moderation, they would
+have denied his pretensions. But when he made them the basis for an
+odious tyranny, they took a step unique in American colonial history, by
+laying violent hands on him, and sending him back to his royal master.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] CO1-4, p. 18.
+
+[2] _Virginia Magazine_ 13: 301.
+
+[3] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Company of London_, 221.
+
+[4] _Ibid._, 79.
+
+[5] _Virginia Magazine_ 7: 375-376.
+
+[6] W. W. Hening, _Virginia statutes at large_ 1: 171.
+
+[7] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 79.
+
+[8] CO1-5, p. 32.
+
+[9] _Ibid._
+
+[10] _Ibid._, 33.
+
+[11] CO1-5, p. 33.
+
+[12] _Ibid._
+
+[13] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 416.
+
+[14] _Ibid._, 417.
+
+[15] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 122.
+
+[16] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 430.
+
+[17] CO1-6, p. 34.
+
+[18] _Ibid._, 37.
+
+[19] _Ibid._
+
+[20] _Virginia Magazine_ 8: 405.
+
+[21] CO1-8.
+
+[22] CO1-6, p. 46.
+
+[23] CO1-8.
+
+[24] CO1-8.
+
+[25] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 416.
+
+[26] _Ibid._, 427.
+
+[27] _Ibid._, 303.
+
+[28] CO1-8, p. 48.
+
+[29] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 418, 419.
+
+[30] _Virginia Magazine_ 8: 304.
+
+[31] _Ibid._
+
+[32] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 421.
+
+[33] _Ibid._, 422; CO1-8.
+
+[34] CO1-8, p. 61.
+
+[35] _Ibid._, 403.
+
+[36] CO1-8, p. 61.
+
+[37] CO1-10, p. 64.
+
+[38] _Virginia Magazine_ 10: 265.
+
+[39] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 150; _Report of Commission on
+Historical Manuscripts_, 3.
+
+[40] _Virginia Magazine_ 9: 179, 180.
+
+[41] CO1-9, p. 121.
+
+[42] CO1-10, p. 14.
+
+[43] CO1-10, p. 32.
+
+[44] _Ibid._, 15.
+
+[45] _Ibid._, 3.
+
+[46] CO1-10, p. 61.
+
+[47] _Ibid._
+
+[48] _Ibid._, 64, I.
+
+[49] CO1-10, 64.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ROYALTY OVERTHROWN
+
+
+It was in August, 1641, that Charles I appointed Sir William Berkeley
+Governor of Virginia to succeed Sir Francis Wyatt. The King knew this
+young man well, for he had been a gentleman usher of the Privy Chamber
+under the Lord Chamberlain, and as such had attended various ceremonies
+at Court. He was the fourth son of Maurice Berkeley, of the ancient
+Berkeley family of Bruton, Somerset, had studied at Oxford and the
+Middle Temple, and in 1630 had made the "grand tour" on the continent.
+He seems to have had thoughts of following in the footsteps of the great
+Shakespeare, for in 1638 he published a tragedy which he named _The Lost
+Lady_. He was knighted in 1639.
+
+No doubt Charles thought he was doing the Virginians a great favor in
+sending them this accomplished young man. But he probably was actuated
+also by less unselfish motives. Berkeley was warmly attached to him,
+considered his person sacred, defended his claim to rule by divine
+right, and considered the Parliamentary leaders who were defying him
+enemies of their country. It would be good policy to place such a man in
+a post of authority in Virginia, to hold the colony in line for the
+royal cause. Sir William too must have had this in mind when he
+consented to lay aside his pen and the pleasures of the Court, to face
+the difficulties and perils of life in the forests of America.
+
+But even as he was preparing to leave, the clouds were gathering for the
+storm which broke over England. The long quarrel of King and Parliament
+was nearing a crisis; high churchmen and Puritans were locked in bitter
+battle. In December, 1640, a petition signed by 15,000 persons for the
+abolition of Episcopacy "with all its roots and branches" was presented
+to the Commons. A few months later a bill of attainder against the Earl
+of Stafford was passed, and this able statesman and friend of the King
+was led to the block. The Puritans demanded that the Book of Common
+Prayer be cast aside. Charles threatened his foes in London by bringing
+in soldiers, and men went about their daily tasks under the shadow of
+an English Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre. In January, 1642, the King
+fled from London and both sides made ready for war.
+
+Berkeley arrived in Virginia early in 1642. When the Councillors
+assembled and took the oath of allegiance and supremacy, they must have
+viewed their polished and courtly new Governor with keen interest mixed
+with apprehension. Would he follow the example of Harvey in trying to
+rule like an Eastern despot? Would he try to set himself above the law?
+Would he take sides in the quarrels which had divided the colony and
+resume the persecution of one group or the other?
+
+Berkeley soon made it evident that he wished to do justice to all men.
+It mattered not whether they had been friends of Harvey or his enemies
+so long as they were loyal to the King. So Kemp, Mathews, Menefie, West,
+Pierce, and others who sat around him at the Council table, had to
+stifle old resentments and unite in support of the new administration.
+
+Harvey had assumed that since the King was absolute and so could do no
+wrong, he, as his substitute, could trample on the rights of the people
+at will. Berkeley, in contrast, acted on the theory that at a time when
+the Throne itself was in peril, it was his duty to show that under the
+royal authority there could be justice, security, and even freedom.
+Virginia had had ten years of experience of his policies when he asked
+what they could expect from a change of government. "Is it liberty? The
+sun looks not on a people more free than we are from oppression. Is it
+wealth? Hundreds of examples show us that industry and thrift in a short
+time may bring us to as high of it as the country and our conditions are
+capable of. Is it security to enjoy this wealth when gotten? Without
+blushing I will speak it, I am confident there lives not that person can
+accuse me of attempting the least act against any man's property."[1]
+
+There is every reason to believe that this boast was justified. The
+first Assembly that sat after Berkeley's arrival spoke of the "good and
+wholesome laws" that they had passed under his leadership. They were
+especially proud of "the near approach we have made to the laws and
+customs of England in proceedings of the court and trials of causes."[2]
+So we hear no more of the prosecution of men on trivial charges, of the
+overawing of judges, and of ruinous confiscations. Thomas Ludwell,
+after the surrender of the colony to the Commonwealth, when Berkeley's
+enemies might easily have hounded him in the courts, declared that there
+was not one man that either publicly or privately charged him with
+injustice.[3]
+
+It must have produced a general sense of security when Sir William
+affixed his signature to a bill giving either the plaintiff or the
+defendant in any court the right to demand trial by jury. No more could
+a body of justices, appointed by the Governor, and perhaps looking to
+him for further favors, deprive a man of his property without the
+judgment of his peers.[4] And should one be brought before the General
+Court to plead for life or limb, one need not submit to their decision
+if unjust, for now, apparently for the first time, appeals were
+permitted to the Assembly.[5]
+
+One of the chief grievances of former times had been the conscripting of
+men for public service or the service of the Governor. So now when
+Berkeley "in preferring the public freedom before his particular profit"
+gave up any claim to forced labor, he won the gratitude of the people.
+He has restored to us the birthright of our mother nation, men said. No
+longer need the poor planter fear that the sheriff would lead him off to
+work in the Governor's garden while his tobacco field went to weeds, or
+the carpenter curse the day when he was forced to give his time for the
+construction of a fort.[6]
+
+The Assembly admitted that before the arrival of the new Governor they
+had not done their full duty in passing wholesome laws and redressing
+grievances. But they now proudly submitted to the public judgment the
+many benefits to the colony from "their late consultations." Among these
+was the relief given the poor by the revising of the tax law, so as to
+make the levy "in some measure" proportionate to "men's abilities and
+estates."
+
+The Assembly thought it wise to assert once more that the Governor and
+Council had no authority to lay taxes.[7] There would seem to have been
+no need for this since, though Harvey may have tried to levy taxes on
+his own responsibility, there is no evidence that Berkeley made such an
+attempt. It seems likely that the Assembly had no more in mind in
+re-enacting this law than the emphasizing of a vital principle.
+
+Berkeley's liberal policies won something more tangible than the
+gratitude of the people, for the Assembly made him a present of two
+houses and an orchard.[8] When the Civil War in England cut off the
+Governor's pension and the allowance granted him by the King, they
+levied a tax of two shillings a tithable to raise a fund for his
+support. It is true that they did this with grave misgivings. To excuse
+themselves to the people they pointed out that such a thing had never
+occurred before from the infancy of the colony, and they prayed God it
+would never happen again. The Assembly promised that when the present
+crisis had passed they would never again consent to place the burden of
+maintaining the Governor upon the people.
+
+They seem not to have considered that to do so would be well worth the
+cost, since it would make him less dependent on the King and more
+amenable to their wishes. In the struggle for self-government in the
+American colonies nothing tended more to bring victory than the fact the
+Assemblies usually were paymasters for the Governors.
+
+But now Berkeley had to decide whether it was his duty to remain at his
+post in Virginia or whether he should hasten back to England to offer
+his sword to his King. Every vessel which came in brought news of the
+bitter conflict which was convulsing the mother country--the battle of
+Edgehill, the victory of the Londoners at Turnham Green, the murderous
+struggle in the lanes and ditches of Newbury. Though it seemed that
+final victory for the royal forces was certain, Berkeley decided that he
+was needed more in England than in Virginia. Turning the government over
+to Richard Kemp, he set sail for England early in 1644. We next hear of
+him in the following summer in Cornwall with the King when he was
+bearing down on the Parliamentary forces under Essex.
+
+It is eloquent of the work done by Berkeley in reconciling the bitter
+factions left by Harvey, that Mathews, Pierce, Menefie, and West seem to
+have accepted Kemp's appointment in good grace. But one wonders whether
+Kemp, with this dignity, got a new ribbon for his hair lock, and whether
+he patched up his quarrel with the Reverend Anthony Panton. But he was
+left little time for personal matters, for a few weeks after Berkeley's
+departure the Indians, under the leadership of the aged Opechancanough,
+fell on the outer settlements and massacred no less than five hundred
+persons.[9]
+
+Even when this terrible news reached Berkeley he seems to have delayed
+his return, for it was only on June 7, 1645, over a year after the
+massacre, that he arrived at Jamestown.[10] In the meanwhile, the whites
+had taken ample revenge on their treacherous enemies. Expeditions had
+gone out to bring fire and destruction to the Indian villages, and to
+cut down the ripening corn. No sooner had the Governor set foot on
+Virginia soil than he took personal charge of the war, leading out the
+forces, exposing himself to danger "night and day on the water and on
+the land," "visiting the remoter parts and with his presence encouraging
+the people." So indefatigable was he that "he scarce ate or slept to the
+hazard of his health."[11] At last, when he had captured Opechancanough,
+the disheartened savages sued for peace.[12]
+
+Having removed the Indian menace, Sir William was faced with the task of
+saving Virginia for the King. The news from England was
+alarming--Parliament was everywhere victorious; the use of the Book of
+Common Prayer was forbidden; hundreds of Anglican clergymen had been
+expelled from their livings; the King had fled to the Isle of Wight.
+
+The Governor knew that there was a powerful faction in the colony,
+composed chiefly of merchants and Puritans, who favored Parliament. Some
+of the merchants had bought plantations in Virginia, entered actively
+into public life, and perhaps held high offices. Thomas Stegg, one of
+the most prominent of them, in 1643 had been Speaker of the House of
+Burgesses. Richard Lee, who traded to London, was "faithful and useful
+to the interest of the Commonwealth." Richard Bennett adhered to
+Parliament not only because of his mercantile interests, but because he
+was an ardent Puritan.
+
+But the people as a whole were linked by self-interest to whatever
+government was in power in England. Virginia's prosperity depended upon
+trade. It was vital to the planters to ship their tobacco abroad and to
+get manufactured goods in exchange--cloth, clothing, household
+utensils, tools, farm implements, etc. London, the great trading center
+of England, was held by the enemies of the King. Even though the Dutch
+took off part of the tobacco crop, if Parliament should prohibit trade
+with the colony the effect might be disastrous. This helps to explain
+why such a prominent man as Samuel Mathews, who made a good income by
+selling beef to victual the English ships, became "a most deserving
+Commonwealth man."
+
+Fortunately, Parliament realized that an embargo was a sword that cut
+both ways. At first they tried to bring pressure on the colony by
+freezing their goods in England, but, no doubt at the solicitation of
+the London merchants, in October, 1644, the Commons wrote the Virginia
+Assembly that this action had been reversed. Traders hesitated even then
+to load their vessels and sail for Virginia, fearing that Berkeley, in
+his rage against Parliament, might have persuaded the Assembly to
+exclude them. But they were soon reassured. In February, 1645, the
+Assembly passed an act declaring that since "the great wants and
+extremities of the colony" made it necessary to encourage commerce, free
+trade would be allowed "to all his Majesty's subjects of England."[13]
+They went still further the next year when they thanked the House of
+Commons "for all its favors" to them.[14]
+
+Yet the planters, not knowing what would come out of the clash of
+religions, political forces, and armies which was convulsing England,
+did all they could to encourage trade with the Dutch. The merchants of
+Amsterdam paid well for their tobacco, and sold their wares at figures
+well below those charged by the English. In January, 1649, whereas there
+were only seven vessels from London and two from Bristol trading in the
+James River, there were twelve from the Netherlands.
+
+Though Berkeley had to yield to the Virginia merchants in their demand
+that trade be kept open with the mother country, he was determined to
+stamp out Puritanism in the colony. Most Virginians were attached to the
+Church of England; the use of the Book of Common Prayer was almost
+universal; the ministers adhered to Anglican canonical law. But here and
+there, especially where there were many new arrivals who had been under
+the influence of Calvinist ministers in England, there were pockets of
+Puritans.
+
+Most of the nonconformists were concentrated in southeastern Virginia in
+the counties bordering on Hampton Roads. In May, 1640, the people of the
+Lower Norfolk County parish elected the Reverend Thomas Harrison their
+minister, "to instruct them concerning their souls' health." Apparently
+Mr. Harrison did not think that the use of the Book of Common Prayer or
+catechising on Sunday afternoons was necessary for the health of their
+souls, for he neglected both.[15]
+
+Two years later a group in Upper Norfolk, headed by Richard Bennett,
+John Hill, and Daniel Gookin, wrote letters to the Elders of Boston,
+Massachusetts, bewailing "their sad condition for the want of the means
+of salvation." They would be grateful if the Elders would send them
+several ministers to instruct them in the truth as it is in Jesus. These
+letters they intrusted to Mr. Philip Bennett, brother of Richard
+Bennett, and sent him in a small pinnace on the dangerous voyage to
+Boston.[16]
+
+The Elders listened with sympathy to this appeal, for they regarded it
+as an opportunity "for enlarging the Kingdom of Christ." After much
+deliberation, they selected John Knowles, of Watertown; William
+Thompson, of Braintree; and Thomas James, of New Haven, and sent them
+off. But they had a rough time even before they reached Virginia. No
+doubt they thought it was Satan's effort to thwart them that threw their
+pinnace on the rocks at the appropriately named Hell Gate. But the
+ministers, accustomed as they were to getting the better of the Evil
+One, secured another vessel and proceeded on their way.[17]
+
+Upon their arrival in Virginia they were welcomed by the Puritans. Going
+from house to house they preached "openly to the people," and "the
+harvest they had was plentiful for the little space of time they were
+there." "It fared with them as it had done before with the Apostles in
+the primitive times that the people magnified them, and their hearts
+seemed to be much inflamed with an earnest desire after the Gospel."[18]
+
+But when Governor Berkeley heard of this invasion of New England
+divines to woo the people from the established Church, his heart too was
+inflamed. At the Assembly of March, 1643, he secured a law against
+heresy prohibiting ministers to teach or preach publicly or privately
+unless they conformed to the orders and constitutions of the Anglican
+Church, and directing the Governor and Council to expel nonconformist
+clergymen.[19]
+
+The Puritan missionaries to Virginia were less determined than were the
+Quakers who sought to convert the people of Massachusetts to their way
+of belief and after being expelled returned to face whippings,
+mutilation, and the gallows. Upon hearing the order of banishment, they
+left Virginia and did not return.
+
+But both Governor Winthrop and Edward Johnson were certain that the
+Indian massacre of 1644 was God's punishment of the Virginians for
+expelling his servants. "Oh! poor Virginia, dost thou send away the
+ministers of Christ with threatening speeches?" wrote Johnson in his
+_Wonder Working Providence_. "No sooner is this done but the barbarous,
+inhuman, insolent, and bloody Indians are let loose upon them."
+Certainly a terrible and indiscriminate revenge for a loving Heavenly
+Father.
+
+Though the New Englanders left, Harrison for the time being defied the
+law by remaining in his parish. Knowing that Cromwell was winning
+victories, he looked to Parliament to protect him. He was elated when he
+received word that the Commissioners for Plantations had issued a
+proclamation in November, 1645, granting freedom of worship in all the
+colonies. "That golden apple, the ordinance of toleration is now fairly
+fallen into the lap of the saints," he wrote Winthrop. "We have received
+letters full of life and love from the Earl of Warwick."[20]
+
+This seems to have given pause to Berkeley, and for two more years
+Harrison continued to preach. But by the autumn of 1647 the Governor
+seems to have decided to root out Puritanism in defiance of Parliament,
+and at his urging the Assembly again ordered all ministers to conform to
+the canons of the Church of England.[21] Under this act Harrison was
+banished. After leaving Virginia he went to Massachusetts, where he
+remained two years before going to England.
+
+His congregation, which had now grown to 118 persons, appealed to the
+Commons, and on October 11, 1649, the Commissioners wrote Governor
+Berkeley, ordering him to permit Harrison to return. They had heard that
+he had been banished because he would not use the Book of Common Prayer.
+"You cannot be ignorant that the use of the Common Prayer book is
+prohibited by the Parliament." By this time Berkeley was so embittered
+against the Commons that if this letter ever reached him he treated it
+with scorn. After the surrender of the colony to the Commonwealth in
+1652, Harrison could have returned had he so desired, but he chose to
+remain in England.
+
+In the meanwhile Berkeley prosecuted the remaining Puritans. A certain
+William Durand who took it upon himself to preach in the Elizabeth River
+chapel was arrested, imprisoned, and fined, and severe action was taken
+against the members of his congregation. Thereupon Durand, Richard
+Bennett, and many others left the colony and settled in Anne Arundel
+County, Maryland.[22]
+
+When the news reached Virginia that King Charles had been tried before a
+Commission of the Commons, that he had been condemned to death, and that
+the sentence had been carried out at Whitehall and the bleeding head
+held up for the awe-stricken crowds to view, Berkeley was horrified. He
+at once proclaimed Charles II King, and so won for Virginia the title of
+the Old Dominion. There was no thought on the Governor's part of
+submitting to Parliament. The Assembly passed a law making it treason to
+question the "undoubted and inherent right of his Majesty ... to the
+Colony of Virginia." To defend the proceedings against the late King was
+to become accessory after the act; to asperse his memory was punishable
+at the discretion of the Governor and Council; to propose a change of
+government was high treason.[23] You should be thankful above all else,
+Berkeley said, "that God has separated you from the guilt of the crying
+blood of our pious sovereign of ever blessed memory. But mistake not,
+gentlemen, part of it will yet stain your garments if you willingly
+submit to those murderers' hands that shed it."[24]
+
+Parliament countered by declaring the Virginians rebels and by trying
+to bring them to terms by economic pressure. In October, 1650, they
+passed an act prohibiting all persons "foreigners and others" from
+having commerce or traffic with them. English warships were to be used
+to enforce the act, and all commanders were ordered to seize any foreign
+vessels found trading with the colony. English ships were not to sail
+for Virginia without a special license from the Council of State.[25]
+
+The planters realized fully that if they were cut off from all overseas
+commerce it meant ruin. Their loyalty to the monarchy would be dearly
+purchased if their tobacco were left on their hands, and all supplies of
+cloth, clothing, and other manufactured goods denied them. Yet under the
+passionate urging of Governor Berkeley they remained firm.
+
+Calling an Assembly for March, 1651, Sir William delivered an address
+ringing with defiance. You see by the declaration of the men of
+Westminster how they mean to deal with you, he said. Surely they could
+have proposed something which might have strengthened us to bear the
+heavy chains they are making ready for us, though it were no more than
+the assurance that we shall eat the bread for which our own oxen plow,
+and which we reap with our own sweat. "Surely, gentlemen, we are more
+slaves by nature than their power can make us if we suffer ourselves to
+be shaken with these paper bullets.... Gentlemen, by the grace of God we
+will not so tamely part with our King and all those blessings we enjoy
+under him; and if they oppose us do but follow me, I will either lead
+you to victory or lose a life which I cannot more gloriously sacrifice
+than for my loyalty and your security."[26]
+
+We do not know to what extent the act of 1650 was effective in stopping
+trade to Virginia. It is probable that Dutch merchants continued to come
+in, eluding English warships, and taking off a part of the tobacco crop.
+Had it not been for this it is probable that the colony would have been
+forced to surrender, and it would have been unnecessary for Parliament
+to send a force to subdue it.
+
+During the turmoil of the early months of the Commonwealth there was
+little opportunity for the Council of State to consider what should be
+done about Virginia. But in October, 1649, they directed the Committee
+of the Admiralty to recommend steps "to reduce them to the interest" of
+Parliament. This committee called in several merchants interested in the
+tobacco trade--Maurice Thompson, Benjamin Worsley, and others--to ask
+their advice. These men were deeply concerned lest the defection of the
+colonies might ruin them by diverting trade to the Dutch. After long
+debate, it was decided that Parliament should be asked to name
+commissioners "in whom the government be immediately placed, with power
+to settle the same under the government of the Commonwealth."[27]
+
+But this plan could not be put into effect so long as the Governor and
+Assembly were holding out for the King. So when news reached England
+that the blockade had not been successful in bringing them to terms, it
+was decided to send over a naval and military expedition. Thomas Stegg,
+who was in London, no doubt told the Council of State that there were
+many in Virginia who favored the Commonwealth, and that by cooperating
+with them they might take over the colony without firing a shot. So in
+naming a commission to offer terms they included not only Stegg himself,
+but Richard Bennett and William Claiborne, both of whom were in
+Virginia. The commission was headed by Captain Robert Dennis. In the
+event of his death, his place was to be filled by Captain Edmund Curtis.
+
+They were ordered to "use their best endeavors" to bring the Virginians
+"to their due obedience," and were authorized to grant pardon to all who
+would submit. In case this did not prove effective they were to use "all
+acts of hostility ... to enforce them." They were directed, also, to
+augment their force by making recruits in the colony, appointing
+captains and other officers, and promising freedom to all indentured
+workers who would take up arms for the Commonwealth.[28]
+
+So now a fleet of two warships, the _John_ and the _Guinea Frigate_, and
+a number of armed merchant vessels was assembled, a force of six hundred
+men embarked, and arms and stores brought aboard. Captain Dennis sailed
+in the _John_, Captain Curtis in the _Guinea Frigate_. Arriving at
+Barbados, and finding a large royalist force ready to resist them, they
+landed their soldiers, and defeated them in a pitched battle. This
+caused a delay of several weeks before they could proceed on their way
+to the Chesapeake Bay. But now disaster struck, for off the coast of
+Carolina they ran into a storm which sent the _John_ to the bottom,
+taking Captain Dennis and Stegg with her. Unaware of this, the rest of
+the fleet proceeded on their way and arrived safely in Hampton Roads.
+
+Even without the _John_ the fleet must have seemed formidable to the
+planters who paused in their work to view it. It must have seemed
+formidable, also, to Governor Berkeley. But he was determined to resist
+to the end. For months he had done all in his power to create hatred of
+the Commonwealth leaders, calling them bloody tyrants, and accusing them
+of planning to restore the old London Company. The Anglican ministers,
+hurling invectives from the pulpit, "stirred up the people in all
+places." At the gatherings for the sessions of the county courts, in
+taverns, in churchyards after services, everywhere when two or more men
+came together "little else was spoken of."[29]
+
+With the enemy in Virginia waters and with messengers riding through the
+counties to summon men to the colors, the planter dropped the hoe to
+fasten on the helmet and the breastplate, and take up the fusil, the
+sword, the halberd, and the pistol. Embarking on shallops, or trudging
+through the woods and fields the trained bands converged on Jamestown
+until there were between a thousand and twelve hundred men there ready
+to defend the little capital.[30]
+
+But there was no battle. With the loss of Dennis and Stegg, Curtis,
+Bennett, and Claiborne alone were left of the Parliamentary
+commissioners. Since Curtis could be outvoted by the other two, the
+final settlement was left to all intents and purposes in the hands of
+the two Virginians. We do not know how Curtis got in touch with them,
+but they seem to have come aboard the _Guinea Frigate_ to receive their
+instructions. When they opened them and realized how great was their
+responsibility, they made up their minds to use every effort to spare
+the colony the horrors of civil war.[31]
+
+Their first step was to distribute papers among the people refuting
+Berkeley's charges that Parliament meant to enslave them, which they
+substantiated by copies of private letters. Then, hearing that a
+council of war was in session at Jamestown, they sent up a summons to
+the Governor and Council to surrender. At the same time, although they
+thought their force inadequate to defeat the Virginians, they set sail
+up the James River.
+
+In the meanwhile the Governor and Council had been considering their
+summons. One wishes a record had been kept of that stormy debate, with
+Berkeley pleading for resistance to the end, and others pointing out
+that this meant ruin. In the end they sent a reply which reached the
+fleet on its way up the river, promising to yield if the government were
+left in their hands for one more year. The commissioners replied with a
+conciliatory message, which though refusing this compromise, "produced
+the calling of an Assembly."[32]
+
+The Burgesses fully realized the folly of defying the might of England.
+Should they succeed in driving off the forces facing them, other and
+more powerful armies would follow. So they sat "in contemplation of the
+great miseries and certain destruction which were so nearly hovering
+over this whole country." When they heard the remarkably liberal terms
+offered by the commissioners, they yielded.
+
+It was agreed that Virginia should "be in due obedience and subjection
+to the Commonwealth of England." But following this one vital provision
+came a series of concessions to the colony. The surrender was to be
+considered voluntary and not forced by conquest, the Assembly was to be
+continued, pardon was granted for words and writings denouncing
+Parliament, Virginia was to be "free from all taxes, customs, and
+impositions whatsoever," a provision which Parliament might with profit
+have remembered over a century later when they were debating the Stamp
+Act. The recognized principle that within the colony the Assembly alone
+had the right to tax was now for the first time guaranteed.[33]
+
+Then followed two provisions in which the commissioners stretched their
+instructions to the limit. There can be no doubt that it was Claiborne
+who was largely responsible for the promise that "Virginia shall have
+and enjoy the ancient bounds and limits granted by the charters of the
+former Kings," for this meant that Maryland would once more become a
+part of Virginia. But it remained to be seen whether Parliament would
+ratify so drastic a measure. And when it was stipulated that the colony
+should have "free trade as the people of England do to all places and
+with all nations according to the laws of that Commonwealth," it was
+obvious that there would be strenuous opposition from the merchants of
+London and Bristol.
+
+Having affixed their signatures to these articles, the commissioners
+hastened on to Maryland to demand the surrender of that colony. But
+before sailing they called for election for a new House of Burgesses.
+With Berkeley no longer in power to urge the return of staunch
+loyalists, and with Virginia submissive to the Commonwealth, the
+personnel of the House was greatly changed. When they met at Jamestown
+on April 30, 1652, one recognized only six familiar faces.[34] In the
+meanwhile, Bennett and Claiborne, who had returned from Maryland, sat
+with them in what was in reality a constitutional convention.
+
+Their first act was to elect Bennett Governor for one year. Thus, by one
+of those strange turns of the wheel of fortune, this ardent Puritan who
+a few years before had been driven into exile because of his religious
+beliefs, was placed at the head of the government. Had he been a man of
+Sir John Harvey's disposition, he might now have taken his revenge. But
+there is no evidence that he bore malice against Berkeley and the former
+members of the Council.
+
+The Burgesses next elected Claiborne Secretary of State "to be next in
+place to the Governor." Then followed the election of a new Council. It
+is proof of the spirit of reconciliation which prevailed that most of
+the former members were chosen. But the Burgesses made it clear that the
+Assembly was to be the ruling power in the colony. They were to appoint
+the Governor and Council, who were to exercise only such powers as the
+Assembly delegated to them. And they immediately took from them the
+control of local government by themselves selecting the county
+justices.[35]
+
+Thus was self-government established in the colony. In England the clash
+of arms and the struggle of class and religious groups resulted, not in
+establishing a republic, but only in exchanging one despot for another.
+But though Virginia had played but an insignificant role in the great
+drama, she reaped a full reward. For the next eight years it was the
+people who ruled through their representatives in the House of
+Burgesses.
+
+And the people, most of them at heart still loyal to the monarchy, would
+tolerate no persecution of the King's friends. Berkeley and some of the
+Councillors, thinking that life under the new government would be
+unendurable, had stipulated in the articles that they be permitted to
+leave the colony and take their property with them. In July, 1653,
+Berkeley was still planning to leave. Yet neither he nor any of the
+others seem to have done so, contenting themselves with sending Colonel
+Francis Lovelace to Europe to attest to the exiled Prince Charles their
+continued loyalty. Only when some ardent royalist could not bridle his
+tongue were severe penalties inflicted. We have an example of this in
+Northumberland County when a Mr. Calvert had to pay one thousand pounds
+of tobacco to save his wife from thirty lashes on her shoulders for
+stigmatizing "the keepers of the liberty of England as rogues, traitors,
+and rebels."[36]
+
+Nor was there any persecution of Church of England men in retaliation
+for the expulsion of Puritans under Berkeley. There seems to have been
+no thought of prohibiting the use of the Book of Common Prayer, no
+thought of turning Anglican ministers out of their cures. In fact the
+Burgesses were so deeply concerned at the many complaints of vacant
+pulpits that they offered a reward of £20 to anyone bringing over a
+clergyman.[37]
+
+Though Puritans and Anglicans, Commonwealth men and royalists lived
+together in peace, there was friction between the English merchants and
+the planters. The former argued that the act of 1650, which prohibited
+foreign ships from trading with the colonies, was still in force. The
+latter claimed that the law had been temporary in character and was now
+invalid. And they pointed out that the articles of surrender had
+promised them free trade with all nations. So when a Dutch merchant
+vessel came into the James or the York, they gladly loaded her with
+tobacco and accepted the cheap goods of Amsterdam in exchange.
+
+But the situation changed when England became involved in war with the
+Netherlands. In the summer of 1653, when the _Leopolus_, a merchantman
+of Dunkirk, came into the Elizabeth River, the captains of two English
+ships came on board to demand her special license. Apparently the master
+had no license, for the vessel was seized by the Virginia authorities
+and sold for £400.[38]
+
+After this there seem to have been no further seizures by the
+Virginians. But the English masters took it upon themselves to try to
+break up the Dutch trade, and the planters looked on helplessly as they
+intercepted sloops taking their tobacco to the Dutch vessels, or seized
+the vessels themselves and took them off as prizes. In 1660 the Assembly
+plucked up courage to declare that "the Dutch and all strangers of what
+Christian nation soever in amity with the people of England shall have
+free liberty to trade with us." And they required the masters of all
+incoming English ships to give bond not to molest any vessels whatsoever
+in Virginia waters.[39]
+
+It is obvious that during the entire Commonwealth period the trade with
+Holland was kept open. In 1655 certain English shipowners complained
+that "there are usually found intruding upon the plantation divers
+ships, surreptitiously carrying away the growth thereof to foreign
+parts."[40] It was this which widened the market for tobacco, kept up
+the price, and brought a degree of prosperity to the colony.
+
+With the articles of surrender stipulating that Virginia should have its
+original bounds, it seemed a golden opportunity for the colony to regain
+the territory granted to Lord Baltimore. Surely the Puritan government
+of England would be eager to root out the group of Roman Catholics in
+Maryland. So when the Assembly sent Samuel Mathews to have the articles
+ratified they instructed him to plead for the annulling of Baltimore's
+patent. But Baltimore had cut the ground from under their feet by
+recognizing the Commonwealth as early as 1648, appointing a Puritan
+Governor of Maryland, and proclaiming religious freedom. Though Richard
+Bennett came over to join Mathews in defending Virginia's claim, the
+final settlement left Maryland a separate colony.[41]
+
+The people of Virginia watched with intense interest the dramatic events
+in England in the years from 1652 to the restoration of the monarchy in
+1660--the dissolution of the Rump Parliament, the election of the
+Praise-God Barebone Parliament, the naming of Cromwell Protector, the
+foreign wars, the death of Cromwell, the brief rule of Richard Cromwell.
+But they were less affected by them than by happenings in the mother
+country at any other time during the colonial period. Virginia was left
+to her own devices because the men in power in London were too greatly
+occupied with other matters to bother with her. One wonders whether they
+knew what was going on, for the correspondence with persons in the
+colony dwindled to a trickle.
+
+On August 31, 1658, a group of merchants trading to Virginia wrote the
+Council of State complaining of "the loose and distracted condition of
+that colony." It seems that Cromwell had already been considering
+certain proposals "for supplying that defect," but before he could come
+to any decision he died.
+
+Thus the people of Virginia were left to make a most interesting
+experiment in self-government. The House of Burgesses were elected on a
+broad franchise. Under the law of 1655 all housekeepers were given the
+right to vote.[42] Since it would seem that everyone must have a place
+in which to live, this was a near approach to manhood suffrage. Yet
+three years later these liberty loving people made certain that no one
+should be excluded, when the Assembly enacted that "all persons
+inhabiting in this colony that are freemen" were "to have their votes in
+the election of Burgesses."[43] One wonders whether Edmund Pendleton,
+George Mason, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and other members of the
+Virginia Convention of 1776, who voted that only freeholders should
+vote, realized that they were less advanced on the road to democracy
+than their ancestors over a century before.
+
+The convention of 1652 gave the right to elect "all the officers of this
+colony" to "the Burgesses, the representatives of the people." However,
+it seems to have been Cromwell's intention to assume the power of
+appointing the Governor, for in December, 1653, his Highness "thought
+fit to continue Colonel Bennett" in that office until he should "further
+signify his pleasure."[44] But when he did nothing more about it, in
+March, 1655, the Burgesses elected Edward Digges Governor. Three years
+later, they chose Samuel Mathews, who continued in office until his
+death in January, 1660.
+
+The Governor and Council for some years accepted with good grace the
+subordinate position accorded them. But in 1658 they made an effort to
+regain some of the powers they had held prior to the surrender to the
+Commonwealth. When the Assembly of that year were concluding their
+proceedings, they voted not to be dissolved, but merely to adjourn. But
+the Governor and Council "for many important causes" took it on
+themselves to override this decision and declare the Assembly dissolved.
+
+When this message was received by the House, some of the members started
+for the door. But they probably sat down hastily when a resolution was
+passed that if any Burgess showed his acceptance of the dissolution by
+leaving, he was to be censured "as a person betraying the trust reposed
+in him by the country." They then sent a message to the Governor and
+Council declaring their action illegal and demanding that they revoke
+the dissolution. To this the Governor and Council replied that they were
+willing for the Assembly to continue provided they bring their work to a
+speedy conclusion. As for the "dispute of the power of dissolving and
+the legality thereof" they suggested that it be referred to the Lord
+Protector.[45]
+
+But the House was now thoroughly aroused, and was determined to bring
+the matter to an issue. So they appointed a committee to draw up a
+report for the "manifestation and vindication of the Assembly's power."
+This committee proposed resolutions declaring the "power of government
+to reside in such persons as shall be impowered by the Burgesses (the
+representatives of the people) who are not dissolvable by any power now
+extant in Virginia but the House of Burgesses." They also recommended
+the immediate dismissal of the Councillors. Accordingly the House
+preceded to recall both Governor and Council. Apparently the Burgesses
+did not blame Governor Mathews for the crisis for they at once
+re-elected him, and then asked him to make recommendations for the new
+Council. It is probable that they thought Nathaniel Bacon and Francis
+Willis responsible for the attempted dissolution, for they were the
+only Councillors who had signed the offensive order who were not
+re-elected.[46]
+
+When the Assembly met again, in March, 1659, a letter was laid before
+them from Henry Lawrence, President of the Council of State in England,
+announcing the death of Cromwell and the accession of Richard Cromwell
+as Lord Protector. The government of Virginia was being studied by the
+Council, he reported, and they soon would have some positive orders. In
+the meanwhile, they directed the Governor and Council to apply
+themselves to the "management of the affairs of that colony."[47]
+
+When this letter was read to the Burgesses, they must have looked at
+each other in dismay. Did this mean that the Governor and Council
+thereafter were to derive their powers, not from the House, but from
+England? They at once acknowledged the new Lord Protector, but they
+requested the Governor to join with them in petitioning him to confirm
+their privileges.
+
+While waiting to hear from England they decided to make important
+concessions. Mathews was to be Governor for two years, at the expiration
+of which time the Assembly would choose one of the Councillors to
+succeed him. Members of the Council were to serve for life, "except in
+case of high misdemeanors." The Governor was to nominate Councillors,
+but the Burgesses were to have the privilege of confirming or rejecting.
+The Council at first assented to these changes until further directions
+from England, but later "they expressly declined the said act," and
+declared the Assembly dissolved.[48] It would seem that from March,
+1659, to March, 1660, the Governor and Council claimed that they derived
+their authority, not from the Burgesses, but from the Council of State.
+
+In the meanwhile, the people waited anxiously for news from England.
+Would the weak Richard Cromwell, Thumbledown Dick as he was called in
+contempt, gain a firm grasp on the reins of state? Or would there be
+anarchy? Or would Prince Charles be summoned from exile and placed on
+the throne of his fathers? When the tobacco fleet drifted in, the word
+they brought was alarming. Richard Cromwell had been forced to resign;
+England was subjected to the weak but violent rule of soldiers; a new
+civil war threatened. "Swordsmen bear the rule of the nation," a London
+merchant wrote his father in Virginia in December, 1659. "The soldiers
+they are divided one against another, and the people they are divided,
+some for one government some for another, and how long thus a kingdom
+divided against itself can stand, I know not."[49]
+
+To make matters still more uncertain for the Virginians, in January,
+1660, Governor Mathews died. When the summons was sent out for the
+Assembly to meet, the Burgesses straggled in to the little capital, some
+on horseback, some by boat. Little knots must have gathered on the green
+to discuss the distractions in the mother country, and their meaning for
+the future of Virginia.
+
+When they had crowded into the house where they were to meet, and had
+taken seats, their first step was to reassert their authority "as the
+supreme power in this country."[50] Then they took a step which for
+three centuries has puzzled historians--they elected Sir William
+Berkeley Governor. That this decision was made at the opening of the
+session would lead us to believe that it reflected the general sentiment
+of the people. They had had experience of Berkeley's energy, concern for
+the welfare of the colony, refusal to use the courts for personal gain.
+Certainly this is the view he himself took of his election. "In
+consideration of the service I had done the country in defending them
+and destroying great numbers of Indians ... and in view of the equal
+justice I had distributed to all men, not only the Assembly but the
+unanimous votes of all the country made me Governor."[51]
+
+It is possible, also, that the Assembly had in mind the possibility that
+the monarchy might be restored. Their action came just nine weeks before
+Charles II set foot on English soil at Dover amid the cheers of the
+crowds on the beach. The word may have gone from plantation to
+plantation that it would please Charles and recommend the colony to his
+favor to know that they had made choice of the former royal Governor, a
+man noted for his devotion to his father and himself.
+
+Yet the Assembly made it clear that Sir William would hold office from
+them as the supreme power in the colony. They stipulated that he must
+call an Assembly at least once in every two years, that he should not
+dissolve the Assembly without permission from the House, and that in
+appointing members of the Council he must have their approbation.
+
+Berkeley hesitated. Appearing before the Assembly he expressed his
+gratitude for the honor done him, and protested that there were many
+among them who were "more sufficient for it" than he. When he first came
+to Virginia, he said, he had a commission from his "most gracious master
+King Charles of ever blessed memory." When the King was put to death,
+his son sent him another commission to govern Virginia, but Parliament
+sent a force against him, and finding him defenceless, took over the
+colony. But Parliament continued not long, and now his intelligence was
+not enough to tell him who or what ruled England. "But, Mr. Speaker, it
+is one duty to live obedient to a government, and another of a very
+different nature to command under it." Yet when he had asked the Council
+for their advice, and they had concurred unanimously in his election, he
+consented.[52]
+
+Thus this professed enemy of republican principles became the head of a
+semi-independent little republic. To Governor Stuyvesant, of New
+Netherlands, he wrote: "I am but a servant of the Assembly, neither do
+they arrogate any power to themselves further than the miserable
+distractions of England force them to. For when God shall be pleased in
+his mercy to take away and dissipate the unnatural division of their
+native country, they will immediately return to their own professed
+obedience."[53]
+
+Though Charles was proclaimed King in England on May 8, 1660, it was
+only in September that the slow moving vessels of the day brought the
+news to Virginia. It was with elation that Berkeley wrote to the
+sheriffs in every county that God had invested "our most gracious
+sovereign, Charles II," with the "just rights of his royal father," and
+charged them to proclaim him King forthwith. In Jamestown there was
+rejoicing, marked by the firing of cannon, and the blare of trumpets.
+The country people for miles around must have flocked in to aid in
+making way with six cases of drams and a hundred and seventy-six gallons
+of cider.[54]
+
+Berkeley's joy was tempered with the fear that the King might be angry
+with him for having accepted office from the "rebel" Assembly. But
+Charles reassured him, and sent him a new commission. Overjoyed,
+Berkeley replied: "I ... do most humbly throw myself at your Majesty's
+feet ... that you yet think me worthy of your royal commands. It is true
+... I did something, which if misrepresented to your Majesty, may cause
+your Majesty to think me guilty of a weakness I should ever abhor myself
+for. But it was no more ... than to leap over the fold to save your
+Majesty's flock, when your Majesty's enemies of that fold had barred up
+the lawful entrance to it, and enclosed the wolves of schism and
+rebellion ready to devour all within."[55]
+
+Thus the Commonwealth period in Virginia came to an end. No longer was
+the Assembly to be the supreme power, selecting the Governor and
+Council, and controlling local government. The old struggle for
+self-government had to be resumed; the representatives of the people
+again had to steel themselves against the encroachments of arbitrary
+Kings and arbitrary Governors. More than a century was to elapse before
+the rights surrendered when Charles II was proclaimed were regained.
+
+But the training in self-government received during the eight years that
+the people were their own masters stood them in good stead in the
+conflicts ahead. Having tasted the sweets of freedom, they were ready to
+resist when Governors vetoed their bills, or corrupted the Burgesses, or
+swayed the courts, or bullied the Council. The Commonwealth period
+foreshadowed Bacon's Rebellion and the American Revolution; the
+constitutional Assembly of 1652 foreshadowed Bacon's Assembly of June,
+1676, and the Virginia Convention of 1776.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 77.
+
+[2] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 237.
+
+[3] CO1-20.
+
+[4] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 273.
+
+[5] _Ibid._, 272.
+
+[6] _Ibid._, 237.
+
+[7] _Ibid._, 244.
+
+[8] _Ibid._, 267.
+
+[9] Robert Beverley, _History and present state of Virginia_, ed. L. B.
+Wright, 60.
+
+[10] _Virginia Magazine_ 8: 73.
+
+[11] CO1-30, p. 71.
+
+[12] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 323.
+
+[13] _Ibid._, 296.
+
+[14] Report of Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Part 1: 158.
+
+[15] _Lower Norfolk County Antiquary_ 1: 83, 84.
+
+[16] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 166.
+
+[17] _Ibid._, 167.
+
+[18] _Ibid._, 172.
+
+[19] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 277.
+
+[20] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 200.
+
+[21] _Ibid._, 206.
+
+[22] _Lower Norfolk County Antiquary_ 2: 14, 61.
+
+[23] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 361.
+
+[24] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 77.
+
+[25] Scobell, _Collection of acts_ 2: 132.
+
+[26] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 77.
+
+[27] _Calendar of state papers, Colonial_ 1: 332.
+
+[28] CO1-11.
+
+[29] _Virginia Magazine_ 11: 33.
+
+[30] _Virginia Magazine_ 11: 24.
+
+[31] _Ibid._, 33.
+
+[32] _Ibid._, 23.
+
+[33] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 363-365.
+
+[34] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1619-1659, xx.
+
+[35] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 371, 372.
+
+[36] _William and Mary Quarterly_ 1: 154.
+
+[37] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 418.
+
+[38] _Virginia Magazine_ 3: 310, 311; W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_
+1: 382.
+
+[39] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 535, 536.
+
+[40] G. L. Beer, _Origins of the British colonial system_, 396.
+
+[41] N. C. Hale, _Virginia venturer_, 282-285.
+
+[42] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 412.
+
+[43] _Ibid._, 475.
+
+[44] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 408.
+
+[45] _Ibid._, 499.
+
+[46] _Ibid._, 499, 505.
+
+[47] _Ibid._, 509, 510.
+
+[48] _Ibid._, 537.
+
+[49] _Tyler's Magazine_ 1: 244, 245.
+
+[50] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 530.
+
+[51] _Bath papers_ I, "The Declaration and Remonstrance of William
+Berkeley."
+
+[52] _Southern Literary Messenger_, Jan. 1845.
+
+[53] Charles Campbell, _History of Virginia_, 246.
+
+[54] _William and Mary Quarterly_ 1: 158.
+
+[55] _Southern Literary Messenger_, Jan. 1845.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A BACON! A BACON!
+
+
+Sir William Berkeley was one of the best Governors in the history of
+colonial Virginia during his first administration; during his second he
+was one of the worst. The man who had won the gratitude of the people by
+his respect for their rights, his refusal to use the courts to further
+his own interests, his efforts to bring prosperity, was followed by
+their bitter curses when he left Virginia in 1677. The courtly young
+gentleman who had exchanged the Court of Charles I for the forests and
+tobacco fields of the colony, had become the crabbed, dictatorial old
+man. In 1672 the Quaker preacher, William Edmundson, visited him to
+intercede for the Society of Friends. The next day Richard Bennett asked
+Edmundson whether the Governor had called him dog, rogue, etc. "No," he
+replied. "Then you took him in his best humor."[1]
+
+One of Sir William's worst traits, his greed, grew on him with the
+years. "Though ambition commonly leaves old age, covetousness does not,"
+he wrote Lord Arlington. It may have been this which made him marry
+Frances Culpeper, the widow of Captain Samuel Stephens, who brought him
+a large estate. Though there was nothing wrong in this, it was whispered
+through the colony that it was the marrying of a young wife which was
+responsible for Berkeley's "old follyage." Frances seems to have been
+loyal to him amid the troubles which soon followed, even though she may
+have cast tender eyes on Philip Ludwell, whom she married after Sir
+William's death.
+
+Whatever is the explanation of the change in Berkeley's character, it
+obviously was the Civil War in England, the execution of Charles I, and
+the turmoil of the Commonwealth period which intensified his distrust of
+republican institutions. They had been tried and the experiment had
+ended in disastrous failure. True, he had been a witness of the success
+of self-government in Virginia, but this did not change his views.
+Monarchy was the form of government ordained by God. In Virginia it was
+he, as the King's representative, who should rule. So he was determined
+that there should be no more republicanism in the colony than his
+instructions required.
+
+Berkeley did not attempt the barefaced disregard of law practiced by
+Harvey. His methods were more subtile. He sought to make men obedient to
+his will by holding out to them offices of profit or honor. The people
+of Charles City County complained that Sir William, "aspiring to a sole
+and absolute power over us ... greatly neglecting the Council ... did
+take upon him the sole naming and appointing of other persons in their
+room and place such as himself best liked and thought fittest for his
+purposes."[2] The men who sat around the Council table with him might
+perhaps venture an opinion now and then, but they dared not arouse his
+brittle temper by opposing him when once he had made up his mind. To do
+so might lose one a collector's place, or a colonelship in the militia,
+or even one's seat on the Council.
+
+The situation in the House of Burgesses was similar. Berkeley was
+shameless in corrupting the representatives of the people by handing out
+jobs. It was testified that he took on himself the sole appointment of
+all officers, military as well as civil. Offices were created merely "to
+increase the number of his party ... all which offices he bestowed on
+such persons, how unfit or unskilful soever, he conceived would be most
+for his designs." Thus, by a skilful use of the patronage, he so gained
+upon and obliged all or the greatest number of men of parts and estates
+"as to ... do whatsoever he pleased."[3]
+
+If a Burgess voted as Sir William wished, he could count on perhaps a
+sheriff's place, perhaps a collector's place, almost certainly a
+commission in the militia. If the Burgesses of 1666 wore their uniforms
+when they took their seats, the session must have assumed a military
+aspect, for, of the thirty who attended, six were colonels, two
+lieutenant colonels, one major, and fourteen captains.
+
+Having in this way made a majority of the Burgesses subservient to his
+will, Berkeley used his right of prorogation to retain them
+indefinitely. In this bit of political strategy he could justify himself
+with the thought that he had the example of his royal master. The Long
+Assembly of Virginia was the counterpart of the Long Parliament of
+England. For sixteen years he refused to hold a general election, and
+he probably congratulated himself that in the colony there was but a
+mockery of self-government. The Burgesses might betray the interests of
+the people with impunity; they could not be made to answer at the polls.
+So it was with bitterness that the people paid their taxes for the
+salaries of men over whom they had no control. The people of Charles
+City County complained that their representatives had been "overswayed
+by the power and prevalency" of Berkeley and his Council, and had
+neglected their grievances.[4]
+
+As Sir William was supreme in the Assembly, so he was supreme in local
+government. The justices of the county courts were his appointees. The
+well-paid sheriffs' office, which he made the stepping stone to the
+House of Burgesses, was his to fill. So the county courts, in exercising
+their judicial, legislative, and executive powers, dared not act
+contrary to his will.
+
+Berkeley had prided himself on having won the affection of the people in
+his first administration. One wonders whether he realized that this
+affection was turning to hatred. Nathaniel Bacon accused him of
+enriching a few favorites at the expense of the people, and of glaring
+injustice to individual men. "All the power and sway is got into the
+hands of the rich, who by extortious advantages ... have curbed and
+oppressed them in all manner of ways," Bacon wrote in a fiery
+manifesto.[5] The constant breach of laws, unjust prosecutions, excuses,
+and evasions, showed that the men in power were running the government
+"as if it were but to play a booty, game, or divide a spoil." Nor was
+there any hope of redress, for to lay the people's grievances before the
+House of Burgesses was to appeal "to the very persons our complaints do
+accuse."[6]
+
+Some of the Burgesses, as well as the members of the Council, could
+expect large grants of land if they were in the Governor's good graces.
+"Some take up 2,000 acres, some 3,000, and others 10,000, and many more
+have taken up 30,000," it was said. Unable to cultivate such vast
+tracts, they merely built little shacks, or perhaps "hog houses" on them
+so as not to forfeit the deed. When the soil of the little farms of the
+poor began to wear out, or when new settlers arrived, the only
+available land was on the frontier. Here they made a precarious living
+on "barren lands" where they were in constant danger from the
+Indians.[7]
+
+But the most urgent complaint was of the heavy load of taxes. When the
+sheriff came to the poor planter to demand a part of his little crop of
+tobacco, he wanted to know to what use it would be put. He knew that a
+goodly share went to Governor Berkeley, some to the Councillors, some to
+pay the salaries of the Burgesses, but much was not accounted for. When
+the members of the county courts retired into a private room to lay the
+local levy, there were angry murmurs of fraud. Of course they will not
+tell us what the taxes are for, because part of the money they put in
+their own pockets, it was said.
+
+Bacon echoed these charges. "See what sponges have sucked up the public
+wealth, and whether it hath not been privately contrived away by
+unworthy favorites, by vile juggling parasites whose tottering fortunes
+have been repaired and supported."[8] And the small farmer cursed as
+Lady Berkeley drove by in her coach, or when they viewed the Governor's
+wide acres, his six houses, his four hundred cattle, his great flock of
+sheep, his sixty horses, his well-filled barns. Few had ever seen his
+costly plate, but its fame must have been spread abroad.[9]
+
+Berkeley was accused of using the courts to punish his enemies and
+reward his favorites. A manifesto entitled "Declaration of the People,"
+said that he had "rendered contemptible the magistrates of justice by
+advancing to places of judicature scandalous and ignorant favorites."
+Colonel Henry Norwood wrote Secretary Williamson in 1667 that great
+injury had been done in the courts "by the insinuation of some that make
+advantages of the Governor's passion, age, and weakness." It was a
+grievance, he said, that in the Assembly the chairman of the committee
+to consider appeals from the county courts was usually a member of the
+Council.[10]
+
+Berkeley vowed that he knew of nothing in which he had not distributed
+equal justice to all men, but there is reason to think that he did use
+the courts to further his own interests. Thomas Mathew states that he
+cheated Thomas Lawrence out of "a considerable estate on behalf of a
+corrupt favorite," and we know that Lawrence never forgave him. William
+Drummond was another who had a personal grievance and it was his efforts
+to gain revenge which drove the Governor to such acts of savage cruelty
+when he had him in his power.
+
+Though Berkeley may have been indifferent to the rights of others, he
+was quick to complain when his own interests were concerned. He had been
+eloquent in denouncing the restrictions on the trade of Virginia under
+the Commonwealth, and now he was greatly concerned when his adored
+Charles II gave his assent to even more stringent acts. All goods sent
+to the colonies, even though of foreign growth or manufacture, must come
+by way of England; all tobacco, sugar, wool, etc., produced in the
+colonies must be shipped to England or her dominions.[11]
+
+The results for Virginia were disastrous. The Dutch traders had paid
+three pence a pound for tobacco; the English merchants now offered a
+half penny or in some cases only a farthing. The mass of the people were
+reduced to poverty and rags. Secretary Ludwell reported that when the
+small planter had paid his taxes, very little remained for him for the
+support of his family. "So much too little that I can attribute it to
+nothing but the mercy of God that he has not fallen into mutiny and
+confusion."[12] Nine years later Ludwell had occasion to remember these
+words when the poor did fall into mutiny and confusion.
+
+Berkeley sailed for England in May, 1661, where no doubt he talked with
+his brother Lord John Berkeley in an effort to have the Navigation Acts
+repealed. But he had no success. The fault is your own, he was told.
+Stop planting so much tobacco and produce the more useful commodities
+needed by England. Send us masts for our ships, flax for our linen, hemp
+for our ropewalks, potash for our woolens.[13]
+
+Berkeley made a sincere effort to turn the colony to the production of
+commodities other than tobacco, but all his experiments ended in
+failure. Ten years later, when the Lords of Trade asked him what
+impediments there existed to trade, he blurted out: "Mighty and
+destructive by that severe act of Parliament which excludes us from
+having any commerce with any nation in Europe but our own.... If this
+were for his Majesty's service or the good of his subjects we should
+not repine, whatever our sufferings are for it. But on my soul it is
+contrary to both."[14]
+
+Not only did the Navigation Acts impoverish Virginia, but they brought
+additional disaster to the people by provoking the Dutch to war. In 1667
+a fleet of five Dutch warships entered the Chesapeake Bay. The crew of
+the English frigate _Elizabeth_, not suspecting danger, had careened her
+to clean her bottom. So they had to stand by helpless as the enemy moved
+up and captured her. The Dutch then turned on the tobacco fleet and took
+twenty vessels.[15] In a second Dutch war a desperate engagement was
+fought off Lynhaven Bay. Nine or ten of the tobacco ships, in their
+haste to get away, ran aground and were taken.[16]
+
+Had Edward Johnson been in Virginia in the year 1667, he would have been
+sure that the series of misfortunes which befell the colony came as a
+sign of God's anger. "This poor, poor country ... is now reduced to a
+very miserable condition," Thomas Ludwell wrote Lord John Berkeley. "In
+April ... we had a most prodigious storm of hail, many of them as big as
+turkey eggs, which destroyed most of our young mast and cattle.... But
+on the 27th of August followed the most dreadful hurricane that ever the
+colony groaned under.... The night of it was the most dismal time that
+ever I knew or heard of, for the wind and rain raised so confused a
+noise, mixed with the continual cracks of falling houses.... But when
+the morning came and the sun risen it would have comforted us after such
+a night, had it not lighted us to the ruins of our plantations, of which
+I think not one escaped. The nearest computation is at least 10,000
+houses blown down, all the Indian grain laid flat on the ground, all the
+tobacco in the fields torn to pieces and most of that which was in the
+houses perished with them."[17] Even then the misfortunes of the
+planters were not ended, for in 1673 an epidemic occurred among their
+cattle, which carried off fifty thousand animals.[18]
+
+In the midst of their suffering the people looked back on the
+Commonwealth period as a golden era. Then they had enjoyed
+self-government; now their representatives had betrayed them. Then the
+trade with the Dutch had brought prosperity; now the Navigation Acts had
+made their tobacco almost worthless and reduced them to rags. Then men
+were advanced to places of trust and honor because of their ability; now
+the chief offices were reserved for those who toadied to the Governor.
+Then taxes had been moderate; now they were crushing.
+
+The legend built up by Berkeley that Charles I had been the loving
+father of the people received a crushing blow when it became known that
+he had granted all the vast region between the Potomac and the
+Rappahannock to Lord Hopton and several other noblemen. Charles II so
+far responded to the plea of the Virginians for relief as to recall the
+patent and issue another in its place containing promises to protect
+their rights and property. But when they noted that the new patent
+required them to duplicate the quit rents of the past eleven years to
+pay off the patentees, they were in despair. This would amount to so
+vast a sum that it would wipe out many estates.[19] So they appointed
+Major General Robert Smith, Colonel Francis Moryson, and Thomas Ludwell
+to plead their cause in England.
+
+In the meanwhile, the patent had been assigned to the Earl of St. Albans
+and three others. The agents began negotiations with these men and
+apparently purchased it for a large sum to be raised in the colony.
+Several years later Berkeley wrote that the two great taxes of sixty
+pounds of tobacco per poll to buy in the Northern patent had so aroused
+the people that many were "ripe for mutiny."
+
+Negotiations with St. Albans were still under way when the agents were
+amazed to find that the King had issued a patent to the Earl of
+Arlington and Lord Culpeper to all Virginia, with such rights and powers
+as to make them practically masters of the colony. To them were to go
+all escheats, quit rents, and duties formerly belonging to the Crown;
+they could create new counties and parishes, issue patents to land,
+appoint civil officers.
+
+This not only revokes former grants and privileges, but leaves us at the
+mercy of these lords who may look after their own interests "without
+regard to the liberty of the people," complained the Assembly. The
+common people were so wrought up "by being left to the oppression of
+their fellow subjects" that they might mutiny or desert the colony.[20]
+Fortunately, Arlington and Culpeper agreed to give up their patent in
+exchange for a grant of the Northern Neck, with the quit rents and
+escheats.
+
+To protect the colony from such grants in the future, the agents now
+pleaded for a charter guaranteeing that the people should have their
+immediate dependence upon the Crown. They sought a promise, also, that
+they should be taxed only by the Assembly. Had it not been for the
+outbreak of Bacon's Rebellion the charter might have gone through, for
+twice it reached the great seal. As it was, when it was granted it
+contained little more than the promise that Virginia should be directly
+dependent on the Crown.
+
+Never in American history were a people more greatly wronged than the
+Virginians in the Restoration period. With Charles II repaying their
+loyalty by sacrificing them to the greed of favorites, with the Governor
+they had trusted making a mockery of self-government by corrupting the
+Burgesses, with their economic interests ignored to build up English
+commerce and shipping, they reflected bitterly that they had been
+betrayed. It was Berkeley himself who thought that if they saw an
+opportunity, the poor planters might go over to the Dutch in "hopes of
+bettering their condition by sharing the plunder of the country with
+them."[21] They "speak openly there that they are in the nature of
+slaves, so that the hearts of the greatest part of them are taken away
+from his Majesty," reported a certain John Knight.[22]
+
+In 1674, when the sheriffs began to collect the heavy taxes, there was a
+wild burst of anger. The money is not to be used for the benefit of the
+colony, it was whispered, but merely "the enriching of some few
+people."[23] In two separate places the people rushed to arms,
+determined to resist. Berkeley at once issued a proclamation, requiring
+them to disperse. But had they had a leader, some "person of quality,"
+they would probably have anticipated Bacon's Rebellion by flying in the
+face of the government. As it was, by "the advice of some discreet
+persons that have an influence upon them," they refrained from
+violence.[24] But in many an humble cottage there were prayers that God
+would send a leader to direct them in righting their many wrongs.
+
+This leader they found two years later in Nathaniel Bacon. The son of a
+wealthy English squire, Thomas Bacon of Friston Hall, Suffolk;
+fellow-commoner in St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge; a pupil of the great
+scientist John Ray and his companion in his celebrated tour of the
+continent, he seemed as much out of place in the forests of Virginia as
+Berkeley had been when he arrived three decades earlier. Bacon had been
+in Virginia but a few months when the Governor made him a member of the
+Council. "Gentlemen of your quality come very rarely into this country,
+and therefore when they do come are used by me with all respect,"[25] he
+explained.
+
+It was with Sir William's friendly approbation that Bacon purchased a
+plantation at Curles Neck, on the James, forty miles above Jamestown. He
+bought also, a "quarter," or farm to be managed by an overseer, on the
+frontier at the site of Richmond. "I chose to seat myself so remote, I
+having always delighted in solitude," he said.[26]
+
+Bacon soon found himself at odds with the dictatorial Governor. It seems
+probable that prowling Indians made off with some of his livestock and
+that he, without consulting Berkeley, had retaliated. When Sir William
+reproved him, he lost his temper and was guilty of "unbecoming
+deportment."[27] At the meetings of the Council he obviously did not
+like the way things were conducted, for he absented himself as much as
+possible.
+
+When he was in Jamestown it is certain that he knew both Lawrence and
+Drummond. In fact it is probable that he boarded with Mrs. Lawrence, who
+took in paying guests, and no doubt was one of several persons accused
+of keeping ordinaries "at extraordinary prices." When the Assembly or
+the General Court was in session, her house was crowded. To her clients
+Lawrence, in so subtle a manner as not to cause suspicion, suggested the
+possibility of curbing "the forwardness, avarice, and French despotic
+methods of the Governor."[28] That he poured out the story of his own
+and the people's wrongs in Bacon's ears, and that Bacon proved a
+sympathetic listener, hardly admits of a doubt. Otherwise he would not
+have risked his neck to seek him and Drummond out for a midnight
+conference after Berkeley had proclaimed him a rebel.
+
+With Virginia a mass of explosives, the match which set them off was an
+Indian war. The Susquehannocks, a tribe friendly with the whites, had
+been attacked by the Senecas and driven from their towns at the head of
+the Chesapeake Bay to the north bank of the Potomac near the site of
+Fort Washington. Here they began a series of raids on the plantations on
+both sides of the river in search of food. When a band of Indians of
+another tribe crossed over to Virginia, killed several people, and
+escaped into Maryland, an enraged party of whites pursued them.
+Unfortunately, they made the mistake of attacking the Susquehannocks and
+killing fourteen of them. The Susquehannocks retaliated with a series of
+murders, and the Indian war was on.[29]
+
+While the Virginians and Marylanders were gathering their forces, the
+Indians busied themselves building a fort with high embankments, moat,
+and corner bastions. It presented so formidable an appearance that
+before attacking it the white commanders summoned the Indian "great men"
+to a parley. But when they came out, Major Trueman, of the Maryland
+forces, charging them with the recent murders, had them knocked on the
+head. Infuriated at this breach of faith, the Indians in the fort made a
+successful resistance, and at last broke through the besieging forces,
+made their way up the left bank of the river, and crossed over to
+Virginia.[30]
+
+Falling upon the frontier plantations, they took ample revenge for the
+murder of their "great men." In a few days they had wiped out a number
+of families. Dragging off their miserable captives to secluded spots in
+the forest, they staged scenes of horror that would have staggered the
+imagination of a Dante. Some they roasted alive and cut off pieces of
+their flesh, which they offered to their other victims. Others they
+bound to stakes, pulled their nails off, stuck feathers in their flesh,
+ripped them open and wound their entrails around the trunks of
+trees.[31]
+
+Memories of the days when he led his men to victory over Opechancanoe
+must have come to Sir William, but he was now too old to take the
+field. But he collected a strong force to go out against the Indians,
+and gave the command to Sir Henry Chicheley. Then, to everyone's
+amazement, he changed his mind and disbanded the soldiers.[32] This he
+seems to have done for fear Chicheley might not be able to discriminate
+between friendly and unfriendly Indians. He stated that he planned to
+use the Pamunkeys and Appomatox to be his "spies and intelligence to
+find out the more bloody enemies."
+
+Unfortunately, these tribes were no longer friendly. The gradual
+encroaching on their lands by the frontier families had forced them to
+"live remote in the woods," and caused them to harbor a deep sense of
+injustice. But even after Berkeley finally came to realize this, and
+admitted that the neighboring tribes were aiding the Susquehannocks, he
+kept reverting to this policy.
+
+So, when the savages renewed their raids, he called the Assembly
+together and pushed through legislation for a defensive war. It called
+for the erection of forts on the frontier, the enlistment of five
+hundred men, and the use of friendly Indians.[33]
+
+To the exposed families this seemed mere folly. Is it not easy for the
+Indians to sneak in between forts to fall upon us and commit their
+devilish murders? they asked. We are already burdened enough with taxes
+without having more piled on for works which give us no protection. What
+is needed is a large mobile force to seek out the enemy and destroy
+them. When petition after petition reached Berkeley, asking him to send
+a leader, it merely aroused his brittle temper. As one group stood
+humbly before him, they spoke of themselves as "Your Honor's subjects."
+"Why you are a set of fools and loggerheads. You are the King's
+subjects, and so am I. A pox take you."[34]
+
+In this Berkeley made his greatest mistake. Since he would not send the
+frontiersmen a leader of his own selection, they picked a leader for
+themselves. When the dread news spread in Charles City County that large
+bodies of Indians were on the upper James ready to descend on them,
+hundreds of angry men assembled in arms to resist them. Bacon, whose
+outer plantation had been plundered by the Indians and his overseer
+murdered, was easily persuaded to join them. When he appeared a shout
+went up, "A Bacon! A Bacon! A Bacon! A Bacon!" From that moment they
+were ready to follow wherever he would lead.
+
+From the first Bacon made it clear that he would try to redress the
+people's grievances as well as save them from the Indians. As the
+frontiersmen gathered around him he addressed them, denouncing "the
+government as negligent and wicked," calling the ruling clique
+"treacherous and incapable," the "laws and taxes unjust and oppressive,"
+and dwelling on "the absolute necessity of redress."[35] Amid the shouts
+of approval he made them sign a large paper, "writing their names
+circular-wise that the ringleaders might not be found out." He then sent
+out "emissaries" to all parts of the colony to denounce the Governor,
+complain of the restrictions on the franchise, and demand the dismissal
+of the Long Assembly and a new election of Burgesses.[36] Instantly he
+became the hero of the people, "the only patron of the country and the
+preserver of their lives and fortunes."
+
+He hoped to gain his ends by peaceful means, and wrote the Governor
+asking for a commission to fight the Indians. When Berkeley, enraged at
+the accusations of misgovernment, proclaimed him a rebel, he wrote that
+he had taken up arms only to defend the country against the Indians. He
+then marched into New Kent, a county "ripe for rebellion" to attack the
+Pamunkeys, whom he had reason to believe had participated in some of the
+murderous raids. But when they fled, he turned south in pursuit of a
+band of Susquehannocks. When he arrived at the Roanoke River, the
+Occaneechees, a friendly tribe living on an island in the river,
+volunteered to go out and give battle to the Susquehannocks. But after
+they had defeated them and returned to the island they became involved
+in a quarrel with Bacon. A desperate battle ensued in which the Indians
+were defeated and forced to flee. After gathering up the spoils, Bacon
+turned his face homeward.
+
+In the meanwhile, Berkeley had raised a force of three hundred men to
+intercept Bacon at the falls of the James. But he hastened back when he
+received word that the people everywhere were rising against him.
+Astonished, he asked the Council what the people wanted. They replied
+that they were crying out against his refusal to hold an election for so
+many years, and the denial to many of the right to vote. Since
+Berkeley's whole structure of political control was based on these two
+points, to waive them must have seemed to him like complete surrender.
+But he yielded, and called for an election of Burgesses in which all
+freemen had the right to vote.
+
+Berkeley watched anxiously as the returns came in, and his henchmen, one
+after the other, were defeated. When on June 5, 1676, the Burgesses
+assembled in the little statehouse in Jamestown, all but eight were of
+"Bacon's faction." Bacon, himself was elected as one of the
+representatives of Henrico County. Had he been permitted to take his
+seat, with an overwhelming majority behind him, he undoubtedly would
+have dominated the proceedings and pushed through the reforms he had
+demanded.
+
+But he was not destined to take his seat. Instead of coming to Jamestown
+on horse with a strong force, and posting the men in or near the town,
+he set out in his sloop with only forty armed men. When they attempted
+to land they were fired on. That night Bacon slipped into town and held
+a long conference with Lawrence and Drummond.[37] We can only surmise
+what passed between these two embittered men and the daring young
+leader. But it is safe to say that they discussed, not only Berkeley's
+"French despotism," but what reforms Bacon should propose in the
+Assembly. It is probable that Lawrence and Drummond had already talked
+with some of the pro-Bacon leaders, for the Governor warned the
+Burgesses not to be misled by these "two rogues."
+
+As Bacon was returning to his sloop he was discovered and captured and
+brought before the Governor.
+
+"Now I behold the greatest rebel that ever was in Virginia," Sir William
+said.
+
+Then, after a pause, he asked: "Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a
+gentleman?"
+
+"No, may it please your honor."
+
+"Then, I'll take your parole."
+
+A few days later, when the Council and Burgesses were assembled in the
+Statehouse, Berkeley rose and said:
+
+"If there be joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that
+repenteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before
+us. Call Mr. Bacon."
+
+Bacon then stepped forward and handed in his written submission. The
+Governor resumed:
+
+"God forgive you! I forgive you!"
+
+"And all that were with him?" asked one of the Councillors.
+
+"Yea, and all that were with him. Mr. Bacon, if you will live civilly
+but till next quarter court I will promise to restore you again to your
+place there," resumed the Governor, pointing to Bacon's vacant seat.[38]
+In fact it was the very next day that he reappointed him to the Council.
+
+Philip Ludwell explained this great leniency by pointing out that there
+were hundreds of armed men within a day's march of Jamestown ready to
+revenge any harm done to their leader. But Berkeley had an additional
+motive. Bacon in the Council was far less dangerous than Bacon in the
+House of Burgesses. In the Council he would be under his watchful eye;
+in the House he would put himself at the head of the majority in pushing
+through reform measures.
+
+So Bacon had to sit as a helpless and dissatisfied spectator, as
+Berkeley once more dominated the Assembly. Thomas Mathew, who was
+present, tells us that "some gentlemen took this opportunity to endeavor
+the redressing several grievances the country then labored under," when
+they were interrupted by pressing messages from the Governor to meddle
+with nothing until the Indian business was dispatched.
+
+With the matter of reform sidetracked, there followed a debate as to
+whether two Councillors should be asked to sit on the committee on
+Indian affairs. "The great sway that those of the Council bear over the
+rest of the Assembly in matters of laws and also in orders upon appeals,
+being commonly appointed chairman in all committees,"[39] had been a
+long-standing grievance. So now one member rose and pointed out that if
+they had bad customs they had come together to correct them. In the end
+the matter "was huddled off without coming to a vote, and so the
+committee must submit to be overawed, and have every carped at
+expression carried straight to the Governor."[40]
+
+Bacon grew more and more restive as he saw the way things were going.
+The Assembly did not prove "answerable to our expectation," for which
+they should be censured, he said later. When a motion was presented to
+request Berkeley not to resign, he must have looked on with disgust as
+enough pro-Bacon men assented for it to pass.
+
+So under the pretext that his wife was ill, he got permission to leave
+town. Then, instead of visiting Curles Neck, he headed for Henrico. Here
+his veterans gathered around him. When they heard that he had suffered
+humiliation, that he had been denied a commission, and that their
+grievances had not been redressed, they "set their throats in one common
+key of oaths and curses." We will have a commission or "pull down the
+town," they said. "Thus the raging torrent came down to town."[41]
+
+Berkeley made hasty preparations to resist them. But it was too late. In
+Jamestown all was confusion. The cry was: "To arms! To arms! Bacon is
+within two miles of the town." When the Governor realized that
+resistance would be useless, he ordered the guns to be dismantled, and
+returned to the statehouse. So the motley army streamed into the
+village--weatherbeaten frontiersmen, demanding to be led out against the
+Indians; poor planters, seeking relief from heavy taxes; freedmen made
+desperate by hunger and nakedness. The common cry was, "No levies! No
+levies!"[42]
+
+The Burgesses, hearing the hubbub, rushed to the windows of their hall
+on the second story of the statehouse to witness the exciting scenes
+below. Bacon had asked them to grant him his commission, and now he
+called up to them, "You Burgesses, I expect your speedy result."
+Whereupon his men cocked their fusils and aimed them at the windows.
+"For God's sake hold your hands, forbear a little and you shall have
+what you please," cried the Burgesses.[43]
+
+And have it they did. It was now Berkeley's turn to be humiliated. He
+was forced to make Bacon General of all the forces in Virginia. When
+this was followed with a demand that he write the King a letter
+testifying to Bacon's loyalty and the legality of all he had done, he
+could no longer contain himself. Rushing out he threw back his coat and
+cried out; "Here, shoot me, fore God fair mark." Bacon replied that he
+would not hurt a hair of his head. And in the end he got the letter he
+wanted.[44]
+
+He also got "the redress of the people's grievances," he told Berkeley
+he had come for. He mounted the stairs to the long room where the
+Burgesses sat and "pressed hard, nigh an hour's harangue," not only on
+preserving the colony from the Indians, but on "inspecting the revenues,
+the exorbitant taxes, and redressing the grievances of that deplorable
+country." Then, to his surprise, he learned that a series of reform laws
+had already been put through.
+
+Bacon's escape from Jamestown had confronted the Assembly with a
+completely changed situation. No longer was he a virtual prisoner under
+the Governor's eye and his veterans without a leader. Now he was at
+their head once more to march on the town and revenge their wrongs with
+arms in their hands. "We have all the reason in the world to suspect
+that their designs are ruinous," said Philip Ludwell. So the pro-Bacon
+majority in the Assembly took advantage of the general alarm to rush
+through a remarkable series of reform laws that struck at the very basis
+of Berkeley's power. Sir William certainly would not have affixed his
+signature had he not considered his situation desperate. Some months
+later, after the rebellion had been suppressed, all the laws of this
+session were repealed on the ground that they had been secured by
+violence.
+
+These bills may have been outlined by Bacon, Lawrence, and Drummond
+during their famous midnight conference and introduced by some friend in
+the House. They may have been drawn up by the committee on grievances.
+Thomas Blayton was later accused of being "Bacon's great engine" in the
+Assembly, and James Minge, the clerk, of being "another Bacon's great
+friends in forming the laws." Virginia historians have long called them
+Bacon's Laws and rightly, since they struck at the abuses he had
+denounced, were passed in an Assembly dominated by his friends, and
+under the pressure of his armed forces.
+
+The very enactment of Bacon's Laws throws a flood of light on the abuses
+they were intended to rectify. They broadened the franchise by giving
+all freemen the right to vote; they restored a degree of democracy in
+local government by giving the people a voice in assessing county taxes
+and in naming vestrymen and by barring Councillors from sitting on the
+county courts; they fixed fees for sheriffs and other officials; they
+struck at the Governor's appointive power by making it illegal for
+sheriffs to serve more than one year at a time, or for anyone to hold
+more than one of the offices of sheriff, clerk of the court, surveyor,
+or escheator at the same time.[45] Far-reaching though they were,
+Bacon's Laws did not include an act to prohibit officeholders from
+sitting in the Assembly. Such a law, if permitted to stand, would have
+put an end forever to the Berkeley system of rule by placemen.
+
+After Bacon left Jamestown to battle with the Indians the colony might
+have enjoyed internal peace had Berkeley remained quiet, contenting
+himself with placing the whole matter before the King. But he tried to
+raise forces to take the rebels in the rear, and civil war resulted.
+
+In this war Bacon at first seemed to sweep all before him. As he led his
+men back from the frontier he was everywhere hailed as the people's
+friend and savior. On the other hand, none but a handful remained loyal
+to the Governor, so that he was forced to take refuge across the
+Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore.
+
+When Bacon found himself master of all Virginia except Northampton and
+Accomac Counties, he set up his headquarters at Middle Plantation, the
+site of Williamsburg. Here he was joined by Lawrence and Drummond, who
+seem to have helped him in drawing up a manifesto against Berkeley, and
+in holding a conference with a number of leading planters and binding
+them by oath to be faithful to him.[46]
+
+Soon after this Bacon held a conversation with a certain John Goode
+which shows that he had thoughts of extending his rebellion to
+neighboring colonies and setting up an independent state.
+
+"There is a report that Sir William Berkeley hath sent to the King for
+2,000 redcoats, and I do believe it may be true," said Bacon. "Tell me
+your opinion, may not 500 Virginians beat them, we having the same
+advantages against them the Indians have against us?"
+
+"I rather conceive 500 redcoats may either subject or ruin Virginia,"
+Goode replied.
+
+"You talk strangely. Are we not acquainted with the country, can lay
+ambushes, and take to trees and put them by the use of their discipline,
+and are doubtless as good or better shots than they?"
+
+"But they can accomplish what I have said without hazard ... by ...
+landing where there shall be no opposition, firing our houses and
+fences, ... preventing all trade."
+
+Bacon replied that he knew how to prevent this.
+
+Goode then pointed out that all the principal men in the country would
+join the redcoats.
+
+"Sir," he added, "you speak as though you designed a total defection
+from his Majesty and our country."
+
+"Why, have not many princes lost their dominions so?" asked Bacon.
+
+Goode replied that his followers did not think themselves engaged
+against the King's authority, but against the Indians.
+
+"But I think otherwise, and I am confident of it that it is the mind of
+this country, and of Maryland and Carolina also to cast off their
+Governors, ... and if we cannot prevail by arms to make our conditions
+for peace, or obtain the privilege to elect our own Governor, we may
+retire to Roanoke."[47]
+
+Whether Bacon could have enlisted the peoples of Carolina and Maryland
+in his cause, secured naval and military aid from the Dutch, and
+anticipated the American Revolution by a century, must remain in the
+realm of speculation. But before he could proceed far with his plans he
+suffered an irreparable disaster--he lost command of the water.
+
+In Bacon's Rebellion, as in the Revolution and the War between the
+States, the great Virginia rivers made it possible for the side which
+had superior naval forces to penetrate into the heart of the country,
+while they proved a barrier to the movement of troops by land. So when
+several merchant vessels, which Bacon had seized and armed, fell into
+Berkeley's hands, leaving him the undisputed master in Virginia waters,
+the rebel cause became almost hopeless.[48]
+
+Yet it is remarkable that when the Governor had assembled a formidable
+force, brought them up the James, and occupied Jamestown, Bacon
+succeeded in driving him out. The place seemed impregnable, since the
+only approach was over a narrow isthmus, protected by barricades and
+guarded by the cannon of the ships in the river. Berkeley himself
+supplies the explanation when he reported that his men refused to fight,
+but in spite of his urgent pleas, hurried him on shipboard and away.[49]
+
+So Bacon's men entered the little capital unopposed. But they realized
+that they could not hold it, for Berkeley's fleet was still nearby,
+while other loyalist forces were threatening from the north. After a
+consultation, the leaders decided to burn the town. Lawrence applied the
+torch to his own house. Drummond to his, Bacon to the little church,
+others to Berkeley's five houses, and the statehouse.[50] As Berkeley
+saw the flames rising above the rooftops and reflected on the waters of
+the James he cursed the cowardice of the men who had forced him to
+desert the place.
+
+But now the end was at hand for Bacon. While at the house of Major
+Thomas Pate, in Gloucester County, he became ill of dysentery. As he lay
+on his deathbed, he kept inquiring whether the redcoats had arrived, and
+whether there was a strong guard around the house. We do not know
+whether his wife was there to comfort him in his last hours, but it is
+probable that she was far away at Curles Neck. He died October 26, 1676.
+Knowing that Berkeley would want to expose the body on a gibbet,
+Lawrence is said to have disposed of it in secret, probably with a night
+service somewhere in the Virginia woods, and then to have had a public
+funeral with a casket weighted with stones.[51]
+
+Bacon was mourned in many a humble cottage throughout the colony. Who
+now would lead the people in their struggle to gain their rights? One of
+his followers wrote in touching verse that death had ended "our hopes of
+safety, liberty, our all."[52] There was no one else who had won the
+confidence and affection of the people to take his place.
+
+The struggle continued for three more months, the rebels won more
+victories, but something like anarchy ensued. There was no central
+government, some of the county courts were closed, crops were rotting in
+the fields, servants and slaves left their masters to join the rebel
+forces, there was indiscriminate plundering, the masters of the
+incoming merchant vessels refused to sell their goods to the rebels or
+buy what tobacco they had on hand.
+
+As soon as Berkeley got his hands on some of Bacon's followers, he began
+a series of executions unparalleled in American history. Thomas Hansford
+pleaded that he might be shot like a soldier, but Sir William told him
+he was condemned, not as a soldier, but as a rebel. As he stood on the
+scaffold he addressed the assembled crowd, declaring that he died a
+loyal subject and lover of his country.[53] When Major Cheeseman was
+brought before the Governor, his wife rushed in to plead that she be
+hanged and her husband spared. Berkeley spurned her with a vile insult.
+Cheeseman cheated the hangman by dying in prison.[54] But Captain
+Wilford, George Farloe, Thomas Young, and others soon followed Hansford
+to the gallows.
+
+The end came before the arrival of the English troops. Group after group
+surrendered, and their leaders took the oath of loyalty, kissed the
+Governor's hand, and were pardoned. But there was no pardon for Bacon's
+two chief advisers. "I so much hate Drummond and Lawrence that though
+they could put the country in peace into my hands, I would not accept it
+from such villains," Berkeley declared.[55]
+
+Lawrence escaped. He was last seen with four others on the extreme
+frontier, riding through the snow and disappearing into the forest.
+Their fate is unknown. Drummond was found hiding in Chickahominy Swamp
+and brought before the Governor. He was greeted with a mocking bow. "Mr.
+Drummond, you are very welcome. I am more glad to see you than any man
+in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in half an hour." He was
+treated with savage brutality, and then, after the pretence of a trial,
+hurried off to the scaffold.[56]
+
+Bacon and Drummond did not die in vain. Though they and thousands of
+others were stigmatized as rebels and traitors, though the cause they
+contended for ended in disastrous failure, Bacon's Rebellion had a
+lasting influence on American history. It served as a warning that
+Americans would not submit to misgovernment and despotism under whatever
+form. Had not the British Government under George III forgotten that
+warning there might have been no American Revolution.
+
+To contend, as some have done, that Bacon's Rebellion was no more than a
+quarrel between a rash young man and an old fool, is to make the most
+shallow interpretation. Men do not rush to arms, and risk their lives
+and property in a wild uprising because of a dispute between
+individuals. As Professor Charles M. Andrews has pointed out,
+revolutions "are the detonations of explosive materials, long
+accumulating and often dormant. They are the resultant of a vast complex
+of economic, political, social, and legal forces, which taken
+collectively are the masters, not the servants, of statesmen and
+political agitators. They are never sudden in their origin, but look
+back to influences long in the making."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] William Edmundson, _Journal_, 71, 72.
+
+[2] _Virginia Magazine_ 3: 134.
+
+[3] _Ibid._, 135.
+
+[4] _Virginia Magazine_ 3: 141, 142.
+
+[5] CO5-1371, p. 241.
+
+[6] _Bath papers_, "Virginia's Deplored Condition."
+
+[7] _Ibid._ 1: 173.
+
+[8] _Bath papers_, "Bacon's Manifesto."
+
+[9] _Ibid._, Berkeley to Right Honorable, Feb. 9, 1677.
+
+[10] CO1-21, Norwood to Williamson, 17, 1667.
+
+[11] G. L. Beer, _The old colonial system_.
+
+[12] CO1-21.
+
+[13] CO1-16.
+
+[14] CO1-26, p. 77.
+
+[15] COl-21, pp. 61, 62.
+
+[16] CO1-30, pp. 51, 53.
+
+[17] CO1-21.
+
+[18] CO1-30, pp. 17, 51.
+
+[19] _Bath papers_, "The Assembly to the King." Sept., 1674.
+
+[20] _Ibid._, July 1, 1776.
+
+[21] CO1-30, p. 51.
+
+[22] CO1-30, p. 78.
+
+[23] CO1-36, p. 37.
+
+[24] CO1-36, p. 55.
+
+[25] _Bath papers_, Berkeley to Bacon, Sept. 21, 1675.
+
+[26] _Ibid._, July 18, 1675.
+
+[27] _Ibid._
+
+[28] Thomas Mathew, _Bacon's rebellion_.
+
+[29] T. J. Wertenbaker, _Virginia under the Stuarts_, 146, 147.
+
+[30] CO1-36, p. 78. 605-1381, p. 367.
+
+[31] _Bath papers._ May 23, 1676.
+
+[32] CO5-1371, pp. 373, 411.
+
+[33] CO5-1371, pp. 373, 411.
+
+[34] CO1-40, p. 106.
+
+[35] _Ibid._ p. 377.
+
+[36] _Bath papers_, "The Council to Most Honorable."
+
+[37] CO5-1371, p. 380.
+
+[38] Thomas Mathew, _Bacon's rebellion_, 12, 13.
+
+[39] CO1-21. Henry Norwood to Sec. Williamson, July 17, 1667.
+
+[40] Thomas Mathew, _Bacon's rebellion_.
+
+[41] CO5-1371, pp. 381, 382.
+
+[42] CO1-37, p. 17.
+
+[43] CO5-1371, p. 382.
+
+[44] It is in the British Public Record Office.
+
+[45] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 353, 357, 359.
+
+[46] CO1-37, p. 42.
+
+[47] CO5-1371, pp. 232-240.
+
+[48] _Ibid._, p. 394.
+
+[49] _Bath papers_ 1: 350-355.
+
+[50] _Ibid._, 355; CO5-1371, p. 405.
+
+[51] _Virginia Historical Register_ 3: 133, 134.
+
+[52] T. J. Wertenbaker, _Torchbearer of the revolution_, 179, 180.
+
+[53] _Ingram's proceedings_, 33.
+
+[54] _Ibid._, 35.
+
+[55] _Bath papers_ 3: 170.
+
+[56] _Virginia Historical Register_ 3: 135; _Ingram's proceedings_, 49.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+RECONSTRUCTION AND DESPOTISM
+
+
+When the news of Bacon's Rebellion reached Charles II he thought it past
+belief that "so considerable a body of men, without the least grievance
+or oppression, should rise up in arms and overturn the government." He
+did not stop to consider that he himself, by giving away huge areas in
+the colony to favorites, was in part responsible, or that the passage of
+the Navigation Acts and the consequent precipitous break in the price of
+tobacco could be called a grievance. As for Berkeley's policy of rule by
+placemen, if he knew anything about it, he could but reflect that he
+himself had set the example.
+
+But he realized that something had to be done, not only to restore
+order, but to remove at least some of the causes of discontent. So he
+appointed Colonel Herbert Jeffreys, Sir John Berry, and Colonel Francis
+Moryson a committee to go to Virginia to enquire into all grievances and
+report back to him. As for Berkeley, though he was to retain the title
+of Governor, he was ordered to return to England "with all possible
+speed." During his absence Jeffreys was to be Lieutenant Governor, with
+all the powers of Governor.[1]
+
+The King then drew up a proclamation, which he directed Jeffreys to
+publish in the colony, stating that he was willing to extend his royal
+compassion to all except Bacon who would return to their duty and
+obedience, and authorizing the Governor in his name to pardon all he
+thought "fit and convenient for our service."[2] But he mingled force
+with leniency by placing a thousand well-equipped men under Jeffrey's
+command. For the second time within twenty-five years an English
+expedition set sail to bring the Virginians to "obedience." Berry and
+Moryson, with part of the army, arrived in the James River in January,
+1677, and Jeffreys soon followed with the rest.[3]
+
+They found the colony in a deplorable condition. With the people bitter
+and sullen, with neighbor arrayed against neighbor, with hundreds of
+houses and barns in ashes, with trade disrupted, there was need for
+unselfish and statesmanlike guidance. There should have been an
+immediate restoration of the rule of law, so that no man could be made
+to suffer without a trial before his peers. There should have been an
+election of Burgesses, in which the people could make their choices
+without pressure from the Governor and the Council. There should have
+been an honest effort to assuage flaming resentments, to give heed to
+the people's grievances, to unite all classes in binding up the wounds
+of war and bringing peace and some measure of prosperity to the
+distracted colony.
+
+The situation was not unlike that in the South at the close of the War
+between the States. And as the South, after the assassination of
+President Lincoln, was left a prey to vultures--the so-called
+Carpetbaggers and Scaliwags--Virginia after the collapse of Bacon's
+Rebellion, was sacrificed to the vindictiveness and greed of Berkeley
+and his supporters.
+
+"Two wrongs do not make a right." Though a loyalist may have suffered
+severely by the plundering of rebel bands, he was not justified in
+trying to make good his losses by robbing a neighbor, even though that
+neighbor had sided with Bacon. But the Governor, instead of insisting
+that his friends seek restitution only through the courts, himself was
+foremost in making illegal seizures. When he returned to Green Spring,
+the sight of his plundered house and barns, and the empty meadows where
+once hundreds of cattle and sheep had grazed drove him to fury. He
+showed "a greedy determination thoroughly to heal himself before he
+cared to staunch the bleeding gashes of the woefully lacerated country,"
+by seizing men's "estates, cattle, servants, and carrying off their
+tobacco."[4] Some of the wretched men who were dragged before him he
+threatened with hanging unless they gave him most or all that they
+owned. A certain James Barrow was imprisoned at Green Spring, where "by
+reason of the extremity of cold, hunger, loathsomeness of vermin," he
+was forced to agree to the payment of a ruinous composition.[5]
+
+The King's commissioners received a cool reception from Berkeley. He
+wanted no investigation of the causes of the rebellion, he wanted no
+interference with his hangings and seizures. He pointed out that he had
+suppressed the rebellion before the arrival of the troops, and pretended
+to be surprised that the King had thought it necessary to send them.[6]
+When the commissioners told him that illegal seizures must stop, he flew
+into such a rage that they decided that future communication with him
+should be by writing. This would avoid the "loud and fierce speaking"
+necessitated by his deafness.[7]
+
+But there must have been "loud and fierce speaking" indeed when the
+commissioners went to Green Spring and showed Berkeley the King's
+proclamation of pardon, and the order that he return immediately to
+England. All his life Berkeley had regarded the King's command as
+sacred. To resist his will was as wicked as it was illegal. But now, on
+flimsy pretexts, he deliberately disobeyed him. He postponed his
+departure for three months, declaring that the word "conveniency" gave
+him the right to remain as long as he wished. He did publish the
+proclamation, but here again he found an excuse to balk the King's
+obvious intent to pardon all save Bacon. Issuing a proclamation of his
+own he "saw fit" to exempt from pardon not only a long list by name, but
+all persons then in prison charged with rebellion. Since the jails were
+overflowing, this left scores of miserable men trembling for their
+lives.
+
+So the trials and executions continued. Gyles Bland, despite the
+pleading of influential friends in England, was hastened off to the
+gallows. When Robert Jones showed the wounds he had received fighting
+for the King in the Civil War, Moryson pleaded with Lady Berkeley to
+intercede for him. "I would with more easiness of mind have worn the
+canvas linen the rebels said they would make me glad of," replied this
+proud lady.[8] Yet she weakened, and the Governor did pardon him. Others
+were not so fortunate. Not until the Assembly requested him "to hold his
+hand from all other sanguinary punishment," after a score or more had
+paid the extreme penalty, did he put an end to the executions.[9]
+
+Yet the Assembly was overwhelmingly loyalist. If we may believe William
+Sherwood most of the Burgesses were Berkeley's "own creatures and chose
+by his appointments before the arrival of the commissioners."[10] In the
+elections intimidation and even fraud were used freely. Jeffreys wrote
+that the Assembly "by reason of the unsettled condition of the country
+was not so legally nor freely elected."[11] In Charles City County a
+petition was posted on the courthouse door demanding a new election on
+the grounds that there had been illegal voting.[12]
+
+As was to be expected, this Assembly backed Berkeley in all he had done
+and was doing. They praised his wisdom, bravery, justice, and integrity.
+They did their best to block the commissioners in their inquiry into the
+causes of the rebellion. When the people presented their grievances they
+were denounced as "libellous, scandalous, and rebellious."[13] Many
+former rebels were forced to make humble submission on their knees
+before the Governor and Council, with ropes around their necks.[14] Some
+were attainted, some were banished. To speak ill of the Governor and
+Council was made a high crime punishable by whipping.
+
+The people were deeply angered by the brutality of the Governor and his
+puppet Assembly. Governor Notley, of Maryland, thought that, should a
+leader appear who was bold enough to risk his neck, "the commons of
+Virginia would enmire themselves as deep in rebellion as ever they did
+in Bacon's time."[15] Many a sullen planter eyed his fusil longingly, in
+the hope that Lawrence might emerge from the forests to head a new
+mutiny.[16] "The putrid humor of our unruly inhabitants are not so
+allayed, but that they do frequently vent themselves ... and were they
+not awed by the overruling hand of his Majesty would soon express
+themselves by violent acts," wrote Secretary Nicholas Spencer.[17] That
+the Assembly was not unconcerned at the danger is shown by their
+re-enacting in much the original form of several of Bacon's reform laws.
+
+Berkeley and his friends treated Jeffreys with contempt. "A pitiful
+little fellow with a periwig," Philip Ludwell called him.[18] But it
+took a woman's spite to give him the greatest insult. When the
+commissioners heard that at last Berkeley was about to leave for
+England, they called on him at Green Spring. On leaving they found the
+Governor's coach waiting for them at the door. They did not realize that
+Lady Berkeley was peeping through "a broken quarrel of glass to observe
+how the show looked." But they were horrified to learn on reaching their
+destination that the coachman was the "common hangman." "The whole
+country rings of ... the public odium and disgrace cast on us, as the
+Exchange itself shortly may," they wrote.[19]
+
+It was on May 5, 1677, that Berkeley sailed for England on the
+_Rebecca_. The passage, though quick, was a terrible one for him. As he
+paced the deck, he could but reflect that the time was at hand when he
+must account to his royal master, not only for the failure of his
+administration, but for his flagrant disobedience. By the time he
+reached England the "tedious passage and grief of mind" had reduced him
+to great weakness. But he pleaded for an opportunity to "clear his
+innocency." If it is true, as was whispered about, that word reached his
+ears that the King had said that that old fool had hanged more men in
+that naked country than he for the murder of his father, it must have
+broken his heart. He died on July 13, 1677, and was interred at
+Twickenham.
+
+Berkeley's departure did not bring peace to the distracted colony. The
+loyalist faction had spread the report that Jeffreys was merely Sir
+William's deputy, that he could not exercise the full powers of
+Governor, and would retire upon his return. To refute these rumors
+Jeffreys issued a proclamation a few days before Berkeley left, formally
+taking over the government. In it he declared that he had as much power
+as any other Governor, and warned all men against belittling his office.
+And he put his finger on the very foundation of the Berkelean system
+when he declared that he would strive to reform, regulate, and redress
+"all apparent abuses, oppressions, excesses, and defects in the power,
+practice, and proceedings of all county courts."[20]
+
+But reform was just what the loyalists did not want. They wanted the
+grievances of the people suppressed, the county courts to be packed with
+their friends; they wished to continue their illegal seizures. The
+leader of this group was the colorful and vigorous Lady Berkeley. She
+held such frequent meetings at her home that the loyalists became known
+as the Green Spring Faction. Here came Colonel Edward Hill, "a great
+oppressor, of unparalleled impudence"; Philip Ludwell, Lady Berkeley's
+future husband; Robert Beverley, who Jeffreys declared had risen from a
+"mean condition" by toadying to Berkeley; and others.[21]
+
+As they sat in the spacious hall where the Assembly had met after the
+burning of the statehouse in Jamestown, they denounced Jeffreys as a
+nincompoop, who was not worth a groat in England, as a liar, as a "worse
+rebel than Bacon." They would secure compensation for their losses
+despite all he could do. So they planned their strategy. Lady Berkeley
+was to strike terror into the people by threatening dire things when Sir
+William returned. Nor did they relax their efforts when word of
+Berkeley's death reached the colony. It was known that Lord Culpeper was
+his successor, so Lady Berkeley gave it out that he was her close
+friend, and promised great favors upon his arrival. To plead their cause
+in England they engaged Captain Alexander Culpeper, Lady Berkeley's
+brother.[22]
+
+After Berkeley's departure Jeffreys had called for the election of a new
+Assembly to meet October 10, 1677. Unfortunately, at this moment, when
+he was most needed, he became ill. Early in September a letter from the
+Privy Council to the Governor and Council had been received, making void
+Berkeley's proclamation of February 10, which had excepted so many
+persons from the royal pardon. Had Jeffreys been a well man he would
+certainly have published this letter immediately and relieved the people
+from their fear. But the Council urged him to conceal it for the
+present, and being weak and in bed, he yielded. This daring defiance of
+the King's orders had an important effect on the election, for the
+people were still trembling for their lives and property, and so were
+bullied by the sheriffs into returning loyalist Burgesses. Daniel Parke
+reported that there had been illegal elections in James City County,
+Kent, and elsewhere.[23]
+
+It was in October that Parke arrived from England and delivered to
+Jeffreys a letter from Secretary Coventry, telling him that Berkeley had
+died and that Culpeper had kissed the King's hand as Governor. Even then
+the Council was opposed to the publication of the King's order to void
+Berkeley's proclamation, protesting that it had been procured by
+misinformation. But the contents leaked out, and there was bitter
+resentment at the delay. Most of the Assembly demanded its publication.
+At last, when Jeffreys and Parke had won over a majority of the Council
+to the view that it would be unwise to trifle further with the royal
+command, the two Ludwells flung themselves away in "a seeming passion."
+But there was great relief and widespread rejoicing among the
+people.[24]
+
+The Assembly met at Middle Plantation, the site of Williamsburg, in the
+house of Captain Otho Thorp. Despite the irregularity of the elections
+it showed a far greater spirit of independence than its predecessor. It
+passed a law against making unreasonable compositions for injuries done
+during the rebellion; it imposed a penalty for the use of such terms as
+traitor, rebel, or rogue; it forbade the impressing of cattle, boats, or
+provisions without compensation; it regulated fees.[25] But it placed a
+crushing burden on the prostrate colony by levying a tax of 100 pounds
+of tobacco per tithable. "This, with the county and parish tax is in
+some counties 250 pounds, in some 300, and in some 400, which falls very
+heavily on the poorer people," Parke reported.[26]
+
+The Thorp house rang with protests when Robert Beverley, who was clerk
+of the Assembly, reported that the King's commissioners had taken their
+journals, orders, and acts from him by force. In a vigorous protest to
+Jeffreys, they declared this a great violation of their privileges. This
+seizure we "humbly suppose his Majesty would not ... command, for that
+they find not the same to have been practiced by any of the Kings of
+England." So they asked Jeffreys to give assurance that such a thing
+would not happen again.[27]
+
+When this was reported to Charles II he was surprised at the presumption
+of the Assembly in calling in question his authority. Referring the
+matter to the Lords of Trade, he asked them what he should do to bring
+the Assembly to a sense "of their duty and submission." The Lords
+thought that the protest tended to rebellion, and that the Governor
+should rebuke the Assembly and punish the "authors and abettors."[28]
+Charles issued the order, but later, on the earnest plea of the Virginia
+Council, rescinded it. But he insisted that the protest be "razed out of
+the books of Virginia."[29] It was a strange twist of fate which caused
+an attempt by the King to investigate the grievances of the people to
+result in what may be considered the opening act of the Second Stuart
+Despotism in Virginia.
+
+In the meanwhile, during Jeffreys' illness, Thomas Ludwell presided over
+the meetings of the Council. So the King's commands were ignored, and
+the plundering, confiscations, and banishing continued. "Great numbers
+of poor men, having wives and children to maintain," faced utter
+ruin.[30] The lengths to which the Green Spring Faction was prepared to
+go is illustrated by a statement of Colonel Edward Hill at one of their
+gatherings. One of those present remarked that William Byrd would
+certainly win a case pending in which he was involved because he was in
+England and could secure the King's backing. "That will not do," said
+Hill, "for if the King should send in his letter, in that case we are
+not to take notice of it."[31]
+
+This is just what they did when Charles wrote in behalf of Sarah
+Drummond, widow of William Drummond. This poor woman made the long
+voyage across the ocean to lay her case before the King. So great was
+Governor Berkeley's hatred of her husband, she said, that he had not
+only taken his life, but had seized his small plantation for his own use
+and forced her to flee with her five small children into the woods,
+where they might have starved had not the commissioners befriended
+them.[32] Moved by her misfortunes, the King sent an especial command
+that her property be returned. But when she brought an action in the
+General Court against Lady Berkeley, and the King's letter was read, one
+of the Councillors, turning to the crowd in the courtroom, declared in a
+loud voice that it was based on nothing but lies. "So they dismissed the
+case."[33]
+
+In the meanwhile, Jeffreys had sufficiently recovered his health to
+strike back at his enemies. He had tried to win them over by appointing
+them to collectors' places and doing them other favors, but without
+success. So at last he retaliated upon Beverley by ousting him from his
+civil and military offices and "silenced him from pleading in the
+courts."[34] When Philip Ludwell's many insults were reported to
+Jeffreys he had him arrested and charged him with "scandalizing the
+Governor and abusing the authority of his Majesty." This was a serious
+matter indeed, for the penalty was whipping or the payment of a fine of
+500 pounds of tobacco. The jury pronounced Ludwell guilty, and asked the
+Council to fix the punishment. Since most of the Council were Ludwell's
+warm friends, Jeffreys appealed the case to the King. Ludwell countered
+by appealing to the Assembly. In the end it was decided that the whole
+case, including the matter of appeal, should be left to his Majesty.[35]
+
+But in the summer of 1678 Jeffreys again became ill, and the Green
+Spring Faction renewed the "old exactions and abuses." William Sherwood
+reported: "The colony would be as peaceful as could be wished except for
+the malice of some discontented persons of the late Governor's party,
+who endeavor by all the cunning contrivances that by their artifice can
+be brought about, to bring a contempt of Colonel Jeffreys, our present
+good Governor.... It is to be feared unless these fiery spirits are
+allayed or removed home, there will not be that settled, happy peace and
+unity which otherwise might be, for they are entered into a faction
+which is upheld by the expectation of my Lord Culpeper's doing mighty
+things for them."[36]
+
+Jeffreys died on December 17, 1678. A well-meaning man, who tried to
+rule justly, he lacked the strength of character needed to bring peace
+to the colony. With an army at his command, he should have put Governor
+Berkeley on board ship and sent him to England when he refused to obey
+the King's commands. This would have prevented many hangings, relieved
+the fears of the people, and given pause to the Green Spring Faction.
+But Jeffreys knew that Berkeley's brother, Lord John Berkeley, was in
+high favor with the King, and he dared not offend him.
+
+Jeffreys' wife came from England to join him, but she was just in time
+to say a farewell, for he was seized with a violent sickness four hours
+after her arrival and died soon after.[37] So bitter were the Green
+Spring Faction against him that they tried to prevent the payment to his
+widow of £1,200 due him for nine months' salary, and to charge her with
+all the perquisites he had received. When, as a consequence, she could
+not meet all his obligations, they imprisoned her for debt. It was only
+by appealing to Secretary Coventry that she received the arrears due her
+and was able to free herself from the power of her enemies.[38]
+
+Upon the death of Jeffreys, Sir Henry Chicheley produced a commission as
+Deputy Governor given him in 1674. Chicheley was a "most loyal, worthy
+person, and deservedly beloved by the whole country."[39] He had been a
+Burgess, a member of the Council, had commanded the Virginia forces in
+the Indian war, had remained loyal to Berkeley during the rebellion, and
+had been imprisoned by Bacon. But he was now "old, sickly, and crazy,"
+and lacked the vigor to force obedience and restore order. During the
+eighteen months of his administration the old factions were not
+reconciled to one another.[40]
+
+Yet Chicheley, to the extent of his ability, ruled impartially and well.
+At the election of 1679 he insisted that the people be protected from
+intimidation at the polls. As a result the Assembly showed a spirit of
+independence and a desire to rectify the people's grievances. A degree
+of democracy was introduced into local government by an act empowering
+the voters of each parish to elect two men to sit in the county courts
+in the making of by-laws. A limit was put to fees demanded by the
+collectors of customs and the clerks of the courts. The claim of the
+Green Spring Faction for compensation for their losses was referred to
+the next session.[41]
+
+In May, 1680, Lord Culpeper arrived in Virginia after a tedious passage
+of two and a half months, in which scurvy and other diseases took a
+heavy toll. Chicheley handed over the government to him and the
+reconstruction period came to an end.
+
+The patriotic Virginian, as he looked back over the years from the
+collapse of Bacon's Rebellion to the arrival of Culpeper must have seen
+in them nothing but confusion and disaster. The colony was divided
+against itself, the most pressing of the people's grievances had not
+been redressed, many families had been reduced to poverty, the right to
+vote was denied to hundreds, taxes were higher than ever, and tobacco
+was still a drug on the market.
+
+Yet important changes were taking place which gave reason for hope.
+During Berkeley's administration the newly created aristocracy, the men
+of wealth, the leaders in their own counties--the Ludwells, the Parkes,
+the Custises, the Coles--had worked in close alliance with the Governor.
+The common people, on the other hand, lacked leaders to guide them in
+their struggle for their rights. But with Berkeley's departure the
+aristocrats, so far from allying themselves with his successor, came
+into violent conflict with him. And the Governor now assumed the role of
+the people's friend and protector.
+
+So engrossed were the Virginians in their own disputes that their
+attention was diverted from events in England, events that were to
+affect them profoundly. For many years Charles II had lived in
+comparative peace with his Cavalier Parliament, maintaining his
+mistresses in luxury despite the meagerness of his revenue. But the rise
+of the Whig Party under the leadership of the able Earl of Shaftesbury
+was now threatening to undermine his power. All London was in terror
+when Titus Oates came forward with a wild story that the Catholics were
+plotting to bring in Irish and French troops, massacre the Protestants,
+and murder the King. The Whigs were demanding the exclusion from the
+succession of Charles' Roman Catholic brother James, and some actually
+proposed that the King divorce his Catholic wife and marry a Protestant.
+
+Faced with the loss of his prerogatives, the indolent King struck back.
+His father had tried to free himself from dependence on Parliament by
+illegal taxation; he by sacrificing England's foreign interests for
+French gold. In March, 1678, Charles negotiated a secret treaty with
+Louis XIV in return for £300,000. Now he was in a position to thumb his
+nose at the Commons when they tried to control and thwart him. It was
+the beginning of the Second Stuart Despotism.[42]
+
+The change was immediately reflected in colonial policies. The old
+Council of Plantations, and its successor the Council of Trade and
+Plantations had done little to supervise and control the conduct of
+affairs in America. But in December, 1674, after the fall of the Cabal
+Ministry, the direction of colonial matters was turned over to a
+committee of the Privy Council, presided over by the Secretary of State.
+In this way the King's most trusted ministers were brought into close
+touch with the colonies. Sir Joseph Williamson, Secretary from 1674 to
+1678, was a most obedient servant of the King; his fellow Secretary, Sir
+Henry Coventry, had defended Charles I on the field of battle, and now
+defended his son before the public; Sir Leoline Jenkins was called "the
+most faithful drudge of a Secretary that ever the Court had."
+
+We have no way of knowing whether these men, in their assault on liberty
+in the colonies, were merely carrying out the commands of Charles II and
+James II, or whether on their own initiative they shaped colonial policy
+in accord with domestic policy. In either case it was the Second Stuart
+Despotism in England which was responsible for the Andros despotism in
+New England, and for the equally dangerous attack on liberty in
+Virginia.
+
+It was prophetic of what was to come that Secretary Coventry, in
+January, 1678, read to the Committee on Foreign Affairs a series of
+proposals concerning Virginia. Three companies of soldiers were to be
+left in the colony, a fort was to be erected "whereby the King may be
+safe from rebellions," all laws were to be sent to England for revision.
+The last proposal was an innovation of serious import.[43] The
+Virginians had never questioned the right of the King to veto the acts
+of Assembly, but never before had he demanded the right to revise laws
+already on the statute books.
+
+Of even greater significance was the initiation of bills by the King.
+Charles wrote Culpeper that whereas certain laws had been recommended to
+him in Council of which he approved, "these bills we have caused to be
+under the Great Seal of England, and our will is that the same bills ...
+you shall cause to be considered ... in our Assembly of Virginia ... and
+to these bills you do give and declare our royal assent." One was an act
+of general pardon, one an act for naturalization, and the other an act
+for raising a public revenue.[44]
+
+This was accompanied by an attempt to deprive the Assembly of the right
+to initiate legislation. Culpeper was commanded to send to the King a
+draft of such bills as he and the Council should think fit to be passed,
+so that he could go over them and return them in the form he thought
+they should be enacted in. "Upon receipt of our commands you shall
+summon an Assembly and propose the said laws for their consent."[45]
+
+As though this were not enough, Charles demanded the sole power,
+heretofore exercised by the Governor, of calling sessions of the
+Assembly. "It is our will and pleasure that for the future no General
+Assembly be called without our special directions, but that, upon
+occasion, you do acquaint us by letter with the necessity of calling
+such an Assembly, and pray our consent and directions for their
+meeting."[46]
+
+The King struck a fatal blow at the control of justice in Virginia by
+the people, by depriving the Assembly of its privilege of acting as the
+supreme court of appeals. "Our pleasure also is that for the better and
+more equitable administration of justice in our said colony, appeals be
+allowed in cases of error from the courts ... to our Governor and our
+Council there, and to no other court or jurisdiction whatsoever."[47]
+
+Although Thomas Culpeper had been too young to fight in the Civil War,
+he donned a suit of armor with breastplate, shoulderpieces, and
+brassarts, to have his portrait painted. But the face is not that of a
+warrior. It is draped by the flowing hair of the Cavalier, has a
+prominent nose and a weak mouth with the trace of a sneer. Culpeper had
+followed Charles into exile, and with the Restoration had expected
+compensation for his losses. But since there was not enough to go round
+among all the hungry Cavaliers, the King repaid him at the expense of
+his subjects in Virginia, first with the Arlington-Culpeper grant, and
+then by making him Governor of Virginia.
+
+The outlook for the colony was gloomy. The King was determined to
+override the people's rights and make himself absolute. Culpeper was
+interested in filling his pockets. The Green Spring Faction were still
+seeking to make good their losses at the expense of the rebels. The
+common people were suffering from the high taxes and the low price of
+tobacco.
+
+The King had as much trouble in getting Culpeper to sail for Virginia as
+he had had in making Berkeley come back to England. My Lord had no
+desire to exchange London for the forests of Virginia; he had little
+interest in carrying out his instructions. All he wanted was his salary
+and anything he could make out of the Northern Neck. At last, after two
+years of dillydallying, the King told him that unless he sailed at once
+he would remove him as Governor. So in February, 1680, he left the Downs
+with the tobacco fleet.[48]
+
+On his arrival at Jamestown, the members of the Council and other
+leading planters flocked around him, eager to give their version of the
+troubles in the colony and to secure his support. When the Council met,
+Culpeper was assured that the King had been misinformed on many points
+by Moryson and Berry. Philip Ludwell was a loyal, honest servant of the
+King, and should be restored to his place in the Council. Injustice had
+been done to Colonel Hill, and they begged the new Governor to intercede
+for him.[49]
+
+As for the King's rebuke to the Assembly for questioning his right to
+seize their records, the Council advised Culpeper not to present it. To
+do so would "unravel and disturb the good and cheerful settlement we are
+now in by your Excellency's great prudence and conduct."[50] So they
+induced him to suspend the rebuke until the King should order to the
+contrary.
+
+Culpeper seems to have brought a degree of peace to the contending
+factions. The act of pardon ended the plundering of the estates of the
+former rebels, and the aggrieved loyalists were encouraged to seek
+redress through the Assembly. Colonel Spencer wrote that the "late
+different interests" had been "perfectly united to the general
+satisfaction of all."
+
+United the people had to be to defend their liberties. When the wealthy
+landholder and the humble owner of but fifty acres, the loyalist and the
+former rebel alike realized that Charles was bent on reducing both
+Council and Assembly to impotence, their domestic quarrels seemed
+unimportant compared to the public danger.
+
+Since the statehouse at Jamestown was still in ashes, the Assembly of
+June, 1680, crowded into the house of Mrs. Susanne Fisher. Some of the
+Burgesses had come on horseback from their James City or Charles City
+plantations, others by shallops from the Upper James, still others from
+the far-off Eastern Shore. A sturdy, stubborn group they were, like
+other Burgesses before and after them, determined to uphold the rights
+of the people.
+
+They were dismayed, then, when Governor Culpeper placed before them the
+three bills prepared and signed by the King. What right has he or the
+Privy Council to introduce bills in this Assembly? they asked. And they
+were especially concerned over the King's demand for a perpetual
+revenue.
+
+There had existed since 1661 a law for laying a duty of two shillings
+for every hogshead of tobacco exported from the colony. But the revenue
+was to be disposed of by the Assembly. It was they who decided whether
+it should be used to pay the Governor's salary, or to defend the colony
+against the Indians, or for repairing the statehouse, or for paying the
+salaries of the Burgesses. Now the Privy Council took it upon themselves
+to draw up a similar act, but differing from the old one in one
+all-important respect--it specified that the returns should go, not to
+the Assembly, but "to the King's most excellent Majesty, his heirs and
+successors forever."
+
+The debate which followed was long and bitter. Every man in the
+Assembly, whether Burgess or Councillor, knew that the King was
+demanding the surrender of their birthright.[51] So they replied to the
+Governor: "The House do most humbly desire to be excused if they do not
+give their approbation to his Majesty's bill."[52] And when the matter
+was brought again before them by the Governor, they refused even to
+resume the debate.
+
+But Culpeper knew that he would be severely blamed by Charles if he did
+not succeed in forcing this bill through. Returning to the attack he
+pointed out that the King claimed the right of disposing of all
+revenues. Moreover, they were in no position to defy him, for he had it
+in his power to ruin most of them by demanding all arrears of quit
+rents. We do not know how many lucrative jobs Culpeper handed out to
+bring the reluctant Burgesses around, but he himself tells us that he
+won over one influential member by the promise of a seat in the
+Council.[53]
+
+In the end the King had his way. The Burgesses made two minor
+amendments, and then passed the bill. When it came before Charles again,
+he vetoed one of these amendments, and allowed the other. A quarter of a
+century later, when the Board of Trade asked Attorney General Simon
+Harcourt and Solicitor General James Montague to pass on the validity of
+the act, they reported that it had been put through irregularly. "It
+would be wise," they said, "if any part of her Majesty's revenue depends
+on this act, to have another in its place."[54]
+
+Yet the act was permitted to stand, and the cause of self-government in
+colonial Virginia suffered its greatest reverse. No longer could the
+Assembly force the Governor to sign this bill or that by refusing to
+vote his salary. No longer did they hold a sword over the heads of the
+Council. It is true that they still retained in part their grip upon
+the purse, since the export duty together with the quit rents seldom met
+even the ordinary needs of the government, and were entirely inadequate
+in times of emergency. It is this which explains why such notable gains
+for liberty were made during the colonial wars. Yet from this time until
+the Declaration of Independence the Virginia Assembly had to fight the
+royal prerogative with one hand tied behind its back.[55]
+
+Having secured the passage of the King's three laws, Culpeper rested on
+his laurels. He seems to have yielded to the plea of the Council not to
+deliver the King's rebuke to the Assembly. If he ever told the Council
+of his instruction to initiate bills with their advice and secure the
+King's approval before sending them to the House, they must have argued
+that it was impractical. They had no desire to have representative
+government in the colony made a mockery. Were the Burgesses to have the
+right of amending bills? they must have asked. If so, would the amended
+bills have to go back to England for the King's approval? Under such
+conditions, it might take years to enact the simplest laws. So this
+instruction was ignored.
+
+Equally impractical was it to secure the King's permission before
+calling an Assembly. In case of a sudden emergency it might be fatal to
+wait until the Governor had written to Secretary Coventry, until he had
+taken the matter up with his Majesty, until some vessel sailed and had
+made the tedious voyage to Virginia. If the need were the outbreak of
+war with the Indians, half the colony might be scalped before the
+Assembly could meet to raise men and money for arms and forts. So
+Culpeper ignored this instruction also.
+
+As for the instruction to forbid appeals from the General Court to the
+Assembly, the Governor kept it to himself. Three years later, at an
+inquiry held on his neglect of his office, he explained: "Having some
+thoughts of getting a revenue bill to pass, I was unwilling actually to
+repeal the laws relating thereunto till the next session of Assembly
+should be over, well knowing how infinitely it would trouble them."[56]
+
+As soon as the Assembly had been dismissed Culpeper made ready to return
+to England, after having been in Virginia only a few weeks. Yet for his
+supposed services he had been receiving £2,000 a year from the revenues
+of the colony ever since the death of Berkeley.[57] Not content with
+this, he contrived to rob the English soldiers who had remained in
+Virginia after Bacon's Rebellion of more than £1,000. These men had
+received no pay for many months, and were discontented and mutinous.[58]
+So the Privy Council gave Culpeper money to satisfy them and the
+families on whom they had been quartered. On his arrival he bought up
+all the worn Spanish pieces of eight he could find, arbitrarily
+proclaimed them legal tender at six shillings, which was a shilling more
+than they were worth, and then paid the soldiers and landlords. But
+before his salary became due, he restored the ratio to five to one.[59]
+
+In 1682 news reached England of a series of tobacco-cutting riots in
+Virginia. The glut of tobacco in the English warehouses and its
+consequent low price had convinced the people that a restriction on the
+output was necessary. It was to be a kind of soil bank, though without
+the subsidy. When this failed because Maryland refused to join in, angry
+mobs went from plantation to plantation, cutting down the tender plants.
+Fearing that this might be the beginning of a new rebellion, the Privy
+Council ordered the reluctant Culpeper to go back at once to suppress
+the riots and punish the ringleaders.[60]
+
+Culpeper arrived in December, 1682. Finding that the riots were over, he
+contented himself with hanging two of the most notorious of the plant
+cutters, and then hastened back to England. By this time Charles had
+lost patience with him for his neglect of his government, the Attorney
+General was ordered to take action against him, and his commission as
+Governor of Virginia was declared void. In September, 1683, Lord Howard
+of Effingham was made Governor in his place.
+
+Effingham was well fitted to carry out the King's attack on liberty in
+Virginia. Deceitful, persistent, unscrupulous, he would have ridden
+roughshod over the people's rights had he not encountered the determined
+resistance of the House of Burgesses. No sooner had he arrived than the
+struggle began.
+
+When the Assembly met in April, 1684, he put on his peer's coronet and
+velvet and ermine robes, and told the Burgesses that he intended to
+enforce the King's order to prohibit appeals to the Assembly. This was
+received with dismay. They appealed to Effingham and the Council to join
+them in an address to the King imploring him to restore a privilege
+enjoyed from the earliest times. But in vain. "It is what I can in no
+part admit of," was Effingham's curt reply. Since this made the General
+Court the last court of appeals in Virginia, the structure of justice
+became aristocratic rather than democratic.
+
+Future Governors had reason to regret this change, for it added greatly
+to the influence of the Council, and the day was not distant when the
+Council was to become so powerful as to threaten to make the Governor a
+mere figurehead. It was the Council which was to be responsible for the
+dismissal of Andros and Nicholson. Governor Spotswood, in his bitter
+quarrels with the Councillors tried to undermine their power by striking
+at their judicial privileges, but he failed, and he too was forced out
+of office by their influence.
+
+Even more alarming to the people than the ending of appeals to the
+Assembly was an order from the King that certain causes arising in the
+courts be referred to England for decision. The Burgesses protested.
+Such a thing would be "grievous and ruinous," they said, and would
+involve delays and great expense. Moreover, they could not find that
+appeals to England had been allowed "from the first settling of the
+colony." When Effingham and the Council refused to join them, they sent
+their petition to the King as the protest of the Lower House alone.[61]
+
+But James II, who had succeeded to the throne on the death of Charles in
+February, received their appeal with contempt. In the new instructions
+to Effingham drawn up in October, 1685, he wrote: "Whereas ... our
+Committee of Trade and Plantations ... have received from some unknown
+persons a paper entitled An Address and Supplication of the General
+Assembly of Virginia to the late King ... which you have refused to
+recommend as being unfit ... we cannot but approve of your
+proceedings.... And we do further direct you to discountenance such
+undue practices for the future, as also the contrivers and promoters
+thereof."[62]
+
+At this dark hour, when American liberty hung in the balance, the
+Burgesses were quick to repel any attempt to tax the people without
+their consent. In May, 1688, they stated that they had received "many
+grievous complaints" that unlawful fees had "under color of his
+Majesty's royal authority" been unjustly imposed upon the people. They
+protested especially against a fee of 200 pounds of tobacco for affixing
+the great seal of the colony, a fee of 30 pounds of tobacco for
+recording surveys of land, and a fee of £5 for escheats.[63]
+
+And they were adamant in refusing repeated demands for permission for
+the Governor and Council by themselves to levy a tax even though a very
+small one. "Your Lordships will ... find their total denial that the
+Governor and Council should have any power to lay the least levy to ease
+the necessity for so frequent Assemblys," Effingham wrote the Committee
+of Trade and Plantations in February, 1686. "This was propounded by me
+to them before his Majesty's instructions came to hand ... but nothing
+would prevail, nor I believe will, unless his Majesty's special command
+therein."[64]
+
+There was consternation in the Assembly when they learned that the King
+was attempting to build up a revenue independent of the Burgesses by
+increasing the returns from the quit rents. This tax on land, for such
+it really was, had always been paid in tobacco. In 1662 the Assembly had
+fixed the rate of payment at twopence a pound, which at that time
+approximated the current price. But the decline in the value of the leaf
+had greatly lessened the value of the returns. So in 1684 the King
+ordered Effingham to accept only specie, "that is to say in money and
+not in tobacco or in any other commodity."[65] Since tobacco was then
+selling at a halfpenny a pound, this would have quadrupled the value of
+the quit rents, imposed a heavy burden on the impoverished country, and
+strengthened the authority of the Governor.
+
+The controversy over this matter led to another and a more serious
+encroachment on the rights of the people, for when the Assembly refused
+to repeal the law of 1662, the King voided it by proclamation. Having
+heard that "persons go about ... imposing bad tobacco upon our
+collectors at the rate of 2d per pound, under pretence of an act of
+Assembly ... we have thought fit to repeal the said act."[66] Upon
+receipt of this order Effingham sent for the Burgesses to meet him in
+the Council Chamber. When they filed in he soon found that they were in
+no mood to yield. Not only did they again refuse to repeal the law of
+1662, but they "rudely and boldly disputed the King's authority in
+repealing laws by proclamation."[67] Moreover, they pointed out, it was
+impossible to pay in pounds or shillings since there were not enough in
+the entire colony. This argument was unanswerable, and in the end the
+Governor was forced to assent to a compromise by which the tax was to be
+paid in tobacco, but at the rate of one penny per pound instead of two.
+
+The difference in the theories of government held by Charles and James
+on the one hand, and the people of the colony on the other was brought
+into focus by a dispute over the King's right to revive a law by
+repealing a law which had repealed it. When James revived a law of 1680
+concerning attorneys by annulling the repealing law of 1682, the
+Burgesses rose as one man in angry protest. "A law may as well receive
+its beginning by proclamation as such a revival," they said. "Some
+Governor may be sent to govern us who under the pretence of the liberty
+he hath to construe prerogative and stretch it as far as he pleaseth,
+may by proclamation revive all the laws that for their great
+inconveniences to the country have been repealed through forty years
+since."[68]
+
+The Councillors as well as the Burgesses must have been startled when
+Effingham in reply told them that the King had the right to nullify or
+revive what laws he pleased, since the only authority the Assembly had
+to legislate at all rested on a grant from the Throne. They had been
+under the impression that the right of the people to make laws through
+their representatives was inherent in all Englishmen. If it were a grant
+from the King, which the King might at will withdraw, liberty in America
+rested on a shaky basis indeed. In an address to Effingham they stated
+that they did not dare "to say what is prerogative and what is not,"[69]
+but they made it clear that when prerogative was stretched so far that
+it threatened to enslave them, they would resist by every means within
+their power.
+
+Despots throughout the years have feared a free press, and have either
+prohibited printing or controlled it for their own purposes. So it was
+in keeping with the spirit of the Second Stuart Despotism that Charles
+and James would allow no press in Virginia. It was in 1682 that John
+Buckner, a prominent merchant and landowner of Gloucester County, and a
+member of the House of Burgesses, employed William Nuthead to set up a
+printing establishment at Jamestown. But they had picked an inauspicious
+time for their venture. Nuthead was ordered to appear before the Council
+"to answer for his presumption in printing the acts of Assembly ... and
+several other papers without licence." The Council ordered that "for
+prevention of all troubles and inconveniences that may be occasioned
+through the liberty of a press ... Mr. John Buckner and William Nuthead
+the printer enter into bond for one hundred pounds sterling ... that
+from and after the date hereof nothing be printed by either of them ...
+in this colony until the signification of his Majesty's pleasure shall
+be known."[70]
+
+His Majesty's pleasure therein was a foregone conclusion. "Whereas we
+have taken notice of the inconvenience that may arise by the liberty of
+printing in Virginia," stated Charles in his instructions to Effingham,
+"no person is to be permitted to use any press for printing upon any
+occasion whatsoever."[71] So Nuthead took the press to Maryland and for
+nearly half a century Virginia was without a printer.[72]
+
+The quartering of troops upon the people has been a serious grievance
+wherever it has been practiced. People object to having rough soldiers
+thrust into their homes, to disrupt their daily life, or perhaps to
+create disorders. When the British troops sent over to suppress Bacon's
+Rebellion were quartered on the people, there were bitter complaints.
+"Instead of being a guard and safety" to us as was intended, "they have
+by their long stay and ill behavior not only been totally useless, but
+dangerous," and the greatest of our terrors.[73] To make matters worse,
+complaints came in to the Assembly from Isle of Wight, York, James City,
+and Nansemond Counties that payments for quarters were in arrears by six
+months or more. So it was with thanksgiving that the people received the
+announcement that the money to pay for the quarters had arrived from
+England together with orders to disband the troops.[74]
+
+Effingham was even more brazen than Berkeley in using the patronage
+openly to force obedience to the King. Berkeley ruled chiefly by
+rewarding those who did as he told them; Effingham by punishing all who
+opposed him. To acquiesce in everything he proposed was the only way for
+one to retain one's job. William Sherwood and Colonel Thomas Milner, for
+forwarding an address of the Burgesses to the Privy Council, were
+dismissed from office. Mr. Arthur Allen was "turned out of all
+employment, civil and military" to his great loss, "he being a surveyor
+of land at that time."[75] Effingham himself explains why. He was "a
+great promoter of those differences between me and the Assembly
+concerning the King's negative voice ... as not thinking it fit that
+those who are peevishly opposite to his Majesty's interest should have
+any advantage by his favor."[76]
+
+Another prominent member of the House of Burgesses, Mr. Charles
+Scarburgh, was "turned out of all employment, and as a mark of his
+Lordship's displeasure, a command was sent to the clerk of the county to
+raze his name out of the records as a justice of peace."[77] Mr. William
+Anderson, Scarburgh's colleague from Accomac County, must have been even
+more active in opposing the Governor, for when the session of 1688 was
+over he had him "put in the common jail," where he was "detained seven
+months without trial, though often prayed for.... Nor could he obtain
+the benefit of habeas corpus."[78]
+
+"From whence the people conclude these severities are inflicted rather
+as a terror to others than for any personal crimes of their own," it was
+said, "and is of such ruinous consequence that either the public or
+particular interests must fall, for if none oppose, the country must
+languish under the severity of the government, or fly into mutiny to
+save themselves from starving. If any do appear more zealous in
+prosecuting the country's complaints they know what to expect. It being
+observable that none has been thus punished but those who were forward
+in the Assembly to oppose the encroachments on the people, and promote
+the complaint to England, being out of hope of relief on the
+place."[79]
+
+In Virginia, as in England, there was much dissatisfaction at the
+accession of the Roman Catholic James II. Many would have preferred
+Charles' illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth. When news came that he
+had raised the standard of revolt, had landed in Dorset, had gathered an
+army of rustics, and was marching on London, some did not hesitate to
+express their sympathy. Effingham wrote that "so many took liberty of
+speech upon the rebellion ... that I was fearful it would have produced
+the same here."[80] But when he issued a proclamation forbidding "false,
+seditious, and factious discourse and rumors," and made "some examples,"
+quiet was restored. The defeat of the rebels at Sedgemoor, the bloody
+revenge taken by James, and the execution of Monmouth ended all hope for
+the time being.
+
+But Effingham's proclamation could not prevent news of what was
+happening in England from reaching the people. In Ireland James was
+recruiting a Catholic army under a Catholic general. At home he was
+replacing civil and military officers by Catholics. To remove all
+restrictions on Catholics he issued declarations of indulgence, giving
+freedom of worship to dissenters and Catholics. He converted two Oxford
+colleges into Catholic seminaries, and ousted the Fellows of Magdalen to
+make room for Catholic successors.
+
+These events were soon reflected in Virginia. It was noted that when
+important offices in the government became vacant, Effingham filled them
+with Catholics. Both of his appointees to the Council were members of
+the Roman Catholic Church--Colonel Isaac Allerton and Colonel John
+Armistead. That several justices of the peace refused to take the oath
+of allegiance "through scruple of conscience" in 1691, after James had
+been deposed, shows that the Governor tried also to pack the county
+courts with Catholics.
+
+The people watched these developments with resentment, mixed with fear.
+The shudder of horror which had gone through England a few years before,
+when Titus Oates accused the Jesuits of a "hellish plot" to fire London,
+conquer the country with Irish and French armies, and massacre the
+Protestants, was still fresh in men's minds. Perhaps his story is not
+false after all, it was whispered. Perhaps the plan may still be carried
+out. Think of what has just happened in France, where thousands of men
+and women, for refusing to give up their faith were driven into exile or
+thrown into loathsome prisons with criminals, starved, and beaten. Are
+we sure that it will not be our turn next?
+
+The Assembly which met in April, 1688, reflected the ugly mood of the
+people. They were determined to redress the grievances which poured in
+from one county after another. The Governor's appeal for aid for New
+York and for a bill to prohibit the exportation of loose tobacco
+received scant consideration. "Debates of grievances jostled out most
+other matters," reported Nicholas Spencer.[81] When the Council
+requested a conference on the tobacco bill, the House countered with a
+proposal for a conference on the people's wrongs. But their message was
+couched in such bitter terms that the Council thought "no success could
+be expected from a conference agitated with heat and resolvedness."[82]
+
+Nor would the Council join the Burgesses in an address to Effingham for
+redress of "the many grievous oppressions this poor country at present
+groans under." Thereupon the House drew up a petition to the King which
+they entrusted to Philip Ludwell to deliver. Before James could reply,
+he was forced to flee from England, and it was only in February, 1689,
+that the petition came before the Council of State.
+
+Such was the situation when Effingham left Virginia "for recovery of his
+health by change of air." He may have realized also that the air of
+Virginia was becoming unhealthful for him in more sense than one, for
+had he not left it is possible that the people might have risen in arms
+and sent him home. Several years later, when Francis Nicholson asked the
+Council whether "if his Excellency my Lord Effingham had stayed" the
+country would not have been in trouble? they replied in the affirmative.
+"The country were in great dissatisfaction ...and there was great cause
+to doubt that some disturbance would have been."[83]
+
+But it was only in the spring of 1689, some months after his departure,
+that an uprising actually occurred. Then it was touched off by a weird
+story told by a stray Indian to some of the settlers on the northern
+frontier of a plot by Jesuits and Indians to attack Virginia and
+Maryland. No less than 10,000 Senecas and 9,000 Nanticocks were under
+arms, he said, ready to cut off all the Protestants. As the report
+spread from plantation to plantation, the outlying families fled in
+terror, while men gathered volunteers by beat of drum. We must defend
+ourselves in arms, they said, since no reliance can be placed on the
+Council or even on the county magistrates, for most of them are
+Catholics.
+
+The Council thought the story of the Catholic plot "only a gloss to
+their rebellious purposes." In October, 1688, James had sent word to
+Effingham that William of Orange was preparing to invade England, and
+had ordered him to place the colony in a posture of defence.[84] It was
+to seize this opportunity to rise against the government, rather than
+the imaginary Indian plot, that had made them take up arms, the Council
+thought. Preferring not to take sides in a matter which could be settled
+only in England, they arrested some of the ringleaders.[85] But when,
+apparently on the same day, a letter came to hand from the Privy
+Council, announcing that William and Mary had been proclaimed joint
+monarchs of England, order was instantly restored. On April 26, 1688,
+their Majesties were proclaimed before the courthouse door at Jamestown.
+
+There were two things which the colonial Virginians dreaded--despotism
+and the tomahawk. And it is significant that both were factors in the
+two uprisings of the seventeenth century. In Bacon's Rebellion the
+people demanded, not only protection from the savages, but an end to
+Berkeley's misgovernment. If the Council was right in their
+interpretation of the disorders of 1688, they, like the ousting of
+Andros in New England, were a part of the Glorious Revolution. The
+Council afterwards took great credit for suppressing the disorders, but
+one can only surmise whether the people would have remained quiet had
+not James been overthrown. We must not permit the Indian terror to blind
+us to the fact that the rebellions of 1676 and 1688 were both in defense
+of liberty.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] CO389.6, pp. 113, 137.
+
+[2] H. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 423, 424.
+
+[3] CO389.6, p. 116.
+
+[4] CO1-40, p. 23.
+
+[5] CO1-40, p. 23.
+
+[6] CO5-1371, pp. 27, 33.
+
+[7] CO5-1371, pp. 55, 60.
+
+[8] _Ibid._, p. 152.
+
+[9] CO5-1371, p. 152.
+
+[10] CO1-40, p. 43.
+
+[11] _Bath papers_ 3: 155.
+
+[12] CO1-40, pp. 73, 106.
+
+[13] CO1-39, p. 38.
+
+[14] W. W. Hening, _Virginia statutes at large_ 2: 366, 386.
+
+[15] CO1-40, p. 88.
+
+[16] CO5-1371, p. 132.
+
+[17] CO1-40, p. 89.
+
+[18] _Virginia Magazine_ 18: 12.
+
+[19] CO5-1371, pp. 220-231.
+
+[20] CO1-40, Doc. 53.
+
+[21] _Bath papers_ 3: 187-198.
+
+[22] _Ibid._
+
+[23] CO1-42, p. 17.
+
+[24] _Bath papers_ 3: 206.
+
+[25] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 407-432.
+
+[26] CO1-42, Doc. 1.
+
+[27] CO1-41, Doc. 87.
+
+[28] CO1-42, Doc. 11.
+
+[29] Sainsbury, 18: 129.
+
+[30] CO1-42, Doc. 23.
+
+[31] _Ibid._, Doc. 107.
+
+[32] _Virginia Magazine_ 18: 2-5.
+
+[33] _Bath papers_, 3: 168, 169.
+
+[34] _Virginia Magazine_, XVIII, p. 20.
+
+[35] _Bath papers_ 3: 214.
+
+[36] CO1-42, Doc. 117.
+
+[37] _Bath papers_ 3: 295.
+
+[38] CO5-1355, Docs. 304, 305, 309, 370.
+
+[39] CO1-41, Doc. 121.
+
+[40] Sainsbury, 14: 230.
+
+[41] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 441, 443, 456.
+
+[42] G. M. Trevelyan, _England under the Stuarts_, 396.
+
+[43] CO1-42, Doc. 152.
+
+[44] CO1-43, Doc. 165.
+
+[45] _Ibid._, p. 313.
+
+[46] _Ibid._, p. 334.
+
+[47] _Ibid._, p. 349.
+
+[48] CO5-1355, p. 378.
+
+[49] CO5-1376, p. 265.
+
+[50] CO5-1355, p. 384.
+
+[51] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 126.
+
+[52] _Ibid._
+
+[53] CO5-1356, pp. 125, 126.
+
+[54] CO5-1315, Dec. 23, 1707.
+
+[55] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 134.
+
+[56] CO5-1356, p. 142.
+
+[57] _Ibid._, p. 56.
+
+[58] CO1-42, p. 152.
+
+[59] Robert Beverley, _The present state of Virginia_, ed. L. B. Wright,
+89, 90.
+
+[60] CO5-1356, p. 76.
+
+[61] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 228.
+
+[62] CO5-1357, p. 58.
+
+[63] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 316, 317.
+
+[64] CO5-1357, p. 95.
+
+[65] CO5-1356, p. 282.
+
+[66] CO5-1357, p. 113.
+
+[67] _Ibid._, p. 126.
+
+[68] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 305.
+
+[69] _Ibid._, 308.
+
+[70] _Executive journals of the Council_ I: 493.
+
+[71] CO5-1356, p. 271.
+
+[72] D. C. McMurtrie, _A history of printing in the United States_,
+276-279.
+
+[73] CO5-1376, p. 285.
+
+[74] CO5-1356.
+
+[75] _McDonald papers_ 7: 26.
+
+[76] CO5-1357, p. 129.
+
+[77] _McDonald papers_ 7: 437-441.
+
+[78] _Ibid._
+
+[79] _Ibid._
+
+[80] _Executive journals of the Council_ 1: 75.
+
+[81] CO5-1357, p. 214.
+
+[82] _Ibid._, p. 216.
+
+[83] CO5-1306, Doc. 114.
+
+[84] CO5-1357, p. 229.
+
+[85] _Executive journals of the Council_ 1: 105.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION
+
+
+The Glorious Revolution completely changed the relations between the
+English people and the King. No sooner had James fled than a committee
+of the Commons drew up a "Declaration of Rights," to secure the liberty
+of the subjects and the power of Parliament, which was accepted by both
+Houses and by William. Parliament then declared William and Mary joint
+monarchs. Mary could argue that as the child of James II she was the
+rightful heir to the Throne, but William could make no such claim. So
+the old Tory doctrine of divine right was officially repudiated, and the
+monarch henceforth ruled by the consent of the nation. The Revolution
+opened a new epoch of liberty.
+
+The people of Virginia were well aware that they were to share in this
+liberty. In an address to the King and Queen, the Assembly gave them
+heartfelt thanks for "so magnanimously exposing" their persons in
+rescuing them, their religion, laws, and liberties from the twin evils
+of slavery and popery. They begged them, while extending their justice
+and goodness over the English nation, not to forget their faithful
+subjects in Virginia. They, too, were "descended of Englishmen," and had
+the right to enjoy "the just and lawful liberties and privileges of free
+born" Englishmen.[1]
+
+In this they were not disappointed. During the next seventy-five years
+they advanced steadily along the road to liberty. From time to time they
+had to contend with despotically inclined Governors, but these men,
+prior to the reign of George III, in assailing the rights of the people
+acted on their own initiative rather than at the command of the King. By
+the middle of the eighteenth century Virginia had become in internal
+affairs practically a self-governing dominion. People began to say
+openly that final authority rested, not with the King, but with the
+people, and that governments derived their powers from the consent of
+the governed.
+
+This trend was noted early in the eighteenth century. As early as 1706
+Colonel Quary warned the English government of what was coming. A few
+years later Governor Spotswood wrote: "If the ancient and legal rights
+of the Crown must give place to the later customs of an infant colony,
+especially if the practice and usage which ... men would introduce shall
+be of greater force, the prince's power and authority must daily lose
+ground here."[2]
+
+It was a slow, almost imperceptible process. But year after year the
+Burgesses whittled away at the powers of the Governor, until, after the
+passage of decades, the change became apparent to all. Berkeley,
+Culpeper, and Effingham had exercised almost dictatorial powers; Gooch,
+Fauquier, and Botetourt ate out of the hands of the Assembly. Whereas
+the Governors of the seventeenth century commanded and threatened, those
+of the mid-eighteenth century pleaded. On one occasion Governor Fauquier
+wrote the Lords of Trade that he had signed a bill, not because he
+approved of it, but because had he vetoed it he "must have despaired of
+ever gaining any influence either in the Council or House of Burgesses."
+
+The shouting and firing of guns in celebration of the accession of
+William and Mary had hardly ended when the Virginians turned their
+thoughts to the long desired new charter. The Bill of Rights gave them
+as well as Englishmen residing in England guarantees of liberty, but
+they had distinctive interests which they thought ought to be protected.
+Appointing Jeffrey Jeffreys to manage the affair, the Council and
+Burgesses sent him £200 for expenses and suggested that he call to his
+support any Virginians who chanced to be in London. That the art of
+lobbying was as well understood in the seventeenth century as it is
+today is shown by their instruction "to procure the assistance ... of
+the nobility and such as have offices at Whitehall and other men of note
+... to be mediators with their Majesties."[3]
+
+The proposed charter was to confirm the authority of the Assembly. At
+first sight this would seem to be unnecessary since the Assembly had
+been in existence since 1619, and had been recognized by James I,
+Charles I, Charles II, and James II. But the attempts to undermine its
+authority during the Second Stuart Despotism had convinced the people
+that its very existence might be threatened by some future King.
+
+They asked, also, that in the charter it be promised "that no tax be
+made upon this country but by the consent of the Assembly." The people
+had been deeply disappointed that a like promise had been left out of
+the charter of 1676. They took for granted that Parliament would not
+violate their rights as Englishmen by taxing them, but it would have
+comforted them to have it down in black and white. How necessary such a
+guarantee was became apparent eighty-five years later with the passage
+of the Stamp Act.
+
+The charter was to promise, also, that the King and Queen would continue
+to the Virginians and their descendants their rights as natural born
+subjects of England, and that as "near as may be" they should be
+governed after the same method as Englishmen, and "have the full benefit
+of the Great Charter and all other laws and statutes indulging the
+liberty of the subjects." Jeffreys was to ask that "the ancient method"
+of making appeals from the General Court to the Assembly be restored,
+since appeals to the Privy Council were in most cases impractical
+because of the expense involved and the difficulty of bringing
+"evidences, papers, and other records" to England.[4]
+
+We do not know why the application for the charter was dropped. It may
+have been because Jeffreys found that it would not meet with success, or
+the Assembly may have been persuaded that a charter was unnecessary
+under the liberal administration of the new monarchs.
+
+Francis Nicholson, who had been selected to serve as Lieutenant Governor
+during Effingham's absence, arrived in Virginia in May, 1690. The choice
+was unfortunate. This man was a strange mixture of contrasting
+characteristics. A devoted Church of England man and a friend of the
+clergy, he was at times shockingly profane. One of the patrons of the
+College of William and Mary, and the founder of the city of
+Williamsburg, he was unscrupulous in trampling on the rights of all who
+opposed him. Seeking the admiration of those with whom he was
+associated, he alienated his best friends by his fits of uncontrollable
+temper. Capable of acts of great generosity, he was accused of being
+parsimonious in his private life.
+
+Nicholson's treatment of the Reverend Mr. Slaughter was typical. He and
+a certain Captain James Moodie had gone to York to a funeral. "The
+ceremony and sermon being over," Moodie relates, "he went out of church,
+where he saw and heard the Governor in the most outrageous passion that
+he ever saw, swearing the most horrid oaths and most bitter imprecations
+against Mr. Slaughter, the minister of that parish, calling the said
+Slaughter rogue, rascal, knave, and all the base billingsgate language
+that could be in the basest of men's mouths, shaking his horsewhip and
+threatening to beat the said minister therewith, and to pull his gown
+over his ears."[5] Apparently Mr. Slaughter had brought on this torrent
+of abuse by asking for a fee for the funeral sermon.
+
+Nicholson's conduct as Deputy Governor of New York under Sir Edmund
+Andros at the time of the Glorious Revolution was not such as to inspire
+confidence that he would do well in Virginia. With no official orders to
+proclaim William and Mary, and with the people ready to rush to arms,
+what was needed was tact and conciliatory measures. Instead, Nicholson
+flew into a rage and talked about suppressing the "uproar and
+rebellion." It was rumored that he planned to burn the city, and that
+the people were to be betrayed and murdered. When some armed men, under
+the German merchant Jacob Leisler, seized the fort, Nicholson deserted
+his post and took ship for England.[6]
+
+The first meeting of the Council after Nicholson arrived at Jamestown
+was held on January 3, 1690. After he had shown his commission, he and
+the Councillors went to the courthouse where it was read to the people
+assembled there. If the Virginians had been prejudiced against the new
+Lieutenant Governor by reports of his conduct in New York, they could
+not have been reassured by his personal appearance. It was said that
+when he made a bow to the ladies, he looked like a goose picking up
+straws.
+
+Nicholson began his administration with a due regard to the influence of
+the Council. He had noticed that some of them held large tracts of land
+for which they paid no quit rents, and he pointed out, in a letter to
+the Earl of Nottingham, that it would strengthen the hands of the
+Governor if they were forced to pay up. "But the great men being
+concerned, I dare not venture to put any new method in execution
+without an instruction."[7]
+
+He was equally cautious at first to defer to the Council in making
+appointments. When the sheriff of Middlesex died, he asked those
+Councillors who lived in that part of the country to nominate his
+successor. When they suggested Mr. Robert Dudley, Nicholson at once gave
+him a commission. At the same meeting he pointed out that the regular
+time for naming sheriffs and coroners was at hand, and asked that the
+Councillors be prepared to make nominations at their next meeting.[8]
+
+But it was not long before he began to use the patronage to build up his
+own power under the guise of defending the royal prerogative. When the
+oath of supremacy was tendered the members of the Council, Richard Lee,
+Isaac Allerton, and John Armistead refused to take it because they were
+Roman Catholics. Nicholson filled one vacancy by naming Attorney General
+Edmund Jenings. He then sent a list of four other prominent men to the
+King and Queen, with the suggestion that they select the other two from
+it. Three of the four deserved well, he pointed out, because in the
+House of Burgesses they had been "for their Majesties' interest."
+Colonel Thomas Milner, the Speaker, behaved very well too, "but he hath
+not estate enough to be a Councillor. But he should have promise of some
+place of profit."[9]
+
+We have no evidence that Nicholson tried to build up a party in the
+House of Burgesses by distributing sheriff's places to the members. But
+he did try to ingratiate himself by hobnobbing with them and "admitting"
+them daily to his table. This he did, he said, in order to keep a good
+agreement with them for their Majesties' service and advance the public
+affairs of the country, and not to propose or gain anything to be done
+in the Assembly. But the fact that he used the same technique to gain
+power during his second administration, makes his protestations seem
+rather hollow.
+
+Nicholson claimed great success for his administration. He had
+befriended the clergy and bettered their condition, he pointed out, he
+had "looked after their Majesties' revenue," and left it in excellent
+condition, he had reorganized the militia. But he admitted, in fact
+boasted, that he had defended the royal prerogative on all occasions. He
+might have added that he had given Commissary Blair his wholehearted
+support in his efforts to found a college.
+
+When Nicholson heard that Effingham had retired as Governor General of
+Virginia, and that he had been succeeded by Sir Edmund Andros, he was
+bitterly disappointed. As Lieutenant Governor under Effingham, he
+thought that when the government became vacant it was his due. He was
+especially disgruntled that Andros had been selected since he had
+against him a long standing pique. Yet he made the best of the
+situation, greeted Andros upon his arrival, and, at the head of the
+James City County militia, escorted him to Jamestown "through the
+several counties which were in his way."[10]
+
+It must have been with apprehension that the Virginians received Sir
+Edmund, for reports of his despotism in New England had preceded him.
+They had heard that there he ruled like an Eastern despot, promulgating
+laws, levying taxes without the consent of the Assemblies, placing men
+under arrest and denying them the right of _habeas corpus_. And they
+knew that the Bostonians had at last captured him, put him aboard a
+vessel, and shipped him back to England. The Virginians were ready to
+offer stiff resistance should he try to rule them with a harsh hand.
+
+So they were surprised to find Andros a mild mannered man, who not only
+made no attack on their liberty, but tried to live in peace with both
+Council and Burgesses. He seems not to have used the patronage to build
+up his power, nor to have broken the grip of the House on the purse by
+demanding large fees; he would have allowed the Burgesses to appoint
+their own clerk had his instructions permitted it, and he carefully kept
+off the explosive subject of the arrears of quit rents. Edward Randolph
+summed it up by saying that he had "mightily gained upon the Council and
+chief men in the country by his even temper."[11]
+
+Nothing can illustrate better the progress made in self-government in
+Virginia since the overthrow of James II than the Burgesses' cavalier
+treatment of two bills recommended by the King and Queen. The first, a
+bill to prohibit the exportation of loose tobacco, was greatly desired
+by the English merchants. The other, a bill to establish ports in the
+Virginia rivers, had been passed in 1688 by the Assembly, and was now
+returned for certain revisions before becoming law. The Burgesses
+promptly voted down both measures. "The appointment of ports and
+enjoining the landing and shipping of all goods ... from the same will
+... be very injurious and burdensome," they said. There was a long
+debate on the question of prohibiting the exportation of loose tobacco,
+but this bill too failed to pass. Andros was deeply concerned at this
+disregard of the royal wishes, but when the Council advised him that
+nothing more could be done with the Burgesses, he dissolved them.[12]
+
+The British government also decided that it was best not to press the
+matter. In 1695 Andros spoke of the King's "goodness" in dispensing with
+his prerogative "to establish ports without the consent of the Assembly,
+and leaving it to our choice, and also in waiving the prohibition of
+bulk tobacco so earnestly desired in England because it was found not
+pleasing here." But the victory of the Burgesses riled Edward Randolph.
+"They are full of conceit, and fancy themselves as great as the House of
+Commons in England," he said in disgust.[13]
+
+It is probable that the King was so lenient with the Assembly because he
+wanted them to vote men and money to assist New York in her struggle
+with the French and Indians. Andros did his best, pointing out that New
+York was a bulwark for Virginia, and that if she fell the war cry would
+soon be heard on the Virginia frontier. The Burgesses were not
+convinced. The situation in New York was not so desperate as had been
+represented; they denied that New York was the "bulwark and defense of
+Virginia"; they were at heavy expense to guard their own frontier. It
+was characteristic of Andros that he asked the Council to reply for him.
+The Councillors at heart were no doubt as reluctant as the Burgesses to
+send aid to New York, but they were in the position of royal advocates
+and put up the best argument they could. Yet the session ended without
+anything being done.[14]
+
+When the Assembly met in 1695, Andros had better success. He had been
+instructed by the King to send a quota of men from the Virginia militia
+whenever the Governor of New York asked for them, he said. This alarmed
+the Burgesses. They thought it would not only weaken the defense of
+Virginia by taking away so many men, but would so frighten the young
+freemen that many would desert their wives and children and leave the
+colony. In the end they compromised by voting £500 in lieu of men.[15]
+This Andros was forced to accept, though by so doing he brought on
+himself a reprimand from the Committee of Trade.[16]
+
+It is strange that Andros, who was so moderate in his dealings with the
+House of Burgesses, and declared that he never thought himself better
+than when he had them about him to consult for the good of the country,
+should have bearded them on one of their most sensitive points--the
+appointment of a Treasurer. In 1691 the Assembly passed two laws, one
+for levying a poll tax, and one laying a duty on liquors, both of which
+were to be "paid by the collectors thereof to the Treasurer." Included
+in the act was the naming of Colonel Edward Hill as Treasurer.[17]
+
+A year later, when Nicholson gave him a lucrative job as collector, Hill
+had to vacate this office, since it was unlawful for the same man to
+hold both. To act as Treasurer until the Assembly convened, the Governor
+named one of the Council, Henry Whiting. When the Burgesses met they
+questioned Whiting's authority, but he satisfied them by showing them
+his commission. They then passed a bill to name a permanent Treasurer,
+but the Council, probably at Andros' urging, refused to concur. "The
+Governor would never consent to the Assembly's appointing their own
+Treasurer but would rather lose a tax than suffer them to do so," James
+Blair testified. But, he added: "This makes them suspicious and more
+unwilling to raise money."[18]
+
+Whiting held the office until his death, which occurred probably in
+September, 1694. Then, for several years, there seems to have been no
+Treasurer. But the Burgesses were merely biding their time. Their
+opportunity came in 1699. The old statehouse at Jamestown had burned
+down, and there was urgent need for an appropriation to build a new one.
+They passed a bill placing a duty on the importation of servants and
+slaves, and laying a levy by poll, the revenue from both to be paid
+into the hands of the Treasurer for financing a new Capitol. Since there
+was no Treasurer they included in the act the appointment of Colonel
+Robert Carter to that office. The Governor and Council, realizing that
+they could not have the Capitol without the Treasurer, yielded.[19]
+
+The undoing of Andros was his quarrel with the Reverend James Blair,
+Commissary for the Bishop of London in Virginia. When this rugged
+Scotsman came to the colony he found conditions in the Church far from
+satisfactory. Since there was no college in the colony the parishes were
+entirely dependent upon England for their ministers. The dispersal of
+the people was such that if a parish were large enough to provide the
+rector with an adequate living, it was too large for him to minister to
+properly. Some parishes extended forty miles or more along the banks of
+the great Virginia rivers, the minister was usually too poor to have a
+library or to marry. Since English clergymen were reluctant to come over
+under such conditions, there were many vacant parishes. Often the
+vestries in desperation were forced to accept any that offered
+themselves, however unsuitable. There were many able and pious ministers
+in Virginia, but some were of inferior ability, and a few were a
+disgrace to their calling. And it was inevitable that amid the woods and
+tobacco fields of a new country they should neglect many features of the
+liturgy--the use of vestments, the observance of the saints' days,
+burial in consecrated ground, etc.
+
+With the enthusiastic support of the Bishop of London and of Governor
+Nicholson, Blair had worked out a plan of reform. He would found a
+college to educate young Virginians for the ministry; he would secure an
+act of Assembly increasing the ministers' salary; he would enforce
+ecclesiastical discipline; he would give the clergy a voice in the
+government by procuring a seat in the Council for the Commissary. Going
+to England, he gained the backing of the Archbishop of Canterbury and
+other prelates, and through them of King William and Queen Mary.[20]
+
+Their Majesties granted a charter for the college, permitted it to be
+named William and Mary, gave £1,985.14.10 out of the quit rent fund,
+10,000 acres of land, the revenue of one pence a pound on tobacco
+exported from Virginia to any other colony, and a salary for the
+Commissary from the quit rents. So Blair returned in triumph and took
+his seat beside the great men of the Council. But it was a triumph which
+won him the enmity of Andros. The Governor, no doubt, was jealous of his
+influence in high circles in England, and he viewed with alarm the
+diversion from the use of the government to the college and the clergy
+of urgently needed funds. With the opening of the year 1694 the
+government was facing a deficit with no way of meeting it except by the
+hated levy by poll, or by drawing on the quit rents.
+
+Soon Blair was complaining that Andros was trying to obstruct his
+reforms for the clergy. There must have been stormy scenes in the
+Council meetings, with Blair hurling accusations at the Governor, and
+the latter denying them. The President of the College "could not be
+obliged by all endeavors to contain himself within bounds," wrote Andros
+to Secretary Shrewsbury. "His restless comport I ever passed by till the
+whole Council ... faulting him as unfit to be in the Council, I thought
+it my duty ... to suspend him."[21]
+
+But Andros did not reckon on Blair's influence in England. Undoubtedly
+the Commissary wrote the Bishop of London of his suspension, and the
+Bishop complained to the Lords of Trade. In due time Andros received a
+rebuke from the King. He had appointed Blair to the Council "the better
+to enable him to promote and carry on" the "good and useful" work of
+founding a college. Now he found that his gracious intentions had been
+discouraged by his suspension. "Our will and pleasure is that forthwith
+upon the receipt hereof you take off the said suspension."[22] It was a
+bitter humiliation for Andros when, in August, 1696, Blair produced the
+King's letter and resumed his seat.[23] So bitter, in fact, that he
+dared a second time to oust the hated Commissary. At a meeting of the
+Council in April, 1697, Blair asked whether a recent act of Parliament
+did not debar him from sitting in the General Court since he was a
+native of Scotland. Whereupon the Council, with a promptness he probably
+did not expect, voted that not only did it do so, but that it made him
+ineligible for the Council as well.[24]
+
+Blair's answer was to take ship for England, there to lay his complaints
+before the English prelates and through them before the Board of Trade.
+To the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Salisbury, and the Bishop
+of London he undoubtedly poured out his complaints of Andros--that he
+was an enemy of the college, that he did not support the efforts to
+secure better livings for the clergy, that he had disobeyed the King's
+express orders to keep him in the Council. This ecclesiastical lobby was
+too much for Sir Edmund. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, he wrote
+that he wished to come home because of ill health. On May 31, 1698, his
+resignation was accepted and Francis Nicholson named to succeed him as
+Governor General.[25]
+
+When Andros bade Jamestown goodbye and set sail for England, a full
+decade had passed since the Glorious Revolution, time sufficient for one
+to judge its effect upon self-government in Virginia. Some of the losses
+of the Second Stuart Despotism had not been regained. The act of 1680
+giving the Crown a perpetual revenue had not been repealed; the judicial
+powers of the Assembly had not been restored; the efforts to secure a
+charter for the colony had been abandoned; the Burgesses had not
+regained the right to name their clerk.
+
+Yet the gains far outweighed these failures. Of first importance was it
+that the Assembly itself had been preserved with most of its rights and
+privileges. It still could initiate legislation, it alone could initiate
+money bills, it could determine the uses of all appropriated funds, it
+could appoint the Treasurer. The petitions of the Assembly to the Throne
+were no longer cast aside with scorn as in the days of Charles II and
+James II, but were given careful consideration. The battle for liberty
+had not yet been won, many bitter struggles lay ahead, but the gains
+made under the mild rule of King William and Queen Mary were vital to
+the eventual victory.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1660-1693: 370.
+
+[2] CO5-1318.
+
+[3] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1660-1693: 352.
+
+[4] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1660-1693: 352.
+
+[5] CO5-1314, Doc. 9.
+
+[6] _Documentary history of New York_ 2: 25, 31, 42, 181-183.
+
+[7] CO5-1306, Doc. 64.
+
+[8] _Executive journals of the Council_ I: 158.
+
+[9] CO5-1306, Doc. 41.
+
+[10] _Sainsbury papers_ 5: 100.
+
+[11] A. T. S. Goodrick, _Edward Randolph_ 7: 430.
+
+[12] _Sainsbury papers_ 5: 165.
+
+[13] A. T. S. Goodrick, _Edward Randolph_ 7: 448.
+
+[14] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 292, 482-493.
+
+[15] _Ibid._, 1695-1702: 9-42.
+
+[16] CO5-1359, p. 79.
+
+[17] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 360.
+
+[18] CO5-1359, pp. 101, 102.
+
+[19] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 3: 197, 198.
+
+[20] T. J. Wertenbaker, _The first Americans_, 133.
+
+[21] _Sainsbury papers_ 5: 225, 226.
+
+[22] _Ibid._, 236.
+
+[23] _Executive journals of the Council_ I: 350, 352.
+
+[24] _Ibid._, 364.
+
+[25] CO5-1359, p. 208.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE VIRGINIA HITLER
+
+
+It was James Blair who was chiefly responsible for the appointment of
+Francis Nicholson as Governor General of Virginia. Nicholson's hearty
+support for his plans to found a college and better the condition of the
+clergy when he was Lieutenant Governor, made the Commissary eager to
+have him back. So when Andros resigned, he used his influence with the
+Bishop of London, who was one of the Commissioners of Trade, to have him
+made his successor.
+
+It seems strange that one identified with the interests of Virginia
+should have foisted on the colony one of the worst Governors in its
+history. But at the time Blair seems to have permitted the man's good
+qualities--his undoubted ability, his energy, and his devotion to the
+Church--to blind him to his many faults. Blair himself admitted this
+later after he came into violent conflict with Nicholson, and wrote to
+the Bishop of London in a repentant mood.
+
+The new Governor General arrived in Virginia in the winter of 1698. He
+found that the personnel of the Council had been greatly changed during
+his absence. But there were several familiar faces in the group which
+met in the great hall of the residence of the late William Sherwood.
+Nicholson then announced the King's appointments to the Council and
+administered the oath required by Parliament to those who were present.
+One wonders whether Matthew Page and Benjamin Harrison, in their elation
+at being elevated to the "Virginia House of Lords," suspected that it
+would involve them in bitter controversy with the Governor, or that
+they, together with four of their fellow Councillors, would be
+responsible for his removal from office.
+
+There was nothing basically despotic in the program Nicholson outlined
+for himself. He sought to set the finances of the colony in order by
+eliminating frauds and demanding a strict payment of quit rents so as to
+increase the royal revenue. He was determined to uphold the King's
+prerogative against all assaults by the Council or the Burgesses. He
+wished to put the colony in a state of readiness to repel any attack by
+hostile Indians, and to aid other colonies who should become involved in
+Indian wars. He tried to gain permanent tenure for the clergy so as to
+give them a degree of independence of the vestries. He planned a new
+city which was to be the seat of government, with broad streets and
+charming Capitol and Governor's mansion.
+
+Since certain features of this program ran counter to the interests of
+the Council, and others to those of the people, to carry them through
+would have required resolution, tact, moderation, and ability to handle
+men. Resolution Nicholson had in abundance, but in other respects he was
+entirely unsuited for the task he set himself. To vilify men, to call
+them rascals, to threaten to lash them with his whip was not the way to
+handle the liberty-loving Virginians. His attempts to bribe the
+Councillors and the Burgesses with fat jobs and to pack the courts with
+favorites, might have been more successful had they not been accompanied
+with such violent bursts of temper and such threats of ruin against any
+who opposed him.
+
+It so happened that the Committee of Trade, finding that the amount of
+tobacco received in England was far greater than that on which the
+export duty was paid in Virginia, became convinced that there were great
+frauds in collections. The fault lay with the naval officers and
+collectors, they thought. They instructed Nicholson not to appoint the
+same person to both offices, and not to permit members of the Council to
+hold either. When the Governor, not wishing to offend, at first failed
+to comply, they gave him a severe rebuke. In June, 1699, he was forced
+to turn several Councillors out of their lucrative jobs.
+
+This drew from them a violent protest. They denied that they had any
+knowledge of frauds in the collections. To forbid Councillors to hold
+these positions was to reverse the custom of many years. The income was
+their only compensation for their expense in journeying perhaps seventy
+miles, perhaps one hundred miles, in some cases crossing great rivers,
+to attend meetings of the Council and the General Court. And though they
+could not directly blame Nicholson, they probably suspected that it was
+at his suggestion that the instruction had been made. So it was a soured
+and discontented group of men who dispersed to return to their homes
+after the Council meeting ended.
+
+ [Illustration: The Old Capitol at Williamsburg, showing the north
+ elevation which is a duplicate of the historic Virginia Capitol
+ originally completed in 1705. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg,
+ Inc.]
+
+ [Illustration: The House of Burgesses in the Old Capitol at
+ Williamsburg. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.]
+
+Nicholson's efforts to secure more accurate returns of the quit rents
+did not put them in better humor. It was well known that it was a common
+practice for men to "conceal" part of their holdings when the sheriff
+came round to collect the rent, and, if the sheriff happened to be a
+friend or a relative, he would not look into the matter too closely. As
+for the great tracts held by the wealthy, the sheriffs dared not demand
+the rent. To do so would certainly be bitterly resented and might cost
+them their jobs. Nicholson was convinced that a strict accounting would
+greatly increase the returns.
+
+When he was Lieutenant Governor he had tried to force the large
+landholders to pay their rents by taking the matter into the courts.
+Making a test case of Colonel Lawrence Smith, who had several large
+properties, he ordered the Attorney General to prosecute him. The case
+was ready for trial when Nicholson was removed and it was afterwards
+compounded for a small sum.[1]
+
+At the time Nicholson had had some thoughts of drawing up "an exact,
+true, and perfect rent roll." But the Council, who had no desire to have
+their own "concealed" acres exposed, pointed out that it would be a
+difficult and costly undertaking. So for the time being the matter was
+dropped. But when Nicholson began his second administration he resumed
+his efforts. He instructed William Byrd, the Auditor, to order the
+sheriffs to make accurate rolls of holdings in their counties. But as
+late as October, 1703, Byrd reported that though he had urged this on
+the sheriffs he realized that there was "still very great abuse
+therein."[2] Yet the next year the Governor had in his hands a rent
+roll, which, however imperfect, must have been of great value in the
+collection of the rents. Undoubtedly much of the unoccupied lands were
+not put down on the rolls, yet some of the members of the Council were
+hard hit. Byrd now had to pay on 20,700 acres, Custis on 12,600,
+Harrison on 9,100, and the others on holdings ranging from 2,000 to
+7,000 acres. Other members of the aristocracy, many of them related to
+one or more Councillors, were put down for thousands of acres. Lewis
+Burwell had 7,000 acres in the Isle of Wight County, 4,800 acres in King
+William, 3,300 acres in Gloucester, 2,100 acres in York, and 1,300 in
+James City County.[3]
+
+Having alienated the Councillors and other influential men by striking
+at their pocketbooks, Nicholson proceeded to cross swords with another
+influential group--the vestrymen. The Virginia clergymen had long
+complained of the insecurity of their tenure, for the vestries who
+appointed them claimed the right also of dismissing them when they
+proved unsatisfactory. "They are to their vestries in the nature of
+hired servants, agreed with from year to year, and dismissed ... without
+any crime proved or so much as alleged against them," Commissary Blair
+complained.
+
+Claiming that whenever a vestry failed to present their minister to him
+for induction, he had the right to fix him on them for life by
+collation, Nicholson appealed to Sir Edward Northey, Attorney General of
+England. Northey's opinion supported him fully, and in triumph the
+Governor sent copies to all the vestries. But he met with one rebuff
+after another. We "do not think it proper, neither are we willing to
+make presentation for induction," replied one vestry. Another declared
+that the word induction sounded very harsh in their ears, and as for
+collation they hoped the Governor would not try it. And Nicholson,
+realizing that, if he should, the vestry would refuse to pay his
+appointee his salary and so starve him out, was forced to let the matter
+drop.
+
+Despite his efforts for the clergy, the Governor managed to change the
+friendship of the man who was so largely responsible for his appointment
+into bitter hatred. Blair turned against him because he took over many
+functions rightly belonging to the Commissary and tried to make himself
+head of the Church. "He has invaded almost all ... parts of the
+ecclesiastical jurisdiction," Blair complained, "such as convoking the
+clergy, ... appearing himself in their meetings and proposing the
+subject matter of their consultations, ... requiring of some ministers
+canonical obedience to himself as their bishop, taking upon himself to
+turn out ministers."[4]
+
+This was followed by an attempt to take out of the hands of the
+Councillors the control of the military forces of the colony. In the
+summer of 1701, when England was on the verge of war with France, word
+reached Virginia that a French fleet was preparing to sail for the West
+Indies. Claiming that there was danger that they might attack Virginia,
+"being an open and defenseless country," Nicholson organized a new force
+to resist them. He ordered the captains of militia to pick out every
+fifth man in their companies, "being persons young, brisk, fit, and able
+to go out to war," and organize them into bands of thirty, mounted and
+fully equipped.[5]
+
+Thus the militia, who were largely under the command of members of the
+Council, were to be superseded by a new force under Nicholson himself.
+The people became alarmed when it was rumored that he was trying to
+persuade the English government to keep a standing army in America with
+himself as Captain General. If he succeeds, men told each other, we may
+as well bid goodbye to liberty, for then he will carry out his threats
+of taking and arming all our servants, of bringing the Burgesses with
+ropes about the necks, and daring the Assembly to "deny him
+anything."[6]
+
+When the war with France began and the attack fell, not on Virginia, but
+on New York, King William asked the Assembly to give financial aid. But
+the Burgesses refused, pointing out that they needed all their resources
+to protect their own exposed frontier. It is possible that it was
+because this answer interfered with his own ambition that it was so
+displeasing to Nicholson. His Majesty should signify his resentment and
+order the Burgesses on their allegiance to comply, he thought, "and I
+hope in God that they will then" do so.[7] Losing his temper, as he
+always did when opposed, he threatened to draft men, even members of the
+House, on his own authority and send them to fight in New York. Much
+more to his credit was his action in advancing £900 to New York out of
+his own pocket.
+
+It is probable that Nicholson, when he had cooled off, had no real
+intention of carrying out his threats against the Burgesses, but he did
+try to control them by a brazen use of the patronage. Of twenty-two
+sheriffs whom he appointed in June, 1699, no less than sixteen were
+Burgesses. Ignoring the advice of the Council, he put men in or turned
+them out as they voted as he directed. During one session of the
+Assembly, when seven of the Burgesses were county clerks, he had seven
+blank commissions made out and placed in the Secretary's office where
+all could see them. Then he spread the report that any or all of the
+clerks who proved to be "bad boys" were to be dismissed and the
+commissions given to those who behaved better.[8]
+
+"Are not all the places of profit in the hands of the Governor?" it was
+asked.[9] The sheriff of King and Queen County was arbitrarily removed
+when he was busy collecting the poll tax. If it happened that one of
+Nicholson's favorites was legally ineligible for an office he would give
+him a blank commission and tell him to fill it in with the name of a
+relative or friend, or even to sell it. Colonel John West was stated to
+have sold a sheriff's commission for 8,000 pounds of tobacco.[10]
+
+The members of the House who were deaf to his threats and promises, the
+Governor tried to wheedle. "We have a way of treating three days in a
+week all the Assembly time," said Harrison, "where some of the House
+constantly attend to get their bellies full of victuals and too many
+times their heads full of strong drink."[11]
+
+Fearing that even such measures would not avail if a hostile House were
+returned, the Governor interfered actively in the elections. "We have
+had an election of Burgesses ... in which there hath been ... promises,
+threats, spreading scandalous reports ... browbeating ... and what not,"
+Philip Ludwell, Junior, wrote his father. Nicholson had been in Charles
+City County to oppose the election of Benjamin Harrison, promising
+sheriff's and clerk's places to some and threatening others. "Having rid
+all through Charles City, from house to house, he went to Surry." Here
+he commanded the sheriff to draw up a list of those who spoke ill of
+Major Allen, the candidate he favored. When Major Thomas Swan was
+elected, he forbade the sheriff "at his peril" to return him. And he
+told the sheriff of James City County that he could not serve two
+masters, and if Benjamin Harrison were chosen, he need never expect any
+more favors from him.[12]
+
+In his dealing with the House of Burgesses, the Governor sacrificed any
+influence he had built up, by his disregard of their privileges and his
+violent abuse of individual members and of the body as a whole. His
+agent in London, John Thrale, saw no reason why the Burgesses should be
+angered at him for proposing a tax bill. If Mr. Thrale knew how they
+disliked those levy bills which arose outside the House, he would change
+his mind, Philip Ludwell pointed out.[13] In one of his fits of temper
+Nicholson threatened to cut the Speaker's throat.[14]
+
+In the General Court Nicholson made free use of threats and promises to
+secure verdicts to his liking. Robert Beverley said it was his constant
+practice to browbeat and vilify both lawyers and their clients. Two
+cases, especially, he managed with such violence "that there was not one
+person in court, favorite or foe, but thought it very hard and unjust
+dealing." One case had to be postponed several times because as soon as
+it came up he flew into such a rage that the court had to adjourn.[15]
+
+Nicholson threw one suit out of court without even consulting the other
+Judges. In another he pleaded "from the bench more like a party than a
+judge and flew into great heats and passions." In the case of Swan
+_versus_ Wilson, he grossly abused Swan's attorney. When the verdict
+went for Swan, Wilson's attorney said there had been an error in form.
+To this Harrison replied that the form had been in keeping with Virginia
+practice. Instantly Nicholson turned on him, thundering out: "Sir, you
+are the Queen's counsel and pretend to set up a precedent in Virginia
+contrary to the practice in England. You shall not impose upon me with
+your tricks and equivocations."[16] On another occasion he became so
+enraged against Mr. Bartholomew Fowler, one of the attorneys, "a very
+sickly, weak man," that he seized him by the collar and shook him,
+swearing that his commands must be obeyed without hesitation or
+reserve.[17]
+
+If we may believe Robert Beverley, the Governor made a habit of packing
+the grand jury, in order to get flattering addresses from them. He would
+pick out men whom he knew he could influence, send for them to come to
+Williamsburg, and order the sheriff to put them on the jury in place of
+others of whom he was doubtful. Beverley was talking with a man whom the
+sheriff had summoned and then had discharged, when the sheriff happened
+to pass. So the man stopped him to ask why he had done it. He replied
+that the Governor had ordered him to do it. When the jury he had
+selected for the purpose gave him the address he wanted, he showered
+them with favors. To the foreman he gave a naval officer's place, others
+he "favored by barefaced methods" in cases at law in which they were
+concerned, still others had sheriff's places.[18]
+
+Nicholson's greatest blunder was to antagonize the Council. Its members,
+representing the Virginia aristocracy, and having influential friends at
+Court, were not the men to sit quietly and see their hard-earned
+privileges taken from them. Is the Council so mean spirited as to let a
+Governor do all the ill things he pleases in their names, and all the
+while using them like slaves, not suffering them to have any opinion of
+their own? Philip Ludwell asked. "Arbitrary power is grown to a high
+pitch among us. Hectoring is the only court language. Our laws and
+liberties openly trampled upon."[19]
+
+Nicholson should have known that he was in for a fight to the finish
+when he bearded the Councillors. Prominent among them was the pugnacious
+Commissary James Blair. Robert Carter, of Corotoman, had been a Burgess
+at twenty-eight, and had twice been Speaker. A man of great energy,
+shrewd, and dominating he was dubbed "King Carter." Benjamin Harrison
+had represented Surry in the House of Burgesses, was a Visitor of the
+College of William and Mary, was commander of the Surry militia. Philip
+Ludwell, Jr., Page, Custis, Bassett, Duke, and the others were all men
+of wealth and influence.
+
+The first open breach between these men and Nicholson came when he began
+to make appointments to office without consulting them. They were
+outraged when he removed their friends from lucrative jobs to make room
+for his own favorites. They protested the issuing of warrants on the
+revenue and the giving of patents to land without their consent. It was
+almost an insult for him to prorogue the Assembly on his own authority
+and without their knowledge.
+
+Later Nicholson put the blame on the Councillors themselves for his
+failure to get along with them. They hated him, he said, because he
+would not be guided and governed by them, and turn secretaries,
+auditors, collectors, naval officers, and others out of their places and
+put them and their friends in, and would not let them do what they
+pleased.[20]
+
+The Council meetings became stormy, with the Councillors protesting to
+the Governor and the Governor flying into a rage. When the sessions
+were held in the Wren Building at the college prior to the completing of
+the new Capitol, passersby could hear Nicholson storming "as loud as he
+could extend his voice." If any member dared to oppose him in any
+measure he was sure to bring down on himself a volley of insults.
+
+The Councillors were liable to abuse even when the Council was not in
+session. One day when John Lightfoot was in Williamsburg, he called on
+the Governor. He had not been in his presence fifteen minutes before
+Nicholson began to storm at him, calling him a rogue, a rascal, and a
+villain. "You have sided with that damned Scotch parson, Blair, and by
+God, sir, you have shipped yourself in a leaky vessel.... You shall be
+turned out of the Council." Then he flew out against the rest of the
+Council, saying there was not one of them who was not a rogue and a
+coward, who did not dare look a man in the face.[21]
+
+The testimony regarding Nicholson's violent temper is so overwhelming as
+to indicate that the man was unbalanced. On one occasion while talking
+with Captain James Moodie in an "upper apartment" of the college, he
+flew into a violent passion against the Commissioners of the Navy,
+"calling them all the basest names the tongue of man could express."
+These imprecations were thundered out "with such a noise that the people
+down in the lower rooms came running up stairs ... believing that the
+college had been on fire." Several sea captains, who were lodging in a
+room some distance away, "came running out of their beds in their
+shirts," one of them "without his wooden leg, holding himself by the
+wall."[22]
+
+If Nicholson had contented himself with hurling imprecations at those
+who offended him, his victims might have been able to endure it. "I must
+confess I have no reason to be satisfied with the insolent, tyrannical
+behavior of our Governor, but as long as he is vested with the Queen's
+authority, I will quietly endure his barbarous usage," wrote Philip
+Ludwell.[23] But when Nicholson carried his malice so far as to
+prosecute those to whom he took a disliking, deprive them of their jobs,
+and imprison them, their safety lay in fleeing the colony.
+
+Clergymen seem to have been especially unfortunate in incurring
+Nicholson's resentment. At a convocation of the clergy in Elizabeth City
+church, on October 28, 1702, Commissary Blair asked the Reverend James
+Wallace, the minister, to deliver a sermon. The Governor, who claimed
+to be the head of the Virginia Church and had summoned the meeting in
+order to secure a flattering address, was present. It may have been this
+which influenced Mr. Wallace to choose as his text: "Herein do I
+exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God
+and toward men," and to use it to illustrate the duty of both government
+officials and clergymen.
+
+Shortly after the services were over Nicholson sent for Mr. Wallace.
+"How durst you preach such a sermon?" he demanded. "How dare you take
+such a text? How dare you presume to tell me my duty? I will not be told
+my duty." From that day the Governor pursued him with the greatest
+malice. He summoned him before the Council, and threatened him with
+ruin, calling him villain, hypocrite, Jesuit. He went all the way to
+Elizabeth City to lay charges against him before his vestry. When Mr.
+Wallace could endure this persecution no longer and prepared to sail for
+England, he tried to stop him.[24]
+
+If anything else were needed to make Nicholson a ridiculous figure, it
+was his love affair with Lucy Burwell. Lucy's father, Major Lewis
+Burwell, was perhaps the wealthiest man in Virginia. Owning many
+thousands of acres of land, served by scores of slaves and indentured
+workers, connected by marriage and birth with some of the most
+influential families in the colony, he was the typical Virginia
+aristocrat. Carter's Creek, his residence in Gloucester County, remained
+standing for over two centuries as witness to his lavish style of
+living. The great halls, the marble mantels, the elaborate staircase,
+the wainscoting carved to resemble drapery were reminiscent rather of
+England than of seventeenth-century Virginia. However, Lucy seems to
+have spent most of her childhood, not at Carter's Creek, but at King's
+Creek, an historic old estate left to her parents by her mother's uncle,
+Nathaniel Bacon, Senior. And here it was that Nicholson pressed his
+suit, riding over to see her whenever there was a lull in the business
+of the General Court and the Assembly was not in session.
+
+Lucy and her family received him with the courtesy due the
+representative of the Crown. But they knew of the Governor's fits of
+anger, of his profanity, and the abuse he had heaped on their relatives.
+Lucy was not attracted to him and, telling him she did not love him,
+refused to marry him.
+
+When he was at last convinced that all hope of winning Lucy was gone,
+Nicholson acted like a madman. He swore that if she married another he
+would with his own hands cut the throats of the bridegroom, the
+minister, and the justice of the peace who issued the license.[25] All
+pretence of friendship for her relatives was thrown to the winds. Every
+few days he sent Major Burwell such threats of ruin that the poor man
+was kept in a constant state of alarm. "For what I know not, unless it
+is because I will not force my daughter to marry utterly against her
+will, which is a thing no Christian body can do," he wrote Philip
+Ludwell, Senior. "If it please God I live until the return of our next
+fleet, I propose for England, for I shall not be able to live here."[26]
+
+Nicholson became violently jealous of young Stephen Fouace, minister of
+Martin's Hundred parish, in which the Burwells resided. One night, when
+he was returning from a pastoral call at King's Creek he happened to
+meet the Governor. Falling into one of his rages, Nicholson, in a
+thundering voice, commanded him never again to visit the house unless
+sent for, and never again to speak to Lucy.[27]
+
+"Why, Sir," stammered the frightened pastor, "what is the matter? Does
+your Excellency take me for your rival? I assure you, sir, I have not
+that foolish presumption to think to be preferred to your Excellency."
+
+"Hold your prate, sirrah. I have taken good notice of you. You are an
+impudent rogue, a villain, a rascal."
+
+As they were riding along together Nicholson reached over and pulled
+Fouace's hat from his head.
+
+"How do you have the impudence to ride with me with your hat on?"
+
+"I hope you will not use me like a footman," said Fouace.
+
+After a pause Nicholson asked: "Is it not a shame for one of your
+function to suffer me to be ridiculed and railed at in some companies
+where I know you have been? Is it not your duty to reprove them?"
+
+Fouace replied that the best way to avoid ridicule was to be sure that
+his behavior was such as not to expose him to odium and contempt, that
+even the King of France could not hinder many of his subjects from
+speaking ill of him.
+
+"But seeing your Excellency is pleased to make me mindful of my duty to
+reprove the evil I see done in my presence, I must make bold to reprove
+your Excellency for using at this rate in the highway, in the woods, and
+in the night, on a Sunday, a clergyman coming from visiting the sick of
+his parish."
+
+Nicholson received this in silence. But a few minutes later he ran at
+Fouace, trying to seize him, and threatening to lash him with his whip.
+This frightened him, for the Governor had his sword and pistols with
+him, and they were alone in the night. So he wheeled, set spurs to his
+horse, and fled.[28]
+
+But he could not escape Nicholson's malice. He soon found that life in
+Virginia was intolerable, and laid his plans to leave for England. But
+the Governor had no desire to have him lay charges against him before
+the Bishop of London and the Lords of Trade and Plantations. After he
+had gone aboard the tobacco fleet, he tried to bring him back, but by
+shifting from ship to ship Fouace managed to escape.
+
+Nicholson's folly aroused astonishment even in England, and the gossips
+in the London Exchange and the coffee houses tittered at his
+unsuccessful suit. An English clergyman wrote him an anonymous letter.
+"It is not here as in some barbarous countries where the tender lady is
+often dragged into the Sultan's arms just reeking in the blood of her
+nearest relations, and yet must strongly dissemble her aversion. But
+English women are the freest in the world, and will not be won by
+constraint, but hate them who use them and theirs roughly."
+
+One day when Nicholson was calling on Lucy, before the final breach had
+occurred, she happened to drop her handkerchief. He picked it up,
+slipped several rings in it unobserved by Lucy, and handing it to her
+mounted his horse and rode away. She sent them back to him, but he
+returned them. And for a while she kept them. Later he complained of the
+costliness of his suit. "Though she would not accept him," he told
+several persons, "she and her friends had taken presents to the value of
+£500."[29]
+
+When this came to Lucy's ears, she thought it necessary to return
+everything he had given her. So she, with her mother and brother,
+together with her uncle, Philip Ludwell, Junior, went to Williamsburg
+with them. But Nicholson, hearing of their mission, "slipt out in the
+morning." The little group retired to the nearby Wren building, and
+waited there until six o'clock in the evening. Then they went back to
+Nicholson's house, where Ludwell went in to the "public room" and left
+the gifts on the table.
+
+Late that night, after he had retired, Ludwell was aroused by two
+messengers sent by the Governor, one bringing the gifts, and the other a
+summons in the Queen's name for him to come to Nicholson immediately.
+Ludwell told the man that he "could not apprehend the Queen had any
+occasion for his services" just at that moment, and so went back to bed.
+
+But the next morning he went to the Governor's house, taking the gifts
+with him. He found Nicholson in a towering rage.
+
+"I wonder how you dare come into my house yesterday when I was abroad to
+offer me such an insult?" he said.
+
+"Sir, I never offered your Excellency an affront in my life that I know
+of," Ludwell replied.
+
+"Yes you have, several, like the base villain and rascal that you are."
+
+Ludwell bowed and thanked him for this "civil usage." But Nicholson
+began again to storm, calling him "rogue, lying villain, base rascal,
+and coward," and declaring that he would teach him his duty. Finally he
+told him to get out of his house and not return until he was sent for.
+This Ludwell did with alacrity. But he took good care to leave the
+gifts. At first this escaped Nicholson's notice, but while Ludwell was
+putting on his boots he rushed up to him, "calling him all the names the
+Devil could invent" and commanding him to take the things.[30]
+
+When Ludwell had mounted his horse and started to ride away, the
+Governor ran out "stark mad," and catching hold of his coat tried to
+pull him from his horse. Failing in this, he snatched his whip from his
+hand, and ordered him in the Queen's name to dismount. When he had done
+so, he shook the whip over his head, and swore that he had a mind to
+slash him soundly. Ludwell told him that as he was Governor of Virginia
+he had to take all his ill usage, but if he were in another place he
+would not dare treat him so. A few days later Nicholson challenged
+Ludwell to a duel. But Ludwell declined. He had not so much love for the
+gallows, he said. "But I always wear a sword with which to defend
+myself, and I am always easily found."
+
+When one reads the long recital of Nicholson's misdeeds, one is apt to
+forget that he conferred one lasting benefit on the colony, a benefit
+which today is shared by millions of Americans from all parts of the
+country. He was the founder of Williamsburg. It was on October 21, 1698,
+that a fire broke out in the statehouse at Jamestown which in a few
+hours laid the building in ashes. So the old question of moving the
+capital away from the mosquito-infested town on the banks of the James
+was again debated. Nicholson favored Middle Plantation. The college was
+located there, there was ample room for a town, there were several
+springs of pure water, and the place was healthful. The Assembly voted
+that a city be laid out there, which, in honor of the "most gracious and
+glorious King William," was to be named Williamsburg.
+
+Nicholson busied himself with planning the streets, which at first he
+hoped to lay out in the form of the letters W and M in honor of King
+William and Queen Mary. When this proved too complicated, he decided to
+run a central avenue from the college to the site of the Capitol, to be
+named Duke of Gloucester Street, paralleled by two side streets, one of
+which was to be called Nicholson and the other Francis. To aid him in
+designing the Capitol, he called in the ablest architect and builder in
+the colony, Henry Cary, and day after day the pair pored over the
+drawings. What book of designs they had before them from which to
+draw their inspiration we do not know, but it must have been of
+recent publication, for the building was typical of the late
+seventeenth-century English houses.
+
+The plan called for a brick structure of two wings, connected by a
+gallery, the whole to be two stories high, with a sharply rising roof
+pierced with dormers and surmounted by a high cupola. The floors of the
+first story were to be laid in flagstones, while the roof was to be
+covered with cyprus shingles. Inside were to be rooms for the Council,
+the General Court, the House of Burgesses, and several committee rooms.
+
+The gratitude of the Virginians to Nicholson for founding their new
+capital and adorning it with beautiful buildings did not blind them to
+his violence, his injustice, and his persecution of innocent men. Does
+he think he is governing the Moors or some other slavish people? they
+asked. He seems to think it a crime in us to demand the liberties of
+Englishmen. "That which bears up their spirits under all the heavy
+customs on their commodities, and restraints in point of trade, is that
+they have the happiness to enjoy the British laws and constitution,
+which they reckon the best of Governments," said Philip Ludwell, Senior.
+"But if once their Governors be suffered to break in upon them in this
+tender point, and to treat them with the arbitrariness of France, or the
+insolence of Morocco, as this gentleman has done, it is not to be
+imagined how ill this will go down with Englishmen that have not forgot
+the liberty of their mother country. The least that can be expected from
+it is that men of substance, if they find no redress, will remove
+themselves and their effects out of the colony to any other part of the
+world where they may enjoy peace and quietness."[31]
+
+At last six members of the Council--Lightfoot, Page, Harrison, Carter,
+Blair, and Ludwell--drew up charges against Nicholson. Though they were
+careful to keep the matter secret the Governor suspected that something
+was up. In July, 1703, he wrote the Lords of Trade: "It hath been
+industriously reported here that ... I was turned out of the government
+for maladministration.... I hope in God, I shall not only be able to
+clear myself, but to make my accusers appear ill people."[32]
+
+Nicholson might have surmised that it was Blair who would present
+charges against him when, several weeks later, the Commissary left for
+England. But he could not have anticipated the strategem which the
+shrewd Scot was to adopt. Though he arrived in November, 1703, he did
+not present the charges of the six Councillors to the Queen in the
+Council until late in the following March, after the tobacco fleet had
+sailed for Virginia. Thus months would elapse before Nicholson could
+have word of them and prepare his answers.
+
+The Privy Council referred the charges to the Lords of Trade and
+Plantations. It must have been with surprise that they listened as the
+petition was read. We appeal to "your Majesty for relief of ourselves
+and other subjects of Virginia from many great grievances and pressures
+we lie under by reason of the unusual, insolent, and arbitrary methods
+of government, as well as wicked and scandalous examples of life, which
+have been now for divers years past put in practice by Nicholson, which
+we have hitherto in vain endeavored by more soft and gentle applications
+to himself to remedy and prevent. But to our unspeakable grief we have
+reaped no other fruit ... but that thereby we have so highly exasperated
+the revengeful mind of Nicholson to the height of implacable malice and
+enmity against ourselves and the better part of the people ... that
+without your Majesty's seasonable interposition we fear the dangerous
+consequences, not only in fomenting lasting feuds and acrimonies among
+the people here, but in endangering the public peace of Virginia."[33]
+
+During the summer Blair had not been idle. It is probable that the
+little colony of Virginians in London got together to plan their
+strategy. When the matter came before the Lords of Trade, the Commissary
+was armed with affidavits from Fouace, Captain James Moodie, and others,
+and letters from Philip Ludwell, Junior, and Benjamin Harrison to the
+elder Ludwell, accusing Nicholson of tyranny. At the hearing Wallace,
+George Luke, and Robert Beverley were called on to tell their stories of
+persecution and injustice.
+
+Hearing that John Thrale was agent for Nicholson, the Lords called him
+in. He made the best defense he could, but he was ignorant of the whole
+matter, and he had not witnesses to refute the charges. When he demanded
+particular instances of misgovernment and injustice, Blair and Beverley
+overwhelmed him with them.[34] To make the Governor's case hopeless,
+Thrale died in the midst of the hearings, leaving him without anyone to
+defend him.[35]
+
+Late in October, 1704, when the first word of the petition reached
+Nicholson he was heard "to make a terrible imprecation, vowing to the
+living God that he would pursue the petitioners with eternal vengeance."
+At a meeting of the Council he glared at the members. "Whoever they were
+that signed that petition I hope they will be obliged to stand by it in
+England and that such of them as are there will be obliged to stay and
+those here to go thither, where it is my desire to come to a fair
+hearing," he told them.[36]
+
+He defended himself in several long letters to the Board. He had done no
+more than defend the Queen's prerogative against the assaults of the
+Council, he said. If everything they asked were granted them, "her
+Majesty would have but a skeleton of a government left, and hardly the
+power of a Doge of Genoa. And I think the question may be put to them
+as the wise King Solomon did to his mother, why don't they ask the
+kingdom or the government also?" As for Commissary Blair, he "and his
+little faction now set up to have the power and interest of turning out
+and putting in Governors, and affect the title that the great Earl of
+Warwick had." If he were ousted, he would present himself to the Board,
+"when I hope I shall not be found to have a cloven foot, to be a fury,
+or to have snakes instead of hair."[37]
+
+If we may credit the reports from Virginia which reached Blair, Ludwell,
+and Fouace in England in January, 1705, Nicholson began proceedings to
+"terrify all people" from discussing his conduct. "He sets up
+inquisition courts, giving commissions to some of his creatures to
+examine all persons on oath if ever they heard such a man reflect upon
+the Governor ... which practice is very terrible to all, there being few
+in Virginia who have not sometimes in private spoke of him as he
+deserves ... If witnesses are backward they are threatened by the
+Governor himself and terrified into depositions." When anyone was
+accused of complaining of him, even in private, he ordered the Attorney
+General to prosecute him under the law against defaming the Governor
+passed after Bacon's Rebellion.[38]
+
+The Governor had one warm defender in Colonel Robert Quary. In a letter
+to the Board of Trade he testified that, when Nicholson was appointed,
+the Councillors expected to "govern and direct all matters," to
+monopolize all places of profit and honor, and have him "suppress all
+that were not of their faction." But when they found that he would not
+be governed by them, they turned upon him with the greatest malice.
+"They aspersed and blackened him both in the country and by letters to
+England, as if he had been the greatest monster in nature." He had been
+guilty of no maladministration in his government "further than some
+escapes of his passion, which their injustice often forced him to."[39]
+
+During the first week of March, 1705, Nicholson was busy preparing his
+defence so that it could get off on the first vessel sailing for
+England. He penned long letters to the Lords of Trade on the first, the
+third, and the sixth, and enclosed them with a memorial against Blair,
+and an address from the Virginia clergy. These papers were received on
+May 2, and read May 31. Whether they would have influenced the Lords in
+Nicholson's favor we do not know, for on April 2, just a month before
+their arrival, the Board received a communication from Secretary Hedges,
+advising them that the Queen wished them to prepare a commission and
+instructions for Colonel Edward Nott to be Governor General of
+Virginia.[40]
+
+It was on August 15, 1705, that the Council met in their beautiful room
+in the new Capitol, for Nott's inauguration. When all had been seated
+Nicholson entered and read a letter from the Queen directing him to
+deliver up the government and "repair to her royal presence." He must
+have looked around at the men who had been his bitter enemies with an
+air of triumph as he read a letter from Secretary Hedges, stating that
+he was being recalled, not because of the charges made against him, but
+merely for her Majesty's service. Then he handed over the seal of the
+colony and the charter of 1676. One wonders whether, as he bowed himself
+out, he took one last look at the room for which he had been so largely
+responsible--the portrait of Queen Anne, the large oval table, the
+stiff-backed chairs, the Queen's arms, the panelling.
+
+Nicholson's administration proved once more that the Virginians could
+not be governed by illegal and arbitrary means. That he was not ousted
+by violence as was Sir John Harvey, or that he did not drive the people
+into open rebellion as did Berkeley, is explained by the difference in
+the character of the times. Harvey acted in the spirit of the First
+Stuart Despotism, Berkeley of the Second Stuart Despotism; Nicholson was
+out of step with his time. To remove him it was not necessary to resort
+to violence; an appeal to the Queen was all that was needed.
+
+Perhaps it was fortunate for the cause of self-government that an
+experiment in despotism had failed in the opening years of the
+eighteenth century. It made succeeding Governors wary of trampling upon
+the people's rights, it gave the people confidence. Having won this
+victory, they went on to others until their Governors became their
+servants rather than their masters.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] CO5-1309, Doc. 9.
+
+[2] CO5-1339, Doc. 33 V.
+
+[3] T. J. Wertenbaker, _Planters of colonial Virginia_, 183, 247.
+
+[4] T. J. Wertenbaker, Attempt to reform the church of colonial
+Virginia, _Sewanee Review_ 25: 273-275.
+
+[5] CO5-1409, p. 135A.
+
+[6] CO5-1314, Doc. 35, IIb.
+
+[7] CO5-1360, p. 117.
+
+[8] CO5-1314, Doc. D10.
+
+[9] _Ibid._, Doc. 15G.
+
+[10] CO5-1314, Doc. 36.
+
+[11] _Ibid._, Doc. 15G.
+
+[12] _Ibid._, Doc. 15.
+
+[13] CO5-1314, Doc. 17.
+
+[14] _Ibid._, Doc. 35 II 6.
+
+[15] _Ibid._, Doc. 10.
+
+[16] _Ibid._, Doc. 23.
+
+[17] _Ibid._, Doc. 24.
+
+[18] _Ibid._, Doc. 10.
+
+[19] _Ibid._
+
+[20] CO5-1314, Doc. 40.
+
+[21] _Ibid._, Doc. 14c.
+
+[22] _Ibid._, Doc. 9.
+
+[23] _Ibid._, Doc. 15.
+
+[24] _Ibid._, Doc. 12.
+
+[25] _Ibid._, Doc. 7.
+
+[26] _Ibid._, p. 23.
+
+[27] _Ibid._, Doc. 7.
+
+[28] _Ibid._
+
+[29] CO5-1314, Doc. 15f.
+
+[30] _Ibid._
+
+[31] _Ibid._, Doc. 17.
+
+[32] CO5-1360, p. 424.
+
+[33] CO5-1660, pp. 463-465.
+
+[34] _Ibid._, Docs. 23, 24.
+
+[35] CO5-1360, p. 480.
+
+[36] CO5-1314, Doc. 36.
+
+[37] _Ibid._, Docs. 43, 44.
+
+[38] CO5-1314, Doc. 36.
+
+[39] _Ibid._, Doc. 67.
+
+[40] _Ibid._, Doc. 46.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE VIRGINIA HOUSE OF LORDS
+
+
+Though the members of the Council must have been surprised when
+Nicholson read Secretary Hedges' letter, they did not let it disturb
+them. They were rid of him, and that was what really mattered. No more
+could he bully them in the Council meetings, no more could he thwart
+them in the General Court by packing juries, no more could he ignore
+them in appointing officers, no more could he insult and revile them. As
+they sat around the table with the mild-mannered Nott, they realized
+with satisfaction that his personality was in strong contrast with that
+of his predecessor. Perhaps it would be easy to control him and keep the
+power in their own hands.
+
+To a large extent this is just what they did. Though Nott was no
+weakling, he was anxious to live in peace with both Council and
+Assembly. It was said of him that his "whole study was to do everybody
+justice."[1] Like other Governors when they first arrived and were
+unacquainted with men and conditions in the colony, he was dependent
+upon the Councillors for advice and guidance. Before he could learn the
+ropes, he died. Since four years elapsed before a new Governor arrived
+to take his place, the Council remained for half a decade the
+controlling power in the colony. From August, 1705, to July, 1710, the
+government was neither despotic nor democratic, but aristocratic.
+
+Nathaniel Bacon, Nicholson, Spotswood, and others derided the "mighty
+dons" of the Council, pointing out that they came from humble families
+in England. These critics did not stop to consider that it was more to
+their credit to have won by their own efforts positions of wealth and
+power than to have inherited them. Virginia itself offered them the
+opportunity, but it was they who seized it.
+
+The group of well-to-do planters whom the Council represented, in the
+early years of the eighteenth century were far from numerous. "In every
+river there are from ten to thirty men who by trade and industry have
+gotten very competent estates," wrote Colonel Quary. "Out of this number
+are chosen her Majesty's Council, the Assembly, the justices, and
+officers of the government."[2]
+
+It must have been a humiliation to such proud men as William Byrd II,
+"King" Carter, and Benjamin Harrison that they were not admitted to the
+English peerage. But though there were no dukes, nor lords, nor knights
+among the Councillors, they had the right to certain titles which
+carried great distinction. The term "esquire" was given to members of
+the Council, and was invariably used by them in signing legal documents.
+If a man were not a Councillor, yet was prominent and wealthy, he had
+the right to sign himself "gentleman." The holders of high office in the
+militia--colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors, and captains--prized
+their titles highly and used them in conjunction with "esquire," or
+"gentleman."[3]
+
+Nor did the English nobility command greater respect than did the
+members of the Council in Virginia. When a certain Humphrey
+Chamberlaine, of Henrico County, became angry with William Byrd I, and,
+stripping off his coat, drew his sword as if to attack him, he was
+arrested and clapped into jail. At his trial he excused himself by
+saying he was a stranger in the country and ignorant of its laws and
+customs. But the court, ruling that no one "could be insensible of the
+respect and reverence due so honorable a person as Colonel Byrd," fined
+him five pounds sterling.[4]
+
+Although the basis of the wealth of the aristocracy was land, the
+holding of large tracts did not in itself bring riches unless the owner
+could find the labor necessary to work them. During most of the
+seventeenth century indentured workers were used extensively. But their
+cost and the fact that they served but four or five years limited the
+return they brought their masters. With the importing of slaves in large
+numbers in the last two decades of the seventeenth century and the first
+third of the eighteenth century, the cost of raising tobacco was greatly
+lowered. This not only doubled or tripled existing fortunes, but created
+many new ones. It is this which explains why the Virginia aristocracy,
+which so late as the last decade of the seventeenth century was little
+more than a group, by the mid-eighteenth century had become a numerous
+class.[5]
+
+In their mode of life the aristocracy consciously imitated the English
+country squires. The large libraries which they accumulated served
+practical as well as cultural ends. The wealthy man who wished to build
+a residence pored over James Gibbs' _A Book of Architecture_, or Abraham
+Swan's _The British Architect_. In laying out his garden he consulted
+Kip's _English Houses and Gardens_, or John James' _The Theory and
+Practice of Gardening_. On his shelves were English books on law,
+medicine, religion, agriculture.
+
+Fortunately some of the mansions of colonial Virginia have survived the
+ravages of time, fires, and wars, to bear witness to the charm and
+dignity of the plantation life of two centuries ago. Carter's Grove,
+Mount Airy, Gunston Hall, Westover, Brandon, and others constitute
+history in brick and wood. The lovely gardens, some of which have been
+restored in recent years, are in the formal style of Le Notre and Rose.
+The mansions were furnished with tables, chairs, bookcases by the
+English masters; on the tables were pitchers, goblets, and candlesticks
+by English silversmiths. The aristocrat dressed himself and his family
+in the latest English fashions, owned an English-made coach, imported
+English race horses, perhaps sent his son to Oxford, when he visited
+England had his portrait painted by Lely or Kneller.
+
+It was inevitable that in so small a group as the early Virginia
+aristocracy there should be frequent intermarriages. In 1717 half of the
+members of the Council were related to each other by blood or marriage.
+James Blair and Philip Ludwell were brothers-in-law of Nathaniel
+Harrison; William Byrd's wife was the niece of Ludwell; William Bassett
+and Edmund Berkeley had married half-nieces of Ludwell; Ludwell's wife
+was Harrison's sister. Governor Spotswood habitually referred to them as
+"the family."
+
+It was wrong, Spotswood pointed out, that a group of relatives should
+wield such power. Since they all sat on the General Court, it was to be
+expected that they would vote as a unit if the interests of any one of
+them were involved. "Whoever has lived here and frequented the General
+Courts held of late in Virginia, has abundant reason to know that there
+is a strong link of relatives on the bench, who by their majority have
+the determination of all causes," he wrote in 1718. "When one of their
+kindred is charged with enormous crimes, clerks may safely keep back the
+examination, and sheriffs keep back the witnesses.... When the King has
+been plaintiff in a civil action against one of that family, the cause
+could not be tried for want of judges to make up a bench exclusive of
+those who were akin to the defendant."[6]
+
+One wonders how long Governor Nott would have put up with this kind of
+thing had not death overtaken him. Despite his desire to work in harmony
+with the Council, there is evidence that he had no intention of letting
+them ride over him roughshod. This became evident when they tried to
+take the patronage out of his hands. "I do believe the Council have a
+mind to dispute with me the making of the collectors of the two
+shillings per hogshead," he wrote the Lords of Trade. "Their pretence is
+that it is said in my instructions I shall not make them but by advice
+of Council. Now they have a mind to turn several out and put in their
+own relatives. And that is not my turn of temper."[7]
+
+When he asked the advice of the Council before reappointing naval
+officers, they objected to Major Arthur Allen, Colonel Miles Gary, and
+Colonel William Wilson. But when nothing of consequence was brought
+against them, the Governor insisted on continuing them. At the same time
+he shook off responsibility by refusing to renew their commissions until
+he had instructions to do so from the Lord Treasurer.[8]
+
+Whatever resentment the Councillors bore him for this was forgotten when
+he championed their plea that they should not be forbidden to become
+naval officers. "I think this instruction very strange," he wrote the
+Lords of Trade. "To be deprived of those few places of profit ... brings
+the consequence that the good men are very indifferent to being one of
+the Council. I hope you are of opinion that this restriction may be
+taken off."[9]
+
+The Governor thought it his duty to defer to the Council in most of his
+appointments to lesser offices. "I have directed new commissioners of
+peace," he wrote the Lords of Trade, "and not knowing persons yet, I
+left the nomination of justices solely to the Council. I have continued
+the former escheators since there was no objection to them."[10]
+
+When Nott first took over the government, he found the colony divided
+against itself. The people as a whole were overjoyed to get rid of
+Nicholson, but a group made up no doubt of men who had received favors
+at his hands, resented his removal. When an election was held for a new
+Assembly, opposing candidates were put up by the pro-Nicholson and
+anti-Nicholson factions. Although the latter won an overwhelming
+victory, enough Nicholson men were returned to continue the old feuds
+and hatreds. Governor Nott made his opening address an appeal for peace.
+It was his earnest hope, he said, that all animosities be laid aside,
+and that the only contention be as to who should be most obedient to the
+Queen and most serviceable to the country.[11]
+
+Despite this plea the pro-Nicholson faction presented under the guise of
+a grievance a resolution which was in reality a reproof of the six
+members of the Council who had presented the charges against the
+Governor. No one should take upon himself to represent to the Queen the
+grievances of the colony without the consent of the House of Burgesses,
+it said. No thanks, but rather a check should be given to those that had
+done so against the late Governor. But they met with a severe rebuff. So
+far from approving, the House ordered the so-called grievance to "be
+burnt under the gallows by the sheriff of York County as a mutinous,
+seditious, and scandalous paper."[12]
+
+Though there is no evidence that Nott tried to render the Burgesses
+submissive to his will by bribing them with offices, the Assembly
+thought this a golden opportunity to weaken the Governor's appointive
+power. Some could recall Berkeley's Long Assembly, and all had been
+witnesses of the shameless way in which Nicholson had handed out jobs.
+So they passed a bill requiring each county court to nominate three men,
+all of them justices, from whom the Governor was to select one as
+sheriff, who was to serve not more than two years. Had not Nott been so
+anxious to avoid any conflict with the Assembly, he would certainly have
+vetoed this bill, for not only did it restrict his power of appointment,
+but it infringed upon the royal prerogative.
+
+But he balked when the House sent up a bill to require the Governor, in
+appointing the justices of the peace, to secure the assent of the
+Council, or at least five of them. He thought they were going too far in
+this attempt to deprive the Governor of the patronage, leave him at the
+mercy of the Council and Assembly, and make him a mere figurehead. When
+the Lords of Trade heard that he had vetoed this bill, they wrote
+congratulating him. "The restraining Governors from making justices ...
+is entrenching on prerogative, and you may be assured it will not be
+approved here. In all other plantations the power of appointing and
+removing justices of the peace is solely in the Governor.... But it
+would be prudence in the Governor to advise for his better
+information."[13]
+
+When the Assembly met again, in April, 1706, they made a daring attempt
+to weaken the Governor's power by passing a substitute law for the
+famous Act of 1680 which gave a perpetual revenue to the Crown. The new
+bill bore the disarming title of "An Act for raising a public revenue
+for the better support of the government ... and for ascertaining the
+salary of the Council." Nott apparently saw nothing alarming in it, but
+Colonel Quary at once suspected that it was intended to weaken the Act
+of 1680, and perhaps set a precedent which would eventually give the
+House control of the revenue from the export duty on tobacco.
+
+"These topping men" were merely waiting an opportunity to have the old
+law damned, he wrote the Lords of Trade. "Had the Assembly only designed
+to have augmented and added to the Queen's revenue, why could they not
+make an act of it without damning and destroying the former act? And
+that your Lordships may see the snake in the grass, please observe that
+the Assembly are pleased to appropriate the Queen's revenue as they
+think fit, a thing never pretended to before, and to limit and confine
+her Majesty from disposing of her own money.... Whereas in a former act
+the Queen was graciously pleased to appropriate £370 to be divided among
+the Council for attendance, in this act they have ordered otherwise ...
+by which they have tied up the Queen's hands from giving any part of her
+bounty but according to their pleasure."[14]
+
+When this bill came before the Board of Trade they referred it to
+Attorney General Harcourt and Solicitor General Montague. Although these
+astute men, as we have seen, gave it as their opinion that the old act
+had been passed in a way "contrary to the present method," and should be
+superseded by a new one, the Board decided to let sleeping dogs lie. So
+they advised the Queen to veto the Act of 1716. "'Tis hoped it will
+never be revived by any Governor who has at heart the interests of the
+Crown, and wishes that people should distinguish between what they owe
+to the indulgence of the Sovereign and what they may claim as their
+right by the laws of Virginia," wrote Governor Spotswood several years
+later.[15]
+
+The climate of Virginia, which was fatal to so many newcomers from
+England, took a heavy toll of Governors. Lord De la Warr fell a victim
+to the Virginia sickness; Herbert Jeffreys died after having been in the
+colony only a few months. Now, on August 23, 1706, death ended the brief
+administration of Governor Nott. He was mourned by the people, and was
+buried in Bruton Parish churchyard with all the solemnity the colony was
+capable of. "Had it pleased God to have spared him but a little time
+longer amongst us, he would have healed all those unhappy differences
+that have of late made us uneasy, and united us again to be one people,"
+wrote William Bassett.[16]
+
+When the Council met after Nott's death they opened his commission and
+listened intently as it was read. And there was great satisfaction when
+they found that in the event of a Governor's death the Council was to
+take on themselves the administration of the government. But they were
+far from happy that Colonel Edmund Jenings, as the senior Councillor,
+was to preside at their meetings with such powers as were necessary in
+"carrying on the public service." They insisted that the Attorney
+General of the colony, in drawing up the first proclamation under the
+new government, should issue it, not under the name of the President
+alone, but of the President and Council.[17]
+
+Jenings wrote to the Lords of Trade to ask just what his status should
+be. Their answer was decisive. The instruction that the Council should
+take over the government upon the death of a Governor had caused many
+controversies between the President and the Councillors and had greatly
+hindered public business. So they altered it to read: "The eldest
+Councillor do take upon him the administration of the government ... in
+the same manner ... as other our Governor should do."[18]
+
+Francis Nicholson had written the Lords of Trade some years previously
+expressing doubts as to the wisdom of making any member of the Council
+the chief executive. "There may happen great disputes about the person
+of the President and his powers. And may be when the President and the
+Council are all natives or else entirely settled here, nature and
+self-interest may sway them to do some things and pass some acts that
+may be (as they will imagine) for the good of their country and make and
+secure an interest with the people. This may be prejudicial to their
+Majesties' service."[19] No doubt the Lords of Trade saw the force of
+this reasoning, but they were not prepared to keep a Lieutenant Governor
+in Virginia whose only function it would be to wait around ready to step
+in when the Governor died or was recalled.
+
+Although the other members of the Council seem to have regarded Jenings
+with something like scorn, and one of them had spoken of him as "the
+right noble little Colonel Jenings," the man had had a distinguished
+career. He had been clerk of the York County court, collector of the
+York River district, commissioner for the College of William and Mary,
+member of the Council, Attorney General, and Secretary. And now, as
+President of the Council, he seems to have laid aside former
+animosities, and considered himself merely first among equals.
+
+It was taken for granted that Jenings' administration would be brief,
+and that a new Governor would come over as soon as one could be
+appointed. Word had come that a commission had been drawn up for Colonel
+Robert Hunter, and that he had sailed from Portsmouth in June, 1707. But
+month after month passed and he failed to appear. As late as March,
+1708, the Council was wondering what had become of him. At last they
+heard that the vessel in which he had shipped had been taken by the
+French, and that he was held captive in France. So they had to wait two
+more years before a Governor arrived.[20]
+
+This suited President Jenings and the Council, for it left them in
+undisputed control of the government. They even refused to hold an
+Assembly for fear it might question their proceedings. It is true that
+six times they set the date for a meeting of the Assembly, but six times
+they postponed it. At last, when people began to question whether these
+frequent postponements did not put an end to the Assembly, the Council
+settled all doubts by dissolving them by proclamation.
+
+This was a dangerous thing to do, for it was in the midst of the War of
+the Spanish Succession, and an Assembly was needed to provide funds for
+the defense of the colony. But the Council gambled that no French fleet
+would appear in the Chesapeake Bay. The normal expenses of the
+government--their own salaries and those of the President, Auditor,
+Attorney General, and other officials--they paid out of the export duty
+on tobacco and the quit rent fund. In September, 1708, Jenings wrote
+that privateers had come in between the capes and had chased a merchant
+vessel up the York River, that the Indians were threatening the
+frontier, that the Governor's house was unfinished, and that the quit
+rent fund was "much drained," but that despite all, the Council would
+not call an Assembly.[21]
+
+In December, 1709, Lord George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney, was appointed
+Governor General of Virginia. Orkney had been trained as a soldier, and
+had distinguished himself at Namur, Blenheim, Malplaquet, and elsewhere.
+It is probable that it was intended from the first that the office
+should be a sinecure, and though Orkney held it for years he never set
+foot on Virginia soil. But Virginia had to pay his salary, for his
+£1,000 a year was taken out of the export duty on tobacco. To carry on
+the administration in the colony Colonel Alexander Spotswood was made
+Lieutenant Governor.
+
+It would seem that in the years from the recall of Nicholson to the
+arrival of Spotswood, the danger to liberty in Virginia came less from
+the Throne than from the Council. A free people could not be quiet under
+the rule of a body of twelve men, not chosen by the voters but appointed
+by the sovereign.
+
+The average planter, not only the owner of only a few acres, but the man
+of means had reason to be alarmed. Was it consistent with the principles
+of English liberty, they must have asked, for a clique of wealthy men,
+many of them united in one family, to have such power over their lives
+and their property? If the people were to rule, final authority must be
+vested in the House of Burgesses, not the Council.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] CO5-1315, Bassett to Perry & Co., Aug. 30, 1706.
+
+[2] CO5-1314, Doc. 63iv.
+
+[3] Hugh Jones, _The present state of Virginia_, ed. R. L. Morton, 93.
+
+[4] P. A. Bruce, _Social life of Virginia_, 133
+
+[5] T. J. Wertenbaker, _The planters of colonial Virginia_, 155-160.
+
+[6] CO5-1318, Spotswood to Lords of Trade, March 20, 1718.
+
+[7] CO5-1340, Doc. 15.
+
+[8] _Ibid._
+
+[9] _Ibid._, Doc. 19.
+
+[10] CO5-1316, p. 450.
+
+[11] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1702-1712: 131.
+
+[12] _Ibid._, 147.
+
+[13] CO5-1362, March 26, 1707.
+
+[14] CO5-1315, Quary to Lordships, Sept. 1, 1706.
+
+[15] CO5-1317.
+
+[16] CO5-1315, Aug. 30, 1706.
+
+[17] _Executive journals of the Council_ 3: 119, 120.
+
+[18] CO5-1362, p. 121.
+
+[19] CO5-1314, Doc. 15.
+
+[20] CO5-1362, pp. 336-340.
+
+[21] CO5-1362, pp. 318, 325.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+SPOTSWOOD
+
+
+Alexander Spotswood arrived in Virginia June 20, 1710, aboard the
+warship _Deptford_, and spent the night at Green Spring, with his future
+enemy, Philip Ludwell. Two days later he met with the Council around the
+oval table in the beautiful Council Chamber in the new Capitol, and laid
+his commission before them.
+
+The new Lieutenant Governor was descended from a family of Scottish
+Anglicans. His great-grandfather had seconded Archbishop Laud's attempt
+to introduce the Prayer Book in Scotland; his grandfather had been put
+to death by the Presbyterians. Perhaps it was this tragedy which induced
+his father to desert his native land and take service in the English
+army. It was while he was with his regiment in Tangier that Alexander
+Spotswood was born.
+
+The son chose to follow in the father's footsteps, and in 1693 we find
+him serving in the Earl of Bath's regiment in Flanders. He fought
+gallantly, was wounded at Blenheim, and was captured at Oudenarde. It is
+possible that he served under the Earl of Orkney, also, and that was the
+reason he named him as his deputy in Virginia. "I must ever own
+gratefully that to your Lordship's good will I owe my station here," he
+wrote Orkney in 1718.
+
+Spotswood was one of the ablest Governors sent to America to represent
+the British Crown. He did much to open the West to Virginia, encouraged
+settlement in the Piedmont, and erected forts in the passes of the Blue
+Ridge. He wiped out a nest of pirates under the notorious Blackbeard and
+strung several of them up at Williamsburg. A man of artistic interests,
+he was responsible for the beautiful Palace gardens, with their wealth
+of boxwood, walks, walls, lake, ornate gates, flower beds; and designed
+charming Bruton Parish Church.
+
+In 1716 he led a party of gentlemen, accompanied by rangers, servants,
+and Indians, on an exploring expedition to the West. As they rode
+through the wilderness of the Piedmont, they shot deer and bears, camped
+in the open, roasted venison on wooden forks. On reaching the Blue
+Ridge they toiled to the summit, and there, looking out over the Valley
+of Virginia, drank the health of King George I and the royal family.
+After descending into the Valley and crossing the Shenandoah River, they
+turned their horses' heads homeward. Back in Williamsburg, the Governor
+presented each of his companions with a golden horseshoe, inscribed with
+_sic juvat transcendere montes_.
+
+Although Spotswood was accused of being haughty and implacable, he
+lacked the fiery temper of Nicholson or the revengeful fury of Sir
+William Berkeley. In his conflicts with the Council his astute mind and
+his knowledge of English and Virginia constitutional law made it easy
+for him to refute their arguments. Though he defended the powers of the
+Crown, he was honestly concerned for the welfare of the colony. But he
+hated democracy, and he had no patience with what he termed the follies
+of the ignorant multitude. Despite his assaults on the Virginia
+aristocracy, his ambition was to become one of them, and he used his
+office to build up one of the greatest estates in the colony.
+
+The instructions given Spotswood by the Lords of Trade were on the whole
+wise and liberal. The people of Virginia were to have the full benefit
+of the _habeas corpus_; fees and salaries must be moderate; no one must
+be deprived of life, member, or property without due process of law;
+martial law was forbidden; the people were to be supplied with arms. Yet
+several clauses were loaded with trouble for the Lieutenant
+Governor--one for appointing courts to try criminals; another for
+preventing frauds in the accounts of governmental receipts and payments;
+another for collecting arrears of quit rents; one to prevent the holding
+of large tracts of unoccupied land.
+
+When this last instruction was read to the Council, they must have
+shifted uneasily in their seats, for most of them held land which they
+did not cultivate. Fourteen years earlier Edward Randolph had reported
+this to the Lords of Trade. The reason the colony was so thinly settled,
+he thought, was that poor men would not go there "because members of the
+Council and others who made an interest in the government, have from
+time to time procured grants of very large tracts of land." Thus
+newcomers and indentured workers on becoming free were forced to be
+tenants or go to the utmost bounds of the colony. The remedy, he
+suggested, was to force payment of arrears of quit rents and prohibit
+for the future grants of more than 500 acres.[1]
+
+Both Nott and Hunter had been instructed to cancel patents for land of
+any who neglected to cultivate even a small part of their holdings. So
+now Spotswood, in the face of bitter opposition, restricted all grants
+to 400 acres unless the patentee showed that he was able to meet this
+requirement. In 1710 he tried to satisfy the Lords of Trade by pushing
+through a law stating what should be considered satisfactory seating,
+and in 1713 another making the regulations still more specific.[2]
+
+The chief effect of these acts was to arouse the resentment of the
+Council. They assented to them in their capacity as the Upper House of
+the Assembly because they dared not flaunt openly the commands of the
+British government. But they found means to make them inoperative. The
+rumor was spread throughout the colony that the attorney general in
+England had ruled that no lands patented prior to the passage of these
+acts was liable to forfeiture. To ease men's fears, several large
+landholders purposely refused to pay quit rents. Even John Grymes, the
+deputy auditor into whose hands the quit rents were paid, himself
+remained in arrears "to show no danger in that law."[3] Spotswood
+admitted that the law was a failure when he wrote in 1718: "No man in
+Virginia has yet had land granted away for non-payment of quit rents."
+
+When Spotswood came to Virginia there were many complaints of hard
+times. The war in Europe had proved disastrous to the tobacco trade, the
+flow of hogsheads to the continent of Europe had been reduced to a
+trickle, tobacco piled up in the British warehouses, the merchants left
+a part of each crop on the planters' hands, and the price dropped lower
+and lower. Many of the poorer farmers were in rags, and some began to
+raise sheep and to spin and weave. The salaried class, especially the
+clergy, were in dire straits also, since they were paid in tobacco,
+often of the lowest grade.
+
+The fertile brain of Spotswood now thought out a scheme intended to
+raise the price of tobacco, give the colony a convenient and stable
+currency, make the collecting of quit rents easier, and prevent frauds
+in shipping out tobacco. So he got one of his friends in the Assembly to
+introduce a bill to require inspection of all tobacco at government
+warehouses, and the issuing of tobacco notes which were to be legal
+tender. This plan had much to recommend it, and a similar one was put
+into successful operation later during the administration of Governor
+Gooch.
+
+Despite violent opposition in certain quarters, the tobacco bill passed
+both Houses of Assembly and was signed by the Governor. So now there
+were sounds of hammering and sawing as warehouses arose on the great
+rivers. Soon the tobacco vessels were tying up at the adjacent wharves,
+and the planters were rolling their hogsheads for the inspection. After
+the agent had examined the leaf, he either rejected it as "trash" and
+unfit for exportation, or stamped on the hogshead the weight and variety
+of the tobacco, and gave the owner his certificate.
+
+At first everything seemed to be going smoothly. The quit rents were
+collected in tobacco notes, the price of the leaf rose in the English
+market. The clergy wrote Spotswood thanking him for the increased value
+of their salaries. "Their livings, which by the badness of the pay were
+sunk to little or nothing, begin now to be much more valuable by your
+wise and just contrivance to keep up the credit of the public
+payments."[4]
+
+None the less, the law was unpopular. The debtor objected to paying in
+appreciated currency. It was a heavy expense for the planter to roll his
+hogsheads over the bad roads to the warehouses and then pay for
+inspection and storage. He was resentful if his tobacco was judged to be
+unfit for export. At the courthouses local politicians began to denounce
+the act to willing listeners. "He is the patriot who will not yield to
+whatever the government proposes," complained Spotswood. "Him they call
+a poor man's friend who always carries still-yards to weigh to the needy
+planter's advantage, and who never judges his tobacco to be trash."[5]
+
+Spotswood said that the tobacco act was looked upon to be the most
+extraordinary one that ever passed a Virginia Assembly. When he first
+outlined his plans for it his friends assured him it would be impossible
+to persuade the Assembly to pass it. Yet it was adopted unanimously by
+the Council, and passed in the House "with some address and great
+struggle."
+
+What the Governor meant by "address" is revealed by an examination of
+the list of fat jobs that he handed out to individual Burgesses. Of the
+fifty-one members, seventeen were justices of the peace. Fearing perhaps
+that this did not assure the passage of his bill, he was lavish in
+promising tobacco agents' places, and no less than twenty-five Burgesses
+cast their votes with this job in sight. Only nineteen members failed to
+get one or the other of these posts, and some got both.[6] "I have, in a
+great measure, I think, cleared the way for a Governor towards carrying
+any reasonable point in the House of Burgesses," Spotswood boasted, "for
+he will have in his disposal about forty agencies, which one with
+another are likely to yield nigh 250 pounds per annum each."[7]
+
+But Spotswood would not have been so pleased with himself if he had
+realized the resentment which this open bribery of the people's
+representatives caused throughout the colony. The Assembly "gave him all
+things asked, and he them agent's places to pick our pockets," said one
+disgruntled planter. But what the officeholder had to expect if he
+opposed the measures urged by the Governor is shown by his treatment of
+Nicholas Meriwether. When Meriwether not only spoke against the tobacco
+bill in the Assembly, but by "many seditious speeches" denounced it to
+the people of New Kent County, Spotswood promptly removed him from his
+place as justice of the peace. This, he thought, would discourage others
+from following his example.
+
+Having corrupted the Burgesses and made most of them his henchmen,
+Spotswood would have no doubt continued them indefinitely by successive
+adjournments, had they not been automatically dissolved by the death of
+Queen Anne. "By a good providence we were delivered from them, else they
+would have continued as long as he," wrote Joshua Gee.[8] Just how
+passively the people would have submitted to another long Assembly must
+remain a matter of speculation, but their resentment against both
+Spotswood and his puppets is shown by their selections for the House of
+Burgesses in 1715. Of the twenty-five members who had accepted agents'
+jobs, only one, William Armistead, of Elizabeth City, was returned. And
+the voters of New Kent showed their anger at Spotswood's treatment of
+Meriwether by returning him to the House. Altogether only sixteen
+Burgesses of the old House had seats in the new, and of these eleven had
+been neither agents nor justices.
+
+Spotswood was deeply resentful. The new Burgesses, he thought, were a
+set of ignorant demagogues, determined to oppose anything he suggested.
+It was all the fault of the law which permitted any man to vote who
+owned any real estate, even half an acre. Just before an election
+reports were spread that the country was on the verge of ruin, and no
+one was qualified to save it but "some of their own mobbish
+politicians." It was no wonder that some of the Burgesses could not
+write grammatical English, since the ignorant people insisted on
+electing men of their own stamp.[9]
+
+The new Assembly was as hostile to the Governor as their predecessors
+had been subservient. Everything he proposed they objected to, in some
+cases for no other reason than to thwart him. They were egged on by
+Gawin Corbin, who had been ousted from his job as naval officer; George
+Marable, whom Spotswood had removed from the James City County court;
+and Edwin Conway, of Lancaster County. But the whole atmosphere of the
+House was one of hostility.
+
+No sooner had the House been organized than grievances from various
+counties poured in, most of them complaining against the tobacco law.
+The people of Surry prayed that the law be repealed, the people of
+Henrico wanted it repealed, the people of Essex wanted it repealed, the
+people of Warwick complained of the hardships of the law. It seemed that
+no more than two counties in all Virginia were satisfied.[10] Spotswood
+claimed that these grievances did not represent the views of a majority
+of the people. Many of them were drawn up by members of the House, some
+were signed at election fields, horse races, and drunken meetings. "Nor
+shall a seditious paper, signed by five obscure fellows who must have a
+scribe to write all their names, ever pass with me for a county
+grievance."[11]
+
+When Richard Littlepage and Thomas Butts, two of the justices of New
+Kent, refused to certify the grievances of that county, they were
+arrested under the Speaker's warrant. Though the House voted them guilty
+of high misdemeanor and contempt, they refused to appear, claiming that
+the Burgesses had no legal authority over them. Thereupon the House
+appealed to the Governor to arrest them. "The freedom and privileges of
+this House are in danger of being utterly subverted," they said, "when
+justices ... assume a jurisdiction and by their judgment debar the
+people and their rightful representatives of the rightful ways ... for
+redressing their grievances ... we believe that such matters do concern
+the Burgesses in Assembly."[12] But Spotswood rebuffed them. They were
+exceeding their authority, he told them, when they persecuted justices
+and tried to punish them for their proceedings on the bench.
+
+In his anger at not being able to control the Burgesses, Spotswood tried
+to make the House less democratic by restricting the right to vote. But
+not daring to reveal his intention, he approached the question in a
+roundabout way. In September, 1715, he sent out a printed letter to all
+of the county courts, questioning whether the justices should levy a tax
+to pay the Burgesses' salaries when no law existed empowering them to do
+so.[13] To the Lords of Trade he explained that if the justices declined
+to pay the levy, "the Burgesses must have become suitors for an act
+wherein might properly have been described the qualifications of the
+electors and elected."[14] In other words, he was prepared to veto any
+bill to legalize the collecting of salaries that did not disfranchise
+the small landholder and restrict the right to sit in the House to the
+well-to-do. So he kept mum on the fact that the salaries could be
+assessed by the sheriffs on a writ, as was the practice in England.
+
+But in this matter he was balked by the members of the Council. Carter,
+Blair, Ludwell, and the others no doubt guessed what Spotswood was
+aiming at, and they were unwilling to have him undermine the very
+foundations of liberty in Virginia. So in the General Court they passed
+"an unpreceded sentence" to levy the Burgesses' salary on the private
+estates of the justices if they refused "to levy it on their
+counties."[15]
+
+The House asserted in no uncertain terms its right to judge of the
+election and qualifications of its members. When they heard that William
+Cole and Cole Digges, of Warwick County, had promised the voters that if
+elected they would serve without salary, they refused to seat them. A
+new election was held in which, presumably, no such promise was made,
+and Cole and Digges were again elected, and this time permitted to take
+their seats.[16] Spotswood taunted the House for not grasping at this
+opportunity to reduce the heavy burden of the poll tax, and the Council
+thought there was neither law nor practice to justify their action.[17]
+Yet the Burgesses were right, not only in regarding Cole and Digges'
+offer as bribery, but in claiming that it was contrary to a law passed
+in October, 1705.[18]
+
+The House now made a major assault upon the powers of the Governor. The
+time had come, they thought, to put an end to the bribing of its members
+with lucrative jobs, which had been done with such pernicious
+consequences by Berkeley, Nicholson, and others. They passed an act
+making it unlawful for any Burgess to be also a naval officer, tobacco
+agent, clerk of a county court, or hold any other office of profit in
+the government. They next tried to put an end to long Assemblies by
+prohibiting their continuance for more than three years. A third measure
+"for ascertaining secretaries', sheriffs', clerks' and constables' fees"
+was designed to make the bait of office less attractive. These bills
+aroused Spotswood's ire, for he saw immediately that they were designed
+to strike the vital power of patronage from his hands and the hands of
+his successors. So he vetoed all three.
+
+The Governor's main purpose in calling the Assembly of 1715 was to have
+them vote assistance to South Carolina in that colony's bloody struggle
+with a powerful confederation of Indians. "We must appear to have
+neither policy nor bowels of compassion, if this government can remain
+unconcerned while savage pagans are overwhelming one of our adjacent
+provinces, and inhumanly butchering and torturing our brethren," he told
+the Burgesses in his opening address.[19] To them South Carolina seemed
+a long way off. They had troubles enough at home without sending men and
+money there, but, since the Governor was so set on it, they would yield
+if he would consent to something they wanted.
+
+They passed a bill to raise £450 for the purchase of supplies for South
+Carolina, but tacked on a rider for the repeal of the hated tobacco act.
+This, of course, Spotswood vetoed. To let it pass, he thought, would be
+an act of high injustice, since upon the faith of the tobacco law at
+least £7,000 had been spent in erecting warehouses and wharves, and in
+the purchase of scales.[20] Neither he nor the Burgesses realized that
+the law was under attack in England. The merchants were dissatisfied
+with it, and Solicitor General William Thompson held that it was an act
+in restraint of trade. In July, 1717, the act was vetoed by King George
+I.[21]
+
+Spotswood closed the session with an ill-natured and bitter denunciation
+of the Burgesses. "The true interest of your country is not what you
+have troubled your heads about," he said. "All your proceedings have
+been calculated to answer the notions of the ignorant populace, and if
+you can excuse yourselves to them, you matter not how you stand before
+God, your Prince, and all judicious men or before any others to whom you
+think you owe not your elections.... In fine, I cannot but attribute
+those miscarriages to the people's mistaken choice of a set of
+representatives whom Heaven has not generally endowed with the ordinary
+qualifications requisite to legislators, for I observe that the grand
+ruling party in your House has not furnished chairmen for two of your
+standing committees who can spell English or write common sense. And to
+keep such an Assembly on foot would be discrediting a country that has
+many able and worthy gentlemen in it. And therefore I dissolve you."[22]
+
+Having insulted the Burgesses and the people who had elected them,
+Spotswood next incurred the enmity of a majority of the Council. The
+trouble started when he laid before them the instruction requiring him
+to see that fair books of accounts be kept of the Crown revenues.[23]
+Since only the gross sums had been reported and itemized accounts kept
+only on "loose papers," he demanded that the Auditor and the Receiver
+General adopt more businesslike methods. To this Receiver General
+William Byrd and Auditor Ludwell replied that they kept their accounts
+as their predecessors had kept them and in accordance with instructions
+from the Auditor General for all the colonies.
+
+Soon after this Byrd left for England, taking with him, if we may
+believe Spotswood, "all the books of the revenue." The Governor then
+demanded of Ludwell whether or not he intended to comply with the
+instruction to keep account books. Ludwell replied that he could not
+change the old method without orders from the Auditor General. Since
+this was nothing less than setting up the authority of this officer
+against that of the King, the Governor thought the excuse a very poor
+one. So, in January, 1716, he ousted both Ludwell and Byrd from
+office.[24]
+
+No doubt there had been confusion in the accounts, and no doubt
+Spotswood's insistence on having account books would have done much to
+bring them into order. It is possible, also, that there had been much
+remissness in paying taxes and some fraud. The Governor wrote the Lords
+of Trade: "Notwithstanding all the contrivances of the family to justify
+the late officers of the revenue, here is now demonstration, not only of
+darkness and confusion in the manner of collecting the quit rents, but
+likewise of frauds and errors in accounting for the King's revenue."[25]
+
+Realizing that he had brought down on himself the hostility of the
+Councillors, Spotswood now tried to undermine their power by setting up
+courts of oyer and terminer to which he appointed persons other than
+themselves. The General Court, on which all members of the Council and
+none else sat, had long been the court of last appeal in the colony. The
+Councillors prized their seats in this court not less than their seats
+in the Upper House of Assembly or around the Council table. Spotswood
+claimed that their power over the lives and property of the people made
+all regard them with awe, and "kept the country in subjection to their
+party."[26] "They know that they have now lodged wholly in their hands
+that power that Absalom wanted for effectually securing the people in
+his interest, when he longed to be the judge of every man's cause."[27]
+
+It was to be expected, then, that they should insist that none but
+themselves should sit on the new court of oyer and terminer. In May,
+1717, eight of them met in secret and drew up a letter to the Lords of
+Trade defending their position. The charter of 1676 expressly stated
+that the Governor and Council had authority to try "all treasons,
+murders, felonies." The laws of Virginia made the Governor and Council
+the supreme court. They could not believe that a Governor could "break
+through laws and charters and alter all the ancient usage and tradition
+of the government."[28]
+
+Spotswood also appealed to the Lords of Trade. And he was overjoyed when
+this body wrote him that they could not see what reason the Council had
+to insist upon being the sole judges of the new court since his
+commission empowered him to "appoint judges."[29] They were backed by
+Attorney General Edward Northy in his opinion of December 24, 1717.
+Northy advised, however, that Governors be instructed not to hold courts
+of oyer and terminer except in cases of "extraordinary emergency."[30]
+
+The test came in December, 1718, when the court of oyer and terminer was
+about to begin its session. Several Councillors had taken their seats
+when Spotswood announced that he was joining with them Mr. Cole Digges
+and Mr. Peter Beverley. Since neither was a member of the Council,
+Ludwell and four others got up and left. The five then drew up a
+remonstrance, which Ludwell presented to Spotswood in court, with a
+"long harangue." Noticing that people were gathering, he turned around,
+and raising his voice, addressed them. "The Governor's power of naming
+other judges than the Councillors in life and death cases is of
+dangerous consequence to the lives and liberties of free subjects," he
+said. "For that reason I refuse to sit in the court of oyer and terminer
+with those gentlemen."[31]
+
+In London, Byrd pleaded the cause of the Council before the Lords of
+Trade. It would be fatal, he argued, to permit a Governor to try any
+person by what judges he thought proper. "Whoever has had the fortune to
+live in the plantations knows that Governors are not in the least exempt
+from human frailties, such as passionate love of money, resentment
+against such as presume to oppose their designs, particularly to their
+creatures and favorites."[32] To this Spotswood retorted: "What else
+could tempt the ruling party in the Council so strenuously to insist on
+a right, never claimed before, of being judges of oyer and terminer, but
+the desire of gaining to one family an entire power over the lives, as
+they now have over the estates, of the people of Virginia?"[33]
+
+To the Earl of Orkney, Spotswood wrote bitterly. If he lost his battle
+with the Council, future Governors would think it folly to oppose them.
+"I take the power, interest, and reputation of the King's Governor in
+this dominion to be now reduced to a desperate gasp, and if the present
+efforts of the country cannot add new vigor to the same, then the
+haughtiness of a Carter, the hypocrisy of a Blair, the inveteracy of a
+Ludwell, the brutishness of a Smith, the malice of a Byrd, the
+conceitedness of a Grymes, and the scurrility of a Corbin, with about a
+score of base disloyalists and ungrateful Creolians for their adherents,
+must for the future rule the province."[34]
+
+Since the Virginia treasury was now overflowing as a result of peace in
+Europe and the shipping out of vast quantities of tobacco, Spotswood
+managed to get along without an Assembly for three years. He would
+probably have continued to do so indefinitely, had he not wanted an act
+to reimburse the Indian Company which had been dissolved by order of the
+King. The trade with the Indians had recently become a mere trickle,
+because South Carolina had confiscated the goods of some Virginia
+traders, and lawless savages had robbed others. So an act was passed in
+1714 under which a monopoly of the trade with the southern tribes was
+lodged in the Virginia Indian Company.
+
+In return the company was required to contribute £100 towards building a
+public magazine at Williamsburg, to garrison and keep in repair a fort
+at Christanna on the frontier, and erect a schoolhouse there for Indian
+children. Some of the leading men in the colony became stockholders,
+among them William Cocke, Mann Page, William Cole, Nathaniel Harrison,
+and Cole Digges. They had spent large sums "in purchasing servants,
+taking up land and making settlements on the frontier, clearing roads,
+and building warehouses," when word came that the act under which they
+operated had been vetoed by the King.[35] Since they were now left
+holding the bag, they asked that the Assembly reimburse them.
+
+The election which followed was one of the bitterest in Virginia
+history. Spotswood made full use of the patronage. "Commissions flew
+about to every fellow that could make two or three votes," wrote Joshua
+Gee. "He gave the power to his friends to make a discreet use of [them].
+And indeed never fouler play was by men, than at most of our
+elections."[36] Political pamphlets were distributed at every
+courthouse. One of them began: "Having seen a rascally paper which
+contained advice to freeholders in favor of a court party and tools of
+arbitrary power to enslave and ruin a free born people ... to prevent
+which I thought it my duty to open your eyes.... You are to know,
+brother electors, that this Assembly is called for no other reason but
+to pay to the Indian Company their charges on Fort Christanna, if they
+can get a set of men fit for that purpose to gull into that unjust
+payment."[37]
+
+The outcome of the election was another defeat for the Governor. No less
+than thirty-four members of the hostile House of Burgesses of 1715 were
+returned. Of the new members Gawin Corbin, John Grymes, Archibald Blair,
+and others were bitter enemies of Spotswood. During the session the
+Governor kept his temper, since he had been ordered to do so by the
+Lords of Trade, but the Burgesses, remembering his former insults, did
+everything they could to annoy him. Though his opening address was
+conciliatory, it was greeted with "violent censures." One wrathful
+member "shot his bolt" and cried out: "It is all stuff and calculated
+only for the latitude of Whitehall." When Spotswood laid before the
+House several letters from New York in regard to renewing a treaty with
+the Indians, "they made it their jest, and setting up a great laugh ...
+cried out in their vulgar language, 'A bite!'"[38]
+
+Needless to say, Spotswood got practically nothing out of this Assembly.
+They refused to repay the Indian Company for what they had laid out for
+the defense of the colony. They refused to pay for a proposed trip to
+New York by Spotswood to renew the treaty with the Iroquois. To his
+request for payment of his expenses in making fatiguing journeys in the
+service of the country, they replied, "we hope they will give you the
+satisfaction of reflecting that you have deserved the salary allowed by
+his Majesty."[39]
+
+But the Burgesses were not yet done with him. Late in the session, when
+it seemed that nothing more of importance was to come before them, and
+some had gone home and others were at the race track, the "party
+managers" brought in an address to the King with a long string of
+accusations against him. Spotswood intimates that Blair and Ludwell were
+responsible for this maneuver in order to have the House second the
+complaints of the Council. Blair made his influence felt through his
+brother, Archibald Blair, and Ludwell through his son-in-law, John
+Grymes. "As during the last two sessions the one has scarce let a day
+pass without dropping in the Assembly some scurrilous reflection upon
+me," Spotswood wrote, "so the other can't keep his temper when he
+perceives any matter agreeable to me is likely to be carried."[40]
+
+The accusations, which were embodied in instructions to William Byrd II
+as agent for the House, were carried by a vote of twenty-two to
+fourteen. But when they were considered one by one most of them were
+struck out. In their final form the accusations boiled down to little
+more than that the Governor had misconstrued the laws, that he had tried
+to keep the justices from levying the salaries of the Burgesses, and
+that he had by provoking speeches and messages abused the House.[41]
+Spotswood, in two long papers, had no difficulty in answering the
+charges, but they remained as convincing evidence that there existed
+widespread dissatisfaction with his administration.
+
+To counteract this impression he now followed the precedent set by
+Nicholson of seeking flattering addresses. "To support his cause tools
+were picked to make up grand juries to deliver fulsome addresses to the
+Governor and abuse the Council and Assembly," Joshua Gee tells us. "The
+same tools made addresses from the courts and even engaged every
+barefooted fellow to sign addresses from the counties."[42] The address
+from Middlesex spoke of Spotswood's wise and moderate government; that
+of the "justices, clergy, and principal inhabitants" of New Kent
+declared that his character had been traduced; that of King and Queen
+County that the charges against him were false. All in all, the
+addresses came from twenty-one of the twenty-five counties.[43]
+
+This deluge of praise must have had its influence with the Lords of
+Trade and the Earl of Orkney. But more convincing was the logic of
+Spotswood's letters in which he answered the charges against him. He had
+brought down on his head the hostility of the Councillors and Burgesses
+through his efforts to carry out their Lordships' orders and uphold the
+prerogative of the King, he said. To remove him for doing his duty would
+render the situation hopeless for future Governors.
+
+So, despite the arguments and pleading of William Byrd, both Orkney and
+the Lords of Trade gave Spotswood their support. Orkney thought that no
+essential complaint had been brought against him, and praised him for
+putting the government of Virginia upon a much improved footing.[44] The
+Board of Trade wrote Spotswood, in June, 1719: "You may depend upon all
+the countenance and support which we can give you which we think you
+have deserved."[45] It was rumored in Virginia, also, that the Board was
+considering removing from the Council some of the Governor's bitterest
+enemies.
+
+Yet at the moment of triumph, Spotswood, instead of lauding it over the
+Councillors and forcing them to submit, seemed anxious to compromise all
+differences. The key to his moderation is found in his opening address
+to the Burgesses in November, 1720: "To consider the stake I have among
+you and the free choice I've made to fix it under this government, you
+have not surely any grounds to suspect me of injurious designs against
+the welfare of this colony."[46] Then he indulged in a metaphor to show
+that the interests of Virginia and Great Britain did not conflict. "I
+look upon Virginia as a rib taken from Britain's side, and believe that
+while they both proceed as living under the marriage contract, this Eve
+must thrive as long as her Adam flourishes."
+
+In other words, Spotswood did not want to continue his differences with
+the planter aristocracy because he planned to become one of them. In
+1716 he had acquired 3,229 acres on the Rappahannock, known as the
+Germanna Tract, and peopled it with German tenants. Three years later he
+granted 3,065 acres, the so-called Wilderness Tract, to a certain
+Richard Hickman, who transferred it to him. He next acquired the Fork
+Tract, the Barrows Tract, the Mine Tract of 15,000 acres, the Lower
+Massaponax Tract, and the Upper Massaponax Tract. In 1729, when the new
+county of Spotsylvania was created, the Governor owned 25,000 acres
+within its borders.[47] On his Mine Tract he had invested so heavily in
+an iron foundry that Byrd called him the Tubal Cain of Virginia.
+
+So, when Nathaniel Harrison approached him with proposals for a
+reconciliation, Spotswood was quite willing to do his part. But there
+were long negotiations before peace was concluded. On May 16, 1718, when
+the Governor made new overtures, they were greeted by stiffness and
+reserve. Yet the Councillors at his invitation, went from the Capitol to
+the Palace, and there gathered around a bowl of arrack, drinking until
+midnight. On the other hand, the hostile eight shunned Spotswood's
+celebration of the King's birthday, "got together all the turbulent and
+disaffected Burgesses, had an entertainment of their own in the
+Burgesses House, and invited all the mob to a bonfire, where they were
+plentifully supplied with liquors."[48]
+
+In the end the Councillors came to terms. Smith and Berkeley were dead,
+while Carter, Blair, Ludwell, Lewis, Byrd, and Harrison had seen the
+handwriting on the wall. At a meeting in the Council Chamber of the
+Capitol, in April 1720, with Spotswood at the head of the table, it was
+agreed that all past controversies be forgotten, and that in the future
+there should be no other contention than who should most promote the
+King's service and the public benefit of the colony.[49]
+
+For some months there was comparative quiet in Virginia. But in 1721
+Spotswood became uneasy when James Blair decided to visit England. "He
+is continually assuring me of all the service he can do me at home," the
+Governor wrote to the Bishop of London, "but ... I shall be contented
+with his not offering to do me any disservice."[50] These fears were
+well-grounded, for there is reason to think that the Commissary was
+instrumental in having him removed from office, just how is not known.
+It is significant that when it was rumored that a new Governor was
+coming over, "it was understood that Parson Blair was likely to act as
+prime minister." Significant, also, is it that Hugh Drysdale, who
+succeeded Spotswood early in 1722, came to Virginia on the same vessel
+as Blair, and remained on the most intimate terms with him throughout
+his short administration.[51]
+
+Spotswood's last act as Lieutenant Governor reflects no credit upon his
+character, and did disservice both to the Crown and colony. Upon hearing
+that he was to be removed, he made out patents for huge tracts of land
+in Spotsylvania County to certain persons who immediately conveyed them
+to him.[52] He later adopted a system of tenantry, leasing land in small
+parcels for two generations, a system which was copied in the huge
+Virginia manors developed in western Virginia late in the century.
+Although tenantry hastened settlement, it was inconsistent with the
+democratic spirit of the frontier, and was largely abolished by the
+Revolution.
+
+Nathaniel Blakiston said of Spotswood: "That gentleman has real capacity
+and talents to manage in a high sphere, but he adheres too much to his
+own sentiments, and thinks himself ill-treated if everybody does not
+think as he does."[53] This weakness accounts in part for his inability
+to get along with either the Council or the Burgesses. Many of the
+policies which he advocated were wise, but his attempts to force them
+through were unwise. When the Council opposed him he tried to break
+their power; when the Burgesses thwarted him, he tried to bribe them
+into submission.
+
+Spotswood's administration was marked by several years of great
+prosperity, by the expansion of the frontier, by the attempts to develop
+manufactures, by the regulation of the tobacco trade; but more important
+was the demonstration that the people would no longer permit their
+representatives in the Assembly to be made submissive to the Governor by
+the use of the patronage. The punishment which they meted out to the
+faithless in the Assembly of 1714 marked a notable advance along the
+road to liberty, and was a warning to future Governors not to attempt to
+rule by corruption.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] CO5-1315, Doc. 26.
+
+[2] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 3: 525.
+
+[3] CO5-1318.
+
+[4] CO5-1406, Dec. 7, 1714.
+
+[5] _Spotswood letters_ 2: p. 50.
+
+[6] _Virginia Magazine_ 2: 2-15.
+
+[7] _Spotswood letters_ 2: 49.
+
+[8] CO5-1319.
+
+[9] CO5-1318.
+
+[10] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 132, 133.
+
+[11] _Ibid._, 167.
+
+[12] _Ibid._, 147, 148.
+
+[13] CO5-1318.
+
+[14] _Ibid._
+
+[15] _Ibid._
+
+[16] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, xxxiii.
+
+[17] _Ibid._, 153, 165, 168.
+
+[18] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 3: 243.
+
+[19] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 122.
+
+[20] _Ibid._, 169.
+
+[21] CO5-1313.
+
+[22] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 170.
+
+[23] CO5-1416.
+
+[24] _Executive journals of the Council_ 3: 437.
+
+[25] CO5-1318, Spotswood to the Lords of Trade, March 20, 1718.
+
+[26] _Ibid._
+
+[27] _Ibid._, Spotswood to Orkney, July 1, 1718.
+
+[28] Ludwell, Smith, Lewis, Bassett, Harrison, Berkeley, Carter, and
+Blair.
+
+[29] CO5-1364.
+
+[30] CO5-1318.
+
+[31] CO5-1318, Spotswood to the Lords of Trade, March 5, 1719.
+
+[32] _Ibid._, Byrd Concerning Courts.
+
+[33] _Ibid._, Spotswood to the Lords of Trade, Dec. 22, 1718.
+
+[34] _Ibid._, Spotswood to Orkney, Dec. 22, 1718.
+
+[35] CO5-1317, Memorial of the Virginia Indian Company.
+
+[36] CO5-1319, Letter of Mr. Gee, Oct. 5, 1721.
+
+[37] CO5-1318, "Advice to Freeholders."
+
+[38] CO5-1318, Answer to Lieutenant Governor Spotswood.
+
+[39] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 213.
+
+[40] CO5-1318, Spotswood to Orkney, Dec. 22, 1718.
+
+[41] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 230, 231.
+
+[42] CO5-1319, Letter of Mr. Gee.
+
+[43] CO5-1318.
+
+[44] _Board of Trade journal_, 1715-1718: 425, 426.
+
+[45] CO5-1365, Lords of Trade to Spotswood, June 26, 1719.
+
+[46] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 250.
+
+[47] Leonidas Dodson, _Alexander Spotswood_, Chap. XIII.
+
+[48] _Spotswood letters_ 2: 284.
+
+[49] _Executive Journals of the Council_ 3: 524.
+
+[50] Rawlinson manuscript.
+
+[51] CO5-1319.
+
+[52] Ludwell papers 2 (40).
+
+[53] _Ibid._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+PEACE AND PROSPERITY
+
+
+As the first quarter of the eighteenth century was a period of bitter
+contention between the Governors of Virginia and the Council and
+Burgesses, so the second quarter was marked by peace and harmony. In
+England the government, under the leadership of Sir Robert Walpole,
+adopted a conciliatory policy toward the colonies, the famous policy of
+letting sleeping dogs lie. Great Britain was reaping huge profits from
+the trade with America, and the chief concern of the Board of Trade was
+to see that no laws were passed by the Assemblies to lessen them. On the
+other hand, the colonies were permitted to govern themselves to a degree
+that would not have been tolerated under the Stuarts.
+
+Possibly it was by chance that the two Lieutenant Governors whose
+administrations covered this period--Hugh Drysdale and William
+Gooch--were admirably suited to carry out this policy. Or they may have
+been selected because of their winning personalities, their ability to
+see both sides of a question, their desire to do justice to all men,
+their lack of greed and ambition to dictate. We know that Drysdale was
+recommended to the Earl of Orkney by Walpole himself.[1] At all events,
+after contending for years with the implacable Nicholson and the
+dictatorial Spotswood, Drysdale and Gooch must have seemed gifts from
+Heaven to the Virginians.
+
+Drysdale arrived in Virginia on September 25, 1722, and two days later
+was sworn in in the Council Chamber. He was heartily welcomed. A few
+months later he could report that there was "universal contentment on
+the change made in the government," and that his administration had the
+approbation of all ranks of people.[2] In marked contrast to their wordy
+war with Spotswood, the Burgesses showed him only respect and affection.
+"We must acknowledge the present calm and tranquility to be the
+consequences of your prudence and moderation," they told him.[3] When
+he was planning to leave for England because of ill health, they
+addressed the King to say that his speedy return would be a great
+happiness to the people of the colony.[4]
+
+Drysdale's popularity was based more on what he did not do than what he
+did do. He made no attempt to undermine the judicial power of the
+Council, he seems not to have used the patronage to control the House of
+Burgesses, he did not try to make the colony less democratic by
+restricting the right to vote, he did not deny to the Burgesses their
+ancient privileges, he did not use his office for personal gain.
+
+He was at first critical of the policy, favored by the Council, of
+issuing patents for huge tracts of land. His predecessor had granted
+some for 10,000 acres, some for 20,000 acres, some for 40,000 acres
+despite the order that I,000 acres should be the limit. "Thus the
+intention of the government to make Spotsylvania a well inhabited
+frontier is frustrated," he said.[5]
+
+But the Councillors and other men of wealth persuaded him that large
+holdings which could be cut up into small farms and leased to tenants
+hastened rather than retarded settlement. "The Council are of opinion
+that the limiting the quantity of land to be taken up in the new
+counties is prejudicial and a discouragement to their speedy
+settlement," he wrote in July, 1724.[6] He did not stop to consider that
+the growth of tenantry would be a blow, not only to economic democracy,
+but political democracy as well, since tenants, unless they were also
+freeholders, had no right to vote.
+
+Drysdale called for an election for a new Assembly who met in the
+Capitol on May 9, 1723. The Burgesses had hardly settled themselves in
+their seats when they took up two cases which concerned the rights of
+the people and their privileges. In Essex County grievances had been
+presented to the court for certification to the Assembly, charging
+Colonel Joseph Smith, commander of the county militia, with harsh and
+illegal conduct while a member of a court-martial. Colonel Smith,
+himself a member of the court, refused to sign this paper, so that it
+failed to reach the House. Thereupon the Burgesses declared him "guilty
+of a breach of his duty," and ordered the Speaker to reprimand him.[7]
+In striking contrast to Spotswood's upholding of Littlefield and Butts
+in a similar case, Drysdale backed the House by removing Smith from the
+county court.[8]
+
+In the other case a certain William Hopkins was accused of "rude,
+contemptuous, and indecent" language in the House about one of the
+members--Mr. Matthew Kemp. When he was adjudged guilty and ordered on
+his knees to ask the pardon of the Burgesses and Mr. Kemp, he flatly
+refused. It was then ordered that he be led through the Duke of
+Gloucester Street, from the Capitol to the college gate and back, with a
+placard pinned to his breast bearing the following inscription: "For
+insolent behavior at the bar of the House of Burgesses, when he was
+there as an offender and with obstinacy and contempt disobeying their
+order." This prospect was too much for Hopkins, so, no doubt with inward
+curses, he made the apology.[9]
+
+There was universal grief in Virginia when Drysdale died, on July 22,
+1726. He was buried with elaborate ceremonies, to the booming of cannon.
+The Council wrote Mrs. Drysdale expressing "the just sense" of "the
+public loss," and giving her permission to remain for the time being in
+the Palace.[10] Pending the appointment of a new Lieutenant Governor,
+they voted to make Robert Carter President. The selection normally would
+have gone to Edmund Jenings, as the senior member of the Council, but he
+had just been suspended because of his age and because he was much
+"decayed in his understanding."
+
+William Gooch, who was appointed to succeed Drysdale, took the oath of
+office on September 11, 1727. It must have been with apprehension that
+the members of the Council greeted him. It would be too much to expect
+that the colony would have in succession two Governors of the stamp of
+Drysdale. Might not the new arrival be another Spotswood, or even
+another Nicholson?
+
+They were not long kept in doubt. Gooch proved to be one of the most
+popular Governors in the history of the colony. Sincerely interested in
+the welfare of the people, conciliatory in his dealings with both the
+Council and the Burgesses, he brought internal peace and contentment.
+The story was told of him that one day when in the company of several
+gentlemen, he happened to pass a Negro slave. When the Negro lifted his
+hat, Gooch lifted his in return.
+
+"What, Governor Gooch, do you lift your hat to a slave?" one of his
+companions asked.
+
+"I would be deeply humiliated to be surpassed in courtesy by a slave,"
+was the reply.
+
+Throughout Gooch's administration there was practically no friction
+between the Governor and the Assembly. The public affairs were carried
+on in perfect harmony and good understanding, he reported in 1734. The
+address of the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Sir John Randolph, to
+Gooch is one of the most remarkable in Virginia history. "You have
+shew'd how easy it is to give universal satisfaction to the people under
+your government.... You have not been intoxicated with the power
+committed to you by his Majesty, but have used it like a faithful
+trustee for the public good.... You never propose matters without
+supposing your opinion subject to the examination of others, nor strive
+to make other men's reason blindly and implicitly obedient to yours....
+You have extirpated all factions among us ... and plainly proved that
+none can arise, or be lasting, but from the countenance and
+encouragement of a Governor."[11]
+
+Both the Council and the Burgesses expressed their gratitude to Gooch by
+gifts of money, the former voting him £300 to cover the expense of his
+voyage to Virginia, and the latter giving him £500. Although his
+instructions forbade his acceptance, he pocketed the money. "I thought
+it would not become me to refuse this extraordinary instance of their
+regard," he wrote the Lords of Trade. There was a precedent for his
+acceptance, for Nicholson had had £300 when that sum was worth £600 in
+the present currency. And though the Board censured him, they did not
+make him refund the money.[12]
+
+It was typical of Gooch that he was willing to yield in matters of which
+he did not fully approve in order to carry points which he had very much
+at heart. He had not been long in the colony when he came to the
+conclusion that it would greatly benefit the planters if the tobacco
+inspection act of 1713 could be revived. But he was well aware that the
+people had not forgotten the use Spotswood had made of it to gain
+control of the House of Burgesses, or his veto of the bill to prohibit
+Burgesses from holding places of profit in the government. So, in
+return for the passage of a new tobacco law, he assented to an act to
+keep officeholders out of the House. "The Burgesses were for this bill,"
+he wrote the Lords of Trade, "and my desire to keep them in good humor
+while matters of greater moment were under their deliberation, prevailed
+with me to assent to it."[13]
+
+But he thought that the act had nothing in its favor, except that it was
+an imitation of the laws of England made for securing the freedom of
+Parliament. "In my humble opinion this country is yet too young for so
+refined a regulation. Places of profit are indeed but few, but men of
+capacity for the discharge of them do not much more abound; therefore
+either the government must be ill served, or the House of Burgesses
+meanly fitted if men of capacity and integrity must be shut out either
+of the one or the other."[14]
+
+Gooch either did not understand the importance of this bill, or
+deliberately concealed it from the British Government. Had he known of
+the use of the power of appointment by former Governors to gain control
+of the House of Burgesses, he could not have dismissed the measure so
+lightly. Nor could he have realized what a major victory it was for
+liberty. Henceforth no Berkeley could bribe the Burgesses into
+submission and so rule the colony like a despot; no Nicholson could hand
+out commissions as sheriffs, or collectors, or officers in the militia
+in exchange for votes in the House; no Spotswood could create tobacco
+agents' jobs to tempt the people's representatives.
+
+Though Gooch was solicitous for the welfare of the poor planter, he was
+not in favor of manhood suffrage. So he affixed his signature to a bill
+limiting the right to vote to freeholders owning 100 acres of unoccupied
+land or twenty-five acres with a house.[15] Had he had his way the
+limitation would have been greater. "Yet as the former laws had allowed
+any kind of a freehold to give that right, and all attempts made
+heretofore to exclude the mob of the populace ... had proved vain, it is
+much better to have that point fixed on some certain basis, than to
+leave all persons indefinitely at liberty to have a vote. ... After such
+a beginning it may be hoped a further regulation will follow to remove
+from the House such members as have little recommended them to the
+people's choice besides the art of stirring up discontents."[16]
+
+Though Gooch thus frankly avowed his dislike of democracy, he promoted
+its growth by encouraging the westward expansion of settlement, not only
+in the Piedmont, but in the Shenandoah Valley. In 1736 he wrote the
+Lords of Trade: "Great numbers, as well of his Majesty's natural born
+subjects as foreigners, ... have removed into this colony on the west
+side of our mountains." This he pointed out would be a protection to the
+older parts of the colony by heading off any attempt of the French at
+penetration.
+
+Perhaps it had not occurred to Gooch that expansion would divide the
+colony into two parts--the democratic up-country, and the aristocratic
+tidewater. Spotsylvania, Brunswick, Goochland, Amelia, Caroline, and
+other counties in the Piedmont were filling up with small farmers from
+the east, Frederick with poor Germans and Swiss. It is true that some
+well-to-do planters established "quarters" managed by overseers above
+the Fall Line, and later invaded parts of the Valley, but even as late
+as the French and Indian War frontier conditions persisted in the
+regions on either side of the Blue Ridge. The influence of the west grew
+steadily as each new county sent its two representatives to the House of
+Burgesses. Whereas in 1727 when there were 65 members of the House, only
+10 were from the west, in 1752, when the members numbered 104, 46 were
+from the western or southwestern counties. The time was not distant when
+the up-country members would count a majority. A bewigged Carter, or
+Harrison, or Wormeley, in his broadcloth suit with silver buttons, may
+have been resentful when a roughly clad delegate from Albemarle or
+Frederick took a seat beside him, but he dared not show it.
+
+But in the first test of strength the newcomers lost because the east
+still dominated the Council. In 1749, after the burning of the Capitol
+in Williamsburg, the western Burgesses proposed that the seat of
+government be moved to a site on the Pamunkey, in Hanover County, which
+would save them many miles of travel in attending meetings of the
+Assembly. The feeling on each side ran high. Mr. John Blair, a member of
+the Council, in conversation with one of the Burgesses, pointed to the
+Speaker, saying: "There goes the man who is at the bottom of this
+hellish scheme." The House was deeply offended, and was appeased only
+when Blair apologized. After much hesitation the bill for the removal
+was passed by a vote of forty to thirty-eight, but it was promptly
+rejected by the Council.[17] So the Capitol was rebuilt on the old
+foundations, but with the proviso that this would not fix the seat of
+government permanently in Williamsburg. It did, however, fix it there
+until the Revolution, when, in response to the wishes of an overwhelming
+majority of the people, it was moved to Richmond.
+
+During most of Gooch's administration the two Houses worked in harmony.
+But occasionally there was friction. At the close of the session of 1728
+the Burgesses passed a resolution to pay their own salaries out of the
+fund raised by the duty on liquors in order to lessen the hated poll
+tax. But the Council refused to concur. The Burgesses then voted that
+they be paid from funds in the hands of the Treasurer. Again the Council
+demurred. They argued that the salaries of the Burgesses was the concern
+of the counties. "It would be an unequal distribution of the public
+money to allow the same share of it to a county which has a thousand
+tithables as one that has three thousand."[18] This reasoning was based
+on the assumption that a Burgess represented only the interests of the
+county which elected him and not those of the colony as a whole, an
+assumption contradicted by the whole history of the House. Yet the
+Burgesses, though with some bitterness, were forced to yield for the
+time being.
+
+Gooch was much concerned over the dispute, for he was convinced that it
+was not ended. He was right. At the very next session a bill was passed
+to pay the Burgesses out of the money in the Treasurer's hands, provided
+this should not reduce the fund below £1,500.[19] The Council consented,
+under Gooch's urging, because the bill allowed the Burgesses only ten
+shillings a day instead of thirteen as formerly, and nothing when not
+actually in attendance, but "at home about their private affairs or
+perhaps in pursuit of their pleasures." Gooch wrote the Lords of Trade
+congratulating himself on having reduced salaries, but this does not
+obscure the fact that the act was a victory for the House.[20]
+
+In fact, the House of Burgesses, like the House of Commons, was becoming
+the dominating body, and the Council, like the House of Lords, was
+growing weaker. With the multiplying of the number of wealthy planters
+through the use of slave labor, the twelve men who made up the Council
+ceased to be the sole representatives of their interests. Many
+aristocrats were honored to have a seat in the Lower House. One has only
+to glance down the list of Burgesses to find many of the proudest names
+in colonial Virginia--Page, Harrison, Fairfax, Randolph, Burwell,
+Carter, Ball, Wormeley, Digges, Spotswood, Lee, Byrd, Claiborne, etc. So
+the aristocrat as well as the small farmer, the wealthy easterner as
+well as the pioneer of Orange or Albemarle, or the German of Frederick
+looked to the House to protect their interests.
+
+While the leadership of the House continued to be aristocratic, the rank
+and file grew more democratic. The open spaces of America fostered a
+spirit of independence. When men had gone into a wilderness, cleared
+openings in the forest, built their simple houses, laid out crops,
+fought the Indians, they became impatient of control by a group of
+eastern aristocrats, or by a government three thousand miles away in
+which they had no voice.
+
+Nor was democracy confined to the west, for the small farmer class of
+the east persisted despite the importation of thousands of slaves. It is
+true that many, finding it difficult to compete with slave labor, sold
+their little holdings, packed up their few household goods, and set out
+for the West or for one of the northern colonies. But others kept their
+heads above water by producing only the highest grades of tobacco, for
+which the blacks at first were not suited. "I must beg you to remember
+that the common people make the best," Gooch wrote in 1731.
+
+But this reprieve was only temporary, for in time the wealthy planter
+taught the Africans to produce even the high priced Orinoco. Then the
+poor planter had to join the class of slaveholders by making a few
+purchases, or sink into abject poverty. That thousands did buy slaves we
+know from an examination of the tax lists. In 1716, in Lancaster County,
+of some 200 slave-owners, 165 had from one to four only. The only large
+owner was the wealthy Robert Carter who had 126.[21]
+
+The replacing of the Virginia yeomanry, the men who cultivated their
+holdings with their own hands, by small slaveholders was in many ways a
+development to be deplored, but it saved the small farmer class from
+extinction, and democracy from a fatal blow. Without it all the eastern
+part of the colony and part of the Piedmont would have become a land of
+wealthy proprietors and their slaves, and ignorant, degraded,
+poverty-stricken whites.
+
+The small slaveholders were fiercely jealous of their rights, both
+social and political. From the proud aristocrat they demanded courtesy
+and respect. And these the aristocrat thought it wise to accord them,
+for he knew that they constituted an overwhelming majority of the
+voters. Nor were there anywhere, in the northern colonies or in the
+West, more ardent upholders of self-government. In the long struggle for
+liberty it was usually the aristocrats who led the way, but they would
+have been powerless had they not had the loyal support of the small
+eastern farmer as well as the western frontiersman.
+
+And the climax of this struggle was not distant. Walpole resigned in
+1752, and his successors were not inclined to let the colonies become
+semi-independent little republics. Had their attention not been diverted
+by European wars, they would probably have come to grips with the
+colonial governments sooner than they did.
+
+At the moment, however, the chief differences between Virginia and the
+mother country seemed to be economic rather than constitutional. The
+planters had long protested against the Navigation Acts, but they had in
+time adjusted themselves to them. To the merchants of England they were
+tied by the bonds of mutual interest, for they were dependent upon them
+for transporting and disposing of their tobacco, and for bringing them
+manufactured goods in return.
+
+But there developed various points of difference. And it became a bitter
+grievance to the planters that when these differences were placed before
+the British government, the decision always favored the merchants. In
+fact, so great was the influence of certain traders that at times their
+recommendations to important posts in the colonies were decisive. Among
+the best known of these men was Micajah Perry, whose opinion the Board
+of Trade frequently sought on matters affecting commerce. It was rumored
+that it was he who persuaded the Auditor General to appoint Philip
+Ludwell Auditor of Virginia. And when the British government turned down
+the recommendation of a Governor in filling a vacancy in the Council in
+favor of one by the merchants, it was deeply resented in the colony.
+"Your Lordships cannot but be sensible that little regard is likely to
+be paid a Governor who shall be supposed to have no interest at your
+Lordships' Board," Gooch wrote in 1747.
+
+The people were even more resentful at the insistence of the merchants
+in blocking any measure by the Assembly, no matter how beneficial, if
+they thought it would lessen their profits. Many of them had invested in
+the Royal African Company, and the slave trade to Virginia was booming.
+It was stated that black workers were coming in at the rate of 1,500 or
+1,600 a year, and at every landing place scores were sold to the highest
+bidders. In 1730, out of a total population of 114,000, no less than
+30,000 were Negroes.[22] With profits piling up, the merchants wanted no
+interference with this trade, however inhuman it was, and however
+harmful to the economic and social structure of the colony.
+
+Many thoughtful men in the colony viewed the situation with alarm, not
+only because the importation of so many blacks was drying up the stream
+of white immigrants from England, but because it was driving out of the
+colony poor men who did not want to compete with slave labor. And the
+planters had reason to dread slave insurrections. Some of the Africans
+were docile enough, but a few resented their bonds fiercely. In 1710 a
+conspiracy was discovered in Surry and James City Counties, in which the
+Negroes planned to rise, kill all who opposed them, and escape out of
+the colony. Several were tried in the General Court, convicted and
+executed.[23]
+
+There was much satisfaction when the Assembly, in the revenue act of
+1723, tried to stem the tide by placing a duty on the importation of
+slaves. But when the act came before the Lords of Trade, the merchants
+opposed it vigorously. John Gary, who had lived in Virginia, and later
+went to England to enter the tobacco trade, when summoned before the
+Board, argued against it. It would ruin the poor planters, he said,
+because it would run up the cost of slaves, and they would not be able
+to buy enough to cultivate their plantations.[24] This argument, as we
+have seen, was not entirely misleading, but it ignored the predicament
+of the thousands who could afford not even one, no matter how cheap, and
+so sank into great poverty, became "poor white trash." Yet the Board
+sided with Cary and his fellow merchants, and in January, 1724, advised
+the King to veto the act.
+
+The Assembly, greatly disappointed, five years later made another
+attempt, placing a duty of forty shillings a head on the importation of
+slaves. Gooch gave them his full support. The merchants would not be
+injured by the law, he argued, since the purchasers had to pay the
+tax.[25] But the importers did not see it that way, and at their urging
+the King disallowed the act.
+
+How bitterly these vetoes were resented in Virginia is shown by a
+statement of Thomas Jefferson in his "A Summary View of the Rights of
+British America," written in 1774. "The abolition of slavery is the
+great object of desire in those colonies, where it was, unhappily,
+introduced in their infant state. But previously to the enfranchisement
+of the slaves we have, it is necessary to exclude all further
+importations from Africa. Yet our repeated attempts to effect this, by
+prohibitions, and by imposing duties which might amount to a
+prohibition, having been hitherto defeated by his Majesty's negative:
+thus preferring the immediate advantages of a few British corsairs to
+the lasting interests of the American States, and the rights of human
+nature deeply wounded by this infamous practice. Nay, the single
+interposition of an interested individual against a law was scarcely
+ever known to fail of success, though, in the opposite scale, were
+placed the interests of a whole country."[26]
+
+The merchants opposed, not only the duty on slaves, but any other duty
+which they thought might lessen imports. The Assembly repeatedly passed
+laws to place duties on rum, brandy, wine, cider, beer, and ale, not
+because they thought they would debauch the people, but to raise revenue
+to meet the needs of the government without resorting to the hated poll
+tax. They finally persuaded the merchants that light duties on liquors
+would do them no harm. And perhaps the King was persuaded to give his
+assent by the urgings of Gooch. "The revenue arising from the duty on
+liquors is the best expedient to raise money for defraying the
+contingent charges of the government and the chief support of the
+College of William and Mary," he wrote. "By it most of the public debts
+are paid and the people eased of an intolerable poll tax, which many of
+the poorer sort would be unable to pay."
+
+But in 1730 the Assembly went too far when, in the revenue bill of that
+year, they exempted Virginia owners from half the tax in a rather
+forlorn attempt to build up local shipping. The merchants were
+indignant. It was a very partial procedure, they thought, for the
+colonists to tax his Majesty's subjects at large to a higher degree than
+themselves. Moreover, it set up the shipping of Virginia in opposition
+to and in great prejudice to the navigation of Great Britain. Needless
+to say the act was disallowed.[27] It was now the turn of the planters
+to be indignant. Gooch wrote the Board: "I cannot conceal from your
+Lordships the resentment of the people against the merchants."[28]
+
+The Virginians, like the peoples of the other colonies, were angered at
+the passage of the Molasses Act, which placed prohibitive duties on the
+trade between the British colonies on the American continent and the
+foreign West Indies. Virginia's stake in the trade to the French and
+Spanish islands was much less than that of New England, but it was great
+enough to draw a protest from Gooch. And the good Governor seems to have
+winked at the violations of the act. In 1734 he wrote the Lords of
+Trade: "As to trade, upon the strictest inquiry I can make I can find
+none ... but with Great Britain, the British islands in the West Indies,
+and the island of Madeira."[29] The Board might well have asked why it
+was, if this were true, that so many Spanish pieces of eight and so many
+pistoles and French guineas and crowns were circulating in the colony.
+
+Even more serious than the conflict between planters and merchants over
+the restrictions of trade, was the quarrel over debts. The trade with
+Great Britain was carried on chiefly by credit, and in times when the
+price of tobacco was high and profits good the planters lived well and
+spent freely. Then it was that they made heavy purchases of silverware,
+handsome furniture, or even blooded horses. And only too often, when
+prices of tobacco fell, they could not bring themselves to curtail
+expenditures in proportion. In fact, when they placed their orders they
+could not foresee just what their year's crop would yield. Many of them
+became involved in debt. When they could not meet their obligations, the
+merchants demanded that their lands be forfeited. On the other hand, the
+planters, from time to time, tried to lessen the burden by paying their
+creditors in depreciated paper money.
+
+When the merchants appealed to the Virginia courts to force payment of
+debts they found them usually sympathetic with the debtors. Moreover, in
+most cases they could not appeal to the British courts for there was a
+law forbidding it in cases involving less than £300. For larger suits
+the shoe was on the other foot, for when they were taken before the
+Privy Council, the advantage was all with the merchants. Residing in
+Great Britain, most of them in London, they could appeal in person to
+present their cause. Since the prosperity of the kingdom was so
+dependent upon its commerce, they always received a sympathetic hearing.
+
+Typical was the suit of the executors of Micajah and Richard Perry to
+recover debts from the estate of Colonel William Randolph, who had had a
+long-standing account with them. When the Virginia courts decided in
+favor of the defendants, the executors of the Perrys appealed to the
+King. The Privy Council referred the matter to a commission of four
+merchants, three of whom gave it as their judgment that with compound
+interest and insurance charges the defendants owed £2,460. So the
+verdict of the Virginia court was reversed.
+
+The Council and Burgesses protested in an address to the King. They were
+alarmed that this case had been decided without a legal trial by jury,
+they said. It had never been the practice to charge "interest upon
+interest" in "open running accounts." They thought it wrong that "the
+reports of merchants" who were not under oath and were inclined to favor
+one another, should be permitted to overrule the verdict of legal
+juries. If the planters were to be loaded with whatever charges their
+factors thought fit, it would greatly discourage trade and industry.[30]
+
+But they were unprepared for the extreme lengths to which the merchants
+would go. At a meeting of the Council in October, 1731, they could
+hardly credit their ears when Gooch read them a letter stating that they
+were about to present a petition to Parliament concerning the colonies.
+They wanted first a law prohibiting the Assemblies from passing any
+acts affecting trade and navigation, second, a law making real estate
+liable for debts, and third, a law permitting appeals from the Virginia
+General Court to the Privy Council in suits involving £100 or more.[31]
+
+Gooch wrote at once to the Board denouncing this attempt to muzzle the
+Assembly. "When I considered, my Lords, how long and happily the British
+subjects have traded to America and acquired great riches under the
+ancient establishment made in these points by the Crown, set forth in
+the royal charters and instructions, without seeking to abridge the
+people of the plantations of their birthright as Englishmen, or limiting
+the Crown in the methods of government, I must confess I was somewhat
+startled."[32]
+
+The Council also protested vigorously. It was impossible for the
+Assembly to avoid all legislation affecting trade, they said in a letter
+to the Board, since it might prohibit certain vitally necessary laws. If
+the merchants objected to any act of Assembly, they could lay the matter
+before the King. As for making the land of the planters liable for
+debts, it was pointed out that there was no law making the lands of the
+merchants liable to the demands of the colonists. Yet the factors were
+as often in the planters' debt as the planters in theirs. It would
+create uneasiness in the minds of a loyal people to find they had not
+equal justice. And to allow appeals to the King in cases involving as
+little as £100 would be a heavy burden; for the expense of the planter,
+who would have to make a voyage to England to defend his rights, would
+be as great as the sum involved.[33]
+
+It was no doubt to anticipate any action to forbid legislation in the
+colony affecting trade that a clause was added to certain acts
+suspending their operation until the King had given his assent. During
+Gooch's administration the first such act appropriated £1,000 for the
+erection of a lighthouse of brick and stone on Cape Henry, provided
+Maryland appropriate a like amount and the King gave his assent. A duty
+of one penny a ton was to be levied on all vessels passing the light.
+Gooch urged the Lords of Trade to influence Lord Baltimore to recommend
+the matter to the Maryland Assembly. But he was treading on dangerous
+ground when he suggested that if the Marylanders balked, the Board
+secure an act of Parliament "to bind both governments to do that good to
+themselves and the trade of Great Britain."[34] Fortunately the Board
+refused to take such a drastic step, and it was only in 1772 that the
+lighthouse was erected.[35]
+
+Knowing that the King had vetoed the tobacco act of 1713, Gooch took
+pains to prepare the minds of the Board of Trade to consider favorably
+the new one he was contemplating. The government was being defrauded by
+running tobacco into Great Britain without paying the duty there, he
+wrote them. It was the practice for sailors to buy "mean and trash
+tobacco," and sell it to agents who knew how to dispose of it. "Thus is
+the market for the good tobacco damped by the fraudulent importation of
+the bad." The remedy was to bring all the tobacco under strict
+inspection by sworn officers, all the bad destroyed, and the weight of
+every hogshead reported to the commissioners of the customs.
+
+The tobacco act of 1730 provided for warehouses to which all tobacco
+must be brought in hogsheads for inspection, where it would be burnt if
+of low grade, or stamped if good, and the owner paid in notes which
+circulated as money. At the time the price of tobacco was low, and the
+planters, especially the small farmers, were in dire need. Gooch
+contended that the law would stimulate trade and bring relief.
+
+His arguments were set forth in a printed pamphlet entitled _A Dialogue
+between Thomas Sweet-scented, William Orinoco, Planters, both Men of
+Good Understanding, and Justice Love-Country_.
+
+Will opened the discussion: "I am sure I have heard a great many
+speeches against it at the race-grounds and at the county courts....
+Why, pray is it not a clear case, don't we see our tobacco burnt?...
+T'was constantly buzzed about as if by this law the rich intended to
+ruin the poor."
+
+Justice: "None but the worst villains could suggest such a reflection."
+
+And so the arguments went, with Justice answering every objection.
+
+Gooch claimed that the law in operation benefited the poor. It was the
+rich man with his slave labor who was responsible for most of the
+"trash" which the inspectors burnt. The small farmer who planted,
+tended, and cured his own tobacco produced the best.[36] In fact, he
+added, "the greatest encouragement is given to the common people to make
+tobacco that could be thought of, for ... they take as many notes for it
+as they please, i. e. notes for fifty or a hundred pounds ... [which]
+will be accepted as payment at any store or shop." In other words, it
+gave them a far more convenient currency than their bulky tobacco. More
+convincing to the small farmer than these arguments was the rise in the
+price of tobacco which followed the passage of the act. But it must have
+been obvious to thoughtful men that no regulation of the tobacco trade
+could better the condition of the poor man so long as he had to compete
+with slave labor. It was slavery which created a trash far more harmful
+than poor tobacco--poor white trash.
+
+Gooch's success in securing the King's assent to the tobacco law was
+matched by his success in persuading the Assembly to assist with men and
+money in an expedition against New Granada on the northern coast of
+South America. In May, 1740, an act was passed to impress men, and in a
+few weeks about four hundred had been raised. A ragged, motley crowd
+they must have been, for no one was taken who had any lawful occupation
+or who had a right to vote.[37] But the officers were from the best
+Virginia families, among them Lawrence Washington, half-brother of
+George Washington. Later the Assembly voted £5,000 to cover the cost of
+feeding and transporting the troops as far as Jamaica, where they were
+to join the forces sent out from England.
+
+Former Governor Spotswood had been appointed to lead the colonials, but
+when he died before the ships sailed, Governor Gooch, leaving the
+government in the hands of the senior Councillor, Commissary Blair, took
+over the command. The attack on Cartagena proved a failure. The British
+ships could not get near enough to shell the town. When the troops tried
+to storm the walls the ladders proved too short, and they were repulsed
+with heavy losses. Gooch himself was wounded.
+
+Gooch was knighted in 1746, and made a major general in the British
+army. He seems never to have recovered fully from his wound, and from
+an illness contracted during the New Granada campaign. Complaining that
+he had grown old and infirm, he asked the King for permission to "go
+home" to recover his health. To the universal regret of the people of
+Virginia, he left for England in the summer of 1749. He died December
+17, in London.
+
+Gooch himself gave the key to his administration when he wrote: "The
+condition of affairs in this colony may be summed up in two words, peace
+and plenty." With many families becoming rich through the settlement of
+the West and the growth of the tobacco trade, with many hundreds of
+small farmers acquiring a degree of well-being by the purchase of a few
+slaves, with no immediate threat from the Indians on the frontier, with
+Governor and Council maintaining cordial relations, with the Governor
+cooperating with the Assembly and not trying to dominate it, with rapid
+strides being made toward the goal of self-government, the years of
+Gooch's administration may aptly be termed the golden era of Virginia
+colonial history.
+
+Many of the addresses of various bodies to the Virginia Governors lack
+the ring of sincerity, because they were obtained by bribery or threats.
+But the Council, in 1736, seem to have spoken from their hearts when
+they told Gooch: "As for us, Sir, who have the honor to be the near
+witnesses of the prudence, moderation, and justice of your
+administration, we should be unjust to ourselves, as well as ungrateful
+to your character, if we ... did not declare that we esteem the quiet
+and tranquillity which this colony has enjoyed under your government as
+one of the greatest public blessings."
+
+The Burgesses were even more articulate: "We are very sensible how much
+the colony owes to your good conduct in the government, and that all
+your actions are directed to a faithful discharge of your duty to his
+Majesty and to promote our common good. And should we distrust so just
+and upright a magistrate it would be discountenancing a virtuous
+administration, and making no difference between that and the greatest
+enormities, tyranny, and oppression. Or should we withhold our
+confidence from a person who for so many years has never once abused it,
+we might justly be reckoned an unworthy representative of a grateful
+people."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Leonidas Dodson, _Alexander Spotswood_, 270, 271.
+
+[2] _Sainsbury transcripts_ 9: 74, 75.
+
+[3] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 402.
+
+[4] _Ibid._, 419.
+
+[5] _Sainsbury transcripts_, 9: 121.
+
+[6] _Ibid._, 134.
+
+[7] _Ibid._, xlix, 1.
+
+[8] _Executive journals of the Council_ 4: 40.
+
+[9] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 1.
+
+[10] _Executive journals of the Council_ 4: 114.
+
+[11] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1727-1740: 242.
+
+[12] Gooch to the Lords of Trade, Feb. 12, 1728; Aug. 9, 1728.
+
+[13] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 4: 292.
+
+[14] July 23, 1730.
+
+[15] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 4: 475.
+
+[16] Gooch to the Lords of Trade, Oct. 5, 1736.
+
+[17] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1742-1749: xxvii, xxviii.
+
+[18] Gooch to the Lords of Trade, June 8, 1728.
+
+[19] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 4: 279.
+
+[20] July 23, 1730.
+
+[21] _William and Mary Quarterly_ 2: 106-122.
+
+[22] CO5-1322, Report of Gooch.
+
+[23] _Executive journals of the Council_ 3: 234, 235.
+
+[24] _Sainsbury transcripts_ 9: 112.
+
+[25] June 8, 1728.
+
+[26] _The writings of Thomas Jefferson_, A. A. Lipscomb, ed. 1: 201.
+
+[27] CO5-1322, pp. 287, 317.
+
+[28] Oct. 22, 1731.
+
+[29] May 24, 1734.
+
+[30] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 422-424.
+
+[31] _Executive journals of the Council_ 4: 252.
+
+[32] July 10, 1731.
+
+[33] Council to the Lords of Trade, Jan. 1, 1732.
+
+[34] June 8, 1728.
+
+[35] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 6: 227.
+
+[36] Gooch to the Lords of Trade, Feb. 27, 1731.
+
+[37] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 5: 94-96.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+AT STAKE--LIBERTY AND A CONTINENT
+
+
+When Robert Dinwiddie stepped ashore at Yorktown on November 20, 1751,
+he was greeted by Secretary Thomas Nelson and two members of the
+Council--Colonel William Fairfax and William Nelson. Hastening on to
+Williamsburg, he was met on the road by Commissary William Dawson, John
+Blair, and Philip Ludwell. When the little cavalcade reached the
+outskirts of the town, they found the Mayor, Aldermen, and other
+prominent citizens waiting to welcome them. At the Palace, Dinwiddie
+took the oath of office. He and the members of the Council then went to
+Wetherburn's tavern for dinner, where they were guests of the town. As
+the cannons at the powder horn roared their approval, they lifted their
+glasses to drink the "royal healths."
+
+The inauguration of Dinwiddie brought to an end the custom of appointing
+military officers as Governors or Lieutenant Governors of the colony.
+Nicholson, Andros, Spotswood, Hunter, Drysdale, and Gooch had all been
+soldiers. One wonders why the policy had persisted so long, for there
+would seem to be little in the training of an army officer to fit him
+for the duties of a colonial administrator. The habit of issuing
+commands and expecting instant obedience might easily cause failure in
+dealing with a liberty-loving people. Yet in practice, it seems to have
+been the personal character of the Governor, rather than his training,
+which determined his conduct. Nicholson and Spotswood were by nature
+dictators, Drysdale and Gooch had no desire for power for power's sake.
+
+Yet the Virginians were no doubt pleased with the appointment of a man
+from civil life. Dinwiddie came from a family of Glasgow merchants, and
+as a young man had been engaged in the pottery business. At the age of
+twenty-eight he was made Collector of Customs in Bermuda, in which
+office he won the approval of the Lords of Trade by uncovering serious
+frauds in the collecting of customs in the West Indies. In 1738 he was
+advanced to the important post of Surveyor General of the southern ports
+of the North American continent. Additional responsibilities were
+placed upon him a few years later, when he was made Inspector General of
+the Customs. In 1749 he resigned this office, probably in order to
+engage in trade.
+
+The painting of Dinwiddie in the National Portrait Gallery, London,
+shows a rather stout, middle-aged man. The face which looks out from
+beneath a large wig, despite the placid expression, shows strength in
+the lines of the mouth and the steady gaze of the eyes. Dinwiddie,
+throughout his career did not willingly provoke a conflict, but when the
+conflict was started he fought stubbornly. Yet when necessity dictated
+he knew how to yield. The first of these qualities made him an important
+factor in preserving the most important part of North America for
+British civilization. The other contributed greatly to the triumph of
+self-government in Virginia.
+
+The new Lieutenant Governor's administration began auspiciously. In his
+opening address to the Assembly he expressed his pleasure at being in
+Virginia, where he had so many friends. He realized it would be
+difficult to equal the record of his predecessor, but he hoped, with the
+advice of the Council and the Burgesses, to serve the colony well. One
+wonders whether he had in mind some of the former Governors of Virginia
+when he pointed out that indolence, avarice, and ambition were
+responsible for many public calamities.
+
+The spirit of good will to the Governor ripened into gratitude when he
+sided with the Assembly in their protest against an action of the King
+in Council. This was almost unprecedented, for a Governor was supposed
+to defend anything the royal government did, no matter how harmful to
+the colony or unjust.
+
+It seems that the Assembly, in 1748 and 1749, had made a laborious
+revision of the laws. The completed work, in sixty-seven acts, they sent
+to the King so that he could review them. But it was not anticipated
+that he would either veto or sign any of them. So there was
+consternation when Dinwiddie reported that the King in Council had
+signed fifty-seven of the revised laws and vetoed ten. Of the latter,
+two--one declaring slaves personal property and the other setting up the
+General Court--were of great importance. Each House drew up an address
+to the King pleading with him to reconsider his action. When Dinwiddie
+promised to endorse and deliver them, Councillors and Burgesses alike
+were grateful. Before dispersing they voted him a gift of £500, which
+Dinwiddie, despite his instructions seems to have accepted.[1]
+
+But the honeymoon was of short duration. Before Dinwiddie left England
+he was entrusted with a new seal for Virginia. It was this, no doubt,
+which gave him the idea of adding to his income by charging a pistole
+for signing patents for land and affixing the seal. Had he been aware of
+the storm raised by the similar attempt by Lord Effingham sixty-four
+years earlier, he would have known what was in store for him. The
+Council, too, seem to have been forgetful in this matter, for when the
+Governor asked their opinion, they advised him to go ahead.[2]
+
+When the Assembly met in November, 1753, Dinwiddie told them that a
+large body of French regulars, accompanied by Indian allies, had marched
+down from Canada into the Ohio region and had built a fort there. The
+King had commanded him to lay before them a request for funds to defeat
+their designs, and to purchase gifts for the friendly Indians.
+
+The Burgesses were fully aware of the danger. For the French to build a
+chain of forts on the Monongahela and the Ohio to connect with those on
+the Mississippi would make a barrier to further expansion of the English
+colonies to the west. It would also constitute an ever present threat to
+their frontier, since in future wars the way would be open to forays of
+hostile Indians. Such men as Joshua Fry, Edmund Pendleton, John
+Robinson, and Benjamin Harrison may have realized that the fate of
+Virginia and of all English North America hung in the balance.
+
+But for the moment the Burgesses were more interested in preserving
+their liberty than their safety. They began by considering the
+complaints of several counties against the pistole fee. Dinwiddie
+accused the Reverend William Stith, President of the College of William
+and Mary, of inciting the people against the fee. Stith was his personal
+enemy, he thought, because he had opposed his appointment as Commissary
+of the clergy.[3] So he wrote to the Bishop of London suggesting that if
+he would advise Stith "to be peaceable and quiet and teach the doctrine
+of love," it would make him more easy in his government.[4] If it was
+Stith who aroused the people against the pistole fee, he made a good
+job of it. Henrico County protested, Chesterfield protested, Albemarle
+protested, Cumberland, Amelia, Dinwiddie Counties protested.
+
+ [Illustration: Governor Dinwiddie. Portrait in the National Portrait
+ Gallery of London. Reproduced by permission.]
+
+ [Illustration: The General Court in the Old Capitol at Williamsburg.
+ Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.]
+
+The Burgesses were deeply concerned. In an address to the Lieutenant
+Governor they declared that their duty in the discharge of the trust
+reposed in them by the people required them to ask him by what authority
+he demanded the fee. He replied that he had acted on his own authority,
+with the advice of the Council. And he intimated that the taking of the
+fee was a thing that did not concern them.
+
+The Burgesses were indignant. In an address of historic significance
+they told Dinwiddie "in the strongest terms" that it was their undoubted
+right to enquire into the grievances of the people. To question it was
+to threaten the liberties of his Majesty's subjects and the constitution
+of the government. "The rights of the subject are so secured by law that
+they cannot be deprived of the least part of their property but by their
+own consent. Upon this excellent principle is our constitution founded,
+and ever since this colony has had the happiness of being under the
+immediate protection of the Crown the royal declarations have been:
+'That no man's life, member, freehold, or goods be taken away or harmed
+but by established and known laws.'"[5]
+
+Well would it have been if the King and his advisers had pondered well
+this declaration when it came before them, for it gave in unmistakable
+language the principle in defense of which the American Revolution was
+fought. And it would have been well for Dinwiddie had he bowed to the
+wishes of the Burgesses at a time when their cooperation was needed to
+save the British colonies from French aggression.
+
+But in the meanwhile he had placed the matter before the Board of Trade,
+and the Board had asked the opinion of Attorney General Sir Dudley
+Ryder.[6] When Dinwiddie received word that Sir Dudley thought the
+assent of the Assembly unnecessary, he was resolved not to yield. The
+fee relates solely to the disposal of the King's lands, he told the
+Burgesses, which is a matter of favor from the Crown.
+
+The Governor's plea that the fee was necessary in order to bring
+thousands of occupied, but unpatented acres, under the rent roll seems
+to have been an afterthought. "On my arrival I found in the Secretary's
+office a list of lands taken up near 1,000,000 acres, which, most of
+them, should have been patented," he wrote the Board of Trade, "which is
+an annual loss to the quit rents."[7] But he did not explain how the
+charging of a pistole fee would have been an incentive to the holders of
+these lands to have them patented.
+
+The Burgesses were by this time thoroughly aroused. The Governor said it
+was only "some hotheaded young men" who had stirred up all the trouble,
+but when it was resolved that his answer was unsatisfactory, there was
+not one dissenting voice. The demand for the fee, they insisted, was
+illegal and arbitrary, contrary to the charters of the colony, to King
+William's express order, and tending to the subversion of laws and
+constitution. They were determined to place the matter before the King
+in a "dutiful and loyal address."[8]
+
+At the close of the session, after the Governor's speech proroguing
+them, the Burgesses refused to budge from their seats until they had
+passed still another resolution which breathed the spirit of revolution:
+"That whoever shall hereafter pay a pistole as a fee to the Governor for
+the use of the seal to patents for land shall be deemed a betrayer of
+the rights and privileges of the people." This Dinwiddie thought tended
+to "sowing sedition and rebellion among the people."[9]
+
+In the meanwhile, the Burgesses had drawn up the address to the King and
+appointed Attorney General Peyton Randolph their agent to take it to
+England. To defray his expenses and pay him for his services, they voted
+him £2,500 out of the funds in the hands of the Treasurer. When this
+came before the Council, they rejected it. The Treasurer then declared
+that he would pay the money without their consent, but he refrained when
+the Governor told him it would not be allowed in his accounts.
+
+"I am sorry to find them very much in a republican way of thinking,"
+Dinwiddie wrote to the Earl of Halifax, "and indeed they do not act in a
+proper constitutional way, but making encroachments on the prerogative
+of the Crown, which some former Governor submitted too much to them, and
+I fear without a very particular instruction it will be difficult to
+bring them in order."[10]
+
+When Randolph asked Dinwiddie for permission to go to England, he met
+with a prompt refusal. "You have not acted agreeable to your duty and
+your office," he told him. When Randolph insisted upon going, the
+Governor assumed that he had vacated his office and appointed George
+Wythe Attorney General in his place.[11]
+
+Soon after Randolph's arrival in England articles began to appear in the
+gazettes intended to arouse sentiment against the pistole fee, which
+Dinwiddie wrongly attributed to him. The fee was no less than a tax
+levied on the people without their consent, they said. Foreign
+Protestants and others were leaving the colony rather than pay it. To
+this Dinwiddie replied that any thinking man could distinguish between a
+fee and a tax. And he denied flatly that one person had left Virginia to
+avoid the pistole fee.[12] But he was sorry that the affair had made so
+much noise in the English coffee houses.
+
+The Board of Trade considered the pistole dispute most inopportune. At a
+time when the French were challenging the right of Great Britain to the
+vast trans-Allegheny region, it was unfortunate that the Governor should
+have aroused the bitter resentment of the Assembly. "It is necessary
+that harmony and mutual confidence be established between the Governors
+and people in all the colonies," they wrote, "but especially in
+Virginia, on the frontier of which the French are carrying on their
+encroachments."[13]
+
+But they could not desert Dinwiddie entirely since the issue involved
+the royal prerogative. The King rejected the address of the Burgesses,
+and the Board confirmed the Governor's right to the fee. But they hedged
+it about with several restrictions. There must be no fee for grants of
+less than one hundred acres, or for lands granted for importing
+settlers, or for lands west of the mountains. They reproved Dinwiddie
+for proposing that the fee be established by act of Assembly, in
+violation of the King's rights. The making out of surveys for land and
+neglecting to pass patents was clearly "in the Governor's power to
+prevent." "We expect you to do your duty ... even though no pecuniary
+advantage should arise from it." And they recommended that he reinstate
+Randolph as Attorney General. "This may quiet the minds of the people
+and stop this unjust clamor."[14]
+
+Dinwiddie was far from happy about this report. The proposal to
+establish the fee by act of Assembly had come from the Council, not from
+him, he wrote in reply. As for not taking a fee for patents west of the
+mountains, he wanted to know which mountains. He had taken no fee for
+lands beyond the Alleghenies. The suggestion to reinstate the Attorney
+General was especially displeasing. However, when Randolph arrived at
+Williamsburg with many letters of recommendation from men of influence
+in England, denying that he had written the attacks on the Governor in
+the press, and promising "to conduct himself more regularly in future
+and with more regard to his Majesty's service," he reinstated him.[15]
+
+One wonders just how many pistoles Dinwiddie pocketed for the use of the
+seal in the six and a half years of his administration. A few months
+after he had left Virginia for good there were no less than 1,360
+applications for patents waiting to be sealed. Governor Fauquier,
+Dinwiddie's successor, stated that this was costing the Crown £1,000 a
+year in quit rents. It would seem to indicate that Dinwiddie, ignoring
+the positive orders of the Board of Trade, had appeased the people by
+permitting 1,000,000 acres of occupied land to remain unpatented. Thus
+the Governor's victory was a hollow one, and the Burgesses, without
+acquiescing in the decision of the Board, were content to let the matter
+drop so long as the fee was not collected.
+
+Fauquier, on his part, handled this hot potato with care. "Being
+extremely desirous to keep peace and harmony in this country," he wrote
+the Lords of Trade, "and that his Majesty's revenue should not suffer
+... I have made a declaration in Council that I would be willing to
+acquiesce in anything that should be thought reasonable to procure both
+these advantages. This affair has formerly raised a great flame in this
+country which is not yet quite subsided, and ... I am endeavoring to
+quench it entirely that the Assemblies may the easier be prevailed upon
+to give what is necessary."[16]
+
+In the meanwhile the storm of war had broken over the colonies. A
+terrible war it was. It lacked the wholesale devastation of the atomic
+bomb and the hydrogen bomb, but it was marked by infinite cruelties.
+Dinwiddie described it vividly. "Think you see the infant torn from the
+unavailing struggles of the distracted mother, the daughters ravished
+before the eyes of their wretched parents, and then, with cruelty and
+insult, butchered and scalped. Suppose the horrid scene completed, and
+the whole family, man, wife, and children murdered and scalped by these
+relentless savages, and then torn in pieces."[17]
+
+To Dinwiddie goes the credit of warning the British government that the
+French were trying to confine the English to the region east of the
+Alleghenies. In December, 1752, he wrote the Board of Trade that they
+had built a string of forts from Canada to the mouth of the Mississippi,
+that they had 5,000 soldiers at New Orleans, and 1,600 elsewhere in
+America. When he heard that a force of French and Indians had built a
+fort on the Allegheny River, and were preparing to descend on the Ohio,
+he sent young George Washington to warn them to leave. This proving
+ineffectual, he came to the Assembly for funds to finance an expedition
+to drive them out.
+
+This was the first of a series of appeals for money which gave the
+Assembly a golden opportunity to weaken the power of the Governor and
+the royal prerogative. Yet it was an opportunity full of danger. If they
+clogged their grants with such conditions that Dinwiddie would not
+accept them, they ran the risk of having the colony overrun by the
+enemy. At times the Governor was in despair. "The French could have cut
+off every one of our men and marched down to Hampton without the least
+danger," he wrote in July, 1754.
+
+When the Assembly met in February, 1754, Dinwiddie told them that
+Washington had seen a large body of the enemy on the upper Allegheny.
+Give me men and supplies to oppose them, he pleaded. The safety of
+Virginia depends on you at this critical juncture.[18] In reply to this
+appeal they did vote £10,000 but Dinwiddie was far from happy about it
+because the bill named a committee of the two Houses to supervise its
+expenditure. "This bill takes from me the undoubted right I have of
+directing the application of the money," he complained. But since funds
+could be had on no other terms he gave his assent. "I assure you it was
+contrary to my inclination, but necessity has no law," he wrote James
+Abercrombie.[19]
+
+So men were raised and equipped and sent out to the junction of the
+Allegheny and the Monongahela. Here, under the command of George
+Washington, they were fortifying themselves when they were attacked by
+the French and Indians and forced to retire. Again Dinwiddie pleaded for
+a grant large enough to meet the emergency. When the Assembly responded
+by voting £20,000, he was delighted until he discovered a rider to pay
+Peyton Randolph the £2,500 they had promised him for representing them
+in England in the pistole affair. This was too much for Dinwiddie to
+swallow, so he vetoed the bill.[20]
+
+In his perplexity the Governor now made a radical suggestion to the
+Board of Trade. "I think it impossible to conduct any expedition in
+these parts with a dependence on the Assemblies for supplies, without a
+British act of Parliament to lay a poll tax on the whole subjects of
+these provinces, to bring them to a sense of their duty to the King, to
+awaken them from their insolence, to take care of their lives and
+fortunes."[21]
+
+It is easy to imagine the storm of indignation this would have raised in
+Virginia had the people known of it. Why, no such thing had been done in
+the century and a half of the colony's existence. Charles I had not
+dared tax the colonists without their consent; Charles II, though he
+obtained a revenue in Virginia by threatening the Assembly, had not
+acted without their consent. Over and over the people had sought
+guarantees that they should enjoy the inherent right of all Englishmen
+of being taxed only by their own representatives.
+
+Dinwiddie's suggestion undoubtedly reflected the changed attitude of the
+British government. He would hardly have dared make it if he had thought
+it would shock the British Ministry. On the other hand, the violent
+reaction of the people of the colony to the pistole fee should have made
+it clear to him that they would resist taxation by Parliament fiercely.
+In other words, his action was revealing of how far apart Britain and
+her colonies had grown, and prophetic of the clash that was to come.
+
+But now Dinwiddie was cheered by word that the King had promised
+£20,000 and 2,000 stand of arms from the royal stores to aid in the war.
+With this evidence that Great Britain was willing to do her part, he
+again appealed to the Assembly. He was overjoyed when they granted
+£20,000. "I parted with the Assembly on good terms. I shall try to keep
+them in good humor," he wrote the Board. When he heard that two
+regiments of British regulars were on their way to Virginia, he
+confidently expected that the French would soon be driven from the Ohio
+region. All Virginia was elated when the troops arrived at Alexandria in
+their brilliant red coats. The Assembly voted an additional £22,000.
+
+Then came disaster. General Braddock, who commanded the British, knew
+nothing about Indian fighting, and scorned the advice of those who did.
+"These savages may, indeed, be a formidable enemy to your raw American
+militia, but upon the King's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is
+impossible that they should make any impression," he told Benjamin
+Franklin. So his advanced regiment, as it was filing through the woods,
+was attacked and cut to pieces. The Virginia contingent fought bravely,
+but could not stem the tide. Braddock himself was killed. Colonel
+Dunbar, in command of the other regiment, though his men had taken no
+part in the battle and still outnumbered the enemy, marched them off to
+Philadelphia, and left the Virginia frontier open.
+
+The dismay of the people when the news of this unexpected defeat reached
+them was tempered by their pride in the heroism of the Virginia troops,
+"who purchased with their lives immortal glory to their country and
+themselves on the banks of the Monongahela." So when Dinwiddie asked for
+more funds, the Assembly voted £40,000.[22] To raise this sum they
+levied heavy taxes on the people and placed a five per cent duty on
+imports. In times of peace no Governor would have consented to an import
+duty on British goods, for it would have brought immediate protests from
+the merchants. But Dinwiddie signed the bill and praised the Assembly
+for its "unanimity" and "martial spirit."[23]
+
+When they met again in October, 1755, they forgot for the moment the
+Indian terror and spent their time on a project to emit £200,000 in
+paper and set up a loan office. To this the Governor would not assent,
+and after a session of only twelve days, he dissolved them to take his
+chances on a new election. The Board of Trade praised him. "Their
+availing themselves of this time of danger and distress to establish a
+paper currency, so destructive of credit, justifies your dissolving
+them."[24]
+
+Dinwiddie was now so out of patience that he suggested once more that
+Parliament pass the Assembly by and itself levy a tax on the people of
+the colonies. He recommended a poll tax of twelve pence for two years,
+and a permanent tax of two shillings on every one hundred acres of land.
+"I know our people will be inflamed if they hear of my making this
+proposal, as they are averse to all taxes," he wrote the Board of
+Trade.[25] One wonders what the Americans would have done had the
+British Government followed this suggestion. It might have alienated
+their affection at the very moment when it was most needed. It would
+probably have been as impossible to collect the taxes as it was to
+enforce the Stamp Act a decade later. Fortunately, the Board of Trade
+decided that this was not the proper time to start a controversy with
+the colonies over this vital matter.
+
+The new House of Burgesses who met in March, 1756, while showing a
+willingness to support the war, were just as independent, just as
+jealous of their privileges as former ones. When some of their members
+were absent from their seats while attending the General Court, they
+sent their mace-bearer within the bar to bring them back. This Dinwiddie
+resented as an indignity to the court. The orderly administration of
+justice was just as important as the enacting of laws, he told the
+House.
+
+Their audacity was shown at the same session in the matter of the
+Acadian exiles. Governor Charles Lawrence, of Nova Scotia, on the advice
+of his Council, had decided to distribute these unfortunates throughout
+the British colonies. When the people of Virginia heard that a fleet
+with over eleven hundred had arrived in their waters, they were deeply
+concerned. No Governor had a right to unload on them such a number of
+French Roman Catholics, they said. Their remaining in the colony at a
+time when Great Britain and France were at war would be very dangerous.
+So they passed a bill, to which the Governor assented, to ship the
+exiles to Great Britain.[26]
+
+But while the Assembly was sitting, the Indians were making a series of
+murderous raids in the Valley of Virginia. Washington, who was left in
+command of the Virginia forces after Dunbar withdrew, wrote Dinwiddie in
+April, 1756, to describe the plight of the people. "I see their
+situation, know their danger, and participate in their sufferings,
+without having it in my power to give them further relief than uncertain
+promises.... The supplicating tears of the women, and moving petitions
+from the men melt me into such deadly sorrow that I solemnly declare ...
+I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy
+provided that would contribute to the people's ease."[27]
+
+Nor were the Burgesses deaf to the sufferings of these poor people.
+Although the burden of taxation was very heavy, they voted £60,000 for
+the erection of forts and the sending of the militia into the Valley.
+Part of this sum they provided for by the emission of treasury notes.
+"In the situation I was obliged to give my assent or disband our forces
+and leave our frontier unguarded and exposed to the incursions of a
+merciless foe," Dinwiddie wrote the Board of Trade. But he assured them
+that the merchants would not be losers since the notes bore interest at
+five per cent, and would be redeemed in 1760. Virginia had voted in all
+£150,000 for the war, he pointed out, which was much more than any other
+colony had done.[28]
+
+At a short session in September, 1756, Dinwiddie told the Assembly of
+the surrender of Oswego. All realized that it was a crushing blow, since
+it cut off the English from the Great Lakes, made a deep impression on
+the Indians, and opened New York to invasion. When the Governor asked
+for men and money as Virginia's contribution to the Royal American
+Regiment, which the Earl of Loudoun, Commander-in-Chief of the British
+forces, was recruiting, they voted £8,000. This the Earl promised to
+report to the British government "in the very handsome manner" it
+deserved.[29]
+
+But when they met in April, 1757, they did not permit this compliment to
+keep them from taking issue with Loudoun for laying an embargo on
+commerce in order to put an end to the sending of supplies by the
+colonists to the French. It was obvious to all that this would do more
+harm than good, they said. Wheat stored in vessels ready to set out for
+Great Britain was "likely to perish." And unless the planters could
+sell their tobacco, it would be impossible for them to pay their taxes.
+After all, men asked, what authority had Loudoun to give such an order?
+The Burgesses petitioned Dinwiddie to rescind it so far as Virginia was
+concerned. They were determined to vote no more supplies until he did
+so.[30] Dinwiddie was forced to yield, and the fleet waiting in Virginia
+waters cleared for Great Britain.
+
+As one vessel after another sailed out between Cape Henry and Cape
+Charles, the Assembly acted quickly to support the war. They raised
+£6,000 to send out rangers against the Indians, £25,000 to pay arrears
+due officers and men of the Virginia forces, and issued £80,000 in
+non-interest bearing notes, renewable in seven years.[31] At once the
+old "heats and disputes" with the Governor were resumed. Dinwiddie was
+opposed to paper money, but the Burgesses, knowing that they had the
+whip hand, would not yield. "They took advantage of the emergency of our
+affairs, when without money every operation must be stopped, and the
+protection of the country, the lives and properties of these very people
+[have] been exposed to the barbarous enemy," the Governor complained. "I
+was obliged at last, much against my judgment, to assent."[32]
+
+In one vital matter the Burgesses themselves had to yield. The
+expenditure of money appropriated during previous sessions had proved so
+unsatisfactory that they left all new disbursements to the Governor.
+They appointed three commissioners to examine such accounts as he should
+turn over to them, but they were merely to assist, not control him.[33]
+
+Despite the one point of difference, Dinwiddie, in proroguing the
+Assembly, praised them for their "dutiful obedience to his Majesty's
+commands," and their compliance with what he himself had recommended. He
+had told them earlier in the summer that his health had been failing and
+that he had asked permission to resign his office and return to Great
+Britain. Now he said goodbye. "I shall always retain a sincere regard
+for the prosperity of this dominion," he said.[34] He sailed from
+Yorktown in January, 1758.
+
+To Robert Dinwiddie goes a large part of the credit for saving the major
+part of North America for British civilization. It was he who saw the
+meaning of the encroachments of the French in the Ohio Valley; it was he
+who sounded the alarm in both Great Britain and America. And when the
+fateful struggle with France was under way, his appreciation of what was
+at stake made him subordinate other issues to it. He broke his
+instructions repeatedly because he thought it necessary in order to win
+the war.
+
+This resulted in substantial gains for self-government in Virginia. In
+voting funds, not only did the Assembly specify the uses to which they
+should be put, but tried to supervise each disbursement. In sending the
+Acadians to England and forcing Dinwiddie to raise Loudoun's embargo
+they showed their spirit of independence. The issuing of paper money was
+in direct conflict with the Governor's instructions. And the British
+government dared not take steps to curb them so long as the French
+threat remained.
+
+But there is abundant evidence that the King's Ministers were merely
+biding their time. The old laissez-faire policy of Sir Robert Walpole
+was giving way to a closer scrutiny of colonial affairs. When the Earl
+of Loudoun was made Governor General of Virginia, he received more than
+a hundred instructions. He must guard zealously the prerogative of the
+Crown, he must permit no riders to acts of Assembly, he must accept no
+gifts from the Assembly, he must not permit the issuing of paper money.
+The twenty-fourth instruction is especially revealing of the accepted
+view in Great Britain that American interests must be disregarded if
+they clashed with those of the mother country. The Governor was not to
+assent to any act putting duties on slaves to "the great discouragement"
+of British merchants, or duties on felons, since this was contrary to
+the act of Parliament for "preventing robbery, burglary, and other
+felonies, and for the more effectual transportation of felons."
+
+It has often been said that had the French power in America not been
+broken, the colonists would not have dared to rebel against Great
+Britain. It would be more to the point that if the French threat had not
+been removed the British government would not have dared to drive the
+Americans into rebellion. So long as the war with France lasted the
+colonial Assemblies were masters of the situation; when it was over the
+assault on their liberty was not long delayed.
+
+Perhaps it is not too much to say that the war called the attention of
+the British Government to the colonies. They could not have overlooked
+such letters as that from Dinwiddie to Pitt on June 18, 1757: "I am
+convinced if alterations are not made in the present constitutions of
+the colonies, and have a general mode of government under his Majesty's
+immediate directions, and a coalition of the whole, it will be
+impracticable to conduct his Majesty's affairs with that spirit which
+the present emergency requires."[35]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 99.
+
+[2] _Executive journals of the Council_ 5: 385.
+
+[3] Dinwiddie to the Lords of Trade, Jan. 22, 1754.
+
+[4] Jan. 22, 1754.
+
+[5] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 143, 144.
+
+[6] CO5-1328, pp. 85, 86.
+
+[7] June 16, 1753.
+
+[8] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 155.
+
+[9] Dinwiddie to Holdernesse, Dec. 29, 1753.
+
+[10] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed. R. A. Brock, 1: 100,
+101.
+
+[11] Dinwiddie to the Board of Trade, Jan. 29, 1754.
+
+[12] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed. R. A. Brock, 1: 153.
+
+[13] CO5-1367, pp. 94-101.
+
+[14] _Ibid._
+
+[15] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed., R. A. Brock, 1: 507.
+
+[16] Sept. 23, 1758.
+
+[17] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 176.
+
+[18] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 176.
+
+[19] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed. R. A. Brock, 1: 157.
+
+[20] _Ibid._, 328.
+
+[21] _Ibid._, 329.
+
+[22] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 301.
+
+[23] _Ibid._, 315.
+
+[24] Board of Trade to Dinwiddie, Feb. 17, 1756.
+
+[25] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed. R. A. Brock, II: 341.
+
+[26] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 351.
+
+[27] _Writings of George Washington_, J. C. Fitzpatrick, ed. 2: 324,
+325.
+
+[28] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_ 2: 464.
+
+[29] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 413.
+
+[30] _Ibid._, 448.
+
+[31] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: xxviii.
+
+[32] Dinwiddie to the Lords of Trade, Sept. 12, 1757.
+
+[33] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: xxviii.
+
+[34] _Ibid._, 492.
+
+[35] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_ 2: 642, 643.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE WIDENING RIFT
+
+
+Francis Fauquier, who succeeded Dinwiddie as Lieutenant Governor, is
+described as "a gentleman of most amiable disposition, generous, just,
+and mild, and possessed in an eminent degree of all the social virtues."
+When Thomas Jefferson was a student at the College of William and Mary,
+he, together with Professor William Small and George Wythe, dined with
+him frequently. "At these dinners I have heard more good sense, more
+rational and philosophical conversations than in all my life besides,"
+Jefferson said many years later.[1] Fauquier, who was an accomplished
+musician, delighted in joining with Jefferson and several others in
+weekly concerts in the lovely ballroom of the Palace. He was a member of
+the Royal Society, and, if we may judge from the presence in his library
+of a set of Palladio, a student of architecture.
+
+When Fauquier arrived, on June 5, 1758, he found the colonists absorbed
+in preparations to send strong forces to join General Forbes in his
+expedition against Fort Duquesne. Ever since the French had established
+themselves there it had been a nest from which swarms of Indians had
+made raids on the frontier. "I found this colony zealous in his
+Majesty's service, and very strenuous to support the common cause,"
+Fauquier wrote the Lords of Trade.[2]
+
+Secretary Pitt and General Abercrombie had written urging the Virginians
+to exert themselves to the utmost. John Blair, President of the Council
+and Acting Governor pending Fauquier's arrival, had called the Assembly
+together and asked them to vote funds for a new regiment. The vote was
+unanimous. They were eager to help in any attack on their "cruel
+neighbors of Fort Duquesne." So now the colony resounded to the beat of
+drums as officers brought in the recruits. Some ensigns raised ten, some
+lieutenants twenty, some captains seventy. To supply the men with arms,
+Blair stripped the magazine at Williamsburg and even took the muskets
+from the Governor's Palace. Tents and kettles he ordered from
+Philadelphia, pledging the credit of the colony to pay for them.[3]
+
+This was the situation when Fauquier landed, and it gave him reason to
+hope that Fort Duquesne would be in English hands early in the autumn.
+When long delays made this unlikely, he summoned the Assembly to ask for
+more funds. But now he was confronted with a perplexing problem. It had
+long been the practice for the House of Burgesses to make their Speaker
+the Treasurer of the colony. Dinwiddie, probably because of a grudge
+against John Robinson, who held these two offices, had recommended their
+separation. The Board of Trade approved and directed Fauquier to see
+that this was done.[4] But the Governor held back. He was not long in
+finding that Robinson was the most popular man in Virginia, the idol of
+the people whether rich or poor. Had he insisted that someone else be
+made Treasurer, the Burgesses would not have voted a penny for the
+expedition. Fearing that the Board's instruction might be whispered
+around and come to Robinson's ear, he decided to take him into his
+confidence and place the whole matter before him. The Speaker was much
+gratified. "I am told by those who know his character that I have
+attached him to me in the strongest manner by the openness of my
+behavior," Fauquier wrote the Board.[5] So the supply bill went through
+with a rush. But the Board must have realized that their authority in
+the colony had sunk to a new low when the Governor not only ignored
+their orders, but thought it necessary to apologize for them in order to
+curry favor with the Speaker of the House.
+
+In the meanwhile, things were going well in the war. Under the able
+leadership of Pitt, Great Britain had poured men and money into the
+colonies, and replaced the incompetent Loudoun with the able General
+Jeffrey Amherst. A blow of great importance for Virginia was struck when
+a small force captured Fort Frontenac at the outlet of Lake Ontario.
+This cut the French line of communication with the west and made Fort
+Duquesne untenable. So this key position fell without firing a shot. As
+Forbes' army approached, the garrison blew up the fort, and taking to
+their canoes fell down the Ohio.
+
+Fauquier congratulated himself for his part in this success. He had kept
+the Burgesses in good humor; he had obtained the funds needed to keep
+the Virginia troops in the field. If he had been lax in defending the
+King's prerogative, surely the end justified the means. So he was not a
+little piqued when he received a reprimand from the Board of Trade.
+
+The trouble stemmed from the fact that tobacco provided a very poor
+standard of value. When the crop was bountiful its purchasing power
+fell, if the summer were dry and the leaves withered in the field, it
+doubled or tripled. In the first case debts and taxes could be paid at a
+low value, in the other the value might be so great as to threaten
+widespread injustice and suffering.
+
+In 1748 by an act of Assembly the salary of the clergy had been fixed at
+16,000 pounds of tobacco. This law had received the King's assent, and
+according to the "ancient constitution," could not be repealed without
+his approval. Yet, seven years later, when there had been a severe
+drought, the Assembly passed an act permitting payment of all
+obligations in money at the rate of two pence a pound. The law was to
+continue in force for ten months only, and there was no clause
+suspending its operation until the King had given his assent.
+
+The clergy were bitter. They thought it hard that when the price of
+tobacco was low they were forced to accept it, but when it was high they
+were to be paid in money at one third the market price of tobacco. In a
+petition to the House of Burgesses they pointed out that their average
+income was so inadequate that they found it difficult to support their
+families. It was this which explained why so few graduates of Oxford and
+Cambridge entered the ministry in Virginia, and why so few in the colony
+thought it worth while to study divinity.[6]
+
+A delegation of four ministers called on Governor Dinwiddie to urge him
+to veto the bill. But Dinwiddie, who was begging for funds and troops,
+had no stomach for a conflict with the Assembly over this affair. "What
+can I do?" he told them. "If I refuse to approve the act, I shall have
+the people on my back." So he signed the bill.
+
+Unwilling to let the matter rest here, ten of the ministers, among them
+the Reverend Patrick Henry, uncle of the statesman, appealed to the
+Bishop of London. The unjust Two-penny Act would lower them in the eyes
+of the people, it would discourage them in the discharge of their duty.
+And, to clinch their argument, they pointed out that their cause was
+also the cause of the King. "Our salaries have had the royal assent and
+cannot be taken from us or diminished in any respect by any law made
+here without trampling upon the royal prerogative."[7]
+
+Three years later, when again there was a "prodigious dimunition" in the
+tobacco crop, the Assembly acted to give relief to debtors and taxpayers
+by again making obligations payable in money at tuppence a pound. This
+time the clergy made no appeal to the Burgesses, but Commissary Dawson,
+John Camm, and Thomas Robinson went to the Palace to urge Fauquier to
+veto the bill. Note that it has no suspending clause, they said. Note
+that it alters a bill to which the King gave his assent. If you let it
+pass, will you not be ignoring your instructions?[8]
+
+But Fauquier was as much in need of funds as Dinwiddie had been. He
+answered that that was not the point to be considered. What was
+important was what would please the people. So he gave the act his
+approval. "The bill was a temporary law to ease the people from a burden
+which the country thought too great for them to bear," he wrote the
+Lords of Trade. "A suspending clause would have been to all intents and
+purposes the same as rejecting it.... The country were intent upon it
+... and I conceived it would be a very strong step for me to take ... to
+set my face against the whole colony.... I am persuaded that if I had
+refused it, I must have despaired of our gaining any influence either in
+the Council or the House of Burgesses."[9]
+
+But the clergy were determined to bring the matter to an issue.
+Commissary Dawson advised caution, but pressure from other ministers
+forced him to call a convention. When they met they not only vented
+their indignation in many denunciations of the Two-penny Act, but drew
+up an address to the King entitled "The Representation of the Clergy."
+In it they hammered on the point that their cause was his cause. The act
+was as injurious to the royal prerogative as to the rights of the
+Church. "It gives us great concern that an ancient, standing law of this
+dominion, confirmed by the sanction of the royal assent, is no security
+to our livings."[10]
+
+This appeal they entrusted to the Reverend John Camm with instructions
+to place it in the King's hands. Camm, who later became Commissary,
+President of the College of William and Mary, and a member of the
+Council, was a man of great ability, but according to Fauquier,
+turbulent and delighting "to live in a flame." On his arrival in England
+he obtained an interview with the King and delivered the
+"Representation." His Majesty referred it to the Privy Council, who, in
+turn, handed it on to the Board of Trade.
+
+This suited Camm exactly, for his trump card was the Bishop of London,
+and the Bishop's influence with the Board was great. His Lordship was
+exasperated at the presumption of the Virginia Assembly. "To make an act
+to suspend the operations of the royal act is an attempt which in some
+times would have been called treason, and I do not know any other name
+for it in our law," he told the Board. "To assume a power to bind the
+King's hands, and to say how far his power shall go and where it shall
+stop, is such an act of supremacy as is inconsistent with the dignity of
+the Crown of England." It manifestly tended to draw the colonists from
+their allegiance to the King for them to find that they had a higher
+power to protect them. "Surely it is time for us to look about us, and
+to consider the several steps lately taken in the diminution of the
+prerogative and influence of the Crown."
+
+The Bishop denounced Governor Fauquier for signing the Two-penny bill.
+"What made him so zealous in this cause I pretend not to judge, but
+surely the great change which manifestly appears in the temper and
+disposition of the people of this colony in the compass of a few years
+deserves highly to be considered, and the more so as the Deputy
+Governors and the Council seemed to act in concert with the people."[11]
+
+The Board was duly impressed. They denounced the Two-penny Act as a
+usurpation and advised the King to declare it null and void. Not only
+did the King do so, but he gave Fauquier a stunning rebuke. "We do ...
+strictly command and require you for the future, upon pain of our
+highest displeasure, and of being recalled from the government of our
+said colony, punctually to observe and obey the several directions
+contained in the 16th article of our said instructions, relative to the
+passing of laws...."[12]
+
+Camm sent copies of these papers to Virginia, and when they were handed
+around among his friends the clergy rejoiced. The King was on their
+side, all would be well. Camm wrote to his attorney in Virginia to bring
+suit in the General Court against the vestry of his parish for his
+salary in tobacco. On the other hand, the people of the colony were
+highly resentful against the clergy, and especially against the Bishop
+of London. Colonel Landon Carter and Colonel Richard Bland wrote
+pamphlets defending the Two-penny Act and denouncing his Lordship. To
+the Bishop's contention that the act tended to draw the people from
+their allegiance, it was answered that nothing was more apt to estrange
+them than to deny them the right to protect themselves from distress.
+His Lordship had called the act treason. "But were the Assembly to do
+nothing? This would have been treason indeed." In case of an eventuality
+which the Governor's instructions could not provide for, which could
+bring ruin before relief could come from the throne, it was the duty of
+the Assembly to deviate from the fixed rules of the constitution. The
+preservation of the people could not possibly be treason.[13]
+
+In the meanwhile Fauquier had been waiting impatiently for his copies of
+the King's veto and his instructions in the matter. Month after month
+passed and nothing came. Finally, late in June, ten months after they
+had been written, Camm appeared with them at the door of the Palace.
+Fauquier took them, and then denounced him for slandering him in
+England. Then he called out in a loud voice for his Negro servants, and
+when they had assembled, pointed his finger at Camm. "Look at that
+gentleman and be sure to know him again, and under no circumstances
+permit him to revisit the Palace," he said.[14]
+
+As time passed the war of pamphlets was renewed. In 1763 Camm wrote
+assailing Carter and Bland and trying to answer their arguments. But so
+unpopular was the cause of the clergy that no one in Virginia would
+publish what he wrote, and he had to have it done in Maryland. Bland
+retorted in a letter in the _Virginia Gazette_, and Camm came back in a
+letter which he called "Observations."[15]
+
+Interest now centered on a test case in which the Reverend James Maury
+brought suit for his salary in tobacco in the Hanover County court, in
+November, 1763. The court declared the Two-penny Act no law, since it
+had been vetoed by the Crown, and ordered that at the next court the
+jury should determine how much damages, if any, should be paid. Maury's
+case seemed as good as won, and the attorney for the defendants, Mr.
+John Lewis, retired from the case. In his place they engaged a young,
+little-known lawyer, named Patrick Henry.
+
+It was on December 1, 1763, that a great crowd assembled at the Hanover
+courthouse, filling the little room and overflowing into the yard. Among
+them were twenty clergymen. But when Henry saw his uncle there, he
+persuaded him to leave. John Henry, Patrick's father, presided. When
+several gentlemen refused to serve on the jury, the sheriff was forced
+to fill their places with men of the small farmer class. Several were
+dissenters.
+
+The case was opened by Mr. Peter Lyons, attorney for the plaintiff. When
+he had concluded, Henry rose to reply. At first he seemed hesitant and
+awkward. But soon he warmed up to his subject. His eyes kindled, his
+gestures were bolder, he seemed to grow more erect, his voice resounded
+through the room. His audience were spellbound, and on every bench, at
+the door, in every window people leaned forward, their eyes fixed on the
+youthful orator.
+
+Henry contended that there was a contract between King and people. The
+King owed the people protection; the people owed the King obedience and
+support. But should either violate the contract, it released the other
+from the obligation. The Two-penny Act was good and essential, and its
+disallowance was a breach of the contract. It was an instance of
+misrule, a neglect of the interests of the colony. The King, from being
+the father of his people, became a tyrant who had forfeited the
+obedience of the subjects. At this point Mr. Lyons cried out: "The
+gentleman has spoken treason." And from various parts of the room arose
+a murmur of "treason! treason!"
+
+But Henry turned to the ministers seated before him and denounced them
+and the rest of the clergy in blazing words for trying to triple their
+salaries at the expense of the people. "Do they manifest their zeal in
+the cause of religion and humanity by practicing the mild and benevolent
+precepts of the Gospel of Jesus?... Oh no! Gentlemen. Instead of feeding
+the hungry and clothing the naked these rapacious harpies would ...
+snatch from the hearth of their honest parishioner his last hoe-cake,
+from the widow and her orphaned child their last milch-cow."[16] At this
+the ministers got up and left the room. When the jury brought in a
+verdict of one penny damages, the throng shouted their approval. Strong
+arms lifted Henry aloft and bore him out of the courthouse.
+
+Henry's contention in essence was that the people of the colonies had a
+right to govern themselves. And in this he was but finding legal
+arguments for the existing state of affairs. The Assembly, after a
+century and a half of battling with Kings and Governors, had made itself
+to all intents and purposes supreme. In annulling the Two-penny Act the
+King crossed lances with the representatives of the people and had come
+off second best. The jury, sitting in the little country courthouse,
+under the urging of an obscure lawyer, had defied him. Thus, two years
+before the Stamp Act, Virginia inaugurated the policy of resistance.
+Most of Henry's arguments were borrowed from the Carter and Bland
+pamphlets, but whereas they pleaded, he secured positive action. In so
+far as the Two-penny Act was concerned, the King's veto power was
+annulled.
+
+Bland summed up the constitutional argument behind this action in a
+pamphlet written at the time of the trial but published only eight
+months later. "Under an English government all men are born free, are
+only subject to laws made by their own consent.... If then the people of
+this colony are free born, and have a right to the liberties and
+privileges of English subjects, they must necessarily have a legal
+constitution, that is a legislature, composed in part of the
+representatives of the people, who may enact laws for the INTERNAL
+government of the colony, ... and without such a representative I am
+bold to say no law can be made."[17]
+
+But the stubborn Mr. Camm was determined not to give up. In April, 1764,
+his cause came up in the General Court after a delay of five years. The
+case against him was argued by Robert Carter Nicholas, who claimed that
+when the Governor had approved a law it was legal, even though in so
+doing he broke his instructions. A majority of the court[18] were
+convinced and voted that the Two-penny Act of 1758 was valid despite the
+King's veto.[19] Camm appealed the case to the Privy Council. It came
+up in 1767, and was thrown out on a technicality. In this way they
+avoided giving further offense to the colony without admitting the
+validity of their claims.
+
+The controversy over the Two-penny Act came at a time when the Board of
+Trade was at odds with the Virginia Assembly over the repeated issues of
+paper money. Had Dinwiddie and Fauquier not assured them that without
+these issues there would have been no funds with which to carry on the
+war, they would certainly have put a stop to them. As it was, all they
+could do was to urge that steps be taken to prevent the paper from
+declining in value and to protect the interests of the British
+merchants.
+
+Prior to 1757 each issue had borne five per cent interest, and taxes had
+been voted for their redemption. But in April of that year the notes
+were all called in and new ones issued in their place bearing no
+interest. This, with a new issue of £80,000 brought the total to
+£179,962.10.0. This was more than was needed to carry on the business of
+the colony, and the value of the notes began to sink.[20] In 1748 an act
+had been passed declaring that debts contracted in sterling could be
+paid in Virginia currency at a twenty-five per cent advance, or one
+pound five shillings for one pound sterling. But as the rate of exchange
+was not long in rising above this figure, the merchants feared large
+losses.
+
+The London merchants, speaking not only for themselves, but for those of
+Bristol, Liverpool, and Glasgow, laid their complaint before the Board
+of Trade. The issuing of large amounts of paper money could be most
+injurious to trade by putting it upon an uncertain basis, they said. And
+to pay debts contracted in sterling in depreciated colonial currency was
+as unjust as it was unwise. So they asked the King to instruct the
+Governor to urge the Assembly to amend the act of 1748 to make all debts
+due to persons in Great Britain payable according to the real difference
+in exchange.[21]
+
+It seems strange that the merchants and the Board of Trade did not know
+that what they asked for had already been done. In 1755 the act of 1748
+had been amended so as to direct the courts in cases where contracts had
+been made in sterling, to order payment in Virginia money at the rate of
+exchange they thought just.[22] "The merchants do not know the law,"
+Fauquier wrote the Board. "Let the value of paper currency fall as much
+as they please ... exchange will rise as fast, and they will obtain for
+a sterling debt just as much of the paper currency as will purchase a
+good sterling bill of exchange. And what injury is done them unless ...
+the whole court combine in a barefaced villainy to defraud them?" At the
+last court the exchange had been fixed at 35 per cent.[23]
+
+The amendment to the law of 1748 had had no clause suspending its
+operation until the King had given his assent, and, like the Two-penny
+Act, was a clear infringement on the royal prerogative. But since it had
+merely anticipated the King's wishes, it drew no rebuke from him. None
+the less, it was one more step toward autonomy, one more demonstration
+that in internal affairs the Virginians were a self-governing people.
+
+The fixing of the rate of exchange quieted the merchants for the time
+being, even though they looked on uneasily as Fauquier assented to
+further emissions, for £57,000 in September, 1758; £52,000 in February,
+1759; £10,000 in November, 1759; £20,000 in March, 1760; £32,000 in May,
+1760; and £30,000 in March, 1762. The whole totalled nearly £413,000,
+and William Hunter's printing press at Williamsburg was kept busy
+stamping out notes of £10, £15, £3, 10 shillings, 3 shillings, etc. In
+the meanwhile, only £51,156.10.0. had been retired and burnt, leaving
+£362,000 in circulation.[24]
+
+Long before this figure had been reached, opposition to paper money had
+grown within the colony itself. The law which protected the British
+merchants did not apply to Virginia creditors, since their contracts
+usually had been made in the local currency. So, as the flood of paper
+continued to mount, the small farmer or shopkeeper who had borrowed from
+his wealthy neighbor, could pay him back in depreciated notes. And as
+they were legal tender, he had to accept them. "Debtors pursued their
+creditors relentlessly and paid them without mercy."
+
+In 1762, though a bill to issue £30,000 in paper money passed the House
+by a vote of 66 to 3, it hung fire in the Council. At the time there
+were only six members in attendance, three of whom opposed any further
+emissions, so Fauquier got the Speaker to hold back the bill while he
+sent out a hurry call for the others. In the end the bill passed by a
+vote of five to four. "On this occasion I have stretched my influence to
+the utmost pitch," the Governor wrote the Board.[25] The four dissenting
+Councillors--William Nelson, Thomas Nelson, Richard Corbin, and Philip
+Ludwell Lee--all of them rich men, made a vigorous protest, which was
+entered upon the Journal.[26]
+
+Not satisfied with this, Corbin took the step, unusual for a member of
+the Upper House, of complaining to the Board of Trade against an act of
+Assembly. He was astute enough to base his case, not on his personal
+losses, but on the losses to the revenue and to the merchants. Taxes had
+been paid in the depreciated currency. In turn this had made it
+impossible to meet the needs of the government and at the same time sink
+the outstanding notes. As for the merchants, though it was true that
+sterling contracts were to be paid at the current rate of exchange, and
+though the judges who determined it seemed to be impartial, the rate
+might rise from five to fifteen per cent between the date of their
+decision and the date of settlement, to their great loss.[27]
+
+When the British merchants heard that some of the most prominent men in
+Virginia had sided with them in urging that an end be put to currency
+inflation, they were encouraged to renew their complaints to the Board
+of Trade. The Board, in turn, wrote Fauquier to urge the Assembly to
+give them satisfaction. So the Governor, on May 19, 1763, addressed the
+House, pointing out that common justice required that every man should
+receive full payment for debts due him. And the support of the public
+credit, so vital for a trading country like Virginia, made it absolutely
+necessary to redeem the paper in circulation at the dates fixed by
+law.[28]
+
+The Burgesses responded by adding to the fund for sinking the paper
+money by laying additional taxes on slaves, wheel carriages, licenses,
+etc.[29] But they would not budge from their determination to keep all
+the notes legal tender. And they made a long and able reply to the
+Governor, drawn up by Charles Carter, Edmund Pendleton, Wythe, and
+Richard Henry Lee, justifying their proceedings and claiming that the
+merchants had no just grounds for complaint. In it they inserted a
+declaration of American rights which the British Ministry would have
+been wise to take to heart. Their dependence upon Great Britain they
+acknowledged as their greatest happiness and only security. But this was
+not the dependence of a conquered people, but of sons sent out to
+explore and settle a new world for the mutual benefit of themselves and
+their common parent. It was the dependence of the part upon the whole,
+which, by its admirable constitution, diffused a spirit of patriotism
+which made every citizen, however remote from the mother kingdom,
+zealous for the King and the public good.[30]
+
+But the merchants were far from being satisfied, and a group in Glasgow
+sent another appeal to the Board of Trade. They thought that part of the
+trouble came from the ease with which paper money could be
+counterfeited. And they were sure that the hundreds of counterfeit
+notes, passing from hand to hand in Virginia, partly accounted for the
+enormous heights of exchange. But they supported the Assembly in
+continuing the legal tender clause. To take it off might make the
+currency debts "more fluctuating, uncertain, and less valuable." The
+only effectual remedy was to forbid further issues of paper money, to
+see that notes as they were brought into the treasury were duly burnt,
+to order that circulating notes bear five per cent interest, and to
+remedy any deficiency in the taxes.[31] When Parliament passed an act to
+prohibit future emissions in the colonies, they seemed satisfied.
+
+But there was a strong underlying sentiment in the colony against
+burning the notes. The soil of tidewater Virginia, after a century and a
+half of cultivation, was beginning to wear out, and thousands of acres
+were gradually reverting to forest land. This, with war taxes and an
+occasional drought, had brought hard times. But the planters, instead of
+tightening their belts, continued the old extravagant mode of living by
+borrowing money. "I fear they are not prudent enough to quit any article
+of luxury till smart obliges them," observed Fauquier.[32] So for many
+cheap money meant salvation from ruin.
+
+These men made their influence felt in the House when a scheme for
+borrowing £240,000 from the British merchants was passed in May, 1765.
+Of this sum £100,000 was to be used for a new currency to replace old
+notes, and £140,000 to be lent out at five per cent interest. But when
+the bill came up to the Council it was bitterly opposed by Corbin and
+finally defeated.[33]
+
+In the meanwhile, people were wondering why the rate of exchange did not
+drop. They were not ignorant of the quantative law of currency, and they
+knew that the amount of paper in circulation ought to have been reduced
+each year. So they were surprised to find it remaining between sixty and
+sixty-five per cent. Behind this apparent contradiction of economic law
+there must be some mystery.[34]
+
+The mystery was explained in May, 1766, when a bomb exploded which shook
+the colony from the capes to the Alleghenies. That month the beloved
+John Robinson, Speaker and Treasurer, died. Fauquier had called him "the
+darling of the country." The _Gazette_ lamented his loss and praised
+"the many amiable virtues which adorned his private station."
+
+So there was universal astonishment when the examiners of his accounts
+found a deficit of £100,000. Robinson had not taken the money for his
+own use. Even had he been dishonorable enough to do so, there would have
+been no need for it, since he was one of the richest men in the colony.
+What he had done was to lend his friends thousands of pounds from the
+public funds.[35] In this he was guilty of two serious breaches of his
+duty. Since the Assembly had refused to establish a public loan office,
+he must have known that he had no right to do so on his own
+responsibility. And there could be no excuse for his disregard of the
+law which required that he burn the paper money as it came in.
+
+But when his friends came to him in distress begging loans to save them
+from ruin, he did not have the strength of character to refuse them.
+Thousands of pounds went out to men in all parts of the colony, among
+them members of some of the oldest and most distinguished
+families--William Byrd III, Charles Carter, Jr., George Braxton, Henry
+Fitzhugh, Lewis Burwell, etc. Robinson's estate was large enough to
+cover all these loans, but it took many years for his executors to
+recover even part of what was due him.
+
+Robert Carter Nicholas, Robinson's successor as Treasurer, was bitter in
+condemnation of what he had done. "The seeming mysteries of our exchange
+now begin to unfold themselves," he wrote in a letter to the _Gazette_.
+"It comes out that a great part of the money squeezed from the people
+for their taxes, instead of being sunk ... was thrown back into
+circulation." The Assembly had given their word that they would protect
+the interests of the British merchants by burning the paper promptly on
+the dates of their retirement. What must the world think when these good
+intentions had been in part defeated by a strange kind of misconduct?
+What made it worse was the need the colony had for the friendship of the
+merchants at a time when the great men in England had their eyes fixed
+upon all the Assemblies. "The consequences are as glaring as the sun in
+the meridian."[36]
+
+Nicholas saw to it that the law was obeyed. As the notes came in they
+were burnt. As a result the exchange began to drop until in a few months
+it became normal. The day of easy money was over, and the host of
+debtors faced ruin. For many months the pages of the _Gazette_ were
+crowded with notices of slaves and plantations for sale.
+
+In the meanwhile, the century and a half old struggle between mother
+country and colonies was rapidly approaching a crisis. The issue had
+long been postponed because of the inactivity of the King's ministers,
+who were content to close their eyes to what was going on across the
+Atlantic. But the time was at hand when the question of whether the
+Americans should be governed from London or should govern themselves had
+to be settled.
+
+This was in part due to the fact that as time passed Parliament had
+grown less and less representative of the people. In Great Britain there
+was no provision, as there is in the Constitution of the United States,
+for periodic reapportionments of the people's representatives to keep
+step with changes in population. For centuries most of the Commons had
+been elected under a very restricted franchise by certain old boroughs.
+Though with the passing of the decades many of these boroughs, once
+centers of population and wealth, had fallen into decay, they still sent
+their representatives to the House of Commons. Perhaps the most
+notorious was Old Sarum, a city of Norman times, whose castle and
+cathedral and crowded houses overlooked the Salisbury plain, but which
+for centuries had been deserted. Unless the ghosts of men long dead were
+to have a voice in running the nation, it was absurd for these old ruins
+to be represented in the Commons. In practice the rotten borough system,
+as it was called, tended to perpetuate the ascendency of the landed
+proprietors.
+
+And the country squires wanted no change. They thought the British
+Government the best in the world, and were determined to defend their
+privileges. It never occurred to them that duty required that they
+should try to alleviate the miseries of the poor people; they were too
+intent on enjoying their great manor houses, their formal gardens, their
+stately dinners, their fox hunts, to heed the voices which were pleading
+for social and political reform.[37]
+
+But it would be a mistake to assume that Great Britain had become static
+in intellectual, social, and institutional matters. On the contrary, the
+first seven decades of the eighteenth century was a period of tremendous
+activity. It was the period of Richardson and Fielding in literature, of
+the great religious revival led by Wesley and Whitefield, of renewed
+interest in Shakespeare, of the birth of industrial Britain, of the bold
+defiance of authority by John Wilkes. Had Parliament truly reflected the
+spirit of the age, had it not revered the old system of government as
+the best attainable by man, it would have attuned itself to these
+changes.
+
+If the Commons were out of step with the march of events in Great
+Britain, they were far more so with developments in the colonies. They
+knew nothing of the influence of the vast natural resources and the
+limited supply of labor in lifting the level of the common man and
+giving him a sense of self-respect, nothing of the democratizing power
+of the frontier. And what little they saw they disliked. No doubt some
+would have applauded Samuel Johnson when he said of the Americans: "Sir,
+they are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful for anything we
+allow them short of hanging."
+
+With such irreconcilable differences between the ruling group in Great
+Britain and the people of the colonies the conflict was inevitable. The
+King, the Privy Council, the Board of Trade, the Commons construed the
+many instances of colonial disobedience as attacks on the foundations
+of the established order, as revolutionary innovations. To Americans
+they seemed no more than the assertion of rights inherent in all free
+men. And though many of their claims had no precedent in English
+experience, they began to speak of them as ancient and necessary for the
+existence of representative government.
+
+That the clash came when it did was in part due to the passing of the
+laissez-faire period in the British Government. New figures had made
+their appearance at Whitehall, who had no patience with the old slipshod
+way of doing things. They wanted a consolidated empire, ruled from
+London, rather than a loose federation of semi-independent states. To
+them it seemed intolerable that the colonial Assemblies should defy the
+King at will. "Must we and America be two distinct kingdoms, and that
+now immediately?" asked George Grenville.
+
+The French and Indian War revealed much concerning conditions in the
+colonies which surprised and alarmed the Ministry. They had found it
+impossible to get the colonies to act in unison, they had defied the
+King's wishes repeatedly, the Governors were kept busy explaining why
+they had to disregard one instruction after another, they were disgusted
+at the pouring out of paper money, and they must have been influenced by
+the warnings that the Americans were too much of a republican way of
+thinking. The advice to have Parliament lay a general tax on the
+colonies had come, not only from Dinwiddie, but from various parts of
+America.
+
+The determination of the Ministry to follow this advice was based
+ostensibly on the reasonableness of requiring the colonies to bear their
+share of the burden of the expense of the war. It may be argued that
+Virginia and some of the others, because of the disruption of trade, the
+very heavy taxes, the devastation on the frontiers, and their heavy
+losses in men, had already paid more than their share. But that there
+was something deeper, more vital, behind the resolve to tax than a mere
+matter of finance, is obvious. It was a demonstration of policy, a
+manifesto that Great Britain was determined to govern her colonies.
+
+When word reached America that the Ministry planned to tax the colonies
+by a stamp Act, there was general dismay. There were many grave faces
+among the Burgesses as they took their seats in November, 1764. Some of
+the ablest men in Virginia, among them Peyton Randolph, Edmund
+Pendleton, George Wythe, and Richard Henry Lee, drew up a protest to
+the King and Parliament. They begged the King to protect the people of
+the colony in the enjoyment of their ancient right of being governed in
+internal affairs by laws derived from their own consent, with the
+approbation of their sovereign or his substitute. This right, as men and
+descendants of Britons, they had possessed ever since they left the
+mother kingdom to extend its commerce and dominion.
+
+To the House of Lords they pointed out that, as their ancestors had
+brought with them to America every right and privilege they could claim
+in the mother kingdom, their descendants could not justly be deprived of
+them. It was a fundamental principle of the British Constitution,
+without which freedom could nowhere exist, that the people are not
+subject to any taxes except by their own consent or by those who were
+legally appointed to represent them.
+
+They reminded the Commons that this principle had been recognized ever
+since the founding of the colony. During the reign of Charles II, when
+the British Government sought a revenue to support the government of
+Virginia, they had tacitly admitted that Parliament had no right to levy
+the tax. Instead they drew up a bill in England and sent it over to be
+acted on by the Assembly.[38]
+
+As they penned this protest the thoughts of Wythe and the others must
+have reverted to the part played by the control of taxation in winning
+self-government for the colony. They spoke of their rights as ancient,
+yet they must have known that the Virginia of their day was far freer
+than it had been under the Stuarts. And there could be no doubt as to
+how this great change had come about. They and their fathers and their
+great-grandfathers had used the control of the purse to whittle the
+royal prerogative until little was left. For Parliament to strike this
+weapon from their hands would be to nullify the gains of many decades
+and leave them defenseless.
+
+When the bill to tax the Americans came before the Commons, on February
+7, 1765, a lengthy debate followed. It was on this occasion that Colonel
+Isaac Barré retorted to Charles Townshend's assertion that the Americans
+had been "planted by our care, nourished by our indulgence." "Your
+oppressions planted them in America," he shouted. "They grew up by your
+neglect of them.... They protected by your arms! They have taken up
+arms in your defence."[39] But when the Virginia memorial was presented
+it was rejected by an overwhelming majority.[40] The bill passed the
+Commons by 205 votes to 49, and the House of Lords without a division.
+The measure required the colonists to use stamps, purchased from the
+British Government through royal agents, on newspapers, almanacs,
+pamphlets, advertisements, and various kinds of legal documents.
+
+It was with heavy hearts that the Assembly met in May, 1765. Edmund
+Pendleton, when news of the passage of the Stamp Act reached him, had
+exclaimed, "Poor America!" As he, George Wythe, Richard Bland, Robert
+Carter Nicholas, Henry Lee, Peyton Randolph, and other leading statesmen
+took their seats, they had no thought of resistance. They proceeded with
+routine business--the authorizing of a ferry over the Potomac, giving
+rewards for killing wolves, opening a road through the Swift Run Gap,
+preventing escapes from debtors' prisons, etc. Probably none of the
+aristocrats from the tidewater paid any attention to young Patrick Henry
+when he joined the House late in the session. When most of the bills had
+passed the third reading many of the members left, and mounting their
+horses rode out of town, leaving only thirty-nine to wind up business.
+
+This was Henry's opportunity. Opening an old law book he wrote down
+seven resolutions. Then, rising, he introduced them in the House. In
+substance the first four declared that Virginians from the first
+settlement had possessed all the privileges of the people of Great
+Britain, that these privileges had been confirmed to them by two royal
+charters, that the taxation of the people by themselves was the
+distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and that the people of
+the colony had never forfeited the right to be governed by their own
+Assembly in the articles of taxation and internal policy.
+
+When Henry came to the fifth resolution there must have been a gasp of
+surprise. It held that any attempt to vest the power to tax the colonies
+in any other body than the Assembly was illegal, unjust, and
+unconstitutional, and tended to destroy British as well as American
+liberty. Henry did not introduce the other two resolutions, probably
+because of the uproar which the reading of the fifth occasioned.
+
+A violent debate ensued. George Wythe, John Robinson, Peyton Randolph,
+and others thought the language too extreme. But what Fauquier described
+as "the young, hot, and giddy members," were carried along by Henry's
+eloquence. "Tarquin and Caesar each had his Brutus, Charles I his
+Cromwell, and George III...." At this point he was interrupted by the
+Speaker who declared that he had spoken treason. Henry denied that he
+advocated treason. If he had said anything wrong, it should be
+attributed to his concern over his country's dying liberty.[41]
+
+The first four resolutions passed by safe margins, but the fifth barely
+got by, by a vote of twenty to nineteen. In alarm the more conservative
+members sent out a hurry call for such absent Burgesses as were still in
+or near Williamsburg. When several had come in an attempt was made to
+have the resolutions struck off the journal. They succeeded with the
+fifth, Fauquier reported, "which was thought the most offensive," but
+failed with the other four.[42]
+
+Perhaps Henry, himself, as he left Williamsburg, wearing a pair of
+leather breeches and leading his bony nag by the bridle, did not realize
+that his resolutions would be the alarm bell of revolution. The
+_Maryland Gazette_, the _Newport Gazette_, the _Boston Gazette_, and
+other papers published them, not only the four which passed in the
+House, but the other three as well. And the sixth and seventh were
+radical indeed. They declared that the people of the colony were not
+bound to obey any laws to tax them other than those passed by the
+Assembly, and that any person who should uphold such laws "by speaking
+or writing" should be deemed an enemy of the colony. It was the policy
+of resistance.
+
+Virginia was now aflame. It was rumored that groups of men from all
+parts of the colony were preparing to march on Williamsburg to seize and
+destroy the stamps as soon as they arrived. Many justices declared that
+they would resign rather than use the stamps in the processes of their
+courts, and it seemed certain that others would follow their example.
+From Westmoreland came word that a mob had burned in effigy the stamp
+distributor for Virginia, Colonel George Mercer, a native Virginian who
+had served in the French and Indian War.[43] Fauquier waited anxiously
+for his arrival with the stamps, praying that adverse winds would delay
+him until the session of the General Court was over and the crowds of
+merchants, persons involved in suits, debtors, witnesses, and others had
+left town.
+
+But the Fates were against him. Mercer arrived on October 30, and at
+once went to his father's house. Having word of this, a crowd of men,
+some of them leading citizens in their home counties, started off to
+find him. As they approached the Capitol they met him and asked him
+whether he intended to retain his office as stamp distributor. To this
+he gave an evasive answer, and continued to the coffee house nearby
+where Governor Fauquier, Speaker Robinson, and several members of the
+Council were seated on the porch. The crowd, which had followed him,
+pressed toward them and a cry was heard, "Let us rush in." But when
+Fauquier and the others advanced to repel them, someone called out, "See
+the Governor, take care of him." Upon this they fell back. And when
+Mercer promised that he would give his answer at the Capitol the next
+day at five, they seemed satisfied and permitted him to walk through
+them side by side with the Governor to the Palace.[44]
+
+In the meanwhile, word of Mercer's arrival had spread through the
+countryside, so that the next day hundreds of persons poured into town.
+As five o'clock approached a vast crowd assembled in the Capitol yard.
+There Mercer spoke to them. His appointment had been unsolicited, he
+said. He had not, as had been rumored, urged the passage of the Stamp
+Act. "And now," he added, "I will not, directly by myself or deputies
+proceed in the execution of the act ... without the assent of the
+General Assembly of this colony." At this there was a great shout of
+approval, and those near him raised him aloft and bore him out through
+the gate to a nearby tavern. As they entered, the huzzas were redoubled,
+while drums rattled, and horns blared. That night the town was
+illuminated and bells rang out. The following night the occasion was
+climaxed by "a splendid ball."[45]
+
+As for the stamps, they never touched land. They were transferred to a
+warship, "it being the place of the greatest, if not the only security
+for them." If the mob could have laid their hands on them they would
+certainly have gone up in flames.
+
+Now in various parts of the colony men met to organize what they called
+Sons of Liberty. The merchants of Norfolk, native-born Scotsmen many of
+them, had a double grievance, since the Sugar Act threatened their trade
+and the Stamp Act their liberty. In March about thirty leading citizens
+met at the house of Mayor Calvert, where "they brought daylight on"
+debating the best way to resist both acts. At their call the people
+crowded into the courthouse to protest. "We will ... defend ourselves in
+the full enjoyment of ... those inestimable privileges of freeborn
+British subjects of being taxed only by representatives of their own
+choosing.... If we quietly submit to the execution of the said Stamp
+Act, all our claims of civil liberty will be lost, and we and our
+posterity become absolute slaves."[46]
+
+A few days later, when word went round that a certain Captain William
+Smith had been responsible for the seizure of several vessels in the
+Elizabeth River, he was arrested by a group of leading citizens.
+Hurrying him to the County Wharf, they tarred and feathered him, set him
+in the ducking stool, and pelted him with stones and rotten eggs. They
+next marched him through the town with drums beating, ducked him again,
+and at last threw him headlong into the water. Had not a passing boat
+pulled him out, more dead than alive, he would have been drowned.[47]
+
+At Hobb's Hole, Essex County, a merchant named Ritchie barely escaped
+similar treatment. A number of men, hearing that he had boasted that he
+could secure stamps and was determined to clear his ship with them,
+marched on the town and drew up along the main street. They brought
+Ritchie out and threatened to strip him to the waist, tie him to the
+tail of a cart, and then fix him in the pillory. This was too much for
+him. Reluctantly he swore on "the holy Evangels" that no vessel of his
+would clear "on stamped paper." Thereupon most of the crowd dispersed,
+and those living nearby went to the tavern "where they spent the evening
+with great sobriety."[48]
+
+The people of the colony were encouraged in their resistance to the
+Stamp Act by articles in British gazettes and magazines, which were
+reprinted in the _Virginia Gazette_. A writer in the _Gentleman's
+Magazine_ contended that the act violated the British constitution,
+which "declared that no Englishman is to be taxed without his own
+consent." "I know very well I shall be told that though the Americans
+are not immediately represented in the English Parliament, they are
+nevertheless represented virtually.... But why, in the name of common
+sense, if the mother country judged herself the virtual representative
+of all her various dependencies, did she grant a provincial legislature
+to her colonies, and from the time of their first existence invest this
+legislature with the sole power of internal taxation?" For the colonists
+to yield, he thought, would be to confess themselves slaves.[49]
+
+And when the Virginians read the _Gazette_ they noted with satisfaction
+that the disruption of trade was causing great distress in England. A
+dispatch from Birmingham stated that unless the Stamp Act were repealed
+twenty thousand persons would be out of work.[50] The merchants of
+London petitioned the Commons for relief. Their trade with the colonies,
+which was of such great importance to the nation, faced utter ruin, they
+said. They could not collect debts due them in America, because the
+Sugar Act and the Stamp Act had thrown the colonies into confusion and
+brought on many bankruptcies. Unless these acts were repealed a
+multitude of workers would become a burden on the community or else seek
+their bread in other countries.[51]
+
+It was late in May, 1766, that a vessel arrived in Virginia waters
+bearing the news that the Stamp Act had been repealed. As horsemen
+galloped along the roads and boatsmen in their shallops ascended the
+great rivers, the word was passed from mouth to mouth. Everywhere there
+was joyous celebration. At Great Bridge the people listened to a
+patriotic sermon in St. Giles Church, and then went to the Banqueting
+Room, where they raised their glasses in a series of toasts--to the King
+and Queen, Colonel Barré, and others. At Hampton there was a banquet at
+the Bunch of Grapes, followed by a ball at the King's Arms Tavern, while
+outside there was a great bonfire.[52] The people of Williamsburg waited
+for their celebration until the convening of the court when the town
+was crowded. Then every house was illuminated, and there was "a ball and
+elegant entertainment at the Capitol," marked by "much mirth" and the
+drinking of toasts.[53]
+
+With the French and Indian War brought to a successful conclusion, with
+the problem of currency inflation settled, with the Stamp Act repealed,
+it seemed that Fauquier might look forward to a period of harmony and
+prosperity. But fate soon struck a cruel blow. In the summer of 1767 the
+Governor became ill with a very painful disorder. And though, under the
+care of Dr. Matthew Pope, of York, he became better, he never fully
+recovered his health.[54] He died in the early hours of March 3, 1768.
+In his will he directed that if the nature of his illness should not be
+understood by his physicians, an autopsy be held on his body, so that he
+might become more useful to his fellow creatures in death than he had
+been in life. He desired, also, that he be buried "without any vain
+funeral pomp."[55]
+
+Francis Fauquier was an able, just, tactful Governor, who tried to do
+his duty both to the King and to the colony. His was an extremely
+difficult task. His sympathies seem to have been with the people. Living
+among them, knowing their views, he must have deplored the policy of the
+Ministry in trying to deprive them of the cherished right of
+self-government. Great Britain's strongest link with America was not the
+link of government, not even the economic link, but the link of
+affection. And nothing tended more to strengthen it than the appointment
+of such a man as Fauquier to be Lieutenant Governor of the largest of
+the colonies. It would have been a lasting grief to Fauquier had he
+lived to see the final separation of mother country and colonies.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _The writings of Thomas Jefferson_, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 14:231.
+
+[2] CO5-1329, June 11, 1758.
+
+[3] CO5-1329, Blair to Lords of Trade, June 20, 1758.
+
+[4] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_ 1: 375.
+
+[5] CO5-1329, June 28, 1758.
+
+[6] Charles Campbell, _History of Virginia_, 508.
+
+[7] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1761-1765: xlii-xlvi.
+
+[8] _William and Mary Quarterly_, First Ser. 19: 16.
+
+[9] CO5-1329, Jan. 5, 1759.
+
+[10] CO5-1329. Read May 23, 1759.
+
+[11] _Ibid._, "Thomas London on the Clergy Bill," June 14, 1759.
+
+[12] G. M. Brydon, _Virginia's Mother Church_ 2: 318, 319.
+
+[13] Charles Campbell, _History of Virginia_, 509-511.
+
+[14] _William and Mary Quarterly_, First Ser. 19: 19.
+
+[15] _Ibid._, 21.
+
+[16] W. W. Henry, _Life, letters, and correspondence of Patrick Henry_
+1: 39-41.
+
+[17] _William and Mary Quarterly_, First Ser. 19: 33.
+
+[18] Blair, Tayloe, Byrd, Thornton, and Burwell.
+
+[19] CO5-1330, Fauquier to the Lords of Trade, May 9, 1764.
+
+[20] CO5-1330, Glasgow Merchants to Board of Trade, Jan. 10, 1764.
+
+[21] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1758-1761: 40, 41.
+
+[22] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 6: 478-483.
+
+[23] CO5-1329, Jan. 5, 1759.
+
+[24] _Ibid._, June 1, 1763.
+
+[25] CO5-1330, April 8, 1762.
+
+[26] _Legislative journals of the Council_ 3: 1281.
+
+[27] CO5-1330.
+
+[28] _Ibid._; _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1761-1765: xxvii.
+
+[29] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_, 7: 639.
+
+[30] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1761-1765: xxx-xxxiv.
+
+[31] CO5-1330, Jan. 10, 1764.
+
+[32] _Ibid._, Fauquier to the Lords of Trade, Nov. 3, 1760.
+
+[33] _Journal of the House of Burgesses_, 1761-1765: 350.
+
+[34] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., June 27, 1766.
+
+[35] D. J. Mays, _Edmund Pendleton_ 1: 174-208.
+
+[36] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., June 27, 1766.
+
+[37] Charles M. Andrews, The American Revolution, _American Historical
+Review_ 31: 219-232.
+
+[38] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1761-1765: liv-lviii.
+
+[39] _Parliamentary history of England_, ed. T. C. Hansard, 16: 38, 39.
+
+[40] L. P. Gipson, _The coming of the Revolution_, 81.
+
+[41] William Wirt, _Sketches of Patrick Henry_. The eyewitness account
+by a French traveler throws doubt on the long accepted statement that
+Henry replied to the Speaker's charge: "If this be treason make the most
+of it." _American Historical Review_ 25: 745.
+
+[42] CO5-1330, June 5, 1765.
+
+[43] _William and Mary Quarterly_, First Ser. 18: 162n.
+
+[44] CO5-1330, Fauquier to the Lords of Trade, Nov. 3, 1765.
+
+[45] _Virginia Gazette_, Oct. 25, 1765. Supplement.
+
+[46] _Virginia Gazette_, April 4, 1766.
+
+[47] CO5-1331, J. Morgan to Fauquier, April 7, 1766.
+
+[48] _Tyler's Magazine_ 16: 111-114.
+
+[49] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., Apr. 4, 1766.
+
+[50] _Ibid._
+
+[51] _Ibid._, Apr. 25, 1766.
+
+[52] _Ibid._, June 13, 1766.
+
+[53] _Ibid._, June 20, 1766.
+
+[54] _Ibid._, July 16, 1767.
+
+[55] _William and Mary Quarterly_, First Ser., 8: 173-177.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+INDEPENDENCE
+
+
+It was in October, 1768, when news reached Virginia that Norborne
+Berkeley, Lord Botetourt, had kissed the King's hand as Governor
+General. The unrest in the colony had convinced the Privy Council that
+the government "should no longer be administered by a substitute." So
+when Sir Jeffrey Amherst declined "going over to America," it was
+decided to appoint one who would go. For the first time since the death
+of Nott, Virginia had a resident Governor General. The people of the
+colony regarded this as a singular honor. When Botetourt arrived in
+Williamsburg, he found the members of the Council, the Speaker of the
+House, the Attorney General, and other prominent men waiting to receive
+him at the gate of the Capitol yard. After they had gone in to the
+Council Chamber, where the new Governor administered the oath, they
+stepped over to the Raleigh Tavern for supper. Then Botetourt was
+escorted to the Palace through the illuminated Duke of Gloucester Street
+and the Palace Green.[1]
+
+If the British Government had hoped to please the people of Virginia in
+sending them a Governor General, they were not disappointed. "All ranks
+vied with each other in testifying their gratitude and joy that a
+nobleman of such distinguished merit and abilities is appointed to
+preside over and live among them."[2] But it was not so much his rank as
+his personality which won all hearts. He was easily accessible, affable
+to the humblest visitor, sympathetic with the people's grievances.
+
+The new Governor was at once confronted with grave issues. In May, 1767,
+Charles Townshend had secured an act of Parliament placing duties on
+glass, lead, painters' colors, and tea imported into the colonies. It
+was expressly stated that the revenue was to be used to pay the salaries
+of British officials in America. Another act was passed to enforce the
+trade laws, and still another to suspend the New York Assembly for its
+defiance of the Billeting Act.
+
+Again all America seethed. It is obvious, men told each other, that the
+British Government will not be content until they have made slaves of
+us. At first they claimed that they were seeking nothing more of us than
+a revenue. Now they openly avow that these new duties are to be used to
+make British officials in America independent of the Assemblies. That
+would be the final triumph of royal authority.
+
+So when Botetourt dissolved the old Assembly and called for a new
+election, the people selected their ablest and most patriotic men. Among
+them were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Richard
+Henry Lee, Henry Lee, and Edmund Pendleton. When they met, in May, 1769,
+Governor Botetourt entered an elegant coach which had been presented to
+him by King George III, on it the insignia of royalty, drawn by six
+milk-white horses, and drove from the Palace to the Capitol. After the
+usual address to the Assembly and the replies of the Council and the
+Burgesses, Botetourt entertained many of the members at dinner.
+
+In the previous February the Governor had written the Lords of Trade
+warning them of the temper of the people. "I must not venture to flatter
+your Lordships that they will ever willingly submit to being taxed by
+the mother country. The reverse is their creed. They universally avow a
+most ardent desire to assist upon every occasion, but pray to be allowed
+to do it in consequence of requisition."[3]
+
+It seems strange, then, that he should have been surprised to hear that
+the Burgesses had passed several resolutions asserting the rights of the
+people. They declared that the sole right of imposing taxes "is now, and
+ever hath been" constitutionally vested in the House of Burgesses; that
+the people have the right to petition the sovereign for redress of
+grievances; and that trials for crimes committed in the colony should be
+tried in the Virginia courts.[4]
+
+The next day the Governor summoned the Council and Burgesses to the
+Council Chamber, where he said he had heard of the resolutions, that he
+predicted they would have an ill effect, and that according to his duty,
+he dissolved them.
+
+But the Burgesses would not be silenced. Filing out of the Capitol, they
+went to the nearby Raleigh Tavern for an unofficial session. After they
+had elected Peyton Randolph moderator, they discussed the serious
+problems facing the colony. They then appointed a committee to draw up a
+plan for an association, and adjourned until the next day.
+
+The report of the committee, which was signed by eighty-eight men is a
+document of the greatest importance in the history of the clash between
+the American colonies and Great Britain. It spoke of the "grievances and
+distresses" with which the people were oppressed, of the evils which
+threatened their ruin and the ruin of their posterity by reducing them
+"from a free and happy people to a wretched and miserable state of
+slavery." They denounced "the restrictions, prohibitions, and
+ill-advised regulations in several late acts of Parliament," and
+declared that the "unconstitutional act imposing duties on tea, paper,
+glass, etc. for the sole purpose of raising a revenue in America is
+injurious to property, and destructive to liberty."[5] Those who signed
+the association promised to discourage luxury and extravagance, agreed
+not to import goods taxed by Parliament or any of a long list of
+commodities, until the hated duties were removed.
+
+After all had affixed their signatures, they gathered around the punch
+bowl to drink a series of toasts--to the King, the Queen and the Royal
+Family, Lord Botetourt, A Speedy and lasting Union between Great Britain
+and her Colonies, The Constitutional British Liberty in America and all
+true Patriots, the Supporters thereof, the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of
+Shelburne, Colonel Barré, the late Speaker, etc. At last, either because
+the liquor or the toasts gave out, the meeting came to an end.[6]
+
+It was while the Assembly was in session that Secretary Hillsborough
+wrote Botetourt assuring him that the King's ministers would soon
+propose the repeal of the obnoxious duties. Whereupon the Governor
+called an Assembly and laid the joyous news before them. But the
+Burgesses must have seen the joker in the announcement when they noted
+that the repeal would be based, not on any illegality in the duties, but
+on the fact that they had been laid "contrary to the true principles of
+commerce."[7]
+
+Yet Botetourt was all optimism. "I will be content to be declared
+infamous if I do not to the last hour of my life ... exert every power
+with which I am or ever shall be legally invested ... to obtain and
+maintain for the continent of America that satisfaction which I have
+been authorized to promise by the confidential servant of our gracious
+sovereign." Some months later, when the Virginians learned just how the
+Ministry had carried out this promise, Botetourt had reason to think
+that he had been led into deceiving them. It is true that all the duties
+had been taken off save that on tea. But so far from considering this a
+favor, the colonists resented it as a bait to make them acknowledge the
+right of Parliament to tax them. The resentment of the people was all
+the greater because of their disappointment. Hillsborough's promise had
+made them lax in enforcing the association, so in June, 1770, they
+organized a new one. A long list of imported goods were to be boycotted,
+industry was to be encouraged, prices were not to be advanced. To see
+that the agreement was carried out committees were to be organized in
+every county to examine invoices and expose violators.
+
+It was unfortunate for Virginia that Botetourt's administration was
+short. He died October 15, 1770. "Truly and justly to express the many
+great virtues and amiable qualities which adorned this noble lord, as
+well in his public as private character, would demand the skill of the
+ablest penman," stated the death notice in the _Gazette_. "Virginia, in
+his fall, sorely laments the loss of the best of Governors and the best
+of men."[8]
+
+A few days later a sorrowful procession moved from the Palace to Bruton
+Parish Church, amid the tolling of the bells in the church, the college,
+and the Capitol. In front of and beside the hearse were eight mourners
+carrying staffs draped in black, around them were the pallbearers--six
+Councillors and the Speaker of the House. Then followed the Governor's
+servants, the clergy, the professors of the college, the Williamsburg
+officials preceded by the city mace, and many others, all having white
+hatbands and gloves. After the service in the church the procession
+moved to the Wren Building where the lead casket, covered with a crimson
+velvet cloth, was placed in a vault below the floor of the chapel.[9]
+
+As a token of affection the Assembly employed Richard Hayward, of
+London, to make a marble statue of Botetourt, which arrived in 1773 and
+was set up in the piazza of the Capitol. Later it was mutilated by a
+crowd of vandals as an expression of their hostility to all things
+British. In 1801 the College of William and Mary acquired it and removed
+it to the campus in front of the Wren Building, where it stands today an
+object of veneration for faculty, students, and alumni.
+
+The grief of the people at the loss of Botetourt would have been all the
+greater had they known who was to be his successor. At the time John
+Murray, Earl of Dunmore, was Governor of New York, where he was regarded
+with contempt. At a feast of the Sons of St. Andrew he got drunk, acted
+like "a damned fool," and "sank himself" so low with vile language that
+the entire company was abashed. When word reached him that he was to be
+transferred to Virginia, he expressed resentment. "Damn Virginia!" he
+cried. "Why is it forced on me? I asked for New York. New York I love
+and they have robbed me of it." At a farewell dinner given in his honor,
+"he took too cheerful a glass," and got into a fight.[10]
+
+The people of Virginia were probably not aware of Dunmore's character,
+for they greeted him cordially upon his arrival in Williamsburg, late in
+September, 1771. In the evening the city was illuminated, with a candle
+in every window, as a testimony of joy at his Excellency's safe
+arrival.[11]
+
+The time was auspicious, for there was a lull in the controversy with
+the mother country. Though the duty on tea had not been removed, there
+was general hope that all differences could be adjusted. It is true that
+Dunmore aroused suspicion by trying to create new fees with which to pay
+his secretary, but his promptness in relinquishing them soon dissipated
+it. "A ball and elegant entertainment" at the Capitol given by the
+Burgesses in his honor testified to a spirit of cordiality.
+
+It was just this lull which alarmed some of the younger leaders in
+Virginia. As long as the tax on tea remained they realized that the
+danger to liberty persisted. So when the Assembly met in the spring of
+1773, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, and others
+held private consultations in the Raleigh Tavern on how to awaken the
+people, not only of Virginia, but of all the colonies, to the need of a
+common defense.[12]
+
+A momentous series of meetings they proved to be, for out of them came
+the intercolonial system of committees of correspondence and the
+Continental Congress. "We were all sensible that the most urgent of all
+measures was that of coming to an understanding with all the other
+colonies to consider the British claims as a common cause to all, and to
+produce a unity of action," Jefferson stated afterward. "And for this
+purpose that a committee of correspondence in each colony would be the
+best instrument for intercommunication. And that their first measure
+would probably be to propose a meeting of deputies from every colony, at
+some central place, who should be charged with the direction of the
+measures to be taken by all."[13]
+
+On March 13, the resolution to appoint the committee of correspondence
+for Virginia was introduced in the House of Burgesses by Dabney Carr,
+and adopted unanimously. To the committee were appointed some of the
+first men in the colony--Peyton Randolph, Thomas Jefferson, Richard
+Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Edmund Pendleton, etc.
+
+William Lee, writing from London, said that this action "struck a
+greater panic into the Ministers" than anything since the passage of the
+Stamp Act. And well it might, for soon the entire country was covered
+with committees, who kept in close touch with each other, formulated
+public opinion, and prepared the way for revolutionary action.
+
+The need for these bodies became glaringly evident when the British
+Government adopted a policy of repression which aroused the spirit of
+resistance to the highest pitch. At the time the East India Company was
+on the verge of bankruptcy. In order to save it the government agreed to
+remit the long-standing duty of twelve pence a pound on tea entering
+Great Britain. When the tea was re-exported to America the price, even
+after the three pence duty there had been paid, would be nine pence less
+than formerly. George III approved of the plan heartily, and confidently
+expected the colonists to swallow the pill of Parliamentary taxation,
+now that it was coated with the sugar of reduced prices.
+
+Never was a man more mistaken. The Americans, after struggling for a
+century and a half to win liberty, were not going to sell it for a cup
+of tea. When the East India Company ships arrived, angry mobs forced
+some to turn back with their cargoes, some were boarded and the tea
+destroyed. When the brigantine _Mary and Jane_ arrived in Norfolk with
+nine chests of tea, a crowded meeting at the courthouse demanded that
+they be sent back. When the importers complied they received a vote of
+thanks.[14] The York County committee, headed by Thomas Nelson, debated
+whether a ship which came in with two chests of tea should not be burnt,
+but contented themselves with forcing her to leave without the expected
+cargo of tobacco.
+
+Tea was banned in every patriotic household. One evening at Nomini Hall,
+Mrs. Robert Carter made "a dish of tea" for her husband. "He smelt,
+sipt, looked." "What is this?" he asked. Then "splash" he emptied the
+cup in the fire.[15] But what chiefly aroused the ire of the British
+Ministry was the so-called Boston Tea Party, when fifty or sixty men,
+disguised as Indians, boarded the tea ships and threw box after box in
+the harbor, while a large crowd looked on and applauded.
+
+This provoked the British Government into making their most serious
+blunder--the passage of what the Americans called the "Intolerable
+Acts." The port of Boston was closed; the Massachusetts government was
+altered to increase the power of the Governor; in certain cases accused
+persons might be sent to England for trial; the Governors were
+authorized to requisition buildings for the use of royal troops; the
+boundaries of the province of Quebec were extended to the Mississippi on
+the west and the Ohio on the south.
+
+The American patriots now realized that they must act with vigor and
+firmness or lose all that they held most dear. The King and Parliament
+were determined to force the issue. When the Virginia Assembly met in
+May, 1774, Henry, Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, and several others met
+in the Council Chamber in the Capitol to agree on some measure to arouse
+the people to a sense of the danger. After some discussion it was
+decided to propose to the Burgesses that they make June 1, the date set
+for the closing of the port of Boston, a day of general fasting and
+prayer. The resolution was introduced by Robert Carter Nicholas, and
+passed without opposition.[16]
+
+ [Illustration: Lord Dunmore. From the copy in the possession of the
+ Virginia Historical Society of the original portrait by Sir Joshua
+ Reynolds.]
+
+ [Illustration: The Governor's Palace, Williamsburg. Courtesy of
+ Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.]
+
+The resolution stated that it was necessary to have a day of "fasting,
+humiliation, and prayer, devoutly to implore the divine interposition
+for averting the heavy calamity which threatens destruction to our civil
+rights, and the evils of civil war; to give us one heart and mind firmly
+to oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to American
+rights; and that the minds of his Majesty and his Parliament may be
+inspired from above with wisdom, moderation, and justice to remove from
+the loyal people of America all cause of danger from a continued pursuit
+of measures pregnant with ruin." Dunmore thought the resolution
+reflected on the King and Parliament, and so made it necessary for him
+to dissolve the Assembly.[17]
+
+But on June 1, in all parts of Virginia, the people dropped their daily
+tasks to assemble in the churches. Every face reflected the universal
+alarm, as the eastern aristocrat, the frontiersman in his buckskin
+clothes, the great landholder, and the small planter knelt in prayer. In
+Williamsburg the citizens and as many of the Burgesses as had remained
+in town, assembled at the courthouse and moved in solemn procession to
+the church to listen to a sermon by the chaplain of the House.[18] There
+had been no such solemn occasion since the French and Indian War, and it
+came as an electric shock to the people.[19]
+
+In the meanwhile, events of great importance were taking place in
+Williamsburg. When Dunmore dissolved the Assembly, the Burgesses,
+instead of dispersing, met as they had done five years before in the
+Raleigh Tavern. Here, as they sat in the beautiful Apollo Room, they
+renewed the association to boycott English goods; proposed to the
+committees of correspondence in every colony that they appoint deputies
+to a continental Congress; and suggested that each county in Virginia
+should elect representatives to a convention to meet at Williamsburg on
+August 1.[20]
+
+Despite their revolutionary activities, the members of the Assembly
+maintained cordial relations with the Governor. When Lady Dunmore joined
+her husband earlier in the spring, she was greeted with cheers by the
+people of Williamsburg. On May 26, the Burgesses gave a ball and
+entertainment in the Capitol in her honor. My lady seems to have been a
+most graceful dancer. When she and the Governor visited Norfolk where a
+ball was given them, the city authorities sent to Princess Anne County
+for Colonel Moseley to come "with his famous wig and shining buckles" to
+dance the minuet with her. So when the fiddles struck up away she went
+"sailing about the room in her great, fine hoop-petticoat, and Colonel
+Moseley after her wig and all."[21]
+
+Most of the Burgesses of the Assembly of 1774 had hardly rested from
+their journey home when they had to repack their saddlebags, mount their
+horses, and set out again for Williamsburg to attend the provincial
+convention. When they had assembled they once more renewed the
+association, and then proceeded to the election of delegates to the
+Continental Congress. Randolph was chosen because it was thought he
+would preside, Washington because he might be called on to command the
+army, Henry and Richard Henry Lee because of their eloquence, Bland,
+Harrison, and Pendleton because of their ability as political leaders.
+
+As these men turned their faces toward Philadelphia, their minds must
+have reverted to the series of violations of the rights of the people
+which had brought on the crisis. The questions George Washington asked
+himself no doubt were in the minds of all. "Does it not appear as clear
+as the sun in its meridian brightness that there is a regular,
+systematic plan formed to fix the right and practice of taxation upon
+us?... Does not the uniform conduct of Parliament for some years past
+confirm this?... Is not the attack upon the liberty and property of the
+people of Boston ... a plain and self-evident proof of what they are
+aiming at? Do not subsequent bills ... convince us that the
+administration is determined to stick at nothing to carry its
+point?"[22]
+
+Congress met in the "plain and spacious rooms" on the lower floor of
+Carpenter's Hall which had been completed four years before. After some
+debate they adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances, stating the
+American case against taxation without representation and demanding the
+repeal of the "unpolitic, unjust, cruel, and unconstitutional"
+Intolerable Acts. They then framed a "Continental Association" to be
+enforced by local committees.
+
+The Association proved remarkably successful. To this Dunmore himself
+bore testimony. To the Earl of Hillsborough he wrote in December, 1774:
+"The Associations ... recommended by the people of this colony, and
+adopted by what is called the Continental Congress, are now enforcing
+throughout this country with the greatest rigor. A committee has been
+chosen in every county whose business it is to carry the Association of
+the Congress into execution, which committee assumes an authority to
+inspect the books, invoices, and all the secrets of the trade and
+correspondence of the merchants, to watch the conduct of every
+inhabitant without distinction, and send for all such as come under
+their suspicion into their presence, to interrogate them ...and to
+stigmatize, as they term it, such as they find transgressing what they
+are hardy enough to call the laws of Congress."[23]
+
+The American patriots were greatly encouraged by the support they
+received from many of the ablest men in Great Britain. These men were
+shocked at the disregard by Parliament of the principle that no man
+should be taxed without his own consent. Pitt declared that if America
+fell the British Constitution would fall with her. When troops were sent
+to Boston, the Duke of Richmond blurted out: "I hope from the bottom of
+my heart that the Americans may resist and get the better of the forces
+sent against them."
+
+Today one wonders how the King and Parliament could have turned a deaf
+ear to the ringing words of Edmund Burke in his famous address on
+"Conciliation with the Colonies." "As long as you have the wisdom to
+keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of
+liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the
+chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their
+faces toward you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will
+have; the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be
+their obedience. Slavery they can have anywhere--it is a seed that grows
+in every soil.... But, until you become lost to all feeling of your true
+interest and your national dignity, freedom they can have from none but
+you.... Deny them this participation of freedom, and you break that sole
+bond which originally made, and must still preserve, the unity of the
+Empire.... It is the spirit of the English Constitution which, infused
+through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivifies
+every part of the Empire, even down to the minutest members."[24]
+
+In the revolutionary changes in Virginia it was the House of Burgesses,
+not the Council, who took the lead. Washington, Henry, Jefferson,
+Pendleton, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason were all Burgesses. In fact
+the members of the Council were placed in a most embarrassing position.
+Appointed by the King to aid and advise the royal Governor, they owed a
+double allegiance--to Crown and country. To them the breach was a
+tragedy, the choice of allegiance a difficult one. So for the most part
+they played a negative role. In the Council meetings they usually voted
+with the Governor. But as the crisis grew more acute they drifted away
+from him to join their countrymen in resisting the assaults on their
+liberty.
+
+John Page, Junior, in Council supported Dunmore in dissolving the
+Assembly in May, 1774; yet he remained in town and joined the Burgesses
+in the procession to the church on the fast day.[25] On the other hand,
+Robert Carter, though he had refused to drink a cup of tea, would not
+permit any of his family to observe the day. "By this I conclude he is a
+courtier," wrote Fithian in his _Diary_. But he did not long remain a
+"courtier." "The enemies of government are so numerous and so vigilant
+over the conduct of every man that the loyalists have been so
+intimidated that they have entirely shrunk away," wrote Dunmore in July,
+1775. "Even the Council ... approves everything done by the Burgesses."
+The only members he could rely upon were Ralph Wormeley, Gawin Corbin,
+and the Reverend John Camm.[26] The rest, while not subscribing to the
+Association, adhered strictly to it.
+
+But John Randolph, the Attorney General, remained faithful to the King
+to the end. His opposition to the resolutions denouncing the Stamp Act,
+the boycott, and the calling of the provincial and Continental
+Congresses brought down on him the wrath of the patriots. Dunmore stated
+that he was insulted, his life threatened, and his home destroyed.[27]
+In 1775 he sailed for England with his family, never to return.
+
+In the fall of 1774 Dunmore brought on himself the hatred of the
+Virginia frontiersmen by his conduct in a war with the western Indians.
+Placing himself in command of one force, and General Andrew Lewis of
+another, he gave the order to advance. Lewis defeated the famous chief
+Comstock in the bloody battle of Point Pleasant, but Dunmore, ignoring
+the chance to deliver a crushing blow, made a treaty of peace with the
+Indians.
+
+The frontiersmen, as they turned their faces homeward, cursed the
+Governor as a traitor, who spared the Indians because he planned to use
+them against the Virginians should they go to war with Great Britain.
+Nor were their suspicions groundless, for a few months later Dunmore
+wrote the Earl of Dartmouth that if the King would send him "a small
+body of troops" and arms and ammunition, he could raise "such a force
+among Indians, Negroes, and other persons" as would soon reduce Virginia
+to obedience.[28]
+
+But at this moment obedience was far from the minds of the people. On
+March 20, 1775, the second Provincial Congress met in St. John's Church,
+Richmond. The place was but a straggling village, but it was more
+centrally located than Williamsburg, and further away from the British
+warships in the York River. The delegates were unanimous in approving
+the proceedings of the Continental Congress, and in thanking the
+Virginia representatives for their services. But it soon became evident
+that they were divided on the vital question of preparing for war. When
+Henry introduced resolutions for putting the colony in a state of
+defense by arming and disciplining a force of militia, some of the
+leading members drew back. War was unthinkable, they said. The country
+was too weak, too defenseless, too open to invasion. The only hope was
+for reconciliation, for the mediation of America's friends in
+Parliament.
+
+This brought Henry to his feet. "What has there been in the conduct of
+the British Ministry for the last ten years to justify hope? Are fleets
+and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? These are the
+instruments of subjugation sent over to rivet upon us the chains which
+the British Ministry have been so long forging. What have we to oppose
+them? Shall we try argument? We have been trying that for the last ten
+years.... Shall we resort to entreaty and supplication? We have
+petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have supplicated; and we have been
+spurned from the foot of the throne.... If we wish to be free we must
+fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!... Is life so dear or peace so
+sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it,
+Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me,
+give me liberty or give me death."[29] Henry's eloquence carried the
+day, yet so fraught with danger was the issue, that his motion was
+carried by a majority of five only.
+
+A few days later Dunmore wrote to Dartmouth denouncing the proceedings
+of the Convention. "The most dangerous, as well as the most daring
+attempt is the resolution which is adopted for raising a body of armed
+men, horse and foot as well. The plan for imbodying, arming, and
+disciplining of which is by these resolutions published as the final
+order for putting the same into execution."
+
+Almost overnight Virginia was converted into an armed camp. Everywhere
+there was the sound of drums, the sharp commands of drillmasters,
+marching and countermarching. Even in Williamsburg the streets were full
+of men with arms in their hands. In the Valley of Virginia, Fithian
+jotted down in his _Diary_ on June 6: "Here every presence is warlike,
+every sound is martial! Drums beating, fifes and bagpipes playing....
+Every man had a hunting-shirt, which is the uniform of each company.
+Almost all have a cockade and bucktail in their hats to represent that
+they are hardy, resolute, and invincible natives of the woods of
+America."[30]
+
+These warlike preparations drove Dunmore to take a step, which aroused
+the fury of the patriots. In Williamsburg there still stands a little
+octagonal building which was used as a magazine in colonial days. Here
+were stored twenty barrels of powder and several guns. To keep the
+independent companies from seizing the powder the Governor ordered a
+party of sailors to take it on board an armed schooner nearby in the
+James River. Before daybreak, on April 20, they made off with most of
+it, and it was later put on board the _Fowey_ man-of-war.[31]
+
+Despite the gloom of early dawn the removal of the powder was observed,
+and the beating of drums gave the alarm. The independent companies got
+under arms, the people assembled, and the Governor was threatened with
+violence unless he returned the powder. The mayor and other city
+officers, leaving the troops nearby, went to the Palace with an address
+which Dunmore thought amounted to a peremptory demand for the powder.
+Should he refuse they could not answer for the dreadful consequences.
+
+The Governor not only refused, but prepared to resist any attack with
+the aid of several British officers and a few men from the warships. Had
+not Peyton Randolph and Robert Carter Nicholas persuaded the angry
+troops to disperse, the war in Virginia would have begun with an assault
+on the Palace. As it was, parties of armed men continued to pour into
+Williamsburg, and word came that several hundred cavalry were at
+Fredericksburg, ready to march, and that Patrick Henry was leading a
+force up from the south. In alarm the Governor sent Lady Dunmore and his
+children to one of the warships, and threatened to arm the slaves and
+reduce Williamsburg to ashes.[32]
+
+The more conservative leaders among the Virginians, who were still
+hoping for a compromise with Great Britain, were able, though with great
+difficulty, to restrain the troops. At Fredericksburg the men pledged
+themselves to be in readiness at a moment's notice to defend the laws,
+the liberties, and the rights of Virginia and any sister colony, and
+then dispersed.[33] Henry's force got within fifteen miles of
+Williamsburg, and halted only when Richard Corbin, the Receiver General,
+paid for the powder from the royal funds by handing him a bill of
+exchange for £330.
+
+Fate decreed that hostilities should begin, not in Virginia, but in
+Massachusetts. The Virginia delegates were just preparing to leave for
+the second Continental Congress when the news of the skirmish at
+Lexington and Concord arrived. New England was already at war. The
+question in everyone's mind was, would the rest of the country follow?
+Washington's answer was to wear his military uniform. Along the road he
+and the other Virginia delegates were cheered on by crowds of
+enthusiastic people, amid the blaring of bands and the firing of guns.
+
+It was with difficulty that some of the conservative members of Congress
+prevented a declaration of independence. And though a petition to the
+King was agreed on, the taking over of the New England army around
+Boston and appointing Washington commander in chief, was in effect a
+declaration of war. Yet, as Washington was leaving for the east to draw
+the sword, Pendleton returned to Virginia to resume his post as Speaker
+in a last attempt to re-establish the old government.
+
+He was welcomed to Williamsburg like a conquering hero. A detachment of
+cavalry met him at the Pamunkey River and escorted him the rest of the
+way. Two miles from the city they were joined by a company of infantry.
+At sunset, as they entered Williamsburg, they were received by the
+ringing of bells and the cheers of the crowds in the streets. At dark
+every house was illuminated.
+
+Dunmore thought "this pompous military exhibition" had been planned "to
+raise the importance of the members of this new created power, the
+Congress, before the people." And the "appearance of numbers of the
+Burgesses in the clothes of the American troops, wearing a shirt of
+coarse linen or canvas over their clothes and a tomahawk by their
+sides," added fuel to the fire.[34]
+
+The Assembly had been in session but three days when several overzealous
+young men broke into the magazine to take out some of the arms. They
+stumbled against a cord which had been attached to a gun pointed at the
+entrance, which went off wounding two of them. This aroused the people
+to action, and the next day at noon an angry crowd, among them several
+Burgesses, entered the magazine and carried off about 400 stand of arms.
+A committee of the House of Burgesses persuaded the people to return the
+arms, and then set a military guard around the magazine. "So the custody
+of the magazine and public stores is thus wrested out of the hands of
+the Governor," complained Dunmore.[35]
+
+At the opening of the Assembly the Governor began by urging the
+acceptance of the resolutions which Lord North had pushed through
+Parliament in February, as the basis for reconciliation. These
+resolutions promised that if any colony would raise of its own authority
+the cost of its own government, Parliament would not tax that colony. In
+other words, if the Americans guaranteed to pay into the hands of the
+King's Governors funds sufficient to make them independent of the
+Assemblies, Parliament would not take their money from them to do so.
+The Burgesses must have been indignant when Dunmore told them that he
+had strong hopes a consideration of this offer would bring to an end the
+disputes with the mother country.[36]
+
+The reply of the Burgesses, which was almost certainly written by
+Jefferson, is notable because of the clearness with which it exposed the
+unconstitutionally of the British position. They had viewed the proposal
+with pain and disappointment, for it merely changed the form of
+oppression without lightening its burden. "The British government has no
+right to intermeddle with the support of civil government in the
+colonies. For us, not for them, has government been instituted here....
+We cannot conceive that any other legislature has a right to prescribe
+either the number or pecuniary appointment of our officers." The claim
+of Parliament of the right to tax the people of the colony had no
+precedent. Even the act of 1680 giving the King a perpetual revenue was
+passed, not by Parliament, but by his Majesty "with the consent of the
+General Assembly."[37]
+
+The Burgesses were not willing to purchase exemption from an unjust
+taxation by saddling the people with a perpetual tax to be disposed of
+by the King or Parliament. "We have a right to give our money as the
+Parliament does theirs, without coercion.... It is not merely the mode
+of raising, but the freedom of granting our money for which we have
+contended, without which we possess no check on the royal prerogative."
+
+Upon receiving assurance that no harm was intended his family, Dunmore
+had brought them back to the Palace. But on June 8, before daybreak, he,
+Lady Dunmore, the children, his secretary, and some of the servants
+stole out and went on board the _Fowey_. "My house was kept in continued
+alarm and threatened every night with an assault," Dunmore explained.
+"Surrounded as I was by armed men ... and situated so far from any place
+where men-of-war can approach, ... I could not think it safe to continue
+in that city."[38]
+
+The Assembly urged the Governor to return, but he refused. So on the
+night of June 24, a large body of men forced their way into the Palace
+by bursting open a window, and carried off several hundred stand of arms
+which had been kept in the hall. Some days later another group entered
+the building, went from room to room breaking into cabinets, and
+carried off arms of various sorts.[39]
+
+And now Williamsburg became an armed camp. Bands of horse and foot, in
+uniforms and each company displaying their distinctive badge flocked in.
+Some of them lodged in the Capitol, the cavalry encamped on the Palace
+Green.[40] One wonders whether these men knew that a century earlier
+Nathaniel Bacon had assembled his men on or near this spot, or whether
+any of them realized that they had fought for the same cause as they,
+the cause of liberty?
+
+With Dunmore on the _Fowey_ and the Assembly in Williamsburg, the
+remainder of the session was rather futile. There was renewed bickering
+over the removal of the powder, the Burgesses drew up a long address to
+the Governor criticizing his administration, and accusing him of
+misrepresenting conditions in Virginia in one of his letters to the Earl
+of Dartmouth. The Assembly adjourned on June 24, until October 12, and
+on that date, when only thirty-seven members showed up, adjourned again
+until March 7, 1776. This time less than a fourth of the Burgesses
+attended, and immediately adjourned to May 6, when several members met,
+"but did neither proceed to business nor adjourn, as a House of
+Burgesses." And so died the Virginia Assembly after more than a century
+and a half of existence, in which it had fought and won the good battle
+for liberty. It now remained for other bodies to defend and preserve
+that liberty for future generations.[41]
+
+Even while the Assembly was in session the government, in reality, had
+passed into the hands of the conventions and the committees of safety.
+As early as December, 1774, Dunmore wrote that the royal government had
+been "entirely overthrown." "There is not a justice of peace in Virginia
+that acts except as a committeeman. The abolishing of the courts of
+justice was the first step taken, in which the men of fortune and
+pre-eminence joined equally with the lowest and meanest. The General
+Court ... is in much the same predicament."[42] All that was needed to
+take the government completely out of the hands of the Governor and the
+Assembly was an executive head. And this was supplied by the third
+convention which met in Richmond in July, 1775, by the appointment of a
+"general committee of safety."
+
+To this body were appointed some of the ablest men in the
+colony--Pendleton, George Mason, John Page, Richard Bland, Thomas
+Ludwell Lee, and others. It was given almost dictatorial powers, for it
+had the supervision of military affairs, appointing officers, collecting
+supplies, and naming paymasters; it corresponded with the county
+committees, arrested Loyalists, held inquiries.[43]
+
+The convention, having created a body to take over the functions
+formerly exercised by the Governor and Council, itself practically
+replaced the dying Assembly. It prepared for the defense of the colony
+by raising two regular regiments and several thousand minutemen,
+reorganizing the militia, and setting up works for the manufacture of
+arms and powder. It authorized the Treasurer to issue £350,000 of paper
+money. It levied taxes on tithables, coaches, land, licenses, legal
+papers, etc.[44]
+
+A state of war now existed. If they could have laid hands on Dunmore,
+the patriots no doubt would have kept him in confinement. And on one
+occasion he barely escaped. It was in July that he went in a barge to a
+farm which he owned on a creek about seven miles from Williamsburg. He
+and Captain Montague, of the _Fowey_, had just finished dinner when the
+servants rushed in to warn them that the Americans were coming. They had
+barely time to run to their boat and push off. Two of their men were
+captured, and another, jumping into a canoe, paddled desperately with
+bullets whizzing past his head.[45]
+
+As early as May, 1775, Dunmore wrote Dartmouth that he could not
+maintain even an appearance of authority without "a force to support
+it." Dartmouth replied that he was sending him 3,000 stand of arms, 200
+rounds of powder and ball for each musket, and four light brass cannon.
+"I see that Gage has ordered sent you a detachment of the Fourteenth
+Regiment. I hope with the Negroes, Indians, etc., you can reduce
+Virginia.... It is the King's firm resolution that the most vigorous
+efforts should be made, by sea and land, to reduce his rebellious
+subjects to obedience."[46]
+
+Dunmore was soon in control of Virginia waters. The sloop of war _Otter_
+arrived late in June, the _Mercury_, carrying twenty guns, on July 10,
+to be followed by the _Liverpool_, a frigate of twenty-eight guns; the
+_Kingfisher_, and the _Dunmore_. But the Governor was never able to
+raise a land force capable of contending with the Virginians. With the
+arrival of seventy men from St. Augustine and one company from Rhode
+Island to add to the marines, he could muster about 200 men. This small
+force he hoped would be a nucleus for an army of Tories and Negroes, and
+on November 7 he issued a proclamation declaring martial law, summoning
+all "loyal" citizens to join him, and offering freedom to any slaves who
+would take up arms for the King.[47]
+
+In the meanwhile, he had moved with his little fleet into the Elizabeth
+River. It was necessary for him to find provisions, and he counted upon
+the Scottish merchants of Norfolk and other Tories in the lower counties
+to supply him. When the local committee of safety denounced all who sent
+food out to the ships as enemies of liberty, he threatened to bombard
+the city.
+
+The Norfolk printer, John Holt, ignoring the guns of the warships which
+pointed out over the town, continued to issue his gazette and to urge
+the people not to give up their liberty. On September 30 a party of
+British rowed ashore, marched to the printing office, and carried off
+the press, the type, the ink, the paper, and two of the printers. As
+they embarked they gave three huzzas, in which a crowd of Negroes
+joined. "I am now going to have a press for the King," Dunmore said.[48]
+
+On November 16, Dunmore took possession of Norfolk, where he raised the
+royal standard. To his great satisfaction the Scottish merchants and
+their clerks, some Negroes, and others took the oath. He then began to
+fortify the city with earthworks.[49] He would have done better to build
+forts at different points on the long, circuitous road by which alone
+Norfolk could be approached, between the Dismal Swamp and the heads of
+several branches of the Elizabeth River. Not until it was too late did
+he fortify Great Bridge where the Southern Branch flowed between two
+marshes, each crossed by a long causeway.
+
+In the meanwhile, the Virginia troops had been concentrating at
+Williamsburg, under the command of Colonel Woodford. They now crossed
+the James, marched through Suffolk, and headed for the Great Bridge.
+Many of the men were from the western counties, and were armed, not with
+muskets, but with rifles. They were deadly shots, as the British soon
+found to their sorrow. When the Virginians reached Great Bridge, the
+British, instead of waiting for them to attack their almost impregnable
+position, themselves took the initiative. The regulars led the way over
+the causeways and the bridge, followed by the Tories and Negroes.[50]
+"Reserve your fire until they are within fifty yards," the Virginia
+officers ordered. Then the shirtmen, aiming as coolly as though they
+were shooting deer, let fly. The regulars were cut to pieces, the Tories
+and Negroes refused to fight, so with the coming of darkness the British
+left their posts and streamed back to Norfolk.[51]
+
+When Dunmore heard of this defeat he raved like a madman, and even
+threatened to hang the boy who brought the news. With the shirtmen
+advancing on the city, flight was all that was left him. Soon the
+streets were jammed with panicky soldiers, men, women, and children,
+hastening to the wharves to take refuge on the warships or the fleet of
+merchantmen. They were none too soon, for on December 11, the
+Virginians, reinforced by a body of North Carolinians under Colonel
+Howe, entered the city.
+
+But having gained Norfolk, the two commanders now debated what they
+should do with it. If a large force of British attacked it by land and
+sea it could not be defended, and the garrison would be captured.[52] On
+the other hand, for the enemy it would be invaluable as a base for
+attacks on any point in eastern Maryland, Virginia, or North Carolina.
+Howe wrote the Virginia convention, hinting for permission to burn the
+city.
+
+Dunmore's folly gave him an excuse for doing so without waiting for a
+reply. Food and water were becoming scarce on the crowded ships in the
+river, many of the refugees became ill, several died. So Dunmore
+threatened to bombard the city if the patriots cut off supplies, and
+moved the warships to a position close by. But now the riflemen, firing
+from warehouses near the wharves, began picking off his men whenever
+they appeared on deck. On the afternoon of January 1, 1776, the warships
+opened fire, and several boatloads of soldiers rowed up to the wharves
+and set fire to the adjacent buildings.[53]
+
+It was a striking evidence of the sacrifices which the colonial
+Virginians were willing to make in the cause of liberty that twice they
+applied the torch to one of their towns to prevent the enemy from using
+it as a base. The burning of Jamestown by Bacon and his men foreshadowed
+the burning of Norfolk by the revolutionary troops a century later.
+Seizing upon the fires set by the British as an excuse, the soldiers
+went from house to house to spread the flames. In all nearly nine
+hundred houses were destroyed. A month later, by command of the
+convention, the Americans burned down what was left of the city, 416
+houses in all.[54]
+
+The burning of Norfolk was a drastic step indeed. All who witnessed the
+plight of the people as they trudged along the roads leading out of the
+city to seek refuge in nearby farms must have condemned it as an act of
+useless cruelty. But in the end it probably saved more suffering than it
+entailed. Had the city been spared, the British would almost certainly
+have occupied it and held it throughout the remainder of the war, just
+as they held New York. It would have been a haven for Tories from all
+the adjacent states, the British would have made it a great naval and
+military base, from it expeditions would have been launched up the great
+Virginia rivers as Berkeley had launched expeditions from the Eastern
+Shore.
+
+Since the Virginians had no fleet of warships capable of driving Dunmore
+out of their waters, they decided to starve him out. They even
+threatened to move the entire population of parts of Norfolk and
+Princess Anne Counties to prevent provisions from reaching him. In May
+he gave orders for the fleet to leave the Elizabeth River and proceed to
+Gwynn's Island, in the Chesapeake Bay, near the mouth of the
+Rappahannock River. Here he established a camp. But when General Andrew
+Lewis set up batteries on the mainland and opened fire, the place became
+untenable. One shot struck the _Dunmore_ and wounded the Governor. "Good
+God! that ever I should come to this!" he shouted. A few days later his
+fleet sailed down the bay and out through the capes. With it went the
+last vestige of British authority in Virginia.[55]
+
+Now the question of independence was in the minds of all. The small
+planter as he set out his tobacco crop debated it with himself; the
+blacksmith talked it over with his client as he shod his horse; it was
+the topic of conversation in the church yard before the sermon began;
+the members of the convention debated it as they rode along the muddy
+roads. In May, 1775, Dunmore wrote: "It is no longer to be doubted that
+independence is the object in view."[56] But in this he was wrong. The
+colonists did not want independence. They were Englishmen, most of them,
+speaking the English language, living under English law, attached to
+English institutions. They had hardly ceased to speak of England as
+"home." They looked to the British navy for protection, they were keenly
+alive to their economic dependence upon the mother country, they were
+weak and disunited. The colonies went into the war hugging the hope that
+there might yet be reconciliation, with Washington referring to the
+British soldiers as the Ministerial troops, and the American chaplains,
+in public services, praying for the King.
+
+The colonies, in taking up arms, sought only to maintain existing
+conditions. The King and the Ministry were the real revolutionists, not
+the Americans. It was Washington who wrote in 1769, that "at a time when
+our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing less
+than the deprivation of American freedom, something should be done to
+avert the stroke and maintain the liberty which we have derived from our
+ancestors." Washington by no means considered himself a rebel. He was
+championing the British constitution and American rights under it
+against the illegal aggressions of a reactionary Ministry.
+
+But the war had not been long in progress before the people saw that
+they must preserve their freedom at the bayonet's point, or make abject
+submission. When, in the summer of 1775, Richard Penn and Arthur Lee
+went to England with the last effort of Congress for reconciliation, the
+so-called Olive Branch, they were rebuffed. The King and his Ministers
+refused to see them. While they were in London a proclamation was read
+at Palace Yard and Temple Bar by heralds, prohibiting all intercourse
+with the colonies.
+
+Moreover, the ties of reverence and affection gave way rapidly before
+the anger and bitterness of war. The news that the King was purchasing
+troops from certain German rulers for use against them aroused the
+Americans to fury. Angry men gathered everywhere, in the coffee houses,
+on the village greens, or around the courthouses to discuss the burning
+of Portland in the midst of a Maine winter, or the arming of the slaves
+by Dunmore.
+
+It was at this moment that Tom Paine's _Common Sense_ made its
+appearance. Although this pamphlet was bombastic, radical, and filled
+with absurdities, it fell in with the trend of the day, and so tended to
+crystallize thought in favor of independence. More than 100,000 copies
+were sold, and it was estimated that every third person in the colonies
+read it. "Where, some say, is the King of America? I'll tell you friend.
+He reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the royal brute
+of England. A government of our own is our natural right. Ye who oppose
+independence now, ye know not what ye do: ye are opening a door to
+eternal tyranny."
+
+Reluctantly the leaders of thought in Virginia came to the conclusion
+that the British government was forcing them into independence.
+Jefferson wrote John Randolph in November, 1775, that he loved the union
+with Great Britain, "but by the God that made me I will cease to exist
+before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament
+propose, and in this I think I speak the sentiments of America."
+
+Yet the Virginia convention, in August, 1775, had declared: "We again
+and for all, publickly and solemnly declare, before God and the world,
+that we do bear faith and true allegiance to his Majesty George the
+Third, our only lawful and rightful King."[57]
+
+But before the meeting of the convention of May 6, 1776, sentiment had
+changed. Jefferson said that nine out of every ten persons were now for
+independence.[58] In February, Benjamin Harrison had hinted strongly
+that the time was ripe for separation. In January Washington had written
+Joseph Reed that "a few more such flaming arguments" as Falmouth and
+Norfolk would not leave many to oppose a separation. On April 12 John
+Page predicted that independence would be voted in the approaching
+convention; two days later Carter Braxton expressed the opinion that
+independence was not only desirable but inevitable; Pendleton, though
+greatly disturbed at the prospect of separation, thought that no other
+course was possible.
+
+There was great excitement in Williamsburg when the delegates arrived to
+take their seats in the Hall of Burgesses for the opening of the
+convention. The crowds which filled the gallery must have pointed out
+each distinguished member as he entered--the aged Richard Bland; George
+Mason, his black hair now showing a touch of gray; Patrick Henry, in the
+plain garb he always wore; Richard Henry Lee, who had been called from
+Congress by the illness of his wife; James Madison, a small delicate
+young man, widely known as a scholar and political thinker; Edmund
+Pendleton, six feet in height, lithe, and handsome; Robert Carter
+Nicholas, Henry Lee, Edmund Randolph.[59]
+
+On the question of independence there were three opinions. Nicholas was
+opposed to separation, for he thought there was still hope for
+conciliation. Henry wished Congress to establish independence through a
+declaration. Pendleton argued for a statement by the convention and by
+Congress that independence already existed by the action of King and
+Parliament.
+
+In the end Pendleton was directed to prepare a resolution on
+independence. So, on May 15, Thomas Nelson, Junior, rose and read two
+resolutions which Pendleton had drawn up:
+
+ Forasmuch as all the endeavors of the United Colonies, by the most
+ decent representations and petitions to the King and Parliament of
+ Great Britain to restore peace and security to America under the
+ British government, and a reunion with that people upon just and
+ liberal terms, instead of a redress of grievances, have produced,
+ from an imperious and vindictive administration, increased insult,
+ oppression, and a vigorous attempt to effect our total destruction.
+ By a late act, all these colonies are declared to be in rebellion,
+ and out of the protection of the British Crown; our properties
+ subjected to confiscation; our people, when captivated, compelled
+ to join in the murder and plunder of their relations and
+ countrymen; and all former rapine and oppression of Americans
+ declared legal and just. Fleets and armies are raised, and the aid
+ of foreign troops engaged to assist in these destructive purposes.
+ The King's representative in this colony hath not only withheld all
+ the powers of government from operating for our safety, but, having
+ retired on board an armed ship, is carrying on a piratical and
+ savage war against us, tempting our slaves by every artifice to
+ resort to him, and training and employing them against their
+ masters. In this state of extreme danger, we have no alternative
+ left but an abject submission to the will of those overbearing
+ tyrants, or a total separation from the Crown and government of
+ Great Britain, uniting and exerting the strength of all America for
+ defence, and forming alliances with foreign powers for commerce and
+ aid in war: Wherefore, appealing to the SEARCHER OF HEARTS for the
+ sincerity of former declarations, expressing our desire to preserve
+ the connection with that nation, and that we are driven from that
+ inclination by their wicked councils, and the eternal laws of
+ self-preservation:
+
+Resolved, unanimously, That the delegates appointed to represent this
+colony in the General Congress, be instructed to propose to that
+respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent
+states, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon the Crown or
+Parliament of Great Britain; and that they give the assent of this
+colony to such declaration, and to whatever measures may be thought
+proper and necessary by the Congress for forming foreign alliances, and
+a confederation of the colonies, at such time, and in the manner as to
+them shall seem best; Provided, the power of forming government for, and
+the regulations of the internal concerns of each colony, be left to the
+respective colonial legislatures.
+
+Resolved unanimously, That a committee be appointed to prepare a
+DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, and such a plan of government as will be most
+likely to maintain peace and order in this colony, and secure
+substantial and equal liberty to the people.
+
+The people of Virginia everywhere applauded this final breach with Great
+Britain. In Williamsburg the "Union flag of the American states" was
+raised over the Capitol. The troops, under General Lewis, wheeled and
+marched in a nearby grove in the presence of the members of the
+Committee of Safety and of the convention and a crowd of citizens. After
+the resolutions of the convention had been read to the troops, a toast
+was proposed to "The American Independent States," which was drunk to
+the shouts of the crowd and the firing of the artillery. Then followed
+toasts to "The Grand Congress of the United States and their Respective
+Legislatures," and to "General Washington and Victory for the American
+Arms." With coming of night the people illuminated the town amid
+demonstrations of joy "that the domination of Great Britain was now at
+an end."[60]
+
+The resolutions of the convention were tantamount to a Virginia
+declaration of independence. Though it was thought wise to act in
+concert with the other colonies, the convention did not wait for
+Congress, but proceeded to draw up a constitution for an independent
+state, with Governor, Senate, House of Delegates, and judiciary. One
+hundred and sixty-nine years, almost to a day, after Captain Christopher
+Newport planted the English flag on the Jamestown peninsula, English
+authority in Virginia was overthrown.
+
+As the delegates rode home after the convention had concluded its work,
+the minds of some must have gone over the developments of those
+seventeen decades, the heritage of self-government which their ancestors
+had brought with them from England, the struggle to defend their liberty
+against the assaults of despotic Kings and despotic Governors, the
+spirit of self-reliance fostered by life in the New World, and now the
+attempts of a reactionary government in Great Britain to turn back the
+hands of the clock and deprive them of the rights they had won. It had
+been James I and Charles I, and even George III who, in their dealings
+with the colonies, had insisted upon "obedience," but the colonists
+insisted upon another word, the word "liberty." Now that they had won
+liberty, it remained to be seen whether they could preserve it against
+the attacks of the British armies and navy. And none could foresee that
+at Yorktown, but a few miles away, British armed might in America was
+destined to be broken, as its political power had already been broken at
+Williamsburg.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., Oct. 27, 1768.
+
+[2] _Ibid._
+
+[3] CO5-1332, Feb. 18, 1769.
+
+[4] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., May 18, 1769.
+
+[5] _Ibid._
+
+[6] CO5-1332, Botetourt to Hillsborough, May 19, 1769.
+
+[7] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1766-1769: 227.
+
+[8] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D. Oct. 18, 1770.
+
+[9] _Ibid._, Supplement.
+
+[10] William Smith, _Diary_, Dec. 1, 1770; July 9, 1771.
+
+[11] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., Sept. 17, 1771.
+
+[12] _The writings of Thomas Jefferson_, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 1: 7.
+
+[13] _Ibid._
+
+[14] T. J. Wertenbaker, _Norfolk: historic southern port_, 55.
+
+[15] _Journal of Philip Vickers Fithian_, ed. H. D. Farish, 257.
+
+[16] _The writings of Thomas Jefferson_, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 1: 9.
+
+[17] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1773-1776: 124.
+
+[18] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., June 2, 1774.
+
+[19] _The writings of Thomas Jefferson_, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 1: 11.
+
+[20] _Ibid._, 10.
+
+[21] _Lower Norfolk County Antiquary_ 5: 32-35.
+
+[22] _Writings of George Washington_, ed. Jared Sparks, 2: 389.
+
+[23] Dunmore papers, No. 22.
+
+[24] _Burke's speech_, ed. S. C. Newsom, 105, 106.
+
+[25] Dunmore papers, Dunmore to Dartmouth, March 14, 1775.
+
+[26] _Ibid._, No. 28.
+
+[27] _Ibid._, No. 30.
+
+[28] _Ibid._, No. 26.
+
+[29] William Wirt, _Life of Patrick Henry_, 139-141.
+
+[30] _Philip Vickers Fithian, journal_, eds. Albion and Dodson, 24.
+
+[31] Dunmore papers, no. 26.
+
+[32] _Ibid._
+
+[33] _The Virginia Gazette_, Pinckney, May 11, 1775.
+
+[34] Dunmore papers, No. 28.
+
+[35] _Ibid._
+
+[36] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1773-1776: 174, 175.
+
+[37] _Ibid._, pp. 219-221.
+
+[38] Dunmore papers, No. 28.
+
+[39] _Ibid._
+
+[40] _Ibid._, No. 29.
+
+[41] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1773-1776.
+
+[42] Dunmore papers, No. 22.
+
+[43] _Proceedings of the Convention_, etc.; C. R. Lingley, _Transition
+in Virginia_.
+
+[44] _Ibid._
+
+[45] _Dunmore papers_, No. 29.
+
+[46] _Ibid._, No. 22.
+
+[47] T. J. Wertenbaker, _Norfolk: historic southern port_, 57, 67.
+
+[48] Dunmore papers, No. 32.
+
+[49] _American Archives_, Fourth Ser. 4: 343.
+
+[50] _Richmond College historical papers_ 1: 101.
+
+[51] _Ibid._, 115-121.
+
+[52] _Ibid._, 138, 139, 148.
+
+[53] _Lower Norfolk County Antiquary_ 2: 80.
+
+[54] _American Archives_, Fourth Ser. 4: 540; _Virginia Magazine_ 23:
+414.
+
+[55] _Ibid._, Fifth Ser. 1: 150, 151, 431, 432.
+
+[56] Dunmore papers, No. 27.
+
+[57] _American Archives_ 4: 391.
+
+[58] _The writings of Thomas Jefferson_, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 4: 255.
+
+[59] H. B. Grigsby, _The Virginia convention of 1776_.
+
+[60] _Virginia Gazette_, Purdie, May 17, 1776.
+
+
+
+
+ESSAY ON SOURCES
+
+
+Any political history of Virginia in the colonial period must be based
+chiefly on the documents in the British Public Record Office. During
+many months of work in this office the author made more than eight
+hundred pages of notes and transcripts which he has used freely in the
+writing of this volume. The notations CO1-3, CO5-1318, etc., in the
+footnotes all refer to the Public Record Office.
+
+It is especially fortunate that these documents have been preserved,
+since of the copies left in Virginia, when there were copies, most have
+been destroyed. Among the scores of manuscript volumes on Virginia in
+the Record Office, thirty-two are devoted to the correspondence of the
+Board of Trade, seventeen to the correspondence of the Secretary of
+State, twenty-two to Entry Books, letters, commissions, warrants, etc.,
+for the period from 1680 to the American Revolution alone.
+
+In this vast collection are found the instructions to governors;
+memorials concerning the clergy, the revenue, the College of William and
+Mary; addresses of the Assembly to the Throne; reports of special agents
+of the Crown; accusations against governors; nominations to office; the
+journals of the Council and of the House of Burgesses.
+
+During the second half of the nineteenth century William Noel Sainsbury,
+Assistant Keeper of the Records, made no less than twenty volumes of
+abstracts of these documents, which have been deposited in the Virginia
+State Library. They cover the long period from the founding of the
+colony to 1730. The McDonald Papers, also transcribed from the documents
+in the Public Record Office, and also deposited in the Virginia State
+Library, parallel the Sainsbury abstracts, but they are fuller and give
+some papers overlooked by Sainsbury. The author spent the summer of 1908
+in Richmond to study these papers, but they merely whetted his desire to
+see the original collection. So June, 1910, found him in the chilly old
+building off Chancery Lane, London, immersed in the musty but
+fascinating mass of documents.
+
+Virginia historians today no longer have to make the journey across the
+Atlantic, for the United States Government has had transcriptions made
+of the papers relating to our colonial history for the Library of
+Congress. Moreover, the journals of the House of Burgesses and the
+journals of the Council have been published. Many other documents in the
+Public Record Office have been published in part or in full in the
+_Calendar of State Papers_, _Colonial Series, America and West Indies_,
+and in historical magazines.
+
+The Coventry papers relating to Virginia, Barbados, and other colonies,
+at Longleat, the magnificent residence of the Marquess of Bath, which
+have been microfilmed by the American Council of Learned Societies,
+throw a flood of light on Virginia history, especially upon Bacon's
+Rebellion. They contain letters from Bacon to Berkeley, from Berkeley to
+Bacon, and from Philip Ludwell to Lady Berkeley, reports from the
+Virginia agents who were seeking a charter for the colony, Berkeley's
+account of the evacuation of Jamestown, and many other valuable
+documents. They give new and overwhelming evidence that Bacon and his
+followers rose in arms, not only to protect the people from the Indians,
+but to right their wrongs under Berkeley's government.
+
+The American Council of Learned Societies was also responsible for the
+microfilming of the Sackville manuscripts belonging to the Earl of
+Dorset. They contain letters to the British Government from the Virginia
+House of Burgesses and from the Council in 1631, and throw a gleam of
+light on an obscure period.
+
+The correspondence of Lord Dunmore and Lord Dartmouth, in the British
+Public Record Office, is vital to any account of the early years of the
+Revolution in Virginia. In his letters Dunmore reports on the committees
+of correspondence, the boycott, the plight of the Tories, his conflict
+with the Assembly, the arming of the patriots, his flight from
+Williamsburg, his seizure of Norfolk, etc. This correspondence is
+available to scholars in microfilm in the Library of Congress.
+
+W. W. Hening (ed.), _The Statutes at Large_ (1809-1823), in thirteen
+volumes, are indispensable to the historian. In addition to the Virginia
+laws it publishes a few extremely important documents.
+
+The county records throw light on local government and the use of the
+patronage by the governors to control the Assembly. It is unfortunate
+that many documents in the county courthouses were destroyed in the
+Revolution and the War between the States. Yet the records of Surry,
+York, Essex, Rappahannock, Accomac, Elizabeth City, and other counties
+have been preserved.
+
+Peter Force (ed.), _Tracts and Other Papers_ (1836), has many valuable
+documents relating to early Virginia history. The accounts of Bacon's
+Rebellion are of especial interest. Edward Arber (ed.), _The Works of
+Captain John Smith_ (1910), is a main source for the founding and early
+history of Jamestown. But Smith's tendency to glorify himself and the
+probability that he colored his account to further the designs of King
+James I and the court party have caused many historians to distrust much
+that he has written.
+
+Alexander Brown, _Genesis of the United States_ (1890), gives many
+documents on early Virginia history which had long been inaccessible to
+scholars. Other publications of documents or early histories are Susan
+M. Kingsbury (ed.), _The Records of the Virginia Company of London_
+(1906-1935); J. C. Hotten (ed.), _Original Lists of Emigrants to
+America, 1606-1700_ (1874); _Lower Norfolk County_ Antiquary; Lyon G.
+Tyler (ed.), _Narratives of Early Virginia_ (1907); Charles M. Andrews
+(ed.), _Narratives of Insurrections_ (1915); Clayton C. Hall (ed.),
+_Narratives of Early Maryland_ (1910); and Edmund Goldsmid (ed.),
+_Hakluyt's_, _The Principal Navigations_ (1885-1890).
+
+R. A. Brock (ed.), _The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie_
+(1883-1884); while of great value, is incomplete, since many letters in
+the British Public Record Office have been omitted. R. A. Brock (ed.),
+_The Original Letters of Alexander Spotswood_ (1882-1885), from the
+manuscript collection in possession of the Virginia Historical Society,
+is also far from complete.
+
+Among the historical magazines which have published documents relating
+to Virginia the most important are _The Virginia Magazine of History and
+Biography_, _William and Mary College Quarterly_, _Tyler's Quarterly
+Historical and Genealogical Magazine_, and the _Massachusetts Historical
+Society, Proceedings_.
+
+Three narratives, Henry Hartwell, James Blair, and Edward Chilton, _The
+Present State of Virginia and the College_; Robert Beverley, _The
+History and Present State of Virginia_; and Hugh Jones, _The Present
+State of Virginia_, have all the value of primary sources. The Hartwell,
+Blair, and Chilton history was written in 1697 and first published by
+John Wyat at the Rose, in St. Paul's churchyard, London, in 1727. It was
+republished in 1940, with an able introduction by Hunter D. Farish.
+Beverley's volume appeared in 1705, and a new edition was published in
+1947. Hugh Jones' history came out in 1724, was reprinted in 1865 in a
+limited edition, and republished in 1956. The last edition, edited by
+Richard L. Morton, has a valuable introduction, and more than a hundred
+pages of illuminating notes.
+
+There are a number of histories of Virginia. William Stith, _The History
+of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia_ (1747), is little
+more than a rehash of Captain John Smith's story. John Burk, _The
+History of Virginia_ (1822), though more critical, is out of date since
+the author did not have access to a mass of documents now available to
+the historian. The same criticism applies to Charles Campbell, _History
+of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia_ (1860). Henry Howe,
+_Historical Collections of Virginia_ (1845), brings together many facts,
+traditions, and biographical sketches. It also gives brief descriptions
+of contemporaneous life in the various counties. John Fiske's _Old
+Virginia and her Neighbors_ (1900), is interesting, but untrustworthy.
+Edward D. Neill, _Early Settlement of Virginia and Virginiola_ (1878),
+_The English Colonization of America during the Seventeenth Century_
+(1871), _History of the Virginia Company of London_ (1869), _Virginia
+Vetusta_ (1885), and _Virginia Carolorum_ (1886), are based on primary
+sources and are still valuable. John Esten Cooke, _Virginia: A History
+of the People_ (1884), is interesting but full of mistakes.
+
+Other works on early Virginia history are Alexander Brown, _The First
+Republic in America_ (1898), T. J. Wertenbaker, _Virginia under the
+Stuarts_ (1914); Mary Newton Stanard, _The Story of Virginia's First
+Century_ (1928); Matthew Page Andrews, _The Soul of a Nation_ (1943),
+and _Virginia, the Old Dominion_ (1937); William Foote, _Sketches of
+Virginia_ (1850); Robert R. Howison, _A History of Virginia_ (1848);
+Conway W. Sams, _The Conquest of Virginia_ (1924); and Wesley Frank
+Craven, _Dissolution of the Virginia Company_ (1932).
+
+In 1957 the Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation published
+a series of booklets on seventeenth-century Virginia history under the
+able editorship of Dr. Earl G. Swem. Among them are E. G. Swem and John
+M. Jennings, _A Selected Bibliography of Virginia_, 1607-1699; William
+W. Abbot, _A Virginia Chronology_, 1585-1783; Samuel M. Bemiss (ed.),
+_The Three Charters of the Virginia Company of London_; Wesley Frank
+Craven, _The Virginia Company of London_; Charles E. Hatch, Jr., _The
+First Seventeen Years at Jamestown_, 1607-1634; Thomas J. Wertenbaker,
+_Bacon's Rebellion_ and _The Government of Virginia in the Seventeenth
+Century_; Richard L. Morton, _Struggle against Tyranny and the Beginning
+of a New Era_; Martha W. Hiden, _How Justice Grew_. Dr. Wilcomb E.
+Washburn, _Virginia under Charles I and Cromwell_, takes issue with most
+Virginia historians by coming to the defense of Governor John Harvey who
+was kicked out of Virginia because of his despotic rule, abuse of the
+courts, and disregard of law.
+
+Among the special studies relating to the political history of Virginia
+are Philip A. Bruce, _The Institutional History of Virginia_ (1910);
+Julian A. C. Chandler, _The History of Suffrage in Virginia_ (1901);
+Oliver P. Chitwood, _Justice in Colonial Virginia_ (1905); Percy S.
+Flippin, _Financial Administration of the Colony of Virginia_ (1915);
+Armistead C. Gordon, _The Laws of Bacon's Assembly_ (1914); Albert O.
+Porter, _County Government in Virginia_ (1947); Mary N. Stanard, _The
+Story of Bacon's Rebellion_ (1907); R. T. Barton, _Colonial Decisions_
+(1909); Edward Ingle, _Virginia Local Institutions_ (1885); Elmer I.
+Miller, _The Legislature of the Province of Virginia_ (1907); Lyon G.
+Tyler, _The Cradle of the Republic_ (1906); Moncure D. Conway, _Omitted
+Chapters_ (1888); H. J. Eckenrode, _The Revolution in Virginia_ (1916);
+Hugh Blair Grigsby, _The Virginia Convention of 1776_ (1855); Charles R.
+Lingley, _The Transition in Virginia from Colony to Commonwealth_
+(1910); Charles S. Sydnor, _Gentlemen Freeholders, Political Practices
+in Washington's Virginia_ (1952); Curtis P. Nettels, _George Washington
+and American Independence_ (1951).
+
+Biographies of prominent Virginians seem to come in pairs. There are two
+biographies of William Claiborne, Norton C. Hale, _Virginia Venturer_
+(1951), and John H. Claiborne, _William Claiborne of Virginia_ (1917);
+two biographies devoted to the Lee family, Burton J. Hendrick, _The Lees
+of Virginia_ (1935), and Cazenove G. Lee, Jr., _Lee Chronicle_ (1956);
+two short studies of James Blair, Daniel E. Motley, _Life of Commissary
+James Blair_ (1901), and Edgar L. Pennington, _Commissary Blair_ (1936);
+two biographies of Edmund Pendleton, Robert L. Hilldrup, _The Life and
+Times of Edmund Pendleton_ (1939), and David J. Mays, _Edmund Pendleton_
+(1952); there are several biographies of Captain John Smith.
+
+Philip A. Bruce, _The Virginia Plutarch_ (1929), gives brief biographies
+of Sir William Berkeley, Nathaniel Bacon, Alexander Spotswood, William
+Byrd II, Patrick Henry, and others. Among other biographies are Richmond
+C. Beatty, _William Byrd of Westover_ (1932); Thomas J. Wertenbaker,
+_Torchbearer of the Revolution, The Story of Bacon's Rebellion and Its
+Leader_ (1940); Leonidas Dodson, _Alexander Spotswood_ (1932); Louis K.
+Koontz, _Robert Dinwiddie_ (1941); Louis Morton, _Robert Carter of
+Nomini Hall_ (1941); Kate Mason Rowland, _Life and Correspondence of
+George Mason_ (1892); William Wirt Henry, _Patrick Henry_ (1891); A. T.
+S. Goodrick, _Edward Randolph_ (1898-1909); Thomas Jefferson,
+_Autobiography_.
+
+There are numerous Virginia local histories, among them W. Asbury
+Christian, _Richmond, Her Past and Present_ (1912); (1931); Ralph T.
+Whitelaw, _Virginia's Eastern Shore_ (1951); John B. Bodie, _Seventeenth
+Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia_ (1938); Marshall Wingfield, _A
+History of Caroline County, Virginia_ (1924); and Herbert C. Bradshaw,
+_History of Prince Edward County, Virginia_ (1955).
+
+_The Virginia Gazette_ is a major source for the history of Virginia in
+the eighteenth century. The scattered numbers still in existence have
+been photostated and copies deposited in some of the larger libraries.
+Their usefulness has been greatly enhanced by the preparation of an
+Index by Lester J. Cappon and Stella F. Duff.
+
+Virginia historians will always be grateful to Dr. Earl G. Swem for his
+_Virginia Historical Index_, covering _The Virginia Magazine of History
+and Biography_, volumes 1-38; _William and Mary College Quarterly_,
+first series, volumes 1-27; second series, volumes 1-10; Hening's
+_Statutes at Large_, and other publications.
+
+
+
+
+Index
+
+ Acadians: ejected, 204
+
+ Allerton, Isaac:
+ bribed with seat in Council, 20, 119;
+ refuses oath of allegiance, 126
+
+ Amherst, General Jeffrey: replaces Loudoun, 210
+
+ Andros, Sir Edmund:
+ Governor, 127;
+ despotic in New England, 127;
+ mild in Virginia, 129;
+ quarrels with Blair, 131;
+ suspends Blair from Council, 131;
+ resigns, 132
+
+ Appomatox Indians: hostile, 86
+
+ Argall, Samuel:
+ Governor, 6;
+ cruelty of, 7
+
+ Aristocracy:
+ effect of slavery on, 152, 153;
+ libraries, 153;
+ mansions, 153;
+ intermarriages, 153;
+ dominate General Court, 153, 154
+
+ Armistead, Col. John:
+ Councillor, 119;
+ refuses oath of allegiance, 126
+
+ Association:
+ to boycott British goods, 239;
+ successful, 240, 241
+
+ Attainder: bill of in 1677, 29
+
+ Auditor:
+ duties of, 33;
+ William Byrd, 34;
+ Philip Ludwell, 34
+
+
+ Bacon, Nathaniel:
+ early life of, 84;
+ quarrels with Berkeley, 84;
+ knew Lawrence and Drummond, 84;
+ his overseer murdered, 86;
+ frontiersmen make leader, 87;
+ denounces Berkeley, 87;
+ defeats Occaneechees, 87;
+ elected Burgess, 88;
+ captured, 88;
+ submits, 88, 89;
+ reappointed Councillor, 89;
+ blames Assembly, 90;
+ escapes, 90;
+ takes Jamestown, 90;
+ made general, 90;
+ pleads with Burgesses, 91;
+ master of Virginia, 92;
+ conversation with Goode, 92, 93;
+ at Middle Plantation, 92;
+ plans of, 93;
+ captures Jamestown, 93, 94;
+ burns Jamestown, 94;
+ secret burial of, 94;
+ people mourn, 94
+
+ Bacon, Nathaniel, Sr.: ousted from Council, 71
+
+ Bacon's Laws:
+ aimed at Berkeley, 91;
+ credit due Bacon, 91;
+ a victory for democracy, 91, 92
+
+ Ballard, Thomas: expelled from Council, 20
+
+ Baltimore, Lord:
+ visits Virginia, 38;
+ refuses oath, 38;
+ Harvey aids, 43;
+ settles Maryland, 43;
+ recognizes Commonwealth, 69
+
+ Barré, Col. Isaac: denounces Stamp Act, 225, 226
+
+ Bennett, Richard:
+ favors Parliament, 58;
+ sent to get Puritan ministers, 60;
+ commissioner for Parliament, 64;
+ Governor, 67;
+ Cromwell continues, 70
+
+ Berkeley, Lady Frances:
+ marriage, 76;
+ insults Jeffreys, 100, 101;
+ heads faction, 101, 102
+
+ Berkeley, Lord John: brother of Sir William, 80
+
+ Berkeley, Sir William:
+ limits franchise, 27;
+ appointed Governor, 54;
+ early life, 54;
+ arrives, 55;
+ popular, 55, 56;
+ favors jury trial, 56;
+ gift of houses to, 57;
+ salary, 57;
+ fights for King, 57;
+ defeats Indians, 58;
+ expels Puritan preachers, 61;
+ prosecutes Puritans, 62;
+ proclaims Charles II, 62;
+ defies Parliament, 63;
+ to resist Parliamentary forces, 65, 66;
+ surrenders, 66;
+ under Commonwealth, 68;
+ elected Governor, 73;
+ reappointed by Charles II, 75;
+ dictatorial, 76;
+ greed, 76;
+ marriage, 75;
+ distrusts self-government, 76;
+ use of patronage, 77;
+ corrupts Assembly, 77;
+ the Long Assembly, 77, 78;
+ accused by Charles City, 77, 78;
+ grants of land, 78, 79;
+ people hate, 78;
+ favorites of, 79;
+ asks free trade, 80;
+ denounces Navigation Acts, 80, 81;
+ makes Bacon Councillor, 84;
+ despotism of, 84;
+ sends force against Indians, 86;
+ Indian policy, 86;
+ people in arms, 87;
+ calls an election, 88;
+ captures Bacon, 88;
+ forces Bacon's submission, 88, 89;
+ overawes Burgesses, 89;
+ submits to Bacon, 90, 91;
+ starts civil war, 92;
+ flees to Eastern Shore, 92;
+ executes patriots, 95, 96, 99;
+ illegal seizures, 98;
+ quarrels with Jeffreys, 98, 99;
+ ordered to England, 99;
+ picks Burgesses, 99, 100;
+ sails, 101;
+ death, 101
+
+ Berry, Sir John: committee on Bacon's Rebellion, 92
+
+ Beverley, Peter: court of oyer and terminer, 170
+
+ Beverley, Robert:
+ Green Spring faction, 101, 102;
+ Assembly minutes seized from, 103;
+ testifies against Nicholson, 148
+
+ Bill of Ports:
+ Burgesses reject, 128;
+ Spotswood secures, 162-165;
+ patronage from, 163, 164;
+ Gooch secures, 191, 192
+
+ Blair, Archibald: hates Spotswood, 172, 173
+
+ Blair, Rev. James:
+ defends Harrison, 22;
+ founds college, 31;
+ Commissary, 130;
+ church reform plans, 130, 131;
+ Quarrel with Andros, 131;
+ Andros ousts from Council, 131;
+ restored, 131;
+ ousts Andros, 132;
+ for Nicholson, 133;
+ Nicholson angers, 136;
+ accuses Nicholson, 147, 148;
+ called King maker, 149;
+ called hypocrite, 171;
+ visits England, 175;
+ to be "Prime Minister," 175, 176
+
+ Blair, John:
+ meets Dinwiddie, 194;
+ calls Assembly, 209;
+ prepares expedition, 209, 210
+
+ Bland, Gyles: executed, 99
+
+ Bland, Col. Richard:
+ defends Two-penny Act, 214;
+ for self-government, 216;
+ to submit to Stamp Act, 226;
+ General Committee of Safety, 249;
+ convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Botetourt, Lord:
+ Governor General, 232;
+ welcomed, 232;
+ popular, 232;
+ warns British government, 233;
+ promises repeal of Townshend Acts, 234, 235;
+ death, 235
+
+ Braddock, General: defeat of, 203
+
+ Braxton, Carter: predicts independence, 255
+
+ Buck, Rev.: Minister at Jamestown, 5
+
+ Buckner, John: sets up press, 117
+
+ Burgesses, House of:
+ bribed by Governors, 19, 20;
+ represent people, 25;
+ privileges, 26;
+ franchise, 26;
+ wages, 27, 28;
+ county pays, 28;
+ Speaker, 28;
+ committees, 29;
+ guards elections, 29;
+ as a court, 29;
+ control of taxation, 29-31;
+ act of 1680, 30;
+ rule under Commonwealth, 67, 68;
+ elect Governor, 70;
+ Berkeley corrupts, 77;
+ end of Long Assembly, 87, 88;
+ Bacon's victory in, 88;
+ Bacon's Laws, 91, 92;
+ pro-Berkeley in 1677, 99;
+ protest appeals to England, 114;
+ James II scorns petition, 114;
+ protest fees, 115;
+ sole right to tax, 115;
+ dispute King's authority, 115, 116;
+ reject royal bills, 127;
+ rile Edward Randolph, 128;
+ refuse aid to New York, 128;
+ £500 for New York, 128, 129;
+ name Treasurer, 128, 129;
+ Nicholson wheedles, 138;
+ Spotswood bribes, 163, 164;
+ new election, 164;
+ oppose Spotswood, 165;
+ Spotswood rebuffs, 165, 166;
+ judges elections, 166;
+ strike at Governors' power, 167;
+ Spotswood denounces, 168;
+ deride Spotswood, 171;
+ charges against Spotswood, 173;
+ praise Drysdale, 177, 178;
+ contempt of punished, 179;
+ praise Gooch, 180;
+ growth of, 182;
+ salaries, 183;
+ power of grows, 184;
+ aristocrats in, 184;
+ praise Gooch, 193;
+ protest pistole fee, 197;
+ fee called arbitrary taxation, 197;
+ appeal to King, 198;
+ audacity of, 204;
+ eject Acadian exiles, 204;
+ vote £60,000, 205;
+ emit treasury notes, 205;
+ reply to Fauquier, 219;
+ declaration of rights, 220;
+ protest Stamp Act, 224, 225;
+ Henry's resolutions, 226;
+ Botetourt opens, 1768, 233;
+ reassert sole right to tax, 233;
+ meet unofficially, 233, 234;
+ Botetourt promises repeal, 235;
+ call convention, 239;
+ take lead in Revolution, 242;
+ many in uniform, 246;
+ last session, 248
+
+ Burke, Edmund: on "Conciliation," 241
+
+ Burwell, Lewis:
+ land holdings, 135;
+ Nicholson threatens, 143
+
+ Burwell, Lucy:
+ Nicholson in love with, 142-145;
+ returns gifts, 144, 145
+
+ Butler, Nathaniel: his "Unmasking of Virginia," 11
+
+ Butts, Thomas:
+ refuses to certify grievances, 165;
+ House asks arrest, 165, 166
+
+ Byrd, William I:
+ auditor, 34;
+ makes rent roll, 135;
+ respect due to, 152
+
+ Byrd, William II: Receiver General, 168;
+ Spotswood ousts, 169;
+ opposes new court, 170;
+ Spotswood denounces, 171;
+ agent for Burgesses, 173
+
+ Byrd, William III: 221
+
+
+ Camm, Rev. John:
+ takes clergy protest to King, 213;
+ sues for salary, 214;
+ Fauquier denounces, 214;
+ case thrown out, 216;
+ supports Dunmore, 242
+
+ Capitol:
+ plan, 146;
+ burns, 182;
+ rebuilt, 183;
+ soldiers lodge in, 248;
+ convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Carter, Landon: defends Two-penny Act, 214
+
+ Carter, Robert:
+ Speaker of House, 28;
+ Treasurer, 130;
+ influence of, 140;
+ charges against Nicholson, 147, 148;
+ haughty, 171;
+ President, 1726, 179;
+ slaves of, 184
+
+ Carter, Robert, of Nomini Hall:
+ refuses tea, 238;
+ not a "courtier," 242
+
+ Charles City County:
+ grievances of, 32;
+ accuse Berkeley, 77;
+ grievances neglected, 78;
+ illegal voting in, 100
+
+ Charles I:
+ will not restore Company, 13;
+ calls Assembly, 15;
+ offers to buy tobacco crop, 15;
+ needs money, 16;
+ illegal taxes, 36;
+ tobacco contract, 44;
+ executed, 62
+
+ Charles II:
+ Berkeley proclaims, 63;
+ restoration, 73;
+ proclaimed in 1660, 74;
+ reappoints Berkeley, 75;
+ Arlington-Culpeper grant, 82;
+ on causes of Bacon's Rebellion, 97;
+ sends troops, 97;
+ angered at Assembly, 103;
+ gold from Louis XIV, 107;
+ despotism in Virginia, 108-113;
+ prohibits printing, 117
+
+ Charter:
+ granted Virginia Company, 4, 5;
+ sought by Virginians, 17, 18;
+ Assembly asks, 83;
+ again asked, 1689, 123;
+ to confirm Assembly, 123, 124
+
+ Cheeseman, Major: Berkeley's brutality to, 95
+
+ Chicheley, Sir Henry:
+ leads force against Indians, 86;
+ Deputy Governor, 106;
+ rules impartially, 106
+
+ Civil War in England:
+ influence on colonies, 3;
+ affects Virginia, 36
+
+ Claiborne, William:
+ agent against Baltimore, 38;
+ settlement on Kent Island, 43;
+ battle with Marylanders, 43;
+ commissioner for Parliament, 64;
+ negotiates for peace, 65, 66;
+ Secretary, 67
+
+ Clergy:
+ thank Spotswood, 163;
+ Two-penny Act, 211;
+ protest, 211, 212;
+ address to King, 212
+
+ Cocke, William: in Indian Company, 171
+
+ Cole, William: election of thrown out, 166, 167
+
+ Committees of Correspondence: 236, 237, 239
+
+ Committees of Safety: take over courts, 248
+
+ Commons, House of:
+ opposes James I, 3;
+ in Civil War, 36
+
+ Commonwealth:
+ Virginia surrenders to, 66;
+ Virginia constitution under, 66, 67;
+ rule of, 70;
+ anarchy, 73;
+ influence of on Virginia, 75
+
+ Constitution of State of Virginia: drawn up, 257
+
+ Continental Congress:
+ proposed, 236, 237, 239;
+ delegates to, 240;
+ Declaration of Rights, 240;
+ makes Washington commander, 245
+
+ Convention, Provincial:
+ in 1774, 240;
+ at Richmond, 1775, 243;
+ Henry's address, 243, 244;
+ prepare for war, 244;
+ take over government, 248, 249;
+ in 1776, 255;
+ instruct for independence, 255, 256
+
+ Conway, Edwin: baits Spotswood, 165
+
+ Corbin, Gawin: baits Spotswood, 165, 172
+
+ Corbin, Richard:
+ protests paper money, 219;
+ complains to Board of Trade, 219;
+ pays for powder, 245
+
+ Council of Virginia:
+ powers of, 4;
+ quarrels of, 4, 5;
+ under constitution of 1621, 21;
+ patronage of, 21;
+ powers of, 23-25;
+ as cabinet, 23;
+ as Upper House, 23, 24;
+ as supreme court, 24;
+ prestige of, 24, 25;
+ Virginia House of Lords, 25;
+ conflict with Harvey, 41-47;
+ arrest Harvey, 46;
+ Burgesses oust, 71;
+ power of from England, 72;
+ dissolve Assembly, 1659, 72;
+ lose fat jobs, 134;
+ Nicholson abuses, 140, 141;
+ six accuse Nicholson, 147-150;
+ represent aristocracy, 151, 152;
+ titles of, 152;
+ respect for, 152;
+ Nott defers to, 154, 155;
+ appeal for peace, 155;
+ Burgesses back, 155;
+ a threat to Liberty, 159;
+ land holdings of, 162;
+ preserve judicial power, 169-171;
+ for large land grants, 178;
+ negative role in Revolution, 242
+
+ County courts:
+ undemocratic, 21;
+ Governor's power over, 22;
+ duties of, 31;
+ Governor appoints, 78;
+ taxation by, 78;
+ Bacon's Laws, 92
+
+ Coventry, Attorney General: issues _quo warranto_ against Company, 12
+
+ Cromwell, Oliver:
+ neglects Virginia, 70;
+ death, 72
+
+ Cromwell, Richard:
+ Lord Protector, 72;
+ resigns, 72
+
+ Culpeper, Lord Thomas:
+ despotism under, 18;
+ limits franchise, 27;
+ grant to, 82;
+ Governor, 102;
+ Cavalier, 109;
+ delays sailing, 109;
+ brings peace, 110;
+ forces act for "perpetual revenue," 110-112;
+ returns to England, 112;
+ robs soldiers, 113;
+ hangs rioters, 113;
+ Effingham succeeds, 113
+
+ Curtis, Edmund:
+ commissioner to Virginia, 64;
+ negotiates surrender, 65
+
+
+ Dale, Sir Thomas:
+ Governor, 6;
+ brings harsh laws, 6;
+ cruelty of, 7
+
+ Dawson, Commissary William:
+ meets Dinwiddie, 194;
+ denounces Two-penny Act, 212
+
+ Day of Prayer: June 1, 1774, 238, 239
+
+ Debts:
+ due merchants, 189;
+ appeals to Privy Council, 189, 190
+
+ De la Warr, Lord:
+ Governor, 5, 6;
+ ill, 6;
+ leaves Virginia, 6;
+ humane, 7;
+ sails with Magna Carta, 8;
+ death, 8
+
+ Democracy:
+ New World favorable for, 3;
+ yeomen build up, 3;
+ Quary warns of, 35;
+ gains under Commonwealth, 75;
+ Glorious Revolution, 122;
+ small slave holders for, 185
+
+ Dennis, Captain Robert:
+ heads commission to Virginia, 64;
+ lost on the _John_, 64
+
+ Digges, Cole:
+ election thrown out, 166, 167;
+ named to new court, 170;
+ Indian Company, 171
+
+ Digges, Edward: Governor, 71
+
+ Dinwiddie, Robert:
+ Lieutenant Governor, 194;
+ career, 195;
+ backs Assembly, 195;
+ pistole fee, 196-200;
+ calls Virginians republicans, 198, 199;
+ cautioned by King, 199, 200;
+ horrors of Indian war, 201;
+ warns British, 201;
+ sends Washington to the Ohio, 201;
+ asks funds, 201;
+ vetoes bill with rider, 202;
+ wants Parliament to tax, 202, 204;
+ expends funds, 206;
+ resigns, 206;
+ sounds alarm bell, 207;
+ suggests union of colonies, 208
+
+ Drummond, Sarah: property confiscated, 104
+
+ Drummond, William:
+ hates Berkeley, 80;
+ influences Bacon, 84;
+ Bacon consults, 88;
+ burns own house, 94;
+ Berkeley's brutality to, 95
+
+ Drysdale, Hugh:
+ popular, 18;
+ Lieutenant Governor, 175, 176;
+ arrives, 1722, 177;
+ character, 177;
+ opposes huge land grants, 178;
+ upholds House, 178, 179;
+ death, 179
+
+ Dunbar, Colonel: retreat of, 203
+
+ Dunmore, Earl of:
+ Governor, 236;
+ conduct in New York, 236;
+ treaty with Indians, 243;
+ seizes powder, 244;
+ threatened, 245;
+ suggests "compromise," 246, 247;
+ on the _Fowey_, 248;
+ escapes capture, 249;
+ asks troops, 249;
+ controls water, 250;
+ in Elizabeth River, 250;
+ seizes press, 250;
+ seizes Norfolk, 250, 251;
+ evacuates Norfolk, 251;
+ threatens bombardment, 251, 252;
+ at Gwynn's Island, 252;
+ leaves Virginia, 253;
+ says Virginia wants independence, 253
+
+ Dunmore, Lady:
+ ball in honor of, 239;
+ flees Williamsburg, 245, 247
+
+ Duquesne, Fort:
+ Forbes to attack, 209;
+ French evacuate, 210
+
+ Durand, William: persecuted for dissent, 62
+
+ Dutch:
+ trade to Virginia, 68, 69;
+ trade protected, 69;
+ wars with, 81
+
+
+ Effingham, Lord Howard:
+ despotism of, 18, 118;
+ Governor, 113;
+ character, 113;
+ ends appeals to Assembly, 114;
+ uses patronage for political ends, 118;
+ favors Roman Catholics, 119;
+ leaves Virginia, 120
+
+ Elections:
+ Nicholson interferes in, 138;
+ foul play at, 172
+
+ Embargo:
+ opposed in England, 59;
+ enforced in 1650, 63
+
+ English, William:
+ denounces Harvey, 44, 45;
+ arrested, 45;
+ released, 47
+
+
+ Fauquier, Francis:
+ Lieutenant Governor, 209;
+ erudite, 209;
+ tact, 210;
+ reprimanded, 211, 213;
+ upholds Two-penny Act, 212;
+ London criticises, 213;
+ denounces Camm, 214;
+ thinks Henry extreme, 227;
+ protects Mercer, 228;
+ death, 231
+
+ Fees:
+ Bacon's Laws fix, 92;
+ bill to limit vetoed, 167;
+ pistole controversy, 196-200
+
+ First Stuart Despotism: influence on colonies, 3
+
+ Fithian, Philip: sees drilling in Valley, 244
+
+ Forbes, General:
+ to attack Fort Duquesne, 209;
+ takes fort, 210
+
+ Fouace, Rev. Stephen:
+ Nicholson jealous of, 143;
+ flees Virginia, 144;
+ testifies against Nicholson, 148
+
+ _Fowey_: powder taken to, 244
+
+ Franchise:
+ changes in, 26;
+ under Commonwealth, 70;
+ all freemen have in June, 1676, 88;
+ Bacon's Laws widen, 91;
+ Spotswood tries to restrict, 166;
+ act to limit, 181
+
+ French and Indian War:
+ horrors of, 201;
+ Washington warns French, 201;
+ Braddock's defeat, 203;
+ raids in Valley, 205;
+ influence on Revolution, 207, 208
+
+
+ Gates, Sir Thomas:
+ Governor, 6;
+ brings cruel laws, 6
+
+ General Assembly:
+ Magna Carta authorizes, 8;
+ under Constitution of 1621, 9;
+ meets, 1619, 9, 10;
+ acts of in 1619, 10;
+ right to tax, 10;
+ Charles I ignores, 13;
+ meets unofficially, 14;
+ Charles I summons, 15;
+ oppose reviving Company, 17;
+ powers of grow, 34, 35;
+ accuses Harvey, 47;
+ reapportions taxes, 56;
+ gift to Berkeley, 57;
+ permits free trade, 59;
+ recognizes Charles II, 62;
+ surrenders to Parliament, 66;
+ ousts Governor and Council, 71;
+ elects Berkeley Governor, 73;
+ powers of, 74;
+ proclaim Charles II, 1660, 74;
+ Berkeley corrupts, 77;
+ Long Assembly, 77, 78;
+ protest grant, 82;
+ ask charter, 85;
+ Bacon demands election, 87, 88;
+ in 1677 picked by Berkeley, 99, 100;
+ bill of attainder, 100;
+ protest seizure of records, 103;
+ Charles II assails, 108, 109;
+ King to initiate bills, 108;
+ no appeals to, 109, 113, 114;
+ "perpetual revenue" to King, 110-112;
+ attempt to repeal revenue act of 1680, 156;
+ Quary on, 156, 157;
+ Queen Anne vetoes revenue act, 157;
+ Jenings dissolves, 159;
+ bill of ports, 162-165;
+ Queen's death dissolves, 164;
+ Spotswood angers, 164;
+ bills to limit Governor's power, 167;
+ use of rider by, 167, 168;
+ thwart Spotswood, 172;
+ protest debt ruling, 189;
+ gift to Dinwiddie, 195, 196;
+ war an opportunity for, 201;
+ vote £10,000, 201;
+ expenditure of funds, 201, 202;
+ vote £20,000 with rider, 202;
+ support war, 203;
+ ask paper money issue, 203, 204;
+ aid to Royal American Regiment, 205;
+ Governor spends funds, 206;
+ right of to govern, 216;
+ last sessions, 248
+
+ General Committee of Safety: ablest men on, 249
+
+ General Court:
+ court of appeals, 113, 114;
+ Nicholson's violence in, 139;
+ Nicholson packs juries, 139, 140;
+ on Burgesses' salary, 166
+
+ Glorious Revolution: 3, 119-121;
+ effect on liberty, 122;
+ effect on Virginia, 122, 123, 132
+
+ _Godspeed_: sails for Virginia, 1
+
+ Gooch, William:
+ says frontiersmen disobedient, 3;
+ character, 177;
+ Lieutenant Governor, 179;
+ popular, 179;
+ courtesy of, 179, 180;
+ praised by Burgesses, 180;
+ voted gifts, 180;
+ new bill of ports, 180, 181, 191, 192;
+ for limiting franchise, 181, 182;
+ for westward expansion, 182;
+ resists merchants, 186;
+ for duty on liquors, 187;
+ denounces merchants, 190;
+ _A Dialogue_, 191;
+ leads expedition, 192;
+ wounded, 192;
+ resigns, 192;
+ dies, 1749, 193;
+ peace and plenty, 193
+
+ Gosnold, Bartholomew:
+ member of Council, 4;
+ dies, 4, 5
+
+ Governor:
+ office established, 5;
+ King appoints, 18;
+ vary greatly, 18;
+ qualities of, 18;
+ powers of, 19;
+ bribe Burgesses, 19;
+ nominate Councillors, 20;
+ use of patronage, 19-21;
+ calls Assembly, 21;
+ veto, 22;
+ hold over courts, 22;
+ heads Church, 22, 23;
+ Council restricts, 25, 171;
+ Burgesses elect under Commonwealth, 70;
+ many military officers, 194
+
+ Great Bridge:
+ Dunmore fortifies, 250;
+ battle of, 251
+
+ Green Spring:
+ plundered, 98;
+ faction meets at, 101, 102
+
+ Green Spring faction:
+ Lady Berkeley heads, 101;
+ to recover losses, 102;
+ suppress King's pardon, 102;
+ pillaging by, 104, 105
+
+ Grenville, George: wants consolidated empire, 224
+
+ Grievances:
+ against Harvey, 47;
+ against Berkeley, 77;
+ against law of ports, 165
+
+ Grymes, John:
+ Deputy Auditor, 162;
+ conceited, 171;
+ hates Spotswood, 172, 173
+
+ Gwynn's Island: Dunmore at, 252
+
+
+ Habeas Corpus:
+ settlers claim, 2;
+ denied by Effingham, 118
+
+ Hamilton, Lord George:
+ Earl of Orkney, 159;
+ Governor General, 159;
+ career of, 159;
+ patron of Spotswood, 160
+
+ Hansford, Thomas: executed patriot, 95
+
+ Harrison, Benjamin:
+ Nicholson abuses, 22;
+ Blair defends, 22;
+ criticizes Secretary's office, 33;
+ Councillor, 133, 140;
+ land holdings, 135;
+ charges against Nicholson, 147, 148
+
+ Harrison, Nathaniel: proposes reconciliation, 175
+
+ Harrison, Rev. Thomas:
+ Puritan minister, 60;
+ banished, 61
+
+ Hartwell, Henry: on Governor's patronage, 20, 21
+
+ Harvey, Sir John:
+ egocentric, 18;
+ expelled, 35;
+ Governor, 37;
+ arrives, 38;
+ despotic, 39;
+ misuse of courts, 39, 40;
+ persecutes Pott, 39, 40;
+ conflict with Council, 41-47;
+ appeals to King, 41, 42;
+ strikes Stevens, 42;
+ aids Baltimore, 43;
+ urges tobacco contract, 44;
+ detains petition, 44;
+ people's grievances against, 44;
+ arrests Pott, English, and Martian, 45;
+ appeals to Council, 45;
+ Council arrest, 46;
+ leaves for England, 47;
+ reappointed, 48;
+ returns to Virginia, 48, 49;
+ revenge of, 49, 50;
+ restores Mathews' property, 50;
+ prosecutes Panton, 51, 52;
+ recalled, 51;
+ prosecuted, 51, 52;
+ escapes from Virginia, 52;
+ significance of expulsion, 52, 53
+
+ Harwood, Thomas:
+ agent of Assembly, 47;
+ hastens to London, 48
+
+ Henry, Patrick:
+ Two-penny Act, 215;
+ denounces clergy, 215, 216;
+ says people must govern, 216;
+ resolutions of, 226, 227;
+ accused of treason, 227;
+ alarm bell of Revolution, 229;
+ committee of correspondence, 237;
+ marches on Williamsburg, 245;
+ convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Hill, Col. Edward:
+ Green Spring faction, 101;
+ defies King, 104;
+ Treasurer, 129
+
+ Holt, John: his press seized, 250
+
+ Hopkins, William:
+ contempt of House, 179;
+ forced to apologize, 179
+
+ Howe, Col.:
+ at Norfolk, 251;
+ hints at burning, 251
+
+ Hunter, Col. Robert:
+ Governor, 158;
+ French capture, 158
+
+
+ Independence:
+ not wanted, 253;
+ forced by British, 253, 254;
+ _Common Sense_, 254;
+ sentiment for grows, 254, 255;
+ Virginia instructs for, 255, 256;
+ people celebrate, 256
+
+ Indiana Company:
+ fort at Christanna, 171;
+ King dissolves, 171;
+ ask compensation, 171
+
+ Indians:
+ attack Jamestown, 4;
+ massacre by, 57, 58;
+ war with Susquehannocks, 85;
+ frontier forts, 86;
+ threaten Charles City, 86;
+ attack feared in 1689, 120, 121;
+ raids in Valley, 204, 205;
+ Dunmore's War, 242, 243;
+ Point Pleasant, 243
+
+ Intolerable Acts: 238
+
+
+ James I:
+ on kingly power, 2, 3;
+ conflict with Parliament, 3;
+ charter to Virginia Company, 4;
+ assails London Company, 11;
+ offers compromise, 12
+
+ James II:
+ scorns Burgesses' petition, 114;
+ repeals act of Assembly, 115, 116;
+ revives a law, 116;
+ favors Catholics, 119;
+ deposed, 120
+
+ Jamestown:
+ founded, 2;
+ first Assembly at, 9;
+ capitol at, 25, 26;
+ Lord Baltimore at, 38;
+ Charles II proclaimed at, 74;
+ Bacon's Assembly, 88;
+ Berkeley occupies, 93;
+ Bacon captures, 93;
+ burnt, 94;
+ William and Mary proclaimed, 121;
+ statehouse burns, 1698, 146
+
+ James, Thomas:
+ missionary to Virginia, 60;
+ driven out, 61
+
+ Jefferson, Thomas:
+ friend of Fauquier, 209;
+ committee of correspondence, 237;
+ answers British "compromise," 247;
+ prefers independence to slavery, 254;
+ on independence, 254
+
+ Jeffreys, Col. Herbert:
+ ousts Councillor, 20;
+ Lieutenant Governor, 97;
+ insulted, 100, 101;
+ promises reforms, 101;
+ ill, 102;
+ ousts Beverley, 104;
+ indicts Philip Ludwell, 104, 105;
+ dies, 105;
+ wife imprisoned, 105
+
+ Jeffries, Jeffrey: agent for charter, 123, 124
+
+ Jenings, Edmund:
+ Councillor, 126;
+ acting Governor, 157, 158;
+ career of, 158;
+ dissolves Assembly, 159;
+ suspended from Council, 179
+
+ The _John_:
+ sails to Virginia, 64;
+ sinks, 65
+
+ Johnson, Edward: on God's revenge on Virginia, 61
+
+ Johnson, Samuel: denounces Americans, 223
+
+
+ Kemp, Matthew: insulted in House, 179
+
+ Kemp, Richard:
+ advises Harvey to leave, 46;
+ carries off Mathews' property, 50;
+ prosecutes Panton, 50, 51;
+ Secretary, 51;
+ escapes to England, 52;
+ acting Governor, 57
+
+ Kendall, George:
+ member of Council, 4;
+ expelled, 4;
+ executed, 5
+
+ Knowles, Rev. John:
+ missionary to Virginia, 60;
+ driven out, 61
+
+
+ _Laissez faire_: 177;
+ passing of, 224
+
+ Land:
+ Berkeley's grants, 78, 79;
+ rent roll, 135;
+ must cultivate to hold, 162;
+ law defied, 162;
+ Drysdale opposes large grants, 178;
+ much unpatented, 198
+
+ Lawrence, Thomas:
+ cheated by Berkeley, 79, 80;
+ influence on Bacon, 84;
+ Bacon consults, 88;
+ burns own house, 94;
+ fate unknown, 95
+
+ Laws, Military:
+ severe, 6, 7;
+ cruelly enforced, 7
+
+ Lee, Arthur: repulsed in England, 254
+
+ Lee, Henry: convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Lee, Philip Ludwell: protests paper money, 219
+
+ Lee, Richard Henry: 219;
+ protests Stamp Act, 224;
+ committee of correspondence, 237;
+ Continental Congress, 240;
+ convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Lewis, Gen. Andrew:
+ at Point Pleasant, 243;
+ bombards Gwynn's Island, 252
+
+ Liberty:
+ taxation and, 2;
+ threatened in England, 2;
+ Glorious Revolution aids, 122;
+ new charter to guarantee, 124;
+ Nicholson assails, 146, 147;
+ Council threatens, 159;
+ victory for, 181;
+ Virginians called republican, 198;
+ Bland argues for, 216;
+ Burke on, 240;
+ won, 257
+
+ Lightfoot, John:
+ Nicholson upbraids, 141;
+ charges against Nicholson, 147, 148
+
+ Littlepage, Richard:
+ refuses to certify grievances, 165;
+ House asks arrest of, 165
+
+ London, Bishop of: calls Two-penny act treason, 213
+
+ Loudoun, Earl of:
+ praises Burgesses, 205;
+ embargo defied, 205, 206;
+ Governor, 207
+
+ Ludwell, Philip:
+ auditor, 34;
+ marries Lady Berkeley, 76;
+ insults Jeffreys, 100;
+ Green Spring faction, 101;
+ indicted, 104, 105
+
+ Ludwell, Philip, Jr.:
+ accuses Nicholson, 138;
+ Nicholson challenges, 145;
+ auditor, 168;
+ Spotswood ousts, 169;
+ leaves new court, 170;
+ Spotswood denounces, 171
+
+ Ludwell, Thomas:
+ seeks charter for Virginia, 1;
+ fears rebellion, 80;
+ reports disasters, 81;
+ agent for Virginia, 82;
+ presides over Council, 104
+
+
+ Madison, James: convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Magna Carta of Virginia:
+ drawn up, 8;
+ De la Warr sails with, 8;
+ Yeardley takes to Virginia, 8;
+ Assembly authorized, 8, 9
+
+ Mandeville, Lord Henry:
+ heads commission on Virginia, 13;
+ reappoints Yeardley, 13
+
+ Martin, John: member of Council, 4
+
+ Martin, Nicholas:
+ denounces Harvey, 44, 45;
+ arrested, 45
+
+ Maryland:
+ Baltimore founds, 43;
+ surrenders to Parliament, 67;
+ Virginia seeks to annex, 69
+
+ Mason, George:
+ general committee of safety, 249;
+ convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Mathew, Thomas: says Berkeley cheated Lawrence, 79
+
+ Mathews, Samuel:
+ resists Harvey, 42, 43;
+ opposes founding of Maryland, 43;
+ opposes tobacco contract, 44;
+ compares Harvey with Richard III, 45;
+ arrests Harvey, 46;
+ King orders arrest of, 48;
+ sent to England, 49;
+ his property seized, 50;
+ favors Parliament, 56;
+ Governor, 71;
+ recalled, 71;
+ re-elected, 72;
+ dies, 73
+
+ Maury, Rev. James:
+ sues for salary, 214;
+ Patrick Henry attorney against, 215
+
+ Menefie, George:
+ Harvey questions, 45;
+ accused of treason, 46;
+ withholds Harvey's commission, 47
+
+ Mercer, Col. George:
+ stamp distributor, 227, 228;
+ crowd threatens, 228;
+ will not distribute, 228
+
+ Merchants, British:
+ oppose free trade, 68, 69;
+ conflict with planters, 185;
+ Royal African Company, 186;
+ oppose duty on slaves, 186;
+ taxed, 186;
+ Virginians angered at, 188;
+ Virginians in debt to, 188, 189;
+ petition Parliament, 189, 190;
+ protest paper money, 217;
+ renew complaints, 219;
+ for legal tender, 220
+
+ Meriwether, Nicholas: Spotswood removes, 164
+
+ Milner, Col. Thomas: Nicholson praises, 126
+
+ Molasses Act: resented in Virginia, 188
+
+ Moryson, Francis:
+ seeks charter for Virginia, 1;
+ agent for Virginia, 81;
+ committee on Bacon's Rebellion, 97
+
+
+ Navigation Acts:
+ Berkeley protests against, 80;
+ impoverish Virginia, 81
+
+ Nelson, Thomas: protests paper money, 219
+
+ Nelson, William: protests paper money, 219
+
+ New Granada:
+ expedition against, 192;
+ failure, 192
+
+ New Kent: Bacon invades, 87
+
+ Newport, Capt. Christopher: member of Council, 4
+
+ Nicholas, Robert Carter:
+ defends Two-penny Act, 216;
+ Treasurer, 222;
+ burns notes, 222;
+ to submit to Stamp Act, 226;
+ day of prayer, 238;
+ prevents storming of Palace, 245;
+ constitution of 1776, 255
+
+ Nicholson, Sir Francis:
+ on ideal Governor, 18;
+ use of patronage, 20, 21;
+ power over courts, 22;
+ calls Virginians republicans, 35;
+ Lieutenant Governor, 124;
+ character, 124, 125;
+ abuses clergymen, 124, 125;
+ in New York, 125;
+ cautious, 125;
+ defends prerogative, 126, 127;
+ aids college, 127;
+ Governor General, 133;
+ program of, 133, 134;
+ violent temper, 134;
+ offends Councillors, 134;
+ rent roll, 135;
+ offends vestries, 136;
+ tries to control Church, 136;
+ threatens Burgesses, 137;
+ gives aid to New York, 137;
+ wheedles Burgesses, 138;
+ browbeats voters, 138;
+ abuses Burgesses, 138;
+ threatens Speaker, 139;
+ violent in General Court, 139;
+ packs juries, 139;
+ heckles Council, 140;
+ abuses Wallace, 142, 143;
+ loves Lucy Burwell, 142-145;
+ threatens Fouace, 143, 144;
+ derided in England, 144;
+ challenges Philip Ludwell, Jr., 145;
+ founds Williamsburg, 146;
+ despotism resented, 146, 147;
+ charges against, 147-150;
+ denies charges, 148, 149;
+ Quary defends, 149;
+ "addresses" praise, 149;
+ removed, 150
+
+ Norfolk:
+ protests Stamp Act, 229;
+ Dunmore seizes, 250;
+ evacuated, 251;
+ Americans enter, 251;
+ Dunmore threatens, 251, 252;
+ Americans burn, 252
+
+ Northern Neck: granted to favorites, 83
+
+ Norwood, Col. Henry: criticizes courts, 79
+
+ Nott, Col. Edward:
+ Governor, 150;
+ mild, 151;
+ defers to Council, 154;
+ Assembly weakens patronage, 155;
+ veto, 156;
+ death, 157
+
+ Nuthead, William: his printing press closed, 117
+
+
+ Ohio Region: French in, 196
+
+ Opechancanough: captured, 58
+
+ Ordinance and Constitution: Virginia government under, 9
+
+ Oyer and Terminer, Court of:
+ Spotswood sets up, 169;
+ non-Councillors in, 170
+
+
+ Page, John, Jr.: keeps day of prayer, 242
+
+ Page, Matthew:
+ Councillor, 133;
+ charges against Nicholson, 147, 148
+
+ Palace:
+ mob threatens, 245, 247;
+ raided, 247, 248
+
+ Pamunkeys:
+ hostile, 86;
+ flee from Bacon, 87
+
+ Panton, Rev. Anthony:
+ accuses Harvey, 49;
+ fined and banished, 50, 51;
+ vindicated, 52
+
+ Parke, Daniel: announces Berkeley's death, 102
+
+ Parliament:
+ expedition against Virginia, 64;
+ Virginia surrenders, 66;
+ less representative, 222;
+ rotten boroughs, 222, 223;
+ out of step with age, 223;
+ ignorant of colonies, 223
+
+ Paper money:
+ Assembly issues, 205;
+ new issues, 206;
+ to finance war, 217;
+ rate of exchange, 218;
+ continues issues, 218;
+ to finance war, 217;
+ rate of exchange, 218;
+ continues issues, 218;
+ illegal loans, 221
+
+ Patronage:
+ props Governor's power, 19, 20, 21;
+ Bacon's Laws restrict, 92;
+ Effingham uses, 118;
+ Nicholson uses, 137, 138;
+ bill to limit vetoed, 167;
+ no Burgess to hold office, 181;
+ victory for liberty, 181
+
+ Pendleton, Edmund: 219;
+ protests Stamp Act, 224;
+ to submit, 226;
+ committee of correspondence, 237;
+ Continental Congress, 240;
+ lionized, 246;
+ General Committee of Safety, 249;
+ for independence, 255;
+ convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Pierce, William:
+ King orders arrest, 48;
+ sent to England, 49
+
+ Pistole Fee:
+ for use of seal, 196-200;
+ counties complain of, 196;
+ Stith opposes, 196;
+ Attorney General upholds, 197;
+ Burgesses appeal to King, 198;
+ Dinwiddie says not a tax, 199;
+ King restricts use of, 199, 200;
+ results of, 200;
+ Fauquier cautious of, 200
+
+ Pitt, William: supports Americans, 241
+
+ Poll tax:
+ hated, 31;
+ people protest, 83;
+ Bacon's men protest, 90;
+ crushes poor in 1677, 103;
+ liquor duty eases, 187
+
+ Pott, Francis:
+ circulates petition, 44;
+ arrested, 45;
+ released, 47;
+ leaves for England, 47;
+ arrested in England, 48
+
+ Pott, Dr. John:
+ acting Governor, 37;
+ poisons Indians, 37, 38;
+ Harvey persecutes, 39, 40;
+ pardoned, 40;
+ aids in arresting Harvey, 46
+
+ Powder Horn, Williamsburg:
+ powder seized, 244;
+ trap wounds two, 246
+
+ Prerogative of King:
+ whittled away, 34, 35;
+ James II stretches, 116;
+ weakened, 123;
+ Two-penny Act, ignores, 212
+
+ Press: free prohibited, 116, 117
+
+ Purifie, Thomas: warns Harvey, 46
+
+ Puritans:
+ in Virginia, 58;
+ Berkeley persecutes, 59;
+ strong on Hampton Roads, 60;
+ send for ministers, 60;
+ ministers driven out, 61;
+ ordered to conform, 61
+
+
+ Quartering of troops: ended in Virginia, 117
+
+ Quary, Col. Robert:
+ describes powers of Council, 24, 25;
+ on decline of prerogative, 35;
+ warns English government, 123;
+ defends Nicholson, 149
+
+ Quit rents:
+ paid to King, 31;
+ tax on land, 115;
+ proposed to quadruple, 115;
+ Nicholson's rent roll, 135;
+ Dinwiddie reports loss, 198
+
+
+ Randolph, Edmund: convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Randolph, Sir John: Tory, leaves Virginia, 242
+
+ Randolph, Peyton:
+ takes Burgesses' protest, 198;
+ ousted as Attorney General, 199;
+ reinstated, 200;
+ protests Stamp Act, 224;
+ to submit, 226;
+ moderator, 234;
+ committee of correspondence, 237;
+ Continental Congress, 240;
+ prevents storming of Palace, 245
+
+ Ratcliffe, John: member of Council, 4
+
+ Rebellion:
+ Secretary Ludwell fears, 80;
+ Virginia "ripe for," 82;
+ Berkeley fears, 83;
+ outbreaks in 1674, 83, 84;
+ Virginia ready for, 85;
+ led by Bacon, 87-96;
+ influence of Bacon's rebellion, 95, 96;
+ causes of, 96;
+ threatened in 1677, 100;
+ in 1689, 120, 121
+
+ Richmond, Duke of: supports colonists, 241
+
+ Rights, Declaration of: committee to prepare, 256
+
+ Robinson, John:
+ Speaker and Treasurer, 28;
+ Fauquier wins support, 210;
+ death, 221;
+ illegal loans of, 221
+
+ Rolfe, John: cures tobacco, 15
+
+
+ Sandys, Sir Edwin:
+ Puritan, 8;
+ Treasurer of London Company, 8;
+ gets new charters, 8;
+ Virginia Magna Carta, 8;
+ sent to Tower, 11;
+ fights to save charter, 12;
+ advises restoring Company, 13;
+ champions English liberty, 15
+
+ Sandys, George: asks revival of Company, 17
+
+ Second Stuart Despotism: influence on colonies, 3, 106-121
+
+ Secretary of State: duties of, 33
+
+ Sheriffs:
+ political use of by Berkeley, 78;
+ Bacon's Laws, 91;
+ Effingham uses, 118;
+ Nicholson uses, 137, 138
+
+ Slavery:
+ effect on aristocracy, 152;
+ cheapens tobacco, 184;
+ small planters buy, 184, 185;
+ slave plots, 186;
+ duty on slaves vetoed, 186, 187;
+ Virginia resents vetoes, 187;
+ Dunmore recruits slaves, 250
+
+ Smith, Capt. John:
+ imprisoned, 4;
+ hanging threatened, 5;
+ sole Councillor, 5
+
+ Smith, Col. Joseph:
+ accused by court, 178;
+ Burgesses reprimand, 178;
+ Drysdale removes, 179
+
+ Smith, Col. Lawrence: sued for quit rents, 135
+
+ Sons of Liberty: 229
+
+ Speaker:
+ prestige, 28;
+ Nicholson threatens, 139;
+ made Treasurer, 210;
+ Fauquier ordered to separate, 210
+
+ Spencer, Nicholas: fears mutiny in 1677, 100
+
+ Spotswood, Col. Alexander:
+ able, 18;
+ on Burgesses salary, 27, 28;
+ Lieutenant Governor, 159;
+ career, 160;
+ Orkney his patron, 160;
+ explores west, 161;
+ instructions, 161;
+ act for ports, 162-165;
+ jobs handed out, 163, 164;
+ House angers, 165;
+ to limit franchise, 166;
+ Council balks, 166;
+ vetoes bills, 167;
+ denounces Burgesses, 168;
+ court of oyer and terminer, 169-171;
+ defends new court, 170, 171;
+ foul play at elections, 172;
+ defeated, 172;
+ charges against, 173;
+ seeks flattering addresses, 173;
+ answers charges, 174;
+ Board of Trade upholds, 174;
+ to live in Virginia, 174;
+ Tubal Cain, 175;
+ reconciled to Council, 175;
+ administration of, 176
+
+ Stamp Act:
+ dismay at, 224;
+ Barré denounces, 225;
+ ready to resist, 227;
+ Mercer distributor, 227, 228;
+ stamps not landed, 228;
+ Norfolk protests, 229;
+ criticized in England, 230;
+ English merchants protest, 230;
+ repealed, 230
+
+ Statehouse:
+ at Jamestown, 24;
+ burned, 1698, 129
+
+ Stegg, Thomas:
+ aids Kemp escape, 52;
+ favors Parliament, 58;
+ commissioner for Parliament, 64;
+ lost on the _John_, 65
+
+ Stith, Rev. William: incites against pistole fee, 196
+
+ _Susan Constant_: sails for Virginia, 1
+
+ Susquehannocks:
+ fort besieged, 85;
+ torture victims, 85
+
+
+ Taxation:
+ by first Assembly, 10;
+ Burgesses control, 29-31, 115;
+ perpetual revenue to King, 30, 110-112;
+ call fees taxes, 115;
+ protest pistole fee, 197;
+ in colonial history, 225;
+ role in self-government, 225;
+ Jefferson on, 247
+
+ Tea:
+ tax on, 236;
+ resistance to tax, 237, 238;
+ banned, 238;
+ Carter refuses, 238
+
+ Thompson, Rev. William:
+ missionary to Virginia, 60;
+ driven out, 61
+
+ Thrale, John: defends Nicholson, 148
+
+ Tobacco:
+ staple of Virginia, 15;
+ Dutch buy, 59;
+ cutting riots, 113;
+ Spotswood's bill of ports, 162-165;
+ prices rise, 163;
+ George I vetoes bill of ports, 168;
+ Gooch's bill of ports, 180-181, 191, 192;
+ slaves cheapen, 184;
+ Gooch argues for bill of ports, 191;
+ _A Dialogue_, 191;
+ poor standard of value, 211
+
+ Tobacco cutting riots: 113.
+
+ Tories: few in Virginia, 242
+
+ Townshend Acts:
+ anger America, 232;
+ unconstitutional, 234
+
+ Treasurer:
+ Burgesses name, 128, 129;
+ usually also Speaker, 210;
+ separation ordered, 210;
+ illegal loans by, 221
+
+
+ Utie, John:
+ opposes tobacco contract, 44;
+ arrests Harvey, 46;
+ King orders arrest, 48;
+ sent to England, 49
+
+
+ Vestries:
+ govern parishes, 32;
+ Bacon's Laws, 92;
+ Nicholson attacks power of, 136
+
+ Virginia Company of London:
+ charter of 1606, 1, 4;
+ set up despotism, 5;
+ members consider going to Virginia, 7;
+ James I attacks, 11;
+ _A True Answer_, 11;
+ blamed by commission, 11;
+ rejects King's offer, 12;
+ appeals to Parliament, 12;
+ charter revoked, 12;
+ reasons for, 13;
+ restoring of opposed, 17
+
+
+ Wallace, Rev. James:
+ sermon enrages Nicholson, 141, 142;
+ testifies against Nicholson, 148
+
+ Washington, George:
+ warns French on Ohio, 201;
+ expedition to Ohio, 202;
+ commands in Valley, 205;
+ Continental Congress, 240;
+ wears uniform to Congress, 245;
+ commander-in-chief, 245;
+ predicts independence, 254, 255
+
+ West:
+ expansion into, 182;
+ aids democracy, 184
+
+ West, Capt. Francis: Governor, 37
+
+ West, John:
+ acting Governor, 47;
+ sent to England, 49
+
+ William III: joint monarch, 121, 122
+
+ Williamsburg:
+ capitol at, 146;
+ Nicholson founds, 146;
+ celebrates Stamp Act repeal, 230;
+ day of prayer, 239;
+ powder seized, 244;
+ an armed camp, 248;
+ celebrates independence, 256, 257
+
+ Wingfield, Edward:
+ member of Council, 4;
+ ousted, 5;
+ accuses other Councillors, 5
+
+ Wormeley, Ralph: supports Dunmore, 242
+
+ Wyatt, Sir Francis:
+ receives constitution, 9;
+ Governor, 51
+
+ Wythe, George: 219;
+ protests Stamp Act, 224
+
+
+ Yeardley, Capt. George:
+ Governor, 6;
+ brings Magna Carta, 9;
+ calls first Assembly, 10;
+ reappointed, 13;
+ pleads for Assembly, 14;
+ death, 36
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Transcriber's Corrections
+
+Following is a list of significant typographical errors that have been
+corrected.
+
+- Page 7, missing close quote added according to original source text by
+Brown (of the Court.").
+
+- Page 23, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (King in
+Council.").
+
+- Page 47, "Harvery" changed to "Harvey" (forced Harvey to deliver).
+
+- Page 90, "hubub" changed to "hubbub" (hearing the hubbub).
+
+- Page 123, "aproved" changed to "approved" (he approved of it).
+
+- Page 126, missing open quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation ("but he
+hath not estate).
+
+- Page 128, close quote removed based on transcriber assumption because
+open quote is missing and original source text was not found for
+confirmation (he dissolved them.).
+
+- Page 128, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (the King's
+"goodness").
+
+- Page 143, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (to live
+here.").
+
+- Page 148, "perscution" changed to "persecution" (persecution and
+injustice).
+
+- Page 170, missing open quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation
+("extraordinary emergency").
+
+- Page 171, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (the people
+of Virginia?").
+
+- Page 187, missing close quote added according to original source text
+by Lipscomb (of a whole country.").
+
+- Page 189, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (reports of
+merchants").
+
+- Page 192, "againt" changed to "against" (expedition against New
+Granada).
+
+- Page 235, "disappointmnt" changed to "disappointment" (because of
+their disappointment).
+
+- Page 237, "spirt" changed to "spirit" (the spirit of resistance).
+
+- Page 246, "mazagine" changed to "magazine" (entered the magazine).
+
+- Page 255, "distingiushed" changed to "distinguished" (each
+distinguished member).
+
+- Page 284, "beseiged" changed to "besieged" (fort besieged, 85;).
+
+- Page 286, "democacy" changed to "democracy" (aids democracy, 184).
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Give Me Liberty, by Thomas J. Wertenbaker
+
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Give Me Liberty, by Thomas J. Wertenbaker
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Give Me Liberty
+ The Struggle for Self-Government in Virginia
+
+Author: Thomas J. Wertenbaker
+
+Release Date: November 27, 2010 [EBook #34455]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIVE ME LIBERTY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Patrick Hopkins and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="tn">
+
+<h3>Transcriber's Note</h3>
+
+<ul>
+<li> This text has a Rule 6 copyright clearance. Research has indicated the
+copyright on this book was not renewed.</li>
+
+<li> The position of some illustrations has been changed to facilitate
+reading flow.</li>
+
+<li> Footnotes are located at the end of each chapter.</li>
+
+<li> In general, geographical references, spelling, hyphenation, and
+capitalization have been retained as in the original publication.</li>
+
+<li> Minor typographical errors&mdash;usually periods, commas and hyphens&mdash;have
+been corrected without note.</li>
+
+<li> Significant typographical errors have been corrected and are marked with
+dotted underlines. Place your mouse over the highlighted word and the original text will
+<ins class="correct" title="Like this!">appear</ins>. A full list of these same corrections
+is also available in the <a href="#TC">Transcriber's Corrections</a> section at the end of
+the book.</li>
+
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p>
+<h1>GIVE ME LIBERTY</h1>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Memoirs of the</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>held at Philadelphia<br />
+for Promoting Useful Knowledge</i></p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Volume 46</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 554px;">
+ <img src="images/illus-004.jpg" width="554" height="650" alt="" title="" />
+ <span class="caption">Thomas Jefferson. Portrait by Thomas Sully in the Hall of the American Philosophical Society.</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h1>GIVE ME LIBERTY</h1>
+
+<h3><i>The Struggle for Self-Government<br />
+in<br />
+Virginia</i></h3>
+
+<p class="center">
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+THOMAS J. WERTENBAKER<br />
+<i>Edwards Professor Emeritus of American History<br />
+Princeton University</i>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY<br />
+INDEPENDENCE SQUARE<br />
+PHILADELPHIA<br />
+1958</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright 1958 by the American Philosophical Society</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<i>Library of Congress Catalog<br />
+Card Number: 58-9093</i>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA<br />
+BY J. H. FURST COMPANY, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<h2><i>Preface</i></h2>
+
+
+<p>None of the American colonies "will ever submit to the loss of those
+valuable rights and privileges which are essential to the happiness of
+every free state," George Washington wrote in October, 1774. Perhaps the
+British officer to whom he made this statement was startled to have him
+speak of the colonies as free. Yet at the time the American people were
+the freest in the world, freer even than the people of England. It was
+to defend this freedom, not to gain new rights, that the colonists
+rebelled against Great Britain. For decades they had been governing
+themselves, so when the British Ministry tried to govern them from
+London, they would not submit.</p>
+
+<p>To understand what was in the minds and hearts of George Washington,
+Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and the other patriots, it is necessary to
+know how the colonies became self-governing. One must follow the
+political battles and hard-earned victories of their fathers, and
+grandfathers, and great-grandfathers in the colonial Assemblies.</p>
+
+<p>This volume treats of the struggle for self-government in Virginia from
+the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the Declaration of Independence.
+The story of the gradual lessening of the King's prerogative, of the
+weakening of the power of the Governor, of the emergence of the Assembly
+as the ruling body could be paralleled in other colonies. But it is of
+especial importance in Virginia, where was held the first representative
+Assembly in the New World, and which gave so many leaders to the
+American Revolution.</p>
+
+<p>I wish to express my appreciation to my Alma Mater, the University of
+Virginia, for its award of a Thomas Jefferson Research Fellowship,
+without which this volume would not have been written.</p>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Thomas J. Wertenbaker.</span></p>
+<p class="noin">Princeton, N. J.<br />
+April 1, 1957.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a><br /> <a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a><i>Contents</i></h2>
+
+
+<table summary="" style="width: 400px;">
+<tr><td></td><td></td><td align="right"> PAGE</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"> I.</td><td>The Cornerstone of Liberty </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"> II.</td><td>Self-government </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"> III.</td><td>We Prefer Another Governor </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"> IV.</td><td>Royalty Overthrown </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"> V.</td><td>A Bacon! A Bacon! </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"> VI.</td><td>Reconstruction and Despotism </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"> VII.</td><td>The Glorious Revolution </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td>The Virginia Hitler </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"> IX.</td><td>The Virginia House of Lords </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"> X.</td><td>Spotswood </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"> XI.</td><td>Peace and Prosperity </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"> XII.</td><td>At Stake&mdash;Liberty and a Continent </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">XIII.</td><td>The Widening Rift </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"> XIV.</td><td>Independence </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"></td><td>Essay on Sources </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"></td><td>Index </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a><br /><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="Illustrations" id="Illustrations"></a><i>Illustrations</i></h2>
+
+
+<table summary="" style="width: 60%;">
+
+<tr><td class="hang">Thomas Jefferson. Portrait by Thomas Sully in the Hall
+of the American Philosophical Society</td><td align="right"> <a href="#Page_ii"><i>frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hang">The Old Capitol at Williamsburg, showing the north
+elevation which is a duplicate of the historic Virginia
+Capitol originally completed in 1705. Courtesy of
+Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.</td><td align="right"> <i>facing page</i><br /><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hang">The House of Burgesses in the Old Capitol at Williamsburg.
+Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.</td><td align="right"> <a href="#Page_134">134</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hang">Governor Dinwiddie. Portrait in the National Portrait
+Gallery of London</td><td align="right"> <a href="#Page_196">196</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hang">The General Court in the Old Capitol at Williamsburg.
+Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.</td><td align="right"> <a href="#Page_196">196</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hang">Lord Dunmore. From the copy in the possession of the
+Virginia Historical Society of the original portrait by
+Sir Joshua Reynolds</td><td align="right"> <a href="#Page_238">238</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="hang">The Governor's Palace, Williamsburg. Courtesy of Colonial
+Williamsburg, Inc.</td><td align="right"> <a href="#Page_238">238</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a><br /><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br />
+<br />
+THE CORNERSTONE OF LIBERTY</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">Three little vessels&mdash;the <i>Susan Constant</i>, the <i>Godspeed</i>, and the
+<i>Discovery</i>&mdash;left England in December, 1606, under the command of
+Captain Christopher Newport, to found a colony on the distant shores of
+Virginia. Two decades earlier Sir Walter Raleigh had sent out a group of
+settlers to what is now North Carolina, and they had disappeared
+mysteriously. What had happened to them? men asked. Had they been killed
+by the Indians? Had they fallen victims to disease? Had they starved?
+Those who shared in this new venture must have wondered if a like fate
+awaited them in this strange new land.</p>
+
+<p>But their spirits rose when they entered Chesapeake Bay. Landing parties
+were delighted with the "fair meddowes ... full of flowers of divers
+kinds and colors," the "goodly tall trees," and the streams of fresh
+water. It was a smiling country which seemed to bid them welcome. But
+when they entered the mouth of a broad river, which they called the
+James in honor of their King, and made their way up into the country,
+new doubts must have assailed them. They knew that savages lived in the
+dense forests which lined both banks; might not strange wild beasts live
+there also? Might there not be fatal diseases unknown in Europe?</p>
+
+<p>Possibly they wondered what type of government Englishmen would live
+under here. In the charter granted the Virginia Company of London in
+1606 it was promised that they should "enjoy all the liberties,
+franchises, and immunities" of Englishmen, "as if they had been abiding"
+in England. Even without this promise they would have taken it for
+granted that they were not surrendering the freedom derived from their
+ancestors. This was the view taken six decades later by Francis Moryson
+and Thomas Ludwell, agents for the colony. If the King planted a colony
+of Englishmen, they and their heirs ought by law to enjoy the "same
+liberties and privileges as Englishmen in England." After all, the
+colony would be but "an extension or dilation of the realm of
+England."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>The men who came to Virginia had, in the mother country, participated in
+the government through representatives of their own choosing, so they
+insisted upon this right in their new home. They claimed, also, the
+habeas corpus, jury trial, and freedom from taxation save by their own
+consent. In England not even the King could take a man's money legally
+until it had been granted by the House of Commons. Upon this recognized
+principle English liberty was chiefly based; upon its acceptance in
+America depended the future of liberty there.</p>
+
+<p>Yet when the first band of settlers stepped ashore at Jamestown, liberty
+in England still hung in the balance. At the conclusion of the Wars of
+the Roses the King was almost absolute. The people were desperately
+tired of anarchy; they were tired also of the oppressions of the barons.
+So long as the King put an end to both they had no desire to limit his
+power. The Commons ate out of his hand. Henry VIII might tear the Church
+from the Roman see, Mary might restore it, Edward might once more break
+with Rome&mdash;in each case the people submitted. Those who dared resist
+faced the headsman's block or the pyre.</p>
+
+<p>But in time the memory of the Wars of the Roses grew dim. And the growth
+of the artisan class, the development of trade, the birth of a great
+literature, the work of the universities, the expansion of world
+horizons fired the imagination and awakened men to their own
+potentialities. Self-government is a tender plant which withers in the
+soil of poverty and ignorance, and it was the advance of prosperity and
+enlightenment under the Tudors which made possible the flowering of
+liberty under the Stuarts.</p>
+
+<p>James I had been on the throne only three years when the little town
+which bore his name was founded. James has been called the wisest fool
+in Christendom; but he was neither wise nor a fool. His conception of
+the King's office was logical and simple. It was his function to rule;
+the duty of the people was to obey. If they did not, like bad children
+they should be scolded and perhaps punished, since it was not only
+illegal but wicked to question the King's authority. "As to dispute what
+God may do is blasphemy, so it is sedition in subjects to dispute what a
+King may do," he said. Parliament he considered a nuisance. "I am
+surprised that my ancestors should have permitted such an institution to
+come into existence," he said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> "I am a stranger and found it here when
+I arrived, so that I am obliged to put up with what I cannot get rid
+of."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>The House of Commons were not inclined to accept the King's theory of
+the relations between himself and Parliament. When James told them that
+they had no privileges save by royal grace, they replied that he had
+been misinformed. When in answer to James' demand that they refrain from
+meddling in foreign affairs, they entered on their journal a
+protestation of their right of free speech, he was so enraged that he
+sent for the book and with his own hands tore out the page.</p>
+
+<p>The Commons considered it a precious privilege to be "governed by
+certain rules of law ... and not by uncertain or arbitrary form of
+government." There is a general fear among the people, they told James,
+that royal proclamations might eventually assume the nature of laws.
+Then their ancient freedom would be abridged, "if not quite taken away,"
+and "a new form of arbitrary government" brought on the realm.</p>
+
+<p>The conflict between King and Parliament foreshadowed the conflict
+between the Governors and the people of the colonies. The provincial
+Assemblies were not less determined to resist any infringement on their
+rights than was Parliament. And the fortunes of the contending forces in
+the mother country affected profoundly those in the colonies. Echoes of
+the First Stuart Despotism, the Civil War and Commonwealth, the
+Restoration, the Second Stuart Despotism, the Glorious Revolution, the
+laissez-faire period, and the reaction under George III reverberated in
+the colonies.</p>
+
+<p>But the development of self-government in America was by no means
+entirely dependent upon events in England. There were forces in the New
+World which favored democracy. The wide spaces of the frontier made men
+self-reliant and resourceful and impatient of control by a distant
+monarch, ever ready to defend old rights, quick to demand new ones.
+"People remote from the seat of government are always remarkable for
+their disobedience," wrote Governor Gooch, in 1732.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> As the historian
+Foote has pointed out, they and "their children were republicans; in
+England they would have been styled rebels."</p>
+
+<p>The creating of a vast middle class in the colonies also tended toward
+democracy. The men who turned their backs on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> homes of their
+ancestors to start life over again in the tobacco fields of Virginia
+were, most of them, desperately poor. Many came under terms of
+indenture. But they had, prior to the introduction of slaves in large
+numbers, every opportunity to rise. As a result there emerged a
+vigorous, intelligent, freedom-loving yeomanry, who had a profound
+influence in winning self-government.</p>
+
+<p>But the victory at first seemed to be with the King. When James granted
+a charter to the Virginia Company of London, he took care that it should
+include no provision for representative government. Instead he kept the
+control of the proposed colony in his own hands. There was to be a
+Council resident in England appointed by him and responsible to him.
+This body was to name another Council which was to reside in Virginia
+and administer the "Articles, Instructions, and Orders" which the King
+drew up with his own hand. In practice this body assumed administrative,
+legislative, and judicial powers, and ruled the infant colony by their
+own arbitrary will.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>Not only was this constitution undemocratic, but it proved inefficient.
+Had the Council in England made better selections for the Council in
+Virginia, the colony would have been saved much disorder and suffering.
+But never was there a more quarrelsome set of men. The fleet had been at
+sea but a few days when Captain John Smith was accused of plotting to
+overthrow the government and murder his associates, and was kept in
+prison below decks. Only some weeks after the landing at Jamestown was
+he released and permitted to take his seat on the Council.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>On the Council with him were Captain Christopher Newport, Edward
+Wingfield, Bartholomew Gosnold, George Kendall, John Ratcliffe, and John
+Martin. One would think that this little group, set down in the
+wilderness and faced with many perils, would have occupied their time
+better than with plotting against each other. They had enough to do to
+defend themselves against the Indians, for in a sudden attack four of
+them were wounded and another had a narrow escape when an arrow passed
+through his beard.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>Kendall was the first to be expelled from the Council. Gos<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>nold died.
+Wingfield, who was President of the Council, was accused of being an
+atheist, of plotting to desert the colony, and of misappropriating
+public funds, and was ousted from his seat. Since Newport had sailed
+with the fleet for England, Ratcliffe, Smith, and Martin were now the
+only remaining Councillors. But this did not bring harmony. Kendall was
+accused of plotting against the other two, tried, and hanged. Smith,
+too, was in danger of the gallows, when he was held responsible for the
+death of two men who had been killed by the Indians. Were the "whipping,
+lawing, beating, and hanging in Virginia known in England, I fear it
+would drive many well affected minds from this honorable action,"
+Wingfield stated after his return to England. With the drowning of two
+new Councillors, Captain John Smith alone remained, and for several
+months was the sole ruler of the colony.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p>When word of what was going on in Virginia reached the London Company it
+was obvious to all that the original plan of government had proved a
+failure. So they secured a new charter empowering them to change it. But
+for a remedy they turned, not to self-government, but to despotism. They
+abolished the old Council, and turned the colony over to a Governor who,
+within the limits of his instructions, was to "rule and govern by his
+own discretion or by such laws" as he should decree. To assist him he
+was to choose an advisory Council.</p>
+
+<p>The danger of this system was at first obscured by the wise choice of a
+Governor. Thomas Lord De la Warr was a man of distinction and ability.
+He had studied at the Queen's College, Oxford, had served with Essex in
+Ireland, and had been a member of the Privy Council under both Elizabeth
+and James.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>Upon landing at Jamestown, De la Warr listened to a sermon by the good
+minister, Mr. Buck. He then addressed the people, "laying some blames on
+them," and promising, if forced to it, to draw the sword of justice. But
+there seems to have been no need for this. The people, forgetting former
+quarrels, were united in their efforts to serve their Governor and bring
+a degree of prosperity to the colony. The sound of hammering and sawing
+was heard on all sides as little houses were built, the fort repaired,
+the church restored. "Every Sunday, when the Lord Governor went to
+church, he was accompanied by all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> the Councillors, Captains, and other
+officers, and all the gentlemen, and with a band of fifty halberdiers in
+his Lordships livery, fair red cloaks, on each side and behind him. The
+Lord Governor sat in the choir in a green velvet chair, with a velvet
+cushion before him on which he knelt."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>But that Lord De la Warr proved to be a mild and just Governor by no
+means obscures the evils inherent in absolutism. A good ruler may be
+succeeded by a bad one. In ancient Rome the people benefited by the
+establishing of law and order under the great Augustus, but they
+suffered from the cruelty of the insane Caligula and the dissolute Nero.
+So it boded no good for Virginia when De la Warr fell ill. "I was
+welcomed by a hot and violent ague," he tells us. This was followed by
+an attack of dysentery. "Then the cramp assaulted my weak body with
+strong pains, and afterward the gout." Finally scurvy came to add to his
+woes, so that he "was upon the point to leave this world." In
+desperation he set sail for the West Indies in the hope of recovering
+his health.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>A few weeks after De la Warr's departure Sir Thomas Gates assumed
+command of the colony. In 1614 he, in turn, was followed by Sir Thomas
+Dale, Dale by Captain George Yeardley, and Yeardley by Samuel Argall.
+When Gates was in Virginia in 1610 he had brought with him certain laws,
+orders, and instructions which he posted in the church at Jamestown. As
+the people crowded into the little building to read them they must have
+expressed their resentment and horror, for the laws were more suited to
+a penal colony than to a community of free Englishmen. In 1611 Dale
+brought additional laws, and the whole body was revised in England and
+published. Gates and Dale had both served with the English army in the
+Netherlands, and these laws were "chiefly extracted out of the laws for
+governing the army" there.</p>
+
+<p>It was ordered that "every man and woman daily twice a day upon the
+first tolling of the bell shall upon the working days repair into the
+church to hear divine service upon pain of losing his or her day's
+allowance for the first omission, for the second to be whipped, for the
+third to be condemned to the galleys for six months." Equally severe was
+the law that "no man shall give any disgraceful words or commit any act
+to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> disgrace of any person ... upon pain of being tied head and feet
+together upon the guard every night for the space of one month." To kill
+any cattle, or horse, goat, or pig, or chicken without leave was
+punishable with death. No doubt conducive to health but not to liberty
+was the order that no man or woman should wash linen or pots and pans
+"within twenty foot of the old well ... upon pain of whipping."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>De la Warr was a humane man, who thought that order could be maintained
+without cruelty. Gates, also, seems not to have enforced the severe
+laws. But the situation changed when Dale, and after him Argall assumed
+power. These two men were guilty of reigns of terror that would have
+shamed an Ivan the Terrible or a Hitler. The Virginia Assembly of 1624
+testified that the colony suffered "under most severe and cruel laws
+sent over in print," contrary to the King's promise. And these laws were
+"mercilessly executed, often times without trial or judgment." Some who
+sought relief by fleeing to the Indians were captured and executed,
+either by hanging, or shooting, or even by being broken on the wheel.
+One man who had stolen some oatmeal had a knife thrust through his
+tongue, and then was tied to a tree where he was left to starve. In 1612
+several men tried to steal a barge and a shallop in order to risk their
+lives in a desperate attempt to reach England. For this they were "shot
+to death, hanged and broken upon the wheel."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>But better things were in store. Many of the leading spirits of the
+London Company, who "stood best affected to religion and liberty" were
+"distasted with the proceedings of the <ins class="correct" title="Missing close quote added according to original source text by Brown.">Court."</ins> This group began now to
+dream of migrating to Virginia to set up a government there which would
+be sympathetic with their views. "Many worthy patriots, lords, knights,
+gentlemen, merchants, and others ... laid hold on ... Virginia as a
+providence cast before them."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> Had not the Pilgrim fathers shown the
+way to New England a few years later, it might have been in Virginia
+rather than in Massachusetts that the Bible commonwealth was
+established.</p>
+
+<p>Prominent among the liberal faction in the Company was Sir Edwin Sandys.
+In his youth he had studied at Corpus Christi, Oxford, under Richard
+Hooker, the future founder of Connecticut, and this ardent Puritan
+influenced profoundly his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> views and career. It was from Hooker that he
+got the theory that the King derived his authority from a contract with
+the people, and not by divine right. Later, when as a member of the
+Commons he enunciated this theory, he drew down on his head James'
+bitter hatred. Sandys, who had long been a member of the Council of the
+London Company, was elected to the important post of Treasurer in 1617.
+To prevent his re-election three years later, the King sent the names of
+four other men to the Company with the demand that they elect one of
+them. When the Company sent a delegation to him to protest against this
+interference with their affairs, James blurted out: "Choose the devil if
+you will, but not Sir Edwin Sandys."</p>
+
+<p>Sandys seems to have planned to secure successive charters, each
+granting the Company greater powers than its predecessor, under the
+pretext that this was necessary for the success of the enterprise. The
+second charter, granted in 1609, is of especial importance because by it
+the King resigned the immediate control of the colony into the hands of
+the Company. The charter of 1612 still further strengthened their hands.</p>
+
+<p>But the Sandys faction met strenuous opposition in the Company itself.
+Many of the stockholders thought it a mistake to involve the Company in
+the political and religious struggle which was convulsing the nation. At
+times the Quarter Courts resounded with the angry debates of the
+contending parties. A momentous struggle it was, since upon the outcome
+depended the establishing of self-government in America. So there was
+rejoicing among the liberal party when Sandys was victorious.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that Sandys drew up with his own hand what has been
+called the Magna Carta of Virginia in the fall of 1617, granting the
+colony the right to representative government. Lord De la Warr, who was
+still the Governor, had expected to leave at that time with this famous
+document. But his sailing was delayed until April, 1618. Unfortunately
+De la Warr, who probably had never fully recovered his health, became
+ill during the voyage and died.</p>
+
+<p>When news of De la Warr's death reached the London Company, they chose
+Captain George Yeardley to be his successor. In January, 1619, Yeardley
+sailed from England with several documents, probably duplicates of the
+Magna Carta, authorizing him to hold an election for a General
+Assembly.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> instructions have been preserved, but his commission,
+or constitution for the colony, has been lost. Yet undoubtedly it was
+similar to, if not identical with the Magna Carta of 1617, and with the
+"Ordinance and Constitution" of July 24, 1621, given Sir Francis Wyatt.</p>
+
+<p>This constitution called for a Council to be chosen from time to time by
+the Company to assist the Governor in maintaining the "people in justice
+and Christian conversation amongst themselves, and in strength and
+ability to withstand their enemies." Another body "to be called by the
+Governor once yearly and no oftener but for very extraordinary and
+important occasions, shall consist for the present of the said Council
+of State, and two Burgesses out of every town, hundred, or other
+particular plantation, to be respectively chosen by the inhabitants."
+This body, which was called the General Assembly, was to "have free
+power to treat, consult, and conclude, as well of all emergent occasions
+concerning the public weal of the said colony ... as also to make,
+ordain, and enact such general laws and orders ... as shall from time to
+time appear necessary." To the Governor was reserved a negative voice.</p>
+
+<p>The Governor and Assembly were directed "to imitate and follow the form
+of government, laws, customs, and manner of trial, and other
+ministration of justice used in the realm of England." And a limit was
+put to the authority of the Assembly by a provision that no law should
+"continue in force" unless ratified by the Company. But a degree of
+independence was granted in the instruction that "after the government
+of the said colony shall once have been framed ... no orders of court
+afterwards shall bind the said colony, unless they be ratified in like
+manner in the General Assemblies."<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>There must have been rejoicing in Virginia when Yeardley arrived with
+orders "for the better establishing a commonwealth." Perhaps there were
+cheers, perhaps tears of joy in the crowd which assembled in Jamestown
+to listen to his proclamation. It promised that those cruel laws by
+which they had so long been governed were now abrogated, and that they
+were to be governed by those free laws which his Majesty's subjects in
+England lived under.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>On August 9, 1619, the first representative assembly in Ameri<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>can
+history met in the crude little church at Jamestown. When Governor
+Yeardley had taken his seat in the choir, the members of the Council sat
+beside him, some on one side, some on the other. "But forasmuch as men's
+affairs do little prosper when God's service is neglected, all the
+Burgesses took their places in the choir till a prayer was said by Mr.
+Buck, the minister." Then the Burgesses were called in order by name,
+and so every man took the oath of supremacy.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Assembly assumed from the first that it was to be the Parliament of
+Virginia. But they realized that they must make no laws which
+contravened those of England, or the charter, or the instructions of the
+London Company. During the first session, acts were passed concerning
+the Church, Indian affairs, land patents, morality, prices, trade, etc.
+But by far the most important law was one ordering "that every man and
+man servant above sixteen years of age shall pay into the hands and
+custody of the Burgesses ... one pound of the best tobacco."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>The control of taxation by the representatives of the people was to play
+a vital role in the development of self-government in America. It was
+based on the fact, universally recognized by Englishmen, that no power
+had the right to take a man's property without his own consent. A
+century after the first session of the Virginia Assembly the New York
+Assembly reminded Governor Robert Hunter that their inherent right "to
+dispose of the money of the freemen" did "not proceed from any
+commission, letters patent, or other grant from the Crown, but from the
+free choice and election of the people, who ought not to be divested of
+their property (nor justly can) without their consent." Similarly the
+Virginia House of Burgesses declared: "The rights of the subjects are so
+secured by law that they cannot be deprived of the least part of their
+property but by their own consent."</p>
+
+<p>The Virginia Assembly of 1619, when they assumed the right to tax the
+people, probably did not realize that they were laying the cornerstone
+of the structure of American liberty. Yet it was the control of taxation
+by the representatives of the people in all the colonies which made it
+possible to win victory after victory over the royal Governors. It is an
+old saying that one dare not quarrel with one's paymaster. Yet that was
+just what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> most of the Governors had to do. They needed money, money to
+cover their own salaries, money with which to pay other government
+officials, money to raise and equip men to fight the Indians, or the
+Dutch, or the French. The price they had to pay was a part of the royal
+prerogative.</p>
+
+<p>It is to be noted that the money raised by the levy of 1619 in Virginia
+was to be paid, not to the Governor or to a Treasurer appointed by the
+Governor, but to the Burgesses. The question of who was to receive the
+revenues and who to decide upon their use was second in importance only
+to who had the right to levy taxes. It was to give rise to many disputes
+between Governors and Burgesses.</p>
+
+<p>The people of Virginia in their happiness in the setting up of
+representative government seem to have overlooked the King's hostility.
+But they could not have expected him to assent meekly to the duplication
+in the infant colony of the Parliament, the body which was causing him
+so much trouble and vexation. They might have been warned of what was
+coming when James threw Sir Edwin Sandys in the Tower.</p>
+
+<p>This was followed by a frontal assault on the London Company. John
+Ferrar wrote: "The King, notwithstanding his royal word and honor
+pledged to the contrary ... was now determined with all his force to ...
+give the death blow...."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> He began by ordering a certain Nathaniel
+Butler to write a pamphlet describing conditions in Virginia. In his
+<i>Unmasking of Virginia</i>, as he called it, Butler drew a vivid picture of
+the suffering of the people from disease, hunger, and the Indians. In
+reply the Company published <i>A True Answer</i>, explaining the misfortunes
+which had plagued the colony, and denying responsibility for them.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>The King now appointed a commission to inquire into "all abuses and
+grievances" in Virginia. In July, 1623, this body reported that most of
+the people sent to the colony were now dead, and that the blame must
+rest on the Company. "If his Majesty's first grant of April 10, 1606,
+... had been pursued, much better effects had been produced than had
+been by the alteration thereof into so popular a course."<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> The King
+was elated. He was determined, he said, to "resume the govern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>ment, and
+... reduce that popular form so as to make it agree with the monarchical
+form."</p>
+
+<p>Should the Company agree, he was willing for them to retain their
+charter. But he told them that he was resolved "by a new charter to
+appoint a Governor and twelve assistants, resident here in England, unto
+whom shall be committed the government." These assistants were to
+appoint a Governor and twelve assistants to reside in Virginia, "whereby
+all matters of importance may be directed by his Majesty."<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> In
+essence this was the original plan of 1606. There was "hot debate" in
+the Company when they met to consider this proposal. Every man present
+knew that the fate of the Company hung in the balance. Yet when the
+King's offer was put to the vote, it was rejected by an overwhelming
+majority.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Company now appealed to the House of Commons. But before the Commons
+could act a message came from the King warning them not to meddle in the
+affair. "Ourselves will make it our work to settle the quiet and welfare
+of the plantations," he said. So, with some "soft mutterings," they
+submitted.</p>
+
+<p>The people of Virginia waited impatiently for the outcome of the
+struggle which concerned them so deeply. When in March, 1624, the
+<i>Southampton</i> arrived with word that James was determined to change the
+government, they were in despair. Was liberty to be overthrown? Were
+they to be subjected again to the brutality of a Dale or an Argall? They
+wrote the Privy Council praying that future Governors should not have
+absolute authority. "But above all we humbly entreat your Lordships that
+we may retain the liberty of our General Assembly, than which nothing
+can more conduce to our satisfaction or the public utility."<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>If this letter ever reached the Privy Council, it did not stay the
+King's hand. Attorney General Coventry had already issued a <i>quo
+warranto</i> against the Company. Sandys and others fought the case before
+the King's Bench, but the outcome was foregone. On June 26, 1624, the
+charter was overthrown and Virginia became a royal colony.</p>
+
+<p>Certain historians have contended that, in destroying the Company, James
+was actuated chiefly by economic motives.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> They point out that the
+Company was divided into factions, that the situation in Virginia was
+desperate, and that the Company was practically bankrupt. Nothing was
+left to show for the £100,000 which had been expended, and unless this
+charge was wiped off the books by dissolving the Company, it would
+remain for decades as a burden on the colony. No doubt this may have
+influenced James in his decision. But he himself said that it had not
+been his intention to revoke the charters until the Company drove him to
+it by refusing to resign the government into his hands. He had resolved,
+he said, "by altering the charters ... as to point of government ... to
+settle such a course as might cause the said plantation to flourish, ...
+But because the said Treasurer and Company did not submit their charters
+to be reformed, our proceedings therein were stayed for a time until ...
+the said charters ... were ... avoided."</p>
+
+<p>The future of the colony was now left in doubt. James declared his
+intention of issuing a new charter. But since this would require "much
+time and care," he appointed a commission headed by Lord Henry
+Mandeville, to manage the colony in the meanwhile. This body's first
+step was to reappoint Governor Francis Wyatt and his Council, and to
+authorize them to exercise all the powers granted to Yeardley and his
+Council. But they made no mention of an Assembly.</p>
+
+<p>James, in issuing the new charter, no doubt intended to make it conform
+to the charter of 1606. Had he done so, he might have delayed the
+development of self-government in Virginia by decades. But before he
+could complete the draft, death overtook him. This dissolved the
+Mandeville commission, and postponed indefinitely a final settlement of
+Virginia affairs.</p>
+
+<p>Charles I was in sympathy with his father's plans for the colony, but he
+seems not to have been deeply concerned about carrying them out. His
+first step was to place the matter before the Privy Council. The Council
+called on Sir Edwin Sandys for his opinion. Sir Edwin replied in a long
+document entitled "The Discourse of the Old Company of Virginia,"
+advising the King to restore the Company. This Charles had no intention
+of doing. On May 23, 1625, he issued a proclamation declaring "that his
+intention was that the government of Virginia should immediately depend"
+upon himself. It might be proper to commit matters of trade and commerce
+to a corporation, but not state affairs. He next outlined a plan of
+government for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> colony which was essentially the same as that under
+the charter of 1606.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, the people of Virginia awaited anxiously. Would the
+King abolish the Assembly? Would another Dale or Argall be sent over for
+a new reign of terror? They had opposed the dissolution of the Company
+because they feared it might lead to the abolishing of representative
+government. Now that the Company no longer existed they pleaded
+earnestly to be permitted to keep the Assembly. In June, 1625, the
+Governor and Council wrote the Privy Council asking that the "liberty,
+of General Assembleys" be continued in order "to avoid the oppressions
+of Governors." This letter they entrusted to Sir George Yeardley, who
+sailed with it for England and laid it before the Privy Council.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p>
+
+<p>This body hastened to assure the Virginians that the King "doth take all
+the country and people into his royal protection and government," and
+that they were to enjoy all their former privileges. Still they made no
+promise that the people should have a voice in the government. And the
+King, because of "many other urgent occasions," still delayed making a
+permanent settlement of Virginia affairs. At last, in March, 1626, he
+appointed Yeardley to succeed Wyatt, with orders to "continue the same
+means that was formerly thought fit for the maintenance of the said
+colony."</p>
+
+<p>Wyatt and Yeardley were men of a different stamp from Dale and Argall.
+Had they chosen to do so, they could have ruled the colony with no
+restraint save from the Council. But they preferred to keep alive the
+spark of representative government. So they called together unofficial
+gatherings of leading citizens to sit with the Governor and the Council
+instead of the House of Burgesses. This body they called the "Governor,
+Council, and the colony of Virginia assembled together."<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Assembly of 1624 was automatically dissolved by the death of James
+I. So there must have been a new election, since the unofficial House of
+Burgesses, had they been appointed by the Governor and Council, would
+not have presumed to tax the people for the funds necessary for carrying
+on the govern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>ment. As there was no legal authority for the gatherings
+their acts were translated into proclamations.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>Legal authority came in an unexpected way. With the demonstration by
+John Rolfe, the man who married Pocahontas, that tobacco could be raised
+in Virginia, the Indian weed had become more and more the staple of the
+colony. Had it been assured of a monopoly of the English market by the
+exclusion of foreign tobacco and the prohibition of tobacco planting in
+England, and not hampered by high custom duties, it would have brought
+prosperity and rapid growth.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> But both James and Charles were
+constantly in need of money, and the revenue from the duty on Spanish
+tobacco had been important to them. So in excluding all foreign leaf
+they sought to make good their losses from Virginia tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>In 1627 Charles decided to buy the entire colonial crop in the hope of
+selling it at a profit. But this he did not venture to do without
+securing the consent of the planters. That would have violated the
+principle that a man's property must not be taken without his consent,
+either directly or through his representative. So he directed the
+Governor to hold a general election of Burgesses, summon an Assembly,
+and place his proposition before them. Thus he gave official recognition
+to the House of Burgesses, and it was upon this recognition that its
+authority rested.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> The Virginians rejected the King's proposal, but
+they kept their Assembly. From this date it became habitual for the
+Kings to insert in the instructions to a new Governor that he hold an
+election of Burgesses.</p>
+
+<p>The setting up of representative government in the first English colony
+in America has a double significance. It may be viewed as a part of the
+struggle for supremacy between King and Parliament. Sir Edwin Sandys,
+the champion of liberty in Virginia, was also a champion of liberty in
+the mother country. Had absolutism won in England, its victory in the
+colony would have been certain. And had the King succeeded in ruling the
+colony unrestrained by any representative body there, it would have
+strengthened his hand in England, would have been a defeat for the
+liberal group in Parliament.</p>
+
+<p>When the first Assembly met in Jamestown, the year before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> the Pilgrims
+landed on Cape Cod, they established a precedent which was followed in
+future English settlements. Had absolutism been firmly rooted in
+Virginia, the Stuart Kings might have tried to set it up in all the
+colonies. The Massachusetts Bay charter might have been voided, the
+charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island might have had no provision for
+representative government.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, as it was the need for money which forced the hand of
+Charles I and gave legality to the House of Burgesses, so the needs of
+all the colonial governments made necessary the calling of legislatures
+which had the right to levy taxes. It is this which forced the Duke of
+York to call an Assembly in New York in 1684. When the American patriots
+of 1775 took up arms because Parliament insisted on taxing them, they
+were not defending some new principle. The principle that one's property
+could be taken only with one's consent antedated the founding of
+Jamestown. And upon it American liberty was based from the first.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i> II, p. 44.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> R. W. K. Hinton, Government and liberty under James I,
+<i>Cambridge Historical Journal</i> 11 (I).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Gooch to the Lords of Trade, March 30, 1732.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> A. Brown, <i>Genesis of the United States</i> 1: 55, 56.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Edward Arber, <i>Works of Captain John Smith</i>, 91.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, lii.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, lxxxiv.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> A. Brown, <i>The first republic</i>, 84.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 130.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> A. Brown, <i>Genesis of the United States</i> 1: 479.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Peter Force, <i>Tracts</i> 3(2).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> A. Brown, <i>The first republic</i>, 148, 172.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 85.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> A. Brown, <i>The first republic</i>, 293.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i> I.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> A. Brown, <i>The first republic</i>, 312.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> L. G. Tyler, <i>Narratives of early Virginia</i>, 257.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1619-1659, 16.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> A. Brown, <i>The first republic</i>, 531, 532.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 524.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 541.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 542.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 554.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> William Stith, <i>History of Virginia</i>, 313, 315.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> A. Brown, <i>The first republic</i>, 573.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> CO1-3, p. 5. This and similar notations all refer to
+documents in the British Public Record Office.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 129, 130.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> CO1-4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> CO1-20.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br />
+<br />
+SELF-GOVERNMENT</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">With the calling of the Assembly of 1627 Virginia entered a new epoch.
+The people no longer looked to a commercial company for instructions and
+the appointment of the Governor and other officials, but to the King.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole this was a fortunate change. The Company could not finance
+the enterprise, and it might have bled the colony to make good its own
+losses. The reactionary group in the Company might in time have won
+control, and have gone back to the original form of government.</p>
+
+<p>It was this which made the people of Virginia resist all attempts to
+re-establish the Company. They were greatly alarmed in 1631 when word
+reached them that some of the former members had "continually importuned
+his Majesty to renew the charter," and that the King had actually given
+orders that a new one be drawn up. Someone, no doubt an agent for the
+colony, protested vigorously. The Governor and Council had "oftentimes
+petitioned ... against the renewing of any such corporation," he said,
+and he pleaded that nothing be done until they were heard from.</p>
+
+<p>But though the Virginians wished to remain under the jurisdiction of the
+King, and not be "subjects to their fellow subjects," they wanted to
+place their government upon a firmer basis as a guarantee that there
+would be no renewal of the "illegal proceedings and barbarous tortures"
+of former years. On three separate occasions they tried to secure a
+charter guaranteeing their liberties. In 1639, George Sandys, whom they
+appointed agent to petition for a charter, seems to have misunderstood
+his instructions, for instead of doing so he attempted to revive the
+Company. When this news reached Virginia, the Assembly hastened to
+disavow his action, and to beg the King to let them remain a royal
+colony. Their yearly Assemblies, authorized in his instructions, insured
+their present happiness, they said. So they were much relieved when
+Charles told them that he had not the least intention of placing any
+corporation over them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This satisfied the Virginians for the moment, but during the Restoration
+period, on learning that the King had made a series of grants in the
+colony to favorites, they once more petitioned for a charter. And
+though, after prolonged negotiations, a charter was passed under the
+Great Seal,<a name="FNanchor_1_30" id="FNanchor_1_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_30" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> it was so unsatisfactory that in 1691 they made still
+another attempt. When this failed, the colony was forced to remain under
+its unwritten constitution, based on precedents, royal letters,
+proclamations, and instructions.</p>
+
+<p>This constitution provided that the Governor be appointed by the King.
+Consequently he represented the authority of the Crown, and through the
+Crown the interests of England. If he failed to uphold the royal
+prerogative against the assaults of the Burgesses and the Council he was
+sure to incur the frowns of his royal master. If the King were bent on
+ruling the colony with as little interference from the Assembly as
+possible, it was the Governor who tried to carry out his orders. In
+other words, in the century long battle between the King and the
+representatives of the people, it was the Governor who bore the royal
+banner.</p>
+
+<p>The Governors varied widely in character and ability. Sir John Harvey
+and Francis Nicholson were egocentric men, who tried to lash all who
+surrounded them into obedience to their will. Alexander Spotswood and
+Robert Dinwiddie, though not friends of representative government, were
+able administrators. Hugh Drysdale, William Gooch, and Lord Botetourt,
+because of their amiable dispositions, won lasting popularity. Culpeper
+and Effingham were hated as instruments in the hands of Charles II and
+James II in imposing the Second Stuart Despotism on the colony. Dunmore
+was detested for his role in the opening years of the Revolutionary War.</p>
+
+<p>It is strange that Nicholson, who was in many respects one of the worst
+of the Governors, should have given an excellent description of the
+ideal colonial executive. "It is absolutely necessary ... that the
+Governor ... may be esteemed by the people, ... to be a lover of them
+and their country ... and above all distributes equal justice."<a name="FNanchor_2_31" id="FNanchor_2_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_31" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Had
+he followed his own advice his second administration would not have
+ended in failure.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The powers of the Governor were great, so great that even the British
+government at times thought they should be used with caution. "All
+things are made so entirely dependent on the Governor's single will and
+pleasure, that whenever there may happen an ill man in that post, it
+cannot reasonably be expected any person ... should either oppose such
+an one in whatever he may attempt or so much as give any advice," wrote
+the Lords of Trade in 1698.<a name="FNanchor_3_32" id="FNanchor_3_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_32" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Governor's powers differed from time to time, depending upon the
+situation in England, upon developments in the colony, and upon the
+character of the Governor. Sir William Berkeley based his power chiefly
+on the use of the patronage; Effingham's authority was but a reflection
+of the despotism of the late Stuart Kings. On the whole, the Governors
+of the seventeenth century exercised more power than those of the
+eighteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>At all times the Governor was respected because back of him was the
+awe-inspiring figure of the monarch. If the Councillors or the Burgesses
+defied him, he might report their "disobedience" to the King with
+serious consequences. On more than one occasion the King ordered the
+Governor to rebuke the Burgesses for their "presumption" in disregarding
+his wishes.</p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses seem not to have hung their heads at these reprimands, and
+it was only when the King tried to abridge their privileges that they
+were deeply concerned. But the greatest danger lay, not in overriding
+the House, but in undermining it by political bribery. The Governor had
+in his hands many lucrative offices with which to reward those who voted
+as he wished. "Don't you know there is a sheriff and a clerk in every
+county, besides other offices of profit in the country?" Benjamin
+Harrison wrote Philip Ludwell, in 1703. "Is it not the wise man's phrase
+that a gift will blind the eyes of the wise?... Places are now shifted
+as often as the occasion requires, to put out or in, as men will or will
+not serve a turn. Sheriffs are turned out in the middle of their
+collection. Clerks are turned out without ever knowing why and so are
+other officers.... I need not tell you what men too many of our House of
+Burgesses are, how greedy they are to catch at any little place of
+profit, without considering the ill consequence that attends it; like
+the poor harmless fish that eagerly catches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> at the bait without
+considering the hook of destruction is under it.... Add a sheriff, a
+clerk, or a naval officer's place, and pray who would consider the
+Queen's service, the interest of the country, or the discharging a
+Burgess's oath!"<a name="FNanchor_4_33" id="FNanchor_4_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_33" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>The most tempting plum was a seat in the Council. Though this was in the
+gift of the King, he almost invariably named the man recommended by the
+Governor. So the Burgess who aspired to it was a patriot indeed if he
+set the welfare of the country above his own ambition by opposing the
+Governor in the House.</p>
+
+<p>It was not necessary for the Governor to make a direct promise; every
+man of prominence and wealth knew that he was being watched. But in one
+case at least a bargain was struck. In 1683 Governor Culpeper wrote the
+Privy Council that Isaac Allerton had assured him "of his utmost
+services in whatsoever the King should command him by his Governor," and
+he had promised in return "that he should be of the Council ... though
+not to be declared till after the session of the next Assembly."<a name="FNanchor_5_34" id="FNanchor_5_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_34" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> One
+wonders whether Allerton's conscience hurt him when, several years
+later, he took the seat which he had gained by betraying the interests
+of those who had elected him.</p>
+
+<p>In February, 1691, Governor Nicholson wrote the Lords of Trade
+explaining why he had deferred sending a list of recommendations for
+appointment to the Council until after a meeting of the Assembly. "I
+think it a proper time to try men in, especially considering how many of
+his Majesty's affairs are to be transacted there."<a name="FNanchor_6_35" id="FNanchor_6_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_35" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>Even when a Carter, or a Byrd, or a Ludwell had taken his seat in the
+Council, he had to watch his step. If he opposed the Governor too
+vigorously he might be suspended. In 1677 Deputy Governor Herbert
+Jeffreys reported that "one Ballard of the Council" was "a fellow of a
+turbulent, mutinous spirit," and that he had "found very just cause of
+suspending him at present both from the Council and collectorship ...
+and advancing others more loyal, fit, and honest in his place."<a name="FNanchor_7_36" id="FNanchor_7_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_36" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Governor could crack the whip over the head of any Councillor who
+defied him by threatening to kick him out of certain places of profit
+and honor. The Councillors "have all along held the places of profit in
+Virginia by the Governor's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> gift and during his pleasure," Henry
+Hartwell reported to the Lords of Trade, "which I have always observed
+has restrained them from due freedom of ... debate."<a name="FNanchor_8_37" id="FNanchor_8_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_37" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> It was taken for
+granted that as soon as a man became a Councillor he was to have the
+next vacancy as colonel of militia, or collector of the export duty, or
+naval officer. In the Council of 1692 all save three were colonels. And
+if a Councillor were in high favor with the Governor, he might be in
+line as Secretary or Auditor.<a name="FNanchor_9_38" id="FNanchor_9_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_38" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was the Governor who appointed sheriffs, justices of the peace, and
+other local officers. Since the county court had legislative and
+administrative as well as judicial powers it was the ruling body in the
+county. It even had the right to tax. That the justices were not elected
+by the people not only made local government undemocratic, but added
+greatly to the Governor's power. He could always appoint men who were
+favorable to his policies or turn out those who opposed him.</p>
+
+<p>Although the Governor was directed by his instructions to secure the
+advice of the Council before making appointments, he claimed that he did
+not have to accept it, and he often ignored it. Nicholson was bitterly
+assailed for appointing sheriffs "without the advice of the Council,"
+and for putting in and turning out "colonels, lieutenant colonels,
+majors, captains, and other officers of the militia."</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, as the decades passed it became more and more the
+custom for the Governor to accept the recommendations of the Councillors
+in making appointments, until it assumed almost the character of an
+unwritten law that he must do so. In fact it was a colonial precedent
+for Senatorial courtesy in the government of the United States.<a name="FNanchor_10_39" id="FNanchor_10_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_39" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Governor had the right to summon, to prorogue, and to dissolve the
+Assembly. But he was usually instructed to hold an Assembly at least
+once a year. On the arrival of a new Governor, or the accession of a
+King or Queen, the Assembly was automatically dissolved. The power of
+prorogation made it possible for a Governor, when he had a House of
+Burgesses to his liking, to continue them indefinitely. That Sir William
+Berkeley refused for at least fourteen years to hold a general election
+prior to Bacon's Rebellion was bitterly resented by the people.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Governor's veto over legislation, though absolute, was not
+frequently used. If he objected to a bill which came up from the House,
+he could, except on rare occasions, influence the Council to kill it. If
+the Council insisted on passing it, he might affix his signature but
+advise the King to disallow it.</p>
+
+<p>The handing out of fat jobs gave the Governor a strangle hold on the
+courts, if we may believe the testimony of Philip Ludwell and Stephen
+Fouace. "The influence of a Governor will be great both on judges and
+witnesses, particularly by the multitude of places and other favors he
+has to promise in case they favor him in the trial.... There is little
+possibility of having a fair examination."<a name="FNanchor_11_40" id="FNanchor_11_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_40" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Robert Beverley testified
+to the bribing of a grand jury by Governor Nicholson. "The foreman was
+favored with a naval officer's place, ... others had sheriff's places,
+etc."<a name="FNanchor_12_41" id="FNanchor_12_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_41" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>Nicholson was accused, also, of bullying witnesses, lawyers, and juries.
+"I have heard him at trials, when judges have asked a question or argued
+or voted contrary to his humor, snap them up and revile them in a very
+contemptible manner," reported Robert Beverley. In the case of Swan
+versus Wilson "he did so grosely abuse Mr. Benjamin Harrison, who was
+counsel for Swan, that everybody cried out shame on it." Finally, James
+Blair, who was a member of the court, could stand it no longer. So,
+taking off his hat, he rose and said:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"If Mr. Harrison has done any ill thing ... I hope your Excellency
+will find another time to call him to an account for it.... I am
+sorry to see so much of the court's time taken up ... by reason of
+your Excellency's prejudice against him."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, I deny the prejudice, put it down in writing," shouted
+Nicholson.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope I have liberty to speak my opinion," replied Blair.</p>
+
+<p>"Who hinders you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am ashamed to sit here and see people so used," retorted Blair.</p>
+
+<p>"Get you gone then. It had been good for the country if they had
+never seen your face."<a name="FNanchor_13_42" id="FNanchor_13_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_42" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The Governor was the legal head of the Church, though his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> authority was
+disputed after the appointment of a Commissary for the Bishop of London.
+And both Governor and Commissary exercised very limited powers because
+of the resistance of the vestries. The Governor had the right to induct
+ministers after they had been presented by the vestries, but in most
+cases they refused to do so. The Governor's power of collation to vacant
+parishes remained throughout the colonial period practically a dead
+letter.</p>
+
+<p>The Council of State exercised administrative, legislative, and judicial
+powers. Hartwell, Blair, and Chilton, in their <i>The Present State of
+Virginia</i>, thus describe their functions: "They are the Council of State
+under the Governor, who always presides; and in the vacancy of a
+Governor and Lieutenant Governor, the eldest of the Council is
+President. They are the Upper House of Assembly, answering to the House
+of Peers in England. They are by custom, but without commission, the
+supreme judges (together with the Governor who presides) in all causes
+... and there lies no appeal from them but to the King in <ins class="correct" title="Missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption.">Council."</ins><a name="FNanchor_14_43" id="FNanchor_14_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_43" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>As the advisory body to the Governor, the Council wielded great
+influence. A Governor who had just taken office and was ignorant of
+conditions in the colony had to turn to them for information and advice.
+Later, when he was better informed, he still relied upon them for
+support in upholding the King's authority. If he were confronted with a
+mutiny, or an invasion by a hostile fleet, or an Indian war, or a
+decline in the price of tobacco, he was glad to get their views on what
+he should do.</p>
+
+<p>The members of the Council originally sat with the Burgesses during
+sessions of the Assembly, and did not constitute a separate house.
+Though this denied them an equal voice with the Burgesses, since they
+could always be outvoted, it permitted them to enter into debates with
+the Burgesses and serve on committees. It was at the suggestion of
+Governor Culpeper that the King, in 1680, gave orders that the Council
+should sit as a separate house.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt Culpeper did this so that he could preside at their legislative
+sessions as he did when they sat as a Privy Council or as a court. In
+this way he could keep an eye on them, could argue with them, and bring
+pressure on them to vote as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> wished. It also created a buffer between
+him and the Burgesses, behind which he could take refuge against popular
+criticism. The position of the Councillors was not an easy one since as
+appointees of the King they were supposed to defend the royal authority,
+and as natives of Virginia they wished to defend her interests. Often
+they found a way out of this difficulty by voting one way and privately
+urging the Burgesses to vote the other.</p>
+
+<p>The members of the Council all sat on the General Court. Hartwell,
+Blair, and Chilton thus describe this body: "It is strange that they
+never had a commission for holding of this court, nor never took the
+oath of judges, perhaps it was not designed by the Crown that they
+should hold it, since besides that they are unskilful in law, it is
+thought an inconvenient thing in all governments that the justice and
+policy of the government should be lodged in the same persons, who ought
+indeed to be a check upon one another."<a name="FNanchor_15_44" id="FNanchor_15_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_44" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> It was as though the United
+States Senate were also the Supreme Court. In other words, in colonial
+Virginia the same men who, as members of the Upper House of Assembly,
+had voted on a law were called upon to interpret it. Prior to 1680 if a
+man thought himself injured in point of law or equity by a decision of
+this court he could appeal his case to the Assembly. But after that
+date, when the judicial powers of the Assembly were voided, his only
+appeal was to the King and Privy Council, a step seldom taken because of
+the difficulty "of either prosecuting or defending matters at such a
+distance."</p>
+
+<p>The judicial function of the Councillors added greatly to their power
+and prestige. "They are the sole judges of law and property, which makes
+all depend on them," reported Colonel Quary.<a name="FNanchor_16_45" id="FNanchor_16_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_45" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> The Councillors were
+well aware of the power and prestige which their judicial position gave
+them. This is shown by the bitterness with which they resisted when
+Governor Spotswood tried to weaken it by setting up a court of oyer and
+terminer with others than Councillors on the bench.</p>
+
+<p>The members of the Council were invariably selected from the wealthiest
+men in the colony. In their own counties they were respected and feared.
+To insult a Byrd, or a Custis, or a Carter would land one in jail. But
+if we may believe Governor Nicholson, the poor man would not cringe
+before them. "The ordinary sort of planters that have land of their own,
+though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> not much, look upon themselves to be as good as the best of
+them, for they know, at least have heard, from whence these mighty dons
+derive their originals." They know that they or their "ancestors were
+their equals if not their superiors, and that their getting such estates
+and places of honor was more by accident than any extraordinary honesty
+or ability in them."<a name="FNanchor_17_46" id="FNanchor_17_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_46" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Council reached the height of its power during the first thirty or
+thirty-five years after the Glorious Revolution. Then it was that they
+defied the Governors, and in three cases were largely responsible for
+their removal. Nicholson complained that they "set up to have the power
+and interest of turning out and putting in Governors, and affect the
+title that the great Earl of Warwick had." Quary said they "had vanity
+enough to think themselves almost upon equal terms with the House of
+Lords." "They have by degrees endeavored to lessen the prerogative and
+render the Governor little better than a cypher, and in truth they have
+in effect gained their point."<a name="FNanchor_18_47" id="FNanchor_18_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_47" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses were the representatives of the people. They were expected
+by all, wealthy landholders and owners of but a few acres, carpenters,
+coopers, clergymen, to uphold the liberties of all against the assaults
+of the King or the Governor. The poor turned to them for protection
+against the rich. Any attempt by the Governor to rule despotically or
+illegally was sure to arouse their stubborn resistance. They were in
+effect the House of Commons of Virginia, claimed the same privileges,
+and observed the same form in their proceedings. Since each county
+normally sent two Burgesses to the Assembly, the House grew in numbers
+as new counties were organized.</p>
+
+<p>The Assembly, during its century and a half of existence, was often
+forced to meet in private houses or taverns because of the burning of
+the statehouses, now at Green Spring, the residence of Sir William
+Berkeley, now at William Sherwood's house; now at the ordinary of Thomas
+Woodhouse. The first statehouse, which occupied a double row of little
+buildings, went up in flames in 1656, the second, which was also the
+Governor's residence, burned in 1660. The third statehouse was more
+pretentious than its predecessors, being two stories high, with a
+medieval porch in front, the tile-covered roof dominated by chimney
+stacks probably in the Tudor style. It was burned by Bacon's rebels in
+1676. The fourth statehouse, which seems to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> have been built on the
+foundations of the third, was destroyed by fire in 1698. It was after
+this last disaster that the seat of government was moved to
+Williamsburg, where a lovely Capitol, which has been accurately restored
+by Colonial Williamsburg Inc. in recent years, was completed in 1704.</p>
+
+<p>The sessions of the Burgesses in the hall provided for them in this
+building presented a picturesque scene. The Speaker, in his gown, sat in
+a high chair on a raised platform at the semicircular end of the room.
+Before him, in the center of the hall, was a table covered with green
+cloth, resting on it the mace, the emblem of the authority of the House.
+Here sat the clerk, pen in hand, jotting down notes for the journal.
+Along either side of the room were two rows of benches covered with
+green serge, where sat the Burgesses. All wore their hats. A strange
+medley they were, with the "handsome, well dressed, complete" gentlemen
+from the tidewater contrasting with the roughly clad frontiersmen.</p>
+
+<p>The House was quick to resent any disrespect to themselves as
+individuals or as a body. It was in October, 1693, that Mr. Matthew Kemp
+rose to complain of insults offered him and the House by a certain
+Thomas Rooke. We do not know whether he displayed a bloody nose or a
+black eye, but he accused Rooke of striking him. Thereupon a committee
+was appointed to look into the matter, Rooke was arrested and forced on
+his bended knees to apologize. "Having now a deep sense and abhorrence,
+and out of a true and unfeigned sorrow and repentence," he repeated, he
+asked forgiveness.<a name="FNanchor_19_48" id="FNanchor_19_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_48" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> After they had released him he may have cursed
+them all under his breath, but for the future he kept his resentment to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>The qualifications for the right to vote changed from time to time. On
+the whole they were liberal, for throughout the colonial period most
+freemen could voice their choice when the candidates for the House of
+Burgesses were presented. The constitution of 1621 stated that Burgesses
+were to be chosen by the "inhabitants." If this was interpreted to mean
+that all men, including indentured workers, enjoyed the franchise, it
+was later modified by a law restricting the right to vote to those who
+paid taxes. It is revealing of the high value placed on representative
+government even by the humblest, that when Governor Berkeley suggested
+that taxes be assessed, not by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> poll, but only on landholders, the
+Burgesses protested that this would disfranchise great numbers of
+freemen who owned no land at all. "We are so well acquainted with the
+temper of the people that we have reason to believe they had rather pay
+their tax than lose their privilege."</p>
+
+<p>Seven years later another attempt to restrict the suffrage was more
+successful. Probably at Berkeley's suggestion the Assembly passed a law
+that no man should vote unless he were a landholder or housekeeper. At
+this time poor men who were apt to "make tumults at the elections" were
+pouring in, and the Governor thought it the part of wisdom to deny them
+any participation in the government. In England only property owners
+could vote, he argued, why have a different practice in Virginia?</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately this happened at a time when the people were "ripe for
+rebellion," and it merely added to their resentment against the Governor
+and his puppet Assembly. It was in an effort to appease them that
+Berkeley called for a new election, in 1676, and, ignoring the law, took
+it on himself to extend the franchise to "every free born man." When
+this Assembly met, and when Bacon's army was marching on Jamestown, they
+confirmed this ruling by passing a law to give the right to vote to all
+freemen. But with the repeal of Bacon's Laws in 1677, the franchise was
+once more restricted to landowners and housekeepers.</p>
+
+<p>When Culpeper was appointed Governor in 1679, he was ordered to make a
+vigorous assault upon liberty in the colony. Among other repressive
+measures he was instructed to deprive mere housekeepers of the suffrage
+and limit it to freeholders. Although this measure was unjust to the
+large and intelligent artisan class&mdash;carpenters, masons, coopers, house
+painters, shipwrights, saddlers, gunsmiths, etc., it seems to have
+remained in force throughout the remainder of the colonial period.</p>
+
+<p>The wages of the Burgesses changed from time to time. At one time the
+pay was ten shillings a day, at another thirteen shillings, at still
+another 130 pounds of tobacco. In 1718 it was thirty shillings, a sum
+which Governor Spotswood thought far too much. His criticisms of the
+politicians of his day show that the species has not changed greatly in
+the past two and a half centuries. The salary "makes needy men try for
+the place who are not qualified for a Senate house," he said. "Those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+upon an approaching election set themselves to inventing most false and
+malicious stories.... The country to be sure is ever represented as if
+it was to be undone, and none can be judged capable of saving it but
+some of their own mobbish politicians, who engage to pursue the wild
+schemes of the electors."<a name="FNanchor_20_49" id="FNanchor_20_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_49" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> But when he tried to cut the ground from
+under these false patriots by urging a law requiring the Burgesses to
+serve without salary, and restricting further the qualifications for
+voters and for candidates for office, it was overwhelmingly voted down.</p>
+
+<p>It was customary for each county to pay the salaries of its two
+Burgesses. This was unjust, for it made the burden fall much more
+heavily upon the taxpayer in a small county than one in a large county.
+It was harmful, also, as implying that the Burgess was concerned with
+the interests of his county rather than those of the colony as a whole.
+So the people of the thinly settled counties rejoiced when, in the
+mid-eighteenth century the Burgesses were paid from the revenue from the
+duty on the imports of liquors whenever there was a surplus in this
+fund.</p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses elected their own Speaker. This officer presided over the
+deliberations of the House, voiced their determinations, and issued
+warrants to execute their orders. In case of a tie he cast the deciding
+vote. The office was eagerly sought after, for it carried great
+influence. In 1699, when Robert Carter was elected, he said in his
+address of acceptance: "The House of Burgesses, consisting of the better
+sort of gentlemen from all parts of the country, to be in this fashion
+the object of their choice I take to be of no small reputation to
+me."<a name="FNanchor_21_50" id="FNanchor_21_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_50" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>The prestige of the office grew with the increasing power of the House,
+until the Speaker became, next to the Governor, the most influential man
+in the colony. It became a fixed custom for the Burgesses to enhance his
+pay by making him Treasurer. In 1758, when Governor Fauquier was
+instructed to separate the two offices, he was greatly perplexed. The
+Speaker, Mr. John Robinson, is "the most popular man in the country," he
+wrote the Lords of Trade, "beloved by the gentlemen and the idol of the
+people." Any slight to him would put a stop to all legislative
+business.<a name="FNanchor_22_51" id="FNanchor_22_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_51" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>With the growth of the House of Burgesses its business more and more was
+transacted by committees. The most important were the committees on
+Propositions and Grievances, Elections and Privileges, and on
+Proportioning the Levy. To the first of these came all manner of
+complaints. One county asks that ship captains be forbidden to throw
+ballast into the rivers, another wants a ceiling put on doctors' bills,
+still another objects to having taverns extend credit to sailors.</p>
+
+<p>The House kept a close watch on elections, and the Committee on
+Elections and Privileges always went over the writs in search of
+irregularities. If a sheriff should fail to make a return or should make
+an imperfect return, the messenger was sent to bring him before the
+House to explain why. Should he take it upon himself to judge who was
+eligible or not eligible for election, he was certain to receive a stern
+reprimand. In 1692 a resolution "that the House of Burgesses are the
+sole and only judges of the capacity or incapacity of their own members"
+passed unanimously.<a name="FNanchor_23_52" id="FNanchor_23_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_52" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Committee on Private Causes prior to 1680 was in effect the supreme
+court of Virginia, to which appeals were made, for the House invariably
+accepted its findings. But it ceased to function when the Assembly was
+deprived of its judicial power.</p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses were wary of bills of attainder, the weapon used with such
+great effect by Parliament. They realized the danger in condemning
+persons without trial, especially when the colony had so much at stake
+in preserving liberty and justice. But the Assembly of February, 1677,
+which had been "hand picked" by Governor Berkeley, did attaint Bacon and
+fifteen of his followers in defiance of the King's pardon.<a name="FNanchor_24_53" id="FNanchor_24_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_53" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Since all
+of the victims were dead, the attaint affected only their property. When
+Charles II heard what had been done, he promptly nullified the law.<a name="FNanchor_25_54" id="FNanchor_25_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_54" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses were well aware from the first that the universally
+accepted principle that no Englishman could be legally taxed without his
+own consent was the basis of liberty. They alone, as the representatives
+of the people, could take their property. If a Governor, as the
+substitute for the King, so far stretched his authority as to attempt to
+lay a levy, they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> quick to call him to order. As early as 1624 the
+Assembly passed a law "that the Governor shall not lay any taxes or
+impositions upon the colony, their lands or commodities, other way than
+by the authority of the General Assembly, to be levied and imployed as
+the said Assembly shall appoint."<a name="FNanchor_26_55" id="FNanchor_26_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_55" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> Similar laws were passed in 1631,
+1632, 1642, and 1645.</p>
+
+<p>Several times the Governor and Council requested the Burgesses to
+authorize them to lay taxes not to exceed a specified sum and for a
+limited period. In 1661 the House did grant such a power, but
+thereafter, despite several attempts, the Governor and Council met with
+emphatic refusals. In 1680, when Charles II was aiming deadly blows at
+liberty in the colonies, the Burgesses yielded to threats, and
+surrendered a part of the people's birthright by voting a perpetual
+revenue to the King.</p>
+
+<p>When the Parliamentary fleet came into the James in 1652 to force the
+Virginians to recognize the Commonwealth, the Assembly insisted on
+inserting in the articles of surrender the promise "that Virginia shall
+be free from all taxes, customs, and impositions whatsoever, and none to
+be imposed on them without the consent of the General Assembly."<a name="FNanchor_27_56" id="FNanchor_27_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_56" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>In 1675, when the Virginia Assembly sent agents to England to petition
+for a charter, they took pains to point out that "neither his Majesty
+nor any of his ancestors or predecessors had ever offered to impose any
+tax upon this plantation without the consent of his subjects here."<a name="FNanchor_28_57" id="FNanchor_28_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_57" class="fnanchor">[28]</a>
+It was so universally accepted that only the Assembly could tax the
+people, that the agents thought it necessary to explain why they
+considered it wise to insert an article confirming this right. "Not
+being taxed but by the General Assembly, as it hath been ever the
+practice there and the other plantations, so it is a power given them by
+royal instructions, which we conceive ought to be confirmed under the
+Great Seal, for though it might be taken for granted that as they never
+have been, so they never should be otherwise taxed, and that as of right
+they ought to be; yet the power of the Assembly being only in
+instructions, we ordered this further confirmation of it."<a name="FNanchor_29_58" id="FNanchor_29_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_58" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p>
+
+<p>Certain historians have assumed that the Americans a century later
+annunciated a new principle in claiming that taxa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>tion without
+representation is tyranny. The fact is that the principle was older than
+the colonies themselves. All the Revolutionary patriots did was to give
+it a new and more striking wording. When Parliament passed the Stamp Act
+they were taking an unprecedented step, a step which violated the
+age-old rights of Englishmen. And in so doing, they struck a deadly blow
+at liberty in America.</p>
+
+<p>The most common and the most hated source of income in Virginia was the
+poll tax. It was not entirely unequal since it was imposed on all male
+whites over sixteen, all white women over sixteen who worked in the
+fields, and all slaves old enough to work. Thus the poor man paid only
+for himself and members of his family, while the rich man paid for his
+servants and slaves as well. The poll tax provided revenue, not only for
+the general government, but for the counties and parishes.</p>
+
+<p>Though the poll tax usually was not excessive, it was a source of
+constant irritation. The poor planter who had worked hard to raise a
+crop of tobacco just large enough to buy necessities for his family,
+thought it hard indeed when the sheriff took the government's share.</p>
+
+<p>The quit rents paid to the King for all land were an even greater source
+of trouble. It was impossible to make men of large estates pay in full,
+there were frauds in disposing of the tobacco in which the rents were
+paid, at times the people were so far behind that to enforce payment of
+arrears would ruin them. The quit rent fund was drawn upon for war
+purposes, building of forts, paying salaries, etc. In 1693 Commissary
+Blair received a grant of £1985.14.10 from the quit rent fund to found
+the College of William and Mary. When Attorney General Seymour objected
+to paying the money, Blair explained that it was the chief purpose of
+the college to train young men for the ministry, and begged him to
+consider that they in Virginia had souls to be saved as well as those in
+England. "Souls! Damn your souls! Make tobacco," snapped Seymour.<a name="FNanchor_30_59" id="FNanchor_30_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_59" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>Local government was administered by the county courts. Hartwell, Blair,
+and Chilton wrote: "There is a county court in every county, which
+consists of eight or ten gentlemen ... to whom the Governor gives a
+commission during pleasure to be justices of the peace for that county.
+He renews that com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>mission commonly every year, for that ... gives him
+an opportunity to admit into it new favorites and exclude others that
+have not been so zealous in his service.... They have court once a
+month, ... and have a power of deciding all sorts of causes."<a name="FNanchor_31_60" id="FNanchor_31_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_60" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> But
+they did not have jurisdiction in cases involving loss of life or limb.</p>
+
+<p>That the people had no voice in selecting the justices was greatly
+resented, especially since the courts had the power of levying taxes.
+The people of Charles City County complained in 1677 that the justices
+had "illegally ... taken upon them without our consent from time to time
+to impose, raise, assess, and levy what taxes, levies, and impositions
+upon us ... they liked, great part of which they have converted to their
+own use."<a name="FNanchor_32_61" id="FNanchor_32_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_61" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The people of Surry County made a similar complaint: "It
+has been the custom of the county courts at the laying of the levy to
+withdraw into a private room by which the poor people not knowing for
+what they paid their levy did always admire how their taxes could be so
+high."<a name="FNanchor_33_62" id="FNanchor_33_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_62" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+
+<p>In each county was one or more parishes, presided over by a vestry of
+twelve men each. Since the vestry had the right to lay the parish levy,
+it was of great importance that they should be elected by the people.
+This was the practice until Berkeley's second administration, when it
+became the custom for a vestry, when once chosen at the establishing of
+a new parish, themselves to fill vacancies in their ranks, and thus to
+become self-perpetuating.</p>
+
+<p>Hartwell, Blair, and Chilton thought it deplorable that the vestries
+habitually refused to present their ministers for induction, so that
+they could "keep them in more subjection." This was such a hardship on
+the clergy that none who "were informed of it would come into the
+country." When one did come, he would have to be wary of preaching
+against any vices "that any great man of his vestry was guilty of," for
+fear of losing his place.<a name="FNanchor_34_63" id="FNanchor_34_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_63" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> Yet the vestries themselves were supposed
+to be the guardians of the morals of the parishioners. In 1648 a vestry
+in Northampton found the wife of a prominent citizen guilty of adultery,
+and ordered the minister and church warden to present her to the county
+court for punishment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The most eagerly sought after offices in the colony were those of
+President of the Council, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Auditor,
+and Treasurer. It was the custom for the senior member of the Council in
+point of service to become President when the office of the Governor was
+temporarily vacant.<a name="FNanchor_35_64" id="FNanchor_35_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_64" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> This was an unsatisfactory arrangement since it
+might happen that the senior Councillor was too old to take on important
+and arduous duties. In 1749, when Governor Gooch was about to leave for
+England, it was decided by the Council that Colonel John Custis, the
+senior member, was "utterly incapable of managing the business of the
+government."<a name="FNanchor_36_65" id="FNanchor_36_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_65" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> At their request the Governor suspended him from the
+Council, so that Thomas Lee, next in order of seniority, could become
+President.</p>
+
+<p>The Secretary of State was appointed by the King. Until 1723 he held
+office only "during the pleasure" of the Governor, but thereafter for
+life. The Secretary claimed the right to appoint the clerks of the
+county courts, who acted as his deputies, and paid him a percentage of
+the income from fees arising from lawsuits and other court proceedings.
+But he seldom made an appointment "without the Governor's knowledge and
+good liking."</p>
+
+<p>Contemporary writers agree that the Secretary's office was a jungle of
+court records, surveys, commissions, deeds for land, probates of wills,
+writs of elections, marriage certificates, etc. If we may believe
+Benjamin Harrison it was usually in wild confusion. "Nothing hath been
+more common of late years than to hear people complain that they could
+not find the records of their patents or other deeds for their
+lands."<a name="FNanchor_37_66" id="FNanchor_37_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_66" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> Apparently all kinds of documents were piled up together
+instead of being sorted and filed separately. "It is almost impossible
+to give a full and perfect account of the Secretary's office, there is
+such a medley in it that its scarce credible," wrote Hartwell, Blair,
+and Chilton.</p>
+
+<p>The Auditor for Virginia was appointed by the Auditor of the
+Plantations, usually upon the recommendation of the Governor. This
+officer audited the accounts of the quit rents, the export duty,
+escheats, etc., certified their accuracy, and reported to England. He
+received 7&frac12; per cent of all the monies passing through his hands.
+There seems to have been great laxness at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> times in the handling of
+funds. When Auditor William Byrd died in December, 1704, it was found
+that the account was overdrawn by £7,698.9.10.<a name="FNanchor_38_67" id="FNanchor_38_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_67" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> It is not surprising
+that Governor Nicholson, while waiting for William Blathwait, the
+Auditor of the Plantations, to appoint Byrd's successor, decided to
+"take that trouble" on himself.<a name="FNanchor_39_68" id="FNanchor_39_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_68" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+<p>Philip Ludwell, who was made Auditor in 1712, seems to have been just as
+careless as Byrd. In December, 1715, Governor Spotswood called the
+attention of the Council to the confusion in his office. "Only gross
+sums are entered in one general account," he said, "and the particular
+accounts of the receivers ... only kept in loose papers."<a name="FNanchor_40_69" id="FNanchor_40_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_69" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> When he
+recommended several reforms, Ludwell told him in effect to mind his own
+business, and that he would take orders only from the Auditor General.
+Thereupon Spotswood suspended him from his office. Ludwell came back
+with a letter "stuffed with virulent invectives," denying the legality
+of this action.</p>
+
+<p>Prior to 1691 the Treasurer was appointed by the Governor, but that year
+the Burgesses claimed the right of naming him, and despite the
+opposition of the Governors, eventually had their way. The Treasurer
+received the funds from various taxes and made up the accounts. He
+received six per cent of the money collected.</p>
+
+<p>Outwardly the government of Virginia changed little during the century
+and a half from the fall of the London Company to the Declaration of
+Independence. Actually throughout the colonial period vital developments
+were taking place. Both the Council and the House of Burgesses were
+tireless in whittling away at the King's prerogative; the Council
+gradually took out of the Governor's hands the right of naming local
+officials; the control of the purse by the Burgesses was used to such
+good effect that by the middle of the eighteenth century their influence
+was greater than that of either Governor or Council.</p>
+
+<p>We gain glimpses of the changes which were taking place, not by changes
+in the laws, but by seemingly unimportant incidents, and by the spirit
+of the times. What would Charles II have thought had Sir William
+Berkeley written him, boasting of his influence with the Speaker of the
+House of Burgesses? Yet that is just what Governor Fauquier did in
+1758.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was the determined, unflagging, bitter battle for self-government
+which brought victory to the people. We see them putting Governor John
+Harvey aboard a vessel and sending him back to England, when he tried to
+play the despot; we see them rising in wild rebellion against the
+misgovernment of Sir William Berkeley; we see them defending their
+liberty against the assaults of Charles II and James II.</p>
+
+<p>The English government was warned repeatedly of what was going on. "I
+may truly say that now or never is the only time to maintain the Queen's
+just prerogative and put a stop to these wrong, pernicious notions which
+are improving daily, not only in Virginia, but in all her Majesty's
+other governments," wrote Colonel Robert Quary, in 1705. "A frown now
+from her Majesty will do more than perhaps an army hereafter."<a name="FNanchor_41_70" id="FNanchor_41_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_70" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> In
+another report he said that the Assembly "conclude themselves entitled
+to all the rights and privileges of an English Parliament." Nicholson
+said that the Virginians wished to set up a commonwealth.</p>
+
+<p>But Nicholson was wrong. The Virginians of his day, and their sons and
+grandsons after them were loyal to the British Kings, wished to remain
+in the British Empire. But they were determined to govern themselves in
+all except imperial matters. What they wanted was liberty, not
+independence. And liberty they attained decades before the Stamp Act,
+decades before Patrick Henry said: "Give me liberty or give me death."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_30" id="Footnote_1_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_30"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 2: 531-533.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_31" id="Footnote_2_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_31"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> CO5-1359, p. 344.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_32" id="Footnote_3_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_32"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> CO5-1359, p. 255.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_33" id="Footnote_4_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_33"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 15G.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_34" id="Footnote_5_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_34"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> CO5-1356, pp. 125, 126.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_35" id="Footnote_6_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_35"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> CO5-1359, p. 320.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_36" id="Footnote_7_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_36"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> CO1-40, p. 104.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_37" id="Footnote_8_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_37"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> CO5-1359, pp. 95, 96.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_38" id="Footnote_9_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_38"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 97, 98.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_39" id="Footnote_10_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_39"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> H. J. Ford, <i>Rise and growth of American politics</i>, 267.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_40" id="Footnote_11_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_40"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 17.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_41" id="Footnote_12_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_41"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 10.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_42" id="Footnote_13_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_42"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_43" id="Footnote_14_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_43"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> P. 34.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_44" id="Footnote_15_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_44"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> P. 46.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_45" id="Footnote_16_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_45"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> CO5-1315, Sept. 1, 1706.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_46" id="Footnote_17_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_46"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_47" id="Footnote_18_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_47"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> CO5-1315, Sept. 1, 1706.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_48" id="Footnote_19_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_48"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1659-1693: 477.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_49" id="Footnote_20_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_49"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> CO5-1318.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_50" id="Footnote_21_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_50"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1695-1702: 133.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_51" id="Footnote_22_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_51"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> June 28, 1758.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_52" id="Footnote_23_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_52"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1659-1693, 381.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_53" id="Footnote_24_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_53"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 2: 363, 369.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_54" id="Footnote_25_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_54"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> CO1-41, p. 118.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_55" id="Footnote_26_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_55"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_56" id="Footnote_27_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_56"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 363-365.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_57" id="Footnote_28_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_57"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i>, IIa, 44.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_58" id="Footnote_29_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_58"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 142.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_59" id="Footnote_30_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_59"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>The complete works of Benjamin Franklin</i>, J. Bigelow,
+ed., 10: 369.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_60" id="Footnote_31_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_60"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>The present state of Virginia</i>, 44, 45.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_61" id="Footnote_32_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_61"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i>, 3: 142.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_62" id="Footnote_33_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_62"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 2: 172.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_63" id="Footnote_34_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_63"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>The present state of Virginia</i>, 66, 67.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_64" id="Footnote_35_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_64"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> CO5-1359, 344.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_65" id="Footnote_36_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_65"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> 5: 299.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_66" id="Footnote_37_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_66"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> CO5-1361, p. 426.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_67" id="Footnote_38_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_67"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> 2: 406.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_68" id="Footnote_39_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_68"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 407.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_69" id="Footnote_40_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_69"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 3: 421.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_70" id="Footnote_41_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_70"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 63I.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br />
+<br />
+WE PREFER ANOTHER GOVERNOR</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">The people of Jamestown in the years from 1626 to 1640, when they saw a
+vessel coming up the river, must have crowded around the landing place
+to ask sailors and passengers for the latest news from England. Was King
+Charles still raising funds with which to run the government by means of
+forced loans? Was he still billeting his soldiers on the people? Was
+martial law in force? They must have been thrilled to hear of the
+Petition of Rights in which the House of Commons protested against
+Charles' arbitrary rule.</p>
+
+<p>When the Burgesses came to town for a session of the Assembly, the
+struggle between King and Parliament must have been the chief topic of
+conversation around the table in each crude little tavern. Now it was
+the jailing of nine members of the House of Commons; now the granting of
+monopolies; now the collecting of ship money; now the suppression of
+free speech; now the proceedings of the Star Chamber; now the efforts of
+Archbishop Laud to enforce religious conformity.</p>
+
+<p>The Virginians were fully aware that these events affected them
+profoundly. They had just won a degree of self-government. If the King
+succeeded in his efforts to make himself absolute in England, all their
+gains might be lost. Might he not overthrow their Assembly? If he could
+imprison men arbitrarily in England, he would not hesitate to do so in
+Virginia. If he could tax the people of England under the thin veil of
+loans, or the revival of ancient laws, would he hesitate to tax the
+colonists without their own consent? Might he not place over them
+another Dale or Argall to hang men or break them on the wheel?</p>
+
+<p>So when Sir George Yeardley, their liberal Governor, died in November,
+1627, they were filled with grief. They remembered that it was he who
+had brought over the Virginia Magna Carta, and had called the first
+Assembly. We have lost "a main pillar of this our building and thereby a
+support to the whole body," wrote the Council.<a name="FNanchor_1_71" id="FNanchor_1_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_71" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>Their concern must have been all the greater because Yeardley's
+commission of March 14, 1626, named John Harvey as his successor. The
+Virginians knew this man well. He had been one of the King's
+commissioners who came to the colony in 1624 to draw up a report on
+conditions there to be used in overthrowing the charter of the Company.
+Just why it was thought that he was the right man to act as Governor is
+not apparent, for he was a mariner by vocation and had served as captain
+of a ship which went to the East Indies in 1617. In November, 1625, we
+find him in command of a ship in the expedition against Cadiz. He may
+have owed his appointment as Governor to Viscount Dorchester, the
+Secretary of State, whom he thanked for his "wonted nobleness" to him.</p>
+
+<p>But Virginia was to have a breathing space before Harvey's arrival.
+Yeardley's commission had specified that in the absence of Harvey the
+Council should elect one of their number to act in his place. They chose
+Captain Francis West, brother of Lord De la Warr.<a name="FNanchor_2_72" id="FNanchor_2_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_72" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> West was a seasoned
+Virginian, for he had come to the colony in 1608 with Captain Newport.
+He had been commander of Jamestown many years, and a member of the
+Council since 1619. It was during his brief administration that the
+first legal Assembly since the dissolution of the London Company was
+called together, the Assembly which rejected the King's proposal for a
+tobacco contract.</p>
+
+<p>In March, 1629, West was appointed agent for the colony and sent to
+England. To serve as Governor until his return or the arrival of Harvey,
+the Council chose Dr. John Pott. This man had been in Virginia since
+1621, when he came over as "Physician to the Company" and member of the
+Council. He was described as "a Master of Arts ... well practiced in
+chirurgery and physic, and expert in distilling of waters, besides many
+other ingenious devices."<a name="FNanchor_3_73" id="FNanchor_3_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_73" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> He seems to have consumed a goodly quantity
+of "distilled waters" himself, for he was fond of his cups and jovial
+company. George Sandys wrote of him that "he kept company too much with
+his inferiors, who hung upon him while his good liquor lasted."<a name="FNanchor_4_74" id="FNanchor_4_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_74" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>The most notable of Pott's "ingenious devices" was the poisoning of a
+large number of Indians after the massacre of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> 1622. In justification of
+this act, his friends explained that the barbarous and perfidious
+savages knew nothing about the rules of war, so it was fair play to
+resort to anything that tended to their ruin. But this did not save Pott
+from criticism in England. The Earl of Warwick was so shocked that at
+his request Pott was left out of the Council because "he was the
+poisoner of the savages there." But he seems to have been forgiven, for
+in 1626 we find him once more in his seat.</p>
+
+<p>It was during Pott's administration that Lord Baltimore visited
+Virginia. In 1623 he had received a grant of land in Newfoundland, and
+had planted a colony of English Catholics there. But when four years
+later he visited the place, he found "the air so intolerable cold as it
+is hardly to be endured." He wrote King Charles that he had decided to
+move with some forty persons to Virginia, and petitioned for "a precinct
+of land there."</p>
+
+<p>On October 1, 1629, he, with his wife and children, arrived at
+Jamestown. Here he met with a cool reception. A certain Thomas Tindall
+got into an altercation with him, called him a liar, and threatened to
+knock him down. The Virginians did not want in their midst a group of
+Catholics who were trying to lop off one of the most fertile parts of
+their territory. So to get rid of them the Governor and Council tendered
+my Lord the oath of supremacy, knowing that as a Catholic he could not
+take it, for to do so was to acknowledge the King as the supreme
+authority in ecclesiastical matters. When he refused they asked him to
+leave. This he did, but since he left his family in Virginia, it was
+obvious that he intended to return. So William Claiborne was sent after
+him as agent for the colony to oppose his designs.</p>
+
+<p>To add to the troubles of the people, in the early spring of 1630 Harvey
+arrived and took his seat as Governor. He had lingered in England to
+make sure that the office would yield a good return. Only after the King
+had promised him the fines imposed by any of the courts did he set sail.
+His voyage was far from being pleasant, for his ship was leaky, he was
+delayed at the Cape Verde Islands by a Dutch fleet, and he was laid low
+by "a great sickness" that attacked him at sea.<a name="FNanchor_5_75" id="FNanchor_5_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_75" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>After landing it was several weeks before he was able to take over his
+duties. But after he had done so, his intentions at once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> became
+apparent. The man was by nature a despot. The despotism of Sir Edmund
+Andros in New England and of Lord Howard of Effingham in Virginia in the
+years just preceding the Glorious Revolution stemmed, not so much from
+the character of these men, as from the deliberate policy of Charles II.
+There is no evidence that Charles I ordered Harvey to make himself
+absolute. He had too many troubles at home to give much thought to
+Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>It may have been Harvey's training as a sea captain which made him
+impatient of restraint. In Virginia he acted as though he were still on
+the deck of his ship thundering out commands which no one must question.
+If the King were in Virginia, would not his orders be obeyed? Then why
+not the orders of his Governor? He never tired of reminding the members
+of the Council and others that he was the King's substitute. When to his
+passion for power are added his rudeness and violence, his avarice and
+disregard for the rights of others, we have the picture of one utterly
+unsuited to be the chief executive of a liberty loving people.</p>
+
+<p>Harvey was accused of diverting public funds to his own pocket, but of
+this we have no direct proof. It is probable that he tried to levy taxes
+without the consent of the Assembly. Otherwise one wonders why the
+Assembly should have thought it necessary to order "that the Governor
+and Council shall not lay any taxes or impositions upon the colony ...
+otherwise than by the authority of the Grand Assembly."<a name="FNanchor_6_76" id="FNanchor_6_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_76" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>But it was chiefly through the courts that he carried out his designs.
+He himself presided over the quarter court, and it was he who appointed
+the commissioners or justices who sat on the local courts. Thus it was
+not difficult for him to secure any verdict he wished. So he had at hand
+an instrument to satisfy his lust for power by crushing those who
+resisted him, and his lust for money by imposing heavy fines. It should
+have been obvious to Charles I when he agreed to give Harvey all fines
+and amercements, that it was a dangerous thing to permit a judge, or one
+who appointed judges, to profit from his or their decisions.</p>
+
+<p>The most notorious abuse of the judicial power by Harvey was his
+prosecution of Dr. Pott. Charging the pleasure-loving physician with
+pardoning murder and marking other men's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> cattle for his own, he
+suspended him from the Council, and confined him to his plantation
+pending the day of his trial. When Pott defied the Governor's order and
+came to Elizabeth City, Harvey put him in prison and set a guard around
+it. In July, 1630, he was put on trial.</p>
+
+<p>We have only one detail of the proceedings, but that like a flash is
+revealing of Pott's character and of the farcical character of the
+prosecution. When a certain Richard Kingswell testified against him,
+Pott declared that he was as great a liar and hypocrite as Gusman of
+Alfrach. He was referring to the book by Mateo Alem&aacute;n, of Seville, in
+which Gusman is shown first as a scullion, then as an errand boy, then
+as a thief, then as a pretended gentleman who cheated his creditors.<a name="FNanchor_7_77" id="FNanchor_7_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_77" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+But this thrust did not save him. He was convicted, and his entire
+estate confiscated.<a name="FNanchor_8_78" id="FNanchor_8_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_78" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>It would seem that in this case Harvey was actuated more by a desire to
+show his power than by avarice. If he could humble so prominent a man as
+Pott, one who had been acting Governor, others would stand in awe of
+him. "It will be a means to bring people to ... hold a better respect to
+the Governor than hitherto they have done," he wrote.<a name="FNanchor_9_79" id="FNanchor_9_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_79" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> But having
+shown his power to ruin, he now sought to show that he could also
+restore. So he wrote the King suggesting clemency. "For as much as he is
+the only physician in the colony, and skilled in the epidemical diseases
+of the planters ... I am bound to entreat" your Majesty to pardon
+him.<a name="FNanchor_10_80" id="FNanchor_10_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_80" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>A more sincere plea came from the doctor's wife, Elizabeth. Getting up
+from a sick bed, she made the long and dangerous voyage to England to
+complain to the King "touching the wrong" done her husband. Charles
+referred the case to the Virginia Commissioners, who listened
+sympathetically as she poured out the story of injustice and
+persecution.<a name="FNanchor_11_81" id="FNanchor_11_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_81" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> They concluded that there had been "some hard usage
+against" Pott, and recommended that the King pardon him. Accordingly,
+Charles forgave his "offences" and restored his property.<a name="FNanchor_12_82" id="FNanchor_12_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_82" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> But the
+jovial doctor never regained his seat in the Council.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The prosecution of Pott set the example for others. "The Governor
+usurped the whole power in all causes without any respect to the votes
+of the Council," reported Samuel Mathews, "whereby justice was done but
+so far as suited his will to the great loss of many men's estates and a
+general fear in all." If other members of the court opposed him, he
+would revile them and tell them they were there merely to advise him. He
+could accept or reject their opinions as he liked, since "the power lay
+in himself to dispose of all matters as his Majesty's substitute."<a name="FNanchor_13_83" id="FNanchor_13_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_83" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>With the General Court dominated by the overbearing and avaricious
+Governor no man was safe. At any moment one might be hauled before the
+bar, charged with some petty offence, found guilty, and given a ruinous
+fine. Mathews said that there were an "infinite number of particular
+men's grievances."<a name="FNanchor_14_84" id="FNanchor_14_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_84" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> William Claiborne thought it strange that Harvey
+"should so demean himself," for "all men were wronged, and even good and
+bad had forsaken him."<a name="FNanchor_15_85" id="FNanchor_15_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_85" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> It was in every man's mouth that "no justice
+was done." When a report of these things reached England, Sir John
+Wolstenholm, one of the Virginia Commissioners, said that "Sir John
+Harvey stunk in Court and city."<a name="FNanchor_16_86" id="FNanchor_16_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_86" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>Harvey's attempts to make himself absolute, his disregard of other men's
+rights, his perversion of justice did not go unchallenged. Soon the
+meetings of the Council became stormy. The Governor insisted that he, as
+the King's substitute, had a right to determine all things. The
+Councillors were merely his assistants, whose duty it was to advise him,
+but not to oppose him. But the Councillors dissented vigorously. Look at
+your commission, they told him, and you will see that it directs that
+all matters must be determined by the majority of voices. Does it not
+say that the King grants to the Governor and Council "and the greater
+number of you respectively full power and authority to execute" the
+duties of the executive body?</p>
+
+<p>Soon Harvey was filling his letters with complaints of the opposition of
+the Council. "For instead of giving me assistance, they stand contesting
+and disputing my authority, averring that I can do nothing but what they
+shall advise me, and that my power extendeth no further than a bare
+casting voice."<a name="FNanchor_17_87" id="FNanchor_17_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_87" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> had shown them a letter from the King
+strengthening his commission, but they refused to budge from their
+position. He would be grateful if his Majesty would be so explicit "that
+the place of Governor and the duty of Councillors may be known and
+distinguished."<a name="FNanchor_18_88" id="FNanchor_18_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_88" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Privy Council answered by warning both sides to put an end to their
+disputes and cooperate with each other in advancing the good of the
+colony. So they drew up and signed a formal reconciliation. They
+promised "to swallow up and bury" all complaints, and to turn their
+"alienated and distempered" minds to thoughts of love and peace. The
+Councillors vowed to give the Governor "all the service, honor, and due
+respect which belongs to him as his Majesty's substitute."<a name="FNanchor_19_89" id="FNanchor_19_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_89" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>The reconciliation proved a sham. Harvey continued to be overbearing and
+arbitrary; the Councillors were as bitter as ever. When one of them,
+Thomas Hinton, in an outburst of anger gave Harvey some "ill words," he
+ousted him from his seat. Love and peace were far indeed from the
+Governor's mind when he responded to some "ill language" from Captain
+Richard Stevens by landing a blow in his face with a cudgel and knocking
+out some of his teeth.<a name="FNanchor_20_90" id="FNanchor_20_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_90" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>In 1634 a certain Captain Thomas Young arrived in Virginia with a
+commission from the King authorizing him to discover and search the
+unexplored parts of the colony. Needing two shallops, and hearing that
+one of the planters had an indentured worker who was a skilled
+shipwright, he seized him and put him to work. In this violation of
+property rights he was supported by the Governor. But it aroused the
+anger of the Council, and several of them came to Harvey to demand an
+explanation.</p>
+
+<p>Harvey may have had in mind the Forced Loans as a precedent for taking
+the property of the subject, when he replied that his Majesty had given
+Young "authority to make use of any persons he found there." Young
+needed the shipwright "to prosecute with speed the King's service," he
+said. Speaking for the others, Samuel Mathews retorted angrily that if
+things were done in that fashion it would breed ill blood in Virginia.
+Turning his back he whirled a truncheon he carried in his hand, and
+lashed off the heads of some high weeds.<a name="FNanchor_21_91" id="FNanchor_21_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_91" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> Governor, ignoring
+this, said: "Come, gentlemen, let us go to supper, and for the night
+leave this discourse." But they were in no humor to be appeased. With
+one accord they turned their backs and left "in a very irreverent
+manner."</p>
+
+<p>The Virginians were further embittered against Harvey for the aid he
+gave to Lord Baltimore's settlers. It was on February 27, 1634, that the
+<i>Ark</i> and the <i>Dove</i>, with Leonard and George Calvert, twenty "gentlemen
+adventurers," and three-hundred laborers, arrived at Point Comfort. They
+bore a letter to the Governor from the King requiring him to treat them
+with courtesy and respect, permit them to buy cattle and other
+commodities, and do all he could to advance their settlement.</p>
+
+<p>Harvey did his best to comply. He sent them some of his own cows and
+promised to procure more. But this was not easy. The planters were so
+outraged at having a part of their territory torn away for a colony of
+Catholics that they swore they would knock their cattle on the head
+rather than sell them to the Marylanders. Some of the members of the
+Council had been informed by letters from England of Lord Baltimore's
+plans. When Samuel Mathews opened one of them, he threw his hat on the
+ground in a fury, stamped, and cried: "A pox upon Maryland!"<a name="FNanchor_22_92" id="FNanchor_22_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_92" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> He,
+with William Claiborne and other members of the Council, held many
+secret meetings to decide upon a course of action. But they were
+powerless to prevent the <i>Ark</i> and the <i>Dove</i> from moving up the
+Chesapeake Bay with the newcomers, and the founding of a little town
+near the mouth of the Potomac.</p>
+
+<p>Three years before their arrival Claiborne had made a settlement on Kent
+Island in the Chesapeake near the site of Annapolis. So now he found
+himself torn from Virginia and handed over to another government. The
+result was open warfare. It was prophetic of the battle between the
+Merrimac and the Monitor in Chesapeake waters more than two centuries
+later, when two pinnaces full of armed men captured an armed vessel sent
+out by the Kent Islanders.</p>
+
+<p>When this news reached Jamestown there was great indignation. Harvey
+tried to justify the Marylanders, but this merely intensified the
+people's hatred of him. So he not only aids in the dismemberment of
+Virginia, it was said, but upholds the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> intruders in murdering our
+people. Is it right that one who is Governor of the colony should side
+with her enemies?</p>
+
+<p>The crisis came in 1635. King Charles, ever pressed for money, tried
+once more to secure a tobacco contract. So he wrote Harvey directing him
+to call an Assembly and to ask for "the sole pre-emption of all
+tobacco," at a lower price and a reduced quantity. The members of the
+Council, especially Samuel Mathews, John Utie, and William Pierce,
+opposed the contract "very saucily."<a name="FNanchor_23_93" id="FNanchor_23_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_93" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> As for the Burgesses, they
+hated all contracts. So they drew up an answer which was in effect a
+refusal. In order to give the paper the character of a petition they all
+signed it. This they gave to Harvey to send to the King.</p>
+
+<p>But instead of forwarding it, the Governor detained it. In excuse of
+this arbitrary action he said he feared the King "would not take well
+the matter thereof, and that they should make it a popular business by
+subscribing a multitude of hands thereto, as thinking thereby to give it
+countenance."<a name="FNanchor_24_94" id="FNanchor_24_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_94" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> The people were outraged. So our Governor takes it on
+himself to decide what or what not we shall say to our King. Is it not
+the right of all Englishmen to address their sovereign? "The wrong done
+by the Governor to the whole colony in detaining the foresaid letters to
+his Majesty did exceedingly perplex them, whereby they were made
+sensible of the condition of the present government," wrote Samuel
+Mathews.<a name="FNanchor_25_95" id="FNanchor_25_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_95" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p>
+
+<p>Things had now come to a head. A petition demanding a redress of
+grievances was drawn up, which Francis Pott, brother of Dr. John Pott,
+took about the country. Everywhere he found the people tired of Harvey's
+arbitrary conduct, tired of his injustice to individual persons. So they
+pressed forward eagerly to sign the petition. Harvey says that only in
+Accomac did they refuse.<a name="FNanchor_26_96" id="FNanchor_26_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_96" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was in April, 1635, that Pott, Captain Nicholas Martian, and William
+English, the sheriff of York County, addressed a gathering at the house
+of William Warren. This meeting has a special significance in the long
+struggle for American liberty, for Warren's house was on or near the
+site of the Moore House, at Yorktown, where the British army under Lord
+Cornwallis surrendered a century and a half later. The speakers were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+denouncing Harvey's despotic government when some friends of the
+Governor tried to enter. A servant kept them out, but they hung around
+outside and "bended themselves to hearken to the discourse among
+them."<a name="FNanchor_27_97" id="FNanchor_27_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_97" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> When the speeches were concluded those present gathered
+around the petition and affixed their signatures.</p>
+
+<p>When this was reported to Harvey, he flew into a rage. Calling the
+Council, he issued warrants for the arrest of Francis Pott, English, and
+Martian. They were brought up in irons. Pott handed over the petition
+and declared that if he had offended he appealed to the King. "He was
+sure of no justice from Sir John Harvey." When the prisoners asked why
+they were arrested, the Governor told them that they would be told at
+the gallows. So they were hustled off to prison.<a name="FNanchor_28_98" id="FNanchor_28_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_98" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<p>Harvey then called the Council together again and told them that it was
+necessary to try the prisoners by martial law. But the Councillors
+insisted on a legal trial. In the dispute which followed Harvey became
+violently angry. Finally, he sat down and ordered the others to sit.
+Looking around with a frown, he said: "I am to propound a question to
+you.... What do you think they deserve that have gone about to persuade
+the people from their obedience to his Majesty's substitute?"</p>
+
+<p>Turning to George Menefie, he said, "I begin with you." Menefie answered
+that since he was but a young lawyer he did not dare give an opinion
+"upon the sudden." Here Nicholas Farrar interposed to protest against
+this method of proceeding. But Harvey cut him short with the command to
+hold his tongue until he was spoken to. Thereupon Samuel Mathews spoke
+up to enter his protest. But instantly, in the King's name, he was told
+to be silent. Mathews insisted there was no precedent for this attempt
+to make men incriminate themselves unless it was that by a tyrant. Here
+he was alluding to the passage in Shakespeare's <i>King Richard</i> III in
+which Richard asked Lord Hastings what should be done to the women who
+had bewitched him. Hastings replied that if they had done so they ought
+to die. "Talk'st thou to me of ifs," replied Richard, "thou art a
+traitor. Off with his head." Harvey evidently did not relish being
+compared to Richard, and so retorted with many "bitter languages."<a name="FNanchor_29_99" id="FNanchor_29_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_99" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>The Councillors were now determined to bring their dispute with the
+Governor to an issue. The next time he summoned them to meet, they
+brought with them fifty musketeers and concealed them near the house.
+Harvey asked them with a stern look what they thought was the reason for
+the petition against him. "The chief cause was the detaining of the
+letters to his Majesty," replied Mr. Menefie. This infuriated Harvey.
+Rising from his chair, he struck Menefie a resounding blow on the
+shoulder, saying: "I arrest you on suspicion of treason to his Majesty."
+But now he had gone too far. Utie and Mathews seized him, exclaiming:
+"And we you upon suspicion of treason to his Majesty."<a name="FNanchor_30_100" id="FNanchor_30_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_100" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>At this juncture Dr. Pott, who was standing near the door, held up his
+hand as a signal, and the musketeers came running up "with their pieces
+presented." "Stay here until there be use of you," Pott commanded. In
+the meanwhile, Mathews had forced Harvey down into a chair. "Sir, there
+is no harm intended against you only to acquaint you with the grievances
+of the inhabitants," he told him. So he poured out the recital of the
+wrongs done the colony and demanded that they be redressed. But the
+Governor, who was in no mood for making concessions, denied that any
+wrong had been done. After an ominous pause Mathews said: "Sir, the
+people's fury is up against you and to appease it is beyond our power,
+unless you please to go for England." Harvey replied that the King had
+sent him to Virginia to be Governor, and he would not leave until he
+ordered him to do so.</p>
+
+<p>But he soon changed his mind. That night a courier came riding up with a
+letter to Harvey from Thomas Purifie, who seems to have been one of his
+few friends in the Council, giving an alarming report of the threatening
+attitude of the people. At first the Governor said he would defy them to
+do their worst. Would it not be better to remain, though he be cut in a
+thousand pieces, than to desert his charge? he asked Secretary Richard
+Kemp. Kemp replied that for him to remain might "hazard the King's
+service" by provoking the infuriated people to further acts of violence.
+So at last he yielded and promised to leave.<a name="FNanchor_31_101" id="FNanchor_31_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_101" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>The rebellious Councillors now took over the government.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> They released
+English, Martian, and Francis Pott, forced <ins class="correct" title="Harvery">Harvey</ins> to deliver his
+commission and instructions to Secretary Kemp, set an armed guard around
+him ostensibly to protect him from violence, posted armed men in "all
+ways and passages," called a General Assembly, and sent out a
+proclamation inviting the people to lay their grievances before it, and
+appointed their senior member, John West, a brother of Lord De la Warr,
+acting Governor.<a name="FNanchor_32_102" id="FNanchor_32_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_102" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, Harvey had left Jamestown to seek refuge in the house
+of Mr. William Brocas, "whose wife was generally suspected to have more
+familiarity with him than befitted a modest woman." Here he thought
+himself secure enough to dismiss his guard. And from here he wrote a
+threatening letter to the members of the Assembly, commanding them in
+the King's name to disperse. He also wrote Secretary Kemp demanding the
+return of his commission and instructions. The Councillors seized the
+first letter, refused to read it to the Burgesses, and the Assembly went
+on with the consideration of the grievances, "which were innumerable."
+As for the commission and the instructions, they had taken them from
+Kemp and turned them over to Menefie for safe keeping.<a name="FNanchor_33_103" id="FNanchor_33_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_103" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Assembly now passed resolutions accusing Harvey of misgovernment and
+injustice, and explaining why the people had been driven to the extreme
+expedient of sending him back to England. As their agent to deliver
+these papers to the King they appointed one of the Burgesses, Thomas
+Harwood. With him went Francis Pott to plead his case before the King.
+Since it would be several months before the tobacco ships sailed for
+England, there seems to have been only one vessel leaving at the time.
+So Harvey, as well as Pott and Harwood, had to embark on it.</p>
+
+<p>As events turned out this was unfortunate. Not that Harvey's frowns and
+threats frightened Pott and Harwood, but that it gave him a chance to
+frustrate their plans when they landed at Plymouth. Hardly had the ship
+touched dock when he hastened to see the mayor of the city to tell him
+of the "late mutiny and rebellion" in Virginia. So the mayor put Pott
+under arrest "as a principal author and agent thereof," and seized the
+trunk containing the papers entrusted to Harwood.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> Pott was dragged off
+to London and locked up in the old debtors' prison called the Fleet.<a name="FNanchor_34_104" id="FNanchor_34_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_104" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, Harwood had set off post haste to get to London ahead
+of Harvey so as to make friends and tell of his misgovernment. He got a
+ride with the postman who was carrying the mail. At Exeter he stopped at
+the Sign of the Valiant Soldier, and drank a pint of wine with the
+proprietor. This seems to have loosened his tongue, for he poured out
+the story of Harvey's misdeeds to this stranger, told him of his
+mission, and added that if Harvey ever returned to Virginia "he would be
+pistolled or shot."<a name="FNanchor_35_105" id="FNanchor_35_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_105" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p>
+
+<p>We do not know whether Harwood or Harvey won the race to London. But it
+was the Governor who succeeded in gaining the support of the King and
+the Privy Council. It is possible that his accusation that Harwood "was
+one of the chief of the mutineer Burgesses that opposed his Majesty's
+service in the tobacco contract and in stirring up the country to this
+mutiny," may have landed him in prison. At all events, when the Privy
+Council met, the Governor had things his own way.</p>
+
+<p>The King was greatly surprised that the Virginians had dared defy him by
+ousting their duly appointed Governor. He was determined to send Harvey
+back if but for one day, he said. And should he clear himself of the
+charges against him, he would keep him there longer than he had
+intended. As a further vindication of his authority, he gave orders that
+West, Mathews, Utie, and Pierce, the leaders of the mutiny, be brought
+to England "to answer their misdemeanors." He also directed the Attorney
+General to draw up a new commission for Harvey with an enlargement of
+his powers.<a name="FNanchor_36_106" id="FNanchor_36_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_106" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p>
+
+<p>Though Harvey may have been a bit nervous over the threat of
+"pistoling," he was too anxious to regain his confiscated property and
+get revenge on his enemies to hesitate to return to Virginia. He made no
+secret of his intention to confiscate the property of those who had so
+humiliated him. As for Samuel Mathews, whose estate consisted largely of
+cattle, he vowed he would leave him not worth a cow's tail.<a name="FNanchor_37_107" id="FNanchor_37_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_107" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> Yet he
+thought it prudent to ask for one of the King's ships, explaining that
+this would "much abate the boldness of the offenders." So on October 2,
+1636, he set forth proudly in the <i>Black George</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> But he did not get
+very far. The <i>Black George</i> proved so leaky that for a while it seemed
+that it might prove a Godsend to Virginia by taking Sir John to the
+bottom. But it turned back and succeeded in reaching port. The Governor
+set sail again, this time on a merchant vessel.</p>
+
+<p>When he reached Virginia, in January, 1637, Harvey could not wait for
+the ship to wend its way up to Jamestown before asserting his authority,
+but landed at Point Comfort and established a temporary capital at
+Elizabeth City. Here he began immediately to turn sheriffs and justices
+out of office and replace them with men more to his liking.<a name="FNanchor_38_108" id="FNanchor_38_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_108" class="fnanchor">[38]</a>
+Messengers were sent to summon the Council to meet in the Elizabeth City
+church. It must have been with an air of triumph that he greeted the
+Councillors, for now the day of retribution had come.</p>
+
+<p>One would think that Harvey's expulsion would have taught him a lesson.
+Instead, his desire for revenge drove him into new excesses. With the
+enlarged powers of his new commission, with the Council submissive to
+his will, with the courts manned by his favorites, with the prestige of
+the King's backing, he went to great extremes. The Reverend Anthony
+Panton accused him of "many arbitrary and illegal proceedings in
+judgment, tyranny, extortion." The "unjust whippings, cutting of ears,
+fining and confiscation of honest men's goods," must have brought back
+memories of Dale and Argall. The converting of fines to his "own profit
+and use," or to reward his henchmen, convinced the people that men were
+accused and sentenced, not because they were guilty of any crime, but
+merely to have an excuse for taking their property.<a name="FNanchor_39_109" id="FNanchor_39_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_109" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, West, Mathews, Utie, and Pierce had been sent as
+prisoners to England to answer the charge of mutiny, where a bill was
+exhibited against them in the Star Chamber. But here the matter hung
+fire. George Donne, Muster General of Virginia and a member of the
+Council, who had come to England to prosecute them, became ill. Harvey
+neglected to put up the money for necessary fees. The great cost of the
+voyage across the Atlantic prevented the sending over of witnesses.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But in the absence of the accused men, Sir John took ample revenge on
+them. They were informed by letters from Virginia that "divers of their
+goods, cattle, and servants" had been confiscated. So they complained to
+the Privy Council. Mathews assured them that Harvey was bent on ruining
+him, and that he had been heard to say that if one "stood, tother should
+fall, and if he swum, the other should sink." He seems to have convinced
+the Privy Council, for on May 25, 1637, they wrote Harvey ordering him
+to restore Mathews' property.<a name="FNanchor_40_110" id="FNanchor_40_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_110" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p>
+
+<p>But so reluctant was Harvey to be cheated out of his revenge that he
+postponed compliance in the hope that something might occur to give him
+an excuse for not obeying. This excuse he found in a letter from the
+Privy Council expressing satisfaction with his administration. It was
+his excuse, also, for further severities against Mathews. Kemp and
+others entered his house, broke open the doors of several rooms,
+ransacked his trunks, examined his papers, and carried off a part of his
+goods and eight of his servants.<a name="FNanchor_41_111" id="FNanchor_41_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_111" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+<p>When word of this reached the Privy Council, the sub-committee to whom
+the case was referred gave it as their opinion that Mathews had been
+"very hardly dealt with." "We cannot but clearly discern somewhat of
+passion in the said proceedings," they reported. So the Privy Council
+wrote again to Harvey, commanding him once more to restore Mathews'
+property. This time the Governor complied, writing the Privy Council a
+long, but lame excuse for what he had done.<a name="FNanchor_42_112" id="FNanchor_42_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_112" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p>
+
+<p>Another victim of Harvey's malice was the Reverend Anthony Panton,
+minister of the parishes of York and Chiskiack. Panton had quarreled
+with the Governor's warm friend, Secretary Kemp, and had incurred his
+lasting enmity by calling him a "jackanapes," who was "unfit for the
+place of secretary," adding that "his hair-lock was tied up with ribbon
+as old as St. Paul's." So he was now brought to trial, charged with
+mutinous speeches and disobedience to the Governor, and with disrespect
+to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The farcical character of justice as
+administered by Harvey is shown by the fact that in the trial Kemp acted
+not only as prosecutor but as one of the judges. Panton's conviction was
+a matter of course. He was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> fined £500, forced to make public
+submission, and was banished from Virginia and forbidden ever to return
+on pain of death, and authority was given "to any man whatsoever to
+execute him."<a name="FNanchor_43_113" id="FNanchor_43_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_113" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p>
+
+<p>Throughout Virginia colonial history the parties to any dispute who were
+in London to urge their side had a great advantage. So Mathews, Utie,
+Pierce, and Francis Pott, after they secured their liberty under bail,
+devoted their time to undermining Sir John at Court. The Governor
+charged that they planted spies in all parts of the city to invite
+persons who had just arrived from Virginia into taverns, treated them to
+wine to make them talkative, and got them to state their grievances. So
+they poured out the stories of Harvey's confiscations, extortions,
+whippings, and pressure on the courts of justice.<a name="FNanchor_44_114" id="FNanchor_44_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_114" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p>
+
+<p>As the evidence against Harvey piled up the exiles gained the support of
+the sub-committee of the Privy Council to whom colonial affairs were
+usually referred. Sir John wrote at length to refute what he called "the
+malicious untruths of such who by all means do go about and study to
+traduce us." But in vain, for the Privy Council decided to remove
+him.<a name="FNanchor_45_115" id="FNanchor_45_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_115" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p>
+
+<p>The shoe was now on the other foot. On January 11, 1639, Sir Francis
+Wyatt received a commission as Governor of Virginia. When this news
+reached the colony there was rejoicing, for Wyatt had shown himself a
+staunch defender of liberty during his previous administration. The
+people could be sure that he would redress their wrongs and see to it
+that justice was done all men. Nor were they disappointed. No sooner had
+Wyatt arrived than he summoned the General Court and brought Harvey
+before it to answer for his misdeeds.<a name="FNanchor_46_116" id="FNanchor_46_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_116" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p>
+
+<p>Kemp, who was retained as Secretary and Councillor by order of the Privy
+Council, was helpless to prevent his fellow judges from passing sentence
+on the deposed Governor. "They of the old commission have been
+persecuted with much malice," he wrote in March, 1640, "the weight
+whereof hath hitherto principally fallen on Sir John Harvey, whose
+estate is wholly sequestered at present, and at the next court now
+approaching will assuredly be swept away."<a name="FNanchor_47_117" id="FNanchor_47_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_117" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> Harvey wrote that he
+groaned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> under the oppression of his enemies, and that he was so closely
+watched that he hardly had privacy enough to write a letter. His enemies
+had now been advanced to be his judges, and were tearing his estate from
+him by inviting his creditors to clamor against him. Both Harvey and
+Kemp asked permission to go to England, but this was refused. Not only
+were they held to answer charges, but because the new administration had
+no desire to have them clamoring against them at Court.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir John being ... laid flat," Wyatt next took up the case of Anthony
+Panton against Kemp.<a name="FNanchor_48_118" id="FNanchor_48_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_118" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> This matter had been sifted out by the Privy
+Council, who reported that they could find no proof of the charges
+against the minister. It seemed strange to them that he should be
+accused of mutinous behavior throughout six or seven years, in view of
+the fact that ten months previously Harvey had presented him to a
+benefice. So they suspended the harsh sentence, and referred the matter
+to Governor Wyatt. The Virginia court promptly reversed the previous
+action, declared Panton guiltless, and restored his estate. So he
+returned in triumph and resumed his duties in his two parishes. To Kemp
+this was the crowning humiliation. "I am exceedingly injured, and shall
+suffer without guilt unless my friends now assist me," he wrote. "The
+Governor and Council aim at my ruin."<a name="FNanchor_49_119" id="FNanchor_49_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_119" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p>
+
+<p>The men employed to watch Harvey and Kemp must have relaxed their
+vigilance, for both escaped and made their way back to England. Thomas
+Stegg, who aided Kemp in getting away, had to pay dearly, for the
+Governor and Council fined him £50 and imprisoned him. In London, Harvey
+and Kemp sought influential friends, poured out their complaints to
+them, and tried to undermine Wyatt at Court. Kemp later returned to
+Virginia, where he resumed his place as Secretary, and his seat in the
+Council. Harvey seems to have given up politics as a bad business and
+returned to the sea as what he probably considered a less dangerous
+vocation. He died in 1650.</p>
+
+<p>The thrusting out of Sir John Harvey is a landmark in the long struggle
+for self-government in Virginia. It showed that there was a point beyond
+which no Governor dared go in trampling upon the rights of the people.
+It was a daring thing for the Virginians to defy the King by deposing
+the man he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> sent as their Governor, and notifying him in effect that
+they wanted him to make a better selection. That Charles sent Harvey
+back and that he was as tyrannical after his return as he had been
+before, does not obscure the meaning of this uprising as a clash between
+the royal assertion of despotic right and the American devotion to
+liberty.</p>
+
+<p>Harvey based his claims to supreme power on the theory that he was the
+King's substitute, and as such should have the unquestioning obedience
+of the people. The Virginians contended that his power was limited by
+law. Even had his rule been marked by justice and moderation, they would
+have denied his pretensions. But when he made them the basis for an
+odious tyranny, they took a step unique in American colonial history, by
+laying violent hands on him, and sending him back to his royal master.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_71" id="Footnote_1_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_71"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> CO1-4, p. 18.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_72" id="Footnote_2_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_72"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 13: 301.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_73" id="Footnote_3_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_73"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> E. D. Neill, <i>Virginia Company of London</i>, 221.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_74" id="Footnote_4_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_74"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 79.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_75" id="Footnote_5_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_75"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 7: 375-376.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_76" id="Footnote_6_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_76"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Virginia statutes at large</i> 1: 171.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_77" id="Footnote_7_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_77"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> E. D. Neill, <i>Virginia Carolorum</i>, 79.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_78" id="Footnote_8_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_78"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> CO1-5, p. 32.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_79" id="Footnote_9_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_79"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_80" id="Footnote_10_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_80"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 33.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_81" id="Footnote_11_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_81"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> CO1-5, p. 33.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_82" id="Footnote_12_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_82"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_83" id="Footnote_13_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_83"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 1: 416.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_84" id="Footnote_14_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_84"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 417.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_85" id="Footnote_15_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_85"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> E. D. Neill, <i>Virginia Carolorum</i>, 122.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_86" id="Footnote_16_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_86"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 1: 430.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_87" id="Footnote_17_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_87"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> CO1-6, p. 34.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_88" id="Footnote_18_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_88"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 37.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_89" id="Footnote_19_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_89"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_90" id="Footnote_20_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_90"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 8: 405.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_91" id="Footnote_21_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_91"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> CO1-8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_92" id="Footnote_22_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_92"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> CO1-6, p. 46.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_93" id="Footnote_23_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_93"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> CO1-8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_94" id="Footnote_24_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_94"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> CO1-8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_95" id="Footnote_25_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_95"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 1: 416.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_96" id="Footnote_26_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_96"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 427.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_97" id="Footnote_27_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_97"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 303.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_98" id="Footnote_28_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_98"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> CO1-8, p. 48.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_99" id="Footnote_29_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_99"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 1: 418, 419.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_100" id="Footnote_30_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_100"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 8: 304.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_101" id="Footnote_31_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_101"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_102" id="Footnote_32_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_102"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 1: 421.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_103" id="Footnote_33_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_103"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 422; CO1-8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_104" id="Footnote_34_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_104"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> CO1-8, p. 61.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_105" id="Footnote_35_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_105"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 403.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_106" id="Footnote_36_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_106"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> CO1-8, p. 61.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_107" id="Footnote_37_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_107"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> CO1-10, p. 64.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_108" id="Footnote_38_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_108"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 10: 265.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_109" id="Footnote_39_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_109"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> E. D. Neill, <i>Virginia Carolorum</i>, 150; <i>Report of
+Commission on Historical Manuscripts</i>, 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_110" id="Footnote_40_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_110"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 9: 179, 180.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_111" id="Footnote_41_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_111"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> CO1-9, p. 121.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_112" id="Footnote_42_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_112"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> CO1-10, p. 14.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_113" id="Footnote_43_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_113"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> CO1-10, p. 32.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_114" id="Footnote_44_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_114"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 15.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_115" id="Footnote_45_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_115"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_116" id="Footnote_46_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_116"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> CO1-10, p. 61.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_117" id="Footnote_47_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_117"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_118" id="Footnote_48_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_118"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 64, I.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_119" id="Footnote_49_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_119"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> CO1-10, 64.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br />
+<br />
+ROYALTY OVERTHROWN</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">It was in August, 1641, that Charles I appointed Sir William Berkeley
+Governor of Virginia to succeed Sir Francis Wyatt. The King knew this
+young man well, for he had been a gentleman usher of the Privy Chamber
+under the Lord Chamberlain, and as such had attended various ceremonies
+at Court. He was the fourth son of Maurice Berkeley, of the ancient
+Berkeley family of Bruton, Somerset, had studied at Oxford and the
+Middle Temple, and in 1630 had made the "grand tour" on the continent.
+He seems to have had thoughts of following in the footsteps of the great
+Shakespeare, for in 1638 he published a tragedy which he named <i>The Lost
+Lady</i>. He was knighted in 1639.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt Charles thought he was doing the Virginians a great favor in
+sending them this accomplished young man. But he probably was actuated
+also by less unselfish motives. Berkeley was warmly attached to him,
+considered his person sacred, defended his claim to rule by divine
+right, and considered the Parliamentary leaders who were defying him
+enemies of their country. It would be good policy to place such a man in
+a post of authority in Virginia, to hold the colony in line for the
+royal cause. Sir William too must have had this in mind when he
+consented to lay aside his pen and the pleasures of the Court, to face
+the difficulties and perils of life in the forests of America.</p>
+
+<p>But even as he was preparing to leave, the clouds were gathering for the
+storm which broke over England. The long quarrel of King and Parliament
+was nearing a crisis; high churchmen and Puritans were locked in bitter
+battle. In December, 1640, a petition signed by 15,000 persons for the
+abolition of Episcopacy "with all its roots and branches" was presented
+to the Commons. A few months later a bill of attainder against the Earl
+of Stafford was passed, and this able statesman and friend of the King
+was led to the block. The Puritans demanded that the Book of Common
+Prayer be cast aside. Charles threatened his foes in London by bringing
+in soldiers, and men went about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> their daily tasks under the shadow of
+an English Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre. In January, 1642, the King
+fled from London and both sides made ready for war.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley arrived in Virginia early in 1642. When the Councillors
+assembled and took the oath of allegiance and supremacy, they must have
+viewed their polished and courtly new Governor with keen interest mixed
+with apprehension. Would he follow the example of Harvey in trying to
+rule like an Eastern despot? Would he try to set himself above the law?
+Would he take sides in the quarrels which had divided the colony and
+resume the persecution of one group or the other?</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley soon made it evident that he wished to do justice to all men.
+It mattered not whether they had been friends of Harvey or his enemies
+so long as they were loyal to the King. So Kemp, Mathews, Menefie, West,
+Pierce, and others who sat around him at the Council table, had to
+stifle old resentments and unite in support of the new administration.</p>
+
+<p>Harvey had assumed that since the King was absolute and so could do no
+wrong, he, as his substitute, could trample on the rights of the people
+at will. Berkeley, in contrast, acted on the theory that at a time when
+the Throne itself was in peril, it was his duty to show that under the
+royal authority there could be justice, security, and even freedom.
+Virginia had had ten years of experience of his policies when he asked
+what they could expect from a change of government. "Is it liberty? The
+sun looks not on a people more free than we are from oppression. Is it
+wealth? Hundreds of examples show us that industry and thrift in a short
+time may bring us to as high of it as the country and our conditions are
+capable of. Is it security to enjoy this wealth when gotten? Without
+blushing I will speak it, I am confident there lives not that person can
+accuse me of attempting the least act against any man's property."<a name="FNanchor_1_120" id="FNanchor_1_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_120" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>There is every reason to believe that this boast was justified. The
+first Assembly that sat after Berkeley's arrival spoke of the "good and
+wholesome laws" that they had passed under his leadership. They were
+especially proud of "the near approach we have made to the laws and
+customs of England in proceedings of the court and trials of causes."<a name="FNanchor_2_121" id="FNanchor_2_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_121" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+So we hear no more of the prosecution of men on trivial charges, of the
+over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>awing of judges, and of ruinous confiscations. Thomas Ludwell,
+after the surrender of the colony to the Commonwealth, when Berkeley's
+enemies might easily have hounded him in the courts, declared that there
+was not one man that either publicly or privately charged him with
+injustice.<a name="FNanchor_3_122" id="FNanchor_3_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_122" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>It must have produced a general sense of security when Sir William
+affixed his signature to a bill giving either the plaintiff or the
+defendant in any court the right to demand trial by jury. No more could
+a body of justices, appointed by the Governor, and perhaps looking to
+him for further favors, deprive a man of his property without the
+judgment of his peers.<a name="FNanchor_4_123" id="FNanchor_4_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_123" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> And should one be brought before the General
+Court to plead for life or limb, one need not submit to their decision
+if unjust, for now, apparently for the first time, appeals were
+permitted to the Assembly.<a name="FNanchor_5_124" id="FNanchor_5_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_124" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>One of the chief grievances of former times had been the conscripting of
+men for public service or the service of the Governor. So now when
+Berkeley "in preferring the public freedom before his particular profit"
+gave up any claim to forced labor, he won the gratitude of the people.
+He has restored to us the birthright of our mother nation, men said. No
+longer need the poor planter fear that the sheriff would lead him off to
+work in the Governor's garden while his tobacco field went to weeds, or
+the carpenter curse the day when he was forced to give his time for the
+construction of a fort.<a name="FNanchor_6_125" id="FNanchor_6_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_125" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Assembly admitted that before the arrival of the new Governor they
+had not done their full duty in passing wholesome laws and redressing
+grievances. But they now proudly submitted to the public judgment the
+many benefits to the colony from "their late consultations." Among these
+was the relief given the poor by the revising of the tax law, so as to
+make the levy "in some measure" proportionate to "men's abilities and
+estates."</p>
+
+<p>The Assembly thought it wise to assert once more that the Governor and
+Council had no authority to lay taxes.<a name="FNanchor_7_126" id="FNanchor_7_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_126" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> There would seem to have been
+no need for this since, though Harvey may have tried to levy taxes on
+his own responsibility, there is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> no evidence that Berkeley made such an
+attempt. It seems likely that the Assembly had no more in mind in
+re-enacting this law than the emphasizing of a vital principle.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley's liberal policies won something more tangible than the
+gratitude of the people, for the Assembly made him a present of two
+houses and an orchard.<a name="FNanchor_8_127" id="FNanchor_8_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_127" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> When the Civil War in England cut off the
+Governor's pension and the allowance granted him by the King, they
+levied a tax of two shillings a tithable to raise a fund for his
+support. It is true that they did this with grave misgivings. To excuse
+themselves to the people they pointed out that such a thing had never
+occurred before from the infancy of the colony, and they prayed God it
+would never happen again. The Assembly promised that when the present
+crisis had passed they would never again consent to place the burden of
+maintaining the Governor upon the people.</p>
+
+<p>They seem not to have considered that to do so would be well worth the
+cost, since it would make him less dependent on the King and more
+amenable to their wishes. In the struggle for self-government in the
+American colonies nothing tended more to bring victory than the fact the
+Assemblies usually were paymasters for the Governors.</p>
+
+<p>But now Berkeley had to decide whether it was his duty to remain at his
+post in Virginia or whether he should hasten back to England to offer
+his sword to his King. Every vessel which came in brought news of the
+bitter conflict which was convulsing the mother country&mdash;the battle of
+Edgehill, the victory of the Londoners at Turnham Green, the murderous
+struggle in the lanes and ditches of Newbury. Though it seemed that
+final victory for the royal forces was certain, Berkeley decided that he
+was needed more in England than in Virginia. Turning the government over
+to Richard Kemp, he set sail for England early in 1644. We next hear of
+him in the following summer in Cornwall with the King when he was
+bearing down on the Parliamentary forces under Essex.</p>
+
+<p>It is eloquent of the work done by Berkeley in reconciling the bitter
+factions left by Harvey, that Mathews, Pierce, Menefie, and West seem to
+have accepted Kemp's appointment in good grace. But one wonders whether
+Kemp, with this dignity, got a new ribbon for his hair lock, and whether
+he patched up his quarrel with the Reverend Anthony Panton. But he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+left little time for personal matters, for a few weeks after Berkeley's
+departure the Indians, under the leadership of the aged Opechancanough,
+fell on the outer settlements and massacred no less than five hundred
+persons.<a name="FNanchor_9_128" id="FNanchor_9_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_128" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>Even when this terrible news reached Berkeley he seems to have delayed
+his return, for it was only on June 7, 1645, over a year after the
+massacre, that he arrived at Jamestown.<a name="FNanchor_10_129" id="FNanchor_10_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_129" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> In the meanwhile, the whites
+had taken ample revenge on their treacherous enemies. Expeditions had
+gone out to bring fire and destruction to the Indian villages, and to
+cut down the ripening corn. No sooner had the Governor set foot on
+Virginia soil than he took personal charge of the war, leading out the
+forces, exposing himself to danger "night and day on the water and on
+the land," "visiting the remoter parts and with his presence encouraging
+the people." So indefatigable was he that "he scarce ate or slept to the
+hazard of his health."<a name="FNanchor_11_130" id="FNanchor_11_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_130" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> At last, when he had captured Opechancanough,
+the disheartened savages sued for peace.<a name="FNanchor_12_131" id="FNanchor_12_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_131" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>Having removed the Indian menace, Sir William was faced with the task of
+saving Virginia for the King. The news from England was
+alarming&mdash;Parliament was everywhere victorious; the use of the Book of
+Common Prayer was forbidden; hundreds of Anglican clergymen had been
+expelled from their livings; the King had fled to the Isle of Wight.</p>
+
+<p>The Governor knew that there was a powerful faction in the colony,
+composed chiefly of merchants and Puritans, who favored Parliament. Some
+of the merchants had bought plantations in Virginia, entered actively
+into public life, and perhaps held high offices. Thomas Stegg, one of
+the most prominent of them, in 1643 had been Speaker of the House of
+Burgesses. Richard Lee, who traded to London, was "faithful and useful
+to the interest of the Commonwealth." Richard Bennett adhered to
+Parliament not only because of his mercantile interests, but because he
+was an ardent Puritan.</p>
+
+<p>But the people as a whole were linked by self-interest to whatever
+government was in power in England. Virginia's prosperity depended upon
+trade. It was vital to the planters to ship their tobacco abroad and to
+get manufactured goods in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> exchange&mdash;cloth, clothing, household
+utensils, tools, farm implements, etc. London, the great trading center
+of England, was held by the enemies of the King. Even though the Dutch
+took off part of the tobacco crop, if Parliament should prohibit trade
+with the colony the effect might be disastrous. This helps to explain
+why such a prominent man as Samuel Mathews, who made a good income by
+selling beef to victual the English ships, became "a most deserving
+Commonwealth man."</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, Parliament realized that an embargo was a sword that cut
+both ways. At first they tried to bring pressure on the colony by
+freezing their goods in England, but, no doubt at the solicitation of
+the London merchants, in October, 1644, the Commons wrote the Virginia
+Assembly that this action had been reversed. Traders hesitated even then
+to load their vessels and sail for Virginia, fearing that Berkeley, in
+his rage against Parliament, might have persuaded the Assembly to
+exclude them. But they were soon reassured. In February, 1645, the
+Assembly passed an act declaring that since "the great wants and
+extremities of the colony" made it necessary to encourage commerce, free
+trade would be allowed "to all his Majesty's subjects of England."<a name="FNanchor_13_132" id="FNanchor_13_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_132" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>
+They went still further the next year when they thanked the House of
+Commons "for all its favors" to them.<a name="FNanchor_14_133" id="FNanchor_14_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_133" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>Yet the planters, not knowing what would come out of the clash of
+religions, political forces, and armies which was convulsing England,
+did all they could to encourage trade with the Dutch. The merchants of
+Amsterdam paid well for their tobacco, and sold their wares at figures
+well below those charged by the English. In January, 1649, whereas there
+were only seven vessels from London and two from Bristol trading in the
+James River, there were twelve from the Netherlands.</p>
+
+<p>Though Berkeley had to yield to the Virginia merchants in their demand
+that trade be kept open with the mother country, he was determined to
+stamp out Puritanism in the colony. Most Virginians were attached to the
+Church of England; the use of the Book of Common Prayer was almost
+universal; the ministers adhered to Anglican canonical law. But here and
+there, especially where there were many new arrivals who had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> been under
+the influence of Calvinist ministers in England, there were pockets of
+Puritans.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the nonconformists were concentrated in southeastern Virginia in
+the counties bordering on Hampton Roads. In May, 1640, the people of the
+Lower Norfolk County parish elected the Reverend Thomas Harrison their
+minister, "to instruct them concerning their souls' health." Apparently
+Mr. Harrison did not think that the use of the Book of Common Prayer or
+catechising on Sunday afternoons was necessary for the health of their
+souls, for he neglected both.<a name="FNanchor_15_134" id="FNanchor_15_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_134" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>Two years later a group in Upper Norfolk, headed by Richard Bennett,
+John Hill, and Daniel Gookin, wrote letters to the Elders of Boston,
+Massachusetts, bewailing "their sad condition for the want of the means
+of salvation." They would be grateful if the Elders would send them
+several ministers to instruct them in the truth as it is in Jesus. These
+letters they intrusted to Mr. Philip Bennett, brother of Richard
+Bennett, and sent him in a small pinnace on the dangerous voyage to
+Boston.<a name="FNanchor_16_135" id="FNanchor_16_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_135" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Elders listened with sympathy to this appeal, for they regarded it
+as an opportunity "for enlarging the Kingdom of Christ." After much
+deliberation, they selected John Knowles, of Watertown; William
+Thompson, of Braintree; and Thomas James, of New Haven, and sent them
+off. But they had a rough time even before they reached Virginia. No
+doubt they thought it was Satan's effort to thwart them that threw their
+pinnace on the rocks at the appropriately named Hell Gate. But the
+ministers, accustomed as they were to getting the better of the Evil
+One, secured another vessel and proceeded on their way.<a name="FNanchor_17_136" id="FNanchor_17_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_136" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>Upon their arrival in Virginia they were welcomed by the Puritans. Going
+from house to house they preached "openly to the people," and "the
+harvest they had was plentiful for the little space of time they were
+there." "It fared with them as it had done before with the Apostles in
+the primitive times that the people magnified them, and their hearts
+seemed to be much inflamed with an earnest desire after the Gospel."<a name="FNanchor_18_137" id="FNanchor_18_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_137" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>But when Governor Berkeley heard of this invasion of New<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> England
+divines to woo the people from the established Church, his heart too was
+inflamed. At the Assembly of March, 1643, he secured a law against
+heresy prohibiting ministers to teach or preach publicly or privately
+unless they conformed to the orders and constitutions of the Anglican
+Church, and directing the Governor and Council to expel nonconformist
+clergymen.<a name="FNanchor_19_138" id="FNanchor_19_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_138" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Puritan missionaries to Virginia were less determined than were the
+Quakers who sought to convert the people of Massachusetts to their way
+of belief and after being expelled returned to face whippings,
+mutilation, and the gallows. Upon hearing the order of banishment, they
+left Virginia and did not return.</p>
+
+<p>But both Governor Winthrop and Edward Johnson were certain that the
+Indian massacre of 1644 was God's punishment of the Virginians for
+expelling his servants. "Oh! poor Virginia, dost thou send away the
+ministers of Christ with threatening speeches?" wrote Johnson in his
+<i>Wonder Working Providence</i>. "No sooner is this done but the barbarous,
+inhuman, insolent, and bloody Indians are let loose upon them."
+Certainly a terrible and indiscriminate revenge for a loving Heavenly
+Father.</p>
+
+<p>Though the New Englanders left, Harrison for the time being defied the
+law by remaining in his parish. Knowing that Cromwell was winning
+victories, he looked to Parliament to protect him. He was elated when he
+received word that the Commissioners for Plantations had issued a
+proclamation in November, 1645, granting freedom of worship in all the
+colonies. "That golden apple, the ordinance of toleration is now fairly
+fallen into the lap of the saints," he wrote Winthrop. "We have received
+letters full of life and love from the Earl of Warwick."<a name="FNanchor_20_139" id="FNanchor_20_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_139" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>This seems to have given pause to Berkeley, and for two more years
+Harrison continued to preach. But by the autumn of 1647 the Governor
+seems to have decided to root out Puritanism in defiance of Parliament,
+and at his urging the Assembly again ordered all ministers to conform to
+the canons of the Church of England.<a name="FNanchor_21_140" id="FNanchor_21_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_140" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> Under this act Harrison was
+banished. After leaving Virginia he went to Massachusetts, where he
+remained two years before going to England.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>His congregation, which had now grown to 118 persons, appealed to the
+Commons, and on October 11, 1649, the Commissioners wrote Governor
+Berkeley, ordering him to permit Harrison to return. They had heard that
+he had been banished because he would not use the Book of Common Prayer.
+"You cannot be ignorant that the use of the Common Prayer book is
+prohibited by the Parliament." By this time Berkeley was so embittered
+against the Commons that if this letter ever reached him he treated it
+with scorn. After the surrender of the colony to the Commonwealth in
+1652, Harrison could have returned had he so desired, but he chose to
+remain in England.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile Berkeley prosecuted the remaining Puritans. A certain
+William Durand who took it upon himself to preach in the Elizabeth River
+chapel was arrested, imprisoned, and fined, and severe action was taken
+against the members of his congregation. Thereupon Durand, Richard
+Bennett, and many others left the colony and settled in Anne Arundel
+County, Maryland.<a name="FNanchor_22_141" id="FNanchor_22_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_141" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<p>When the news reached Virginia that King Charles had been tried before a
+Commission of the Commons, that he had been condemned to death, and that
+the sentence had been carried out at Whitehall and the bleeding head
+held up for the awe-stricken crowds to view, Berkeley was horrified. He
+at once proclaimed Charles II King, and so won for Virginia the title of
+the Old Dominion. There was no thought on the Governor's part of
+submitting to Parliament. The Assembly passed a law making it treason to
+question the "undoubted and inherent right of his Majesty ... to the
+Colony of Virginia." To defend the proceedings against the late King was
+to become accessory after the act; to asperse his memory was punishable
+at the discretion of the Governor and Council; to propose a change of
+government was high treason.<a name="FNanchor_23_142" id="FNanchor_23_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_142" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> You should be thankful above all else,
+Berkeley said, "that God has separated you from the guilt of the crying
+blood of our pious sovereign of ever blessed memory. But mistake not,
+gentlemen, part of it will yet stain your garments if you willingly
+submit to those murderers' hands that shed it."<a name="FNanchor_24_143" id="FNanchor_24_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_143" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>Parliament countered by declaring the Virginians rebels and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> by trying
+to bring them to terms by economic pressure. In October, 1650, they
+passed an act prohibiting all persons "foreigners and others" from
+having commerce or traffic with them. English warships were to be used
+to enforce the act, and all commanders were ordered to seize any foreign
+vessels found trading with the colony. English ships were not to sail
+for Virginia without a special license from the Council of State.<a name="FNanchor_25_144" id="FNanchor_25_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_144" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p>
+
+<p>The planters realized fully that if they were cut off from all overseas
+commerce it meant ruin. Their loyalty to the monarchy would be dearly
+purchased if their tobacco were left on their hands, and all supplies of
+cloth, clothing, and other manufactured goods denied them. Yet under the
+passionate urging of Governor Berkeley they remained firm.</p>
+
+<p>Calling an Assembly for March, 1651, Sir William delivered an address
+ringing with defiance. You see by the declaration of the men of
+Westminster how they mean to deal with you, he said. Surely they could
+have proposed something which might have strengthened us to bear the
+heavy chains they are making ready for us, though it were no more than
+the assurance that we shall eat the bread for which our own oxen plow,
+and which we reap with our own sweat. "Surely, gentlemen, we are more
+slaves by nature than their power can make us if we suffer ourselves to
+be shaken with these paper bullets.... Gentlemen, by the grace of God we
+will not so tamely part with our King and all those blessings we enjoy
+under him; and if they oppose us do but follow me, I will either lead
+you to victory or lose a life which I cannot more gloriously sacrifice
+than for my loyalty and your security."<a name="FNanchor_26_145" id="FNanchor_26_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_145" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>We do not know to what extent the act of 1650 was effective in stopping
+trade to Virginia. It is probable that Dutch merchants continued to come
+in, eluding English warships, and taking off a part of the tobacco crop.
+Had it not been for this it is probable that the colony would have been
+forced to surrender, and it would have been unnecessary for Parliament
+to send a force to subdue it.</p>
+
+<p>During the turmoil of the early months of the Commonwealth there was
+little opportunity for the Council of State to consider what should be
+done about Virginia. But in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> October, 1649, they directed the Committee
+of the Admiralty to recommend steps "to reduce them to the interest" of
+Parliament. This committee called in several merchants interested in the
+tobacco trade&mdash;Maurice Thompson, Benjamin Worsley, and others&mdash;to ask
+their advice. These men were deeply concerned lest the defection of the
+colonies might ruin them by diverting trade to the Dutch. After long
+debate, it was decided that Parliament should be asked to name
+commissioners "in whom the government be immediately placed, with power
+to settle the same under the government of the Commonwealth."<a name="FNanchor_27_146" id="FNanchor_27_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_146" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>But this plan could not be put into effect so long as the Governor and
+Assembly were holding out for the King. So when news reached England
+that the blockade had not been successful in bringing them to terms, it
+was decided to send over a naval and military expedition. Thomas Stegg,
+who was in London, no doubt told the Council of State that there were
+many in Virginia who favored the Commonwealth, and that by cooperating
+with them they might take over the colony without firing a shot. So in
+naming a commission to offer terms they included not only Stegg himself,
+but Richard Bennett and William Claiborne, both of whom were in
+Virginia. The commission was headed by Captain Robert Dennis. In the
+event of his death, his place was to be filled by Captain Edmund Curtis.</p>
+
+<p>They were ordered to "use their best endeavors" to bring the Virginians
+"to their due obedience," and were authorized to grant pardon to all who
+would submit. In case this did not prove effective they were to use "all
+acts of hostility ... to enforce them." They were directed, also, to
+augment their force by making recruits in the colony, appointing
+captains and other officers, and promising freedom to all indentured
+workers who would take up arms for the Commonwealth.<a name="FNanchor_28_147" id="FNanchor_28_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_147" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<p>So now a fleet of two warships, the <i>John</i> and the <i>Guinea Frigate</i>, and
+a number of armed merchant vessels was assembled, a force of six hundred
+men embarked, and arms and stores brought aboard. Captain Dennis sailed
+in the <i>John</i>, Captain Curtis in the <i>Guinea Frigate</i>. Arriving at
+Barbados, and finding a large royalist force ready to resist them, they
+landed their soldiers, and defeated them in a pitched battle. This
+caused<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> a delay of several weeks before they could proceed on their way
+to the Chesapeake Bay. But now disaster struck, for off the coast of
+Carolina they ran into a storm which sent the <i>John</i> to the bottom,
+taking Captain Dennis and Stegg with her. Unaware of this, the rest of
+the fleet proceeded on their way and arrived safely in Hampton Roads.</p>
+
+<p>Even without the <i>John</i> the fleet must have seemed formidable to the
+planters who paused in their work to view it. It must have seemed
+formidable, also, to Governor Berkeley. But he was determined to resist
+to the end. For months he had done all in his power to create hatred of
+the Commonwealth leaders, calling them bloody tyrants, and accusing them
+of planning to restore the old London Company. The Anglican ministers,
+hurling invectives from the pulpit, "stirred up the people in all
+places." At the gatherings for the sessions of the county courts, in
+taverns, in churchyards after services, everywhere when two or more men
+came together "little else was spoken of."<a name="FNanchor_29_148" id="FNanchor_29_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_148" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p>
+
+<p>With the enemy in Virginia waters and with messengers riding through the
+counties to summon men to the colors, the planter dropped the hoe to
+fasten on the helmet and the breastplate, and take up the fusil, the
+sword, the halberd, and the pistol. Embarking on shallops, or trudging
+through the woods and fields the trained bands converged on Jamestown
+until there were between a thousand and twelve hundred men there ready
+to defend the little capital.<a name="FNanchor_30_149" id="FNanchor_30_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_149" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>But there was no battle. With the loss of Dennis and Stegg, Curtis,
+Bennett, and Claiborne alone were left of the Parliamentary
+commissioners. Since Curtis could be outvoted by the other two, the
+final settlement was left to all intents and purposes in the hands of
+the two Virginians. We do not know how Curtis got in touch with them,
+but they seem to have come aboard the <i>Guinea Frigate</i> to receive their
+instructions. When they opened them and realized how great was their
+responsibility, they made up their minds to use every effort to spare
+the colony the horrors of civil war.<a name="FNanchor_31_150" id="FNanchor_31_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_150" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>Their first step was to distribute papers among the people refuting
+Berkeley's charges that Parliament meant to enslave them, which they
+substantiated by copies of private letters.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> Then, hearing that a
+council of war was in session at Jamestown, they sent up a summons to
+the Governor and Council to surrender. At the same time, although they
+thought their force inadequate to defeat the Virginians, they set sail
+up the James River.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile the Governor and Council had been considering their
+summons. One wishes a record had been kept of that stormy debate, with
+Berkeley pleading for resistance to the end, and others pointing out
+that this meant ruin. In the end they sent a reply which reached the
+fleet on its way up the river, promising to yield if the government were
+left in their hands for one more year. The commissioners replied with a
+conciliatory message, which though refusing this compromise, "produced
+the calling of an Assembly."<a name="FNanchor_32_151" id="FNanchor_32_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_151" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses fully realized the folly of defying the might of England.
+Should they succeed in driving off the forces facing them, other and
+more powerful armies would follow. So they sat "in contemplation of the
+great miseries and certain destruction which were so nearly hovering
+over this whole country." When they heard the remarkably liberal terms
+offered by the commissioners, they yielded.</p>
+
+<p>It was agreed that Virginia should "be in due obedience and subjection
+to the Commonwealth of England." But following this one vital provision
+came a series of concessions to the colony. The surrender was to be
+considered voluntary and not forced by conquest, the Assembly was to be
+continued, pardon was granted for words and writings denouncing
+Parliament, Virginia was to be "free from all taxes, customs, and
+impositions whatsoever," a provision which Parliament might with profit
+have remembered over a century later when they were debating the Stamp
+Act. The recognized principle that within the colony the Assembly alone
+had the right to tax was now for the first time guaranteed.<a name="FNanchor_33_152" id="FNanchor_33_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_152" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+
+<p>Then followed two provisions in which the commissioners stretched their
+instructions to the limit. There can be no doubt that it was Claiborne
+who was largely responsible for the promise that "Virginia shall have
+and enjoy the ancient bounds and limits granted by the charters of the
+former Kings," for this meant that Maryland would once more become a
+part of Virginia. But it remained to be seen whether Parliament would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+ratify so drastic a measure. And when it was stipulated that the colony
+should have "free trade as the people of England do to all places and
+with all nations according to the laws of that Commonwealth," it was
+obvious that there would be strenuous opposition from the merchants of
+London and Bristol.</p>
+
+<p>Having affixed their signatures to these articles, the commissioners
+hastened on to Maryland to demand the surrender of that colony. But
+before sailing they called for election for a new House of Burgesses.
+With Berkeley no longer in power to urge the return of staunch
+loyalists, and with Virginia submissive to the Commonwealth, the
+personnel of the House was greatly changed. When they met at Jamestown
+on April 30, 1652, one recognized only six familiar faces.<a name="FNanchor_34_153" id="FNanchor_34_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_153" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> In the
+meanwhile, Bennett and Claiborne, who had returned from Maryland, sat
+with them in what was in reality a constitutional convention.</p>
+
+<p>Their first act was to elect Bennett Governor for one year. Thus, by one
+of those strange turns of the wheel of fortune, this ardent Puritan who
+a few years before had been driven into exile because of his religious
+beliefs, was placed at the head of the government. Had he been a man of
+Sir John Harvey's disposition, he might now have taken his revenge. But
+there is no evidence that he bore malice against Berkeley and the former
+members of the Council.</p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses next elected Claiborne Secretary of State "to be next in
+place to the Governor." Then followed the election of a new Council. It
+is proof of the spirit of reconciliation which prevailed that most of
+the former members were chosen. But the Burgesses made it clear that the
+Assembly was to be the ruling power in the colony. They were to appoint
+the Governor and Council, who were to exercise only such powers as the
+Assembly delegated to them. And they immediately took from them the
+control of local government by themselves selecting the county
+justices.<a name="FNanchor_35_154" id="FNanchor_35_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_154" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p>
+
+<p>Thus was self-government established in the colony. In England the clash
+of arms and the struggle of class and religious groups resulted, not in
+establishing a republic, but only in exchanging one despot for another.
+But though Virginia had played but an insignificant role in the great
+drama, she reaped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> a full reward. For the next eight years it was the
+people who ruled through their representatives in the House of
+Burgesses.</p>
+
+<p>And the people, most of them at heart still loyal to the monarchy, would
+tolerate no persecution of the King's friends. Berkeley and some of the
+Councillors, thinking that life under the new government would be
+unendurable, had stipulated in the articles that they be permitted to
+leave the colony and take their property with them. In July, 1653,
+Berkeley was still planning to leave. Yet neither he nor any of the
+others seem to have done so, contenting themselves with sending Colonel
+Francis Lovelace to Europe to attest to the exiled Prince Charles their
+continued loyalty. Only when some ardent royalist could not bridle his
+tongue were severe penalties inflicted. We have an example of this in
+Northumberland County when a Mr. Calvert had to pay one thousand pounds
+of tobacco to save his wife from thirty lashes on her shoulders for
+stigmatizing "the keepers of the liberty of England as rogues, traitors,
+and rebels."<a name="FNanchor_36_155" id="FNanchor_36_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_155" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p>
+
+<p>Nor was there any persecution of Church of England men in retaliation
+for the expulsion of Puritans under Berkeley. There seems to have been
+no thought of prohibiting the use of the Book of Common Prayer, no
+thought of turning Anglican ministers out of their cures. In fact the
+Burgesses were so deeply concerned at the many complaints of vacant
+pulpits that they offered a reward of £20 to anyone bringing over a
+clergyman.<a name="FNanchor_37_156" id="FNanchor_37_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_156" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p>
+
+<p>Though Puritans and Anglicans, Commonwealth men and royalists lived
+together in peace, there was friction between the English merchants and
+the planters. The former argued that the act of 1650, which prohibited
+foreign ships from trading with the colonies, was still in force. The
+latter claimed that the law had been temporary in character and was now
+invalid. And they pointed out that the articles of surrender had
+promised them free trade with all nations. So when a Dutch merchant
+vessel came into the James or the York, they gladly loaded her with
+tobacco and accepted the cheap goods of Amsterdam in exchange.</p>
+
+<p>But the situation changed when England became involved in war with the
+Netherlands. In the summer of 1653, when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> <i>Leopolus</i>, a merchantman
+of Dunkirk, came into the Elizabeth River, the captains of two English
+ships came on board to demand her special license. Apparently the master
+had no license, for the vessel was seized by the Virginia authorities
+and sold for £400.<a name="FNanchor_38_157" id="FNanchor_38_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_157" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
+
+<p>After this there seem to have been no further seizures by the
+Virginians. But the English masters took it upon themselves to try to
+break up the Dutch trade, and the planters looked on helplessly as they
+intercepted sloops taking their tobacco to the Dutch vessels, or seized
+the vessels themselves and took them off as prizes. In 1660 the Assembly
+plucked up courage to declare that "the Dutch and all strangers of what
+Christian nation soever in amity with the people of England shall have
+free liberty to trade with us." And they required the masters of all
+incoming English ships to give bond not to molest any vessels whatsoever
+in Virginia waters.<a name="FNanchor_39_158" id="FNanchor_39_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_158" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is obvious that during the entire Commonwealth period the trade with
+Holland was kept open. In 1655 certain English shipowners complained
+that "there are usually found intruding upon the plantation divers
+ships, surreptitiously carrying away the growth thereof to foreign
+parts."<a name="FNanchor_40_159" id="FNanchor_40_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_159" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> It was this which widened the market for tobacco, kept up
+the price, and brought a degree of prosperity to the colony.</p>
+
+<p>With the articles of surrender stipulating that Virginia should have its
+original bounds, it seemed a golden opportunity for the colony to regain
+the territory granted to Lord Baltimore. Surely the Puritan government
+of England would be eager to root out the group of Roman Catholics in
+Maryland. So when the Assembly sent Samuel Mathews to have the articles
+ratified they instructed him to plead for the annulling of Baltimore's
+patent. But Baltimore had cut the ground from under their feet by
+recognizing the Commonwealth as early as 1648, appointing a Puritan
+Governor of Maryland, and proclaiming religious freedom. Though Richard
+Bennett came over to join Mathews in defending Virginia's claim, the
+final settlement left Maryland a separate colony.<a name="FNanchor_41_160" id="FNanchor_41_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_160" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+<p>The people of Virginia watched with intense interest the dramatic events
+in England in the years from 1652 to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> restoration of the monarchy in
+1660&mdash;the dissolution of the Rump Parliament, the election of the
+Praise-God Barebone Parliament, the naming of Cromwell Protector, the
+foreign wars, the death of Cromwell, the brief rule of Richard Cromwell.
+But they were less affected by them than by happenings in the mother
+country at any other time during the colonial period. Virginia was left
+to her own devices because the men in power in London were too greatly
+occupied with other matters to bother with her. One wonders whether they
+knew what was going on, for the correspondence with persons in the
+colony dwindled to a trickle.</p>
+
+<p>On August 31, 1658, a group of merchants trading to Virginia wrote the
+Council of State complaining of "the loose and distracted condition of
+that colony." It seems that Cromwell had already been considering
+certain proposals "for supplying that defect," but before he could come
+to any decision he died.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the people of Virginia were left to make a most interesting
+experiment in self-government. The House of Burgesses were elected on a
+broad franchise. Under the law of 1655 all housekeepers were given the
+right to vote.<a name="FNanchor_42_161" id="FNanchor_42_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_161" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> Since it would seem that everyone must have a place
+in which to live, this was a near approach to manhood suffrage. Yet
+three years later these liberty loving people made certain that no one
+should be excluded, when the Assembly enacted that "all persons
+inhabiting in this colony that are freemen" were "to have their votes in
+the election of Burgesses."<a name="FNanchor_43_162" id="FNanchor_43_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_162" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> One wonders whether Edmund Pendleton,
+George Mason, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and other members of the
+Virginia Convention of 1776, who voted that only freeholders should
+vote, realized that they were less advanced on the road to democracy
+than their ancestors over a century before.</p>
+
+<p>The convention of 1652 gave the right to elect "all the officers of this
+colony" to "the Burgesses, the representatives of the people." However,
+it seems to have been Cromwell's intention to assume the power of
+appointing the Governor, for in December, 1653, his Highness "thought
+fit to continue Colonel Bennett" in that office until he should "further
+signify his pleasure."<a name="FNanchor_44_163" id="FNanchor_44_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_163" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> But when he did nothing more about it, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
+March, 1655, the Burgesses elected Edward Digges Governor. Three years
+later, they chose Samuel Mathews, who continued in office until his
+death in January, 1660.</p>
+
+<p>The Governor and Council for some years accepted with good grace the
+subordinate position accorded them. But in 1658 they made an effort to
+regain some of the powers they had held prior to the surrender to the
+Commonwealth. When the Assembly of that year were concluding their
+proceedings, they voted not to be dissolved, but merely to adjourn. But
+the Governor and Council "for many important causes" took it on
+themselves to override this decision and declare the Assembly dissolved.</p>
+
+<p>When this message was received by the House, some of the members started
+for the door. But they probably sat down hastily when a resolution was
+passed that if any Burgess showed his acceptance of the dissolution by
+leaving, he was to be censured "as a person betraying the trust reposed
+in him by the country." They then sent a message to the Governor and
+Council declaring their action illegal and demanding that they revoke
+the dissolution. To this the Governor and Council replied that they were
+willing for the Assembly to continue provided they bring their work to a
+speedy conclusion. As for the "dispute of the power of dissolving and
+the legality thereof" they suggested that it be referred to the Lord
+Protector.<a name="FNanchor_45_164" id="FNanchor_45_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_164" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p>
+
+<p>But the House was now thoroughly aroused, and was determined to bring
+the matter to an issue. So they appointed a committee to draw up a
+report for the "manifestation and vindication of the Assembly's power."
+This committee proposed resolutions declaring the "power of government
+to reside in such persons as shall be impowered by the Burgesses (the
+representatives of the people) who are not dissolvable by any power now
+extant in Virginia but the House of Burgesses." They also recommended
+the immediate dismissal of the Councillors. Accordingly the House
+preceded to recall both Governor and Council. Apparently the Burgesses
+did not blame Governor Mathews for the crisis for they at once
+re-elected him, and then asked him to make recommendations for the new
+Council. It is probable that they thought Nathaniel Bacon and Francis
+Willis responsible for the attempted dissolution, for they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> the
+only Councillors who had signed the offensive order who were not
+re-elected.<a name="FNanchor_46_165" id="FNanchor_46_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_165" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p>
+
+<p>When the Assembly met again, in March, 1659, a letter was laid before
+them from Henry Lawrence, President of the Council of State in England,
+announcing the death of Cromwell and the accession of Richard Cromwell
+as Lord Protector. The government of Virginia was being studied by the
+Council, he reported, and they soon would have some positive orders. In
+the meanwhile, they directed the Governor and Council to apply
+themselves to the "management of the affairs of that colony."<a name="FNanchor_47_166" id="FNanchor_47_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_166" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p>
+
+<p>When this letter was read to the Burgesses, they must have looked at
+each other in dismay. Did this mean that the Governor and Council
+thereafter were to derive their powers, not from the House, but from
+England? They at once acknowledged the new Lord Protector, but they
+requested the Governor to join with them in petitioning him to confirm
+their privileges.</p>
+
+<p>While waiting to hear from England they decided to make important
+concessions. Mathews was to be Governor for two years, at the expiration
+of which time the Assembly would choose one of the Councillors to
+succeed him. Members of the Council were to serve for life, "except in
+case of high misdemeanors." The Governor was to nominate Councillors,
+but the Burgesses were to have the privilege of confirming or rejecting.
+The Council at first assented to these changes until further directions
+from England, but later "they expressly declined the said act," and
+declared the Assembly dissolved.<a name="FNanchor_48_167" id="FNanchor_48_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_167" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> It would seem that from March,
+1659, to March, 1660, the Governor and Council claimed that they derived
+their authority, not from the Burgesses, but from the Council of State.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, the people waited anxiously for news from England.
+Would the weak Richard Cromwell, Thumbledown Dick as he was called in
+contempt, gain a firm grasp on the reins of state? Or would there be
+anarchy? Or would Prince Charles be summoned from exile and placed on
+the throne of his fathers? When the tobacco fleet drifted in, the word
+they brought was alarming. Richard Cromwell had been forced to resign;
+England was subjected to the weak but violent rule of soldiers; a new
+civil war threatened. "Swordsmen bear the rule of the nation," a London
+merchant wrote his father in Vir<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>ginia in December, 1659. "The soldiers
+they are divided one against another, and the people they are divided,
+some for one government some for another, and how long thus a kingdom
+divided against itself can stand, I know not."<a name="FNanchor_49_168" id="FNanchor_49_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_168" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p>
+
+<p>To make matters still more uncertain for the Virginians, in January,
+1660, Governor Mathews died. When the summons was sent out for the
+Assembly to meet, the Burgesses straggled in to the little capital, some
+on horseback, some by boat. Little knots must have gathered on the green
+to discuss the distractions in the mother country, and their meaning for
+the future of Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>When they had crowded into the house where they were to meet, and had
+taken seats, their first step was to reassert their authority "as the
+supreme power in this country."<a name="FNanchor_50_169" id="FNanchor_50_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_169" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> Then they took a step which for
+three centuries has puzzled historians&mdash;they elected Sir William
+Berkeley Governor. That this decision was made at the opening of the
+session would lead us to believe that it reflected the general sentiment
+of the people. They had had experience of Berkeley's energy, concern for
+the welfare of the colony, refusal to use the courts for personal gain.
+Certainly this is the view he himself took of his election. "In
+consideration of the service I had done the country in defending them
+and destroying great numbers of Indians ... and in view of the equal
+justice I had distributed to all men, not only the Assembly but the
+unanimous votes of all the country made me Governor."<a name="FNanchor_51_170" id="FNanchor_51_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_170" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is possible, also, that the Assembly had in mind the possibility that
+the monarchy might be restored. Their action came just nine weeks before
+Charles II set foot on English soil at Dover amid the cheers of the
+crowds on the beach. The word may have gone from plantation to
+plantation that it would please Charles and recommend the colony to his
+favor to know that they had made choice of the former royal Governor, a
+man noted for his devotion to his father and himself.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the Assembly made it clear that Sir William would hold office from
+them as the supreme power in the colony. They stipulated that he must
+call an Assembly at least once in every two years, that he should not
+dissolve the Assembly without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> permission from the House, and that in
+appointing members of the Council he must have their approbation.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley hesitated. Appearing before the Assembly he expressed his
+gratitude for the honor done him, and protested that there were many
+among them who were "more sufficient for it" than he. When he first came
+to Virginia, he said, he had a commission from his "most gracious master
+King Charles of ever blessed memory." When the King was put to death,
+his son sent him another commission to govern Virginia, but Parliament
+sent a force against him, and finding him defenceless, took over the
+colony. But Parliament continued not long, and now his intelligence was
+not enough to tell him who or what ruled England. "But, Mr. Speaker, it
+is one duty to live obedient to a government, and another of a very
+different nature to command under it." Yet when he had asked the Council
+for their advice, and they had concurred unanimously in his election, he
+consented.<a name="FNanchor_52_171" id="FNanchor_52_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_171" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p>
+
+<p>Thus this professed enemy of republican principles became the head of a
+semi-independent little republic. To Governor Stuyvesant, of New
+Netherlands, he wrote: "I am but a servant of the Assembly, neither do
+they arrogate any power to themselves further than the miserable
+distractions of England force them to. For when God shall be pleased in
+his mercy to take away and dissipate the unnatural division of their
+native country, they will immediately return to their own professed
+obedience."<a name="FNanchor_53_172" id="FNanchor_53_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_172" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p>
+
+<p>Though Charles was proclaimed King in England on May 8, 1660, it was
+only in September that the slow moving vessels of the day brought the
+news to Virginia. It was with elation that Berkeley wrote to the
+sheriffs in every county that God had invested "our most gracious
+sovereign, Charles II," with the "just rights of his royal father," and
+charged them to proclaim him King forthwith. In Jamestown there was
+rejoicing, marked by the firing of cannon, and the blare of trumpets.
+The country people for miles around must have flocked in to aid in
+making way with six cases of drams and a hundred and seventy-six gallons
+of cider.<a name="FNanchor_54_173" id="FNanchor_54_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_173" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p>
+
+<p>Berkeley's joy was tempered with the fear that the King<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> might be angry
+with him for having accepted office from the "rebel" Assembly. But
+Charles reassured him, and sent him a new commission. Overjoyed,
+Berkeley replied: "I ... do most humbly throw myself at your Majesty's
+feet ... that you yet think me worthy of your royal commands. It is true
+... I did something, which if misrepresented to your Majesty, may cause
+your Majesty to think me guilty of a weakness I should ever abhor myself
+for. But it was no more ... than to leap over the fold to save your
+Majesty's flock, when your Majesty's enemies of that fold had barred up
+the lawful entrance to it, and enclosed the wolves of schism and
+rebellion ready to devour all within."<a name="FNanchor_55_174" id="FNanchor_55_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_174" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p>
+
+<p>Thus the Commonwealth period in Virginia came to an end. No longer was
+the Assembly to be the supreme power, selecting the Governor and
+Council, and controlling local government. The old struggle for
+self-government had to be resumed; the representatives of the people
+again had to steel themselves against the encroachments of arbitrary
+Kings and arbitrary Governors. More than a century was to elapse before
+the rights surrendered when Charles II was proclaimed were regained.</p>
+
+<p>But the training in self-government received during the eight years that
+the people were their own masters stood them in good stead in the
+conflicts ahead. Having tasted the sweets of freedom, they were ready to
+resist when Governors vetoed their bills, or corrupted the Burgesses, or
+swayed the courts, or bullied the Council. The Commonwealth period
+foreshadowed Bacon's Rebellion and the American Revolution; the
+constitutional Assembly of 1652 foreshadowed Bacon's Assembly of June,
+1676, and the Virginia Convention of 1776.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_120" id="Footnote_1_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_120"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 1: 77.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_121" id="Footnote_2_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_121"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 237.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_122" id="Footnote_3_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_122"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> CO1-20.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_123" id="Footnote_4_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_123"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 273.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_124" id="Footnote_5_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_124"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 272.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_125" id="Footnote_6_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_125"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 237.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_126" id="Footnote_7_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_126"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 244.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_127" id="Footnote_8_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_127"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 267.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_128" id="Footnote_9_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_128"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Robert Beverley, <i>History and present state of Virginia</i>,
+ed. L. B. Wright, 60.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_129" id="Footnote_10_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_129"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 8: 73.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_130" id="Footnote_11_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_130"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> CO1-30, p. 71.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_131" id="Footnote_12_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_131"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 323.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_132" id="Footnote_13_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_132"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 296.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_133" id="Footnote_14_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_133"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Report of Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Part
+1: 158.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_134" id="Footnote_15_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_134"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Lower Norfolk County Antiquary</i> 1: 83, 84.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_135" id="Footnote_16_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_135"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> E. D. Neill, <i>Virginia Carolorum</i>, 166.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_136" id="Footnote_17_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_136"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 167.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_137" id="Footnote_18_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_137"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 172.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_138" id="Footnote_19_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_138"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 277.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_139" id="Footnote_20_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_139"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> E. D. Neill, <i>Virginia Carolorum</i>, 200.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_140" id="Footnote_21_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_140"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 206.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_141" id="Footnote_22_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_141"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Lower Norfolk County Antiquary</i> 2: 14, 61.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_142" id="Footnote_23_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_142"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 361.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_143" id="Footnote_24_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_143"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 1: 77.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_144" id="Footnote_25_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_144"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Scobell, <i>Collection of acts</i> 2: 132.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_145" id="Footnote_26_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_145"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 1: 77.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_146" id="Footnote_27_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_146"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Calendar of state papers, Colonial</i> 1: 332.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_147" id="Footnote_28_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_147"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> CO1-11.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_148" id="Footnote_29_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_148"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 11: 33.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_149" id="Footnote_30_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_149"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 11: 24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_150" id="Footnote_31_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_150"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 33.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_151" id="Footnote_32_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_151"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_152" id="Footnote_33_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_152"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 363-365.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_153" id="Footnote_34_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_153"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1619-1659, xx.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_154" id="Footnote_35_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_154"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 371, 372.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_155" id="Footnote_36_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_155"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>William and Mary Quarterly</i> 1: 154.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_156" id="Footnote_37_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_156"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 418.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_157" id="Footnote_38_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_157"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 3: 310, 311; W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes
+at large</i> 1: 382.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_158" id="Footnote_39_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_158"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 535, 536.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_159" id="Footnote_40_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_159"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> G. L. Beer, <i>Origins of the British colonial system</i>,
+396.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_160" id="Footnote_41_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_160"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> N. C. Hale, <i>Virginia venturer</i>, 282-285.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_161" id="Footnote_42_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_161"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 412.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_162" id="Footnote_43_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_162"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 475.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_163" id="Footnote_44_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_163"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 408.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_164" id="Footnote_45_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_164"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 499.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_165" id="Footnote_46_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_165"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 499, 505.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_166" id="Footnote_47_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_166"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 509, 510.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_167" id="Footnote_48_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_167"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 537.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_168" id="Footnote_49_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_168"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> <i>Tyler's Magazine</i> 1: 244, 245.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_169" id="Footnote_50_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_169"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 1: 530.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_170" id="Footnote_51_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_170"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i> I, "The Declaration and Remonstrance of
+William Berkeley."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_171" id="Footnote_52_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_171"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>Southern Literary Messenger</i>, Jan. 1845.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_172" id="Footnote_53_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_172"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Charles Campbell, <i>History of Virginia</i>, 246.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_173" id="Footnote_54_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_173"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>William and Mary Quarterly</i> 1: 158.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_174" id="Footnote_55_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_174"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>Southern Literary Messenger</i>, Jan. 1845.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br />
+<br />
+A BACON! A BACON!</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">Sir William Berkeley was one of the best Governors in the history of
+colonial Virginia during his first administration; during his second he
+was one of the worst. The man who had won the gratitude of the people by
+his respect for their rights, his refusal to use the courts to further
+his own interests, his efforts to bring prosperity, was followed by
+their bitter curses when he left Virginia in 1677. The courtly young
+gentleman who had exchanged the Court of Charles I for the forests and
+tobacco fields of the colony, had become the crabbed, dictatorial old
+man. In 1672 the Quaker preacher, William Edmundson, visited him to
+intercede for the Society of Friends. The next day Richard Bennett asked
+Edmundson whether the Governor had called him dog, rogue, etc. "No," he
+replied. "Then you took him in his best humor."<a name="FNanchor_1_175" id="FNanchor_1_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_175" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>One of Sir William's worst traits, his greed, grew on him with the
+years. "Though ambition commonly leaves old age, covetousness does not,"
+he wrote Lord Arlington. It may have been this which made him marry
+Frances Culpeper, the widow of Captain Samuel Stephens, who brought him
+a large estate. Though there was nothing wrong in this, it was whispered
+through the colony that it was the marrying of a young wife which was
+responsible for Berkeley's "old follyage." Frances seems to have been
+loyal to him amid the troubles which soon followed, even though she may
+have cast tender eyes on Philip Ludwell, whom she married after Sir
+William's death.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever is the explanation of the change in Berkeley's character, it
+obviously was the Civil War in England, the execution of Charles I, and
+the turmoil of the Commonwealth period which intensified his distrust of
+republican institutions. They had been tried and the experiment had
+ended in disastrous failure. True, he had been a witness of the success
+of self-government in Virginia, but this did not change his views.
+Monarchy was the form of government ordained by God. In Virginia it was
+he, as the King's representative, who should rule.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> So he was determined
+that there should be no more republicanism in the colony than his
+instructions required.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley did not attempt the barefaced disregard of law practiced by
+Harvey. His methods were more subtile. He sought to make men obedient to
+his will by holding out to them offices of profit or honor. The people
+of Charles City County complained that Sir William, "aspiring to a sole
+and absolute power over us ... greatly neglecting the Council ... did
+take upon him the sole naming and appointing of other persons in their
+room and place such as himself best liked and thought fittest for his
+purposes."<a name="FNanchor_2_176" id="FNanchor_2_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_176" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The men who sat around the Council table with him might
+perhaps venture an opinion now and then, but they dared not arouse his
+brittle temper by opposing him when once he had made up his mind. To do
+so might lose one a collector's place, or a colonelship in the militia,
+or even one's seat on the Council.</p>
+
+<p>The situation in the House of Burgesses was similar. Berkeley was
+shameless in corrupting the representatives of the people by handing out
+jobs. It was testified that he took on himself the sole appointment of
+all officers, military as well as civil. Offices were created merely "to
+increase the number of his party ... all which offices he bestowed on
+such persons, how unfit or unskilful soever, he conceived would be most
+for his designs." Thus, by a skilful use of the patronage, he so gained
+upon and obliged all or the greatest number of men of parts and estates
+"as to ... do whatsoever he pleased."<a name="FNanchor_3_177" id="FNanchor_3_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_177" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>If a Burgess voted as Sir William wished, he could count on perhaps a
+sheriff's place, perhaps a collector's place, almost certainly a
+commission in the militia. If the Burgesses of 1666 wore their uniforms
+when they took their seats, the session must have assumed a military
+aspect, for, of the thirty who attended, six were colonels, two
+lieutenant colonels, one major, and fourteen captains.</p>
+
+<p>Having in this way made a majority of the Burgesses subservient to his
+will, Berkeley used his right of prorogation to retain them
+indefinitely. In this bit of political strategy he could justify himself
+with the thought that he had the example of his royal master. The Long
+Assembly of Virginia was the counterpart of the Long Parliament of
+England. For sixteen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> years he refused to hold a general election, and
+he probably congratulated himself that in the colony there was but a
+mockery of self-government. The Burgesses might betray the interests of
+the people with impunity; they could not be made to answer at the polls.
+So it was with bitterness that the people paid their taxes for the
+salaries of men over whom they had no control. The people of Charles
+City County complained that their representatives had been "overswayed
+by the power and prevalency" of Berkeley and his Council, and had
+neglected their grievances.<a name="FNanchor_4_178" id="FNanchor_4_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_178" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>As Sir William was supreme in the Assembly, so he was supreme in local
+government. The justices of the county courts were his appointees. The
+well-paid sheriffs' office, which he made the stepping stone to the
+House of Burgesses, was his to fill. So the county courts, in exercising
+their judicial, legislative, and executive powers, dared not act
+contrary to his will.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley had prided himself on having won the affection of the people in
+his first administration. One wonders whether he realized that this
+affection was turning to hatred. Nathaniel Bacon accused him of
+enriching a few favorites at the expense of the people, and of glaring
+injustice to individual men. "All the power and sway is got into the
+hands of the rich, who by extortious advantages ... have curbed and
+oppressed them in all manner of ways," Bacon wrote in a fiery
+manifesto.<a name="FNanchor_5_179" id="FNanchor_5_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_179" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> The constant breach of laws, unjust prosecutions, excuses,
+and evasions, showed that the men in power were running the government
+"as if it were but to play a booty, game, or divide a spoil." Nor was
+there any hope of redress, for to lay the people's grievances before the
+House of Burgesses was to appeal "to the very persons our complaints do
+accuse."<a name="FNanchor_6_180" id="FNanchor_6_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_180" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>Some of the Burgesses, as well as the members of the Council, could
+expect large grants of land if they were in the Governor's good graces.
+"Some take up 2,000 acres, some 3,000, and others 10,000, and many more
+have taken up 30,000," it was said. Unable to cultivate such vast
+tracts, they merely built little shacks, or perhaps "hog houses" on them
+so as not to forfeit the deed. When the soil of the little farms of the
+poor began to wear out, or when new settlers arrived, the only
+available<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> land was on the frontier. Here they made a precarious living
+on "barren lands" where they were in constant danger from the
+Indians.<a name="FNanchor_7_181" id="FNanchor_7_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_181" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p>But the most urgent complaint was of the heavy load of taxes. When the
+sheriff came to the poor planter to demand a part of his little crop of
+tobacco, he wanted to know to what use it would be put. He knew that a
+goodly share went to Governor Berkeley, some to the Councillors, some to
+pay the salaries of the Burgesses, but much was not accounted for. When
+the members of the county courts retired into a private room to lay the
+local levy, there were angry murmurs of fraud. Of course they will not
+tell us what the taxes are for, because part of the money they put in
+their own pockets, it was said.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon echoed these charges. "See what sponges have sucked up the public
+wealth, and whether it hath not been privately contrived away by
+unworthy favorites, by vile juggling parasites whose tottering fortunes
+have been repaired and supported."<a name="FNanchor_8_182" id="FNanchor_8_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_182" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> And the small farmer cursed as
+Lady Berkeley drove by in her coach, or when they viewed the Governor's
+wide acres, his six houses, his four hundred cattle, his great flock of
+sheep, his sixty horses, his well-filled barns. Few had ever seen his
+costly plate, but its fame must have been spread abroad.<a name="FNanchor_9_183" id="FNanchor_9_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_183" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>Berkeley was accused of using the courts to punish his enemies and
+reward his favorites. A manifesto entitled "Declaration of the People,"
+said that he had "rendered contemptible the magistrates of justice by
+advancing to places of judicature scandalous and ignorant favorites."
+Colonel Henry Norwood wrote Secretary Williamson in 1667 that great
+injury had been done in the courts "by the insinuation of some that make
+advantages of the Governor's passion, age, and weakness." It was a
+grievance, he said, that in the Assembly the chairman of the committee
+to consider appeals from the county courts was usually a member of the
+Council.<a name="FNanchor_10_184" id="FNanchor_10_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_184" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>Berkeley vowed that he knew of nothing in which he had not distributed
+equal justice to all men, but there is reason to think that he did use
+the courts to further his own interests. Thomas Mathew states that he
+cheated Thomas Lawrence out of "a considerable estate on behalf of a
+corrupt favorite," and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> we know that Lawrence never forgave him. William
+Drummond was another who had a personal grievance and it was his efforts
+to gain revenge which drove the Governor to such acts of savage cruelty
+when he had him in his power.</p>
+
+<p>Though Berkeley may have been indifferent to the rights of others, he
+was quick to complain when his own interests were concerned. He had been
+eloquent in denouncing the restrictions on the trade of Virginia under
+the Commonwealth, and now he was greatly concerned when his adored
+Charles II gave his assent to even more stringent acts. All goods sent
+to the colonies, even though of foreign growth or manufacture, must come
+by way of England; all tobacco, sugar, wool, etc., produced in the
+colonies must be shipped to England or her dominions.<a name="FNanchor_11_185" id="FNanchor_11_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_185" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>The results for Virginia were disastrous. The Dutch traders had paid
+three pence a pound for tobacco; the English merchants now offered a
+half penny or in some cases only a farthing. The mass of the people were
+reduced to poverty and rags. Secretary Ludwell reported that when the
+small planter had paid his taxes, very little remained for him for the
+support of his family. "So much too little that I can attribute it to
+nothing but the mercy of God that he has not fallen into mutiny and
+confusion."<a name="FNanchor_12_186" id="FNanchor_12_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_186" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Nine years later Ludwell had occasion to remember these
+words when the poor did fall into mutiny and confusion.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley sailed for England in May, 1661, where no doubt he talked with
+his brother Lord John Berkeley in an effort to have the Navigation Acts
+repealed. But he had no success. The fault is your own, he was told.
+Stop planting so much tobacco and produce the more useful commodities
+needed by England. Send us masts for our ships, flax for our linen, hemp
+for our ropewalks, potash for our woolens.<a name="FNanchor_13_187" id="FNanchor_13_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_187" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>Berkeley made a sincere effort to turn the colony to the production of
+commodities other than tobacco, but all his experiments ended in
+failure. Ten years later, when the Lords of Trade asked him what
+impediments there existed to trade, he blurted out: "Mighty and
+destructive by that severe act of Parliament which excludes us from
+having any commerce with any nation in Europe but our own.... If this
+were for his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> Majesty's service or the good of his subjects we should
+not repine, whatever our sufferings are for it. But on my soul it is
+contrary to both."<a name="FNanchor_14_188" id="FNanchor_14_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_188" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>Not only did the Navigation Acts impoverish Virginia, but they brought
+additional disaster to the people by provoking the Dutch to war. In 1667
+a fleet of five Dutch warships entered the Chesapeake Bay. The crew of
+the English frigate <i>Elizabeth</i>, not suspecting danger, had careened her
+to clean her bottom. So they had to stand by helpless as the enemy moved
+up and captured her. The Dutch then turned on the tobacco fleet and took
+twenty vessels.<a name="FNanchor_15_189" id="FNanchor_15_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_189" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> In a second Dutch war a desperate engagement was
+fought off Lynhaven Bay. Nine or ten of the tobacco ships, in their
+haste to get away, ran aground and were taken.<a name="FNanchor_16_190" id="FNanchor_16_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_190" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>Had Edward Johnson been in Virginia in the year 1667, he would have been
+sure that the series of misfortunes which befell the colony came as a
+sign of God's anger. "This poor, poor country ... is now reduced to a
+very miserable condition," Thomas Ludwell wrote Lord John Berkeley. "In
+April ... we had a most prodigious storm of hail, many of them as big as
+turkey eggs, which destroyed most of our young mast and cattle.... But
+on the 27th of August followed the most dreadful hurricane that ever the
+colony groaned under.... The night of it was the most dismal time that
+ever I knew or heard of, for the wind and rain raised so confused a
+noise, mixed with the continual cracks of falling houses.... But when
+the morning came and the sun risen it would have comforted us after such
+a night, had it not lighted us to the ruins of our plantations, of which
+I think not one escaped. The nearest computation is at least 10,000
+houses blown down, all the Indian grain laid flat on the ground, all the
+tobacco in the fields torn to pieces and most of that which was in the
+houses perished with them."<a name="FNanchor_17_191" id="FNanchor_17_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_191" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Even then the misfortunes of the
+planters were not ended, for in 1673 an epidemic occurred among their
+cattle, which carried off fifty thousand animals.<a name="FNanchor_18_192" id="FNanchor_18_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_192" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the midst of their suffering the people looked back on the
+Commonwealth period as a golden era. Then they had enjoyed
+self-government; now their representatives had be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>trayed them. Then the
+trade with the Dutch had brought prosperity; now the Navigation Acts had
+made their tobacco almost worthless and reduced them to rags. Then men
+were advanced to places of trust and honor because of their ability; now
+the chief offices were reserved for those who toadied to the Governor.
+Then taxes had been moderate; now they were crushing.</p>
+
+<p>The legend built up by Berkeley that Charles I had been the loving
+father of the people received a crushing blow when it became known that
+he had granted all the vast region between the Potomac and the
+Rappahannock to Lord Hopton and several other noblemen. Charles II so
+far responded to the plea of the Virginians for relief as to recall the
+patent and issue another in its place containing promises to protect
+their rights and property. But when they noted that the new patent
+required them to duplicate the quit rents of the past eleven years to
+pay off the patentees, they were in despair. This would amount to so
+vast a sum that it would wipe out many estates.<a name="FNanchor_19_193" id="FNanchor_19_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_193" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> So they appointed
+Major General Robert Smith, Colonel Francis Moryson, and Thomas Ludwell
+to plead their cause in England.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, the patent had been assigned to the Earl of St. Albans
+and three others. The agents began negotiations with these men and
+apparently purchased it for a large sum to be raised in the colony.
+Several years later Berkeley wrote that the two great taxes of sixty
+pounds of tobacco per poll to buy in the Northern patent had so aroused
+the people that many were "ripe for mutiny."</p>
+
+<p>Negotiations with St. Albans were still under way when the agents were
+amazed to find that the King had issued a patent to the Earl of
+Arlington and Lord Culpeper to all Virginia, with such rights and powers
+as to make them practically masters of the colony. To them were to go
+all escheats, quit rents, and duties formerly belonging to the Crown;
+they could create new counties and parishes, issue patents to land,
+appoint civil officers.</p>
+
+<p>This not only revokes former grants and privileges, but leaves us at the
+mercy of these lords who may look after their own interests "without
+regard to the liberty of the people," complained the Assembly. The
+common people were so wrought up "by being left to the oppression of
+their fellow subjects"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> that they might mutiny or desert the colony.<a name="FNanchor_20_194" id="FNanchor_20_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_194" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>
+Fortunately, Arlington and Culpeper agreed to give up their patent in
+exchange for a grant of the Northern Neck, with the quit rents and
+escheats.</p>
+
+<p>To protect the colony from such grants in the future, the agents now
+pleaded for a charter guaranteeing that the people should have their
+immediate dependence upon the Crown. They sought a promise, also, that
+they should be taxed only by the Assembly. Had it not been for the
+outbreak of Bacon's Rebellion the charter might have gone through, for
+twice it reached the great seal. As it was, when it was granted it
+contained little more than the promise that Virginia should be directly
+dependent on the Crown.</p>
+
+<p>Never in American history were a people more greatly wronged than the
+Virginians in the Restoration period. With Charles II repaying their
+loyalty by sacrificing them to the greed of favorites, with the Governor
+they had trusted making a mockery of self-government by corrupting the
+Burgesses, with their economic interests ignored to build up English
+commerce and shipping, they reflected bitterly that they had been
+betrayed. It was Berkeley himself who thought that if they saw an
+opportunity, the poor planters might go over to the Dutch in "hopes of
+bettering their condition by sharing the plunder of the country with
+them."<a name="FNanchor_21_195" id="FNanchor_21_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_195" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> They "speak openly there that they are in the nature of
+slaves, so that the hearts of the greatest part of them are taken away
+from his Majesty," reported a certain John Knight.<a name="FNanchor_22_196" id="FNanchor_22_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_196" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<p>In 1674, when the sheriffs began to collect the heavy taxes, there was a
+wild burst of anger. The money is not to be used for the benefit of the
+colony, it was whispered, but merely "the enriching of some few
+people."<a name="FNanchor_23_197" id="FNanchor_23_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_197" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> In two separate places the people rushed to arms,
+determined to resist. Berkeley at once issued a proclamation, requiring
+them to disperse. But had they had a leader, some "person of quality,"
+they would probably have anticipated Bacon's Rebellion by flying in the
+face of the government. As it was, by "the advice of some discreet
+persons that have an influence upon them," they refrained from
+violence.<a name="FNanchor_24_198" id="FNanchor_24_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_198" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> But in many an humble cottage there were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> prayers that God
+would send a leader to direct them in righting their many wrongs.</p>
+
+<p>This leader they found two years later in Nathaniel Bacon. The son of a
+wealthy English squire, Thomas Bacon of Friston Hall, Suffolk;
+fellow-commoner in St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge; a pupil of the great
+scientist John Ray and his companion in his celebrated tour of the
+continent, he seemed as much out of place in the forests of Virginia as
+Berkeley had been when he arrived three decades earlier. Bacon had been
+in Virginia but a few months when the Governor made him a member of the
+Council. "Gentlemen of your quality come very rarely into this country,
+and therefore when they do come are used by me with all respect,"<a name="FNanchor_25_199" id="FNanchor_25_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_199" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> he
+explained.</p>
+
+<p>It was with Sir William's friendly approbation that Bacon purchased a
+plantation at Curles Neck, on the James, forty miles above Jamestown. He
+bought also, a "quarter," or farm to be managed by an overseer, on the
+frontier at the site of Richmond. "I chose to seat myself so remote, I
+having always delighted in solitude," he said.<a name="FNanchor_26_200" id="FNanchor_26_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_200" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>Bacon soon found himself at odds with the dictatorial Governor. It seems
+probable that prowling Indians made off with some of his livestock and
+that he, without consulting Berkeley, had retaliated. When Sir William
+reproved him, he lost his temper and was guilty of "unbecoming
+deportment."<a name="FNanchor_27_201" id="FNanchor_27_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_201" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> At the meetings of the Council he obviously did not
+like the way things were conducted, for he absented himself as much as
+possible.</p>
+
+<p>When he was in Jamestown it is certain that he knew both Lawrence and
+Drummond. In fact it is probable that he boarded with Mrs. Lawrence, who
+took in paying guests, and no doubt was one of several persons accused
+of keeping ordinaries "at extraordinary prices." When the Assembly or
+the General Court was in session, her house was crowded. To her clients
+Lawrence, in so subtle a manner as not to cause suspicion, suggested the
+possibility of curbing "the forwardness, avarice, and French despotic
+methods of the Governor."<a name="FNanchor_28_202" id="FNanchor_28_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_202" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> That he poured out the story of his own
+and the people's wrongs in Bacon's ears, and that Bacon proved a
+sympathetic listener,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> hardly admits of a doubt. Otherwise he would not
+have risked his neck to seek him and Drummond out for a midnight
+conference after Berkeley had proclaimed him a rebel.</p>
+
+<p>With Virginia a mass of explosives, the match which set them off was an
+Indian war. The Susquehannocks, a tribe friendly with the whites, had
+been attacked by the Senecas and driven from their towns at the head of
+the Chesapeake Bay to the north bank of the Potomac near the site of
+Fort Washington. Here they began a series of raids on the plantations on
+both sides of the river in search of food. When a band of Indians of
+another tribe crossed over to Virginia, killed several people, and
+escaped into Maryland, an enraged party of whites pursued them.
+Unfortunately, they made the mistake of attacking the Susquehannocks and
+killing fourteen of them. The Susquehannocks retaliated with a series of
+murders, and the Indian war was on.<a name="FNanchor_29_203" id="FNanchor_29_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_203" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p>
+
+<p>While the Virginians and Marylanders were gathering their forces, the
+Indians busied themselves building a fort with high embankments, moat,
+and corner bastions. It presented so formidable an appearance that
+before attacking it the white commanders summoned the Indian "great men"
+to a parley. But when they came out, Major Trueman, of the Maryland
+forces, charging them with the recent murders, had them knocked on the
+head. Infuriated at this breach of faith, the Indians in the fort made a
+successful resistance, and at last broke through the besieging forces,
+made their way up the left bank of the river, and crossed over to
+Virginia.<a name="FNanchor_30_204" id="FNanchor_30_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_204" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>Falling upon the frontier plantations, they took ample revenge for the
+murder of their "great men." In a few days they had wiped out a number
+of families. Dragging off their miserable captives to secluded spots in
+the forest, they staged scenes of horror that would have staggered the
+imagination of a Dante. Some they roasted alive and cut off pieces of
+their flesh, which they offered to their other victims. Others they
+bound to stakes, pulled their nails off, stuck feathers in their flesh,
+ripped them open and wound their entrails around the trunks of
+trees.<a name="FNanchor_31_205" id="FNanchor_31_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_205" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>Memories of the days when he led his men to victory over Opechancanoe
+must have come to Sir William, but he was now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> too old to take the
+field. But he collected a strong force to go out against the Indians,
+and gave the command to Sir Henry Chicheley. Then, to everyone's
+amazement, he changed his mind and disbanded the soldiers.<a name="FNanchor_32_206" id="FNanchor_32_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_206" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> This he
+seems to have done for fear Chicheley might not be able to discriminate
+between friendly and unfriendly Indians. He stated that he planned to
+use the Pamunkeys and Appomatox to be his "spies and intelligence to
+find out the more bloody enemies."</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, these tribes were no longer friendly. The gradual
+encroaching on their lands by the frontier families had forced them to
+"live remote in the woods," and caused them to harbor a deep sense of
+injustice. But even after Berkeley finally came to realize this, and
+admitted that the neighboring tribes were aiding the Susquehannocks, he
+kept reverting to this policy.</p>
+
+<p>So, when the savages renewed their raids, he called the Assembly
+together and pushed through legislation for a defensive war. It called
+for the erection of forts on the frontier, the enlistment of five
+hundred men, and the use of friendly Indians.<a name="FNanchor_33_207" id="FNanchor_33_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_207" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+
+<p>To the exposed families this seemed mere folly. Is it not easy for the
+Indians to sneak in between forts to fall upon us and commit their
+devilish murders? they asked. We are already burdened enough with taxes
+without having more piled on for works which give us no protection. What
+is needed is a large mobile force to seek out the enemy and destroy
+them. When petition after petition reached Berkeley, asking him to send
+a leader, it merely aroused his brittle temper. As one group stood
+humbly before him, they spoke of themselves as "Your Honor's subjects."
+"Why you are a set of fools and loggerheads. You are the King's
+subjects, and so am I. A pox take you."<a name="FNanchor_34_208" id="FNanchor_34_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_208" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
+
+<p>In this Berkeley made his greatest mistake. Since he would not send the
+frontiersmen a leader of his own selection, they picked a leader for
+themselves. When the dread news spread in Charles City County that large
+bodies of Indians were on the upper James ready to descend on them,
+hundreds of angry men assembled in arms to resist them. Bacon, whose
+outer plantation had been plundered by the Indians and his overseer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+murdered, was easily persuaded to join them. When he appeared a shout
+went up, "A Bacon! A Bacon! A Bacon! A Bacon!" From that moment they
+were ready to follow wherever he would lead.</p>
+
+<p>From the first Bacon made it clear that he would try to redress the
+people's grievances as well as save them from the Indians. As the
+frontiersmen gathered around him he addressed them, denouncing "the
+government as negligent and wicked," calling the ruling clique
+"treacherous and incapable," the "laws and taxes unjust and oppressive,"
+and dwelling on "the absolute necessity of redress."<a name="FNanchor_35_209" id="FNanchor_35_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_209" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> Amid the shouts
+of approval he made them sign a large paper, "writing their names
+circular-wise that the ringleaders might not be found out." He then sent
+out "emissaries" to all parts of the colony to denounce the Governor,
+complain of the restrictions on the franchise, and demand the dismissal
+of the Long Assembly and a new election of Burgesses.<a name="FNanchor_36_210" id="FNanchor_36_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_210" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> Instantly he
+became the hero of the people, "the only patron of the country and the
+preserver of their lives and fortunes."</p>
+
+<p>He hoped to gain his ends by peaceful means, and wrote the Governor
+asking for a commission to fight the Indians. When Berkeley, enraged at
+the accusations of misgovernment, proclaimed him a rebel, he wrote that
+he had taken up arms only to defend the country against the Indians. He
+then marched into New Kent, a county "ripe for rebellion" to attack the
+Pamunkeys, whom he had reason to believe had participated in some of the
+murderous raids. But when they fled, he turned south in pursuit of a
+band of Susquehannocks. When he arrived at the Roanoke River, the
+Occaneechees, a friendly tribe living on an island in the river,
+volunteered to go out and give battle to the Susquehannocks. But after
+they had defeated them and returned to the island they became involved
+in a quarrel with Bacon. A desperate battle ensued in which the Indians
+were defeated and forced to flee. After gathering up the spoils, Bacon
+turned his face homeward.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, Berkeley had raised a force of three hundred men to
+intercept Bacon at the falls of the James. But he hastened back when he
+received word that the people everywhere were rising against him.
+Astonished, he asked the Council<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> what the people wanted. They replied
+that they were crying out against his refusal to hold an election for so
+many years, and the denial to many of the right to vote. Since
+Berkeley's whole structure of political control was based on these two
+points, to waive them must have seemed to him like complete surrender.
+But he yielded, and called for an election of Burgesses in which all
+freemen had the right to vote.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley watched anxiously as the returns came in, and his henchmen, one
+after the other, were defeated. When on June 5, 1676, the Burgesses
+assembled in the little statehouse in Jamestown, all but eight were of
+"Bacon's faction." Bacon, himself was elected as one of the
+representatives of Henrico County. Had he been permitted to take his
+seat, with an overwhelming majority behind him, he undoubtedly would
+have dominated the proceedings and pushed through the reforms he had
+demanded.</p>
+
+<p>But he was not destined to take his seat. Instead of coming to Jamestown
+on horse with a strong force, and posting the men in or near the town,
+he set out in his sloop with only forty armed men. When they attempted
+to land they were fired on. That night Bacon slipped into town and held
+a long conference with Lawrence and Drummond.<a name="FNanchor_37_211" id="FNanchor_37_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_211" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> We can only surmise
+what passed between these two embittered men and the daring young
+leader. But it is safe to say that they discussed, not only Berkeley's
+"French despotism," but what reforms Bacon should propose in the
+Assembly. It is probable that Lawrence and Drummond had already talked
+with some of the pro-Bacon leaders, for the Governor warned the
+Burgesses not to be misled by these "two rogues."</p>
+
+<p>As Bacon was returning to his sloop he was discovered and captured and
+brought before the Governor.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I behold the greatest rebel that ever was in Virginia," Sir William
+said.</p>
+
+<p>Then, after a pause, he asked: "Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a
+gentleman?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, may it please your honor."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, I'll take your parole."</p>
+
+<p>A few days later, when the Council and Burgesses were assembled in the
+Statehouse, Berkeley rose and said:</p>
+
+<p>"If there be joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> that
+repenteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before
+us. Call Mr. Bacon."</p>
+
+<p>Bacon then stepped forward and handed in his written submission. The
+Governor resumed:</p>
+
+<p>"God forgive you! I forgive you!"</p>
+
+<p>"And all that were with him?" asked one of the Councillors.</p>
+
+<p>"Yea, and all that were with him. Mr. Bacon, if you will live civilly
+but till next quarter court I will promise to restore you again to your
+place there," resumed the Governor, pointing to Bacon's vacant seat.<a name="FNanchor_38_212" id="FNanchor_38_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_212" class="fnanchor">[38]</a>
+In fact it was the very next day that he reappointed him to the Council.</p>
+
+<p>Philip Ludwell explained this great leniency by pointing out that there
+were hundreds of armed men within a day's march of Jamestown ready to
+revenge any harm done to their leader. But Berkeley had an additional
+motive. Bacon in the Council was far less dangerous than Bacon in the
+House of Burgesses. In the Council he would be under his watchful eye;
+in the House he would put himself at the head of the majority in pushing
+through reform measures.</p>
+
+<p>So Bacon had to sit as a helpless and dissatisfied spectator, as
+Berkeley once more dominated the Assembly. Thomas Mathew, who was
+present, tells us that "some gentlemen took this opportunity to endeavor
+the redressing several grievances the country then labored under," when
+they were interrupted by pressing messages from the Governor to meddle
+with nothing until the Indian business was dispatched.</p>
+
+<p>With the matter of reform sidetracked, there followed a debate as to
+whether two Councillors should be asked to sit on the committee on
+Indian affairs. "The great sway that those of the Council bear over the
+rest of the Assembly in matters of laws and also in orders upon appeals,
+being commonly appointed chairman in all committees,"<a name="FNanchor_39_213" id="FNanchor_39_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_213" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> had been a
+long-standing grievance. So now one member rose and pointed out that if
+they had bad customs they had come together to correct them. In the end
+the matter "was huddled off without coming to a vote, and so the
+committee must submit to be overawed, and have every carped at
+expression carried straight to the Governor."<a name="FNanchor_40_214" id="FNanchor_40_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_214" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>Bacon grew more and more restive as he saw the way things were going.
+The Assembly did not prove "answerable to our expectation," for which
+they should be censured, he said later. When a motion was presented to
+request Berkeley not to resign, he must have looked on with disgust as
+enough pro-Bacon men assented for it to pass.</p>
+
+<p>So under the pretext that his wife was ill, he got permission to leave
+town. Then, instead of visiting Curles Neck, he headed for Henrico. Here
+his veterans gathered around him. When they heard that he had suffered
+humiliation, that he had been denied a commission, and that their
+grievances had not been redressed, they "set their throats in one common
+key of oaths and curses." We will have a commission or "pull down the
+town," they said. "Thus the raging torrent came down to town."<a name="FNanchor_41_215" id="FNanchor_41_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_215" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+<p>Berkeley made hasty preparations to resist them. But it was too late. In
+Jamestown all was confusion. The cry was: "To arms! To arms! Bacon is
+within two miles of the town." When the Governor realized that
+resistance would be useless, he ordered the guns to be dismantled, and
+returned to the statehouse. So the motley army streamed into the
+village&mdash;weatherbeaten frontiersmen, demanding to be led out against the
+Indians; poor planters, seeking relief from heavy taxes; freedmen made
+desperate by hunger and nakedness. The common cry was, "No levies! No
+levies!"<a name="FNanchor_42_216" id="FNanchor_42_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_216" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses, hearing the <ins class="correct" title="hubub">hubbub</ins>, rushed to the windows of their hall
+on the second story of the statehouse to witness the exciting scenes
+below. Bacon had asked them to grant him his commission, and now he
+called up to them, "You Burgesses, I expect your speedy result."
+Whereupon his men cocked their fusils and aimed them at the windows.
+"For God's sake hold your hands, forbear a little and you shall have
+what you please," cried the Burgesses.<a name="FNanchor_43_217" id="FNanchor_43_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_217" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p>
+
+<p>And have it they did. It was now Berkeley's turn to be humiliated. He
+was forced to make Bacon General of all the forces in Virginia. When
+this was followed with a demand that he write the King a letter
+testifying to Bacon's loyalty and the legality of all he had done, he
+could no longer contain himself. Rushing out he threw back his coat and
+cried out; "Here, shoot me, fore God fair mark." Bacon replied that he
+would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> not hurt a hair of his head. And in the end he got the letter he
+wanted.<a name="FNanchor_44_218" id="FNanchor_44_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_218" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p>
+
+<p>He also got "the redress of the people's grievances," he told Berkeley
+he had come for. He mounted the stairs to the long room where the
+Burgesses sat and "pressed hard, nigh an hour's harangue," not only on
+preserving the colony from the Indians, but on "inspecting the revenues,
+the exorbitant taxes, and redressing the grievances of that deplorable
+country." Then, to his surprise, he learned that a series of reform laws
+had already been put through.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon's escape from Jamestown had confronted the Assembly with a
+completely changed situation. No longer was he a virtual prisoner under
+the Governor's eye and his veterans without a leader. Now he was at
+their head once more to march on the town and revenge their wrongs with
+arms in their hands. "We have all the reason in the world to suspect
+that their designs are ruinous," said Philip Ludwell. So the pro-Bacon
+majority in the Assembly took advantage of the general alarm to rush
+through a remarkable series of reform laws that struck at the very basis
+of Berkeley's power. Sir William certainly would not have affixed his
+signature had he not considered his situation desperate. Some months
+later, after the rebellion had been suppressed, all the laws of this
+session were repealed on the ground that they had been secured by
+violence.</p>
+
+<p>These bills may have been outlined by Bacon, Lawrence, and Drummond
+during their famous midnight conference and introduced by some friend in
+the House. They may have been drawn up by the committee on grievances.
+Thomas Blayton was later accused of being "Bacon's great engine" in the
+Assembly, and James Minge, the clerk, of being "another Bacon's great
+friends in forming the laws." Virginia historians have long called them
+Bacon's Laws and rightly, since they struck at the abuses he had
+denounced, were passed in an Assembly dominated by his friends, and
+under the pressure of his armed forces.</p>
+
+<p>The very enactment of Bacon's Laws throws a flood of light on the abuses
+they were intended to rectify. They broadened the franchise by giving
+all freemen the right to vote; they restored a degree of democracy in
+local government by giving the people a voice in assessing county taxes
+and in naming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> vestrymen and by barring Councillors from sitting on the
+county courts; they fixed fees for sheriffs and other officials; they
+struck at the Governor's appointive power by making it illegal for
+sheriffs to serve more than one year at a time, or for anyone to hold
+more than one of the offices of sheriff, clerk of the court, surveyor,
+or escheator at the same time.<a name="FNanchor_45_219" id="FNanchor_45_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_219" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> Far-reaching though they were,
+Bacon's Laws did not include an act to prohibit officeholders from
+sitting in the Assembly. Such a law, if permitted to stand, would have
+put an end forever to the Berkeley system of rule by placemen.</p>
+
+<p>After Bacon left Jamestown to battle with the Indians the colony might
+have enjoyed internal peace had Berkeley remained quiet, contenting
+himself with placing the whole matter before the King. But he tried to
+raise forces to take the rebels in the rear, and civil war resulted.</p>
+
+<p>In this war Bacon at first seemed to sweep all before him. As he led his
+men back from the frontier he was everywhere hailed as the people's
+friend and savior. On the other hand, none but a handful remained loyal
+to the Governor, so that he was forced to take refuge across the
+Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore.</p>
+
+<p>When Bacon found himself master of all Virginia except Northampton and
+Accomac Counties, he set up his headquarters at Middle Plantation, the
+site of Williamsburg. Here he was joined by Lawrence and Drummond, who
+seem to have helped him in drawing up a manifesto against Berkeley, and
+in holding a conference with a number of leading planters and binding
+them by oath to be faithful to him.<a name="FNanchor_46_220" id="FNanchor_46_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_220" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p>
+
+<p>Soon after this Bacon held a conversation with a certain John Goode
+which shows that he had thoughts of extending his rebellion to
+neighboring colonies and setting up an independent state.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a report that Sir William Berkeley hath sent to the King for
+2,000 redcoats, and I do believe it may be true," said Bacon. "Tell me
+your opinion, may not 500 Virginians beat them, we having the same
+advantages against them the Indians have against us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I rather conceive 500 redcoats may either subject or ruin Virginia,"
+Goode replied.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You talk strangely. Are we not acquainted with the country, can lay
+ambushes, and take to trees and put them by the use of their discipline,
+and are doubtless as good or better shots than they?"</p>
+
+<p>"But they can accomplish what I have said without hazard ... by ...
+landing where there shall be no opposition, firing our houses and
+fences, ... preventing all trade."</p>
+
+<p>Bacon replied that he knew how to prevent this.</p>
+
+<p>Goode then pointed out that all the principal men in the country would
+join the redcoats.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," he added, "you speak as though you designed a total defection
+from his Majesty and our country."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, have not many princes lost their dominions so?" asked Bacon.</p>
+
+<p>Goode replied that his followers did not think themselves engaged
+against the King's authority, but against the Indians.</p>
+
+<p>"But I think otherwise, and I am confident of it that it is the mind of
+this country, and of Maryland and Carolina also to cast off their
+Governors, ... and if we cannot prevail by arms to make our conditions
+for peace, or obtain the privilege to elect our own Governor, we may
+retire to Roanoke."<a name="FNanchor_47_221" id="FNanchor_47_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_221" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p>
+
+<p>Whether Bacon could have enlisted the peoples of Carolina and Maryland
+in his cause, secured naval and military aid from the Dutch, and
+anticipated the American Revolution by a century, must remain in the
+realm of speculation. But before he could proceed far with his plans he
+suffered an irreparable disaster&mdash;he lost command of the water.</p>
+
+<p>In Bacon's Rebellion, as in the Revolution and the War between the
+States, the great Virginia rivers made it possible for the side which
+had superior naval forces to penetrate into the heart of the country,
+while they proved a barrier to the movement of troops by land. So when
+several merchant vessels, which Bacon had seized and armed, fell into
+Berkeley's hands, leaving him the undisputed master in Virginia waters,
+the rebel cause became almost hopeless.<a name="FNanchor_48_222" id="FNanchor_48_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_222" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p>
+
+<p>Yet it is remarkable that when the Governor had assembled a formidable
+force, brought them up the James, and occupied Jamestown, Bacon
+succeeded in driving him out. The place seemed impregnable, since the
+only approach was over a narrow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> isthmus, protected by barricades and
+guarded by the cannon of the ships in the river. Berkeley himself
+supplies the explanation when he reported that his men refused to fight,
+but in spite of his urgent pleas, hurried him on shipboard and away.<a name="FNanchor_49_223" id="FNanchor_49_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_223" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p>
+
+<p>So Bacon's men entered the little capital unopposed. But they realized
+that they could not hold it, for Berkeley's fleet was still nearby,
+while other loyalist forces were threatening from the north. After a
+consultation, the leaders decided to burn the town. Lawrence applied the
+torch to his own house. Drummond to his, Bacon to the little church,
+others to Berkeley's five houses, and the statehouse.<a name="FNanchor_50_224" id="FNanchor_50_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_224" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> As Berkeley
+saw the flames rising above the rooftops and reflected on the waters of
+the James he cursed the cowardice of the men who had forced him to
+desert the place.</p>
+
+<p>But now the end was at hand for Bacon. While at the house of Major
+Thomas Pate, in Gloucester County, he became ill of dysentery. As he lay
+on his deathbed, he kept inquiring whether the redcoats had arrived, and
+whether there was a strong guard around the house. We do not know
+whether his wife was there to comfort him in his last hours, but it is
+probable that she was far away at Curles Neck. He died October 26, 1676.
+Knowing that Berkeley would want to expose the body on a gibbet,
+Lawrence is said to have disposed of it in secret, probably with a night
+service somewhere in the Virginia woods, and then to have had a public
+funeral with a casket weighted with stones.<a name="FNanchor_51_225" id="FNanchor_51_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_225" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p>
+
+<p>Bacon was mourned in many a humble cottage throughout the colony. Who
+now would lead the people in their struggle to gain their rights? One of
+his followers wrote in touching verse that death had ended "our hopes of
+safety, liberty, our all."<a name="FNanchor_52_226" id="FNanchor_52_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_226" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> There was no one else who had won the
+confidence and affection of the people to take his place.</p>
+
+<p>The struggle continued for three more months, the rebels won more
+victories, but something like anarchy ensued. There was no central
+government, some of the county courts were closed, crops were rotting in
+the fields, servants and slaves left their masters to join the rebel
+forces, there was indiscriminate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> plundering, the masters of the
+incoming merchant vessels refused to sell their goods to the rebels or
+buy what tobacco they had on hand.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Berkeley got his hands on some of Bacon's followers, he began
+a series of executions unparalleled in American history. Thomas Hansford
+pleaded that he might be shot like a soldier, but Sir William told him
+he was condemned, not as a soldier, but as a rebel. As he stood on the
+scaffold he addressed the assembled crowd, declaring that he died a
+loyal subject and lover of his country.<a name="FNanchor_53_227" id="FNanchor_53_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_227" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> When Major Cheeseman was
+brought before the Governor, his wife rushed in to plead that she be
+hanged and her husband spared. Berkeley spurned her with a vile insult.
+Cheeseman cheated the hangman by dying in prison.<a name="FNanchor_54_228" id="FNanchor_54_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_228" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> But Captain
+Wilford, George Farloe, Thomas Young, and others soon followed Hansford
+to the gallows.</p>
+
+<p>The end came before the arrival of the English troops. Group after group
+surrendered, and their leaders took the oath of loyalty, kissed the
+Governor's hand, and were pardoned. But there was no pardon for Bacon's
+two chief advisers. "I so much hate Drummond and Lawrence that though
+they could put the country in peace into my hands, I would not accept it
+from such villains," Berkeley declared.<a name="FNanchor_55_229" id="FNanchor_55_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_229" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p>
+
+<p>Lawrence escaped. He was last seen with four others on the extreme
+frontier, riding through the snow and disappearing into the forest.
+Their fate is unknown. Drummond was found hiding in Chickahominy Swamp
+and brought before the Governor. He was greeted with a mocking bow. "Mr.
+Drummond, you are very welcome. I am more glad to see you than any man
+in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in half an hour." He was
+treated with savage brutality, and then, after the pretence of a trial,
+hurried off to the scaffold.<a name="FNanchor_56_230" id="FNanchor_56_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_230" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p>
+
+<p>Bacon and Drummond did not die in vain. Though they and thousands of
+others were stigmatized as rebels and traitors, though the cause they
+contended for ended in disastrous failure, Bacon's Rebellion had a
+lasting influence on American history. It served as a warning that
+Americans would not submit to misgovernment and despotism under whatever
+form. Had not the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> British Government under George III forgotten that
+warning there might have been no American Revolution.</p>
+
+<p>To contend, as some have done, that Bacon's Rebellion was no more than a
+quarrel between a rash young man and an old fool, is to make the most
+shallow interpretation. Men do not rush to arms, and risk their lives
+and property in a wild uprising because of a dispute between
+individuals. As Professor Charles M. Andrews has pointed out,
+revolutions "are the detonations of explosive materials, long
+accumulating and often dormant. They are the resultant of a vast complex
+of economic, political, social, and legal forces, which taken
+collectively are the masters, not the servants, of statesmen and
+political agitators. They are never sudden in their origin, but look
+back to influences long in the making."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_175" id="Footnote_1_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_175"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> William Edmundson, <i>Journal</i>, 71, 72.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_176" id="Footnote_2_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_176"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 3: 134.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_177" id="Footnote_3_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_177"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 135.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_178" id="Footnote_4_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_178"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 3: 141, 142.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_179" id="Footnote_5_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_179"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> CO5-1371, p. 241.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_180" id="Footnote_6_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_180"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i>, "Virginia's Deplored Condition."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_181" id="Footnote_7_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_181"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 1: 173.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_182" id="Footnote_8_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_182"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i>, "Bacon's Manifesto."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_183" id="Footnote_9_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_183"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Berkeley to Right Honorable, Feb. 9, 1677.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_184" id="Footnote_10_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_184"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> CO1-21, Norwood to Williamson, 17, 1667.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_185" id="Footnote_11_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_185"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> G. L. Beer, <i>The old colonial system</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_186" id="Footnote_12_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_186"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> CO1-21.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_187" id="Footnote_13_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_187"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> CO1-16.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_188" id="Footnote_14_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_188"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> CO1-26, p. 77.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_189" id="Footnote_15_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_189"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> COl-21, pp. 61, 62.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_190" id="Footnote_16_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_190"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> CO1-30, pp. 51, 53.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_191" id="Footnote_17_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_191"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> CO1-21.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_192" id="Footnote_18_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_192"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> CO1-30, pp. 17, 51.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_193" id="Footnote_19_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_193"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i>, "The Assembly to the King." Sept., 1674.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_194" id="Footnote_20_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_194"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, July 1, 1776.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_195" id="Footnote_21_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_195"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> CO1-30, p. 51.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_196" id="Footnote_22_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_196"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> CO1-30, p. 78.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_197" id="Footnote_23_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_197"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> CO1-36, p. 37.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_198" id="Footnote_24_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_198"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> CO1-36, p. 55.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_199" id="Footnote_25_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_199"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i>, Berkeley to Bacon, Sept. 21, 1675.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_200" id="Footnote_26_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_200"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, July 18, 1675.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_201" id="Footnote_27_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_201"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_202" id="Footnote_28_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_202"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Thomas Mathew, <i>Bacon's rebellion</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_203" id="Footnote_29_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_203"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> T. J. Wertenbaker, <i>Virginia under the Stuarts</i>, 146,
+147.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_204" id="Footnote_30_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_204"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> CO1-36, p. 78. 605-1381, p. 367.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_205" id="Footnote_31_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_205"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Bath papers.</i> May 23, 1676.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_206" id="Footnote_32_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_206"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> CO5-1371, pp. 373, 411.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_207" id="Footnote_33_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_207"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> CO5-1371, pp. 373, 411.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_208" id="Footnote_34_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_208"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> CO1-40, p. 106.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_209" id="Footnote_35_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_209"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> p. 377.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_210" id="Footnote_36_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_210"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i>, "The Council to Most Honorable."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_211" id="Footnote_37_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_211"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> CO5-1371, p. 380.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_212" id="Footnote_38_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_212"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Thomas Mathew, <i>Bacon's rebellion</i>, 12, 13.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_213" id="Footnote_39_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_213"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> CO1-21. Henry Norwood to Sec. Williamson, July 17, 1667.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_214" id="Footnote_40_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_214"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Thomas Mathew, <i>Bacon's rebellion</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_215" id="Footnote_41_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_215"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> CO5-1371, pp. 381, 382.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_216" id="Footnote_42_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_216"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> CO1-37, p. 17.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_217" id="Footnote_43_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_217"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> CO5-1371, p. 382.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_218" id="Footnote_44_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_218"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> It is in the British Public Record Office.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_219" id="Footnote_45_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_219"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 2: 353, 357, 359.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_220" id="Footnote_46_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_220"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> CO1-37, p. 42.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_221" id="Footnote_47_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_221"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> CO5-1371, pp. 232-240.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_222" id="Footnote_48_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_222"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 394.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_223" id="Footnote_49_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_223"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i> 1: 350-355.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_224" id="Footnote_50_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_224"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 355; CO5-1371, p. 405.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_225" id="Footnote_51_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_225"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Virginia Historical Register</i> 3: 133, 134.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_226" id="Footnote_52_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_226"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> T. J. Wertenbaker, <i>Torchbearer of the revolution</i>, 179,
+180.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_227" id="Footnote_53_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_227"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> <i>Ingram's proceedings</i>, 33.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_228" id="Footnote_54_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_228"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 35.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_229" id="Footnote_55_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_229"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i> 3: 170.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_230" id="Footnote_56_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_230"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>Virginia Historical Register</i> 3: 135; <i>Ingram's
+proceedings</i>, 49.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br />
+<br />
+RECONSTRUCTION AND DESPOTISM</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">When the news of Bacon's Rebellion reached Charles II he thought it past
+belief that "so considerable a body of men, without the least grievance
+or oppression, should rise up in arms and overturn the government." He
+did not stop to consider that he himself, by giving away huge areas in
+the colony to favorites, was in part responsible, or that the passage of
+the Navigation Acts and the consequent precipitous break in the price of
+tobacco could be called a grievance. As for Berkeley's policy of rule by
+placemen, if he knew anything about it, he could but reflect that he
+himself had set the example.</p>
+
+<p>But he realized that something had to be done, not only to restore
+order, but to remove at least some of the causes of discontent. So he
+appointed Colonel Herbert Jeffreys, Sir John Berry, and Colonel Francis
+Moryson a committee to go to Virginia to enquire into all grievances and
+report back to him. As for Berkeley, though he was to retain the title
+of Governor, he was ordered to return to England "with all possible
+speed." During his absence Jeffreys was to be Lieutenant Governor, with
+all the powers of Governor.<a name="FNanchor_1_231" id="FNanchor_1_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_231" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>The King then drew up a proclamation, which he directed Jeffreys to
+publish in the colony, stating that he was willing to extend his royal
+compassion to all except Bacon who would return to their duty and
+obedience, and authorizing the Governor in his name to pardon all he
+thought "fit and convenient for our service."<a name="FNanchor_2_232" id="FNanchor_2_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_232" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> But he mingled force
+with leniency by placing a thousand well-equipped men under Jeffrey's
+command. For the second time within twenty-five years an English
+expedition set sail to bring the Virginians to "obedience." Berry and
+Moryson, with part of the army, arrived in the James River in January,
+1677, and Jeffreys soon followed with the rest.<a name="FNanchor_3_233" id="FNanchor_3_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_233" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>They found the colony in a deplorable condition. With the people bitter
+and sullen, with neighbor arrayed against neighbor, with hundreds of
+houses and barns in ashes, with trade disrupted, there was need for
+unselfish and statesmanlike guidance. There should have been an
+immediate restoration of the rule of law, so that no man could be made
+to suffer without a trial before his peers. There should have been an
+election of Burgesses, in which the people could make their choices
+without pressure from the Governor and the Council. There should have
+been an honest effort to assuage flaming resentments, to give heed to
+the people's grievances, to unite all classes in binding up the wounds
+of war and bringing peace and some measure of prosperity to the
+distracted colony.</p>
+
+<p>The situation was not unlike that in the South at the close of the War
+between the States. And as the South, after the assassination of
+President Lincoln, was left a prey to vultures&mdash;the so-called
+Carpetbaggers and Scaliwags&mdash;Virginia after the collapse of Bacon's
+Rebellion, was sacrificed to the vindictiveness and greed of Berkeley
+and his supporters.</p>
+
+<p>"Two wrongs do not make a right." Though a loyalist may have suffered
+severely by the plundering of rebel bands, he was not justified in
+trying to make good his losses by robbing a neighbor, even though that
+neighbor had sided with Bacon. But the Governor, instead of insisting
+that his friends seek restitution only through the courts, himself was
+foremost in making illegal seizures. When he returned to Green Spring,
+the sight of his plundered house and barns, and the empty meadows where
+once hundreds of cattle and sheep had grazed drove him to fury. He
+showed "a greedy determination thoroughly to heal himself before he
+cared to staunch the bleeding gashes of the woefully lacerated country,"
+by seizing men's "estates, cattle, servants, and carrying off their
+tobacco."<a name="FNanchor_4_234" id="FNanchor_4_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_234" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Some of the wretched men who were dragged before him he
+threatened with hanging unless they gave him most or all that they
+owned. A certain James Barrow was imprisoned at Green Spring, where "by
+reason of the extremity of cold, hunger, loathsomeness of vermin," he
+was forced to agree to the payment of a ruinous composition.<a name="FNanchor_5_235" id="FNanchor_5_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_235" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>The King's commissioners received a cool reception from Berkeley. He
+wanted no investigation of the causes of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> rebellion, he wanted no
+interference with his hangings and seizures. He pointed out that he had
+suppressed the rebellion before the arrival of the troops, and pretended
+to be surprised that the King had thought it necessary to send them.<a name="FNanchor_6_236" id="FNanchor_6_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_236" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
+When the commissioners told him that illegal seizures must stop, he flew
+into such a rage that they decided that future communication with him
+should be by writing. This would avoid the "loud and fierce speaking"
+necessitated by his deafness.<a name="FNanchor_7_237" id="FNanchor_7_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_237" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p>But there must have been "loud and fierce speaking" indeed when the
+commissioners went to Green Spring and showed Berkeley the King's
+proclamation of pardon, and the order that he return immediately to
+England. All his life Berkeley had regarded the King's command as
+sacred. To resist his will was as wicked as it was illegal. But now, on
+flimsy pretexts, he deliberately disobeyed him. He postponed his
+departure for three months, declaring that the word "conveniency" gave
+him the right to remain as long as he wished. He did publish the
+proclamation, but here again he found an excuse to balk the King's
+obvious intent to pardon all save Bacon. Issuing a proclamation of his
+own he "saw fit" to exempt from pardon not only a long list by name, but
+all persons then in prison charged with rebellion. Since the jails were
+overflowing, this left scores of miserable men trembling for their
+lives.</p>
+
+<p>So the trials and executions continued. Gyles Bland, despite the
+pleading of influential friends in England, was hastened off to the
+gallows. When Robert Jones showed the wounds he had received fighting
+for the King in the Civil War, Moryson pleaded with Lady Berkeley to
+intercede for him. "I would with more easiness of mind have worn the
+canvas linen the rebels said they would make me glad of," replied this
+proud lady.<a name="FNanchor_8_238" id="FNanchor_8_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_238" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Yet she weakened, and the Governor did pardon him. Others
+were not so fortunate. Not until the Assembly requested him "to hold his
+hand from all other sanguinary punishment," after a score or more had
+paid the extreme penalty, did he put an end to the executions.<a name="FNanchor_9_239" id="FNanchor_9_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_239" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>Yet the Assembly was overwhelmingly loyalist. If we may believe William
+Sherwood most of the Burgesses were Berkeley's "own creatures and chose
+by his appointments before the arrival of the commissioners."<a name="FNanchor_10_240" id="FNanchor_10_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_240" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> In the
+elections intimidation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> and even fraud were used freely. Jeffreys wrote
+that the Assembly "by reason of the unsettled condition of the country
+was not so legally nor freely elected."<a name="FNanchor_11_241" id="FNanchor_11_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_241" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> In Charles City County a
+petition was posted on the courthouse door demanding a new election on
+the grounds that there had been illegal voting.<a name="FNanchor_12_242" id="FNanchor_12_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_242" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>As was to be expected, this Assembly backed Berkeley in all he had done
+and was doing. They praised his wisdom, bravery, justice, and integrity.
+They did their best to block the commissioners in their inquiry into the
+causes of the rebellion. When the people presented their grievances they
+were denounced as "libellous, scandalous, and rebellious."<a name="FNanchor_13_243" id="FNanchor_13_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_243" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> Many
+former rebels were forced to make humble submission on their knees
+before the Governor and Council, with ropes around their necks.<a name="FNanchor_14_244" id="FNanchor_14_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_244" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Some
+were attainted, some were banished. To speak ill of the Governor and
+Council was made a high crime punishable by whipping.</p>
+
+<p>The people were deeply angered by the brutality of the Governor and his
+puppet Assembly. Governor Notley, of Maryland, thought that, should a
+leader appear who was bold enough to risk his neck, "the commons of
+Virginia would enmire themselves as deep in rebellion as ever they did
+in Bacon's time."<a name="FNanchor_15_245" id="FNanchor_15_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_245" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> Many a sullen planter eyed his fusil longingly, in
+the hope that Lawrence might emerge from the forests to head a new
+mutiny.<a name="FNanchor_16_246" id="FNanchor_16_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_246" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> "The putrid humor of our unruly inhabitants are not so
+allayed, but that they do frequently vent themselves ... and were they
+not awed by the overruling hand of his Majesty would soon express
+themselves by violent acts," wrote Secretary Nicholas Spencer.<a name="FNanchor_17_247" id="FNanchor_17_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_247" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> That
+the Assembly was not unconcerned at the danger is shown by their
+re-enacting in much the original form of several of Bacon's reform laws.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley and his friends treated Jeffreys with contempt. "A pitiful
+little fellow with a periwig," Philip Ludwell called him.<a name="FNanchor_18_248" id="FNanchor_18_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_248" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> But it
+took a woman's spite to give him the greatest insult. When the
+commissioners heard that at last Berkeley was about to leave for
+England, they called on him at Green Spring. On leaving they found the
+Governor's coach waiting for them at the door. They did not realize that
+Lady Berkeley was peeping<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> through "a broken quarrel of glass to observe
+how the show looked." But they were horrified to learn on reaching their
+destination that the coachman was the "common hangman." "The whole
+country rings of ... the public odium and disgrace cast on us, as the
+Exchange itself shortly may," they wrote.<a name="FNanchor_19_249" id="FNanchor_19_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_249" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was on May 5, 1677, that Berkeley sailed for England on the
+<i>Rebecca</i>. The passage, though quick, was a terrible one for him. As he
+paced the deck, he could but reflect that the time was at hand when he
+must account to his royal master, not only for the failure of his
+administration, but for his flagrant disobedience. By the time he
+reached England the "tedious passage and grief of mind" had reduced him
+to great weakness. But he pleaded for an opportunity to "clear his
+innocency." If it is true, as was whispered about, that word reached his
+ears that the King had said that that old fool had hanged more men in
+that naked country than he for the murder of his father, it must have
+broken his heart. He died on July 13, 1677, and was interred at
+Twickenham.</p>
+
+<p>Berkeley's departure did not bring peace to the distracted colony. The
+loyalist faction had spread the report that Jeffreys was merely Sir
+William's deputy, that he could not exercise the full powers of
+Governor, and would retire upon his return. To refute these rumors
+Jeffreys issued a proclamation a few days before Berkeley left, formally
+taking over the government. In it he declared that he had as much power
+as any other Governor, and warned all men against belittling his office.
+And he put his finger on the very foundation of the Berkelean system
+when he declared that he would strive to reform, regulate, and redress
+"all apparent abuses, oppressions, excesses, and defects in the power,
+practice, and proceedings of all county courts."<a name="FNanchor_20_250" id="FNanchor_20_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_250" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>But reform was just what the loyalists did not want. They wanted the
+grievances of the people suppressed, the county courts to be packed with
+their friends; they wished to continue their illegal seizures. The
+leader of this group was the colorful and vigorous Lady Berkeley. She
+held such frequent meetings at her home that the loyalists became known
+as the Green Spring Faction. Here came Colonel Edward Hill, "a great
+oppressor, of unparalleled impudence"; Philip Ludwell, Lady Berkeley's
+future husband; Robert Beverley, who Jeffreys de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>clared had risen from a
+"mean condition" by toadying to Berkeley; and others.<a name="FNanchor_21_251" id="FNanchor_21_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_251" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>As they sat in the spacious hall where the Assembly had met after the
+burning of the statehouse in Jamestown, they denounced Jeffreys as a
+nincompoop, who was not worth a groat in England, as a liar, as a "worse
+rebel than Bacon." They would secure compensation for their losses
+despite all he could do. So they planned their strategy. Lady Berkeley
+was to strike terror into the people by threatening dire things when Sir
+William returned. Nor did they relax their efforts when word of
+Berkeley's death reached the colony. It was known that Lord Culpeper was
+his successor, so Lady Berkeley gave it out that he was her close
+friend, and promised great favors upon his arrival. To plead their cause
+in England they engaged Captain Alexander Culpeper, Lady Berkeley's
+brother.<a name="FNanchor_22_252" id="FNanchor_22_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_252" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<p>After Berkeley's departure Jeffreys had called for the election of a new
+Assembly to meet October 10, 1677. Unfortunately, at this moment, when
+he was most needed, he became ill. Early in September a letter from the
+Privy Council to the Governor and Council had been received, making void
+Berkeley's proclamation of February 10, which had excepted so many
+persons from the royal pardon. Had Jeffreys been a well man he would
+certainly have published this letter immediately and relieved the people
+from their fear. But the Council urged him to conceal it for the
+present, and being weak and in bed, he yielded. This daring defiance of
+the King's orders had an important effect on the election, for the
+people were still trembling for their lives and property, and so were
+bullied by the sheriffs into returning loyalist Burgesses. Daniel Parke
+reported that there had been illegal elections in James City County,
+Kent, and elsewhere.<a name="FNanchor_23_253" id="FNanchor_23_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_253" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was in October that Parke arrived from England and delivered to
+Jeffreys a letter from Secretary Coventry, telling him that Berkeley had
+died and that Culpeper had kissed the King's hand as Governor. Even then
+the Council was opposed to the publication of the King's order to void
+Berkeley's proclamation, protesting that it had been procured by
+misinformation. But the contents leaked out, and there was bitter
+resentment at the delay. Most of the Assembly demanded its publication.
+At last,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> when Jeffreys and Parke had won over a majority of the Council
+to the view that it would be unwise to trifle further with the royal
+command, the two Ludwells flung themselves away in "a seeming passion."
+But there was great relief and widespread rejoicing among the
+people.<a name="FNanchor_24_254" id="FNanchor_24_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_254" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Assembly met at Middle Plantation, the site of Williamsburg, in the
+house of Captain Otho Thorp. Despite the irregularity of the elections
+it showed a far greater spirit of independence than its predecessor. It
+passed a law against making unreasonable compositions for injuries done
+during the rebellion; it imposed a penalty for the use of such terms as
+traitor, rebel, or rogue; it forbade the impressing of cattle, boats, or
+provisions without compensation; it regulated fees.<a name="FNanchor_25_255" id="FNanchor_25_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_255" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> But it placed a
+crushing burden on the prostrate colony by levying a tax of 100 pounds
+of tobacco per tithable. "This, with the county and parish tax is in
+some counties 250 pounds, in some 300, and in some 400, which falls very
+heavily on the poorer people," Parke reported.<a name="FNanchor_26_256" id="FNanchor_26_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_256" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Thorp house rang with protests when Robert Beverley, who was clerk
+of the Assembly, reported that the King's commissioners had taken their
+journals, orders, and acts from him by force. In a vigorous protest to
+Jeffreys, they declared this a great violation of their privileges. This
+seizure we "humbly suppose his Majesty would not ... command, for that
+they find not the same to have been practiced by any of the Kings of
+England." So they asked Jeffreys to give assurance that such a thing
+would not happen again.<a name="FNanchor_27_257" id="FNanchor_27_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_257" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>When this was reported to Charles II he was surprised at the presumption
+of the Assembly in calling in question his authority. Referring the
+matter to the Lords of Trade, he asked them what he should do to bring
+the Assembly to a sense "of their duty and submission." The Lords
+thought that the protest tended to rebellion, and that the Governor
+should rebuke the Assembly and punish the "authors and abettors."<a name="FNanchor_28_258" id="FNanchor_28_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_258" class="fnanchor">[28]</a>
+Charles issued the order, but later, on the earnest plea of the Virginia
+Council, rescinded it. But he insisted that the protest be "razed out of
+the books of Virginia."<a name="FNanchor_29_259" id="FNanchor_29_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_259" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> It was a strange twist of fate which caused
+an attempt by the King to investigate the griev<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>ances of the people to
+result in what may be considered the opening act of the Second Stuart
+Despotism in Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, during Jeffreys' illness, Thomas Ludwell presided over
+the meetings of the Council. So the King's commands were ignored, and
+the plundering, confiscations, and banishing continued. "Great numbers
+of poor men, having wives and children to maintain," faced utter
+ruin.<a name="FNanchor_30_260" id="FNanchor_30_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_260" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> The lengths to which the Green Spring Faction was prepared to
+go is illustrated by a statement of Colonel Edward Hill at one of their
+gatherings. One of those present remarked that William Byrd would
+certainly win a case pending in which he was involved because he was in
+England and could secure the King's backing. "That will not do," said
+Hill, "for if the King should send in his letter, in that case we are
+not to take notice of it."<a name="FNanchor_31_261" id="FNanchor_31_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_261" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>This is just what they did when Charles wrote in behalf of Sarah
+Drummond, widow of William Drummond. This poor woman made the long
+voyage across the ocean to lay her case before the King. So great was
+Governor Berkeley's hatred of her husband, she said, that he had not
+only taken his life, but had seized his small plantation for his own use
+and forced her to flee with her five small children into the woods,
+where they might have starved had not the commissioners befriended
+them.<a name="FNanchor_32_262" id="FNanchor_32_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_262" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> Moved by her misfortunes, the King sent an especial command
+that her property be returned. But when she brought an action in the
+General Court against Lady Berkeley, and the King's letter was read, one
+of the Councillors, turning to the crowd in the courtroom, declared in a
+loud voice that it was based on nothing but lies. "So they dismissed the
+case."<a name="FNanchor_33_263" id="FNanchor_33_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_263" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, Jeffreys had sufficiently recovered his health to
+strike back at his enemies. He had tried to win them over by appointing
+them to collectors' places and doing them other favors, but without
+success. So at last he retaliated upon Beverley by ousting him from his
+civil and military offices and "silenced him from pleading in the
+courts."<a name="FNanchor_34_264" id="FNanchor_34_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_264" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> When Philip Ludwell's many insults were reported to
+Jeffreys he had him arrested and charged him with "scandalizing the
+Governor and abusing the authority of his Majesty." This was a serious
+matter indeed, for the penalty was whipping or the payment of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> fine of
+500 pounds of tobacco. The jury pronounced Ludwell guilty, and asked the
+Council to fix the punishment. Since most of the Council were Ludwell's
+warm friends, Jeffreys appealed the case to the King. Ludwell countered
+by appealing to the Assembly. In the end it was decided that the whole
+case, including the matter of appeal, should be left to his Majesty.<a name="FNanchor_35_265" id="FNanchor_35_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_265" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p>
+
+<p>But in the summer of 1678 Jeffreys again became ill, and the Green
+Spring Faction renewed the "old exactions and abuses." William Sherwood
+reported: "The colony would be as peaceful as could be wished except for
+the malice of some discontented persons of the late Governor's party,
+who endeavor by all the cunning contrivances that by their artifice can
+be brought about, to bring a contempt of Colonel Jeffreys, our present
+good Governor.... It is to be feared unless these fiery spirits are
+allayed or removed home, there will not be that settled, happy peace and
+unity which otherwise might be, for they are entered into a faction
+which is upheld by the expectation of my Lord Culpeper's doing mighty
+things for them."<a name="FNanchor_36_266" id="FNanchor_36_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_266" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p>
+
+<p>Jeffreys died on December 17, 1678. A well-meaning man, who tried to
+rule justly, he lacked the strength of character needed to bring peace
+to the colony. With an army at his command, he should have put Governor
+Berkeley on board ship and sent him to England when he refused to obey
+the King's commands. This would have prevented many hangings, relieved
+the fears of the people, and given pause to the Green Spring Faction.
+But Jeffreys knew that Berkeley's brother, Lord John Berkeley, was in
+high favor with the King, and he dared not offend him.</p>
+
+<p>Jeffreys' wife came from England to join him, but she was just in time
+to say a farewell, for he was seized with a violent sickness four hours
+after her arrival and died soon after.<a name="FNanchor_37_267" id="FNanchor_37_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_267" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> So bitter were the Green
+Spring Faction against him that they tried to prevent the payment to his
+widow of £1,200 due him for nine months' salary, and to charge her with
+all the perquisites he had received. When, as a consequence, she could
+not meet all his obligations, they imprisoned her for debt. It was only
+by appealing to Secretary Coventry that she received the arrears due her
+and was able to free herself from the power of her enemies.<a name="FNanchor_38_268" id="FNanchor_38_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_268" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>Upon the death of Jeffreys, Sir Henry Chicheley produced a commission as
+Deputy Governor given him in 1674. Chicheley was a "most loyal, worthy
+person, and deservedly beloved by the whole country."<a name="FNanchor_39_269" id="FNanchor_39_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_269" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> He had been a
+Burgess, a member of the Council, had commanded the Virginia forces in
+the Indian war, had remained loyal to Berkeley during the rebellion, and
+had been imprisoned by Bacon. But he was now "old, sickly, and crazy,"
+and lacked the vigor to force obedience and restore order. During the
+eighteen months of his administration the old factions were not
+reconciled to one another.<a name="FNanchor_40_270" id="FNanchor_40_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_270" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p>
+
+<p>Yet Chicheley, to the extent of his ability, ruled impartially and well.
+At the election of 1679 he insisted that the people be protected from
+intimidation at the polls. As a result the Assembly showed a spirit of
+independence and a desire to rectify the people's grievances. A degree
+of democracy was introduced into local government by an act empowering
+the voters of each parish to elect two men to sit in the county courts
+in the making of by-laws. A limit was put to fees demanded by the
+collectors of customs and the clerks of the courts. The claim of the
+Green Spring Faction for compensation for their losses was referred to
+the next session.<a name="FNanchor_41_271" id="FNanchor_41_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_271" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+<p>In May, 1680, Lord Culpeper arrived in Virginia after a tedious passage
+of two and a half months, in which scurvy and other diseases took a
+heavy toll. Chicheley handed over the government to him and the
+reconstruction period came to an end.</p>
+
+<p>The patriotic Virginian, as he looked back over the years from the
+collapse of Bacon's Rebellion to the arrival of Culpeper must have seen
+in them nothing but confusion and disaster. The colony was divided
+against itself, the most pressing of the people's grievances had not
+been redressed, many families had been reduced to poverty, the right to
+vote was denied to hundreds, taxes were higher than ever, and tobacco
+was still a drug on the market.</p>
+
+<p>Yet important changes were taking place which gave reason for hope.
+During Berkeley's administration the newly created aristocracy, the men
+of wealth, the leaders in their own counties&mdash;the Ludwells, the Parkes,
+the Custises, the Coles&mdash;had worked in close alliance with the Governor.
+The common people, on the other hand, lacked leaders to guide them in
+their struggle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> for their rights. But with Berkeley's departure the
+aristocrats, so far from allying themselves with his successor, came
+into violent conflict with him. And the Governor now assumed the role of
+the people's friend and protector.</p>
+
+<p>So engrossed were the Virginians in their own disputes that their
+attention was diverted from events in England, events that were to
+affect them profoundly. For many years Charles II had lived in
+comparative peace with his Cavalier Parliament, maintaining his
+mistresses in luxury despite the meagerness of his revenue. But the rise
+of the Whig Party under the leadership of the able Earl of Shaftesbury
+was now threatening to undermine his power. All London was in terror
+when Titus Oates came forward with a wild story that the Catholics were
+plotting to bring in Irish and French troops, massacre the Protestants,
+and murder the King. The Whigs were demanding the exclusion from the
+succession of Charles' Roman Catholic brother James, and some actually
+proposed that the King divorce his Catholic wife and marry a Protestant.</p>
+
+<p>Faced with the loss of his prerogatives, the indolent King struck back.
+His father had tried to free himself from dependence on Parliament by
+illegal taxation; he by sacrificing England's foreign interests for
+French gold. In March, 1678, Charles negotiated a secret treaty with
+Louis XIV in return for £300,000. Now he was in a position to thumb his
+nose at the Commons when they tried to control and thwart him. It was
+the beginning of the Second Stuart Despotism.<a name="FNanchor_42_272" id="FNanchor_42_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_272" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p>
+
+<p>The change was immediately reflected in colonial policies. The old
+Council of Plantations, and its successor the Council of Trade and
+Plantations had done little to supervise and control the conduct of
+affairs in America. But in December, 1674, after the fall of the Cabal
+Ministry, the direction of colonial matters was turned over to a
+committee of the Privy Council, presided over by the Secretary of State.
+In this way the King's most trusted ministers were brought into close
+touch with the colonies. Sir Joseph Williamson, Secretary from 1674 to
+1678, was a most obedient servant of the King; his fellow Secretary, Sir
+Henry Coventry, had defended Charles I on the field of battle, and now
+defended his son before the public; Sir Leoline Jenkins was called "the
+most faithful drudge of a Secretary that ever the Court had."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We have no way of knowing whether these men, in their assault on liberty
+in the colonies, were merely carrying out the commands of Charles II and
+James II, or whether on their own initiative they shaped colonial policy
+in accord with domestic policy. In either case it was the Second Stuart
+Despotism in England which was responsible for the Andros despotism in
+New England, and for the equally dangerous attack on liberty in
+Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>It was prophetic of what was to come that Secretary Coventry, in
+January, 1678, read to the Committee on Foreign Affairs a series of
+proposals concerning Virginia. Three companies of soldiers were to be
+left in the colony, a fort was to be erected "whereby the King may be
+safe from rebellions," all laws were to be sent to England for revision.
+The last proposal was an innovation of serious import.<a name="FNanchor_43_273" id="FNanchor_43_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_273" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> The
+Virginians had never questioned the right of the King to veto the acts
+of Assembly, but never before had he demanded the right to revise laws
+already on the statute books.</p>
+
+<p>Of even greater significance was the initiation of bills by the King.
+Charles wrote Culpeper that whereas certain laws had been recommended to
+him in Council of which he approved, "these bills we have caused to be
+under the Great Seal of England, and our will is that the same bills ...
+you shall cause to be considered ... in our Assembly of Virginia ... and
+to these bills you do give and declare our royal assent." One was an act
+of general pardon, one an act for naturalization, and the other an act
+for raising a public revenue.<a name="FNanchor_44_274" id="FNanchor_44_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_274" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p>
+
+<p>This was accompanied by an attempt to deprive the Assembly of the right
+to initiate legislation. Culpeper was commanded to send to the King a
+draft of such bills as he and the Council should think fit to be passed,
+so that he could go over them and return them in the form he thought
+they should be enacted in. "Upon receipt of our commands you shall
+summon an Assembly and propose the said laws for their consent."<a name="FNanchor_45_275" id="FNanchor_45_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_275" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p>
+
+<p>As though this were not enough, Charles demanded the sole power,
+heretofore exercised by the Governor, of calling sessions of the
+Assembly. "It is our will and pleasure that for the future no General
+Assembly be called without our special directions, but that, upon
+occasion, you do acquaint us by letter with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> necessity of calling
+such an Assembly, and pray our consent and directions for their
+meeting."<a name="FNanchor_46_276" id="FNanchor_46_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_276" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p>
+
+<p>The King struck a fatal blow at the control of justice in Virginia by
+the people, by depriving the Assembly of its privilege of acting as the
+supreme court of appeals. "Our pleasure also is that for the better and
+more equitable administration of justice in our said colony, appeals be
+allowed in cases of error from the courts ... to our Governor and our
+Council there, and to no other court or jurisdiction whatsoever."<a name="FNanchor_47_277" id="FNanchor_47_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_277" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p>
+
+<p>Although Thomas Culpeper had been too young to fight in the Civil War,
+he donned a suit of armor with breastplate, shoulderpieces, and
+brassarts, to have his portrait painted. But the face is not that of a
+warrior. It is draped by the flowing hair of the Cavalier, has a
+prominent nose and a weak mouth with the trace of a sneer. Culpeper had
+followed Charles into exile, and with the Restoration had expected
+compensation for his losses. But since there was not enough to go round
+among all the hungry Cavaliers, the King repaid him at the expense of
+his subjects in Virginia, first with the Arlington-Culpeper grant, and
+then by making him Governor of Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>The outlook for the colony was gloomy. The King was determined to
+override the people's rights and make himself absolute. Culpeper was
+interested in filling his pockets. The Green Spring Faction were still
+seeking to make good their losses at the expense of the rebels. The
+common people were suffering from the high taxes and the low price of
+tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>The King had as much trouble in getting Culpeper to sail for Virginia as
+he had had in making Berkeley come back to England. My Lord had no
+desire to exchange London for the forests of Virginia; he had little
+interest in carrying out his instructions. All he wanted was his salary
+and anything he could make out of the Northern Neck. At last, after two
+years of dillydallying, the King told him that unless he sailed at once
+he would remove him as Governor. So in February, 1680, he left the Downs
+with the tobacco fleet.<a name="FNanchor_48_278" id="FNanchor_48_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_278" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p>
+
+<p>On his arrival at Jamestown, the members of the Council and other
+leading planters flocked around him, eager to give their version of the
+troubles in the colony and to secure his support. When the Council met,
+Culpeper was assured that the King had been misinformed on many points
+by Moryson and Berry.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> Philip Ludwell was a loyal, honest servant of the
+King, and should be restored to his place in the Council. Injustice had
+been done to Colonel Hill, and they begged the new Governor to intercede
+for him.<a name="FNanchor_49_279" id="FNanchor_49_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_279" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p>
+
+<p>As for the King's rebuke to the Assembly for questioning his right to
+seize their records, the Council advised Culpeper not to present it. To
+do so would "unravel and disturb the good and cheerful settlement we are
+now in by your Excellency's great prudence and conduct."<a name="FNanchor_50_280" id="FNanchor_50_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_280" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> So they
+induced him to suspend the rebuke until the King should order to the
+contrary.</p>
+
+<p>Culpeper seems to have brought a degree of peace to the contending
+factions. The act of pardon ended the plundering of the estates of the
+former rebels, and the aggrieved loyalists were encouraged to seek
+redress through the Assembly. Colonel Spencer wrote that the "late
+different interests" had been "perfectly united to the general
+satisfaction of all."</p>
+
+<p>United the people had to be to defend their liberties. When the wealthy
+landholder and the humble owner of but fifty acres, the loyalist and the
+former rebel alike realized that Charles was bent on reducing both
+Council and Assembly to impotence, their domestic quarrels seemed
+unimportant compared to the public danger.</p>
+
+<p>Since the statehouse at Jamestown was still in ashes, the Assembly of
+June, 1680, crowded into the house of Mrs. Susanne Fisher. Some of the
+Burgesses had come on horseback from their James City or Charles City
+plantations, others by shallops from the Upper James, still others from
+the far-off Eastern Shore. A sturdy, stubborn group they were, like
+other Burgesses before and after them, determined to uphold the rights
+of the people.</p>
+
+<p>They were dismayed, then, when Governor Culpeper placed before them the
+three bills prepared and signed by the King. What right has he or the
+Privy Council to introduce bills in this Assembly? they asked. And they
+were especially concerned over the King's demand for a perpetual
+revenue.</p>
+
+<p>There had existed since 1661 a law for laying a duty of two shillings
+for every hogshead of tobacco exported from the colony. But the revenue
+was to be disposed of by the Assembly. It was they who decided whether
+it should be used to pay the Governor's salary, or to defend the colony
+against the Indians,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> or for repairing the statehouse, or for paying the
+salaries of the Burgesses. Now the Privy Council took it upon themselves
+to draw up a similar act, but differing from the old one in one
+all-important respect&mdash;it specified that the returns should go, not to
+the Assembly, but "to the King's most excellent Majesty, his heirs and
+successors forever."</p>
+
+<p>The debate which followed was long and bitter. Every man in the
+Assembly, whether Burgess or Councillor, knew that the King was
+demanding the surrender of their birthright.<a name="FNanchor_51_281" id="FNanchor_51_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_281" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> So they replied to the
+Governor: "The House do most humbly desire to be excused if they do not
+give their approbation to his Majesty's bill."<a name="FNanchor_52_282" id="FNanchor_52_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_282" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> And when the matter
+was brought again before them by the Governor, they refused even to
+resume the debate.</p>
+
+<p>But Culpeper knew that he would be severely blamed by Charles if he did
+not succeed in forcing this bill through. Returning to the attack he
+pointed out that the King claimed the right of disposing of all
+revenues. Moreover, they were in no position to defy him, for he had it
+in his power to ruin most of them by demanding all arrears of quit
+rents. We do not know how many lucrative jobs Culpeper handed out to
+bring the reluctant Burgesses around, but he himself tells us that he
+won over one influential member by the promise of a seat in the
+Council.<a name="FNanchor_53_283" id="FNanchor_53_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_283" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the end the King had his way. The Burgesses made two minor
+amendments, and then passed the bill. When it came before Charles again,
+he vetoed one of these amendments, and allowed the other. A quarter of a
+century later, when the Board of Trade asked Attorney General Simon
+Harcourt and Solicitor General James Montague to pass on the validity of
+the act, they reported that it had been put through irregularly. "It
+would be wise," they said, "if any part of her Majesty's revenue depends
+on this act, to have another in its place."<a name="FNanchor_54_284" id="FNanchor_54_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_284" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p>
+
+<p>Yet the act was permitted to stand, and the cause of self-government in
+colonial Virginia suffered its greatest reverse. No longer could the
+Assembly force the Governor to sign this bill or that by refusing to
+vote his salary. No longer did they hold a sword over the heads of the
+Council. It is true that they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> still retained in part their grip upon
+the purse, since the export duty together with the quit rents seldom met
+even the ordinary needs of the government, and were entirely inadequate
+in times of emergency. It is this which explains why such notable gains
+for liberty were made during the colonial wars. Yet from this time until
+the Declaration of Independence the Virginia Assembly had to fight the
+royal prerogative with one hand tied behind its back.<a name="FNanchor_55_285" id="FNanchor_55_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_285" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p>
+
+<p>Having secured the passage of the King's three laws, Culpeper rested on
+his laurels. He seems to have yielded to the plea of the Council not to
+deliver the King's rebuke to the Assembly. If he ever told the Council
+of his instruction to initiate bills with their advice and secure the
+King's approval before sending them to the House, they must have argued
+that it was impractical. They had no desire to have representative
+government in the colony made a mockery. Were the Burgesses to have the
+right of amending bills? they must have asked. If so, would the amended
+bills have to go back to England for the King's approval? Under such
+conditions, it might take years to enact the simplest laws. So this
+instruction was ignored.</p>
+
+<p>Equally impractical was it to secure the King's permission before
+calling an Assembly. In case of a sudden emergency it might be fatal to
+wait until the Governor had written to Secretary Coventry, until he had
+taken the matter up with his Majesty, until some vessel sailed and had
+made the tedious voyage to Virginia. If the need were the outbreak of
+war with the Indians, half the colony might be scalped before the
+Assembly could meet to raise men and money for arms and forts. So
+Culpeper ignored this instruction also.</p>
+
+<p>As for the instruction to forbid appeals from the General Court to the
+Assembly, the Governor kept it to himself. Three years later, at an
+inquiry held on his neglect of his office, he explained: "Having some
+thoughts of getting a revenue bill to pass, I was unwilling actually to
+repeal the laws relating thereunto till the next session of Assembly
+should be over, well knowing how infinitely it would trouble them."<a name="FNanchor_56_286" id="FNanchor_56_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_286" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p>
+
+<p>As soon as the Assembly had been dismissed Culpeper made ready to return
+to England, after having been in Virginia only a few weeks. Yet for his
+supposed services he had been receiving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> £2,000 a year from the revenues
+of the colony ever since the death of Berkeley.<a name="FNanchor_57_287" id="FNanchor_57_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_287" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> Not content with
+this, he contrived to rob the English soldiers who had remained in
+Virginia after Bacon's Rebellion of more than £1,000. These men had
+received no pay for many months, and were discontented and mutinous.<a name="FNanchor_58_288" id="FNanchor_58_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_288" class="fnanchor">[58]</a>
+So the Privy Council gave Culpeper money to satisfy them and the
+families on whom they had been quartered. On his arrival he bought up
+all the worn Spanish pieces of eight he could find, arbitrarily
+proclaimed them legal tender at six shillings, which was a shilling more
+than they were worth, and then paid the soldiers and landlords. But
+before his salary became due, he restored the ratio to five to one.<a name="FNanchor_59_289" id="FNanchor_59_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_289" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p>
+
+<p>In 1682 news reached England of a series of tobacco-cutting riots in
+Virginia. The glut of tobacco in the English warehouses and its
+consequent low price had convinced the people that a restriction on the
+output was necessary. It was to be a kind of soil bank, though without
+the subsidy. When this failed because Maryland refused to join in, angry
+mobs went from plantation to plantation, cutting down the tender plants.
+Fearing that this might be the beginning of a new rebellion, the Privy
+Council ordered the reluctant Culpeper to go back at once to suppress
+the riots and punish the ringleaders.<a name="FNanchor_60_290" id="FNanchor_60_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_290" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p>
+
+<p>Culpeper arrived in December, 1682. Finding that the riots were over, he
+contented himself with hanging two of the most notorious of the plant
+cutters, and then hastened back to England. By this time Charles had
+lost patience with him for his neglect of his government, the Attorney
+General was ordered to take action against him, and his commission as
+Governor of Virginia was declared void. In September, 1683, Lord Howard
+of Effingham was made Governor in his place.</p>
+
+<p>Effingham was well fitted to carry out the King's attack on liberty in
+Virginia. Deceitful, persistent, unscrupulous, he would have ridden
+roughshod over the people's rights had he not encountered the determined
+resistance of the House of Burgesses. No sooner had he arrived than the
+struggle began.</p>
+
+<p>When the Assembly met in April, 1684, he put on his peer's coronet and
+velvet and ermine robes, and told the Burgesses that he intended to
+enforce the King's order to prohibit appeals<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> to the Assembly. This was
+received with dismay. They appealed to Effingham and the Council to join
+them in an address to the King imploring him to restore a privilege
+enjoyed from the earliest times. But in vain. "It is what I can in no
+part admit of," was Effingham's curt reply. Since this made the General
+Court the last court of appeals in Virginia, the structure of justice
+became aristocratic rather than democratic.</p>
+
+<p>Future Governors had reason to regret this change, for it added greatly
+to the influence of the Council, and the day was not distant when the
+Council was to become so powerful as to threaten to make the Governor a
+mere figurehead. It was the Council which was to be responsible for the
+dismissal of Andros and Nicholson. Governor Spotswood, in his bitter
+quarrels with the Councillors tried to undermine their power by striking
+at their judicial privileges, but he failed, and he too was forced out
+of office by their influence.</p>
+
+<p>Even more alarming to the people than the ending of appeals to the
+Assembly was an order from the King that certain causes arising in the
+courts be referred to England for decision. The Burgesses protested.
+Such a thing would be "grievous and ruinous," they said, and would
+involve delays and great expense. Moreover, they could not find that
+appeals to England had been allowed "from the first settling of the
+colony." When Effingham and the Council refused to join them, they sent
+their petition to the King as the protest of the Lower House alone.<a name="FNanchor_61_291" id="FNanchor_61_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_291" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p>
+
+<p>But James II, who had succeeded to the throne on the death of Charles in
+February, received their appeal with contempt. In the new instructions
+to Effingham drawn up in October, 1685, he wrote: "Whereas ... our
+Committee of Trade and Plantations ... have received from some unknown
+persons a paper entitled An Address and Supplication of the General
+Assembly of Virginia to the late King ... which you have refused to
+recommend as being unfit ... we cannot but approve of your
+proceedings.... And we do further direct you to discountenance such
+undue practices for the future, as also the contrivers and promoters
+thereof."<a name="FNanchor_62_292" id="FNanchor_62_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_292" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p>
+
+<p>At this dark hour, when American liberty hung in the balance, the
+Burgesses were quick to repel any attempt to tax the people without
+their consent. In May, 1688, they stated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> that they had received "many
+grievous complaints" that unlawful fees had "under color of his
+Majesty's royal authority" been unjustly imposed upon the people. They
+protested especially against a fee of 200 pounds of tobacco for affixing
+the great seal of the colony, a fee of 30 pounds of tobacco for
+recording surveys of land, and a fee of £5 for escheats.<a name="FNanchor_63_293" id="FNanchor_63_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_293" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p>
+
+<p>And they were adamant in refusing repeated demands for permission for
+the Governor and Council by themselves to levy a tax even though a very
+small one. "Your Lordships will ... find their total denial that the
+Governor and Council should have any power to lay the least levy to ease
+the necessity for so frequent Assemblys," Effingham wrote the Committee
+of Trade and Plantations in February, 1686. "This was propounded by me
+to them before his Majesty's instructions came to hand ... but nothing
+would prevail, nor I believe will, unless his Majesty's special command
+therein."<a name="FNanchor_64_294" id="FNanchor_64_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_294" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p>
+
+<p>There was consternation in the Assembly when they learned that the King
+was attempting to build up a revenue independent of the Burgesses by
+increasing the returns from the quit rents. This tax on land, for such
+it really was, had always been paid in tobacco. In 1662 the Assembly had
+fixed the rate of payment at twopence a pound, which at that time
+approximated the current price. But the decline in the value of the leaf
+had greatly lessened the value of the returns. So in 1684 the King
+ordered Effingham to accept only specie, "that is to say in money and
+not in tobacco or in any other commodity."<a name="FNanchor_65_295" id="FNanchor_65_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_295" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> Since tobacco was then
+selling at a halfpenny a pound, this would have quadrupled the value of
+the quit rents, imposed a heavy burden on the impoverished country, and
+strengthened the authority of the Governor.</p>
+
+<p>The controversy over this matter led to another and a more serious
+encroachment on the rights of the people, for when the Assembly refused
+to repeal the law of 1662, the King voided it by proclamation. Having
+heard that "persons go about ... imposing bad tobacco upon our
+collectors at the rate of 2d per pound, under pretence of an act of
+Assembly ... we have thought fit to repeal the said act."<a name="FNanchor_66_296" id="FNanchor_66_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_296" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Upon
+receipt of this order Effingham sent for the Burgesses to meet him in
+the Council Chamber. When they filed in he soon found that they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> in
+no mood to yield. Not only did they again refuse to repeal the law of
+1662, but they "rudely and boldly disputed the King's authority in
+repealing laws by proclamation."<a name="FNanchor_67_297" id="FNanchor_67_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_297" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> Moreover, they pointed out, it was
+impossible to pay in pounds or shillings since there were not enough in
+the entire colony. This argument was unanswerable, and in the end the
+Governor was forced to assent to a compromise by which the tax was to be
+paid in tobacco, but at the rate of one penny per pound instead of two.</p>
+
+<p>The difference in the theories of government held by Charles and James
+on the one hand, and the people of the colony on the other was brought
+into focus by a dispute over the King's right to revive a law by
+repealing a law which had repealed it. When James revived a law of 1680
+concerning attorneys by annulling the repealing law of 1682, the
+Burgesses rose as one man in angry protest. "A law may as well receive
+its beginning by proclamation as such a revival," they said. "Some
+Governor may be sent to govern us who under the pretence of the liberty
+he hath to construe prerogative and stretch it as far as he pleaseth,
+may by proclamation revive all the laws that for their great
+inconveniences to the country have been repealed through forty years
+since."<a name="FNanchor_68_298" id="FNanchor_68_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_298" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Councillors as well as the Burgesses must have been startled when
+Effingham in reply told them that the King had the right to nullify or
+revive what laws he pleased, since the only authority the Assembly had
+to legislate at all rested on a grant from the Throne. They had been
+under the impression that the right of the people to make laws through
+their representatives was inherent in all Englishmen. If it were a grant
+from the King, which the King might at will withdraw, liberty in America
+rested on a shaky basis indeed. In an address to Effingham they stated
+that they did not dare "to say what is prerogative and what is not,"<a name="FNanchor_69_299" id="FNanchor_69_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_299" class="fnanchor">[69]</a>
+but they made it clear that when prerogative was stretched so far that
+it threatened to enslave them, they would resist by every means within
+their power.</p>
+
+<p>Despots throughout the years have feared a free press, and have either
+prohibited printing or controlled it for their own purposes. So it was
+in keeping with the spirit of the Second<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> Stuart Despotism that Charles
+and James would allow no press in Virginia. It was in 1682 that John
+Buckner, a prominent merchant and landowner of Gloucester County, and a
+member of the House of Burgesses, employed William Nuthead to set up a
+printing establishment at Jamestown. But they had picked an inauspicious
+time for their venture. Nuthead was ordered to appear before the Council
+"to answer for his presumption in printing the acts of Assembly ... and
+several other papers without licence." The Council ordered that "for
+prevention of all troubles and inconveniences that may be occasioned
+through the liberty of a press ... Mr. John Buckner and William Nuthead
+the printer enter into bond for one hundred pounds sterling ... that
+from and after the date hereof nothing be printed by either of them ...
+in this colony until the signification of his Majesty's pleasure shall
+be known."<a name="FNanchor_70_300" id="FNanchor_70_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_300" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p>
+
+<p>His Majesty's pleasure therein was a foregone conclusion. "Whereas we
+have taken notice of the inconvenience that may arise by the liberty of
+printing in Virginia," stated Charles in his instructions to Effingham,
+"no person is to be permitted to use any press for printing upon any
+occasion whatsoever."<a name="FNanchor_71_301" id="FNanchor_71_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_301" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> So Nuthead took the press to Maryland and for
+nearly half a century Virginia was without a printer.<a name="FNanchor_72_302" id="FNanchor_72_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_302" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p>
+
+<p>The quartering of troops upon the people has been a serious grievance
+wherever it has been practiced. People object to having rough soldiers
+thrust into their homes, to disrupt their daily life, or perhaps to
+create disorders. When the British troops sent over to suppress Bacon's
+Rebellion were quartered on the people, there were bitter complaints.
+"Instead of being a guard and safety" to us as was intended, "they have
+by their long stay and ill behavior not only been totally useless, but
+dangerous," and the greatest of our terrors.<a name="FNanchor_73_303" id="FNanchor_73_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_303" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> To make matters worse,
+complaints came in to the Assembly from Isle of Wight, York, James City,
+and Nansemond Counties that payments for quarters were in arrears by six
+months or more. So it was with thanksgiving that the people received the
+announcement that the money to pay for the quarters had arrived from
+England together with orders to disband the troops.<a name="FNanchor_74_304" id="FNanchor_74_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_304" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>Effingham was even more brazen than Berkeley in using the patronage
+openly to force obedience to the King. Berkeley ruled chiefly by
+rewarding those who did as he told them; Effingham by punishing all who
+opposed him. To acquiesce in everything he proposed was the only way for
+one to retain one's job. William Sherwood and Colonel Thomas Milner, for
+forwarding an address of the Burgesses to the Privy Council, were
+dismissed from office. Mr. Arthur Allen was "turned out of all
+employment, civil and military" to his great loss, "he being a surveyor
+of land at that time."<a name="FNanchor_75_305" id="FNanchor_75_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_305" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> Effingham himself explains why. He was "a
+great promoter of those differences between me and the Assembly
+concerning the King's negative voice ... as not thinking it fit that
+those who are peevishly opposite to his Majesty's interest should have
+any advantage by his favor."<a name="FNanchor_76_306" id="FNanchor_76_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_306" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p>
+
+<p>Another prominent member of the House of Burgesses, Mr. Charles
+Scarburgh, was "turned out of all employment, and as a mark of his
+Lordship's displeasure, a command was sent to the clerk of the county to
+raze his name out of the records as a justice of peace."<a name="FNanchor_77_307" id="FNanchor_77_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_307" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> Mr. William
+Anderson, Scarburgh's colleague from Accomac County, must have been even
+more active in opposing the Governor, for when the session of 1688 was
+over he had him "put in the common jail," where he was "detained seven
+months without trial, though often prayed for.... Nor could he obtain
+the benefit of habeas corpus."<a name="FNanchor_78_308" id="FNanchor_78_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_308" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p>
+
+<p>"From whence the people conclude these severities are inflicted rather
+as a terror to others than for any personal crimes of their own," it was
+said, "and is of such ruinous consequence that either the public or
+particular interests must fall, for if none oppose, the country must
+languish under the severity of the government, or fly into mutiny to
+save themselves from starving. If any do appear more zealous in
+prosecuting the country's complaints they know what to expect. It being
+observable that none has been thus punished but those who were forward
+in the Assembly to oppose the encroachments on the people, and promote
+the complaint to England, being out of hope of relief on the
+place."<a name="FNanchor_79_309" id="FNanchor_79_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_309" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>In Virginia, as in England, there was much dissatisfaction at the
+accession of the Roman Catholic James II. Many would have preferred
+Charles' illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth. When news came that he
+had raised the standard of revolt, had landed in Dorset, had gathered an
+army of rustics, and was marching on London, some did not hesitate to
+express their sympathy. Effingham wrote that "so many took liberty of
+speech upon the rebellion ... that I was fearful it would have produced
+the same here."<a name="FNanchor_80_310" id="FNanchor_80_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_310" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> But when he issued a proclamation forbidding "false,
+seditious, and factious discourse and rumors," and made "some examples,"
+quiet was restored. The defeat of the rebels at Sedgemoor, the bloody
+revenge taken by James, and the execution of Monmouth ended all hope for
+the time being.</p>
+
+<p>But Effingham's proclamation could not prevent news of what was
+happening in England from reaching the people. In Ireland James was
+recruiting a Catholic army under a Catholic general. At home he was
+replacing civil and military officers by Catholics. To remove all
+restrictions on Catholics he issued declarations of indulgence, giving
+freedom of worship to dissenters and Catholics. He converted two Oxford
+colleges into Catholic seminaries, and ousted the Fellows of Magdalen to
+make room for Catholic successors.</p>
+
+<p>These events were soon reflected in Virginia. It was noted that when
+important offices in the government became vacant, Effingham filled them
+with Catholics. Both of his appointees to the Council were members of
+the Roman Catholic Church&mdash;Colonel Isaac Allerton and Colonel John
+Armistead. That several justices of the peace refused to take the oath
+of allegiance "through scruple of conscience" in 1691, after James had
+been deposed, shows that the Governor tried also to pack the county
+courts with Catholics.</p>
+
+<p>The people watched these developments with resentment, mixed with fear.
+The shudder of horror which had gone through England a few years before,
+when Titus Oates accused the Jesuits of a "hellish plot" to fire London,
+conquer the country with Irish and French armies, and massacre the
+Protestants, was still fresh in men's minds. Perhaps his story is not
+false after all, it was whispered. Perhaps the plan may still be carried
+out. Think of what has just happened in France, where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> thousands of men
+and women, for refusing to give up their faith were driven into exile or
+thrown into loathsome prisons with criminals, starved, and beaten. Are
+we sure that it will not be our turn next?</p>
+
+<p>The Assembly which met in April, 1688, reflected the ugly mood of the
+people. They were determined to redress the grievances which poured in
+from one county after another. The Governor's appeal for aid for New
+York and for a bill to prohibit the exportation of loose tobacco
+received scant consideration. "Debates of grievances jostled out most
+other matters," reported Nicholas Spencer.<a name="FNanchor_81_311" id="FNanchor_81_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_311" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> When the Council
+requested a conference on the tobacco bill, the House countered with a
+proposal for a conference on the people's wrongs. But their message was
+couched in such bitter terms that the Council thought "no success could
+be expected from a conference agitated with heat and resolvedness."<a name="FNanchor_82_312" id="FNanchor_82_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_312" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p>
+
+<p>Nor would the Council join the Burgesses in an address to Effingham for
+redress of "the many grievous oppressions this poor country at present
+groans under." Thereupon the House drew up a petition to the King which
+they entrusted to Philip Ludwell to deliver. Before James could reply,
+he was forced to flee from England, and it was only in February, 1689,
+that the petition came before the Council of State.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the situation when Effingham left Virginia "for recovery of his
+health by change of air." He may have realized also that the air of
+Virginia was becoming unhealthful for him in more sense than one, for
+had he not left it is possible that the people might have risen in arms
+and sent him home. Several years later, when Francis Nicholson asked the
+Council whether "if his Excellency my Lord Effingham had stayed" the
+country would not have been in trouble? they replied in the affirmative.
+"The country were in great dissatisfaction ...and there was great cause
+to doubt that some disturbance would have been."<a name="FNanchor_83_313" id="FNanchor_83_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_313" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></p>
+
+<p>But it was only in the spring of 1689, some months after his departure,
+that an uprising actually occurred. Then it was touched off by a weird
+story told by a stray Indian to some of the settlers on the northern
+frontier of a plot by Jesuits and Indians to attack Virginia and
+Maryland. No less than 10,000<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> Senecas and 9,000 Nanticocks were under
+arms, he said, ready to cut off all the Protestants. As the report
+spread from plantation to plantation, the outlying families fled in
+terror, while men gathered volunteers by beat of drum. We must defend
+ourselves in arms, they said, since no reliance can be placed on the
+Council or even on the county magistrates, for most of them are
+Catholics.</p>
+
+<p>The Council thought the story of the Catholic plot "only a gloss to
+their rebellious purposes." In October, 1688, James had sent word to
+Effingham that William of Orange was preparing to invade England, and
+had ordered him to place the colony in a posture of defence.<a name="FNanchor_84_314" id="FNanchor_84_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_314" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> It was
+to seize this opportunity to rise against the government, rather than
+the imaginary Indian plot, that had made them take up arms, the Council
+thought. Preferring not to take sides in a matter which could be settled
+only in England, they arrested some of the ringleaders.<a name="FNanchor_85_315" id="FNanchor_85_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_315" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> But when,
+apparently on the same day, a letter came to hand from the Privy
+Council, announcing that William and Mary had been proclaimed joint
+monarchs of England, order was instantly restored. On April 26, 1688,
+their Majesties were proclaimed before the courthouse door at Jamestown.</p>
+
+<p>There were two things which the colonial Virginians dreaded&mdash;despotism
+and the tomahawk. And it is significant that both were factors in the
+two uprisings of the seventeenth century. In Bacon's Rebellion the
+people demanded, not only protection from the savages, but an end to
+Berkeley's misgovernment. If the Council was right in their
+interpretation of the disorders of 1688, they, like the ousting of
+Andros in New England, were a part of the Glorious Revolution. The
+Council afterwards took great credit for suppressing the disorders, but
+one can only surmise whether the people would have remained quiet had
+not James been overthrown. We must not permit the Indian terror to blind
+us to the fact that the rebellions of 1676 and 1688 were both in defense
+of liberty.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_231" id="Footnote_1_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_231"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> CO389.6, pp. 113, 137.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_232" id="Footnote_2_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_232"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> H. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 2: 423, 424.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_233" id="Footnote_3_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_233"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> CO389.6, p. 116.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_234" id="Footnote_4_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_234"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> CO1-40, p. 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_235" id="Footnote_5_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_235"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> CO1-40, p. 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_236" id="Footnote_6_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_236"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> CO5-1371, pp. 27, 33.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_237" id="Footnote_7_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_237"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> CO5-1371, pp. 55, 60.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_238" id="Footnote_8_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_238"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 152.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_239" id="Footnote_9_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_239"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> CO5-1371, p. 152.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_240" id="Footnote_10_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_240"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> CO1-40, p. 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_241" id="Footnote_11_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_241"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i> 3: 155.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_242" id="Footnote_12_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_242"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> CO1-40, pp. 73, 106.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_243" id="Footnote_13_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_243"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> CO1-39, p. 38.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_244" id="Footnote_14_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_244"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Virginia statutes at large</i> 2: 366, 386.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_245" id="Footnote_15_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_245"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> CO1-40, p. 88.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_246" id="Footnote_16_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_246"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> CO5-1371, p. 132.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_247" id="Footnote_17_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_247"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> CO1-40, p. 89.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_248" id="Footnote_18_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_248"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 18: 12.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_249" id="Footnote_19_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_249"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> CO5-1371, pp. 220-231.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_250" id="Footnote_20_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_250"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> CO1-40, Doc. 53.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_251" id="Footnote_21_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_251"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i> 3: 187-198.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_252" id="Footnote_22_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_252"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_253" id="Footnote_23_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_253"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> CO1-42, p. 17.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_254" id="Footnote_24_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_254"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i> 3: 206.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_255" id="Footnote_25_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_255"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 2: 407-432.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_256" id="Footnote_26_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_256"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> CO1-42, Doc. 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_257" id="Footnote_27_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_257"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> CO1-41, Doc. 87.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_258" id="Footnote_28_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_258"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> CO1-42, Doc. 11.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_259" id="Footnote_29_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_259"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Sainsbury, 18: 129.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_260" id="Footnote_30_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_260"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> CO1-42, Doc. 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_261" id="Footnote_31_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_261"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 107.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_262" id="Footnote_32_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_262"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 18: 2-5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_263" id="Footnote_33_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_263"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i>, 3: 168, 169.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_264" id="Footnote_34_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_264"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i>, XVIII, p. 20.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_265" id="Footnote_35_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_265"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i> 3: 214.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_266" id="Footnote_36_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_266"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> CO1-42, Doc. 117.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_267" id="Footnote_37_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_267"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Bath papers</i> 3: 295.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_268" id="Footnote_38_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_268"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> CO5-1355, Docs. 304, 305, 309, 370.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_269" id="Footnote_39_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_269"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> CO1-41, Doc. 121.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_270" id="Footnote_40_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_270"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Sainsbury, 14: 230.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_271" id="Footnote_41_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_271"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 2: 441, 443, 456.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_272" id="Footnote_42_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_272"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> G. M. Trevelyan, <i>England under the Stuarts</i>, 396.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_273" id="Footnote_43_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_273"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> CO1-42, Doc. 152.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_274" id="Footnote_44_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_274"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> CO1-43, Doc. 165.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_275" id="Footnote_45_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_275"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 313.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_276" id="Footnote_46_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_276"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 334.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_277" id="Footnote_47_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_277"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 349.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_278" id="Footnote_48_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_278"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> CO5-1355, p. 378.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_279" id="Footnote_49_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_279"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> CO5-1376, p. 265.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_280" id="Footnote_50_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_280"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> CO5-1355, p. 384.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_281" id="Footnote_51_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_281"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1659-1693: 126.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_282" id="Footnote_52_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_282"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_283" id="Footnote_53_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_283"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> CO5-1356, pp. 125, 126.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_284" id="Footnote_54_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_284"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> CO5-1315, Dec. 23, 1707.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_285" id="Footnote_55_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_285"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1659-1693: 134.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_286" id="Footnote_56_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_286"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> CO5-1356, p. 142.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_287" id="Footnote_57_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_287"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 56.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_288" id="Footnote_58_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_288"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> CO1-42, p. 152.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_289" id="Footnote_59_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_289"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Robert Beverley, <i>The present state of Virginia</i>, ed. L.
+B. Wright, 89, 90.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_290" id="Footnote_60_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_290"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> CO5-1356, p. 76.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_291" id="Footnote_61_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_291"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1659-1693: 228.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_292" id="Footnote_62_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_292"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> CO5-1357, p. 58.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_293" id="Footnote_63_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_293"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1659-1693: 316,
+317.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_294" id="Footnote_64_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_294"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> CO5-1357, p. 95.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_295" id="Footnote_65_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_295"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> CO5-1356, p. 282.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_296" id="Footnote_66_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_296"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> CO5-1357, p. 113.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_297" id="Footnote_67_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_297"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 126.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_298" id="Footnote_68_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_298"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1659-1693: 305.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_299" id="Footnote_69_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_299"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 308.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_300" id="Footnote_70_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_300"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> I: 493.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_301" id="Footnote_71_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_301"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> CO5-1356, p. 271.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_302" id="Footnote_72_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_302"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> D. C. McMurtrie, <i>A history of printing in the United
+States</i>, 276-279.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_303" id="Footnote_73_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_303"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> CO5-1376, p. 285.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_304" id="Footnote_74_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_304"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> CO5-1356.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_305" id="Footnote_75_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_305"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> <i>McDonald papers</i> 7: 26.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_306" id="Footnote_76_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_306"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> CO5-1357, p. 129.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_307" id="Footnote_77_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_307"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> <i>McDonald papers</i> 7: 437-441.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_308" id="Footnote_78_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_308"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_309" id="Footnote_79_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_309"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_310" id="Footnote_80_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_310"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> 1: 75.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_311" id="Footnote_81_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_311"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> CO5-1357, p. 214.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_312" id="Footnote_82_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_312"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 216.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_313" id="Footnote_83_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_313"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> CO5-1306, Doc. 114.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_314" id="Footnote_84_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_314"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> CO5-1357, p. 229.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_315" id="Footnote_85_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_315"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> 1: 105.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br />
+<br />
+THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">The Glorious Revolution completely changed the relations between the
+English people and the King. No sooner had James fled than a committee
+of the Commons drew up a "Declaration of Rights," to secure the liberty
+of the subjects and the power of Parliament, which was accepted by both
+Houses and by William. Parliament then declared William and Mary joint
+monarchs. Mary could argue that as the child of James II she was the
+rightful heir to the Throne, but William could make no such claim. So
+the old Tory doctrine of divine right was officially repudiated, and the
+monarch henceforth ruled by the consent of the nation. The Revolution
+opened a new epoch of liberty.</p>
+
+<p>The people of Virginia were well aware that they were to share in this
+liberty. In an address to the King and Queen, the Assembly gave them
+heartfelt thanks for "so magnanimously exposing" their persons in
+rescuing them, their religion, laws, and liberties from the twin evils
+of slavery and popery. They begged them, while extending their justice
+and goodness over the English nation, not to forget their faithful
+subjects in Virginia. They, too, were "descended of Englishmen," and had
+the right to enjoy "the just and lawful liberties and privileges of free
+born" Englishmen.<a name="FNanchor_1_316" id="FNanchor_1_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_316" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>In this they were not disappointed. During the next seventy-five years
+they advanced steadily along the road to liberty. From time to time they
+had to contend with despotically inclined Governors, but these men,
+prior to the reign of George III, in assailing the rights of the people
+acted on their own initiative rather than at the command of the King. By
+the middle of the eighteenth century Virginia had become in internal
+affairs practically a self-governing dominion. People began to say
+openly that final authority rested, not with the King, but with the
+people, and that governments derived their powers from the consent of
+the governed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This trend was noted early in the eighteenth century. As early as 1706
+Colonel Quary warned the English government of what was coming. A few
+years later Governor Spotswood wrote: "If the ancient and legal rights
+of the Crown must give place to the later customs of an infant colony,
+especially if the practice and usage which ... men would introduce shall
+be of greater force, the prince's power and authority must daily lose
+ground here."<a name="FNanchor_2_317" id="FNanchor_2_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_317" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was a slow, almost imperceptible process. But year after year the
+Burgesses whittled away at the powers of the Governor, until, after the
+passage of decades, the change became apparent to all. Berkeley,
+Culpeper, and Effingham had exercised almost dictatorial powers; Gooch,
+Fauquier, and Botetourt ate out of the hands of the Assembly. Whereas
+the Governors of the seventeenth century commanded and threatened, those
+of the mid-eighteenth century pleaded. On one occasion Governor Fauquier
+wrote the Lords of Trade that he had signed a bill, not because he
+<ins class="correct" title="aproved">approved</ins> of it, but because had he vetoed it he "must have despaired of
+ever gaining any influence either in the Council or House of Burgesses."</p>
+
+<p>The shouting and firing of guns in celebration of the accession of
+William and Mary had hardly ended when the Virginians turned their
+thoughts to the long desired new charter. The Bill of Rights gave them
+as well as Englishmen residing in England guarantees of liberty, but
+they had distinctive interests which they thought ought to be protected.
+Appointing Jeffrey Jeffreys to manage the affair, the Council and
+Burgesses sent him £200 for expenses and suggested that he call to his
+support any Virginians who chanced to be in London. That the art of
+lobbying was as well understood in the seventeenth century as it is
+today is shown by their instruction "to procure the assistance ... of
+the nobility and such as have offices at Whitehall and other men of note
+... to be mediators with their Majesties."<a name="FNanchor_3_318" id="FNanchor_3_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_318" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>The proposed charter was to confirm the authority of the Assembly. At
+first sight this would seem to be unnecessary since the Assembly had
+been in existence since 1619, and had been recognized by James I,
+Charles I, Charles II, and James II. But the attempts to undermine its
+authority during the Second<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> Stuart Despotism had convinced the people
+that its very existence might be threatened by some future King.</p>
+
+<p>They asked, also, that in the charter it be promised "that no tax be
+made upon this country but by the consent of the Assembly." The people
+had been deeply disappointed that a like promise had been left out of
+the charter of 1676. They took for granted that Parliament would not
+violate their rights as Englishmen by taxing them, but it would have
+comforted them to have it down in black and white. How necessary such a
+guarantee was became apparent eighty-five years later with the passage
+of the Stamp Act.</p>
+
+<p>The charter was to promise, also, that the King and Queen would continue
+to the Virginians and their descendants their rights as natural born
+subjects of England, and that as "near as may be" they should be
+governed after the same method as Englishmen, and "have the full benefit
+of the Great Charter and all other laws and statutes indulging the
+liberty of the subjects." Jeffreys was to ask that "the ancient method"
+of making appeals from the General Court to the Assembly be restored,
+since appeals to the Privy Council were in most cases impractical
+because of the expense involved and the difficulty of bringing
+"evidences, papers, and other records" to England.<a name="FNanchor_4_319" id="FNanchor_4_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_319" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>We do not know why the application for the charter was dropped. It may
+have been because Jeffreys found that it would not meet with success, or
+the Assembly may have been persuaded that a charter was unnecessary
+under the liberal administration of the new monarchs.</p>
+
+<p>Francis Nicholson, who had been selected to serve as Lieutenant Governor
+during Effingham's absence, arrived in Virginia in May, 1690. The choice
+was unfortunate. This man was a strange mixture of contrasting
+characteristics. A devoted Church of England man and a friend of the
+clergy, he was at times shockingly profane. One of the patrons of the
+College of William and Mary, and the founder of the city of
+Williamsburg, he was unscrupulous in trampling on the rights of all who
+opposed him. Seeking the admiration of those with whom he was
+associated, he alienated his best friends by his fits of uncontrollable
+temper. Capable of acts of great generosity, he was accused of being
+parsimonious in his private life.</p>
+
+<p>Nicholson's treatment of the Reverend Mr. Slaughter was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> typical. He and
+a certain Captain James Moodie had gone to York to a funeral. "The
+ceremony and sermon being over," Moodie relates, "he went out of church,
+where he saw and heard the Governor in the most outrageous passion that
+he ever saw, swearing the most horrid oaths and most bitter imprecations
+against Mr. Slaughter, the minister of that parish, calling the said
+Slaughter rogue, rascal, knave, and all the base billingsgate language
+that could be in the basest of men's mouths, shaking his horsewhip and
+threatening to beat the said minister therewith, and to pull his gown
+over his ears."<a name="FNanchor_5_320" id="FNanchor_5_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_320" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Apparently Mr. Slaughter had brought on this torrent
+of abuse by asking for a fee for the funeral sermon.</p>
+
+<p>Nicholson's conduct as Deputy Governor of New York under Sir Edmund
+Andros at the time of the Glorious Revolution was not such as to inspire
+confidence that he would do well in Virginia. With no official orders to
+proclaim William and Mary, and with the people ready to rush to arms,
+what was needed was tact and conciliatory measures. Instead, Nicholson
+flew into a rage and talked about suppressing the "uproar and
+rebellion." It was rumored that he planned to burn the city, and that
+the people were to be betrayed and murdered. When some armed men, under
+the German merchant Jacob Leisler, seized the fort, Nicholson deserted
+his post and took ship for England.<a name="FNanchor_6_321" id="FNanchor_6_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_321" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>The first meeting of the Council after Nicholson arrived at Jamestown
+was held on January 3, 1690. After he had shown his commission, he and
+the Councillors went to the courthouse where it was read to the people
+assembled there. If the Virginians had been prejudiced against the new
+Lieutenant Governor by reports of his conduct in New York, they could
+not have been reassured by his personal appearance. It was said that
+when he made a bow to the ladies, he looked like a goose picking up
+straws.</p>
+
+<p>Nicholson began his administration with a due regard to the influence of
+the Council. He had noticed that some of them held large tracts of land
+for which they paid no quit rents, and he pointed out, in a letter to
+the Earl of Nottingham, that it would strengthen the hands of the
+Governor if they were forced to pay up. "But the great men being
+concerned, I dare not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> venture to put any new method in execution
+without an instruction."<a name="FNanchor_7_322" id="FNanchor_7_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_322" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p>He was equally cautious at first to defer to the Council in making
+appointments. When the sheriff of Middlesex died, he asked those
+Councillors who lived in that part of the country to nominate his
+successor. When they suggested Mr. Robert Dudley, Nicholson at once gave
+him a commission. At the same meeting he pointed out that the regular
+time for naming sheriffs and coroners was at hand, and asked that the
+Councillors be prepared to make nominations at their next meeting.<a name="FNanchor_8_323" id="FNanchor_8_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_323" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>But it was not long before he began to use the patronage to build up his
+own power under the guise of defending the royal prerogative. When the
+oath of supremacy was tendered the members of the Council, Richard Lee,
+Isaac Allerton, and John Armistead refused to take it because they were
+Roman Catholics. Nicholson filled one vacancy by naming Attorney General
+Edmund Jenings. He then sent a list of four other prominent men to the
+King and Queen, with the suggestion that they select the other two from
+it. Three of the four deserved well, he pointed out, because in the
+House of Burgesses they had been "for their Majesties' interest."
+Colonel Thomas Milner, the Speaker, behaved very well too, <ins class="correct" title="Missing open quote added based on transcriber assumption.">"but</ins> he hath
+not estate enough to be a Councillor. But he should have promise of some
+place of profit."<a name="FNanchor_9_324" id="FNanchor_9_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_324" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>We have no evidence that Nicholson tried to build up a party in the
+House of Burgesses by distributing sheriff's places to the members. But
+he did try to ingratiate himself by hobnobbing with them and "admitting"
+them daily to his table. This he did, he said, in order to keep a good
+agreement with them for their Majesties' service and advance the public
+affairs of the country, and not to propose or gain anything to be done
+in the Assembly. But the fact that he used the same technique to gain
+power during his second administration, makes his protestations seem
+rather hollow.</p>
+
+<p>Nicholson claimed great success for his administration. He had
+befriended the clergy and bettered their condition, he pointed out, he
+had "looked after their Majesties' revenue," and left it in excellent
+condition, he had reorganized the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> militia. But he admitted, in fact
+boasted, that he had defended the royal prerogative on all occasions. He
+might have added that he had given Commissary Blair his wholehearted
+support in his efforts to found a college.</p>
+
+<p>When Nicholson heard that Effingham had retired as Governor General of
+Virginia, and that he had been succeeded by Sir Edmund Andros, he was
+bitterly disappointed. As Lieutenant Governor under Effingham, he
+thought that when the government became vacant it was his due. He was
+especially disgruntled that Andros had been selected since he had
+against him a long standing pique. Yet he made the best of the
+situation, greeted Andros upon his arrival, and, at the head of the
+James City County militia, escorted him to Jamestown "through the
+several counties which were in his way."<a name="FNanchor_10_325" id="FNanchor_10_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_325" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>It must have been with apprehension that the Virginians received Sir
+Edmund, for reports of his despotism in New England had preceded him.
+They had heard that there he ruled like an Eastern despot, promulgating
+laws, levying taxes without the consent of the Assemblies, placing men
+under arrest and denying them the right of <i>habeas corpus</i>. And they
+knew that the Bostonians had at last captured him, put him aboard a
+vessel, and shipped him back to England. The Virginians were ready to
+offer stiff resistance should he try to rule them with a harsh hand.</p>
+
+<p>So they were surprised to find Andros a mild mannered man, who not only
+made no attack on their liberty, but tried to live in peace with both
+Council and Burgesses. He seems not to have used the patronage to build
+up his power, nor to have broken the grip of the House on the purse by
+demanding large fees; he would have allowed the Burgesses to appoint
+their own clerk had his instructions permitted it, and he carefully kept
+off the explosive subject of the arrears of quit rents. Edward Randolph
+summed it up by saying that he had "mightily gained upon the Council and
+chief men in the country by his even temper."<a name="FNanchor_11_326" id="FNanchor_11_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_326" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>Nothing can illustrate better the progress made in self-government in
+Virginia since the overthrow of James II than the Burgesses' cavalier
+treatment of two bills recommended by the King and Queen. The first, a
+bill to prohibit the exportation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> of loose tobacco, was greatly desired
+by the English merchants. The other, a bill to establish ports in the
+Virginia rivers, had been passed in 1688 by the Assembly, and was now
+returned for certain revisions before becoming law. The Burgesses
+promptly voted down both measures. "The appointment of ports and
+enjoining the landing and shipping of all goods ... from the same will
+... be very injurious and burdensome," they said. There was a long
+debate on the question of prohibiting the exportation of loose tobacco,
+but this bill too failed to pass. Andros was deeply concerned at this
+disregard of the royal wishes, but when the Council advised him that
+nothing more could be done with the Burgesses, he dissolved <ins class="correct" title="Close quote removed based on transcriber assumption because open quote is missing and original source text was not found for confirmation.">them</ins>.<a name="FNanchor_12_327" id="FNanchor_12_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_327" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>The British government also decided that it was best not to press the
+matter. In 1695 Andros spoke of the King's <ins class="correct" title="Missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption.">"goodness"</ins> in dispensing with
+his prerogative "to establish ports without the consent of the Assembly,
+and leaving it to our choice, and also in waiving the prohibition of
+bulk tobacco so earnestly desired in England because it was found not
+pleasing here." But the victory of the Burgesses riled Edward Randolph.
+"They are full of conceit, and fancy themselves as great as the House of
+Commons in England," he said in disgust.<a name="FNanchor_13_328" id="FNanchor_13_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_328" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is probable that the King was so lenient with the Assembly because he
+wanted them to vote men and money to assist New York in her struggle
+with the French and Indians. Andros did his best, pointing out that New
+York was a bulwark for Virginia, and that if she fell the war cry would
+soon be heard on the Virginia frontier. The Burgesses were not
+convinced. The situation in New York was not so desperate as had been
+represented; they denied that New York was the "bulwark and defense of
+Virginia"; they were at heavy expense to guard their own frontier. It
+was characteristic of Andros that he asked the Council to reply for him.
+The Councillors at heart were no doubt as reluctant as the Burgesses to
+send aid to New York, but they were in the position of royal advocates
+and put up the best argument they could. Yet the session ended without
+anything being done.<a name="FNanchor_14_329" id="FNanchor_14_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_329" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>When the Assembly met in 1695, Andros had better success. He had been
+instructed by the King to send a quota of men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> from the Virginia militia
+whenever the Governor of New York asked for them, he said. This alarmed
+the Burgesses. They thought it would not only weaken the defense of
+Virginia by taking away so many men, but would so frighten the young
+freemen that many would desert their wives and children and leave the
+colony. In the end they compromised by voting £500 in lieu of men.<a name="FNanchor_15_330" id="FNanchor_15_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_330" class="fnanchor">[15]</a>
+This Andros was forced to accept, though by so doing he brought on
+himself a reprimand from the Committee of Trade.<a name="FNanchor_16_331" id="FNanchor_16_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_331" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is strange that Andros, who was so moderate in his dealings with the
+House of Burgesses, and declared that he never thought himself better
+than when he had them about him to consult for the good of the country,
+should have bearded them on one of their most sensitive points&mdash;the
+appointment of a Treasurer. In 1691 the Assembly passed two laws, one
+for levying a poll tax, and one laying a duty on liquors, both of which
+were to be "paid by the collectors thereof to the Treasurer." Included
+in the act was the naming of Colonel Edward Hill as Treasurer.<a name="FNanchor_17_332" id="FNanchor_17_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_332" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>A year later, when Nicholson gave him a lucrative job as collector, Hill
+had to vacate this office, since it was unlawful for the same man to
+hold both. To act as Treasurer until the Assembly convened, the Governor
+named one of the Council, Henry Whiting. When the Burgesses met they
+questioned Whiting's authority, but he satisfied them by showing them
+his commission. They then passed a bill to name a permanent Treasurer,
+but the Council, probably at Andros' urging, refused to concur. "The
+Governor would never consent to the Assembly's appointing their own
+Treasurer but would rather lose a tax than suffer them to do so," James
+Blair testified. But, he added: "This makes them suspicious and more
+unwilling to raise money."<a name="FNanchor_18_333" id="FNanchor_18_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_333" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>Whiting held the office until his death, which occurred probably in
+September, 1694. Then, for several years, there seems to have been no
+Treasurer. But the Burgesses were merely biding their time. Their
+opportunity came in 1699. The old statehouse at Jamestown had burned
+down, and there was urgent need for an appropriation to build a new one.
+They passed a bill placing a duty on the importation of servants and
+slaves,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> and laying a levy by poll, the revenue from both to be paid
+into the hands of the Treasurer for financing a new Capitol. Since there
+was no Treasurer they included in the act the appointment of Colonel
+Robert Carter to that office. The Governor and Council, realizing that
+they could not have the Capitol without the Treasurer, yielded.<a name="FNanchor_19_334" id="FNanchor_19_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_334" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>The undoing of Andros was his quarrel with the Reverend James Blair,
+Commissary for the Bishop of London in Virginia. When this rugged
+Scotsman came to the colony he found conditions in the Church far from
+satisfactory. Since there was no college in the colony the parishes were
+entirely dependent upon England for their ministers. The dispersal of
+the people was such that if a parish were large enough to provide the
+rector with an adequate living, it was too large for him to minister to
+properly. Some parishes extended forty miles or more along the banks of
+the great Virginia rivers, the minister was usually too poor to have a
+library or to marry. Since English clergymen were reluctant to come over
+under such conditions, there were many vacant parishes. Often the
+vestries in desperation were forced to accept any that offered
+themselves, however unsuitable. There were many able and pious ministers
+in Virginia, but some were of inferior ability, and a few were a
+disgrace to their calling. And it was inevitable that amid the woods and
+tobacco fields of a new country they should neglect many features of the
+liturgy&mdash;the use of vestments, the observance of the saints' days,
+burial in consecrated ground, etc.</p>
+
+<p>With the enthusiastic support of the Bishop of London and of Governor
+Nicholson, Blair had worked out a plan of reform. He would found a
+college to educate young Virginians for the ministry; he would secure an
+act of Assembly increasing the ministers' salary; he would enforce
+ecclesiastical discipline; he would give the clergy a voice in the
+government by procuring a seat in the Council for the Commissary. Going
+to England, he gained the backing of the Archbishop of Canterbury and
+other prelates, and through them of King William and Queen Mary.<a name="FNanchor_20_335" id="FNanchor_20_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_335" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>Their Majesties granted a charter for the college, permitted it to be
+named William and Mary, gave £1,985.14.10 out of the quit rent fund,
+10,000 acres of land, the revenue of one pence a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> pound on tobacco
+exported from Virginia to any other colony, and a salary for the
+Commissary from the quit rents. So Blair returned in triumph and took
+his seat beside the great men of the Council. But it was a triumph which
+won him the enmity of Andros. The Governor, no doubt, was jealous of his
+influence in high circles in England, and he viewed with alarm the
+diversion from the use of the government to the college and the clergy
+of urgently needed funds. With the opening of the year 1694 the
+government was facing a deficit with no way of meeting it except by the
+hated levy by poll, or by drawing on the quit rents.</p>
+
+<p>Soon Blair was complaining that Andros was trying to obstruct his
+reforms for the clergy. There must have been stormy scenes in the
+Council meetings, with Blair hurling accusations at the Governor, and
+the latter denying them. The President of the College "could not be
+obliged by all endeavors to contain himself within bounds," wrote Andros
+to Secretary Shrewsbury. "His restless comport I ever passed by till the
+whole Council ... faulting him as unfit to be in the Council, I thought
+it my duty ... to suspend him."<a name="FNanchor_21_336" id="FNanchor_21_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_336" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>But Andros did not reckon on Blair's influence in England. Undoubtedly
+the Commissary wrote the Bishop of London of his suspension, and the
+Bishop complained to the Lords of Trade. In due time Andros received a
+rebuke from the King. He had appointed Blair to the Council "the better
+to enable him to promote and carry on" the "good and useful" work of
+founding a college. Now he found that his gracious intentions had been
+discouraged by his suspension. "Our will and pleasure is that forthwith
+upon the receipt hereof you take off the said suspension."<a name="FNanchor_22_337" id="FNanchor_22_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_337" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> It was a
+bitter humiliation for Andros when, in August, 1696, Blair produced the
+King's letter and resumed his seat.<a name="FNanchor_23_338" id="FNanchor_23_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_338" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> So bitter, in fact, that he
+dared a second time to oust the hated Commissary. At a meeting of the
+Council in April, 1697, Blair asked whether a recent act of Parliament
+did not debar him from sitting in the General Court since he was a
+native of Scotland. Whereupon the Council, with a promptness he probably
+did not expect, voted that not only did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> it do so, but that it made him
+ineligible for the Council as well.<a name="FNanchor_24_339" id="FNanchor_24_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_339" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>Blair's answer was to take ship for England, there to lay his complaints
+before the English prelates and through them before the Board of Trade.
+To the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Salisbury, and the Bishop
+of London he undoubtedly poured out his complaints of Andros&mdash;that he
+was an enemy of the college, that he did not support the efforts to
+secure better livings for the clergy, that he had disobeyed the King's
+express orders to keep him in the Council. This ecclesiastical lobby was
+too much for Sir Edmund. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, he wrote
+that he wished to come home because of ill health. On May 31, 1698, his
+resignation was accepted and Francis Nicholson named to succeed him as
+Governor General.<a name="FNanchor_25_340" id="FNanchor_25_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_340" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p>
+
+<p>When Andros bade Jamestown goodbye and set sail for England, a full
+decade had passed since the Glorious Revolution, time sufficient for one
+to judge its effect upon self-government in Virginia. Some of the losses
+of the Second Stuart Despotism had not been regained. The act of 1680
+giving the Crown a perpetual revenue had not been repealed; the judicial
+powers of the Assembly had not been restored; the efforts to secure a
+charter for the colony had been abandoned; the Burgesses had not
+regained the right to name their clerk.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the gains far outweighed these failures. Of first importance was it
+that the Assembly itself had been preserved with most of its rights and
+privileges. It still could initiate legislation, it alone could initiate
+money bills, it could determine the uses of all appropriated funds, it
+could appoint the Treasurer. The petitions of the Assembly to the Throne
+were no longer cast aside with scorn as in the days of Charles II and
+James II, but were given careful consideration. The battle for liberty
+had not yet been won, many bitter struggles lay ahead, but the gains
+made under the mild rule of King William and Queen Mary were vital to
+the eventual victory.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_316" id="Footnote_1_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_316"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1660-1693: 370.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_317" id="Footnote_2_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_317"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> CO5-1318.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_318" id="Footnote_3_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_318"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1660-1693: 352.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_319" id="Footnote_4_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_319"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1660-1693: 352.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_320" id="Footnote_5_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_320"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 9.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_321" id="Footnote_6_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_321"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Documentary history of New York</i> 2: 25, 31, 42, 181-183.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_322" id="Footnote_7_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_322"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> CO5-1306, Doc. 64.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_323" id="Footnote_8_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_323"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> I: 158.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_324" id="Footnote_9_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_324"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> CO5-1306, Doc. 41.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_325" id="Footnote_10_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_325"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Sainsbury papers</i> 5: 100.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_326" id="Footnote_11_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_326"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> A. T. S. Goodrick, <i>Edward Randolph</i> 7: 430.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_327" id="Footnote_12_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_327"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Sainsbury papers</i> 5: 165.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_328" id="Footnote_13_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_328"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> A. T. S. Goodrick, <i>Edward Randolph</i> 7: 448.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_329" id="Footnote_14_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_329"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1659-1693: 292,
+482-493.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_330" id="Footnote_15_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_330"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 1695-1702: 9-42.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_331" id="Footnote_16_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_331"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> CO5-1359, p. 79.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_332" id="Footnote_17_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_332"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1659-1693: 360.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_333" id="Footnote_18_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_333"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> CO5-1359, pp. 101, 102.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_334" id="Footnote_19_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_334"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 3: 197, 198.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_335" id="Footnote_20_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_335"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> T. J. Wertenbaker, <i>The first Americans</i>, 133.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_336" id="Footnote_21_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_336"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Sainsbury papers</i> 5: 225, 226.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_337" id="Footnote_22_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_337"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 236.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_338" id="Footnote_23_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_338"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> I: 350, 352.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_339" id="Footnote_24_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_339"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 364.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_340" id="Footnote_25_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_340"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> CO5-1359, p. 208.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br />
+<br />
+THE VIRGINIA HITLER</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">It was James Blair who was chiefly responsible for the appointment of
+Francis Nicholson as Governor General of Virginia. Nicholson's hearty
+support for his plans to found a college and better the condition of the
+clergy when he was Lieutenant Governor, made the Commissary eager to
+have him back. So when Andros resigned, he used his influence with the
+Bishop of London, who was one of the Commissioners of Trade, to have him
+made his successor.</p>
+
+<p>It seems strange that one identified with the interests of Virginia
+should have foisted on the colony one of the worst Governors in its
+history. But at the time Blair seems to have permitted the man's good
+qualities&mdash;his undoubted ability, his energy, and his devotion to the
+Church&mdash;to blind him to his many faults. Blair himself admitted this
+later after he came into violent conflict with Nicholson, and wrote to
+the Bishop of London in a repentant mood.</p>
+
+<p>The new Governor General arrived in Virginia in the winter of 1698. He
+found that the personnel of the Council had been greatly changed during
+his absence. But there were several familiar faces in the group which
+met in the great hall of the residence of the late William Sherwood.
+Nicholson then announced the King's appointments to the Council and
+administered the oath required by Parliament to those who were present.
+One wonders whether Matthew Page and Benjamin Harrison, in their elation
+at being elevated to the "Virginia House of Lords," suspected that it
+would involve them in bitter controversy with the Governor, or that
+they, together with four of their fellow Councillors, would be
+responsible for his removal from office.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing basically despotic in the program Nicholson outlined
+for himself. He sought to set the finances of the colony in order by
+eliminating frauds and demanding a strict payment of quit rents so as to
+increase the royal revenue. He was determined to uphold the King's
+prerogative against all assaults by the Council or the Burgesses. He
+wished to put the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> colony in a state of readiness to repel any attack by
+hostile Indians, and to aid other colonies who should become involved in
+Indian wars. He tried to gain permanent tenure for the clergy so as to
+give them a degree of independence of the vestries. He planned a new
+city which was to be the seat of government, with broad streets and
+charming Capitol and Governor's mansion.</p>
+
+<p>Since certain features of this program ran counter to the interests of
+the Council, and others to those of the people, to carry them through
+would have required resolution, tact, moderation, and ability to handle
+men. Resolution Nicholson had in abundance, but in other respects he was
+entirely unsuited for the task he set himself. To vilify men, to call
+them rascals, to threaten to lash them with his whip was not the way to
+handle the liberty-loving Virginians. His attempts to bribe the
+Councillors and the Burgesses with fat jobs and to pack the courts with
+favorites, might have been more successful had they not been accompanied
+with such violent bursts of temper and such threats of ruin against any
+who opposed him.</p>
+
+<p>It so happened that the Committee of Trade, finding that the amount of
+tobacco received in England was far greater than that on which the
+export duty was paid in Virginia, became convinced that there were great
+frauds in collections. The fault lay with the naval officers and
+collectors, they thought. They instructed Nicholson not to appoint the
+same person to both offices, and not to permit members of the Council to
+hold either. When the Governor, not wishing to offend, at first failed
+to comply, they gave him a severe rebuke. In June, 1699, he was forced
+to turn several Councillors out of their lucrative jobs.</p>
+
+<p>This drew from them a violent protest. They denied that they had any
+knowledge of frauds in the collections. To forbid Councillors to hold
+these positions was to reverse the custom of many years. The income was
+their only compensation for their expense in journeying perhaps seventy
+miles, perhaps one hundred miles, in some cases crossing great rivers,
+to attend meetings of the Council and the General Court. And though they
+could not directly blame Nicholson, they probably suspected that it was
+at his suggestion that the instruction had been made. So it was a soured
+and discontented group of men who dispersed to return to their homes
+after the Council meeting ended.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+<img src="images/illus-147.jpg" width="650" height="487" alt="" title="" />
+<span class="caption">The Old Capitol at Williamsburg, showing the north
+elevation which is a duplicate of the historic Virginia Capitol
+originally completed in 1705. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+ <img src="images/illus-148.jpg" width="650" height="488" alt="" title="" />
+ <span class="caption">The House of Burgesses in the Old Capitol at Williamsburg. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>Nicholson's efforts to secure more accurate returns of the quit rents
+did not put them in better humor. It was well known that it was a common
+practice for men to "conceal" part of their holdings when the sheriff
+came round to collect the rent, and, if the sheriff happened to be a
+friend or a relative, he would not look into the matter too closely. As
+for the great tracts held by the wealthy, the sheriffs dared not demand
+the rent. To do so would certainly be bitterly resented and might cost
+them their jobs. Nicholson was convinced that a strict accounting would
+greatly increase the returns.</p>
+
+<p>When he was Lieutenant Governor he had tried to force the large
+landholders to pay their rents by taking the matter into the courts.
+Making a test case of Colonel Lawrence Smith, who had several large
+properties, he ordered the Attorney General to prosecute him. The case
+was ready for trial when Nicholson was removed and it was afterwards
+compounded for a small sum.<a name="FNanchor_1_341" id="FNanchor_1_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_341" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>At the time Nicholson had had some thoughts of drawing up "an exact,
+true, and perfect rent roll." But the Council, who had no desire to have
+their own "concealed" acres exposed, pointed out that it would be a
+difficult and costly undertaking. So for the time being the matter was
+dropped. But when Nicholson began his second administration he resumed
+his efforts. He instructed William Byrd, the Auditor, to order the
+sheriffs to make accurate rolls of holdings in their counties. But as
+late as October, 1703, Byrd reported that though he had urged this on
+the sheriffs he realized that there was "still very great abuse
+therein."<a name="FNanchor_2_342" id="FNanchor_2_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_342" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Yet the next year the Governor had in his hands a rent
+roll, which, however imperfect, must have been of great value in the
+collection of the rents. Undoubtedly much of the unoccupied lands were
+not put down on the rolls, yet some of the members of the Council were
+hard hit. Byrd now had to pay on 20,700 acres, Custis on 12,600,
+Harrison on 9,100, and the others on holdings ranging from 2,000 to
+7,000 acres. Other members of the aristocracy, many of them related to
+one or more Councillors, were put down for thousands of acres. Lewis
+Burwell had 7,000 acres in the Isle of Wight County, 4,800 acres in King
+William, 3,300 acres in Gloucester, 2,100 acres in York, and 1,300 in
+James City County.<a name="FNanchor_3_343" id="FNanchor_3_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_343" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>Having alienated the Councillors and other influential men by striking
+at their pocketbooks, Nicholson proceeded to cross swords with another
+influential group&mdash;the vestrymen. The Virginia clergymen had long
+complained of the insecurity of their tenure, for the vestries who
+appointed them claimed the right also of dismissing them when they
+proved unsatisfactory. "They are to their vestries in the nature of
+hired servants, agreed with from year to year, and dismissed ... without
+any crime proved or so much as alleged against them," Commissary Blair
+complained.</p>
+
+<p>Claiming that whenever a vestry failed to present their minister to him
+for induction, he had the right to fix him on them for life by
+collation, Nicholson appealed to Sir Edward Northey, Attorney General of
+England. Northey's opinion supported him fully, and in triumph the
+Governor sent copies to all the vestries. But he met with one rebuff
+after another. We "do not think it proper, neither are we willing to
+make presentation for induction," replied one vestry. Another declared
+that the word induction sounded very harsh in their ears, and as for
+collation they hoped the Governor would not try it. And Nicholson,
+realizing that, if he should, the vestry would refuse to pay his
+appointee his salary and so starve him out, was forced to let the matter
+drop.</p>
+
+<p>Despite his efforts for the clergy, the Governor managed to change the
+friendship of the man who was so largely responsible for his appointment
+into bitter hatred. Blair turned against him because he took over many
+functions rightly belonging to the Commissary and tried to make himself
+head of the Church. "He has invaded almost all ... parts of the
+ecclesiastical jurisdiction," Blair complained, "such as convoking the
+clergy, ... appearing himself in their meetings and proposing the
+subject matter of their consultations, ... requiring of some ministers
+canonical obedience to himself as their bishop, taking upon himself to
+turn out ministers."<a name="FNanchor_4_344" id="FNanchor_4_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_344" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>This was followed by an attempt to take out of the hands of the
+Councillors the control of the military forces of the colony. In the
+summer of 1701, when England was on the verge of war with France, word
+reached Virginia that a French fleet was preparing to sail for the West
+Indies. Claiming that there was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> danger that they might attack Virginia,
+"being an open and defenseless country," Nicholson organized a new force
+to resist them. He ordered the captains of militia to pick out every
+fifth man in their companies, "being persons young, brisk, fit, and able
+to go out to war," and organize them into bands of thirty, mounted and
+fully equipped.<a name="FNanchor_5_345" id="FNanchor_5_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_345" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>Thus the militia, who were largely under the command of members of the
+Council, were to be superseded by a new force under Nicholson himself.
+The people became alarmed when it was rumored that he was trying to
+persuade the English government to keep a standing army in America with
+himself as Captain General. If he succeeds, men told each other, we may
+as well bid goodbye to liberty, for then he will carry out his threats
+of taking and arming all our servants, of bringing the Burgesses with
+ropes about the necks, and daring the Assembly to "deny him
+anything."<a name="FNanchor_6_346" id="FNanchor_6_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_346" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>When the war with France began and the attack fell, not on Virginia, but
+on New York, King William asked the Assembly to give financial aid. But
+the Burgesses refused, pointing out that they needed all their resources
+to protect their own exposed frontier. It is possible that it was
+because this answer interfered with his own ambition that it was so
+displeasing to Nicholson. His Majesty should signify his resentment and
+order the Burgesses on their allegiance to comply, he thought, "and I
+hope in God that they will then" do so.<a name="FNanchor_7_347" id="FNanchor_7_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_347" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Losing his temper, as he
+always did when opposed, he threatened to draft men, even members of the
+House, on his own authority and send them to fight in New York. Much
+more to his credit was his action in advancing £900 to New York out of
+his own pocket.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that Nicholson, when he had cooled off, had no real
+intention of carrying out his threats against the Burgesses, but he did
+try to control them by a brazen use of the patronage. Of twenty-two
+sheriffs whom he appointed in June, 1699, no less than sixteen were
+Burgesses. Ignoring the advice of the Council, he put men in or turned
+them out as they voted as he directed. During one session of the
+Assembly, when seven of the Burgesses were county clerks, he had seven
+blank commissions made out and placed in the Secretary's office where
+all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> could see them. Then he spread the report that any or all of the
+clerks who proved to be "bad boys" were to be dismissed and the
+commissions given to those who behaved better.<a name="FNanchor_8_348" id="FNanchor_8_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_348" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Are not all the places of profit in the hands of the Governor?" it was
+asked.<a name="FNanchor_9_349" id="FNanchor_9_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_349" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> The sheriff of King and Queen County was arbitrarily removed
+when he was busy collecting the poll tax. If it happened that one of
+Nicholson's favorites was legally ineligible for an office he would give
+him a blank commission and tell him to fill it in with the name of a
+relative or friend, or even to sell it. Colonel John West was stated to
+have sold a sheriff's commission for 8,000 pounds of tobacco.<a name="FNanchor_10_350" id="FNanchor_10_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_350" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>The members of the House who were deaf to his threats and promises, the
+Governor tried to wheedle. "We have a way of treating three days in a
+week all the Assembly time," said Harrison, "where some of the House
+constantly attend to get their bellies full of victuals and too many
+times their heads full of strong drink."<a name="FNanchor_11_351" id="FNanchor_11_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_351" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>Fearing that even such measures would not avail if a hostile House were
+returned, the Governor interfered actively in the elections. "We have
+had an election of Burgesses ... in which there hath been ... promises,
+threats, spreading scandalous reports ... browbeating ... and what not,"
+Philip Ludwell, Junior, wrote his father. Nicholson had been in Charles
+City County to oppose the election of Benjamin Harrison, promising
+sheriff's and clerk's places to some and threatening others. "Having rid
+all through Charles City, from house to house, he went to Surry." Here
+he commanded the sheriff to draw up a list of those who spoke ill of
+Major Allen, the candidate he favored. When Major Thomas Swan was
+elected, he forbade the sheriff "at his peril" to return him. And he
+told the sheriff of James City County that he could not serve two
+masters, and if Benjamin Harrison were chosen, he need never expect any
+more favors from him.<a name="FNanchor_12_352" id="FNanchor_12_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_352" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>In his dealing with the House of Burgesses, the Governor sacrificed any
+influence he had built up, by his disregard of their privileges and his
+violent abuse of individual members and of the body as a whole. His
+agent in London, John Thrale, saw no reason why the Burgesses should be
+angered at him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> for proposing a tax bill. If Mr. Thrale knew how they
+disliked those levy bills which arose outside the House, he would change
+his mind, Philip Ludwell pointed out.<a name="FNanchor_13_353" id="FNanchor_13_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_353" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> In one of his fits of temper
+Nicholson threatened to cut the Speaker's throat.<a name="FNanchor_14_354" id="FNanchor_14_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_354" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the General Court Nicholson made free use of threats and promises to
+secure verdicts to his liking. Robert Beverley said it was his constant
+practice to browbeat and vilify both lawyers and their clients. Two
+cases, especially, he managed with such violence "that there was not one
+person in court, favorite or foe, but thought it very hard and unjust
+dealing." One case had to be postponed several times because as soon as
+it came up he flew into such a rage that the court had to adjourn.<a name="FNanchor_15_355" id="FNanchor_15_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_355" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>Nicholson threw one suit out of court without even consulting the other
+Judges. In another he pleaded "from the bench more like a party than a
+judge and flew into great heats and passions." In the case of Swan
+<i>versus</i> Wilson, he grossly abused Swan's attorney. When the verdict
+went for Swan, Wilson's attorney said there had been an error in form.
+To this Harrison replied that the form had been in keeping with Virginia
+practice. Instantly Nicholson turned on him, thundering out: "Sir, you
+are the Queen's counsel and pretend to set up a precedent in Virginia
+contrary to the practice in England. You shall not impose upon me with
+your tricks and equivocations."<a name="FNanchor_16_356" id="FNanchor_16_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_356" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> On another occasion he became so
+enraged against Mr. Bartholomew Fowler, one of the attorneys, "a very
+sickly, weak man," that he seized him by the collar and shook him,
+swearing that his commands must be obeyed without hesitation or
+reserve.<a name="FNanchor_17_357" id="FNanchor_17_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_357" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>If we may believe Robert Beverley, the Governor made a habit of packing
+the grand jury, in order to get flattering addresses from them. He would
+pick out men whom he knew he could influence, send for them to come to
+Williamsburg, and order the sheriff to put them on the jury in place of
+others of whom he was doubtful. Beverley was talking with a man whom the
+sheriff had summoned and then had discharged, when the sheriff happened
+to pass. So the man stopped him to ask why he had done it. He replied
+that the Governor had ordered him to do it. When the jury he had
+selected for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> purpose gave him the address he wanted, he showered
+them with favors. To the foreman he gave a naval officer's place, others
+he "favored by barefaced methods" in cases at law in which they were
+concerned, still others had sheriff's places.<a name="FNanchor_18_358" id="FNanchor_18_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_358" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>Nicholson's greatest blunder was to antagonize the Council. Its members,
+representing the Virginia aristocracy, and having influential friends at
+Court, were not the men to sit quietly and see their hard-earned
+privileges taken from them. Is the Council so mean spirited as to let a
+Governor do all the ill things he pleases in their names, and all the
+while using them like slaves, not suffering them to have any opinion of
+their own? Philip Ludwell asked. "Arbitrary power is grown to a high
+pitch among us. Hectoring is the only court language. Our laws and
+liberties openly trampled upon."<a name="FNanchor_19_359" id="FNanchor_19_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_359" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>Nicholson should have known that he was in for a fight to the finish
+when he bearded the Councillors. Prominent among them was the pugnacious
+Commissary James Blair. Robert Carter, of Corotoman, had been a Burgess
+at twenty-eight, and had twice been Speaker. A man of great energy,
+shrewd, and dominating he was dubbed "King Carter." Benjamin Harrison
+had represented Surry in the House of Burgesses, was a Visitor of the
+College of William and Mary, was commander of the Surry militia. Philip
+Ludwell, Jr., Page, Custis, Bassett, Duke, and the others were all men
+of wealth and influence.</p>
+
+<p>The first open breach between these men and Nicholson came when he began
+to make appointments to office without consulting them. They were
+outraged when he removed their friends from lucrative jobs to make room
+for his own favorites. They protested the issuing of warrants on the
+revenue and the giving of patents to land without their consent. It was
+almost an insult for him to prorogue the Assembly on his own authority
+and without their knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>Later Nicholson put the blame on the Councillors themselves for his
+failure to get along with them. They hated him, he said, because he
+would not be guided and governed by them, and turn secretaries,
+auditors, collectors, naval officers, and others out of their places and
+put them and their friends in, and would not let them do what they
+pleased.<a name="FNanchor_20_360" id="FNanchor_20_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_360" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Council meetings became stormy, with the Councillors protesting to
+the Governor and the Governor flying into a rage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> When the sessions
+were held in the Wren Building at the college prior to the completing of
+the new Capitol, passersby could hear Nicholson storming "as loud as he
+could extend his voice." If any member dared to oppose him in any
+measure he was sure to bring down on himself a volley of insults.</p>
+
+<p>The Councillors were liable to abuse even when the Council was not in
+session. One day when John Lightfoot was in Williamsburg, he called on
+the Governor. He had not been in his presence fifteen minutes before
+Nicholson began to storm at him, calling him a rogue, a rascal, and a
+villain. "You have sided with that damned Scotch parson, Blair, and by
+God, sir, you have shipped yourself in a leaky vessel.... You shall be
+turned out of the Council." Then he flew out against the rest of the
+Council, saying there was not one of them who was not a rogue and a
+coward, who did not dare look a man in the face.<a name="FNanchor_21_361" id="FNanchor_21_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_361" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>The testimony regarding Nicholson's violent temper is so overwhelming as
+to indicate that the man was unbalanced. On one occasion while talking
+with Captain James Moodie in an "upper apartment" of the college, he
+flew into a violent passion against the Commissioners of the Navy,
+"calling them all the basest names the tongue of man could express."
+These imprecations were thundered out "with such a noise that the people
+down in the lower rooms came running up stairs ... believing that the
+college had been on fire." Several sea captains, who were lodging in a
+room some distance away, "came running out of their beds in their
+shirts," one of them "without his wooden leg, holding himself by the
+wall."<a name="FNanchor_22_362" id="FNanchor_22_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_362" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<p>If Nicholson had contented himself with hurling imprecations at those
+who offended him, his victims might have been able to endure it. "I must
+confess I have no reason to be satisfied with the insolent, tyrannical
+behavior of our Governor, but as long as he is vested with the Queen's
+authority, I will quietly endure his barbarous usage," wrote Philip
+Ludwell.<a name="FNanchor_23_363" id="FNanchor_23_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_363" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> But when Nicholson carried his malice so far as to
+prosecute those to whom he took a disliking, deprive them of their jobs,
+and imprison them, their safety lay in fleeing the colony.</p>
+
+<p>Clergymen seem to have been especially unfortunate in incurring
+Nicholson's resentment. At a convocation of the clergy in Elizabeth City
+church, on October 28, 1702, Commissary Blair asked the Reverend James
+Wallace, the minister, to deliver a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> sermon. The Governor, who claimed
+to be the head of the Virginia Church and had summoned the meeting in
+order to secure a flattering address, was present. It may have been this
+which influenced Mr. Wallace to choose as his text: "Herein do I
+exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God
+and toward men," and to use it to illustrate the duty of both government
+officials and clergymen.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after the services were over Nicholson sent for Mr. Wallace.
+"How durst you preach such a sermon?" he demanded. "How dare you take
+such a text? How dare you presume to tell me my duty? I will not be told
+my duty." From that day the Governor pursued him with the greatest
+malice. He summoned him before the Council, and threatened him with
+ruin, calling him villain, hypocrite, Jesuit. He went all the way to
+Elizabeth City to lay charges against him before his vestry. When Mr.
+Wallace could endure this persecution no longer and prepared to sail for
+England, he tried to stop him.<a name="FNanchor_24_364" id="FNanchor_24_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_364" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>If anything else were needed to make Nicholson a ridiculous figure, it
+was his love affair with Lucy Burwell. Lucy's father, Major Lewis
+Burwell, was perhaps the wealthiest man in Virginia. Owning many
+thousands of acres of land, served by scores of slaves and indentured
+workers, connected by marriage and birth with some of the most
+influential families in the colony, he was the typical Virginia
+aristocrat. Carter's Creek, his residence in Gloucester County, remained
+standing for over two centuries as witness to his lavish style of
+living. The great halls, the marble mantels, the elaborate staircase,
+the wainscoting carved to resemble drapery were reminiscent rather of
+England than of seventeenth-century Virginia. However, Lucy seems to
+have spent most of her childhood, not at Carter's Creek, but at King's
+Creek, an historic old estate left to her parents by her mother's uncle,
+Nathaniel Bacon, Senior. And here it was that Nicholson pressed his
+suit, riding over to see her whenever there was a lull in the business
+of the General Court and the Assembly was not in session.</p>
+
+<p>Lucy and her family received him with the courtesy due the
+representative of the Crown. But they knew of the Governor's fits of
+anger, of his profanity, and the abuse he had heaped on their relatives.
+Lucy was not attracted to him and, telling him she did not love him,
+refused to marry him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When he was at last convinced that all hope of winning Lucy was gone,
+Nicholson acted like a madman. He swore that if she married another he
+would with his own hands cut the throats of the bridegroom, the
+minister, and the justice of the peace who issued the license.<a name="FNanchor_25_365" id="FNanchor_25_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_365" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> All
+pretence of friendship for her relatives was thrown to the winds. Every
+few days he sent Major Burwell such threats of ruin that the poor man
+was kept in a constant state of alarm. "For what I know not, unless it
+is because I will not force my daughter to marry utterly against her
+will, which is a thing no Christian body can do," he wrote Philip
+Ludwell, Senior. "If it please God I live until the return of our next
+fleet, I propose for England, for I shall not be able to live <ins class="correct" title="Missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption.">here."</ins><a name="FNanchor_26_366" id="FNanchor_26_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_366" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>Nicholson became violently jealous of young Stephen Fouace, minister of
+Martin's Hundred parish, in which the Burwells resided. One night, when
+he was returning from a pastoral call at King's Creek he happened to
+meet the Governor. Falling into one of his rages, Nicholson, in a
+thundering voice, commanded him never again to visit the house unless
+sent for, and never again to speak to Lucy.<a name="FNanchor_27_367" id="FNanchor_27_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_367" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Why, Sir," stammered the frightened pastor, "what is the matter? Does
+your Excellency take me for your rival? I assure you, sir, I have not
+that foolish presumption to think to be preferred to your Excellency."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your prate, sirrah. I have taken good notice of you. You are an
+impudent rogue, a villain, a rascal."</p>
+
+<p>As they were riding along together Nicholson reached over and pulled
+Fouace's hat from his head.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you have the impudence to ride with me with your hat on?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will not use me like a footman," said Fouace.</p>
+
+<p>After a pause Nicholson asked: "Is it not a shame for one of your
+function to suffer me to be ridiculed and railed at in some companies
+where I know you have been? Is it not your duty to reprove them?"</p>
+
+<p>Fouace replied that the best way to avoid ridicule was to be sure that
+his behavior was such as not to expose him to odium and contempt, that
+even the King of France could not hinder many of his subjects from
+speaking ill of him.</p>
+
+<p>"But seeing your Excellency is pleased to make me mindful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> of my duty to
+reprove the evil I see done in my presence, I must make bold to reprove
+your Excellency for using at this rate in the highway, in the woods, and
+in the night, on a Sunday, a clergyman coming from visiting the sick of
+his parish."</p>
+
+<p>Nicholson received this in silence. But a few minutes later he ran at
+Fouace, trying to seize him, and threatening to lash him with his whip.
+This frightened him, for the Governor had his sword and pistols with
+him, and they were alone in the night. So he wheeled, set spurs to his
+horse, and fled.<a name="FNanchor_28_368" id="FNanchor_28_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_368" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<p>But he could not escape Nicholson's malice. He soon found that life in
+Virginia was intolerable, and laid his plans to leave for England. But
+the Governor had no desire to have him lay charges against him before
+the Bishop of London and the Lords of Trade and Plantations. After he
+had gone aboard the tobacco fleet, he tried to bring him back, but by
+shifting from ship to ship Fouace managed to escape.</p>
+
+<p>Nicholson's folly aroused astonishment even in England, and the gossips
+in the London Exchange and the coffee houses tittered at his
+unsuccessful suit. An English clergyman wrote him an anonymous letter.
+"It is not here as in some barbarous countries where the tender lady is
+often dragged into the Sultan's arms just reeking in the blood of her
+nearest relations, and yet must strongly dissemble her aversion. But
+English women are the freest in the world, and will not be won by
+constraint, but hate them who use them and theirs roughly."</p>
+
+<p>One day when Nicholson was calling on Lucy, before the final breach had
+occurred, she happened to drop her handkerchief. He picked it up,
+slipped several rings in it unobserved by Lucy, and handing it to her
+mounted his horse and rode away. She sent them back to him, but he
+returned them. And for a while she kept them. Later he complained of the
+costliness of his suit. "Though she would not accept him," he told
+several persons, "she and her friends had taken presents to the value of
+£500."<a name="FNanchor_29_369" id="FNanchor_29_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_369" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p>
+
+<p>When this came to Lucy's ears, she thought it necessary to return
+everything he had given her. So she, with her mother and brother,
+together with her uncle, Philip Ludwell, Junior, went to Williamsburg
+with them. But Nicholson, hearing of their mission, "slipt out in the
+morning." The little group retired to the nearby Wren building, and
+waited there until<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> six o'clock in the evening. Then they went back to
+Nicholson's house, where Ludwell went in to the "public room" and left
+the gifts on the table.</p>
+
+<p>Late that night, after he had retired, Ludwell was aroused by two
+messengers sent by the Governor, one bringing the gifts, and the other a
+summons in the Queen's name for him to come to Nicholson immediately.
+Ludwell told the man that he "could not apprehend the Queen had any
+occasion for his services" just at that moment, and so went back to bed.</p>
+
+<p>But the next morning he went to the Governor's house, taking the gifts
+with him. He found Nicholson in a towering rage.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder how you dare come into my house yesterday when I was abroad to
+offer me such an insult?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, I never offered your Excellency an affront in my life that I know
+of," Ludwell replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes you have, several, like the base villain and rascal that you are."</p>
+
+<p>Ludwell bowed and thanked him for this "civil usage." But Nicholson
+began again to storm, calling him "rogue, lying villain, base rascal,
+and coward," and declaring that he would teach him his duty. Finally he
+told him to get out of his house and not return until he was sent for.
+This Ludwell did with alacrity. But he took good care to leave the
+gifts. At first this escaped Nicholson's notice, but while Ludwell was
+putting on his boots he rushed up to him, "calling him all the names the
+Devil could invent" and commanding him to take the things.<a name="FNanchor_30_370" id="FNanchor_30_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_370" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>When Ludwell had mounted his horse and started to ride away, the
+Governor ran out "stark mad," and catching hold of his coat tried to
+pull him from his horse. Failing in this, he snatched his whip from his
+hand, and ordered him in the Queen's name to dismount. When he had done
+so, he shook the whip over his head, and swore that he had a mind to
+slash him soundly. Ludwell told him that as he was Governor of Virginia
+he had to take all his ill usage, but if he were in another place he
+would not dare treat him so. A few days later Nicholson challenged
+Ludwell to a duel. But Ludwell declined. He had not so much love for the
+gallows, he said. "But I always wear a sword with which to defend
+myself, and I am always easily found."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When one reads the long recital of Nicholson's misdeeds, one is apt to
+forget that he conferred one lasting benefit on the colony, a benefit
+which today is shared by millions of Americans from all parts of the
+country. He was the founder of Williamsburg. It was on October 21, 1698,
+that a fire broke out in the statehouse at Jamestown which in a few
+hours laid the building in ashes. So the old question of moving the
+capital away from the mosquito-infested town on the banks of the James
+was again debated. Nicholson favored Middle Plantation. The college was
+located there, there was ample room for a town, there were several
+springs of pure water, and the place was healthful. The Assembly voted
+that a city be laid out there, which, in honor of the "most gracious and
+glorious King William," was to be named Williamsburg.</p>
+
+<p>Nicholson busied himself with planning the streets, which at first he
+hoped to lay out in the form of the letters W and M in honor of King
+William and Queen Mary. When this proved too complicated, he decided to
+run a central avenue from the college to the site of the Capitol, to be
+named Duke of Gloucester Street, paralleled by two side streets, one of
+which was to be called Nicholson and the other Francis. To aid him in
+designing the Capitol, he called in the ablest architect and builder in
+the colony, Henry Cary, and day after day the pair pored over the
+drawings. What book of designs they had before them from which to draw
+their inspiration we do not know, but it must have been of recent
+publication, for the building was typical of the late
+seventeenth-century English houses.</p>
+
+<p>The plan called for a brick structure of two wings, connected by a
+gallery, the whole to be two stories high, with a sharply rising roof
+pierced with dormers and surmounted by a high cupola. The floors of the
+first story were to be laid in flagstones, while the roof was to be
+covered with cyprus shingles. Inside were to be rooms for the Council,
+the General Court, the House of Burgesses, and several committee rooms.</p>
+
+<p>The gratitude of the Virginians to Nicholson for founding their new
+capital and adorning it with beautiful buildings did not blind them to
+his violence, his injustice, and his persecution of innocent men. Does
+he think he is governing the Moors or some other slavish people? they
+asked. He seems to think it a crime in us to demand the liberties of
+Englishmen. "That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> which bears up their spirits under all the heavy
+customs on their commodities, and restraints in point of trade, is that
+they have the happiness to enjoy the British laws and constitution,
+which they reckon the best of Governments," said Philip Ludwell, Senior.
+"But if once their Governors be suffered to break in upon them in this
+tender point, and to treat them with the arbitrariness of France, or the
+insolence of Morocco, as this gentleman has done, it is not to be
+imagined how ill this will go down with Englishmen that have not forgot
+the liberty of their mother country. The least that can be expected from
+it is that men of substance, if they find no redress, will remove
+themselves and their effects out of the colony to any other part of the
+world where they may enjoy peace and quietness."<a name="FNanchor_31_371" id="FNanchor_31_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_371" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>At last six members of the Council&mdash;Lightfoot, Page, Harrison, Carter,
+Blair, and Ludwell&mdash;drew up charges against Nicholson. Though they were
+careful to keep the matter secret the Governor suspected that something
+was up. In July, 1703, he wrote the Lords of Trade: "It hath been
+industriously reported here that ... I was turned out of the government
+for maladministration.... I hope in God, I shall not only be able to
+clear myself, but to make my accusers appear ill people."<a name="FNanchor_32_372" id="FNanchor_32_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_372" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
+
+<p>Nicholson might have surmised that it was Blair who would present
+charges against him when, several weeks later, the Commissary left for
+England. But he could not have anticipated the strategem which the
+shrewd Scot was to adopt. Though he arrived in November, 1703, he did
+not present the charges of the six Councillors to the Queen in the
+Council until late in the following March, after the tobacco fleet had
+sailed for Virginia. Thus months would elapse before Nicholson could
+have word of them and prepare his answers.</p>
+
+<p>The Privy Council referred the charges to the Lords of Trade and
+Plantations. It must have been with surprise that they listened as the
+petition was read. We appeal to "your Majesty for relief of ourselves
+and other subjects of Virginia from many great grievances and pressures
+we lie under by reason of the unusual, insolent, and arbitrary methods
+of government, as well as wicked and scandalous examples of life, which
+have been now for divers years past put in practice by Nicholson, which
+we have hitherto in vain endeavored by more soft and gentle applications
+to himself to remedy and prevent.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> But to our unspeakable grief we have
+reaped no other fruit ... but that thereby we have so highly exasperated
+the revengeful mind of Nicholson to the height of implacable malice and
+enmity against ourselves and the better part of the people ... that
+without your Majesty's seasonable interposition we fear the dangerous
+consequences, not only in fomenting lasting feuds and acrimonies among
+the people here, but in endangering the public peace of Virginia."<a name="FNanchor_33_373" id="FNanchor_33_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_373" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+
+<p>During the summer Blair had not been idle. It is probable that the
+little colony of Virginians in London got together to plan their
+strategy. When the matter came before the Lords of Trade, the Commissary
+was armed with affidavits from Fouace, Captain James Moodie, and others,
+and letters from Philip Ludwell, Junior, and Benjamin Harrison to the
+elder Ludwell, accusing Nicholson of tyranny. At the hearing Wallace,
+George Luke, and Robert Beverley were called on to tell their stories of
+<ins class="correct" title="perscution">persecution</ins> and injustice.</p>
+
+<p>Hearing that John Thrale was agent for Nicholson, the Lords called him
+in. He made the best defense he could, but he was ignorant of the whole
+matter, and he had not witnesses to refute the charges. When he demanded
+particular instances of misgovernment and injustice, Blair and Beverley
+overwhelmed him with them.<a name="FNanchor_34_374" id="FNanchor_34_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_374" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> To make the Governor's case hopeless,
+Thrale died in the midst of the hearings, leaving him without anyone to
+defend him.<a name="FNanchor_35_375" id="FNanchor_35_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_375" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p>
+
+<p>Late in October, 1704, when the first word of the petition reached
+Nicholson he was heard "to make a terrible imprecation, vowing to the
+living God that he would pursue the petitioners with eternal vengeance."
+At a meeting of the Council he glared at the members. "Whoever they were
+that signed that petition I hope they will be obliged to stand by it in
+England and that such of them as are there will be obliged to stay and
+those here to go thither, where it is my desire to come to a fair
+hearing," he told them.<a name="FNanchor_36_376" id="FNanchor_36_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_376" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p>
+
+<p>He defended himself in several long letters to the Board. He had done no
+more than defend the Queen's prerogative against the assaults of the
+Council, he said. If everything they asked were granted them, "her
+Majesty would have but a skeleton of a government left, and hardly the
+power of a Doge of Genoa.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> And I think the question may be put to them
+as the wise King Solomon did to his mother, why don't they ask the
+kingdom or the government also?" As for Commissary Blair, he "and his
+little faction now set up to have the power and interest of turning out
+and putting in Governors, and affect the title that the great Earl of
+Warwick had." If he were ousted, he would present himself to the Board,
+"when I hope I shall not be found to have a cloven foot, to be a fury,
+or to have snakes instead of hair."<a name="FNanchor_37_377" id="FNanchor_37_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_377" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p>
+
+<p>If we may credit the reports from Virginia which reached Blair, Ludwell,
+and Fouace in England in January, 1705, Nicholson began proceedings to
+"terrify all people" from discussing his conduct. "He sets up
+inquisition courts, giving commissions to some of his creatures to
+examine all persons on oath if ever they heard such a man reflect upon
+the Governor ... which practice is very terrible to all, there being few
+in Virginia who have not sometimes in private spoke of him as he
+deserves ... If witnesses are backward they are threatened by the
+Governor himself and terrified into depositions." When anyone was
+accused of complaining of him, even in private, he ordered the Attorney
+General to prosecute him under the law against defaming the Governor
+passed after Bacon's Rebellion.<a name="FNanchor_38_378" id="FNanchor_38_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_378" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Governor had one warm defender in Colonel Robert Quary. In a letter
+to the Board of Trade he testified that, when Nicholson was appointed,
+the Councillors expected to "govern and direct all matters," to
+monopolize all places of profit and honor, and have him "suppress all
+that were not of their faction." But when they found that he would not
+be governed by them, they turned upon him with the greatest malice.
+"They aspersed and blackened him both in the country and by letters to
+England, as if he had been the greatest monster in nature." He had been
+guilty of no maladministration in his government "further than some
+escapes of his passion, which their injustice often forced him to."<a name="FNanchor_39_379" id="FNanchor_39_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_379" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+<p>During the first week of March, 1705, Nicholson was busy preparing his
+defence so that it could get off on the first vessel sailing for
+England. He penned long letters to the Lords of Trade on the first, the
+third, and the sixth, and enclosed them with a memorial against Blair,
+and an address from the Vir<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>ginia clergy. These papers were received on
+May 2, and read May 31. Whether they would have influenced the Lords in
+Nicholson's favor we do not know, for on April 2, just a month before
+their arrival, the Board received a communication from Secretary Hedges,
+advising them that the Queen wished them to prepare a commission and
+instructions for Colonel Edward Nott to be Governor General of
+Virginia.<a name="FNanchor_40_380" id="FNanchor_40_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_380" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was on August 15, 1705, that the Council met in their beautiful room
+in the new Capitol, for Nott's inauguration. When all had been seated
+Nicholson entered and read a letter from the Queen directing him to
+deliver up the government and "repair to her royal presence." He must
+have looked around at the men who had been his bitter enemies with an
+air of triumph as he read a letter from Secretary Hedges, stating that
+he was being recalled, not because of the charges made against him, but
+merely for her Majesty's service. Then he handed over the seal of the
+colony and the charter of 1676. One wonders whether, as he bowed himself
+out, he took one last look at the room for which he had been so largely
+responsible&mdash;the portrait of Queen Anne, the large oval table, the
+stiff-backed chairs, the Queen's arms, the panelling.</p>
+
+<p>Nicholson's administration proved once more that the Virginians could
+not be governed by illegal and arbitrary means. That he was not ousted
+by violence as was Sir John Harvey, or that he did not drive the people
+into open rebellion as did Berkeley, is explained by the difference in
+the character of the times. Harvey acted in the spirit of the First
+Stuart Despotism, Berkeley of the Second Stuart Despotism; Nicholson was
+out of step with his time. To remove him it was not necessary to resort
+to violence; an appeal to the Queen was all that was needed.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it was fortunate for the cause of self-government that an
+experiment in despotism had failed in the opening years of the
+eighteenth century. It made succeeding Governors wary of trampling upon
+the people's rights, it gave the people confidence. Having won this
+victory, they went on to others until their Governors became their
+servants rather than their masters.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_341" id="Footnote_1_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_341"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> CO5-1309, Doc. 9.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_342" id="Footnote_2_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_342"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> CO5-1339, Doc. 33 V.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_343" id="Footnote_3_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_343"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> T. J. Wertenbaker, <i>Planters of colonial Virginia</i>, 183,
+247.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_344" id="Footnote_4_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_344"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> T. J. Wertenbaker, Attempt to reform the church of colonial
+Virginia, <i>Sewanee Review</i> 25: 273-275.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_345" id="Footnote_5_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_345"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> CO5-1409, p. 135A.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_346" id="Footnote_6_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_346"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 35, IIb.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_347" id="Footnote_7_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_347"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> CO5-1360, p. 117.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_348" id="Footnote_8_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_348"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. D10.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_349" id="Footnote_9_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_349"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 15G.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_350" id="Footnote_10_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_350"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 36.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_351" id="Footnote_11_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_351"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 15G.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_352" id="Footnote_12_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_352"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 15.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_353" id="Footnote_13_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_353"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 17.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_354" id="Footnote_14_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_354"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 35 II 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_355" id="Footnote_15_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_355"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 10.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_356" id="Footnote_16_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_356"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_357" id="Footnote_17_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_357"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_358" id="Footnote_18_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_358"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 10.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_359" id="Footnote_19_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_359"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_360" id="Footnote_20_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_360"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 40.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_361" id="Footnote_21_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_361"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 14c.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_362" id="Footnote_22_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_362"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 9.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_363" id="Footnote_23_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_363"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 15.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_364" id="Footnote_24_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_364"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 12.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_365" id="Footnote_25_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_365"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_366" id="Footnote_26_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_366"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_367" id="Footnote_27_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_367"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_368" id="Footnote_28_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_368"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_369" id="Footnote_29_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_369"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 15f.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_370" id="Footnote_30_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_370"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_371" id="Footnote_31_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_371"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 17.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_372" id="Footnote_32_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_372"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> CO5-1360, p. 424.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_373" id="Footnote_33_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_373"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> CO5-1660, pp. 463-465.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_374" id="Footnote_34_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_374"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Docs. 23, 24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_375" id="Footnote_35_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_375"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> CO5-1360, p. 480.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_376" id="Footnote_36_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_376"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 36.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_377" id="Footnote_37_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_377"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Docs. 43, 44.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_378" id="Footnote_38_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_378"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 36.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_379" id="Footnote_39_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_379"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 67.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_380" id="Footnote_40_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_380"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 46.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br />
+<br />
+THE VIRGINIA HOUSE OF LORDS</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">Though the members of the Council must have been surprised when
+Nicholson read Secretary Hedges' letter, they did not let it disturb
+them. They were rid of him, and that was what really mattered. No more
+could he bully them in the Council meetings, no more could he thwart
+them in the General Court by packing juries, no more could he ignore
+them in appointing officers, no more could he insult and revile them. As
+they sat around the table with the mild-mannered Nott, they realized
+with satisfaction that his personality was in strong contrast with that
+of his predecessor. Perhaps it would be easy to control him and keep the
+power in their own hands.</p>
+
+<p>To a large extent this is just what they did. Though Nott was no
+weakling, he was anxious to live in peace with both Council and
+Assembly. It was said of him that his "whole study was to do everybody
+justice."<a name="FNanchor_1_381" id="FNanchor_1_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_381" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Like other Governors when they first arrived and were
+unacquainted with men and conditions in the colony, he was dependent
+upon the Councillors for advice and guidance. Before he could learn the
+ropes, he died. Since four years elapsed before a new Governor arrived
+to take his place, the Council remained for half a decade the
+controlling power in the colony. From August, 1705, to July, 1710, the
+government was neither despotic nor democratic, but aristocratic.</p>
+
+<p>Nathaniel Bacon, Nicholson, Spotswood, and others derided the "mighty
+dons" of the Council, pointing out that they came from humble families
+in England. These critics did not stop to consider that it was more to
+their credit to have won by their own efforts positions of wealth and
+power than to have inherited them. Virginia itself offered them the
+opportunity, but it was they who seized it.</p>
+
+<p>The group of well-to-do planters whom the Council represented, in the
+early years of the eighteenth century were far from numerous. "In every
+river there are from ten to thirty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> men who by trade and industry have
+gotten very competent estates," wrote Colonel Quary. "Out of this number
+are chosen her Majesty's Council, the Assembly, the justices, and
+officers of the government."<a name="FNanchor_2_382" id="FNanchor_2_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_382" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>It must have been a humiliation to such proud men as William Byrd II,
+"King" Carter, and Benjamin Harrison that they were not admitted to the
+English peerage. But though there were no dukes, nor lords, nor knights
+among the Councillors, they had the right to certain titles which
+carried great distinction. The term "esquire" was given to members of
+the Council, and was invariably used by them in signing legal documents.
+If a man were not a Councillor, yet was prominent and wealthy, he had
+the right to sign himself "gentleman." The holders of high office in the
+militia&mdash;colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors, and captains&mdash;prized
+their titles highly and used them in conjunction with "esquire," or
+"gentleman."<a name="FNanchor_3_383" id="FNanchor_3_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_383" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>Nor did the English nobility command greater respect than did the
+members of the Council in Virginia. When a certain Humphrey
+Chamberlaine, of Henrico County, became angry with William Byrd I, and,
+stripping off his coat, drew his sword as if to attack him, he was
+arrested and clapped into jail. At his trial he excused himself by
+saying he was a stranger in the country and ignorant of its laws and
+customs. But the court, ruling that no one "could be insensible of the
+respect and reverence due so honorable a person as Colonel Byrd," fined
+him five pounds sterling.<a name="FNanchor_4_384" id="FNanchor_4_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_384" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>Although the basis of the wealth of the aristocracy was land, the
+holding of large tracts did not in itself bring riches unless the owner
+could find the labor necessary to work them. During most of the
+seventeenth century indentured workers were used extensively. But their
+cost and the fact that they served but four or five years limited the
+return they brought their masters. With the importing of slaves in large
+numbers in the last two decades of the seventeenth century and the first
+third of the eighteenth century, the cost of raising tobacco was greatly
+lowered. This not only doubled or tripled existing fortunes, but created
+many new ones. It is this which explains why the Virginia aristocracy,
+which so late as the last decade of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>seventeenth century was little
+more than a group, by the mid-eighteenth century had become a numerous
+class.<a name="FNanchor_5_385" id="FNanchor_5_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_385" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>In their mode of life the aristocracy consciously imitated the English
+country squires. The large libraries which they accumulated served
+practical as well as cultural ends. The wealthy man who wished to build
+a residence pored over James Gibbs' <i>A Book of Architecture</i>, or Abraham
+Swan's <i>The British Architect</i>. In laying out his garden he consulted
+Kip's <i>English Houses and Gardens</i>, or John James' <i>The Theory and
+Practice of Gardening</i>. On his shelves were English books on law,
+medicine, religion, agriculture.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately some of the mansions of colonial Virginia have survived the
+ravages of time, fires, and wars, to bear witness to the charm and
+dignity of the plantation life of two centuries ago. Carter's Grove,
+Mount Airy, Gunston Hall, Westover, Brandon, and others constitute
+history in brick and wood. The lovely gardens, some of which have been
+restored in recent years, are in the formal style of Le Notre and Rose.
+The mansions were furnished with tables, chairs, bookcases by the
+English masters; on the tables were pitchers, goblets, and candlesticks
+by English silversmiths. The aristocrat dressed himself and his family
+in the latest English fashions, owned an English-made coach, imported
+English race horses, perhaps sent his son to Oxford, when he visited
+England had his portrait painted by Lely or Kneller.</p>
+
+<p>It was inevitable that in so small a group as the early Virginia
+aristocracy there should be frequent intermarriages. In 1717 half of the
+members of the Council were related to each other by blood or marriage.
+James Blair and Philip Ludwell were brothers-in-law of Nathaniel
+Harrison; William Byrd's wife was the niece of Ludwell; William Bassett
+and Edmund Berkeley had married half-nieces of Ludwell; Ludwell's wife
+was Harrison's sister. Governor Spotswood habitually referred to them as
+"the family."</p>
+
+<p>It was wrong, Spotswood pointed out, that a group of relatives should
+wield such power. Since they all sat on the General Court, it was to be
+expected that they would vote as a unit if the interests of any one of
+them were involved. "Whoever has lived here and frequented the General
+Courts held of late in Virginia, has abundant reason to know that there
+is a strong<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> link of relatives on the bench, who by their majority have
+the determination of all causes," he wrote in 1718. "When one of their
+kindred is charged with enormous crimes, clerks may safely keep back the
+examination, and sheriffs keep back the witnesses.... When the King has
+been plaintiff in a civil action against one of that family, the cause
+could not be tried for want of judges to make up a bench exclusive of
+those who were akin to the defendant."<a name="FNanchor_6_386" id="FNanchor_6_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_386" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>One wonders how long Governor Nott would have put up with this kind of
+thing had not death overtaken him. Despite his desire to work in harmony
+with the Council, there is evidence that he had no intention of letting
+them ride over him roughshod. This became evident when they tried to
+take the patronage out of his hands. "I do believe the Council have a
+mind to dispute with me the making of the collectors of the two
+shillings per hogshead," he wrote the Lords of Trade. "Their pretence is
+that it is said in my instructions I shall not make them but by advice
+of Council. Now they have a mind to turn several out and put in their
+own relatives. And that is not my turn of temper."<a name="FNanchor_7_387" id="FNanchor_7_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_387" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p>When he asked the advice of the Council before reappointing naval
+officers, they objected to Major Arthur Allen, Colonel Miles Gary, and
+Colonel William Wilson. But when nothing of consequence was brought
+against them, the Governor insisted on continuing them. At the same time
+he shook off responsibility by refusing to renew their commissions until
+he had instructions to do so from the Lord Treasurer.<a name="FNanchor_8_388" id="FNanchor_8_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_388" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>Whatever resentment the Councillors bore him for this was forgotten when
+he championed their plea that they should not be forbidden to become
+naval officers. "I think this instruction very strange," he wrote the
+Lords of Trade. "To be deprived of those few places of profit ... brings
+the consequence that the good men are very indifferent to being one of
+the Council. I hope you are of opinion that this restriction may be
+taken off."<a name="FNanchor_9_389" id="FNanchor_9_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_389" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Governor thought it his duty to defer to the Council in most of his
+appointments to lesser offices. "I have directed new commissioners of
+peace," he wrote the Lords of Trade, "and not knowing persons yet, I
+left the nomination of justices<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> solely to the Council. I have continued
+the former escheators since there was no objection to them."<a name="FNanchor_10_390" id="FNanchor_10_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_390" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>When Nott first took over the government, he found the colony divided
+against itself. The people as a whole were overjoyed to get rid of
+Nicholson, but a group made up no doubt of men who had received favors
+at his hands, resented his removal. When an election was held for a new
+Assembly, opposing candidates were put up by the pro-Nicholson and
+anti-Nicholson factions. Although the latter won an overwhelming
+victory, enough Nicholson men were returned to continue the old feuds
+and hatreds. Governor Nott made his opening address an appeal for peace.
+It was his earnest hope, he said, that all animosities be laid aside,
+and that the only contention be as to who should be most obedient to the
+Queen and most serviceable to the country.<a name="FNanchor_11_391" id="FNanchor_11_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_391" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>Despite this plea the pro-Nicholson faction presented under the guise of
+a grievance a resolution which was in reality a reproof of the six
+members of the Council who had presented the charges against the
+Governor. No one should take upon himself to represent to the Queen the
+grievances of the colony without the consent of the House of Burgesses,
+it said. No thanks, but rather a check should be given to those that had
+done so against the late Governor. But they met with a severe rebuff. So
+far from approving, the House ordered the so-called grievance to "be
+burnt under the gallows by the sheriff of York County as a mutinous,
+seditious, and scandalous paper."<a name="FNanchor_12_392" id="FNanchor_12_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_392" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>Though there is no evidence that Nott tried to render the Burgesses
+submissive to his will by bribing them with offices, the Assembly
+thought this a golden opportunity to weaken the Governor's appointive
+power. Some could recall Berkeley's Long Assembly, and all had been
+witnesses of the shameless way in which Nicholson had handed out jobs.
+So they passed a bill requiring each county court to nominate three men,
+all of them justices, from whom the Governor was to select one as
+sheriff, who was to serve not more than two years. Had not Nott been so
+anxious to avoid any conflict with the Assembly, he would certainly have
+vetoed this bill, for not only did it restrict his power of appointment,
+but it infringed upon the royal prerogative.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But he balked when the House sent up a bill to require the Governor, in
+appointing the justices of the peace, to secure the assent of the
+Council, or at least five of them. He thought they were going too far in
+this attempt to deprive the Governor of the patronage, leave him at the
+mercy of the Council and Assembly, and make him a mere figurehead. When
+the Lords of Trade heard that he had vetoed this bill, they wrote
+congratulating him. "The restraining Governors from making justices ...
+is entrenching on prerogative, and you may be assured it will not be
+approved here. In all other plantations the power of appointing and
+removing justices of the peace is solely in the Governor.... But it
+would be prudence in the Governor to advise for his better
+information."<a name="FNanchor_13_393" id="FNanchor_13_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_393" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>When the Assembly met again, in April, 1706, they made a daring attempt
+to weaken the Governor's power by passing a substitute law for the
+famous Act of 1680 which gave a perpetual revenue to the Crown. The new
+bill bore the disarming title of "An Act for raising a public revenue
+for the better support of the government ... and for ascertaining the
+salary of the Council." Nott apparently saw nothing alarming in it, but
+Colonel Quary at once suspected that it was intended to weaken the Act
+of 1680, and perhaps set a precedent which would eventually give the
+House control of the revenue from the export duty on tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>"These topping men" were merely waiting an opportunity to have the old
+law damned, he wrote the Lords of Trade. "Had the Assembly only designed
+to have augmented and added to the Queen's revenue, why could they not
+make an act of it without damning and destroying the former act? And
+that your Lordships may see the snake in the grass, please observe that
+the Assembly are pleased to appropriate the Queen's revenue as they
+think fit, a thing never pretended to before, and to limit and confine
+her Majesty from disposing of her own money.... Whereas in a former act
+the Queen was graciously pleased to appropriate £370 to be divided among
+the Council for attendance, in this act they have ordered otherwise ...
+by which they have tied up the Queen's hands from giving any part of her
+bounty but according to their pleasure."<a name="FNanchor_14_394" id="FNanchor_14_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_394" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>When this bill came before the Board of Trade they referred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> it to
+Attorney General Harcourt and Solicitor General Montague. Although these
+astute men, as we have seen, gave it as their opinion that the old act
+had been passed in a way "contrary to the present method," and should be
+superseded by a new one, the Board decided to let sleeping dogs lie. So
+they advised the Queen to veto the Act of 1716. "'Tis hoped it will
+never be revived by any Governor who has at heart the interests of the
+Crown, and wishes that people should distinguish between what they owe
+to the indulgence of the Sovereign and what they may claim as their
+right by the laws of Virginia," wrote Governor Spotswood several years
+later.<a name="FNanchor_15_395" id="FNanchor_15_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_395" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>The climate of Virginia, which was fatal to so many newcomers from
+England, took a heavy toll of Governors. Lord De la Warr fell a victim
+to the Virginia sickness; Herbert Jeffreys died after having been in the
+colony only a few months. Now, on August 23, 1706, death ended the brief
+administration of Governor Nott. He was mourned by the people, and was
+buried in Bruton Parish churchyard with all the solemnity the colony was
+capable of. "Had it pleased God to have spared him but a little time
+longer amongst us, he would have healed all those unhappy differences
+that have of late made us uneasy, and united us again to be one people,"
+wrote William Bassett.<a name="FNanchor_16_396" id="FNanchor_16_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_396" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>When the Council met after Nott's death they opened his commission and
+listened intently as it was read. And there was great satisfaction when
+they found that in the event of a Governor's death the Council was to
+take on themselves the administration of the government. But they were
+far from happy that Colonel Edmund Jenings, as the senior Councillor,
+was to preside at their meetings with such powers as were necessary in
+"carrying on the public service." They insisted that the Attorney
+General of the colony, in drawing up the first proclamation under the
+new government, should issue it, not under the name of the President
+alone, but of the President and Council.<a name="FNanchor_17_397" id="FNanchor_17_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_397" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>Jenings wrote to the Lords of Trade to ask just what his status should
+be. Their answer was decisive. The instruction that the Council should
+take over the government upon the death of a Governor had caused many
+controversies between the President and the Councillors and had greatly
+hindered public business. So they altered it to read: "The eldest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
+Councillor do take upon him the administration of the government ... in
+the same manner ... as other our Governor should do."<a name="FNanchor_18_398" id="FNanchor_18_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_398" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>Francis Nicholson had written the Lords of Trade some years previously
+expressing doubts as to the wisdom of making any member of the Council
+the chief executive. "There may happen great disputes about the person
+of the President and his powers. And may be when the President and the
+Council are all natives or else entirely settled here, nature and
+self-interest may sway them to do some things and pass some acts that
+may be (as they will imagine) for the good of their country and make and
+secure an interest with the people. This may be prejudicial to their
+Majesties' service."<a name="FNanchor_19_399" id="FNanchor_19_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_399" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> No doubt the Lords of Trade saw the force of
+this reasoning, but they were not prepared to keep a Lieutenant Governor
+in Virginia whose only function it would be to wait around ready to step
+in when the Governor died or was recalled.</p>
+
+<p>Although the other members of the Council seem to have regarded Jenings
+with something like scorn, and one of them had spoken of him as "the
+right noble little Colonel Jenings," the man had had a distinguished
+career. He had been clerk of the York County court, collector of the
+York River district, commissioner for the College of William and Mary,
+member of the Council, Attorney General, and Secretary. And now, as
+President of the Council, he seems to have laid aside former
+animosities, and considered himself merely first among equals.</p>
+
+<p>It was taken for granted that Jenings' administration would be brief,
+and that a new Governor would come over as soon as one could be
+appointed. Word had come that a commission had been drawn up for Colonel
+Robert Hunter, and that he had sailed from Portsmouth in June, 1707. But
+month after month passed and he failed to appear. As late as March,
+1708, the Council was wondering what had become of him. At last they
+heard that the vessel in which he had shipped had been taken by the
+French, and that he was held captive in France. So they had to wait two
+more years before a Governor arrived.<a name="FNanchor_20_400" id="FNanchor_20_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_400" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>This suited President Jenings and the Council, for it left them in
+undisputed control of the government. They even refused to hold an
+Assembly for fear it might question their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> proceedings. It is true that
+six times they set the date for a meeting of the Assembly, but six times
+they postponed it. At last, when people began to question whether these
+frequent postponements did not put an end to the Assembly, the Council
+settled all doubts by dissolving them by proclamation.</p>
+
+<p>This was a dangerous thing to do, for it was in the midst of the War of
+the Spanish Succession, and an Assembly was needed to provide funds for
+the defense of the colony. But the Council gambled that no French fleet
+would appear in the Chesapeake Bay. The normal expenses of the
+government&mdash;their own salaries and those of the President, Auditor,
+Attorney General, and other officials&mdash;they paid out of the export duty
+on tobacco and the quit rent fund. In September, 1708, Jenings wrote
+that privateers had come in between the capes and had chased a merchant
+vessel up the York River, that the Indians were threatening the
+frontier, that the Governor's house was unfinished, and that the quit
+rent fund was "much drained," but that despite all, the Council would
+not call an Assembly.<a name="FNanchor_21_401" id="FNanchor_21_401"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_401" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>In December, 1709, Lord George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney, was appointed
+Governor General of Virginia. Orkney had been trained as a soldier, and
+had distinguished himself at Namur, Blenheim, Malplaquet, and elsewhere.
+It is probable that it was intended from the first that the office
+should be a sinecure, and though Orkney held it for years he never set
+foot on Virginia soil. But Virginia had to pay his salary, for his
+£1,000 a year was taken out of the export duty on tobacco. To carry on
+the administration in the colony Colonel Alexander Spotswood was made
+Lieutenant Governor.</p>
+
+<p>It would seem that in the years from the recall of Nicholson to the
+arrival of Spotswood, the danger to liberty in Virginia came less from
+the Throne than from the Council. A free people could not be quiet under
+the rule of a body of twelve men, not chosen by the voters but appointed
+by the sovereign.</p>
+
+<p>The average planter, not only the owner of only a few acres, but the man
+of means had reason to be alarmed. Was it consistent with the principles
+of English liberty, they must have asked, for a clique of wealthy men,
+many of them united in one family, to have such power over their lives
+and their property? If the people were to rule, final authority must be
+vested in the House of Burgesses, not the Council.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_381" id="Footnote_1_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_381"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> CO5-1315, Bassett to Perry &amp; Co., Aug. 30, 1706.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_382" id="Footnote_2_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_382"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 63iv.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_383" id="Footnote_3_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_383"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Hugh Jones, <i>The present state of Virginia</i>, ed. R. L.
+Morton, 93.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_384" id="Footnote_4_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_384"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> P. A. Bruce, <i>Social life of Virginia</i>, 133</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_385" id="Footnote_5_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_385"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> T. J. Wertenbaker, <i>The planters of colonial Virginia</i>,
+155-160.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_386" id="Footnote_6_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_386"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> CO5-1318, Spotswood to Lords of Trade, March 20, 1718.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_387" id="Footnote_7_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_387"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> CO5-1340, Doc. 15.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_388" id="Footnote_8_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_388"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_389" id="Footnote_9_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_389"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Doc. 19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_390" id="Footnote_10_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_390"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> CO5-1316, p. 450.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_391" id="Footnote_11_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_391"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1702-1712: 131.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_392" id="Footnote_12_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_392"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 147.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_393" id="Footnote_13_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_393"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> CO5-1362, March 26, 1707.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_394" id="Footnote_14_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_394"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> CO5-1315, Quary to Lordships, Sept. 1, 1706.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_395" id="Footnote_15_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_395"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> CO5-1317.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_396" id="Footnote_16_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_396"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> CO5-1315, Aug. 30, 1706.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_397" id="Footnote_17_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_397"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> 3: 119, 120.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_398" id="Footnote_18_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_398"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> CO5-1362, p. 121.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_399" id="Footnote_19_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_399"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> CO5-1314, Doc. 15.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_400" id="Footnote_20_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_400"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> CO5-1362, pp. 336-340.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_401" id="Footnote_21_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_401"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> CO5-1362, pp. 318, 325.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br />
+<br />
+SPOTSWOOD</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">Alexander Spotswood arrived in Virginia June 20, 1710, aboard the
+warship <i>Deptford</i>, and spent the night at Green Spring, with his future
+enemy, Philip Ludwell. Two days later he met with the Council around the
+oval table in the beautiful Council Chamber in the new Capitol, and laid
+his commission before them.</p>
+
+<p>The new Lieutenant Governor was descended from a family of Scottish
+Anglicans. His great-grandfather had seconded Archbishop Laud's attempt
+to introduce the Prayer Book in Scotland; his grandfather had been put
+to death by the Presbyterians. Perhaps it was this tragedy which induced
+his father to desert his native land and take service in the English
+army. It was while he was with his regiment in Tangier that Alexander
+Spotswood was born.</p>
+
+<p>The son chose to follow in the father's footsteps, and in 1693 we find
+him serving in the Earl of Bath's regiment in Flanders. He fought
+gallantly, was wounded at Blenheim, and was captured at Oudenarde. It is
+possible that he served under the Earl of Orkney, also, and that was the
+reason he named him as his deputy in Virginia. "I must ever own
+gratefully that to your Lordship's good will I owe my station here," he
+wrote Orkney in 1718.</p>
+
+<p>Spotswood was one of the ablest Governors sent to America to represent
+the British Crown. He did much to open the West to Virginia, encouraged
+settlement in the Piedmont, and erected forts in the passes of the Blue
+Ridge. He wiped out a nest of pirates under the notorious Blackbeard and
+strung several of them up at Williamsburg. A man of artistic interests,
+he was responsible for the beautiful Palace gardens, with their wealth
+of boxwood, walks, walls, lake, ornate gates, flower beds; and designed
+charming Bruton Parish Church.</p>
+
+<p>In 1716 he led a party of gentlemen, accompanied by rangers, servants,
+and Indians, on an exploring expedition to the West. As they rode
+through the wilderness of the Piedmont, they shot deer and bears, camped
+in the open, roasted venison on wooden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> forks. On reaching the Blue
+Ridge they toiled to the summit, and there, looking out over the Valley
+of Virginia, drank the health of King George I and the royal family.
+After descending into the Valley and crossing the Shenandoah River, they
+turned their horses' heads homeward. Back in Williamsburg, the Governor
+presented each of his companions with a golden horseshoe, inscribed with
+<i>sic juvat transcendere montes</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Although Spotswood was accused of being haughty and implacable, he
+lacked the fiery temper of Nicholson or the revengeful fury of Sir
+William Berkeley. In his conflicts with the Council his astute mind and
+his knowledge of English and Virginia constitutional law made it easy
+for him to refute their arguments. Though he defended the powers of the
+Crown, he was honestly concerned for the welfare of the colony. But he
+hated democracy, and he had no patience with what he termed the follies
+of the ignorant multitude. Despite his assaults on the Virginia
+aristocracy, his ambition was to become one of them, and he used his
+office to build up one of the greatest estates in the colony.</p>
+
+<p>The instructions given Spotswood by the Lords of Trade were on the whole
+wise and liberal. The people of Virginia were to have the full benefit
+of the <i>habeas corpus</i>; fees and salaries must be moderate; no one must
+be deprived of life, member, or property without due process of law;
+martial law was forbidden; the people were to be supplied with arms. Yet
+several clauses were loaded with trouble for the Lieutenant
+Governor&mdash;one for appointing courts to try criminals; another for
+preventing frauds in the accounts of governmental receipts and payments;
+another for collecting arrears of quit rents; one to prevent the holding
+of large tracts of unoccupied land.</p>
+
+<p>When this last instruction was read to the Council, they must have
+shifted uneasily in their seats, for most of them held land which they
+did not cultivate. Fourteen years earlier Edward Randolph had reported
+this to the Lords of Trade. The reason the colony was so thinly settled,
+he thought, was that poor men would not go there "because members of the
+Council and others who made an interest in the government, have from
+time to time procured grants of very large tracts of land." Thus
+newcomers and indentured workers on becoming free were forced to be
+tenants or go to the utmost bounds of the colony. The remedy, he
+suggested, was to force payment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> of arrears of quit rents and prohibit
+for the future grants of more than 500 acres.<a name="FNanchor_1_402" id="FNanchor_1_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_402" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>Both Nott and Hunter had been instructed to cancel patents for land of
+any who neglected to cultivate even a small part of their holdings. So
+now Spotswood, in the face of bitter opposition, restricted all grants
+to 400 acres unless the patentee showed that he was able to meet this
+requirement. In 1710 he tried to satisfy the Lords of Trade by pushing
+through a law stating what should be considered satisfactory seating,
+and in 1713 another making the regulations still more specific.<a name="FNanchor_2_403" id="FNanchor_2_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_403" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>The chief effect of these acts was to arouse the resentment of the
+Council. They assented to them in their capacity as the Upper House of
+the Assembly because they dared not flaunt openly the commands of the
+British government. But they found means to make them inoperative. The
+rumor was spread throughout the colony that the attorney general in
+England had ruled that no lands patented prior to the passage of these
+acts was liable to forfeiture. To ease men's fears, several large
+landholders purposely refused to pay quit rents. Even John Grymes, the
+deputy auditor into whose hands the quit rents were paid, himself
+remained in arrears "to show no danger in that law."<a name="FNanchor_3_404" id="FNanchor_3_404"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_404" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Spotswood
+admitted that the law was a failure when he wrote in 1718: "No man in
+Virginia has yet had land granted away for non-payment of quit rents."</p>
+
+<p>When Spotswood came to Virginia there were many complaints of hard
+times. The war in Europe had proved disastrous to the tobacco trade, the
+flow of hogsheads to the continent of Europe had been reduced to a
+trickle, tobacco piled up in the British warehouses, the merchants left
+a part of each crop on the planters' hands, and the price dropped lower
+and lower. Many of the poorer farmers were in rags, and some began to
+raise sheep and to spin and weave. The salaried class, especially the
+clergy, were in dire straits also, since they were paid in tobacco,
+often of the lowest grade.</p>
+
+<p>The fertile brain of Spotswood now thought out a scheme intended to
+raise the price of tobacco, give the colony a convenient and stable
+currency, make the collecting of quit rents easier, and prevent frauds
+in shipping out tobacco. So he got one of his friends in the Assembly to
+introduce a bill to require<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> inspection of all tobacco at government
+warehouses, and the issuing of tobacco notes which were to be legal
+tender. This plan had much to recommend it, and a similar one was put
+into successful operation later during the administration of Governor
+Gooch.</p>
+
+<p>Despite violent opposition in certain quarters, the tobacco bill passed
+both Houses of Assembly and was signed by the Governor. So now there
+were sounds of hammering and sawing as warehouses arose on the great
+rivers. Soon the tobacco vessels were tying up at the adjacent wharves,
+and the planters were rolling their hogsheads for the inspection. After
+the agent had examined the leaf, he either rejected it as "trash" and
+unfit for exportation, or stamped on the hogshead the weight and variety
+of the tobacco, and gave the owner his certificate.</p>
+
+<p>At first everything seemed to be going smoothly. The quit rents were
+collected in tobacco notes, the price of the leaf rose in the English
+market. The clergy wrote Spotswood thanking him for the increased value
+of their salaries. "Their livings, which by the badness of the pay were
+sunk to little or nothing, begin now to be much more valuable by your
+wise and just contrivance to keep up the credit of the public
+payments."<a name="FNanchor_4_405" id="FNanchor_4_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_405" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>None the less, the law was unpopular. The debtor objected to paying in
+appreciated currency. It was a heavy expense for the planter to roll his
+hogsheads over the bad roads to the warehouses and then pay for
+inspection and storage. He was resentful if his tobacco was judged to be
+unfit for export. At the courthouses local politicians began to denounce
+the act to willing listeners. "He is the patriot who will not yield to
+whatever the government proposes," complained Spotswood. "Him they call
+a poor man's friend who always carries still-yards to weigh to the needy
+planter's advantage, and who never judges his tobacco to be trash."<a name="FNanchor_5_406" id="FNanchor_5_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_406" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>Spotswood said that the tobacco act was looked upon to be the most
+extraordinary one that ever passed a Virginia Assembly. When he first
+outlined his plans for it his friends assured him it would be impossible
+to persuade the Assembly to pass it. Yet it was adopted unanimously by
+the Council, and passed in the House "with some address and great
+struggle."</p>
+
+<p>What the Governor meant by "address" is revealed by an examination of
+the list of fat jobs that he handed out to indi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>vidual Burgesses. Of the
+fifty-one members, seventeen were justices of the peace. Fearing perhaps
+that this did not assure the passage of his bill, he was lavish in
+promising tobacco agents' places, and no less than twenty-five Burgesses
+cast their votes with this job in sight. Only nineteen members failed to
+get one or the other of these posts, and some got both.<a name="FNanchor_6_407" id="FNanchor_6_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_407" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> "I have, in a
+great measure, I think, cleared the way for a Governor towards carrying
+any reasonable point in the House of Burgesses," Spotswood boasted, "for
+he will have in his disposal about forty agencies, which one with
+another are likely to yield nigh 250 pounds per annum each."<a name="FNanchor_7_408" id="FNanchor_7_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_408" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p>But Spotswood would not have been so pleased with himself if he had
+realized the resentment which this open bribery of the people's
+representatives caused throughout the colony. The Assembly "gave him all
+things asked, and he them agent's places to pick our pockets," said one
+disgruntled planter. But what the officeholder had to expect if he
+opposed the measures urged by the Governor is shown by his treatment of
+Nicholas Meriwether. When Meriwether not only spoke against the tobacco
+bill in the Assembly, but by "many seditious speeches" denounced it to
+the people of New Kent County, Spotswood promptly removed him from his
+place as justice of the peace. This, he thought, would discourage others
+from following his example.</p>
+
+<p>Having corrupted the Burgesses and made most of them his henchmen,
+Spotswood would have no doubt continued them indefinitely by successive
+adjournments, had they not been automatically dissolved by the death of
+Queen Anne. "By a good providence we were delivered from them, else they
+would have continued as long as he," wrote Joshua Gee.<a name="FNanchor_8_409" id="FNanchor_8_409"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_409" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Just how
+passively the people would have submitted to another long Assembly must
+remain a matter of speculation, but their resentment against both
+Spotswood and his puppets is shown by their selections for the House of
+Burgesses in 1715. Of the twenty-five members who had accepted agents'
+jobs, only one, William Armistead, of Elizabeth City, was returned. And
+the voters of New Kent showed their anger at Spotswood's treatment of
+Meriwether by returning him to the House. Altogether only sixteen
+Burgesses of the old House had seats in the new, and of these eleven had
+been neither agents nor justices.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Spotswood was deeply resentful. The new Burgesses, he thought, were a
+set of ignorant demagogues, determined to oppose anything he suggested.
+It was all the fault of the law which permitted any man to vote who
+owned any real estate, even half an acre. Just before an election
+reports were spread that the country was on the verge of ruin, and no
+one was qualified to save it but "some of their own mobbish
+politicians." It was no wonder that some of the Burgesses could not
+write grammatical English, since the ignorant people insisted on
+electing men of their own stamp.<a name="FNanchor_9_410" id="FNanchor_9_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_410" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>The new Assembly was as hostile to the Governor as their predecessors
+had been subservient. Everything he proposed they objected to, in some
+cases for no other reason than to thwart him. They were egged on by
+Gawin Corbin, who had been ousted from his job as naval officer; George
+Marable, whom Spotswood had removed from the James City County court;
+and Edwin Conway, of Lancaster County. But the whole atmosphere of the
+House was one of hostility.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had the House been organized than grievances from various
+counties poured in, most of them complaining against the tobacco law.
+The people of Surry prayed that the law be repealed, the people of
+Henrico wanted it repealed, the people of Essex wanted it repealed, the
+people of Warwick complained of the hardships of the law. It seemed that
+no more than two counties in all Virginia were satisfied.<a name="FNanchor_10_411" id="FNanchor_10_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_411" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Spotswood
+claimed that these grievances did not represent the views of a majority
+of the people. Many of them were drawn up by members of the House, some
+were signed at election fields, horse races, and drunken meetings. "Nor
+shall a seditious paper, signed by five obscure fellows who must have a
+scribe to write all their names, ever pass with me for a county
+grievance."<a name="FNanchor_11_412" id="FNanchor_11_412"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_412" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>When Richard Littlepage and Thomas Butts, two of the justices of New
+Kent, refused to certify the grievances of that county, they were
+arrested under the Speaker's warrant. Though the House voted them guilty
+of high misdemeanor and contempt, they refused to appear, claiming that
+the Burgesses had no legal authority over them. Thereupon the House
+appealed to the Governor to arrest them. "The freedom and privileges<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> of
+this House are in danger of being utterly subverted," they said, "when
+justices ... assume a jurisdiction and by their judgment debar the
+people and their rightful representatives of the rightful ways ... for
+redressing their grievances ... we believe that such matters do concern
+the Burgesses in Assembly."<a name="FNanchor_12_413" id="FNanchor_12_413"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_413" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> But Spotswood rebuffed them. They were
+exceeding their authority, he told them, when they persecuted justices
+and tried to punish them for their proceedings on the bench.</p>
+
+<p>In his anger at not being able to control the Burgesses, Spotswood tried
+to make the House less democratic by restricting the right to vote. But
+not daring to reveal his intention, he approached the question in a
+roundabout way. In September, 1715, he sent out a printed letter to all
+of the county courts, questioning whether the justices should levy a tax
+to pay the Burgesses' salaries when no law existed empowering them to do
+so.<a name="FNanchor_13_414" id="FNanchor_13_414"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_414" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> To the Lords of Trade he explained that if the justices declined
+to pay the levy, "the Burgesses must have become suitors for an act
+wherein might properly have been described the qualifications of the
+electors and elected."<a name="FNanchor_14_415" id="FNanchor_14_415"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_415" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> In other words, he was prepared to veto any
+bill to legalize the collecting of salaries that did not disfranchise
+the small landholder and restrict the right to sit in the House to the
+well-to-do. So he kept mum on the fact that the salaries could be
+assessed by the sheriffs on a writ, as was the practice in England.</p>
+
+<p>But in this matter he was balked by the members of the Council. Carter,
+Blair, Ludwell, and the others no doubt guessed what Spotswood was
+aiming at, and they were unwilling to have him undermine the very
+foundations of liberty in Virginia. So in the General Court they passed
+"an unpreceded sentence" to levy the Burgesses' salary on the private
+estates of the justices if they refused "to levy it on their
+counties."<a name="FNanchor_15_416" id="FNanchor_15_416"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_416" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>The House asserted in no uncertain terms its right to judge of the
+election and qualifications of its members. When they heard that William
+Cole and Cole Digges, of Warwick County, had promised the voters that if
+elected they would serve without salary, they refused to seat them. A
+new election was held in which, presumably, no such promise was made,
+and Cole and Digges were again elected, and this time permitted to take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>
+their seats.<a name="FNanchor_16_417" id="FNanchor_16_417"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_417" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Spotswood taunted the House for not grasping at this
+opportunity to reduce the heavy burden of the poll tax, and the Council
+thought there was neither law nor practice to justify their action.<a name="FNanchor_17_418" id="FNanchor_17_418"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_418" class="fnanchor">[17]</a>
+Yet the Burgesses were right, not only in regarding Cole and Digges'
+offer as bribery, but in claiming that it was contrary to a law passed
+in October, 1705.<a name="FNanchor_18_419" id="FNanchor_18_419"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_419" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>The House now made a major assault upon the powers of the Governor. The
+time had come, they thought, to put an end to the bribing of its members
+with lucrative jobs, which had been done with such pernicious
+consequences by Berkeley, Nicholson, and others. They passed an act
+making it unlawful for any Burgess to be also a naval officer, tobacco
+agent, clerk of a county court, or hold any other office of profit in
+the government. They next tried to put an end to long Assemblies by
+prohibiting their continuance for more than three years. A third measure
+"for ascertaining secretaries', sheriffs', clerks' and constables' fees"
+was designed to make the bait of office less attractive. These bills
+aroused Spotswood's ire, for he saw immediately that they were designed
+to strike the vital power of patronage from his hands and the hands of
+his successors. So he vetoed all three.</p>
+
+<p>The Governor's main purpose in calling the Assembly of 1715 was to have
+them vote assistance to South Carolina in that colony's bloody struggle
+with a powerful confederation of Indians. "We must appear to have
+neither policy nor bowels of compassion, if this government can remain
+unconcerned while savage pagans are overwhelming one of our adjacent
+provinces, and inhumanly butchering and torturing our brethren," he told
+the Burgesses in his opening address.<a name="FNanchor_19_420" id="FNanchor_19_420"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_420" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> To them South Carolina seemed
+a long way off. They had troubles enough at home without sending men and
+money there, but, since the Governor was so set on it, they would yield
+if he would consent to something they wanted.</p>
+
+<p>They passed a bill to raise £450 for the purchase of supplies for South
+Carolina, but tacked on a rider for the repeal of the hated tobacco act.
+This, of course, Spotswood vetoed. To let it pass, he thought, would be
+an act of high injustice, since upon the faith of the tobacco law at
+least £7,000 had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> spent in erecting warehouses and wharves, and in
+the purchase of scales.<a name="FNanchor_20_421" id="FNanchor_20_421"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_421" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Neither he nor the Burgesses realized that
+the law was under attack in England. The merchants were dissatisfied
+with it, and Solicitor General William Thompson held that it was an act
+in restraint of trade. In July, 1717, the act was vetoed by King George
+I.<a name="FNanchor_21_422" id="FNanchor_21_422"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_422" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>Spotswood closed the session with an ill-natured and bitter denunciation
+of the Burgesses. "The true interest of your country is not what you
+have troubled your heads about," he said. "All your proceedings have
+been calculated to answer the notions of the ignorant populace, and if
+you can excuse yourselves to them, you matter not how you stand before
+God, your Prince, and all judicious men or before any others to whom you
+think you owe not your elections.... In fine, I cannot but attribute
+those miscarriages to the people's mistaken choice of a set of
+representatives whom Heaven has not generally endowed with the ordinary
+qualifications requisite to legislators, for I observe that the grand
+ruling party in your House has not furnished chairmen for two of your
+standing committees who can spell English or write common sense. And to
+keep such an Assembly on foot would be discrediting a country that has
+many able and worthy gentlemen in it. And therefore I dissolve you."<a name="FNanchor_22_423" id="FNanchor_22_423"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_423" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<p>Having insulted the Burgesses and the people who had elected them,
+Spotswood next incurred the enmity of a majority of the Council. The
+trouble started when he laid before them the instruction requiring him
+to see that fair books of accounts be kept of the Crown revenues.<a name="FNanchor_23_424" id="FNanchor_23_424"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_424" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>
+Since only the gross sums had been reported and itemized accounts kept
+only on "loose papers," he demanded that the Auditor and the Receiver
+General adopt more businesslike methods. To this Receiver General
+William Byrd and Auditor Ludwell replied that they kept their accounts
+as their predecessors had kept them and in accordance with instructions
+from the Auditor General for all the colonies.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this Byrd left for England, taking with him, if we may
+believe Spotswood, "all the books of the revenue." The Governor then
+demanded of Ludwell whether or not he in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>tended to comply with the
+instruction to keep account books. Ludwell replied that he could not
+change the old method without orders from the Auditor General. Since
+this was nothing less than setting up the authority of this officer
+against that of the King, the Governor thought the excuse a very poor
+one. So, in January, 1716, he ousted both Ludwell and Byrd from
+office.<a name="FNanchor_24_425" id="FNanchor_24_425"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_425" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>No doubt there had been confusion in the accounts, and no doubt
+Spotswood's insistence on having account books would have done much to
+bring them into order. It is possible, also, that there had been much
+remissness in paying taxes and some fraud. The Governor wrote the Lords
+of Trade: "Notwithstanding all the contrivances of the family to justify
+the late officers of the revenue, here is now demonstration, not only of
+darkness and confusion in the manner of collecting the quit rents, but
+likewise of frauds and errors in accounting for the King's revenue."<a name="FNanchor_25_426" id="FNanchor_25_426"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_426" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p>
+
+<p>Realizing that he had brought down on himself the hostility of the
+Councillors, Spotswood now tried to undermine their power by setting up
+courts of oyer and terminer to which he appointed persons other than
+themselves. The General Court, on which all members of the Council and
+none else sat, had long been the court of last appeal in the colony. The
+Councillors prized their seats in this court not less than their seats
+in the Upper House of Assembly or around the Council table. Spotswood
+claimed that their power over the lives and property of the people made
+all regard them with awe, and "kept the country in subjection to their
+party."<a name="FNanchor_26_427" id="FNanchor_26_427"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_427" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> "They know that they have now lodged wholly in their hands
+that power that Absalom wanted for effectually securing the people in
+his interest, when he longed to be the judge of every man's cause."<a name="FNanchor_27_428" id="FNanchor_27_428"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_428" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was to be expected, then, that they should insist that none but
+themselves should sit on the new court of oyer and terminer. In May,
+1717, eight of them met in secret and drew up a letter to the Lords of
+Trade defending their position. The charter of 1676 expressly stated
+that the Governor and Council had authority to try "all treasons,
+murders, felonies." The laws of Virginia made the Governor and Council
+the supreme court.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> They could not believe that a Governor could "break
+through laws and charters and alter all the ancient usage and tradition
+of the government."<a name="FNanchor_28_429" id="FNanchor_28_429"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_429" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<p>Spotswood also appealed to the Lords of Trade. And he was overjoyed when
+this body wrote him that they could not see what reason the Council had
+to insist upon being the sole judges of the new court since his
+commission empowered him to "appoint judges."<a name="FNanchor_29_430" id="FNanchor_29_430"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_430" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> They were backed by
+Attorney General Edward Northy in his opinion of December 24, 1717.
+Northy advised, however, that Governors be instructed not to hold courts
+of oyer and terminer except in cases of <ins class="correct" title="Missing open quote added based on transcriber assumption.">"extraordinary</ins> emergency."<a name="FNanchor_30_431" id="FNanchor_30_431"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_431" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>The test came in December, 1718, when the court of oyer and terminer was
+about to begin its session. Several Councillors had taken their seats
+when Spotswood announced that he was joining with them Mr. Cole Digges
+and Mr. Peter Beverley. Since neither was a member of the Council,
+Ludwell and four others got up and left. The five then drew up a
+remonstrance, which Ludwell presented to Spotswood in court, with a
+"long harangue." Noticing that people were gathering, he turned around,
+and raising his voice, addressed them. "The Governor's power of naming
+other judges than the Councillors in life and death cases is of
+dangerous consequence to the lives and liberties of free subjects," he
+said. "For that reason I refuse to sit in the court of oyer and terminer
+with those gentlemen."<a name="FNanchor_31_432" id="FNanchor_31_432"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_432" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>In London, Byrd pleaded the cause of the Council before the Lords of
+Trade. It would be fatal, he argued, to permit a Governor to try any
+person by what judges he thought proper. "Whoever has had the fortune to
+live in the plantations knows that Governors are not in the least exempt
+from human frailties, such as passionate love of money, resentment
+against such as presume to oppose their designs, particularly to their
+creatures and favorites."<a name="FNanchor_32_433" id="FNanchor_32_433"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_433" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> To this Spotswood retorted: "What else
+could tempt the ruling party in the Council so strenuously to insist on
+a right, never claimed before, of being judges of oyer and terminer, but
+the desire of gaining to one family an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> entire power over the lives, as
+they now have over the estates, of the people of <ins class="correct" title="Missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption.">Virginia?"</ins><a name="FNanchor_33_434" id="FNanchor_33_434"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_434" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+
+<p>To the Earl of Orkney, Spotswood wrote bitterly. If he lost his battle
+with the Council, future Governors would think it folly to oppose them.
+"I take the power, interest, and reputation of the King's Governor in
+this dominion to be now reduced to a desperate gasp, and if the present
+efforts of the country cannot add new vigor to the same, then the
+haughtiness of a Carter, the hypocrisy of a Blair, the inveteracy of a
+Ludwell, the brutishness of a Smith, the malice of a Byrd, the
+conceitedness of a Grymes, and the scurrility of a Corbin, with about a
+score of base disloyalists and ungrateful Creolians for their adherents,
+must for the future rule the province."<a name="FNanchor_34_435" id="FNanchor_34_435"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_435" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
+
+<p>Since the Virginia treasury was now overflowing as a result of peace in
+Europe and the shipping out of vast quantities of tobacco, Spotswood
+managed to get along without an Assembly for three years. He would
+probably have continued to do so indefinitely, had he not wanted an act
+to reimburse the Indian Company which had been dissolved by order of the
+King. The trade with the Indians had recently become a mere trickle,
+because South Carolina had confiscated the goods of some Virginia
+traders, and lawless savages had robbed others. So an act was passed in
+1714 under which a monopoly of the trade with the southern tribes was
+lodged in the Virginia Indian Company.</p>
+
+<p>In return the company was required to contribute £100 towards building a
+public magazine at Williamsburg, to garrison and keep in repair a fort
+at Christanna on the frontier, and erect a schoolhouse there for Indian
+children. Some of the leading men in the colony became stockholders,
+among them William Cocke, Mann Page, William Cole, Nathaniel Harrison,
+and Cole Digges. They had spent large sums "in purchasing servants,
+taking up land and making settlements on the frontier, clearing roads,
+and building warehouses," when word came that the act under which they
+operated had been vetoed by the King.<a name="FNanchor_35_436" id="FNanchor_35_436"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_436" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> Since they were now left
+holding the bag, they asked that the Assembly reimburse them.</p>
+
+<p>The election which followed was one of the bitterest in Vir<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>ginia
+history. Spotswood made full use of the patronage. "Commissions flew
+about to every fellow that could make two or three votes," wrote Joshua
+Gee. "He gave the power to his friends to make a discreet use of [them].
+And indeed never fouler play was by men, than at most of our
+elections."<a name="FNanchor_36_437" id="FNanchor_36_437"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_437" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> Political pamphlets were distributed at every
+courthouse. One of them began: "Having seen a rascally paper which
+contained advice to freeholders in favor of a court party and tools of
+arbitrary power to enslave and ruin a free born people ... to prevent
+which I thought it my duty to open your eyes.... You are to know,
+brother electors, that this Assembly is called for no other reason but
+to pay to the Indian Company their charges on Fort Christanna, if they
+can get a set of men fit for that purpose to gull into that unjust
+payment."<a name="FNanchor_37_438" id="FNanchor_37_438"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_438" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p>
+
+<p>The outcome of the election was another defeat for the Governor. No less
+than thirty-four members of the hostile House of Burgesses of 1715 were
+returned. Of the new members Gawin Corbin, John Grymes, Archibald Blair,
+and others were bitter enemies of Spotswood. During the session the
+Governor kept his temper, since he had been ordered to do so by the
+Lords of Trade, but the Burgesses, remembering his former insults, did
+everything they could to annoy him. Though his opening address was
+conciliatory, it was greeted with "violent censures." One wrathful
+member "shot his bolt" and cried out: "It is all stuff and calculated
+only for the latitude of Whitehall." When Spotswood laid before the
+House several letters from New York in regard to renewing a treaty with
+the Indians, "they made it their jest, and setting up a great laugh ...
+cried out in their vulgar language, 'A bite!'"<a name="FNanchor_38_439" id="FNanchor_38_439"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_439" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
+
+<p>Needless to say, Spotswood got practically nothing out of this Assembly.
+They refused to repay the Indian Company for what they had laid out for
+the defense of the colony. They refused to pay for a proposed trip to
+New York by Spotswood to renew the treaty with the Iroquois. To his
+request for payment of his expenses in making fatiguing journeys in the
+service of the country, they replied, "we hope they will give you the
+satisfaction of reflecting that you have deserved the salary allowed by
+his Majesty."<a name="FNanchor_39_440" id="FNanchor_39_440"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_440" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>But the Burgesses were not yet done with him. Late in the session, when
+it seemed that nothing more of importance was to come before them, and
+some had gone home and others were at the race track, the "party
+managers" brought in an address to the King with a long string of
+accusations against him. Spotswood intimates that Blair and Ludwell were
+responsible for this maneuver in order to have the House second the
+complaints of the Council. Blair made his influence felt through his
+brother, Archibald Blair, and Ludwell through his son-in-law, John
+Grymes. "As during the last two sessions the one has scarce let a day
+pass without dropping in the Assembly some scurrilous reflection upon
+me," Spotswood wrote, "so the other can't keep his temper when he
+perceives any matter agreeable to me is likely to be carried."<a name="FNanchor_40_441" id="FNanchor_40_441"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_441" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p>
+
+<p>The accusations, which were embodied in instructions to William Byrd II
+as agent for the House, were carried by a vote of twenty-two to
+fourteen. But when they were considered one by one most of them were
+struck out. In their final form the accusations boiled down to little
+more than that the Governor had misconstrued the laws, that he had tried
+to keep the justices from levying the salaries of the Burgesses, and
+that he had by provoking speeches and messages abused the House.<a name="FNanchor_41_442" id="FNanchor_41_442"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_442" class="fnanchor">[41]</a>
+Spotswood, in two long papers, had no difficulty in answering the
+charges, but they remained as convincing evidence that there existed
+widespread dissatisfaction with his administration.</p>
+
+<p>To counteract this impression he now followed the precedent set by
+Nicholson of seeking flattering addresses. "To support his cause tools
+were picked to make up grand juries to deliver fulsome addresses to the
+Governor and abuse the Council and Assembly," Joshua Gee tells us. "The
+same tools made addresses from the courts and even engaged every
+barefooted fellow to sign addresses from the counties."<a name="FNanchor_42_443" id="FNanchor_42_443"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_443" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> The address
+from Middlesex spoke of Spotswood's wise and moderate government; that
+of the "justices, clergy, and principal inhabitants" of New Kent
+declared that his character had been traduced; that of King and Queen
+County that the charges against him were false. All in all, the
+addresses came from twenty-one of the twenty-five counties.<a name="FNanchor_43_444" id="FNanchor_43_444"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_444" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>This deluge of praise must have had its influence with the Lords of
+Trade and the Earl of Orkney. But more convincing was the logic of
+Spotswood's letters in which he answered the charges against him. He had
+brought down on his head the hostility of the Councillors and Burgesses
+through his efforts to carry out their Lordships' orders and uphold the
+prerogative of the King, he said. To remove him for doing his duty would
+render the situation hopeless for future Governors.</p>
+
+<p>So, despite the arguments and pleading of William Byrd, both Orkney and
+the Lords of Trade gave Spotswood their support. Orkney thought that no
+essential complaint had been brought against him, and praised him for
+putting the government of Virginia upon a much improved footing.<a name="FNanchor_44_445" id="FNanchor_44_445"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_445" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> The
+Board of Trade wrote Spotswood, in June, 1719: "You may depend upon all
+the countenance and support which we can give you which we think you
+have deserved."<a name="FNanchor_45_446" id="FNanchor_45_446"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_446" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> It was rumored in Virginia, also, that the Board was
+considering removing from the Council some of the Governor's bitterest
+enemies.</p>
+
+<p>Yet at the moment of triumph, Spotswood, instead of lauding it over the
+Councillors and forcing them to submit, seemed anxious to compromise all
+differences. The key to his moderation is found in his opening address
+to the Burgesses in November, 1720: "To consider the stake I have among
+you and the free choice I've made to fix it under this government, you
+have not surely any grounds to suspect me of injurious designs against
+the welfare of this colony."<a name="FNanchor_46_447" id="FNanchor_46_447"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_447" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> Then he indulged in a metaphor to show
+that the interests of Virginia and Great Britain did not conflict. "I
+look upon Virginia as a rib taken from Britain's side, and believe that
+while they both proceed as living under the marriage contract, this Eve
+must thrive as long as her Adam flourishes."</p>
+
+<p>In other words, Spotswood did not want to continue his differences with
+the planter aristocracy because he planned to become one of them. In
+1716 he had acquired 3,229 acres on the Rappahannock, known as the
+Germanna Tract, and peopled it with German tenants. Three years later he
+granted 3,065 acres, the so-called Wilderness Tract, to a certain
+Richard Hickman, who transferred it to him. He next acquired the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> Fork
+Tract, the Barrows Tract, the Mine Tract of 15,000 acres, the Lower
+Massaponax Tract, and the Upper Massaponax Tract. In 1729, when the new
+county of Spotsylvania was created, the Governor owned 25,000 acres
+within its borders.<a name="FNanchor_47_448" id="FNanchor_47_448"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_448" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> On his Mine Tract he had invested so heavily in
+an iron foundry that Byrd called him the Tubal Cain of Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>So, when Nathaniel Harrison approached him with proposals for a
+reconciliation, Spotswood was quite willing to do his part. But there
+were long negotiations before peace was concluded. On May 16, 1718, when
+the Governor made new overtures, they were greeted by stiffness and
+reserve. Yet the Councillors at his invitation, went from the Capitol to
+the Palace, and there gathered around a bowl of arrack, drinking until
+midnight. On the other hand, the hostile eight shunned Spotswood's
+celebration of the King's birthday, "got together all the turbulent and
+disaffected Burgesses, had an entertainment of their own in the
+Burgesses House, and invited all the mob to a bonfire, where they were
+plentifully supplied with liquors."<a name="FNanchor_48_449" id="FNanchor_48_449"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_449" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the end the Councillors came to terms. Smith and Berkeley were dead,
+while Carter, Blair, Ludwell, Lewis, Byrd, and Harrison had seen the
+handwriting on the wall. At a meeting in the Council Chamber of the
+Capitol, in April 1720, with Spotswood at the head of the table, it was
+agreed that all past controversies be forgotten, and that in the future
+there should be no other contention than who should most promote the
+King's service and the public benefit of the colony.<a name="FNanchor_49_450" id="FNanchor_49_450"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_450" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p>
+
+<p>For some months there was comparative quiet in Virginia. But in 1721
+Spotswood became uneasy when James Blair decided to visit England. "He
+is continually assuring me of all the service he can do me at home," the
+Governor wrote to the Bishop of London, "but ... I shall be contented
+with his not offering to do me any disservice."<a name="FNanchor_50_451" id="FNanchor_50_451"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_451" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> These fears were
+well-grounded, for there is reason to think that the Commissary was
+instrumental in having him removed from office, just how is not known.
+It is significant that when it was rumored that a new Governor was
+coming over, "it was understood that Parson Blair was likely to act as
+prime minister." Significant, also, is it that Hugh Drysdale, who
+succeeded Spotswood early<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> in 1722, came to Virginia on the same vessel
+as Blair, and remained on the most intimate terms with him throughout
+his short administration.<a name="FNanchor_51_452" id="FNanchor_51_452"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_452" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p>
+
+<p>Spotswood's last act as Lieutenant Governor reflects no credit upon his
+character, and did disservice both to the Crown and colony. Upon hearing
+that he was to be removed, he made out patents for huge tracts of land
+in Spotsylvania County to certain persons who immediately conveyed them
+to him.<a name="FNanchor_52_453" id="FNanchor_52_453"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_453" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> He later adopted a system of tenantry, leasing land in small
+parcels for two generations, a system which was copied in the huge
+Virginia manors developed in western Virginia late in the century.
+Although tenantry hastened settlement, it was inconsistent with the
+democratic spirit of the frontier, and was largely abolished by the
+Revolution.</p>
+
+<p>Nathaniel Blakiston said of Spotswood: "That gentleman has real capacity
+and talents to manage in a high sphere, but he adheres too much to his
+own sentiments, and thinks himself ill-treated if everybody does not
+think as he does."<a name="FNanchor_53_454" id="FNanchor_53_454"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_454" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> This weakness accounts in part for his inability
+to get along with either the Council or the Burgesses. Many of the
+policies which he advocated were wise, but his attempts to force them
+through were unwise. When the Council opposed him he tried to break
+their power; when the Burgesses thwarted him, he tried to bribe them
+into submission.</p>
+
+<p>Spotswood's administration was marked by several years of great
+prosperity, by the expansion of the frontier, by the attempts to develop
+manufactures, by the regulation of the tobacco trade; but more important
+was the demonstration that the people would no longer permit their
+representatives in the Assembly to be made submissive to the Governor by
+the use of the patronage. The punishment which they meted out to the
+faithless in the Assembly of 1714 marked a notable advance along the
+road to liberty, and was a warning to future Governors not to attempt to
+rule by corruption.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_402" id="Footnote_1_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_402"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> CO5-1315, Doc. 26.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_403" id="Footnote_2_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_403"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 3: 525.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_404" id="Footnote_3_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_404"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> CO5-1318.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_405" id="Footnote_4_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_405"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> CO5-1406, Dec. 7, 1714.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_406" id="Footnote_5_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_406"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Spotswood letters</i> 2: p. 50.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_407" id="Footnote_6_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_407"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Virginia Magazine</i> 2: 2-15.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_408" id="Footnote_7_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_408"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Spotswood letters</i> 2: 49.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_409" id="Footnote_8_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_409"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> CO5-1319.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_410" id="Footnote_9_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_410"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> CO5-1318.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_411" id="Footnote_10_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_411"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1712-1726: 132,
+133.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_412" id="Footnote_11_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_412"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 167.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_413" id="Footnote_12_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_413"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 147, 148.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_414" id="Footnote_13_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_414"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> CO5-1318.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_415" id="Footnote_14_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_415"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_416" id="Footnote_15_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_416"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_417" id="Footnote_16_417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_417"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, xxxiii.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_418" id="Footnote_17_418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_418"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 153, 165, 168.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_419" id="Footnote_18_419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_419"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 3: 243.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_420" id="Footnote_19_420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_420"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1712-1726: 122.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_421" id="Footnote_20_421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_421"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 169.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_422" id="Footnote_21_422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_422"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> CO5-1313.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_423" id="Footnote_22_423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_423"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1712-1726: 170.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_424" id="Footnote_23_424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_424"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> CO5-1416.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_425" id="Footnote_24_425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_425"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> 3: 437.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_426" id="Footnote_25_426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_426"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> CO5-1318, Spotswood to the Lords of Trade, March 20,
+1718.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_427" id="Footnote_26_427"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_427"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_428" id="Footnote_27_428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_428"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Spotswood to Orkney, July 1, 1718.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_429" id="Footnote_28_429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_429"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Ludwell, Smith, Lewis, Bassett, Harrison, Berkeley,
+Carter, and Blair.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_430" id="Footnote_29_430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_430"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> CO5-1364.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_431" id="Footnote_30_431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_431"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> CO5-1318.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_432" id="Footnote_31_432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_432"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> CO5-1318, Spotswood to the Lords of Trade, March 5, 1719.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_433" id="Footnote_32_433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_433"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Byrd Concerning Courts.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_434" id="Footnote_33_434"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_434"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Spotswood to the Lords of Trade, Dec. 22, 1718.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_435" id="Footnote_34_435"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_435"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Spotswood to Orkney, Dec. 22, 1718.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_436" id="Footnote_35_436"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_436"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> CO5-1317, Memorial of the Virginia Indian Company.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_437" id="Footnote_36_437"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_437"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> CO5-1319, Letter of Mr. Gee, Oct. 5, 1721.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_438" id="Footnote_37_438"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_438"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> CO5-1318, "Advice to Freeholders."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_439" id="Footnote_38_439"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_439"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> CO5-1318, Answer to Lieutenant Governor Spotswood.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_440" id="Footnote_39_440"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_440"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1712-1726: 213.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_441" id="Footnote_40_441"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_441"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> CO5-1318, Spotswood to Orkney, Dec. 22, 1718.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_442" id="Footnote_41_442"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_442"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1712-1726: 230,
+231.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_443" id="Footnote_42_443"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_443"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> CO5-1319, Letter of Mr. Gee.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_444" id="Footnote_43_444"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_444"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> CO5-1318.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_445" id="Footnote_44_445"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_445"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Board of Trade journal</i>, 1715-1718: 425, 426.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_446" id="Footnote_45_446"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_446"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> CO5-1365, Lords of Trade to Spotswood, June 26, 1719.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_447" id="Footnote_46_447"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_447"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1712-1726: 250.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_448" id="Footnote_47_448"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_448"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Leonidas Dodson, <i>Alexander Spotswood</i>, Chap. XIII.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_449" id="Footnote_48_449"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_449"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>Spotswood letters</i> 2: 284.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_450" id="Footnote_49_450"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_450"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> <i>Executive Journals of the Council</i> 3: 524.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_451" id="Footnote_50_451"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_451"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Rawlinson manuscript.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_452" id="Footnote_51_452"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_452"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> CO5-1319.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_453" id="Footnote_52_453"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_453"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Ludwell papers 2 (40).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_454" id="Footnote_53_454"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_454"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br />
+<br />
+PEACE AND PROSPERITY</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">As the first quarter of the eighteenth century was a period of bitter
+contention between the Governors of Virginia and the Council and
+Burgesses, so the second quarter was marked by peace and harmony. In
+England the government, under the leadership of Sir Robert Walpole,
+adopted a conciliatory policy toward the colonies, the famous policy of
+letting sleeping dogs lie. Great Britain was reaping huge profits from
+the trade with America, and the chief concern of the Board of Trade was
+to see that no laws were passed by the Assemblies to lessen them. On the
+other hand, the colonies were permitted to govern themselves to a degree
+that would not have been tolerated under the Stuarts.</p>
+
+<p>Possibly it was by chance that the two Lieutenant Governors whose
+administrations covered this period&mdash;Hugh Drysdale and William
+Gooch&mdash;were admirably suited to carry out this policy. Or they may have
+been selected because of their winning personalities, their ability to
+see both sides of a question, their desire to do justice to all men,
+their lack of greed and ambition to dictate. We know that Drysdale was
+recommended to the Earl of Orkney by Walpole himself.<a name="FNanchor_1_455" id="FNanchor_1_455"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_455" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> At all events,
+after contending for years with the implacable Nicholson and the
+dictatorial Spotswood, Drysdale and Gooch must have seemed gifts from
+Heaven to the Virginians.</p>
+
+<p>Drysdale arrived in Virginia on September 25, 1722, and two days later
+was sworn in in the Council Chamber. He was heartily welcomed. A few
+months later he could report that there was "universal contentment on
+the change made in the government," and that his administration had the
+approbation of all ranks of people.<a name="FNanchor_2_456" id="FNanchor_2_456"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_456" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> In marked contrast to their wordy
+war with Spotswood, the Burgesses showed him only respect and affection.
+"We must acknowledge the present calm and tranquility to be the
+consequences of your prudence and moderation," they told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> him.<a name="FNanchor_3_457" id="FNanchor_3_457"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_457" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> When
+he was planning to leave for England because of ill health, they
+addressed the King to say that his speedy return would be a great
+happiness to the people of the colony.<a name="FNanchor_4_458" id="FNanchor_4_458"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_458" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>Drysdale's popularity was based more on what he did not do than what he
+did do. He made no attempt to undermine the judicial power of the
+Council, he seems not to have used the patronage to control the House of
+Burgesses, he did not try to make the colony less democratic by
+restricting the right to vote, he did not deny to the Burgesses their
+ancient privileges, he did not use his office for personal gain.</p>
+
+<p>He was at first critical of the policy, favored by the Council, of
+issuing patents for huge tracts of land. His predecessor had granted
+some for 10,000 acres, some for 20,000 acres, some for 40,000 acres
+despite the order that I,000 acres should be the limit. "Thus the
+intention of the government to make Spotsylvania a well inhabited
+frontier is frustrated," he said.<a name="FNanchor_5_459" id="FNanchor_5_459"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_459" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>But the Councillors and other men of wealth persuaded him that large
+holdings which could be cut up into small farms and leased to tenants
+hastened rather than retarded settlement. "The Council are of opinion
+that the limiting the quantity of land to be taken up in the new
+counties is prejudicial and a discouragement to their speedy
+settlement," he wrote in July, 1724.<a name="FNanchor_6_460" id="FNanchor_6_460"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_460" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> He did not stop to consider that
+the growth of tenantry would be a blow, not only to economic democracy,
+but political democracy as well, since tenants, unless they were also
+freeholders, had no right to vote.</p>
+
+<p>Drysdale called for an election for a new Assembly who met in the
+Capitol on May 9, 1723. The Burgesses had hardly settled themselves in
+their seats when they took up two cases which concerned the rights of
+the people and their privileges. In Essex County grievances had been
+presented to the court for certification to the Assembly, charging
+Colonel Joseph Smith, commander of the county militia, with harsh and
+illegal conduct while a member of a court-martial. Colonel Smith,
+himself a member of the court, refused to sign this paper, so that it
+failed to reach the House. Thereupon the Burgesses declared him "guilty
+of a breach of his duty," and ordered the Speaker to reprimand him.<a name="FNanchor_7_461" id="FNanchor_7_461"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_461" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+In striking contrast to Spotswood's up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>holding of Littlefield and Butts
+in a similar case, Drysdale backed the House by removing Smith from the
+county court.<a name="FNanchor_8_462" id="FNanchor_8_462"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_462" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the other case a certain William Hopkins was accused of "rude,
+contemptuous, and indecent" language in the House about one of the
+members&mdash;Mr. Matthew Kemp. When he was adjudged guilty and ordered on
+his knees to ask the pardon of the Burgesses and Mr. Kemp, he flatly
+refused. It was then ordered that he be led through the Duke of
+Gloucester Street, from the Capitol to the college gate and back, with a
+placard pinned to his breast bearing the following inscription: "For
+insolent behavior at the bar of the House of Burgesses, when he was
+there as an offender and with obstinacy and contempt disobeying their
+order." This prospect was too much for Hopkins, so, no doubt with inward
+curses, he made the apology.<a name="FNanchor_9_463" id="FNanchor_9_463"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_463" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>There was universal grief in Virginia when Drysdale died, on July 22,
+1726. He was buried with elaborate ceremonies, to the booming of cannon.
+The Council wrote Mrs. Drysdale expressing "the just sense" of "the
+public loss," and giving her permission to remain for the time being in
+the Palace.<a name="FNanchor_10_464" id="FNanchor_10_464"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_464" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Pending the appointment of a new Lieutenant Governor,
+they voted to make Robert Carter President. The selection normally would
+have gone to Edmund Jenings, as the senior member of the Council, but he
+had just been suspended because of his age and because he was much
+"decayed in his understanding."</p>
+
+<p>William Gooch, who was appointed to succeed Drysdale, took the oath of
+office on September 11, 1727. It must have been with apprehension that
+the members of the Council greeted him. It would be too much to expect
+that the colony would have in succession two Governors of the stamp of
+Drysdale. Might not the new arrival be another Spotswood, or even
+another Nicholson?</p>
+
+<p>They were not long kept in doubt. Gooch proved to be one of the most
+popular Governors in the history of the colony. Sincerely interested in
+the welfare of the people, conciliatory in his dealings with both the
+Council and the Burgesses, he brought internal peace and contentment.
+The story was told of him that one day when in the company of several
+gentlemen, he happened to pass a Negro slave. When the Negro lifted his
+hat, Gooch lifted his in return.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What, Governor Gooch, do you lift your hat to a slave?" one of his
+companions asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I would be deeply humiliated to be surpassed in courtesy by a slave,"
+was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout Gooch's administration there was practically no friction
+between the Governor and the Assembly. The public affairs were carried
+on in perfect harmony and good understanding, he reported in 1734. The
+address of the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Sir John Randolph, to
+Gooch is one of the most remarkable in Virginia history. "You have
+shew'd how easy it is to give universal satisfaction to the people under
+your government.... You have not been intoxicated with the power
+committed to you by his Majesty, but have used it like a faithful
+trustee for the public good.... You never propose matters without
+supposing your opinion subject to the examination of others, nor strive
+to make other men's reason blindly and implicitly obedient to yours....
+You have extirpated all factions among us ... and plainly proved that
+none can arise, or be lasting, but from the countenance and
+encouragement of a Governor."<a name="FNanchor_11_465" id="FNanchor_11_465"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_465" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>Both the Council and the Burgesses expressed their gratitude to Gooch by
+gifts of money, the former voting him £300 to cover the expense of his
+voyage to Virginia, and the latter giving him £500. Although his
+instructions forbade his acceptance, he pocketed the money. "I thought
+it would not become me to refuse this extraordinary instance of their
+regard," he wrote the Lords of Trade. There was a precedent for his
+acceptance, for Nicholson had had £300 when that sum was worth £600 in
+the present currency. And though the Board censured him, they did not
+make him refund the money.<a name="FNanchor_12_466" id="FNanchor_12_466"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_466" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was typical of Gooch that he was willing to yield in matters of which
+he did not fully approve in order to carry points which he had very much
+at heart. He had not been long in the colony when he came to the
+conclusion that it would greatly benefit the planters if the tobacco
+inspection act of 1713 could be revived. But he was well aware that the
+people had not forgotten the use Spotswood had made of it to gain
+control of the House of Burgesses, or his veto of the bill to prohibit
+Burgesses from holding places of profit in the government. So, in
+return<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> for the passage of a new tobacco law, he assented to an act to
+keep officeholders out of the House. "The Burgesses were for this bill,"
+he wrote the Lords of Trade, "and my desire to keep them in good humor
+while matters of greater moment were under their deliberation, prevailed
+with me to assent to it."<a name="FNanchor_13_467" id="FNanchor_13_467"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_467" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>But he thought that the act had nothing in its favor, except that it was
+an imitation of the laws of England made for securing the freedom of
+Parliament. "In my humble opinion this country is yet too young for so
+refined a regulation. Places of profit are indeed but few, but men of
+capacity for the discharge of them do not much more abound; therefore
+either the government must be ill served, or the House of Burgesses
+meanly fitted if men of capacity and integrity must be shut out either
+of the one or the other."<a name="FNanchor_14_468" id="FNanchor_14_468"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_468" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>Gooch either did not understand the importance of this bill, or
+deliberately concealed it from the British Government. Had he known of
+the use of the power of appointment by former Governors to gain control
+of the House of Burgesses, he could not have dismissed the measure so
+lightly. Nor could he have realized what a major victory it was for
+liberty. Henceforth no Berkeley could bribe the Burgesses into
+submission and so rule the colony like a despot; no Nicholson could hand
+out commissions as sheriffs, or collectors, or officers in the militia
+in exchange for votes in the House; no Spotswood could create tobacco
+agents' jobs to tempt the people's representatives.</p>
+
+<p>Though Gooch was solicitous for the welfare of the poor planter, he was
+not in favor of manhood suffrage. So he affixed his signature to a bill
+limiting the right to vote to freeholders owning 100 acres of unoccupied
+land or twenty-five acres with a house.<a name="FNanchor_15_469" id="FNanchor_15_469"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_469" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> Had he had his way the
+limitation would have been greater. "Yet as the former laws had allowed
+any kind of a freehold to give that right, and all attempts made
+heretofore to exclude the mob of the populace ... had proved vain, it is
+much better to have that point fixed on some certain basis, than to
+leave all persons indefinitely at liberty to have a vote. ... After such
+a beginning it may be hoped a further regulation will follow to remove
+from the House such members as have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> little recommended them to the
+people's choice besides the art of stirring up discontents."<a name="FNanchor_16_470" id="FNanchor_16_470"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_470" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>Though Gooch thus frankly avowed his dislike of democracy, he promoted
+its growth by encouraging the westward expansion of settlement, not only
+in the Piedmont, but in the Shenandoah Valley. In 1736 he wrote the
+Lords of Trade: "Great numbers, as well of his Majesty's natural born
+subjects as foreigners, ... have removed into this colony on the west
+side of our mountains." This he pointed out would be a protection to the
+older parts of the colony by heading off any attempt of the French at
+penetration.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it had not occurred to Gooch that expansion would divide the
+colony into two parts&mdash;the democratic up-country, and the aristocratic
+tidewater. Spotsylvania, Brunswick, Goochland, Amelia, Caroline, and
+other counties in the Piedmont were filling up with small farmers from
+the east, Frederick with poor Germans and Swiss. It is true that some
+well-to-do planters established "quarters" managed by overseers above
+the Fall Line, and later invaded parts of the Valley, but even as late
+as the French and Indian War frontier conditions persisted in the
+regions on either side of the Blue Ridge. The influence of the west grew
+steadily as each new county sent its two representatives to the House of
+Burgesses. Whereas in 1727 when there were 65 members of the House, only
+10 were from the west, in 1752, when the members numbered 104, 46 were
+from the western or southwestern counties. The time was not distant when
+the up-country members would count a majority. A bewigged Carter, or
+Harrison, or Wormeley, in his broadcloth suit with silver buttons, may
+have been resentful when a roughly clad delegate from Albemarle or
+Frederick took a seat beside him, but he dared not show it.</p>
+
+<p>But in the first test of strength the newcomers lost because the east
+still dominated the Council. In 1749, after the burning of the Capitol
+in Williamsburg, the western Burgesses proposed that the seat of
+government be moved to a site on the Pamunkey, in Hanover County, which
+would save them many miles of travel in attending meetings of the
+Assembly. The feeling on each side ran high. Mr. John Blair, a member of
+the Council, in conversation with one of the Burgesses, pointed to the
+Speaker, saying: "There goes the man who is at the bottom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> of this
+hellish scheme." The House was deeply offended, and was appeased only
+when Blair apologized. After much hesitation the bill for the removal
+was passed by a vote of forty to thirty-eight, but it was promptly
+rejected by the Council.<a name="FNanchor_17_471" id="FNanchor_17_471"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_471" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> So the Capitol was rebuilt on the old
+foundations, but with the proviso that this would not fix the seat of
+government permanently in Williamsburg. It did, however, fix it there
+until the Revolution, when, in response to the wishes of an overwhelming
+majority of the people, it was moved to Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>During most of Gooch's administration the two Houses worked in harmony.
+But occasionally there was friction. At the close of the session of 1728
+the Burgesses passed a resolution to pay their own salaries out of the
+fund raised by the duty on liquors in order to lessen the hated poll
+tax. But the Council refused to concur. The Burgesses then voted that
+they be paid from funds in the hands of the Treasurer. Again the Council
+demurred. They argued that the salaries of the Burgesses was the concern
+of the counties. "It would be an unequal distribution of the public
+money to allow the same share of it to a county which has a thousand
+tithables as one that has three thousand."<a name="FNanchor_18_472" id="FNanchor_18_472"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_472" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> This reasoning was based
+on the assumption that a Burgess represented only the interests of the
+county which elected him and not those of the colony as a whole, an
+assumption contradicted by the whole history of the House. Yet the
+Burgesses, though with some bitterness, were forced to yield for the
+time being.</p>
+
+<p>Gooch was much concerned over the dispute, for he was convinced that it
+was not ended. He was right. At the very next session a bill was passed
+to pay the Burgesses out of the money in the Treasurer's hands, provided
+this should not reduce the fund below £1,500.<a name="FNanchor_19_473" id="FNanchor_19_473"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_473" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> The Council consented,
+under Gooch's urging, because the bill allowed the Burgesses only ten
+shillings a day instead of thirteen as formerly, and nothing when not
+actually in attendance, but "at home about their private affairs or
+perhaps in pursuit of their pleasures." Gooch wrote the Lords of Trade
+congratulating himself on having reduced salaries, but this does not
+obscure the fact that the act was a victory for the House.<a name="FNanchor_20_474" id="FNanchor_20_474"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_474" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>In fact, the House of Burgesses, like the House of Commons, was becoming
+the dominating body, and the Council, like the House of Lords, was
+growing weaker. With the multiplying of the number of wealthy planters
+through the use of slave labor, the twelve men who made up the Council
+ceased to be the sole representatives of their interests. Many
+aristocrats were honored to have a seat in the Lower House. One has only
+to glance down the list of Burgesses to find many of the proudest names
+in colonial Virginia&mdash;Page, Harrison, Fairfax, Randolph, Burwell,
+Carter, Ball, Wormeley, Digges, Spotswood, Lee, Byrd, Claiborne, etc. So
+the aristocrat as well as the small farmer, the wealthy easterner as
+well as the pioneer of Orange or Albemarle, or the German of Frederick
+looked to the House to protect their interests.</p>
+
+<p>While the leadership of the House continued to be aristocratic, the rank
+and file grew more democratic. The open spaces of America fostered a
+spirit of independence. When men had gone into a wilderness, cleared
+openings in the forest, built their simple houses, laid out crops,
+fought the Indians, they became impatient of control by a group of
+eastern aristocrats, or by a government three thousand miles away in
+which they had no voice.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was democracy confined to the west, for the small farmer class of
+the east persisted despite the importation of thousands of slaves. It is
+true that many, finding it difficult to compete with slave labor, sold
+their little holdings, packed up their few household goods, and set out
+for the West or for one of the northern colonies. But others kept their
+heads above water by producing only the highest grades of tobacco, for
+which the blacks at first were not suited. "I must beg you to remember
+that the common people make the best," Gooch wrote in 1731.</p>
+
+<p>But this reprieve was only temporary, for in time the wealthy planter
+taught the Africans to produce even the high priced Orinoco. Then the
+poor planter had to join the class of slaveholders by making a few
+purchases, or sink into abject poverty. That thousands did buy slaves we
+know from an examination of the tax lists. In 1716, in Lancaster County,
+of some 200 slave-owners, 165 had from one to four only. The only large
+owner was the wealthy Robert Carter who had 126.<a name="FNanchor_21_475" id="FNanchor_21_475"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_475" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>The replacing of the Virginia yeomanry, the men who cul<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>tivated their
+holdings with their own hands, by small slaveholders was in many ways a
+development to be deplored, but it saved the small farmer class from
+extinction, and democracy from a fatal blow. Without it all the eastern
+part of the colony and part of the Piedmont would have become a land of
+wealthy proprietors and their slaves, and ignorant, degraded,
+poverty-stricken whites.</p>
+
+<p>The small slaveholders were fiercely jealous of their rights, both
+social and political. From the proud aristocrat they demanded courtesy
+and respect. And these the aristocrat thought it wise to accord them,
+for he knew that they constituted an overwhelming majority of the
+voters. Nor were there anywhere, in the northern colonies or in the
+West, more ardent upholders of self-government. In the long struggle for
+liberty it was usually the aristocrats who led the way, but they would
+have been powerless had they not had the loyal support of the small
+eastern farmer as well as the western frontiersman.</p>
+
+<p>And the climax of this struggle was not distant. Walpole resigned in
+1752, and his successors were not inclined to let the colonies become
+semi-independent little republics. Had their attention not been diverted
+by European wars, they would probably have come to grips with the
+colonial governments sooner than they did.</p>
+
+<p>At the moment, however, the chief differences between Virginia and the
+mother country seemed to be economic rather than constitutional. The
+planters had long protested against the Navigation Acts, but they had in
+time adjusted themselves to them. To the merchants of England they were
+tied by the bonds of mutual interest, for they were dependent upon them
+for transporting and disposing of their tobacco, and for bringing them
+manufactured goods in return.</p>
+
+<p>But there developed various points of difference. And it became a bitter
+grievance to the planters that when these differences were placed before
+the British government, the decision always favored the merchants. In
+fact, so great was the influence of certain traders that at times their
+recommendations to important posts in the colonies were decisive. Among
+the best known of these men was Micajah Perry, whose opinion the Board
+of Trade frequently sought on matters affecting commerce. It was rumored
+that it was he who persuaded the Auditor General to appoint Philip
+Ludwell Auditor of Virginia. And when the British government turned down
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> recommendation of a Governor in filling a vacancy in the Council in
+favor of one by the merchants, it was deeply resented in the colony.
+"Your Lordships cannot but be sensible that little regard is likely to
+be paid a Governor who shall be supposed to have no interest at your
+Lordships' Board," Gooch wrote in 1747.</p>
+
+<p>The people were even more resentful at the insistence of the merchants
+in blocking any measure by the Assembly, no matter how beneficial, if
+they thought it would lessen their profits. Many of them had invested in
+the Royal African Company, and the slave trade to Virginia was booming.
+It was stated that black workers were coming in at the rate of 1,500 or
+1,600 a year, and at every landing place scores were sold to the highest
+bidders. In 1730, out of a total population of 114,000, no less than
+30,000 were Negroes.<a name="FNanchor_22_476" id="FNanchor_22_476"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_476" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> With profits piling up, the merchants wanted no
+interference with this trade, however inhuman it was, and however
+harmful to the economic and social structure of the colony.</p>
+
+<p>Many thoughtful men in the colony viewed the situation with alarm, not
+only because the importation of so many blacks was drying up the stream
+of white immigrants from England, but because it was driving out of the
+colony poor men who did not want to compete with slave labor. And the
+planters had reason to dread slave insurrections. Some of the Africans
+were docile enough, but a few resented their bonds fiercely. In 1710 a
+conspiracy was discovered in Surry and James City Counties, in which the
+Negroes planned to rise, kill all who opposed them, and escape out of
+the colony. Several were tried in the General Court, convicted and
+executed.<a name="FNanchor_23_477" id="FNanchor_23_477"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_477" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p>
+
+<p>There was much satisfaction when the Assembly, in the revenue act of
+1723, tried to stem the tide by placing a duty on the importation of
+slaves. But when the act came before the Lords of Trade, the merchants
+opposed it vigorously. John Gary, who had lived in Virginia, and later
+went to England to enter the tobacco trade, when summoned before the
+Board, argued against it. It would ruin the poor planters, he said,
+because it would run up the cost of slaves, and they would not be able
+to buy enough to cultivate their plantations.<a name="FNanchor_24_478" id="FNanchor_24_478"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_478" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> This argument, as we
+have seen, was not entirely misleading, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> it ignored the predicament
+of the thousands who could afford not even one, no matter how cheap, and
+so sank into great poverty, became "poor white trash." Yet the Board
+sided with Cary and his fellow merchants, and in January, 1724, advised
+the King to veto the act.</p>
+
+<p>The Assembly, greatly disappointed, five years later made another
+attempt, placing a duty of forty shillings a head on the importation of
+slaves. Gooch gave them his full support. The merchants would not be
+injured by the law, he argued, since the purchasers had to pay the
+tax.<a name="FNanchor_25_479" id="FNanchor_25_479"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_479" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> But the importers did not see it that way, and at their urging
+the King disallowed the act.</p>
+
+<p>How bitterly these vetoes were resented in Virginia is shown by a
+statement of Thomas Jefferson in his "A Summary View of the Rights of
+British America," written in 1774. "The abolition of slavery is the
+great object of desire in those colonies, where it was, unhappily,
+introduced in their infant state. But previously to the enfranchisement
+of the slaves we have, it is necessary to exclude all further
+importations from Africa. Yet our repeated attempts to effect this, by
+prohibitions, and by imposing duties which might amount to a
+prohibition, having been hitherto defeated by his Majesty's negative:
+thus preferring the immediate advantages of a few British corsairs to
+the lasting interests of the American States, and the rights of human
+nature deeply wounded by this infamous practice. Nay, the single
+interposition of an interested individual against a law was scarcely
+ever known to fail of success, though, in the opposite scale, were
+placed the interests of a whole <ins class="correct" title="Missing close quote added according to original source text by Lipscomb.">country."</ins><a name="FNanchor_26_480" id="FNanchor_26_480"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_480" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>The merchants opposed, not only the duty on slaves, but any other duty
+which they thought might lessen imports. The Assembly repeatedly passed
+laws to place duties on rum, brandy, wine, cider, beer, and ale, not
+because they thought they would debauch the people, but to raise revenue
+to meet the needs of the government without resorting to the hated poll
+tax. They finally persuaded the merchants that light duties on liquors
+would do them no harm. And perhaps the King was persuaded to give his
+assent by the urgings of Gooch. "The revenue arising from the duty on
+liquors is the best expedient to raise money for defraying the
+contingent charges of the government and the chief support of the
+College of William and Mary," he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> wrote. "By it most of the public debts
+are paid and the people eased of an intolerable poll tax, which many of
+the poorer sort would be unable to pay."</p>
+
+<p>But in 1730 the Assembly went too far when, in the revenue bill of that
+year, they exempted Virginia owners from half the tax in a rather
+forlorn attempt to build up local shipping. The merchants were
+indignant. It was a very partial procedure, they thought, for the
+colonists to tax his Majesty's subjects at large to a higher degree than
+themselves. Moreover, it set up the shipping of Virginia in opposition
+to and in great prejudice to the navigation of Great Britain. Needless
+to say the act was disallowed.<a name="FNanchor_27_481" id="FNanchor_27_481"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_481" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> It was now the turn of the planters
+to be indignant. Gooch wrote the Board: "I cannot conceal from your
+Lordships the resentment of the people against the merchants."<a name="FNanchor_28_482" id="FNanchor_28_482"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_482" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Virginians, like the peoples of the other colonies, were angered at
+the passage of the Molasses Act, which placed prohibitive duties on the
+trade between the British colonies on the American continent and the
+foreign West Indies. Virginia's stake in the trade to the French and
+Spanish islands was much less than that of New England, but it was great
+enough to draw a protest from Gooch. And the good Governor seems to have
+winked at the violations of the act. In 1734 he wrote the Lords of
+Trade: "As to trade, upon the strictest inquiry I can make I can find
+none ... but with Great Britain, the British islands in the West Indies,
+and the island of Madeira."<a name="FNanchor_29_483" id="FNanchor_29_483"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_483" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> The Board might well have asked why it
+was, if this were true, that so many Spanish pieces of eight and so many
+pistoles and French guineas and crowns were circulating in the colony.</p>
+
+<p>Even more serious than the conflict between planters and merchants over
+the restrictions of trade, was the quarrel over debts. The trade with
+Great Britain was carried on chiefly by credit, and in times when the
+price of tobacco was high and profits good the planters lived well and
+spent freely. Then it was that they made heavy purchases of silverware,
+handsome furniture, or even blooded horses. And only too often, when
+prices of tobacco fell, they could not bring themselves to curtail
+expenditures in proportion. In fact, when they placed their orders they
+could not foresee just what their year's crop would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> yield. Many of them
+became involved in debt. When they could not meet their obligations, the
+merchants demanded that their lands be forfeited. On the other hand, the
+planters, from time to time, tried to lessen the burden by paying their
+creditors in depreciated paper money.</p>
+
+<p>When the merchants appealed to the Virginia courts to force payment of
+debts they found them usually sympathetic with the debtors. Moreover, in
+most cases they could not appeal to the British courts for there was a
+law forbidding it in cases involving less than £300. For larger suits
+the shoe was on the other foot, for when they were taken before the
+Privy Council, the advantage was all with the merchants. Residing in
+Great Britain, most of them in London, they could appeal in person to
+present their cause. Since the prosperity of the kingdom was so
+dependent upon its commerce, they always received a sympathetic hearing.</p>
+
+<p>Typical was the suit of the executors of Micajah and Richard Perry to
+recover debts from the estate of Colonel William Randolph, who had had a
+long-standing account with them. When the Virginia courts decided in
+favor of the defendants, the executors of the Perrys appealed to the
+King. The Privy Council referred the matter to a commission of four
+merchants, three of whom gave it as their judgment that with compound
+interest and insurance charges the defendants owed £2,460. So the
+verdict of the Virginia court was reversed.</p>
+
+<p>The Council and Burgesses protested in an address to the King. They were
+alarmed that this case had been decided without a legal trial by jury,
+they said. It had never been the practice to charge "interest upon
+interest" in "open running accounts." They thought it wrong that "the
+reports of <ins class="correct" title="Missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption.">merchants"</ins> who were not under oath and were inclined to favor
+one another, should be permitted to overrule the verdict of legal
+juries. If the planters were to be loaded with whatever charges their
+factors thought fit, it would greatly discourage trade and industry.<a name="FNanchor_30_484" id="FNanchor_30_484"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_484" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>But they were unprepared for the extreme lengths to which the merchants
+would go. At a meeting of the Council in October, 1731, they could
+hardly credit their ears when Gooch read them a letter stating that they
+were about to present a petition to Parliament concerning the colonies.
+They wanted first a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> law prohibiting the Assemblies from passing any
+acts affecting trade and navigation, second, a law making real estate
+liable for debts, and third, a law permitting appeals from the Virginia
+General Court to the Privy Council in suits involving £100 or more.<a name="FNanchor_31_485" id="FNanchor_31_485"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_485" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>Gooch wrote at once to the Board denouncing this attempt to muzzle the
+Assembly. "When I considered, my Lords, how long and happily the British
+subjects have traded to America and acquired great riches under the
+ancient establishment made in these points by the Crown, set forth in
+the royal charters and instructions, without seeking to abridge the
+people of the plantations of their birthright as Englishmen, or limiting
+the Crown in the methods of government, I must confess I was somewhat
+startled."<a name="FNanchor_32_486" id="FNanchor_32_486"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_486" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Council also protested vigorously. It was impossible for the
+Assembly to avoid all legislation affecting trade, they said in a letter
+to the Board, since it might prohibit certain vitally necessary laws. If
+the merchants objected to any act of Assembly, they could lay the matter
+before the King. As for making the land of the planters liable for
+debts, it was pointed out that there was no law making the lands of the
+merchants liable to the demands of the colonists. Yet the factors were
+as often in the planters' debt as the planters in theirs. It would
+create uneasiness in the minds of a loyal people to find they had not
+equal justice. And to allow appeals to the King in cases involving as
+little as £100 would be a heavy burden; for the expense of the planter,
+who would have to make a voyage to England to defend his rights, would
+be as great as the sum involved.<a name="FNanchor_33_487" id="FNanchor_33_487"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_487" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was no doubt to anticipate any action to forbid legislation in the
+colony affecting trade that a clause was added to certain acts
+suspending their operation until the King had given his assent. During
+Gooch's administration the first such act appropriated £1,000 for the
+erection of a lighthouse of brick and stone on Cape Henry, provided
+Maryland appropriate a like amount and the King gave his assent. A duty
+of one penny a ton was to be levied on all vessels passing the light.
+Gooch urged the Lords of Trade to influence Lord Baltimore to recom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>mend
+the matter to the Maryland Assembly. But he was treading on dangerous
+ground when he suggested that if the Marylanders balked, the Board
+secure an act of Parliament "to bind both governments to do that good to
+themselves and the trade of Great Britain."<a name="FNanchor_34_488" id="FNanchor_34_488"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_488" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> Fortunately the Board
+refused to take such a drastic step, and it was only in 1772 that the
+lighthouse was erected.<a name="FNanchor_35_489" id="FNanchor_35_489"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_489" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p>
+
+<p>Knowing that the King had vetoed the tobacco act of 1713, Gooch took
+pains to prepare the minds of the Board of Trade to consider favorably
+the new one he was contemplating. The government was being defrauded by
+running tobacco into Great Britain without paying the duty there, he
+wrote them. It was the practice for sailors to buy "mean and trash
+tobacco," and sell it to agents who knew how to dispose of it. "Thus is
+the market for the good tobacco damped by the fraudulent importation of
+the bad." The remedy was to bring all the tobacco under strict
+inspection by sworn officers, all the bad destroyed, and the weight of
+every hogshead reported to the commissioners of the customs.</p>
+
+<p>The tobacco act of 1730 provided for warehouses to which all tobacco
+must be brought in hogsheads for inspection, where it would be burnt if
+of low grade, or stamped if good, and the owner paid in notes which
+circulated as money. At the time the price of tobacco was low, and the
+planters, especially the small farmers, were in dire need. Gooch
+contended that the law would stimulate trade and bring relief.</p>
+
+<p>His arguments were set forth in a printed pamphlet entitled <i>A Dialogue
+between Thomas Sweet-scented, William Orinoco, Planters, both Men of
+Good Understanding, and Justice Love-Country</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Will opened the discussion: "I am sure I have heard a great many
+speeches against it at the race-grounds and at the county courts....
+Why, pray is it not a clear case, don't we see our tobacco burnt?....
+T'was constantly buzzed about as if by this law the rich intended to
+ruin the poor."</p>
+
+<p>Justice: "None but the worst villains could suggest such a reflection."</p>
+
+<p>And so the arguments went, with Justice answering every objection.</p>
+
+<p>Gooch claimed that the law in operation benefited the poor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> It was the
+rich man with his slave labor who was responsible for most of the
+"trash" which the inspectors burnt. The small farmer who planted,
+tended, and cured his own tobacco produced the best.<a name="FNanchor_36_490" id="FNanchor_36_490"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_490" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> In fact, he
+added, "the greatest encouragement is given to the common people to make
+tobacco that could be thought of, for ... they take as many notes for it
+as they please, i. e. notes for fifty or a hundred pounds ... [which]
+will be accepted as payment at any store or shop." In other words, it
+gave them a far more convenient currency than their bulky tobacco. More
+convincing to the small farmer than these arguments was the rise in the
+price of tobacco which followed the passage of the act. But it must have
+been obvious to thoughtful men that no regulation of the tobacco trade
+could better the condition of the poor man so long as he had to compete
+with slave labor. It was slavery which created a trash far more harmful
+than poor tobacco&mdash;poor white trash.</p>
+
+<p>Gooch's success in securing the King's assent to the tobacco law was
+matched by his success in persuading the Assembly to assist with men and
+money in an expedition <ins class="correct" title="againt">against</ins> New Granada on the northern coast of
+South America. In May, 1740, an act was passed to impress men, and in a
+few weeks about four hundred had been raised. A ragged, motley crowd
+they must have been, for no one was taken who had any lawful occupation
+or who had a right to vote.<a name="FNanchor_37_491" id="FNanchor_37_491"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_491" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> But the officers were from the best
+Virginia families, among them Lawrence Washington, half-brother of
+George Washington. Later the Assembly voted £5,000 to cover the cost of
+feeding and transporting the troops as far as Jamaica, where they were
+to join the forces sent out from England.</p>
+
+<p>Former Governor Spotswood had been appointed to lead the colonials, but
+when he died before the ships sailed, Governor Gooch, leaving the
+government in the hands of the senior Councillor, Commissary Blair, took
+over the command. The attack on Cartagena proved a failure. The British
+ships could not get near enough to shell the town. When the troops tried
+to storm the walls the ladders proved too short, and they were repulsed
+with heavy losses. Gooch himself was wounded.</p>
+
+<p>Gooch was knighted in 1746, and made a major general in the British
+army. He seems never to have recovered fully from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> his wound, and from
+an illness contracted during the New Granada campaign. Complaining that
+he had grown old and infirm, he asked the King for permission to "go
+home" to recover his health. To the universal regret of the people of
+Virginia, he left for England in the summer of 1749. He died December
+17, in London.</p>
+
+<p>Gooch himself gave the key to his administration when he wrote: "The
+condition of affairs in this colony may be summed up in two words, peace
+and plenty." With many families becoming rich through the settlement of
+the West and the growth of the tobacco trade, with many hundreds of
+small farmers acquiring a degree of well-being by the purchase of a few
+slaves, with no immediate threat from the Indians on the frontier, with
+Governor and Council maintaining cordial relations, with the Governor
+cooperating with the Assembly and not trying to dominate it, with rapid
+strides being made toward the goal of self-government, the years of
+Gooch's administration may aptly be termed the golden era of Virginia
+colonial history.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the addresses of various bodies to the Virginia Governors lack
+the ring of sincerity, because they were obtained by bribery or threats.
+But the Council, in 1736, seem to have spoken from their hearts when
+they told Gooch: "As for us, Sir, who have the honor to be the near
+witnesses of the prudence, moderation, and justice of your
+administration, we should be unjust to ourselves, as well as ungrateful
+to your character, if we ... did not declare that we esteem the quiet
+and tranquillity which this colony has enjoyed under your government as
+one of the greatest public blessings."</p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses were even more articulate: "We are very sensible how much
+the colony owes to your good conduct in the government, and that all
+your actions are directed to a faithful discharge of your duty to his
+Majesty and to promote our common good. And should we distrust so just
+and upright a magistrate it would be discountenancing a virtuous
+administration, and making no difference between that and the greatest
+enormities, tyranny, and oppression. Or should we withhold our
+confidence from a person who for so many years has never once abused it,
+we might justly be reckoned an unworthy representative of a grateful
+people."</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_455" id="Footnote_1_455"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_455"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Leonidas Dodson, <i>Alexander Spotswood</i>, 270, 271.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_456" id="Footnote_2_456"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_456"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Sainsbury transcripts</i> 9: 74, 75.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_457" id="Footnote_3_457"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_457"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1712-1726: 402.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_458" id="Footnote_4_458"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_458"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 419.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_459" id="Footnote_5_459"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_459"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Sainsbury transcripts</i>, 9: 121.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_460" id="Footnote_6_460"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_460"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 134.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_461" id="Footnote_7_461"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_461"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, xlix, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_462" id="Footnote_8_462"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_462"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> 4: 40.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_463" id="Footnote_9_463"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_463"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1712-1726: 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_464" id="Footnote_10_464"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_464"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> 4: 114.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_465" id="Footnote_11_465"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_465"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1727-1740: 242.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_466" id="Footnote_12_466"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_466"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Gooch to the Lords of Trade, Feb. 12, 1728; Aug. 9, 1728.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_467" id="Footnote_13_467"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_467"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 4: 292.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_468" id="Footnote_14_468"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_468"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> July 23, 1730.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_469" id="Footnote_15_469"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_469"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 4: 475.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_470" id="Footnote_16_470"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_470"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Gooch to the Lords of Trade, Oct. 5, 1736.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_471" id="Footnote_17_471"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_471"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1742-1749: xxvii,
+xxviii.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_472" id="Footnote_18_472"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_472"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Gooch to the Lords of Trade, June 8, 1728.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_473" id="Footnote_19_473"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_473"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 4: 279.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_474" id="Footnote_20_474"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_474"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> July 23, 1730.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_475" id="Footnote_21_475"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_475"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>William and Mary Quarterly</i> 2: 106-122.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_476" id="Footnote_22_476"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_476"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> CO5-1322, Report of Gooch.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_477" id="Footnote_23_477"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_477"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> 3: 234, 235.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_478" id="Footnote_24_478"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_478"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Sainsbury transcripts</i> 9: 112.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_479" id="Footnote_25_479"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_479"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> June 8, 1728.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_480" id="Footnote_26_480"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_480"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>The writings of Thomas Jefferson</i>, A. A. Lipscomb, ed. 1:
+201.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_481" id="Footnote_27_481"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_481"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> CO5-1322, pp. 287, 317.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_482" id="Footnote_28_482"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_482"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Oct. 22, 1731.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_483" id="Footnote_29_483"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_483"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> May 24, 1734.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_484" id="Footnote_30_484"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_484"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1712-1726: 422-424.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_485" id="Footnote_31_485"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_485"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> 4: 252.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_486" id="Footnote_32_486"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_486"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> July 10, 1731.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_487" id="Footnote_33_487"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_487"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Council to the Lords of Trade, Jan. 1, 1732.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_488" id="Footnote_34_488"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_488"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> June 8, 1728.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_489" id="Footnote_35_489"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_489"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 6: 227.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_490" id="Footnote_36_490"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_490"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Gooch to the Lords of Trade, Feb. 27, 1731.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_491" id="Footnote_37_491"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_491"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 5: 94-96.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br />
+<br />
+AT STAKE&mdash;LIBERTY AND A CONTINENT</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">When Robert Dinwiddie stepped ashore at Yorktown on November 20, 1751,
+he was greeted by Secretary Thomas Nelson and two members of the
+Council&mdash;Colonel William Fairfax and William Nelson. Hastening on to
+Williamsburg, he was met on the road by Commissary William Dawson, John
+Blair, and Philip Ludwell. When the little cavalcade reached the
+outskirts of the town, they found the Mayor, Aldermen, and other
+prominent citizens waiting to welcome them. At the Palace, Dinwiddie
+took the oath of office. He and the members of the Council then went to
+Wetherburn's tavern for dinner, where they were guests of the town. As
+the cannons at the powder horn roared their approval, they lifted their
+glasses to drink the "royal healths."</p>
+
+<p>The inauguration of Dinwiddie brought to an end the custom of appointing
+military officers as Governors or Lieutenant Governors of the colony.
+Nicholson, Andros, Spotswood, Hunter, Drysdale, and Gooch had all been
+soldiers. One wonders why the policy had persisted so long, for there
+would seem to be little in the training of an army officer to fit him
+for the duties of a colonial administrator. The habit of issuing
+commands and expecting instant obedience might easily cause failure in
+dealing with a liberty-loving people. Yet in practice, it seems to have
+been the personal character of the Governor, rather than his training,
+which determined his conduct. Nicholson and Spotswood were by nature
+dictators, Drysdale and Gooch had no desire for power for power's sake.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the Virginians were no doubt pleased with the appointment of a man
+from civil life. Dinwiddie came from a family of Glasgow merchants, and
+as a young man had been engaged in the pottery business. At the age of
+twenty-eight he was made Collector of Customs in Bermuda, in which
+office he won the approval of the Lords of Trade by uncovering serious
+frauds in the collecting of customs in the West Indies. In 1738 he was
+advanced to the important post of Surveyor General of the southern ports
+of the North American continent. Additional<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> responsibilities were
+placed upon him a few years later, when he was made Inspector General of
+the Customs. In 1749 he resigned this office, probably in order to
+engage in trade.</p>
+
+<p>The painting of Dinwiddie in the National Portrait Gallery, London,
+shows a rather stout, middle-aged man. The face which looks out from
+beneath a large wig, despite the placid expression, shows strength in
+the lines of the mouth and the steady gaze of the eyes. Dinwiddie,
+throughout his career did not willingly provoke a conflict, but when the
+conflict was started he fought stubbornly. Yet when necessity dictated
+he knew how to yield. The first of these qualities made him an important
+factor in preserving the most important part of North America for
+British civilization. The other contributed greatly to the triumph of
+self-government in Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>The new Lieutenant Governor's administration began auspiciously. In his
+opening address to the Assembly he expressed his pleasure at being in
+Virginia, where he had so many friends. He realized it would be
+difficult to equal the record of his predecessor, but he hoped, with the
+advice of the Council and the Burgesses, to serve the colony well. One
+wonders whether he had in mind some of the former Governors of Virginia
+when he pointed out that indolence, avarice, and ambition were
+responsible for many public calamities.</p>
+
+<p>The spirit of good will to the Governor ripened into gratitude when he
+sided with the Assembly in their protest against an action of the King
+in Council. This was almost unprecedented, for a Governor was supposed
+to defend anything the royal government did, no matter how harmful to
+the colony or unjust.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that the Assembly, in 1748 and 1749, had made a laborious
+revision of the laws. The completed work, in sixty-seven acts, they sent
+to the King so that he could review them. But it was not anticipated
+that he would either veto or sign any of them. So there was
+consternation when Dinwiddie reported that the King in Council had
+signed fifty-seven of the revised laws and vetoed ten. Of the latter,
+two&mdash;one declaring slaves personal property and the other setting up the
+General Court&mdash;were of great importance. Each House drew up an address
+to the King pleading with him to reconsider his action. When Dinwiddie
+promised to endorse and deliver them, Councillors and Burgesses alike
+were grateful. Before dispersing they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> voted him a gift of £500, which
+Dinwiddie, despite his instructions seems to have accepted.<a name="FNanchor_1_492" id="FNanchor_1_492"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_492" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>But the honeymoon was of short duration. Before Dinwiddie left England
+he was entrusted with a new seal for Virginia. It was this, no doubt,
+which gave him the idea of adding to his income by charging a pistole
+for signing patents for land and affixing the seal. Had he been aware of
+the storm raised by the similar attempt by Lord Effingham sixty-four
+years earlier, he would have known what was in store for him. The
+Council, too, seem to have been forgetful in this matter, for when the
+Governor asked their opinion, they advised him to go ahead.<a name="FNanchor_2_493" id="FNanchor_2_493"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_493" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>When the Assembly met in November, 1753, Dinwiddie told them that a
+large body of French regulars, accompanied by Indian allies, had marched
+down from Canada into the Ohio region and had built a fort there. The
+King had commanded him to lay before them a request for funds to defeat
+their designs, and to purchase gifts for the friendly Indians.</p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses were fully aware of the danger. For the French to build a
+chain of forts on the Monongahela and the Ohio to connect with those on
+the Mississippi would make a barrier to further expansion of the English
+colonies to the west. It would also constitute an ever present threat to
+their frontier, since in future wars the way would be open to forays of
+hostile Indians. Such men as Joshua Fry, Edmund Pendleton, John
+Robinson, and Benjamin Harrison may have realized that the fate of
+Virginia and of all English North America hung in the balance.</p>
+
+<p>But for the moment the Burgesses were more interested in preserving
+their liberty than their safety. They began by considering the
+complaints of several counties against the pistole fee. Dinwiddie
+accused the Reverend William Stith, President of the College of William
+and Mary, of inciting the people against the fee. Stith was his personal
+enemy, he thought, because he had opposed his appointment as Commissary
+of the clergy.<a name="FNanchor_3_494" id="FNanchor_3_494"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_494" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> So he wrote to the Bishop of London suggesting that if
+he would advise Stith "to be peaceable and quiet and teach the doctrine
+of love," it would make him more easy in his government.<a name="FNanchor_4_495" id="FNanchor_4_495"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_495" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> If it was
+Stith who aroused the people against the pistole fee, he made a good
+job of it. Henrico County protested, Chesterfield protested, Albemarle
+protested, Cumberland, Amelia, Dinwiddie Counties protested.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 534px;">
+ <img src="images/illus-211.jpg" width="534" height="650" alt="" title="" />
+ <span class="caption">Governor Dinwiddie. Portrait in the National Portrait
+Gallery of London. Reproduced by permission.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+ <img src="images/illus-212.jpg" width="650" height="481" alt="" title="" />
+ <span class="caption">The General Court in the Old Capitol at Williamsburg. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>The Burgesses were deeply concerned. In an address to the Lieutenant
+Governor they declared that their duty in the discharge of the trust
+reposed in them by the people required them to ask him by what authority
+he demanded the fee. He replied that he had acted on his own authority,
+with the advice of the Council. And he intimated that the taking of the
+fee was a thing that did not concern them.</p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses were indignant. In an address of historic significance
+they told Dinwiddie "in the strongest terms" that it was their undoubted
+right to enquire into the grievances of the people. To question it was
+to threaten the liberties of his Majesty's subjects and the constitution
+of the government. "The rights of the subject are so secured by law that
+they cannot be deprived of the least part of their property but by their
+own consent. Upon this excellent principle is our constitution founded,
+and ever since this colony has had the happiness of being under the
+immediate protection of the Crown the royal declarations have been:
+'That no man's life, member, freehold, or goods be taken away or harmed
+but by established and known laws.'"<a name="FNanchor_5_496" id="FNanchor_5_496"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_496" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>Well would it have been if the King and his advisers had pondered well
+this declaration when it came before them, for it gave in unmistakable
+language the principle in defense of which the American Revolution was
+fought. And it would have been well for Dinwiddie had he bowed to the
+wishes of the Burgesses at a time when their cooperation was needed to
+save the British colonies from French aggression.</p>
+
+<p>But in the meanwhile he had placed the matter before the Board of Trade,
+and the Board had asked the opinion of Attorney General Sir Dudley
+Ryder.<a name="FNanchor_6_497" id="FNanchor_6_497"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_497" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> When Dinwiddie received word that Sir Dudley thought the
+assent of the Assembly unnecessary, he was resolved not to yield. The
+fee relates solely to the disposal of the King's lands, he told the
+Burgesses, which is a matter of favor from the Crown.</p>
+
+<p>The Governor's plea that the fee was necessary in order to bring
+thousands of occupied, but unpatented acres, under the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> rent roll seems
+to have been an afterthought. "On my arrival I found in the Secretary's
+office a list of lands taken up near 1,000,000 acres, which, most of
+them, should have been patented," he wrote the Board of Trade, "which is
+an annual loss to the quit rents."<a name="FNanchor_7_498" id="FNanchor_7_498"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_498" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> But he did not explain how the
+charging of a pistole fee would have been an incentive to the holders of
+these lands to have them patented.</p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses were by this time thoroughly aroused. The Governor said it
+was only "some hotheaded young men" who had stirred up all the trouble,
+but when it was resolved that his answer was unsatisfactory, there was
+not one dissenting voice. The demand for the fee, they insisted, was
+illegal and arbitrary, contrary to the charters of the colony, to King
+William's express order, and tending to the subversion of laws and
+constitution. They were determined to place the matter before the King
+in a "dutiful and loyal address."<a name="FNanchor_8_499" id="FNanchor_8_499"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_499" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>At the close of the session, after the Governor's speech proroguing
+them, the Burgesses refused to budge from their seats until they had
+passed still another resolution which breathed the spirit of revolution:
+"That whoever shall hereafter pay a pistole as a fee to the Governor for
+the use of the seal to patents for land shall be deemed a betrayer of
+the rights and privileges of the people." This Dinwiddie thought tended
+to "sowing sedition and rebellion among the people."<a name="FNanchor_9_500" id="FNanchor_9_500"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_500" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, the Burgesses had drawn up the address to the King and
+appointed Attorney General Peyton Randolph their agent to take it to
+England. To defray his expenses and pay him for his services, they voted
+him £2,500 out of the funds in the hands of the Treasurer. When this
+came before the Council, they rejected it. The Treasurer then declared
+that he would pay the money without their consent, but he refrained when
+the Governor told him it would not be allowed in his accounts.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to find them very much in a republican way of thinking,"
+Dinwiddie wrote to the Earl of Halifax, "and indeed they do not act in a
+proper constitutional way, but making encroachments on the prerogative
+of the Crown, which some former Governor submitted too much to them, and
+I fear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> without a very particular instruction it will be difficult to
+bring them in order."<a name="FNanchor_10_501" id="FNanchor_10_501"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_501" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>When Randolph asked Dinwiddie for permission to go to England, he met
+with a prompt refusal. "You have not acted agreeable to your duty and
+your office," he told him. When Randolph insisted upon going, the
+Governor assumed that he had vacated his office and appointed George
+Wythe Attorney General in his place.<a name="FNanchor_11_502" id="FNanchor_11_502"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_502" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>Soon after Randolph's arrival in England articles began to appear in the
+gazettes intended to arouse sentiment against the pistole fee, which
+Dinwiddie wrongly attributed to him. The fee was no less than a tax
+levied on the people without their consent, they said. Foreign
+Protestants and others were leaving the colony rather than pay it. To
+this Dinwiddie replied that any thinking man could distinguish between a
+fee and a tax. And he denied flatly that one person had left Virginia to
+avoid the pistole fee.<a name="FNanchor_12_503" id="FNanchor_12_503"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_503" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> But he was sorry that the affair had made so
+much noise in the English coffee houses.</p>
+
+<p>The Board of Trade considered the pistole dispute most inopportune. At a
+time when the French were challenging the right of Great Britain to the
+vast trans-Allegheny region, it was unfortunate that the Governor should
+have aroused the bitter resentment of the Assembly. "It is necessary
+that harmony and mutual confidence be established between the Governors
+and people in all the colonies," they wrote, "but especially in
+Virginia, on the frontier of which the French are carrying on their
+encroachments."<a name="FNanchor_13_504" id="FNanchor_13_504"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_504" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>But they could not desert Dinwiddie entirely since the issue involved
+the royal prerogative. The King rejected the address of the Burgesses,
+and the Board confirmed the Governor's right to the fee. But they hedged
+it about with several restrictions. There must be no fee for grants of
+less than one hundred acres, or for lands granted for importing
+settlers, or for lands west of the mountains. They reproved Dinwiddie
+for proposing that the fee be established by act of Assembly, in
+violation of the King's rights. The making out of surveys for land and
+neglecting to pass patents was clearly "in the Governor's power to
+prevent." "We expect you to do your duty ... even though no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> pecuniary
+advantage should arise from it." And they recommended that he reinstate
+Randolph as Attorney General. "This may quiet the minds of the people
+and stop this unjust clamor."<a name="FNanchor_14_505" id="FNanchor_14_505"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_505" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>Dinwiddie was far from happy about this report. The proposal to
+establish the fee by act of Assembly had come from the Council, not from
+him, he wrote in reply. As for not taking a fee for patents west of the
+mountains, he wanted to know which mountains. He had taken no fee for
+lands beyond the Alleghenies. The suggestion to reinstate the Attorney
+General was especially displeasing. However, when Randolph arrived at
+Williamsburg with many letters of recommendation from men of influence
+in England, denying that he had written the attacks on the Governor in
+the press, and promising "to conduct himself more regularly in future
+and with more regard to his Majesty's service," he reinstated him.<a name="FNanchor_15_506" id="FNanchor_15_506"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_506" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>One wonders just how many pistoles Dinwiddie pocketed for the use of the
+seal in the six and a half years of his administration. A few months
+after he had left Virginia for good there were no less than 1,360
+applications for patents waiting to be sealed. Governor Fauquier,
+Dinwiddie's successor, stated that this was costing the Crown £1,000 a
+year in quit rents. It would seem to indicate that Dinwiddie, ignoring
+the positive orders of the Board of Trade, had appeased the people by
+permitting 1,000,000 acres of occupied land to remain unpatented. Thus
+the Governor's victory was a hollow one, and the Burgesses, without
+acquiescing in the decision of the Board, were content to let the matter
+drop so long as the fee was not collected.</p>
+
+<p>Fauquier, on his part, handled this hot potato with care. "Being
+extremely desirous to keep peace and harmony in this country," he wrote
+the Lords of Trade, "and that his Majesty's revenue should not suffer
+... I have made a declaration in Council that I would be willing to
+acquiesce in anything that should be thought reasonable to procure both
+these advantages. This affair has formerly raised a great flame in this
+country which is not yet quite subsided, and ... I am endeavoring to
+quench it entirely that the Assemblies may the easier be prevailed upon
+to give what is necessary."<a name="FNanchor_16_507" id="FNanchor_16_507"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_507" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile the storm of war had broken over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> colonies. A
+terrible war it was. It lacked the wholesale devastation of the atomic
+bomb and the hydrogen bomb, but it was marked by infinite cruelties.
+Dinwiddie described it vividly. "Think you see the infant torn from the
+unavailing struggles of the distracted mother, the daughters ravished
+before the eyes of their wretched parents, and then, with cruelty and
+insult, butchered and scalped. Suppose the horrid scene completed, and
+the whole family, man, wife, and children murdered and scalped by these
+relentless savages, and then torn in pieces."<a name="FNanchor_17_508" id="FNanchor_17_508"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_508" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>To Dinwiddie goes the credit of warning the British government that the
+French were trying to confine the English to the region east of the
+Alleghenies. In December, 1752, he wrote the Board of Trade that they
+had built a string of forts from Canada to the mouth of the Mississippi,
+that they had 5,000 soldiers at New Orleans, and 1,600 elsewhere in
+America. When he heard that a force of French and Indians had built a
+fort on the Allegheny River, and were preparing to descend on the Ohio,
+he sent young George Washington to warn them to leave. This proving
+ineffectual, he came to the Assembly for funds to finance an expedition
+to drive them out.</p>
+
+<p>This was the first of a series of appeals for money which gave the
+Assembly a golden opportunity to weaken the power of the Governor and
+the royal prerogative. Yet it was an opportunity full of danger. If they
+clogged their grants with such conditions that Dinwiddie would not
+accept them, they ran the risk of having the colony overrun by the
+enemy. At times the Governor was in despair. "The French could have cut
+off every one of our men and marched down to Hampton without the least
+danger," he wrote in July, 1754.</p>
+
+<p>When the Assembly met in February, 1754, Dinwiddie told them that
+Washington had seen a large body of the enemy on the upper Allegheny.
+Give me men and supplies to oppose them, he pleaded. The safety of
+Virginia depends on you at this critical juncture.<a name="FNanchor_18_509" id="FNanchor_18_509"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_509" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> In reply to this
+appeal they did vote £10,000 but Dinwiddie was far from happy about it
+because the bill named a committee of the two Houses to supervise its
+expenditure. "This bill takes from me the undoubted right I have of
+directing the application of the money," he com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>plained. But since funds
+could be had on no other terms he gave his assent. "I assure you it was
+contrary to my inclination, but necessity has no law," he wrote James
+Abercrombie.<a name="FNanchor_19_510" id="FNanchor_19_510"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_510" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>So men were raised and equipped and sent out to the junction of the
+Allegheny and the Monongahela. Here, under the command of George
+Washington, they were fortifying themselves when they were attacked by
+the French and Indians and forced to retire. Again Dinwiddie pleaded for
+a grant large enough to meet the emergency. When the Assembly responded
+by voting £20,000, he was delighted until he discovered a rider to pay
+Peyton Randolph the £2,500 they had promised him for representing them
+in England in the pistole affair. This was too much for Dinwiddie to
+swallow, so he vetoed the bill.<a name="FNanchor_20_511" id="FNanchor_20_511"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_511" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>In his perplexity the Governor now made a radical suggestion to the
+Board of Trade. "I think it impossible to conduct any expedition in
+these parts with a dependence on the Assemblies for supplies, without a
+British act of Parliament to lay a poll tax on the whole subjects of
+these provinces, to bring them to a sense of their duty to the King, to
+awaken them from their insolence, to take care of their lives and
+fortunes."<a name="FNanchor_21_512" id="FNanchor_21_512"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_512" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is easy to imagine the storm of indignation this would have raised in
+Virginia had the people known of it. Why, no such thing had been done in
+the century and a half of the colony's existence. Charles I had not
+dared tax the colonists without their consent; Charles II, though he
+obtained a revenue in Virginia by threatening the Assembly, had not
+acted without their consent. Over and over the people had sought
+guarantees that they should enjoy the inherent right of all Englishmen
+of being taxed only by their own representatives.</p>
+
+<p>Dinwiddie's suggestion undoubtedly reflected the changed attitude of the
+British government. He would hardly have dared make it if he had thought
+it would shock the British Ministry. On the other hand, the violent
+reaction of the people of the colony to the pistole fee should have made
+it clear to him that they would resist taxation by Parliament fiercely.
+In other words, his action was revealing of how far apart Britain and
+her colonies had grown, and prophetic of the clash that was to come.</p>
+
+<p>But now Dinwiddie was cheered by word that the King had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> promised
+£20,000 and 2,000 stand of arms from the royal stores to aid in the war.
+With this evidence that Great Britain was willing to do her part, he
+again appealed to the Assembly. He was overjoyed when they granted
+£20,000. "I parted with the Assembly on good terms. I shall try to keep
+them in good humor," he wrote the Board. When he heard that two
+regiments of British regulars were on their way to Virginia, he
+confidently expected that the French would soon be driven from the Ohio
+region. All Virginia was elated when the troops arrived at Alexandria in
+their brilliant red coats. The Assembly voted an additional £22,000.</p>
+
+<p>Then came disaster. General Braddock, who commanded the British, knew
+nothing about Indian fighting, and scorned the advice of those who did.
+"These savages may, indeed, be a formidable enemy to your raw American
+militia, but upon the King's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is
+impossible that they should make any impression," he told Benjamin
+Franklin. So his advanced regiment, as it was filing through the woods,
+was attacked and cut to pieces. The Virginia contingent fought bravely,
+but could not stem the tide. Braddock himself was killed. Colonel
+Dunbar, in command of the other regiment, though his men had taken no
+part in the battle and still outnumbered the enemy, marched them off to
+Philadelphia, and left the Virginia frontier open.</p>
+
+<p>The dismay of the people when the news of this unexpected defeat reached
+them was tempered by their pride in the heroism of the Virginia troops,
+"who purchased with their lives immortal glory to their country and
+themselves on the banks of the Monongahela." So when Dinwiddie asked for
+more funds, the Assembly voted £40,000.<a name="FNanchor_22_513" id="FNanchor_22_513"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_513" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> To raise this sum they
+levied heavy taxes on the people and placed a five per cent duty on
+imports. In times of peace no Governor would have consented to an import
+duty on British goods, for it would have brought immediate protests from
+the merchants. But Dinwiddie signed the bill and praised the Assembly
+for its "unanimity" and "martial spirit."<a name="FNanchor_23_514" id="FNanchor_23_514"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_514" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p>
+
+<p>When they met again in October, 1755, they forgot for the moment the
+Indian terror and spent their time on a project to emit £200,000 in
+paper and set up a loan office. To this the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> Governor would not assent,
+and after a session of only twelve days, he dissolved them to take his
+chances on a new election. The Board of Trade praised him. "Their
+availing themselves of this time of danger and distress to establish a
+paper currency, so destructive of credit, justifies your dissolving
+them."<a name="FNanchor_24_515" id="FNanchor_24_515"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_515" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>Dinwiddie was now so out of patience that he suggested once more that
+Parliament pass the Assembly by and itself levy a tax on the people of
+the colonies. He recommended a poll tax of twelve pence for two years,
+and a permanent tax of two shillings on every one hundred acres of land.
+"I know our people will be inflamed if they hear of my making this
+proposal, as they are averse to all taxes," he wrote the Board of
+Trade.<a name="FNanchor_25_516" id="FNanchor_25_516"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_516" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> One wonders what the Americans would have done had the
+British Government followed this suggestion. It might have alienated
+their affection at the very moment when it was most needed. It would
+probably have been as impossible to collect the taxes as it was to
+enforce the Stamp Act a decade later. Fortunately, the Board of Trade
+decided that this was not the proper time to start a controversy with
+the colonies over this vital matter.</p>
+
+<p>The new House of Burgesses who met in March, 1756, while showing a
+willingness to support the war, were just as independent, just as
+jealous of their privileges as former ones. When some of their members
+were absent from their seats while attending the General Court, they
+sent their mace-bearer within the bar to bring them back. This Dinwiddie
+resented as an indignity to the court. The orderly administration of
+justice was just as important as the enacting of laws, he told the
+House.</p>
+
+<p>Their audacity was shown at the same session in the matter of the
+Acadian exiles. Governor Charles Lawrence, of Nova Scotia, on the advice
+of his Council, had decided to distribute these unfortunates throughout
+the British colonies. When the people of Virginia heard that a fleet
+with over eleven hundred had arrived in their waters, they were deeply
+concerned. No Governor had a right to unload on them such a number of
+French Roman Catholics, they said. Their remaining in the colony at a
+time when Great Britain and France were at war would be very dangerous.
+So they passed a bill, to which the Governor assented, to ship the
+exiles to Great Britain.<a name="FNanchor_26_517" id="FNanchor_26_517"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_517" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>But while the Assembly was sitting, the Indians were making<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> a series of
+murderous raids in the Valley of Virginia. Washington, who was left in
+command of the Virginia forces after Dunbar withdrew, wrote Dinwiddie in
+April, 1756, to describe the plight of the people. "I see their
+situation, know their danger, and participate in their sufferings,
+without having it in my power to give them further relief than uncertain
+promises.... The supplicating tears of the women, and moving petitions
+from the men melt me into such deadly sorrow that I solemnly declare ...
+I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy
+provided that would contribute to the people's ease."<a name="FNanchor_27_518" id="FNanchor_27_518"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_518" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>Nor were the Burgesses deaf to the sufferings of these poor people.
+Although the burden of taxation was very heavy, they voted £60,000 for
+the erection of forts and the sending of the militia into the Valley.
+Part of this sum they provided for by the emission of treasury notes.
+"In the situation I was obliged to give my assent or disband our forces
+and leave our frontier unguarded and exposed to the incursions of a
+merciless foe," Dinwiddie wrote the Board of Trade. But he assured them
+that the merchants would not be losers since the notes bore interest at
+five per cent, and would be redeemed in 1760. Virginia had voted in all
+£150,000 for the war, he pointed out, which was much more than any other
+colony had done.<a name="FNanchor_28_519" id="FNanchor_28_519"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_519" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<p>At a short session in September, 1756, Dinwiddie told the Assembly of
+the surrender of Oswego. All realized that it was a crushing blow, since
+it cut off the English from the Great Lakes, made a deep impression on
+the Indians, and opened New York to invasion. When the Governor asked
+for men and money as Virginia's contribution to the Royal American
+Regiment, which the Earl of Loudoun, Commander-in-Chief of the British
+forces, was recruiting, they voted £8,000. This the Earl promised to
+report to the British government "in the very handsome manner" it
+deserved.<a name="FNanchor_29_520" id="FNanchor_29_520"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_520" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p>
+
+<p>But when they met in April, 1757, they did not permit this compliment to
+keep them from taking issue with Loudoun for laying an embargo on
+commerce in order to put an end to the sending of supplies by the
+colonists to the French. It was obvious to all that this would do more
+harm than good, they said. Wheat stored in vessels ready to set out for
+Great Britain was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> "likely to perish." And unless the planters could
+sell their tobacco, it would be impossible for them to pay their taxes.
+After all, men asked, what authority had Loudoun to give such an order?
+The Burgesses petitioned Dinwiddie to rescind it so far as Virginia was
+concerned. They were determined to vote no more supplies until he did
+so.<a name="FNanchor_30_521" id="FNanchor_30_521"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_521" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> Dinwiddie was forced to yield, and the fleet waiting in Virginia
+waters cleared for Great Britain.</p>
+
+<p>As one vessel after another sailed out between Cape Henry and Cape
+Charles, the Assembly acted quickly to support the war. They raised
+£6,000 to send out rangers against the Indians, £25,000 to pay arrears
+due officers and men of the Virginia forces, and issued £80,000 in
+non-interest bearing notes, renewable in seven years.<a name="FNanchor_31_522" id="FNanchor_31_522"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_522" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> At once the
+old "heats and disputes" with the Governor were resumed. Dinwiddie was
+opposed to paper money, but the Burgesses, knowing that they had the
+whip hand, would not yield. "They took advantage of the emergency of our
+affairs, when without money every operation must be stopped, and the
+protection of the country, the lives and properties of these very people
+[have] been exposed to the barbarous enemy," the Governor complained. "I
+was obliged at last, much against my judgment, to assent."<a name="FNanchor_32_523" id="FNanchor_32_523"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_523" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
+
+<p>In one vital matter the Burgesses themselves had to yield. The
+expenditure of money appropriated during previous sessions had proved so
+unsatisfactory that they left all new disbursements to the Governor.
+They appointed three commissioners to examine such accounts as he should
+turn over to them, but they were merely to assist, not control him.<a name="FNanchor_33_524" id="FNanchor_33_524"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_524" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+
+<p>Despite the one point of difference, Dinwiddie, in proroguing the
+Assembly, praised them for their "dutiful obedience to his Majesty's
+commands," and their compliance with what he himself had recommended. He
+had told them earlier in the summer that his health had been failing and
+that he had asked permission to resign his office and return to Great
+Britain. Now he said goodbye. "I shall always retain a sincere regard
+for the prosperity of this dominion," he said.<a name="FNanchor_34_525" id="FNanchor_34_525"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_525" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> He sailed from
+Yorktown in January, 1758.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To Robert Dinwiddie goes a large part of the credit for saving the major
+part of North America for British civilization. It was he who saw the
+meaning of the encroachments of the French in the Ohio Valley; it was he
+who sounded the alarm in both Great Britain and America. And when the
+fateful struggle with France was under way, his appreciation of what was
+at stake made him subordinate other issues to it. He broke his
+instructions repeatedly because he thought it necessary in order to win
+the war.</p>
+
+<p>This resulted in substantial gains for self-government in Virginia. In
+voting funds, not only did the Assembly specify the uses to which they
+should be put, but tried to supervise each disbursement. In sending the
+Acadians to England and forcing Dinwiddie to raise Loudoun's embargo
+they showed their spirit of independence. The issuing of paper money was
+in direct conflict with the Governor's instructions. And the British
+government dared not take steps to curb them so long as the French
+threat remained.</p>
+
+<p>But there is abundant evidence that the King's Ministers were merely
+biding their time. The old laissez-faire policy of Sir Robert Walpole
+was giving way to a closer scrutiny of colonial affairs. When the Earl
+of Loudoun was made Governor General of Virginia, he received more than
+a hundred instructions. He must guard zealously the prerogative of the
+Crown, he must permit no riders to acts of Assembly, he must accept no
+gifts from the Assembly, he must not permit the issuing of paper money.
+The twenty-fourth instruction is especially revealing of the accepted
+view in Great Britain that American interests must be disregarded if
+they clashed with those of the mother country. The Governor was not to
+assent to any act putting duties on slaves to "the great discouragement"
+of British merchants, or duties on felons, since this was contrary to
+the act of Parliament for "preventing robbery, burglary, and other
+felonies, and for the more effectual transportation of felons."</p>
+
+<p>It has often been said that had the French power in America not been
+broken, the colonists would not have dared to rebel against Great
+Britain. It would be more to the point that if the French threat had not
+been removed the British government would not have dared to drive the
+Americans into rebellion. So long as the war with France lasted the
+colonial Assem<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>blies were masters of the situation; when it was over the
+assault on their liberty was not long delayed.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it is not too much to say that the war called the attention of
+the British Government to the colonies. They could not have overlooked
+such letters as that from Dinwiddie to Pitt on June 18, 1757: "I am
+convinced if alterations are not made in the present constitutions of
+the colonies, and have a general mode of government under his Majesty's
+immediate directions, and a coalition of the whole, it will be
+impracticable to conduct his Majesty's affairs with that spirit which
+the present emergency requires."<a name="FNanchor_35_526" id="FNanchor_35_526"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_526" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_492" id="Footnote_1_492"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_492"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1752-1758: 99.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_493" id="Footnote_2_493"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_493"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Executive journals of the Council</i> 5: 385.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_494" id="Footnote_3_494"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_494"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Dinwiddie to the Lords of Trade, Jan. 22, 1754.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_495" id="Footnote_4_495"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_495"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Jan. 22, 1754.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_496" id="Footnote_5_496"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_496"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1752-1758: 143, 144.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_497" id="Footnote_6_497"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_497"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> CO5-1328, pp. 85, 86.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_498" id="Footnote_7_498"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_498"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> June 16, 1753.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_499" id="Footnote_8_499"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_499"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1752-1758: 155.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_500" id="Footnote_9_500"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_500"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Dinwiddie to Holdernesse, Dec. 29, 1753.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_501" id="Footnote_10_501"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_501"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Official records of Robert Dinwiddie</i>, ed. R. A. Brock,
+1: 100, 101.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_502" id="Footnote_11_502"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_502"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Dinwiddie to the Board of Trade, Jan. 29, 1754.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_503" id="Footnote_12_503"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_503"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Official records of Robert Dinwiddie</i>, ed. R. A. Brock,
+1: 153.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_504" id="Footnote_13_504"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_504"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> CO5-1367, pp. 94-101.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_505" id="Footnote_14_505"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_505"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_506" id="Footnote_15_506"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_506"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Official records of Robert Dinwiddie</i>, ed., R. A. Brock,
+1: 507.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_507" id="Footnote_16_507"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_507"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Sept. 23, 1758.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_508" id="Footnote_17_508"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_508"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1752-1758: 176.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_509" id="Footnote_18_509"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_509"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1752-1758: 176.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_510" id="Footnote_19_510"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_510"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Official records of Robert Dinwiddie</i>, ed. R. A. Brock,
+1: 157.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_511" id="Footnote_20_511"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_511"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 328.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_512" id="Footnote_21_512"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_512"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 329.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_513" id="Footnote_22_513"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_513"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1752-1758: 301.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_514" id="Footnote_23_514"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_514"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 315.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_515" id="Footnote_24_515"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_515"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Board of Trade to Dinwiddie, Feb. 17, 1756.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_516" id="Footnote_25_516"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_516"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Official records of Robert Dinwiddie</i>, ed. R. A. Brock,
+II: 341.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_517" id="Footnote_26_517"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_517"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1752-1758: 351.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_518" id="Footnote_27_518"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_518"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Writings of George Washington</i>, J. C. Fitzpatrick, ed. 2:
+324, 325.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_519" id="Footnote_28_519"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_519"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Official records of Robert Dinwiddie</i> 2: 464.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_520" id="Footnote_29_520"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_520"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1752-1758: 413.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_521" id="Footnote_30_521"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_521"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 448.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_522" id="Footnote_31_522"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_522"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1752-1758: xxviii.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_523" id="Footnote_32_523"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_523"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Dinwiddie to the Lords of Trade, Sept. 12, 1757.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_524" id="Footnote_33_524"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_524"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1752-1758: xxviii.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_525" id="Footnote_34_525"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_525"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 492.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_526" id="Footnote_35_526"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_526"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Official records of Robert Dinwiddie</i> 2: 642, 643.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br />
+<br />
+THE WIDENING RIFT</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">Francis Fauquier, who succeeded Dinwiddie as Lieutenant Governor, is
+described as "a gentleman of most amiable disposition, generous, just,
+and mild, and possessed in an eminent degree of all the social virtues."
+When Thomas Jefferson was a student at the College of William and Mary,
+he, together with Professor William Small and George Wythe, dined with
+him frequently. "At these dinners I have heard more good sense, more
+rational and philosophical conversations than in all my life besides,"
+Jefferson said many years later.<a name="FNanchor_1_527" id="FNanchor_1_527"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_527" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Fauquier, who was an accomplished
+musician, delighted in joining with Jefferson and several others in
+weekly concerts in the lovely ballroom of the Palace. He was a member of
+the Royal Society, and, if we may judge from the presence in his library
+of a set of Palladio, a student of architecture.</p>
+
+<p>When Fauquier arrived, on June 5, 1758, he found the colonists absorbed
+in preparations to send strong forces to join General Forbes in his
+expedition against Fort Duquesne. Ever since the French had established
+themselves there it had been a nest from which swarms of Indians had
+made raids on the frontier. "I found this colony zealous in his
+Majesty's service, and very strenuous to support the common cause,"
+Fauquier wrote the Lords of Trade.<a name="FNanchor_2_528" id="FNanchor_2_528"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_528" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>Secretary Pitt and General Abercrombie had written urging the Virginians
+to exert themselves to the utmost. John Blair, President of the Council
+and Acting Governor pending Fauquier's arrival, had called the Assembly
+together and asked them to vote funds for a new regiment. The vote was
+unanimous. They were eager to help in any attack on their "cruel
+neighbors of Fort Duquesne." So now the colony resounded to the beat of
+drums as officers brought in the recruits. Some ensigns raised ten, some
+lieutenants twenty, some captains seventy. To supply the men with arms,
+Blair stripped the magazine at Williamsburg and even took the muskets
+from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> Governor's Palace. Tents and kettles he ordered from
+Philadelphia, pledging the credit of the colony to pay for them.<a name="FNanchor_3_529" id="FNanchor_3_529"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_529" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>This was the situation when Fauquier landed, and it gave him reason to
+hope that Fort Duquesne would be in English hands early in the autumn.
+When long delays made this unlikely, he summoned the Assembly to ask for
+more funds. But now he was confronted with a perplexing problem. It had
+long been the practice for the House of Burgesses to make their Speaker
+the Treasurer of the colony. Dinwiddie, probably because of a grudge
+against John Robinson, who held these two offices, had recommended their
+separation. The Board of Trade approved and directed Fauquier to see
+that this was done.<a name="FNanchor_4_530" id="FNanchor_4_530"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_530" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> But the Governor held back. He was not long in
+finding that Robinson was the most popular man in Virginia, the idol of
+the people whether rich or poor. Had he insisted that someone else be
+made Treasurer, the Burgesses would not have voted a penny for the
+expedition. Fearing that the Board's instruction might be whispered
+around and come to Robinson's ear, he decided to take him into his
+confidence and place the whole matter before him. The Speaker was much
+gratified. "I am told by those who know his character that I have
+attached him to me in the strongest manner by the openness of my
+behavior," Fauquier wrote the Board.<a name="FNanchor_5_531" id="FNanchor_5_531"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_531" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> So the supply bill went through
+with a rush. But the Board must have realized that their authority in
+the colony had sunk to a new low when the Governor not only ignored
+their orders, but thought it necessary to apologize for them in order to
+curry favor with the Speaker of the House.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, things were going well in the war. Under the able
+leadership of Pitt, Great Britain had poured men and money into the
+colonies, and replaced the incompetent Loudoun with the able General
+Jeffrey Amherst. A blow of great importance for Virginia was struck when
+a small force captured Fort Frontenac at the outlet of Lake Ontario.
+This cut the French line of communication with the west and made Fort
+Duquesne untenable. So this key position fell without firing a shot. As
+Forbes' army approached, the garrison blew up the fort, and taking to
+their canoes fell down the Ohio.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Fauquier congratulated himself for his part in this success. He had kept
+the Burgesses in good humor; he had obtained the funds needed to keep
+the Virginia troops in the field. If he had been lax in defending the
+King's prerogative, surely the end justified the means. So he was not a
+little piqued when he received a reprimand from the Board of Trade.</p>
+
+<p>The trouble stemmed from the fact that tobacco provided a very poor
+standard of value. When the crop was bountiful its purchasing power
+fell, if the summer were dry and the leaves withered in the field, it
+doubled or tripled. In the first case debts and taxes could be paid at a
+low value, in the other the value might be so great as to threaten
+widespread injustice and suffering.</p>
+
+<p>In 1748 by an act of Assembly the salary of the clergy had been fixed at
+16,000 pounds of tobacco. This law had received the King's assent, and
+according to the "ancient constitution," could not be repealed without
+his approval. Yet, seven years later, when there had been a severe
+drought, the Assembly passed an act permitting payment of all
+obligations in money at the rate of two pence a pound. The law was to
+continue in force for ten months only, and there was no clause
+suspending its operation until the King had given his assent.</p>
+
+<p>The clergy were bitter. They thought it hard that when the price of
+tobacco was low they were forced to accept it, but when it was high they
+were to be paid in money at one third the market price of tobacco. In a
+petition to the House of Burgesses they pointed out that their average
+income was so inadequate that they found it difficult to support their
+families. It was this which explained why so few graduates of Oxford and
+Cambridge entered the ministry in Virginia, and why so few in the colony
+thought it worth while to study divinity.<a name="FNanchor_6_532" id="FNanchor_6_532"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_532" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>A delegation of four ministers called on Governor Dinwiddie to urge him
+to veto the bill. But Dinwiddie, who was begging for funds and troops,
+had no stomach for a conflict with the Assembly over this affair. "What
+can I do?" he told them. "If I refuse to approve the act, I shall have
+the people on my back." So he signed the bill.</p>
+
+<p>Unwilling to let the matter rest here, ten of the ministers, among them
+the Reverend Patrick Henry, uncle of the statesman, appealed to the
+Bishop of London. The unjust Two-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>penny Act would lower them in the eyes
+of the people, it would discourage them in the discharge of their duty.
+And, to clinch their argument, they pointed out that their cause was
+also the cause of the King. "Our salaries have had the royal assent and
+cannot be taken from us or diminished in any respect by any law made
+here without trampling upon the royal prerogative."<a name="FNanchor_7_533" id="FNanchor_7_533"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_533" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p>Three years later, when again there was a "prodigious dimunition" in the
+tobacco crop, the Assembly acted to give relief to debtors and taxpayers
+by again making obligations payable in money at tuppence a pound. This
+time the clergy made no appeal to the Burgesses, but Commissary Dawson,
+John Camm, and Thomas Robinson went to the Palace to urge Fauquier to
+veto the bill. Note that it has no suspending clause, they said. Note
+that it alters a bill to which the King gave his assent. If you let it
+pass, will you not be ignoring your instructions?<a name="FNanchor_8_534" id="FNanchor_8_534"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_534" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>But Fauquier was as much in need of funds as Dinwiddie had been. He
+answered that that was not the point to be considered. What was
+important was what would please the people. So he gave the act his
+approval. "The bill was a temporary law to ease the people from a burden
+which the country thought too great for them to bear," he wrote the
+Lords of Trade. "A suspending clause would have been to all intents and
+purposes the same as rejecting it.... The country were intent upon it
+... and I conceived it would be a very strong step for me to take ... to
+set my face against the whole colony.... I am persuaded that if I had
+refused it, I must have despaired of our gaining any influence either in
+the Council or the House of Burgesses."<a name="FNanchor_9_535" id="FNanchor_9_535"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_535" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>But the clergy were determined to bring the matter to an issue.
+Commissary Dawson advised caution, but pressure from other ministers
+forced him to call a convention. When they met they not only vented
+their indignation in many denunciations of the Two-penny Act, but drew
+up an address to the King entitled "The Representation of the Clergy."
+In it they hammered on the point that their cause was his cause. The act
+was as injurious to the royal prerogative as to the rights of the
+Church. "It gives us great concern that an ancient, standing law of this
+dominion, confirmed by the sanction of the royal assent, is no security
+to our livings."<a name="FNanchor_10_536" id="FNanchor_10_536"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_536" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>This appeal they entrusted to the Reverend John Camm with instructions
+to place it in the King's hands. Camm, who later became Commissary,
+President of the College of William and Mary, and a member of the
+Council, was a man of great ability, but according to Fauquier,
+turbulent and delighting "to live in a flame." On his arrival in England
+he obtained an interview with the King and delivered the
+"Representation." His Majesty referred it to the Privy Council, who, in
+turn, handed it on to the Board of Trade.</p>
+
+<p>This suited Camm exactly, for his trump card was the Bishop of London,
+and the Bishop's influence with the Board was great. His Lordship was
+exasperated at the presumption of the Virginia Assembly. "To make an act
+to suspend the operations of the royal act is an attempt which in some
+times would have been called treason, and I do not know any other name
+for it in our law," he told the Board. "To assume a power to bind the
+King's hands, and to say how far his power shall go and where it shall
+stop, is such an act of supremacy as is inconsistent with the dignity of
+the Crown of England. "It manifestly tended to draw the colonists from
+their allegiance to the King for them to find that they had a higher
+power to protect them. "Surely it is time for us to look about us, and
+to consider the several steps lately taken in the diminution of the
+prerogative and influence of the Crown."</p>
+
+<p>The Bishop denounced Governor Fauquier for signing the Two-penny bill.
+"What made him so zealous in this cause I pretend not to judge, but
+surely the great change which manifestly appears in the temper and
+disposition of the people of this colony in the compass of a few years
+deserves highly to be considered, and the more so as the Deputy
+Governors and the Council seemed to act in concert with the people."<a name="FNanchor_11_537" id="FNanchor_11_537"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_537" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Board was duly impressed. They denounced the Two-penny Act as a
+usurpation and advised the King to declare it null and void. Not only
+did the King do so, but he gave Fauquier a stunning rebuke. "We do ...
+strictly command and require you for the future, upon pain of our
+highest displeasure, and of being recalled from the government of our
+said colony, punctually to observe and obey the several directions
+contained in the 16th article of our said instructions, relative to the
+passing of laws...."<a name="FNanchor_12_538" id="FNanchor_12_538"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_538" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>Camm sent copies of these papers to Virginia, and when they were handed
+around among his friends the clergy rejoiced. The King was on their
+side, all would be well. Camm wrote to his attorney in Virginia to bring
+suit in the General Court against the vestry of his parish for his
+salary in tobacco. On the other hand, the people of the colony were
+highly resentful against the clergy, and especially against the Bishop
+of London. Colonel Landon Carter and Colonel Richard Bland wrote
+pamphlets defending the Two-penny Act and denouncing his Lordship. To
+the Bishop's contention that the act tended to draw the people from
+their allegiance, it was answered that nothing was more apt to estrange
+them than to deny them the right to protect themselves from distress.
+His Lordship had called the act treason. "But were the Assembly to do
+nothing? This would have been treason indeed. "In case of an eventuality
+which the Governor's instructions could not provide for, which could
+bring ruin before relief could come from the throne, it was the duty of
+the Assembly to deviate from the fixed rules of the constitution. The
+preservation of the people could not possibly be treason.<a name="FNanchor_13_539" id="FNanchor_13_539"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_539" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile Fauquier had been waiting impatiently for his copies of
+the King's veto and his instructions in the matter. Month after month
+passed and nothing came. Finally, late in June, ten months after they
+had been written, Camm appeared with them at the door of the Palace.
+Fauquier took them, and then denounced him for slandering him in
+England. Then he called out in a loud voice for his Negro servants, and
+when they had assembled, pointed his finger at Camm. "Look at that
+gentleman and be sure to know him again, and under no circumstances
+permit him to revisit the Palace," he said.<a name="FNanchor_14_540" id="FNanchor_14_540"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_540" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>As time passed the war of pamphlets was renewed. In 1763 Camm wrote
+assailing Carter and Bland and trying to answer their arguments. But so
+unpopular was the cause of the clergy that no one in Virginia would
+publish what he wrote, and he had to have it done in Maryland. Bland
+retorted in a letter in the <i>Virginia Gazette</i>, and Camm came back in a
+letter which he called "Observations."<a name="FNanchor_15_541" id="FNanchor_15_541"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_541" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>Interest now centered on a test case in which the Reverend James Maury
+brought suit for his salary in tobacco in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> Hanover County court, in
+November, 1763. The court declared the Two-penny Act no law, since it
+had been vetoed by the Crown, and ordered that at the next court the
+jury should determine how much damages, if any, should be paid. Maury's
+case seemed as good as won, and the attorney for the defendants, Mr.
+John Lewis, retired from the case. In his place they engaged a young,
+little-known lawyer, named Patrick Henry.</p>
+
+<p>It was on December 1, 1763, that a great crowd assembled at the Hanover
+courthouse, filling the little room and overflowing into the yard. Among
+them were twenty clergymen. But when Henry saw his uncle there, he
+persuaded him to leave. John Henry, Patrick's father, presided. When
+several gentlemen refused to serve on the jury, the sheriff was forced
+to fill their places with men of the small farmer class. Several were
+dissenters.</p>
+
+<p>The case was opened by Mr. Peter Lyons, attorney for the plaintiff. When
+he had concluded, Henry rose to reply. At first he seemed hesitant and
+awkward. But soon he warmed up to his subject. His eyes kindled, his
+gestures were bolder, he seemed to grow more erect, his voice resounded
+through the room. His audience were spellbound, and on every bench, at
+the door, in every window people leaned forward, their eyes fixed on the
+youthful orator.</p>
+
+<p>Henry contended that there was a contract between King and people. The
+King owed the people protection; the people owed the King obedience and
+support. But should either violate the contract, it released the other
+from the obligation. The Two-penny Act was good and essential, and its
+disallowance was a breach of the contract. It was an instance of
+misrule, a neglect of the interests of the colony. The King, from being
+the father of his people, became a tyrant who had forfeited the
+obedience of the subjects. At this point Mr. Lyons cried out: "The
+gentleman has spoken treason." And from various parts of the room arose
+a murmur of "treason! treason!"</p>
+
+<p>But Henry turned to the ministers seated before him and denounced them
+and the rest of the clergy in blazing words for trying to triple their
+salaries at the expense of the people. "Do they manifest their zeal in
+the cause of religion and humanity by practicing the mild and benevolent
+precepts of the Gospel of Jesus?... Oh no! Gentlemen. Instead of feeding
+the hungry and clothing the naked these rapacious harpies would ...
+snatch from the hearth of their honest parishioner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> his last hoe-cake,
+from the widow and her orphaned child their last milch-cow."<a name="FNanchor_16_542" id="FNanchor_16_542"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_542" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> At this
+the ministers got up and left the room. When the jury brought in a
+verdict of one penny damages, the throng shouted their approval. Strong
+arms lifted Henry aloft and bore him out of the courthouse.</p>
+
+<p>Henry's contention in essence was that the people of the colonies had a
+right to govern themselves. And in this he was but finding legal
+arguments for the existing state of affairs. The Assembly, after a
+century and a half of battling with Kings and Governors, had made itself
+to all intents and purposes supreme. In annulling the Two-penny Act the
+King crossed lances with the representatives of the people and had come
+off second best. The jury, sitting in the little country courthouse,
+under the urging of an obscure lawyer, had defied him. Thus, two years
+before the Stamp Act, Virginia inaugurated the policy of resistance.
+Most of Henry's arguments were borrowed from the Carter and Bland
+pamphlets, but whereas they pleaded, he secured positive action. In so
+far as the Two-penny Act was concerned, the King's veto power was
+annulled.</p>
+
+<p>Bland summed up the constitutional argument behind this action in a
+pamphlet written at the time of the trial but published only eight
+months later. "Under an English government all men are born free, are
+only subject to laws made by their own consent.... If then the people of
+this colony are free born, and have a right to the liberties and
+privileges of English subjects, they must necessarily have a legal
+constitution, that is a legislature, composed in part of the
+representatives of the people, who may enact laws for the INTERNAL
+government of the colony, ... and without such a representative I am
+bold to say no law can be made."<a name="FNanchor_17_543" id="FNanchor_17_543"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_543" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>But the stubborn Mr. Camm was determined not to give up. In April, 1764,
+his cause came up in the General Court after a delay of five years. The
+case against him was argued by Robert Carter Nicholas, who claimed that
+when the Governor had approved a law it was legal, even though in so
+doing he broke his instructions. A majority of the court<a name="FNanchor_18_544" id="FNanchor_18_544"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_544" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> were
+convinced and voted that the Two-penny Act of 1758 was valid despite the
+King's veto.<a name="FNanchor_19_545" id="FNanchor_19_545"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_545" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> Camm appealed the case to the Privy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> Council. It came
+up in 1767, and was thrown out on a technicality. In this way they
+avoided giving further offense to the colony without admitting the
+validity of their claims.</p>
+
+<p>The controversy over the Two-penny Act came at a time when the Board of
+Trade was at odds with the Virginia Assembly over the repeated issues of
+paper money. Had Dinwiddie and Fauquier not assured them that without
+these issues there would have been no funds with which to carry on the
+war, they would certainly have put a stop to them. As it was, all they
+could do was to urge that steps be taken to prevent the paper from
+declining in value and to protect the interests of the British
+merchants.</p>
+
+<p>Prior to 1757 each issue had borne five per cent interest, and taxes had
+been voted for their redemption. But in April of that year the notes
+were all called in and new ones issued in their place bearing no
+interest. This, with a new issue of £80,000 brought the total to
+£179,962.10.0. This was more than was needed to carry on the business of
+the colony, and the value of the notes began to sink.<a name="FNanchor_20_546" id="FNanchor_20_546"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_546" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> In 1748 an act
+had been passed declaring that debts contracted in sterling could be
+paid in Virginia currency at a twenty-five per cent advance, or one
+pound five shillings for one pound sterling. But as the rate of exchange
+was not long in rising above this figure, the merchants feared large
+losses.</p>
+
+<p>The London merchants, speaking not only for themselves, but for those of
+Bristol, Liverpool, and Glasgow, laid their complaint before the Board
+of Trade. The issuing of large amounts of paper money could be most
+injurious to trade by putting it upon an uncertain basis, they said. And
+to pay debts contracted in sterling in depreciated colonial currency was
+as unjust as it was unwise. So they asked the King to instruct the
+Governor to urge the Assembly to amend the act of 1748 to make all debts
+due to persons in Great Britain payable according to the real difference
+in exchange.<a name="FNanchor_21_547" id="FNanchor_21_547"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_547" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>It seems strange that the merchants and the Board of Trade did not know
+that what they asked for had already been done. In 1755 the act of 1748
+had been amended so as to direct the courts in cases where contracts had
+been made in sterling, to order payment in Virginia money at the rate of
+exchange they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> thought just.<a name="FNanchor_22_548" id="FNanchor_22_548"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_548" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> "The merchants do not know the law,"
+Fauquier wrote the Board. "Let the value of paper currency fall as much
+as they please ... exchange will rise as fast, and they will obtain for
+a sterling debt just as much of the paper currency as will purchase a
+good sterling bill of exchange. And what injury is done them unless ...
+the whole court combine in a barefaced villainy to defraud them?" At the
+last court the exchange had been fixed at 35 per cent.<a name="FNanchor_23_549" id="FNanchor_23_549"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_549" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p>
+
+<p>The amendment to the law of 1748 had had no clause suspending its
+operation until the King had given his assent, and, like the Two-penny
+Act, was a clear infringement on the royal prerogative. But since it had
+merely anticipated the King's wishes, it drew no rebuke from him. None
+the less, it was one more step toward autonomy, one more demonstration
+that in internal affairs the Virginians were a self-governing people.</p>
+
+<p>The fixing of the rate of exchange quieted the merchants for the time
+being, even though they looked on uneasily as Fauquier assented to
+further emissions, for £57,000 in September, 1758; £52,000 in February,
+1759; £10,000 in November, 1759; £20,000 in March, 1760; £32,000 in May,
+1760; and £30,000 in March, 1762. The whole totalled nearly £413,000,
+and William Hunter's printing press at Williamsburg was kept busy
+stamping out notes of £10, £15, £3, 10 shillings, 3 shillings, etc. In
+the meanwhile, only £51,156.10.0. had been retired and burnt, leaving
+£362,000 in circulation.<a name="FNanchor_24_550" id="FNanchor_24_550"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_550" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>Long before this figure had been reached, opposition to paper money had
+grown within the colony itself. The law which protected the British
+merchants did not apply to Virginia creditors, since their contracts
+usually had been made in the local currency. So, as the flood of paper
+continued to mount, the small farmer or shopkeeper who had borrowed from
+his wealthy neighbor, could pay him back in depreciated notes. And as
+they were legal tender, he had to accept them. "Debtors pursued their
+creditors relentlessly and paid them without mercy."</p>
+
+<p>In 1762, though a bill to issue £30,000 in paper money passed the House
+by a vote of 66 to 3, it hung fire in the Council. At the time there
+were only six members in attendance, three of whom opposed any further
+emissions, so Fauquier got the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> Speaker to hold back the bill while he
+sent out a hurry call for the others. In the end the bill passed by a
+vote of five to four. "On this occasion I have stretched my influence to
+the utmost pitch," the Governor wrote the Board.<a name="FNanchor_25_551" id="FNanchor_25_551"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_551" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> The four dissenting
+Councillors&mdash;William Nelson, Thomas Nelson, Richard Corbin, and Philip
+Ludwell Lee&mdash;all of them rich men, made a vigorous protest, which was
+entered upon the Journal.<a name="FNanchor_26_552" id="FNanchor_26_552"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_552" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>Not satisfied with this, Corbin took the step, unusual for a member of
+the Upper House, of complaining to the Board of Trade against an act of
+Assembly. He was astute enough to base his case, not on his personal
+losses, but on the losses to the revenue and to the merchants. Taxes had
+been paid in the depreciated currency. In turn this had made it
+impossible to meet the needs of the government and at the same time sink
+the outstanding notes. As for the merchants, though it was true that
+sterling contracts were to be paid at the current rate of exchange, and
+though the judges who determined it seemed to be impartial, the rate
+might rise from five to fifteen per cent between the date of their
+decision and the date of settlement, to their great loss.<a name="FNanchor_27_553" id="FNanchor_27_553"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_553" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>When the British merchants heard that some of the most prominent men in
+Virginia had sided with them in urging that an end be put to currency
+inflation, they were encouraged to renew their complaints to the Board
+of Trade. The Board, in turn, wrote Fauquier to urge the Assembly to
+give them satisfaction. So the Governor, on May 19, 1763, addressed the
+House, pointing out that common justice required that every man should
+receive full payment for debts due him. And the support of the public
+credit, so vital for a trading country like Virginia, made it absolutely
+necessary to redeem the paper in circulation at the dates fixed by
+law.<a name="FNanchor_28_554" id="FNanchor_28_554"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_554" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses responded by adding to the fund for sinking the paper
+money by laying additional taxes on slaves, wheel carriages, licenses,
+etc.<a name="FNanchor_29_555" id="FNanchor_29_555"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_555" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> But they would not budge from their determination to keep all
+the notes legal tender. And they made a long and able reply to the
+Governor, drawn up by Charles Carter, Edmund Pendleton, Wythe, and
+Richard Henry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> Lee, justifying their proceedings and claiming that the
+merchants had no just grounds for complaint. In it they inserted a
+declaration of American rights which the British Ministry would have
+been wise to take to heart. Their dependence upon Great Britain they
+acknowledged as their greatest happiness and only security. But this was
+not the dependence of a conquered people, but of sons sent out to
+explore and settle a new world for the mutual benefit of themselves and
+their common parent. It was the dependence of the part upon the whole,
+which, by its admirable constitution, diffused a spirit of patriotism
+which made every citizen, however remote from the mother kingdom,
+zealous for the King and the public good.<a name="FNanchor_30_556" id="FNanchor_30_556"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_556" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>But the merchants were far from being satisfied, and a group in Glasgow
+sent another appeal to the Board of Trade. They thought that part of the
+trouble came from the ease with which paper money could be
+counterfeited. And they were sure that the hundreds of counterfeit
+notes, passing from hand to hand in Virginia, partly accounted for the
+enormous heights of exchange. But they supported the Assembly in
+continuing the legal tender clause. To take it off might make the
+currency debts "more fluctuating, uncertain, and less valuable." The
+only effectual remedy was to forbid further issues of paper money, to
+see that notes as they were brought into the treasury were duly burnt,
+to order that circulating notes bear five per cent interest, and to
+remedy any deficiency in the taxes.<a name="FNanchor_31_557" id="FNanchor_31_557"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_557" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> When Parliament passed an act to
+prohibit future emissions in the colonies, they seemed satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>But there was a strong underlying sentiment in the colony against
+burning the notes. The soil of tidewater Virginia, after a century and a
+half of cultivation, was beginning to wear out, and thousands of acres
+were gradually reverting to forest land. This, with war taxes and an
+occasional drought, had brought hard times. But the planters, instead of
+tightening their belts, continued the old extravagant mode of living by
+borrowing money. "I fear they are not prudent enough to quit any article
+of luxury till smart obliges them," observed Fauquier.<a name="FNanchor_32_558" id="FNanchor_32_558"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_558" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> So for many
+cheap money meant salvation from ruin.</p>
+
+<p>These men made their influence felt in the House when a scheme for
+borrowing £240,000 from the British merchants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> was passed in May, 1765.
+Of this sum £100,000 was to be used for a new currency to replace old
+notes, and £140,000 to be lent out at five per cent interest. But when
+the bill came up to the Council it was bitterly opposed by Corbin and
+finally defeated.<a name="FNanchor_33_559" id="FNanchor_33_559"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_559" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, people were wondering why the rate of exchange did not
+drop. They were not ignorant of the quantative law of currency, and they
+knew that the amount of paper in circulation ought to have been reduced
+each year. So they were surprised to find it remaining between sixty and
+sixty-five per cent. Behind this apparent contradiction of economic law
+there must be some mystery.<a name="FNanchor_34_560" id="FNanchor_34_560"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_560" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
+
+<p>The mystery was explained in May, 1766, when a bomb exploded which shook
+the colony from the capes to the Alleghenies. That month the beloved
+John Robinson, Speaker and Treasurer, died. Fauquier had called him "the
+darling of the country." The <i>Gazette</i> lamented his loss and praised
+"the many amiable virtues which adorned his private station."</p>
+
+<p>So there was universal astonishment when the examiners of his accounts
+found a deficit of £100,000. Robinson had not taken the money for his
+own use. Even had he been dishonorable enough to do so, there would have
+been no need for it, since he was one of the richest men in the colony.
+What he had done was to lend his friends thousands of pounds from the
+public funds.<a name="FNanchor_35_561" id="FNanchor_35_561"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_561" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> In this he was guilty of two serious breaches of his
+duty. Since the Assembly had refused to establish a public loan office,
+he must have known that he had no right to do so on his own
+responsibility. And there could be no excuse for his disregard of the
+law which required that he burn the paper money as it came in.</p>
+
+<p>But when his friends came to him in distress begging loans to save them
+from ruin, he did not have the strength of character to refuse them.
+Thousands of pounds went out to men in all parts of the colony, among
+them members of some of the oldest and most distinguished
+families&mdash;William Byrd III, Charles Carter, Jr., George Braxton, Henry
+Fitzhugh, Lewis Burwell, etc. Robinson's estate was large enough to
+cover all these loans, but it took many years for his executors to
+recover even part of what was due him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Robert Carter Nicholas, Robinson's successor as Treasurer, was bitter in
+condemnation of what he had done. "The seeming mysteries of our exchange
+now begin to unfold themselves," he wrote in a letter to the <i>Gazette</i>.
+"It comes out that a great part of the money squeezed from the people
+for their taxes, instead of being sunk ... was thrown back into
+circulation." The Assembly had given their word that they would protect
+the interests of the British merchants by burning the paper promptly on
+the dates of their retirement. What must the world think when these good
+intentions had been in part defeated by a strange kind of misconduct?
+What made it worse was the need the colony had for the friendship of the
+merchants at a time when the great men in England had their eyes fixed
+upon all the Assemblies. "The consequences are as glaring as the sun in
+the meridian."<a name="FNanchor_36_562" id="FNanchor_36_562"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_562" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p>
+
+<p>Nicholas saw to it that the law was obeyed. As the notes came in they
+were burnt. As a result the exchange began to drop until in a few months
+it became normal. The day of easy money was over, and the host of
+debtors faced ruin. For many months the pages of the <i>Gazette</i> were
+crowded with notices of slaves and plantations for sale.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, the century and a half old struggle between mother
+country and colonies was rapidly approaching a crisis. The issue had
+long been postponed because of the inactivity of the King's ministers,
+who were content to close their eyes to what was going on across the
+Atlantic. But the time was at hand when the question of whether the
+Americans should be governed from London or should govern themselves had
+to be settled.</p>
+
+<p>This was in part due to the fact that as time passed Parliament had
+grown less and less representative of the people. In Great Britain there
+was no provision, as there is in the Constitution of the United States,
+for periodic reapportionments of the people's representatives to keep
+step with changes in population. For centuries most of the Commons had
+been elected under a very restricted franchise by certain old boroughs.
+Though with the passing of the decades many of these boroughs, once
+centers of population and wealth, had fallen into decay, they still sent
+their representatives to the House of Commons. Perhaps the most
+notorious was Old Sarum, a city of Norman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> times, whose castle and
+cathedral and crowded houses overlooked the Salisbury plain, but which
+for centuries had been deserted. Unless the ghosts of men long dead were
+to have a voice in running the nation, it was absurd for these old ruins
+to be represented in the Commons. In practice the rotten borough system,
+as it was called, tended to perpetuate the ascendency of the landed
+proprietors.</p>
+
+<p>And the country squires wanted no change. They thought the British
+Government the best in the world, and were determined to defend their
+privileges. It never occurred to them that duty required that they
+should try to alleviate the miseries of the poor people; they were too
+intent on enjoying their great manor houses, their formal gardens, their
+stately dinners, their fox hunts, to heed the voices which were pleading
+for social and political reform.<a name="FNanchor_37_563" id="FNanchor_37_563"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_563" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p>
+
+<p>But it would be a mistake to assume that Great Britain had become static
+in intellectual, social, and institutional matters. On the contrary, the
+first seven decades of the eighteenth century was a period of tremendous
+activity. It was the period of Richardson and Fielding in literature, of
+the great religious revival led by Wesley and Whitefield, of renewed
+interest in Shakespeare, of the birth of industrial Britain, of the bold
+defiance of authority by John Wilkes. Had Parliament truly reflected the
+spirit of the age, had it not revered the old system of government as
+the best attainable by man, it would have attuned itself to these
+changes.</p>
+
+<p>If the Commons were out of step with the march of events in Great
+Britain, they were far more so with developments in the colonies. They
+knew nothing of the influence of the vast natural resources and the
+limited supply of labor in lifting the level of the common man and
+giving him a sense of self-respect, nothing of the democratizing power
+of the frontier. And what little they saw they disliked. No doubt some
+would have applauded Samuel Johnson when he said of the Americans: "Sir,
+they are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful for anything we
+allow them short of hanging."</p>
+
+<p>With such irreconcilable differences between the ruling group in Great
+Britain and the people of the colonies the conflict was inevitable. The
+King, the Privy Council, the Board of Trade, the Commons construed the
+many instances of colon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>ial disobedience as attacks on the foundations
+of the established order, as revolutionary innovations. To Americans
+they seemed no more than the assertion of rights inherent in all free
+men. And though many of their claims had no precedent in English
+experience, they began to speak of them as ancient and necessary for the
+existence of representative government.</p>
+
+<p>That the clash came when it did was in part due to the passing of the
+laissez-faire period in the British Government. New figures had made
+their appearance at Whitehall, who had no patience with the old slipshod
+way of doing things. They wanted a consolidated empire, ruled from
+London, rather than a loose federation of semi-independent states. To
+them it seemed intolerable that the colonial Assemblies should defy the
+King at will. "Must we and America be two distinct kingdoms, and that
+now immediately?" asked George Grenville.</p>
+
+<p>The French and Indian War revealed much concerning conditions in the
+colonies which surprised and alarmed the Ministry. They had found it
+impossible to get the colonies to act in unison, they had defied the
+King's wishes repeatedly, the Governors were kept busy explaining why
+they had to disregard one instruction after another, they were disgusted
+at the pouring out of paper money, and they must have been influenced by
+the warnings that the Americans were too much of a republican way of
+thinking. The advice to have Parliament lay a general tax on the
+colonies had come, not only from Dinwiddie, but from various parts of
+America.</p>
+
+<p>The determination of the Ministry to follow this advice was based
+ostensibly on the reasonableness of requiring the colonies to bear their
+share of the burden of the expense of the war. It may be argued that
+Virginia and some of the others, because of the disruption of trade, the
+very heavy taxes, the devastation on the frontiers, and their heavy
+losses in men, had already paid more than their share. But that there
+was something deeper, more vital, behind the resolve to tax than a mere
+matter of finance, is obvious. It was a demonstration of policy, a
+manifesto that Great Britain was determined to govern her colonies.</p>
+
+<p>When word reached America that the Ministry planned to tax the colonies
+by a stamp Act, there was general dismay. There were many grave faces
+among the Burgesses as they took their seats in November, 1764. Some of
+the ablest men in Virginia, among them Peyton Randolph, Edmund
+Pendleton, George Wythe, and Richard Henry Lee, drew up a protest to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>
+the King and Parliament. They begged the King to protect the people of
+the colony in the enjoyment of their ancient right of being governed in
+internal affairs by laws derived from their own consent, with the
+approbation of their sovereign or his substitute. This right, as men and
+descendants of Britons, they had possessed ever since they left the
+mother kingdom to extend its commerce and dominion.</p>
+
+<p>To the House of Lords they pointed out that, as their ancestors had
+brought with them to America every right and privilege they could claim
+in the mother kingdom, their descendants could not justly be deprived of
+them. It was a fundamental principle of the British Constitution,
+without which freedom could nowhere exist, that the people are not
+subject to any taxes except by their own consent or by those who were
+legally appointed to represent them.</p>
+
+<p>They reminded the Commons that this principle had been recognized ever
+since the founding of the colony. During the reign of Charles II, when
+the British Government sought a revenue to support the government of
+Virginia, they had tacitly admitted that Parliament had no right to levy
+the tax. Instead they drew up a bill in England and sent it over to be
+acted on by the Assembly.<a name="FNanchor_38_564" id="FNanchor_38_564"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_564" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
+
+<p>As they penned this protest the thoughts of Wythe and the others must
+have reverted to the part played by the control of taxation in winning
+self-government for the colony. They spoke of their rights as ancient,
+yet they must have known that the Virginia of their day was far freer
+than it had been under the Stuarts. And there could be no doubt as to
+how this great change had come about. They and their fathers and their
+great-grandfathers had used the control of the purse to whittle the
+royal prerogative until little was left. For Parliament to strike this
+weapon from their hands would be to nullify the gains of many decades
+and leave them defenseless.</p>
+
+<p>When the bill to tax the Americans came before the Commons, on February
+7, 1765, a lengthy debate followed. It was on this occasion that Colonel
+Isaac Barr&eacute; retorted to Charles Townshend's assertion that the Americans
+had been "planted by our care, nourished by our indulgence." "Your
+oppressions planted them in America," he shouted. "They grew up by your
+neglect of them.... They protected by your arms! They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> have taken up
+arms in your defence."<a name="FNanchor_39_565" id="FNanchor_39_565"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_565" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> But when the Virginia memorial was presented
+it was rejected by an overwhelming majority.<a name="FNanchor_40_566" id="FNanchor_40_566"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_566" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> The bill passed the
+Commons by 205 votes to 49, and the House of Lords without a division.
+The measure required the colonists to use stamps, purchased from the
+British Government through royal agents, on newspapers, almanacs,
+pamphlets, advertisements, and various kinds of legal documents.</p>
+
+<p>It was with heavy hearts that the Assembly met in May, 1765. Edmund
+Pendleton, when news of the passage of the Stamp Act reached him, had
+exclaimed, "Poor America!" As he, George Wythe, Richard Bland, Robert
+Carter Nicholas, Henry Lee, Peyton Randolph, and other leading statesmen
+took their seats, they had no thought of resistance. They proceeded with
+routine business&mdash;the authorizing of a ferry over the Potomac, giving
+rewards for killing wolves, opening a road through the Swift Run Gap,
+preventing escapes from debtors' prisons, etc. Probably none of the
+aristocrats from the tidewater paid any attention to young Patrick Henry
+when he joined the House late in the session. When most of the bills had
+passed the third reading many of the members left, and mounting their
+horses rode out of town, leaving only thirty-nine to wind up business.</p>
+
+<p>This was Henry's opportunity. Opening an old law book he wrote down
+seven resolutions. Then, rising, he introduced them in the House. In
+substance the first four declared that Virginians from the first
+settlement had possessed all the privileges of the people of Great
+Britain, that these privileges had been confirmed to them by two royal
+charters, that the taxation of the people by themselves was the
+distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and that the people of
+the colony had never forfeited the right to be governed by their own
+Assembly in the articles of taxation and internal policy.</p>
+
+<p>When Henry came to the fifth resolution there must have been a gasp of
+surprise. It held that any attempt to vest the power to tax the colonies
+in any other body than the Assembly was illegal, unjust, and
+unconstitutional, and tended to destroy British as well as American
+liberty. Henry did not introduce the other two resolutions, probably
+because of the uproar which the reading of the fifth occasioned.</p>
+
+<p>A violent debate ensued. George Wythe, John Robinson,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> Peyton Randolph,
+and others thought the language too extreme. But what Fauquier described
+as "the young, hot, and giddy members," were carried along by Henry's
+eloquence. "Tarquin and Caesar each had his Brutus, Charles I his
+Cromwell, and George III...." At this point he was interrupted by the
+Speaker who declared that he had spoken treason. Henry denied that he
+advocated treason. If he had said anything wrong, it should be
+attributed to his concern over his country's dying liberty.<a name="FNanchor_41_567" id="FNanchor_41_567"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_567" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+<p>The first four resolutions passed by safe margins, but the fifth barely
+got by, by a vote of twenty to nineteen. In alarm the more conservative
+members sent out a hurry call for such absent Burgesses as were still in
+or near Williamsburg. When several had come in an attempt was made to
+have the resolutions struck off the journal. They succeeded with the
+fifth, Fauquier reported, "which was thought the most offensive," but
+failed with the other four.<a name="FNanchor_42_568" id="FNanchor_42_568"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_568" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p>
+
+<p>Perhaps Henry, himself, as he left Williamsburg, wearing a pair of
+leather breeches and leading his bony nag by the bridle, did not realize
+that his resolutions would be the alarm bell of revolution. The
+<i>Maryland Gazette</i>, the <i>Newport Gazette</i>, the <i>Boston Gazette</i>, and
+other papers published them, not only the four which passed in the
+House, but the other three as well. And the sixth and seventh were
+radical indeed. They declared that the people of the colony were not
+bound to obey any laws to tax them other than those passed by the
+Assembly, and that any person who should uphold such laws "by speaking
+or writing" should be deemed an enemy of the colony. It was the policy
+of resistance.</p>
+
+<p>Virginia was now aflame. It was rumored that groups of men from all
+parts of the colony were preparing to march on Williamsburg to seize and
+destroy the stamps as soon as they arrived. Many justices declared that
+they would resign rather than use the stamps in the processes of their
+courts, and it seemed certain that others would follow their example.
+From Westmoreland came word that a mob had burned in effigy the stamp
+distributor for Virginia, Colonel George Mercer, a native<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> Virginian who
+had served in the French and Indian War.<a name="FNanchor_43_569" id="FNanchor_43_569"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_569" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> Fauquier waited anxiously
+for his arrival with the stamps, praying that adverse winds would delay
+him until the session of the General Court was over and the crowds of
+merchants, persons involved in suits, debtors, witnesses, and others had
+left town.</p>
+
+<p>But the Fates were against him. Mercer arrived on October 30, and at
+once went to his father's house. Having word of this, a crowd of men,
+some of them leading citizens in their home counties, started off to
+find him. As they approached the Capitol they met him and asked him
+whether he intended to retain his office as stamp distributor. To this
+he gave an evasive answer, and continued to the coffee house nearby
+where Governor Fauquier, Speaker Robinson, and several members of the
+Council were seated on the porch. The crowd, which had followed him,
+pressed toward them and a cry was heard, "Let us rush in." But when
+Fauquier and the others advanced to repel them, someone called out, "See
+the Governor, take care of him." Upon this they fell back. And when
+Mercer promised that he would give his answer at the Capitol the next
+day at five, they seemed satisfied and permitted him to walk through
+them side by side with the Governor to the Palace.<a name="FNanchor_44_570" id="FNanchor_44_570"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_570" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, word of Mercer's arrival had spread through the
+countryside, so that the next day hundreds of persons poured into town.
+As five o'clock approached a vast crowd assembled in the Capitol yard.
+There Mercer spoke to them. His appointment had been unsolicited, he
+said. He had not, as had been rumored, urged the passage of the Stamp
+Act. "And now," he added, "I will not, directly by myself or deputies
+proceed in the execution of the act ... without the assent of the
+General Assembly of this colony." At this there was a great shout of
+approval, and those near him raised him aloft and bore him out through
+the gate to a nearby tavern. As they entered, the huzzas were redoubled,
+while drums rattled, and horns blared. That night the town was
+illuminated and bells rang out. The following night the occasion was
+climaxed by "a splendid ball."<a name="FNanchor_45_571" id="FNanchor_45_571"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_571" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p>
+
+<p>As for the stamps, they never touched land. They were transferred to a
+warship, "it being the place of the greatest, if not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> the only security
+for them." If the mob could have laid their hands on them they would
+certainly have gone up in flames.</p>
+
+<p>Now in various parts of the colony men met to organize what they called
+Sons of Liberty. The merchants of Norfolk, native-born Scotsmen many of
+them, had a double grievance, since the Sugar Act threatened their trade
+and the Stamp Act their liberty. In March about thirty leading citizens
+met at the house of Mayor Calvert, where "they brought daylight on"
+debating the best way to resist both acts. At their call the people
+crowded into the courthouse to protest. "We will ... defend ourselves in
+the full enjoyment of ... those inestimable privileges of freeborn
+British subjects of being taxed only by representatives of their own
+choosing.... If we quietly submit to the execution of the said Stamp
+Act, all our claims of civil liberty will be lost, and we and our
+posterity become absolute slaves."<a name="FNanchor_46_572" id="FNanchor_46_572"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_572" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p>
+
+<p>A few days later, when word went round that a certain Captain William
+Smith had been responsible for the seizure of several vessels in the
+Elizabeth River, he was arrested by a group of leading citizens.
+Hurrying him to the County Wharf, they tarred and feathered him, set him
+in the ducking stool, and pelted him with stones and rotten eggs. They
+next marched him through the town with drums beating, ducked him again,
+and at last threw him headlong into the water. Had not a passing boat
+pulled him out, more dead than alive, he would have been drowned.<a name="FNanchor_47_573" id="FNanchor_47_573"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_573" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p>
+
+<p>At Hobb's Hole, Essex County, a merchant named Ritchie barely escaped
+similar treatment. A number of men, hearing that he had boasted that he
+could secure stamps and was determined to clear his ship with them,
+marched on the town and drew up along the main street. They brought
+Ritchie out and threatened to strip him to the waist, tie him to the
+tail of a cart, and then fix him in the pillory. This was too much for
+him. Reluctantly he swore on "the holy Evangels" that no vessel of his
+would clear "on stamped paper." Thereupon most of the crowd dispersed,
+and those living nearby went to the tavern "where they spent the evening
+with great sobriety."<a name="FNanchor_48_574" id="FNanchor_48_574"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_574" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p>
+
+<p>The people of the colony were encouraged in their resistance to the
+Stamp Act by articles in British gazettes and magazines,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> which were
+reprinted in the <i>Virginia Gazette</i>. A writer in the <i>Gentleman's
+Magazine</i> contended that the act violated the British constitution,
+which "declared that no Englishman is to be taxed without his own
+consent." "I know very well I shall be told that though the Americans
+are not immediately represented in the English Parliament, they are
+nevertheless represented virtually.... But why, in the name of common
+sense, if the mother country judged herself the virtual representative
+of all her various dependencies, did she grant a provincial legislature
+to her colonies, and from the time of their first existence invest this
+legislature with the sole power of internal taxation?" For the colonists
+to yield, he thought, would be to confess themselves slaves.<a name="FNanchor_49_575" id="FNanchor_49_575"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_575" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p>
+
+<p>And when the Virginians read the <i>Gazette</i> they noted with satisfaction
+that the disruption of trade was causing great distress in England. A
+dispatch from Birmingham stated that unless the Stamp Act were repealed
+twenty thousand persons would be out of work.<a name="FNanchor_50_576" id="FNanchor_50_576"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_576" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> The merchants of
+London petitioned the Commons for relief. Their trade with the colonies,
+which was of such great importance to the nation, faced utter ruin, they
+said. They could not collect debts due them in America, because the
+Sugar Act and the Stamp Act had thrown the colonies into confusion and
+brought on many bankruptcies. Unless these acts were repealed a
+multitude of workers would become a burden on the community or else seek
+their bread in other countries.<a name="FNanchor_51_577" id="FNanchor_51_577"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_577" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was late in May, 1766, that a vessel arrived in Virginia waters
+bearing the news that the Stamp Act had been repealed. As horsemen
+galloped along the roads and boatsmen in their shallops ascended the
+great rivers, the word was passed from mouth to mouth. Everywhere there
+was joyous celebration. At Great Bridge the people listened to a
+patriotic sermon in St. Giles Church, and then went to the Banqueting
+Room, where they raised their glasses in a series of toasts&mdash;to the King
+and Queen, Colonel Barr&eacute;, and others. At Hampton there was a banquet at
+the Bunch of Grapes, followed by a ball at the King's Arms Tavern, while
+outside there was a great bonfire.<a name="FNanchor_52_578" id="FNanchor_52_578"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_578" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> The people of Williamsburg waited
+for their celebration until<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> the convening of the court when the town
+was crowded. Then every house was illuminated, and there was "a ball and
+elegant entertainment at the Capitol," marked by "much mirth" and the
+drinking of toasts.<a name="FNanchor_53_579" id="FNanchor_53_579"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_579" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p>
+
+<p>With the French and Indian War brought to a successful conclusion, with
+the problem of currency inflation settled, with the Stamp Act repealed,
+it seemed that Fauquier might look forward to a period of harmony and
+prosperity. But fate soon struck a cruel blow. In the summer of 1767 the
+Governor became ill with a very painful disorder. And though, under the
+care of Dr. Matthew Pope, of York, he became better, he never fully
+recovered his health.<a name="FNanchor_54_580" id="FNanchor_54_580"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_580" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> He died in the early hours of March 3, 1768.
+In his will he directed that if the nature of his illness should not be
+understood by his physicians, an autopsy be held on his body, so that he
+might become more useful to his fellow creatures in death than he had
+been in life. He desired, also, that he be buried "without any vain
+funeral pomp."<a name="FNanchor_55_581" id="FNanchor_55_581"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_581" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p>
+
+<p>Francis Fauquier was an able, just, tactful Governor, who tried to do
+his duty both to the King and to the colony. His was an extremely
+difficult task. His sympathies seem to have been with the people. Living
+among them, knowing their views, he must have deplored the policy of the
+Ministry in trying to deprive them of the cherished right of
+self-government. Great Britain's strongest link with America was not the
+link of government, not even the economic link, but the link of
+affection. And nothing tended more to strengthen it than the appointment
+of such a man as Fauquier to be Lieutenant Governor of the largest of
+the colonies. It would have been a lasting grief to Fauquier had he
+lived to see the final separation of mother country and colonies.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_527" id="Footnote_1_527"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_527"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>The writings of Thomas Jefferson</i>, ed. A. A. Lipscomb,
+14:231.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_528" id="Footnote_2_528"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_528"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> CO5-1329, June 11, 1758.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_529" id="Footnote_3_529"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_529"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> CO5-1329, Blair to Lords of Trade, June 20, 1758.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_530" id="Footnote_4_530"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_530"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Official records of Robert Dinwiddie</i> 1: 375.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_531" id="Footnote_5_531"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_531"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> CO5-1329, June 28, 1758.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_532" id="Footnote_6_532"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_532"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Charles Campbell, <i>History of Virginia</i>, 508.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_533" id="Footnote_7_533"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_533"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1761-1765:
+xlii-xlvi.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_534" id="Footnote_8_534"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_534"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>William and Mary Quarterly</i>, First Ser. 19: 16.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_535" id="Footnote_9_535"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_535"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> CO5-1329, Jan. 5, 1759.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_536" id="Footnote_10_536"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_536"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> CO5-1329. Read May 23, 1759.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_537" id="Footnote_11_537"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_537"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, "Thomas London on the Clergy Bill," June 14,
+1759.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_538" id="Footnote_12_538"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_538"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> G. M. Brydon, <i>Virginia's Mother Church</i> 2: 318, 319.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_539" id="Footnote_13_539"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_539"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Charles Campbell, <i>History of Virginia</i>, 509-511.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_540" id="Footnote_14_540"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_540"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>William and Mary Quarterly</i>, First Ser. 19: 19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_541" id="Footnote_15_541"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_541"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 21.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_542" id="Footnote_16_542"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_542"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> W. W. Henry, <i>Life, letters, and correspondence of Patrick
+Henry</i> 1: 39-41.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_543" id="Footnote_17_543"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_543"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>William and Mary Quarterly</i>, First Ser. 19: 33.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_544" id="Footnote_18_544"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_544"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Blair, Tayloe, Byrd, Thornton, and Burwell.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_545" id="Footnote_19_545"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_545"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> CO5-1330, Fauquier to the Lords of Trade, May 9, 1764.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_546" id="Footnote_20_546"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_546"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> CO5-1330, Glasgow Merchants to Board of Trade, Jan. 10,
+1764.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_547" id="Footnote_21_547"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_547"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1758-1761: 40, 41.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_548" id="Footnote_22_548"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_548"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i> 6: 478-483.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_549" id="Footnote_23_549"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_549"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> CO5-1329, Jan. 5, 1759.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_550" id="Footnote_24_550"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_550"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, June 1, 1763.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_551" id="Footnote_25_551"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_551"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> CO5-1330, April 8, 1762.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_552" id="Footnote_26_552"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_552"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Legislative journals of the Council</i> 3: 1281.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_553" id="Footnote_27_553"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_553"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> CO5-1330.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_554" id="Footnote_28_554"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_554"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>; <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1761-1765:
+xxvii.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_555" id="Footnote_29_555"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_555"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> W. W. Hening, <i>Statutes at large</i>, 7: 639.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_556" id="Footnote_30_556"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_556"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1761-1765:
+xxx-xxxiv.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_557" id="Footnote_31_557"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_557"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> CO5-1330, Jan. 10, 1764.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_558" id="Footnote_32_558"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_558"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Fauquier to the Lords of Trade, Nov. 3, 1760.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_559" id="Footnote_33_559"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_559"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Journal of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1761-1765: 350.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_560" id="Footnote_34_560"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_560"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Virginia Gazette</i>, P. and D., June 27, 1766.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_561" id="Footnote_35_561"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_561"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> D. J. Mays, <i>Edmund Pendleton</i> 1: 174-208.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_562" id="Footnote_36_562"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_562"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Virginia Gazette</i>, P. and D., June 27, 1766.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_563" id="Footnote_37_563"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_563"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Charles M. Andrews, The American Revolution, <i>American
+Historical Review</i> 31: 219-232.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_564" id="Footnote_38_564"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_564"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1761-1765:
+liv-lviii.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_565" id="Footnote_39_565"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_565"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>Parliamentary history of England</i>, ed. T. C. Hansard, 16:
+38, 39.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_566" id="Footnote_40_566"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_566"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> L. P. Gipson, <i>The coming of the Revolution</i>, 81.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_567" id="Footnote_41_567"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_567"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> William Wirt, <i>Sketches of Patrick Henry</i>. The eyewitness
+account by a French traveler throws doubt on the long accepted statement
+that Henry replied to the Speaker's charge: "If this be treason make the
+most of it." <i>American Historical Review</i> 25: 745.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_568" id="Footnote_42_568"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_568"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> CO5-1330, June 5, 1765.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_569" id="Footnote_43_569"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_569"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>William and Mary Quarterly</i>, First Ser. 18: 162n.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_570" id="Footnote_44_570"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_570"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> CO5-1330, Fauquier to the Lords of Trade, Nov. 3, 1765.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_571" id="Footnote_45_571"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_571"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>Virginia Gazette</i>, Oct. 25, 1765. Supplement.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_572" id="Footnote_46_572"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_572"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>Virginia Gazette</i>, April 4, 1766.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_573" id="Footnote_47_573"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_573"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> CO5-1331, J. Morgan to Fauquier, April 7, 1766.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_574" id="Footnote_48_574"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_574"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>Tyler's Magazine</i> 16: 111-114.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_575" id="Footnote_49_575"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_575"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> <i>Virginia Gazette</i>, P. and D., Apr. 4, 1766.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_576" id="Footnote_50_576"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_576"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_577" id="Footnote_51_577"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_577"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Apr. 25, 1766.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_578" id="Footnote_52_578"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_578"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, June 13, 1766.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_579" id="Footnote_53_579"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_579"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, June 20, 1766.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_580" id="Footnote_54_580"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_580"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, July 16, 1767.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_581" id="Footnote_55_581"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_581"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>William and Mary Quarterly</i>, First Ser., 8: 173-177.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br />
+<br />
+INDEPENDENCE</h2>
+
+
+<p class="cap">It was in October, 1768, when news reached Virginia that Norborne
+Berkeley, Lord Botetourt, had kissed the King's hand as Governor
+General. The unrest in the colony had convinced the Privy Council that
+the government "should no longer be administered by a substitute." So
+when Sir Jeffrey Amherst declined "going over to America," it was
+decided to appoint one who would go. For the first time since the death
+of Nott, Virginia had a resident Governor General. The people of the
+colony regarded this as a singular honor. When Botetourt arrived in
+Williamsburg, he found the members of the Council, the Speaker of the
+House, the Attorney General, and other prominent men waiting to receive
+him at the gate of the Capitol yard. After they had gone in to the
+Council Chamber, where the new Governor administered the oath, they
+stepped over to the Raleigh Tavern for supper. Then Botetourt was
+escorted to the Palace through the illuminated Duke of Gloucester Street
+and the Palace Green.<a name="FNanchor_1_582" id="FNanchor_1_582"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_582" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>If the British Government had hoped to please the people of Virginia in
+sending them a Governor General, they were not disappointed. "All ranks
+vied with each other in testifying their gratitude and joy that a
+nobleman of such distinguished merit and abilities is appointed to
+preside over and live among them."<a name="FNanchor_2_583" id="FNanchor_2_583"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_583" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> But it was not so much his rank as
+his personality which won all hearts. He was easily accessible, affable
+to the humblest visitor, sympathetic with the people's grievances.</p>
+
+<p>The new Governor was at once confronted with grave issues. In May, 1767,
+Charles Townshend had secured an act of Parliament placing duties on
+glass, lead, painters' colors, and tea imported into the colonies. It
+was expressly stated that the revenue was to be used to pay the salaries
+of British officials in America. Another act was passed to enforce the
+trade laws, and still another to suspend the New York Assembly for its
+defiance of the Billeting Act.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Again all America seethed. It is obvious, men told each other, that the
+British Government will not be content until they have made slaves of
+us. At first they claimed that they were seeking nothing more of us than
+a revenue. Now they openly avow that these new duties are to be used to
+make British officials in America independent of the Assemblies. That
+would be the final triumph of royal authority.</p>
+
+<p>So when Botetourt dissolved the old Assembly and called for a new
+election, the people selected their ablest and most patriotic men. Among
+them were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Richard
+Henry Lee, Henry Lee, and Edmund Pendleton. When they met, in May, 1769,
+Governor Botetourt entered an elegant coach which had been presented to
+him by King George III, on it the insignia of royalty, drawn by six
+milk-white horses, and drove from the Palace to the Capitol. After the
+usual address to the Assembly and the replies of the Council and the
+Burgesses, Botetourt entertained many of the members at dinner.</p>
+
+<p>In the previous February the Governor had written the Lords of Trade
+warning them of the temper of the people. "I must not venture to flatter
+your Lordships that they will ever willingly submit to being taxed by
+the mother country. The reverse is their creed. They universally avow a
+most ardent desire to assist upon every occasion, but pray to be allowed
+to do it in consequence of requisition."<a name="FNanchor_3_584" id="FNanchor_3_584"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_584" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>It seems strange, then, that he should have been surprised to hear that
+the Burgesses had passed several resolutions asserting the rights of the
+people. They declared that the sole right of imposing taxes "is now, and
+ever hath been" constitutionally vested in the House of Burgesses; that
+the people have the right to petition the sovereign for redress of
+grievances; and that trials for crimes committed in the colony should be
+tried in the Virginia courts.<a name="FNanchor_4_585" id="FNanchor_4_585"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_585" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>The next day the Governor summoned the Council and Burgesses to the
+Council Chamber, where he said he had heard of the resolutions, that he
+predicted they would have an ill effect, and that according to his duty,
+he dissolved them.</p>
+
+<p>But the Burgesses would not be silenced. Filing out of the Capitol, they
+went to the nearby Raleigh Tavern for an un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>official session. After they
+had elected Peyton Randolph moderator, they discussed the serious
+problems facing the colony. They then appointed a committee to draw up a
+plan for an association, and adjourned until the next day.</p>
+
+<p>The report of the committee, which was signed by eighty-eight men is a
+document of the greatest importance in the history of the clash between
+the American colonies and Great Britain. It spoke of the "grievances and
+distresses" with which the people were oppressed, of the evils which
+threatened their ruin and the ruin of their posterity by reducing them
+"from a free and happy people to a wretched and miserable state of
+slavery." They denounced "the restrictions, prohibitions, and
+ill-advised regulations in several late acts of Parliament," and
+declared that the "unconstitutional act imposing duties on tea, paper,
+glass, etc. for the sole purpose of raising a revenue in America is
+injurious to property, and destructive to liberty."<a name="FNanchor_5_586" id="FNanchor_5_586"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_586" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Those who signed
+the association promised to discourage luxury and extravagance, agreed
+not to import goods taxed by Parliament or any of a long list of
+commodities, until the hated duties were removed.</p>
+
+<p>After all had affixed their signatures, they gathered around the punch
+bowl to drink a series of toasts&mdash;to the King, the Queen and the Royal
+Family, Lord Botetourt, A Speedy and lasting Union between Great Britain
+and her Colonies, The Constitutional British Liberty in America and all
+true Patriots, the Supporters thereof, the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of
+Shelburne, Colonel Barr&eacute;, the late Speaker, etc. At last, either because
+the liquor or the toasts gave out, the meeting came to an end.<a name="FNanchor_6_587" id="FNanchor_6_587"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_587" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was while the Assembly was in session that Secretary Hillsborough
+wrote Botetourt assuring him that the King's ministers would soon
+propose the repeal of the obnoxious duties. Whereupon the Governor
+called an Assembly and laid the joyous news before them. But the
+Burgesses must have seen the joker in the announcement when they noted
+that the repeal would be based, not on any illegality in the duties, but
+on the fact that they had been laid "contrary to the true principles of
+commerce."<a name="FNanchor_7_588" id="FNanchor_7_588"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_588" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p>Yet Botetourt was all optimism. "I will be content to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> declared
+infamous if I do not to the last hour of my life ... exert every power
+with which I am or ever shall be legally invested ... to obtain and
+maintain for the continent of America that satisfaction which I have
+been authorized to promise by the confidential servant of our gracious
+sovereign." Some months later, when the Virginians learned just how the
+Ministry had carried out this promise, Botetourt had reason to think
+that he had been led into deceiving them. It is true that all the duties
+had been taken off save that on tea. But so far from considering this a
+favor, the colonists resented it as a bait to make them acknowledge the
+right of Parliament to tax them. The resentment of the people was all
+the greater because of their <ins class="correct" title="disappointmnt">disappointment</ins>. Hillsborough's promise had
+made them lax in enforcing the association, so in June, 1770, they
+organized a new one. A long list of imported goods were to be boycotted,
+industry was to be encouraged, prices were not to be advanced. To see
+that the agreement was carried out committees were to be organized in
+every county to examine invoices and expose violators.</p>
+
+<p>It was unfortunate for Virginia that Botetourt's administration was
+short. He died October 15, 1770. "Truly and justly to express the many
+great virtues and amiable qualities which adorned this noble lord, as
+well in his public as private character, would demand the skill of the
+ablest penman," stated the death notice in the <i>Gazette</i>. "Virginia, in
+his fall, sorely laments the loss of the best of Governors and the best
+of men."<a name="FNanchor_8_589" id="FNanchor_8_589"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_589" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>A few days later a sorrowful procession moved from the Palace to Bruton
+Parish Church, amid the tolling of the bells in the church, the college,
+and the Capitol. In front of and beside the hearse were eight mourners
+carrying staffs draped in black, around them were the pallbearers&mdash;six
+Councillors and the Speaker of the House. Then followed the Governor's
+servants, the clergy, the professors of the college, the Williamsburg
+officials preceded by the city mace, and many others, all having white
+hatbands and gloves. After the service in the church the procession
+moved to the Wren Building where the lead casket, covered with a crimson
+velvet cloth, was placed in a vault below the floor of the chapel.<a name="FNanchor_9_590" id="FNanchor_9_590"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_590" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>As a token of affection the Assembly employed Richard Hayward, of
+London, to make a marble statue of Botetourt,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> which arrived in 1773 and
+was set up in the piazza of the Capitol. Later it was mutilated by a
+crowd of vandals as an expression of their hostility to all things
+British. In 1801 the College of William and Mary acquired it and removed
+it to the campus in front of the Wren Building, where it stands today an
+object of veneration for faculty, students, and alumni.</p>
+
+<p>The grief of the people at the loss of Botetourt would have been all the
+greater had they known who was to be his successor. At the time John
+Murray, Earl of Dunmore, was Governor of New York, where he was regarded
+with contempt. At a feast of the Sons of St. Andrew he got drunk, acted
+like "a damned fool," and "sank himself" so low with vile language that
+the entire company was abashed. When word reached him that he was to be
+transferred to Virginia, he expressed resentment. "Damn Virginia!" he
+cried. "Why is it forced on me? I asked for New York. New York I love
+and they have robbed me of it." At a farewell dinner given in his honor,
+"he took too cheerful a glass," and got into a fight.<a name="FNanchor_10_591" id="FNanchor_10_591"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_591" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>The people of Virginia were probably not aware of Dunmore's character,
+for they greeted him cordially upon his arrival in Williamsburg, late in
+September, 1771. In the evening the city was illuminated, with a candle
+in every window, as a testimony of joy at his Excellency's safe
+arrival.<a name="FNanchor_11_592" id="FNanchor_11_592"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_592" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>The time was auspicious, for there was a lull in the controversy with
+the mother country. Though the duty on tea had not been removed, there
+was general hope that all differences could be adjusted. It is true that
+Dunmore aroused suspicion by trying to create new fees with which to pay
+his secretary, but his promptness in relinquishing them soon dissipated
+it. "A ball and elegant entertainment" at the Capitol given by the
+Burgesses in his honor testified to a spirit of cordiality.</p>
+
+<p>It was just this lull which alarmed some of the younger leaders in
+Virginia. As long as the tax on tea remained they realized that the
+danger to liberty persisted. So when the Assembly met in the spring of
+1773, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, and others
+held private consultations in the Raleigh Tavern on how to awaken the
+people, not only of Virginia, but of all the colonies, to the need of a
+common defense.<a name="FNanchor_12_593" id="FNanchor_12_593"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_593" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>A momentous series of meetings they proved to be, for out of them came
+the intercolonial system of committees of correspondence and the
+Continental Congress. "We were all sensible that the most urgent of all
+measures was that of coming to an understanding with all the other
+colonies to consider the British claims as a common cause to all, and to
+produce a unity of action," Jefferson stated afterward. "And for this
+purpose that a committee of correspondence in each colony would be the
+best instrument for intercommunication. And that their first measure
+would probably be to propose a meeting of deputies from every colony, at
+some central place, who should be charged with the direction of the
+measures to be taken by all."<a name="FNanchor_13_594" id="FNanchor_13_594"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_594" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>On March 13, the resolution to appoint the committee of correspondence
+for Virginia was introduced in the House of Burgesses by Dabney Carr,
+and adopted unanimously. To the committee were appointed some of the
+first men in the colony&mdash;Peyton Randolph, Thomas Jefferson, Richard
+Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Edmund Pendleton, etc.</p>
+
+<p>William Lee, writing from London, said that this action "struck a
+greater panic into the Ministers" than anything since the passage of the
+Stamp Act. And well it might, for soon the entire country was covered
+with committees, who kept in close touch with each other, formulated
+public opinion, and prepared the way for revolutionary action.</p>
+
+<p>The need for these bodies became glaringly evident when the British
+Government adopted a policy of repression which aroused the <ins class="correct" title="spirt">spirit</ins> of
+resistance to the highest pitch. At the time the East India Company was
+on the verge of bankruptcy. In order to save it the government agreed to
+remit the long-standing duty of twelve pence a pound on tea entering
+Great Britain. When the tea was re-exported to America the price, even
+after the three pence duty there had been paid, would be nine pence less
+than formerly. George III approved of the plan heartily, and confidently
+expected the colonists to swallow the pill of Parliamentary taxation,
+now that it was coated with the sugar of reduced prices.</p>
+
+<p>Never was a man more mistaken. The Americans, after struggling for a
+century and a half to win liberty, were not going to sell it for a cup
+of tea. When the East India Company ships arrived, angry mobs forced
+some to turn back with their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> cargoes, some were boarded and the tea
+destroyed. When the brigantine <i>Mary and Jane</i> arrived in Norfolk with
+nine chests of tea, a crowded meeting at the courthouse demanded that
+they be sent back. When the importers complied they received a vote of
+thanks.<a name="FNanchor_14_595" id="FNanchor_14_595"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_595" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> The York County committee, headed by Thomas Nelson, debated
+whether a ship which came in with two chests of tea should not be burnt,
+but contented themselves with forcing her to leave without the expected
+cargo of tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>Tea was banned in every patriotic household. One evening at Nomini Hall,
+Mrs. Robert Carter made "a dish of tea" for her husband. "He smelt,
+sipt, looked." "What is this?" he asked. Then "splash" he emptied the
+cup in the fire.<a name="FNanchor_15_596" id="FNanchor_15_596"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_596" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> But what chiefly aroused the ire of the British
+Ministry was the so-called Boston Tea Party, when fifty or sixty men,
+disguised as Indians, boarded the tea ships and threw box after box in
+the harbor, while a large crowd looked on and applauded.</p>
+
+<p>This provoked the British Government into making their most serious
+blunder&mdash;the passage of what the Americans called the "Intolerable
+Acts." The port of Boston was closed; the Massachusetts government was
+altered to increase the power of the Governor; in certain cases accused
+persons might be sent to England for trial; the Governors were
+authorized to requisition buildings for the use of royal troops; the
+boundaries of the province of Quebec were extended to the Mississippi on
+the west and the Ohio on the south.</p>
+
+<p>The American patriots now realized that they must act with vigor and
+firmness or lose all that they held most dear. The King and Parliament
+were determined to force the issue. When the Virginia Assembly met in
+May, 1774, Henry, Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, and several others met
+in the Council Chamber in the Capitol to agree on some measure to arouse
+the people to a sense of the danger. After some discussion it was
+decided to propose to the Burgesses that they make June 1, the date set
+for the closing of the port of Boston, a day of general fasting and
+prayer. The resolution was introduced by Robert Carter Nicholas, and
+passed without opposition.<a name="FNanchor_16_597" id="FNanchor_16_597"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_597" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 410px;">
+ <img src="images/illus-256.jpg" width="410" height="650" alt="" title="" />
+ <span class="caption">Lord Dunmore. From the copy in the possession of the Virginia Historical Society of the original portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+ <img src="images/illus-257.jpg" width="650" height="455" alt="" title="" />
+ <span class="caption">The Governor&#39;s Palace, Williamsburg. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The resolution stated that it was necessary to have a day of "fasting,
+humiliation, and prayer, devoutly to implore the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>divine interposition
+for averting the heavy calamity which threatens destruction to our civil
+rights, and the evils of civil war; to give us one heart and mind firmly
+to oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to American
+rights; and that the minds of his Majesty and his Parliament may be
+inspired from above with wisdom, moderation, and justice to remove from
+the loyal people of America all cause of danger from a continued pursuit
+of measures pregnant with ruin." Dunmore thought the resolution
+reflected on the King and Parliament, and so made it necessary for him
+to dissolve the Assembly.<a name="FNanchor_17_598" id="FNanchor_17_598"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_598" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>But on June 1, in all parts of Virginia, the people dropped their daily
+tasks to assemble in the churches. Every face reflected the universal
+alarm, as the eastern aristocrat, the frontiersman in his buckskin
+clothes, the great landholder, and the small planter knelt in prayer. In
+Williamsburg the citizens and as many of the Burgesses as had remained
+in town, assembled at the courthouse and moved in solemn procession to
+the church to listen to a sermon by the chaplain of the House.<a name="FNanchor_18_599" id="FNanchor_18_599"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_599" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> There
+had been no such solemn occasion since the French and Indian War, and it
+came as an electric shock to the people.<a name="FNanchor_19_600" id="FNanchor_19_600"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_600" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, events of great importance were taking place in
+Williamsburg. When Dunmore dissolved the Assembly, the Burgesses,
+instead of dispersing, met as they had done five years before in the
+Raleigh Tavern. Here, as they sat in the beautiful Apollo Room, they
+renewed the association to boycott English goods; proposed to the
+committees of correspondence in every colony that they appoint deputies
+to a continental Congress; and suggested that each county in Virginia
+should elect representatives to a convention to meet at Williamsburg on
+August 1.<a name="FNanchor_20_601" id="FNanchor_20_601"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_601" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>Despite their revolutionary activities, the members of the Assembly
+maintained cordial relations with the Governor. When Lady Dunmore joined
+her husband earlier in the spring, she was greeted with cheers by the
+people of Williamsburg. On May 26, the Burgesses gave a ball and
+entertainment in the Capitol in her honor. My lady seems to have been a
+most graceful dancer. When she and the Governor visited Norfolk where a
+ball was given them, the city authorities sent to Princess Anne<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> County
+for Colonel Moseley to come "with his famous wig and shining buckles" to
+dance the minuet with her. So when the fiddles struck up away she went
+"sailing about the room in her great, fine hoop-petticoat, and Colonel
+Moseley after her wig and all."<a name="FNanchor_21_602" id="FNanchor_21_602"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_602" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>Most of the Burgesses of the Assembly of 1774 had hardly rested from
+their journey home when they had to repack their saddlebags, mount their
+horses, and set out again for Williamsburg to attend the provincial
+convention. When they had assembled they once more renewed the
+association, and then proceeded to the election of delegates to the
+Continental Congress. Randolph was chosen because it was thought he
+would preside, Washington because he might be called on to command the
+army, Henry and Richard Henry Lee because of their eloquence, Bland,
+Harrison, and Pendleton because of their ability as political leaders.</p>
+
+<p>As these men turned their faces toward Philadelphia, their minds must
+have reverted to the series of violations of the rights of the people
+which had brought on the crisis. The questions George Washington asked
+himself no doubt were in the minds of all. "Does it not appear as clear
+as the sun in its meridian brightness that there is a regular,
+systematic plan formed to fix the right and practice of taxation upon
+us?... Does not the uniform conduct of Parliament for some years past
+confirm this?... Is not the attack upon the liberty and property of the
+people of Boston ... a plain and self-evident proof of what they are
+aiming at? Do not subsequent bills ... convince us that the
+administration is determined to stick at nothing to carry its
+point?"<a name="FNanchor_22_603" id="FNanchor_22_603"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_603" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<p>Congress met in the "plain and spacious rooms" on the lower floor of
+Carpenter's Hall which had been completed four years before. After some
+debate they adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances, stating the
+American case against taxation without representation and demanding the
+repeal of the "unpolitic, unjust, cruel, and unconstitutional"
+Intolerable Acts. They then framed a "Continental Association" to be
+enforced by local committees.</p>
+
+<p>The Association proved remarkably successful. To this Dunmore himself
+bore testimony. To the Earl of Hillsborough he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> wrote in December, 1774:
+"The Associations ... recommended by the people of this colony, and
+adopted by what is called the Continental Congress, are now enforcing
+throughout this country with the greatest rigor. A committee has been
+chosen in every county whose business it is to carry the Association of
+the Congress into execution, which committee assumes an authority to
+inspect the books, invoices, and all the secrets of the trade and
+correspondence of the merchants, to watch the conduct of every
+inhabitant without distinction, and send for all such as come under
+their suspicion into their presence, to interrogate them ...and to
+stigmatize, as they term it, such as they find transgressing what they
+are hardy enough to call the laws of Congress."<a name="FNanchor_23_604" id="FNanchor_23_604"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_604" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p>
+
+<p>The American patriots were greatly encouraged by the support they
+received from many of the ablest men in Great Britain. These men were
+shocked at the disregard by Parliament of the principle that no man
+should be taxed without his own consent. Pitt declared that if America
+fell the British Constitution would fall with her. When troops were sent
+to Boston, the Duke of Richmond blurted out: "I hope from the bottom of
+my heart that the Americans may resist and get the better of the forces
+sent against them."</p>
+
+<p>Today one wonders how the King and Parliament could have turned a deaf
+ear to the ringing words of Edmund Burke in his famous address on
+"Conciliation with the Colonies." "As long as you have the wisdom to
+keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of
+liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the
+chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their
+faces toward you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will
+have; the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be
+their obedience. Slavery they can have anywhere&mdash;it is a seed that grows
+in every soil.... But, until you become lost to all feeling of your true
+interest and your national dignity, freedom they can have from none but
+you.... Deny them this participation of freedom, and you break that sole
+bond which originally made, and must still preserve, the unity of the
+Empire.... It is the spirit of the English Constitution which, infused
+through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>vigorates, vivifies
+every part of the Empire, even down to the minutest members."<a name="FNanchor_24_605" id="FNanchor_24_605"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_605" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the revolutionary changes in Virginia it was the House of Burgesses,
+not the Council, who took the lead. Washington, Henry, Jefferson,
+Pendleton, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason were all Burgesses. In fact
+the members of the Council were placed in a most embarrassing position.
+Appointed by the King to aid and advise the royal Governor, they owed a
+double allegiance&mdash;to Crown and country. To them the breach was a
+tragedy, the choice of allegiance a difficult one. So for the most part
+they played a negative role. In the Council meetings they usually voted
+with the Governor. But as the crisis grew more acute they drifted away
+from him to join their countrymen in resisting the assaults on their
+liberty.</p>
+
+<p>John Page, Junior, in Council supported Dunmore in dissolving the
+Assembly in May, 1774; yet he remained in town and joined the Burgesses
+in the procession to the church on the fast day.<a name="FNanchor_25_606" id="FNanchor_25_606"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_606" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> On the other hand,
+Robert Carter, though he had refused to drink a cup of tea, would not
+permit any of his family to observe the day. "By this I conclude he is a
+courtier," wrote Fithian in his <i>Diary</i>. But he did not long remain a
+"courtier." "The enemies of government are so numerous and so vigilant
+over the conduct of every man that the loyalists have been so
+intimidated that they have entirely shrunk away," wrote Dunmore in July,
+1775. "Even the Council ... approves everything done by the Burgesses."
+The only members he could rely upon were Ralph Wormeley, Gawin Corbin,
+and the Reverend John Camm.<a name="FNanchor_26_607" id="FNanchor_26_607"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_607" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> The rest, while not subscribing to the
+Association, adhered strictly to it.</p>
+
+<p>But John Randolph, the Attorney General, remained faithful to the King
+to the end. His opposition to the resolutions denouncing the Stamp Act,
+the boycott, and the calling of the provincial and Continental
+Congresses brought down on him the wrath of the patriots. Dunmore stated
+that he was insulted, his life threatened, and his home destroyed.<a name="FNanchor_27_608" id="FNanchor_27_608"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_608" class="fnanchor">[27]</a>
+In 1775 he sailed for England with his family, never to return.</p>
+
+<p>In the fall of 1774 Dunmore brought on himself the hatred of the
+Virginia frontiersmen by his conduct in a war with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> western Indians.
+Placing himself in command of one force, and General Andrew Lewis of
+another, he gave the order to advance. Lewis defeated the famous chief
+Comstock in the bloody battle of Point Pleasant, but Dunmore, ignoring
+the chance to deliver a crushing blow, made a treaty of peace with the
+Indians.</p>
+
+<p>The frontiersmen, as they turned their faces homeward, cursed the
+Governor as a traitor, who spared the Indians because he planned to use
+them against the Virginians should they go to war with Great Britain.
+Nor were their suspicions groundless, for a few months later Dunmore
+wrote the Earl of Dartmouth that if the King would send him "a small
+body of troops" and arms and ammunition, he could raise "such a force
+among Indians, Negroes, and other persons" as would soon reduce Virginia
+to obedience.<a name="FNanchor_28_609" id="FNanchor_28_609"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_609" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<p>But at this moment obedience was far from the minds of the people. On
+March 20, 1775, the second Provincial Congress met in St. John's Church,
+Richmond. The place was but a straggling village, but it was more
+centrally located than Williamsburg, and further away from the British
+warships in the York River. The delegates were unanimous in approving
+the proceedings of the Continental Congress, and in thanking the
+Virginia representatives for their services. But it soon became evident
+that they were divided on the vital question of preparing for war. When
+Henry introduced resolutions for putting the colony in a state of
+defense by arming and disciplining a force of militia, some of the
+leading members drew back. War was unthinkable, they said. The country
+was too weak, too defenseless, too open to invasion. The only hope was
+for reconciliation, for the mediation of America's friends in
+Parliament.</p>
+
+<p>This brought Henry to his feet. "What has there been in the conduct of
+the British Ministry for the last ten years to justify hope? Are fleets
+and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? These are the
+instruments of subjugation sent over to rivet upon us the chains which
+the British Ministry have been so long forging. What have we to oppose
+them? Shall we try argument? We have been trying that for the last ten
+years.... Shall we resort to entreaty and supplication? We have
+petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have supplicated; and we have been
+spurned from the foot of the throne.... If we wish to be free we must
+fight! I repeat it, sir, we must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> fight!... Is life so dear or peace so
+sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it,
+Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me,
+give me liberty or give me death."<a name="FNanchor_29_610" id="FNanchor_29_610"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_610" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Henry's eloquence carried the
+day, yet so fraught with danger was the issue, that his motion was
+carried by a majority of five only.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later Dunmore wrote to Dartmouth denouncing the proceedings
+of the Convention. "The most dangerous, as well as the most daring
+attempt is the resolution which is adopted for raising a body of armed
+men, horse and foot as well. The plan for imbodying, arming, and
+disciplining of which is by these resolutions published as the final
+order for putting the same into execution."</p>
+
+<p>Almost overnight Virginia was converted into an armed camp. Everywhere
+there was the sound of drums, the sharp commands of drillmasters,
+marching and countermarching. Even in Williamsburg the streets were full
+of men with arms in their hands. In the Valley of Virginia, Fithian
+jotted down in his <i>Diary</i> on June 6: "Here every presence is warlike,
+every sound is martial! Drums beating, fifes and bagpipes playing....
+Every man had a hunting-shirt, which is the uniform of each company.
+Almost all have a cockade and bucktail in their hats to represent that
+they are hardy, resolute, and invincible natives of the woods of
+America."<a name="FNanchor_30_611" id="FNanchor_30_611"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_611" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>These warlike preparations drove Dunmore to take a step, which aroused
+the fury of the patriots. In Williamsburg there still stands a little
+octagonal building which was used as a magazine in colonial days. Here
+were stored twenty barrels of powder and several guns. To keep the
+independent companies from seizing the powder the Governor ordered a
+party of sailors to take it on board an armed schooner nearby in the
+James River. Before daybreak, on April 20, they made off with most of
+it, and it was later put on board the <i>Fowey</i> man-of-war.<a name="FNanchor_31_612" id="FNanchor_31_612"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_612" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>Despite the gloom of early dawn the removal of the powder was observed,
+and the beating of drums gave the alarm. The independent companies got
+under arms, the people assembled, and the Governor was threatened with
+violence unless he returned the powder. The mayor and other city
+officers, leaving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> the troops nearby, went to the Palace with an address
+which Dunmore thought amounted to a peremptory demand for the powder.
+Should he refuse they could not answer for the dreadful consequences.</p>
+
+<p>The Governor not only refused, but prepared to resist any attack with
+the aid of several British officers and a few men from the warships. Had
+not Peyton Randolph and Robert Carter Nicholas persuaded the angry
+troops to disperse, the war in Virginia would have begun with an assault
+on the Palace. As it was, parties of armed men continued to pour into
+Williamsburg, and word came that several hundred cavalry were at
+Fredericksburg, ready to march, and that Patrick Henry was leading a
+force up from the south. In alarm the Governor sent Lady Dunmore and his
+children to one of the warships, and threatened to arm the slaves and
+reduce Williamsburg to ashes.<a name="FNanchor_32_613" id="FNanchor_32_613"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_613" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
+
+<p>The more conservative leaders among the Virginians, who were still
+hoping for a compromise with Great Britain, were able, though with great
+difficulty, to restrain the troops. At Fredericksburg the men pledged
+themselves to be in readiness at a moment's notice to defend the laws,
+the liberties, and the rights of Virginia and any sister colony, and
+then dispersed.<a name="FNanchor_33_614" id="FNanchor_33_614"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_614" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> Henry's force got within fifteen miles of
+Williamsburg, and halted only when Richard Corbin, the Receiver General,
+paid for the powder from the royal funds by handing him a bill of
+exchange for £330.</p>
+
+<p>Fate decreed that hostilities should begin, not in Virginia, but in
+Massachusetts. The Virginia delegates were just preparing to leave for
+the second Continental Congress when the news of the skirmish at
+Lexington and Concord arrived. New England was already at war. The
+question in everyone's mind was, would the rest of the country follow?
+Washington's answer was to wear his military uniform. Along the road he
+and the other Virginia delegates were cheered on by crowds of
+enthusiastic people, amid the blaring of bands and the firing of guns.</p>
+
+<p>It was with difficulty that some of the conservative members of Congress
+prevented a declaration of independence. And though a petition to the
+King was agreed on, the taking over of the New England army around
+Boston and appointing Washington commander in chief, was in effect a
+declaration of war.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> Yet, as Washington was leaving for the east to draw
+the sword, Pendleton returned to Virginia to resume his post as Speaker
+in a last attempt to re-establish the old government.</p>
+
+<p>He was welcomed to Williamsburg like a conquering hero. A detachment of
+cavalry met him at the Pamunkey River and escorted him the rest of the
+way. Two miles from the city they were joined by a company of infantry.
+At sunset, as they entered Williamsburg, they were received by the
+ringing of bells and the cheers of the crowds in the streets. At dark
+every house was illuminated.</p>
+
+<p>Dunmore thought "this pompous military exhibition" had been planned "to
+raise the importance of the members of this new created power, the
+Congress, before the people." And the "appearance of numbers of the
+Burgesses in the clothes of the American troops, wearing a shirt of
+coarse linen or canvas over their clothes and a tomahawk by their
+sides," added fuel to the fire.<a name="FNanchor_34_615" id="FNanchor_34_615"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_615" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Assembly had been in session but three days when several overzealous
+young men broke into the magazine to take out some of the arms. They
+stumbled against a cord which had been attached to a gun pointed at the
+entrance, which went off wounding two of them. This aroused the people
+to action, and the next day at noon an angry crowd, among them several
+Burgesses, entered the <ins class="correct" title="mazagine">magazine</ins> and carried off about 400 stand of arms.
+A committee of the House of Burgesses persuaded the people to return the
+arms, and then set a military guard around the magazine. "So the custody
+of the magazine and public stores is thus wrested out of the hands of
+the Governor," complained Dunmore.<a name="FNanchor_35_616" id="FNanchor_35_616"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_616" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p>
+
+<p>At the opening of the Assembly the Governor began by urging the
+acceptance of the resolutions which Lord North had pushed through
+Parliament in February, as the basis for reconciliation. These
+resolutions promised that if any colony would raise of its own authority
+the cost of its own government, Parliament would not tax that colony. In
+other words, if the Americans guaranteed to pay into the hands of the
+King's Governors funds sufficient to make them independent of the
+Assemblies, Parliament would not take their money from them to do so.
+The Burgesses must have been indignant when Dunmore told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> them that he
+had strong hopes a consideration of this offer would bring to an end the
+disputes with the mother country.<a name="FNanchor_36_617" id="FNanchor_36_617"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_617" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p>
+
+<p>The reply of the Burgesses, which was almost certainly written by
+Jefferson, is notable because of the clearness with which it exposed the
+unconstitutionally of the British position. They had viewed the proposal
+with pain and disappointment, for it merely changed the form of
+oppression without lightening its burden. "The British government has no
+right to intermeddle with the support of civil government in the
+colonies. For us, not for them, has government been instituted here....
+We cannot conceive that any other legislature has a right to prescribe
+either the number or pecuniary appointment of our officers." The claim
+of Parliament of the right to tax the people of the colony had no
+precedent. Even the act of 1680 giving the King a perpetual revenue was
+passed, not by Parliament, but by his Majesty "with the consent of the
+General Assembly."<a name="FNanchor_37_618" id="FNanchor_37_618"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_618" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Burgesses were not willing to purchase exemption from an unjust
+taxation by saddling the people with a perpetual tax to be disposed of
+by the King or Parliament. "We have a right to give our money as the
+Parliament does theirs, without coercion.... It is not merely the mode
+of raising, but the freedom of granting our money for which we have
+contended, without which we possess no check on the royal prerogative."</p>
+
+<p>Upon receiving assurance that no harm was intended his family, Dunmore
+had brought them back to the Palace. But on June 8, before daybreak, he,
+Lady Dunmore, the children, his secretary, and some of the servants
+stole out and went on board the <i>Fowey</i>. "My house was kept in continued
+alarm and threatened every night with an assault," Dunmore explained.
+"Surrounded as I was by armed men ... and situated so far from any place
+where men-of-war can approach, ... I could not think it safe to continue
+in that city."<a name="FNanchor_38_619" id="FNanchor_38_619"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_619" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Assembly urged the Governor to return, but he refused. So on the
+night of June 24, a large body of men forced their way into the Palace
+by bursting open a window, and carried off several hundred stand of arms
+which had been kept in the hall. Some days later another group entered
+the building, went<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> from room to room breaking into cabinets, and
+carried off arms of various sorts.<a name="FNanchor_39_620" id="FNanchor_39_620"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_620" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+<p>And now Williamsburg became an armed camp. Bands of horse and foot, in
+uniforms and each company displaying their distinctive badge flocked in.
+Some of them lodged in the Capitol, the cavalry encamped on the Palace
+Green.<a name="FNanchor_40_621" id="FNanchor_40_621"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_621" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> One wonders whether these men knew that a century earlier
+Nathaniel Bacon had assembled his men on or near this spot, or whether
+any of them realized that they had fought for the same cause as they,
+the cause of liberty?</p>
+
+<p>With Dunmore on the <i>Fowey</i> and the Assembly in Williamsburg, the
+remainder of the session was rather futile. There was renewed bickering
+over the removal of the powder, the Burgesses drew up a long address to
+the Governor criticizing his administration, and accusing him of
+misrepresenting conditions in Virginia in one of his letters to the Earl
+of Dartmouth. The Assembly adjourned on June 24, until October 12, and
+on that date, when only thirty-seven members showed up, adjourned again
+until March 7, 1776. This time less than a fourth of the Burgesses
+attended, and immediately adjourned to May 6, when several members met,
+"but did neither proceed to business nor adjourn, as a House of
+Burgesses." And so died the Virginia Assembly after more than a century
+and a half of existence, in which it had fought and won the good battle
+for liberty. It now remained for other bodies to defend and preserve
+that liberty for future generations.<a name="FNanchor_41_622" id="FNanchor_41_622"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_622" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+<p>Even while the Assembly was in session the government, in reality, had
+passed into the hands of the conventions and the committees of safety.
+As early as December, 1774, Dunmore wrote that the royal government had
+been "entirely overthrown." "There is not a justice of peace in Virginia
+that acts except as a committeeman. The abolishing of the courts of
+justice was the first step taken, in which the men of fortune and
+pre-eminence joined equally with the lowest and meanest. The General
+Court ... is in much the same predicament."<a name="FNanchor_42_623" id="FNanchor_42_623"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_623" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> All that was needed to
+take the government completely out of the hands of the Governor and the
+Assembly was an executive head. And this was supplied by the third
+convention which met in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> Richmond in July, 1775, by the appointment of a
+"general committee of safety."</p>
+
+<p>To this body were appointed some of the ablest men in the
+colony&mdash;Pendleton, George Mason, John Page, Richard Bland, Thomas
+Ludwell Lee, and others. It was given almost dictatorial powers, for it
+had the supervision of military affairs, appointing officers, collecting
+supplies, and naming paymasters; it corresponded with the county
+committees, arrested Loyalists, held inquiries.<a name="FNanchor_43_624" id="FNanchor_43_624"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_624" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p>
+
+<p>The convention, having created a body to take over the functions
+formerly exercised by the Governor and Council, itself practically
+replaced the dying Assembly. It prepared for the defense of the colony
+by raising two regular regiments and several thousand minutemen,
+reorganizing the militia, and setting up works for the manufacture of
+arms and powder. It authorized the Treasurer to issue £350,000 of paper
+money. It levied taxes on tithables, coaches, land, licenses, legal
+papers, etc.<a name="FNanchor_44_625" id="FNanchor_44_625"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_625" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p>
+
+<p>A state of war now existed. If they could have laid hands on Dunmore,
+the patriots no doubt would have kept him in confinement. And on one
+occasion he barely escaped. It was in July that he went in a barge to a
+farm which he owned on a creek about seven miles from Williamsburg. He
+and Captain Montague, of the <i>Fowey</i>, had just finished dinner when the
+servants rushed in to warn them that the Americans were coming. They had
+barely time to run to their boat and push off. Two of their men were
+captured, and another, jumping into a canoe, paddled desperately with
+bullets whizzing past his head.<a name="FNanchor_45_626" id="FNanchor_45_626"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_626" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p>
+
+<p>As early as May, 1775, Dunmore wrote Dartmouth that he could not
+maintain even an appearance of authority without "a force to support
+it." Dartmouth replied that he was sending him 3,000 stand of arms, 200
+rounds of powder and ball for each musket, and four light brass cannon.
+"I see that Gage has ordered sent you a detachment of the Fourteenth
+Regiment. I hope with the Negroes, Indians, etc., you can reduce
+Virginia.... It is the King's firm resolution that the most vigorous
+efforts should be made, by sea and land, to reduce his rebellious
+subjects to obedience."<a name="FNanchor_46_627" id="FNanchor_46_627"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_627" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>Dunmore was soon in control of Virginia waters. The sloop of war <i>Otter</i>
+arrived late in June, the <i>Mercury</i>, carrying twenty guns, on July 10,
+to be followed by the <i>Liverpool</i>, a frigate of twenty-eight guns; the
+<i>Kingfisher</i>, and the <i>Dunmore</i>. But the Governor was never able to
+raise a land force capable of contending with the Virginians. With the
+arrival of seventy men from St. Augustine and one company from Rhode
+Island to add to the marines, he could muster about 200 men. This small
+force he hoped would be a nucleus for an army of Tories and Negroes, and
+on November 7 he issued a proclamation declaring martial law, summoning
+all "loyal" citizens to join him, and offering freedom to any slaves who
+would take up arms for the King.<a name="FNanchor_47_628" id="FNanchor_47_628"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_628" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, he had moved with his little fleet into the Elizabeth
+River. It was necessary for him to find provisions, and he counted upon
+the Scottish merchants of Norfolk and other Tories in the lower counties
+to supply him. When the local committee of safety denounced all who sent
+food out to the ships as enemies of liberty, he threatened to bombard
+the city.</p>
+
+<p>The Norfolk printer, John Holt, ignoring the guns of the warships which
+pointed out over the town, continued to issue his gazette and to urge
+the people not to give up their liberty. On September 30 a party of
+British rowed ashore, marched to the printing office, and carried off
+the press, the type, the ink, the paper, and two of the printers. As
+they embarked they gave three huzzas, in which a crowd of Negroes
+joined. "I am now going to have a press for the King," Dunmore said.<a name="FNanchor_48_629" id="FNanchor_48_629"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_629" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p>
+
+<p>On November 16, Dunmore took possession of Norfolk, where he raised the
+royal standard. To his great satisfaction the Scottish merchants and
+their clerks, some Negroes, and others took the oath. He then began to
+fortify the city with earthworks.<a name="FNanchor_49_630" id="FNanchor_49_630"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_630" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> He would have done better to build
+forts at different points on the long, circuitous road by which alone
+Norfolk could be approached, between the Dismal Swamp and the heads of
+several branches of the Elizabeth River. Not until it was too late did
+he fortify Great Bridge where the Southern Branch flowed between two
+marshes, each crossed by a long causeway.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, the Virginia troops had been concentrating at
+Williamsburg, under the command of Colonel Woodford. They now crossed
+the James, marched through Suffolk, and headed for the Great Bridge.
+Many of the men were from the western counties, and were armed, not with
+muskets, but with rifles. They were deadly shots, as the British soon
+found to their sorrow. When the Virginians reached Great Bridge, the
+British, instead of waiting for them to attack their almost impregnable
+position, themselves took the initiative. The regulars led the way over
+the causeways and the bridge, followed by the Tories and Negroes.<a name="FNanchor_50_631" id="FNanchor_50_631"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_631" class="fnanchor">[50]</a>
+"Reserve your fire until they are within fifty yards," the Virginia
+officers ordered. Then the shirtmen, aiming as coolly as though they
+were shooting deer, let fly. The regulars were cut to pieces, the Tories
+and Negroes refused to fight, so with the coming of darkness the British
+left their posts and streamed back to Norfolk.<a name="FNanchor_51_632" id="FNanchor_51_632"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_632" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p>
+
+<p>When Dunmore heard of this defeat he raved like a madman, and even
+threatened to hang the boy who brought the news. With the shirtmen
+advancing on the city, flight was all that was left him. Soon the
+streets were jammed with panicky soldiers, men, women, and children,
+hastening to the wharves to take refuge on the warships or the fleet of
+merchantmen. They were none too soon, for on December 11, the
+Virginians, reinforced by a body of North Carolinians under Colonel
+Howe, entered the city.</p>
+
+<p>But having gained Norfolk, the two commanders now debated what they
+should do with it. If a large force of British attacked it by land and
+sea it could not be defended, and the garrison would be captured.<a name="FNanchor_52_633" id="FNanchor_52_633"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_633" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> On
+the other hand, for the enemy it would be invaluable as a base for
+attacks on any point in eastern Maryland, Virginia, or North Carolina.
+Howe wrote the Virginia convention, hinting for permission to burn the
+city.</p>
+
+<p>Dunmore's folly gave him an excuse for doing so without waiting for a
+reply. Food and water were becoming scarce on the crowded ships in the
+river, many of the refugees became ill, several died. So Dunmore
+threatened to bombard the city if the patriots cut off supplies, and
+moved the warships to a position close by. But now the riflemen, firing
+from warehouses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> near the wharves, began picking off his men whenever
+they appeared on deck. On the afternoon of January 1, 1776, the warships
+opened fire, and several boatloads of soldiers rowed up to the wharves
+and set fire to the adjacent buildings.<a name="FNanchor_53_634" id="FNanchor_53_634"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_634" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was a striking evidence of the sacrifices which the colonial
+Virginians were willing to make in the cause of liberty that twice they
+applied the torch to one of their towns to prevent the enemy from using
+it as a base. The burning of Jamestown by Bacon and his men foreshadowed
+the burning of Norfolk by the revolutionary troops a century later.
+Seizing upon the fires set by the British as an excuse, the soldiers
+went from house to house to spread the flames. In all nearly nine
+hundred houses were destroyed. A month later, by command of the
+convention, the Americans burned down what was left of the city, 416
+houses in all.<a name="FNanchor_54_635" id="FNanchor_54_635"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_635" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p>
+
+<p>The burning of Norfolk was a drastic step indeed. All who witnessed the
+plight of the people as they trudged along the roads leading out of the
+city to seek refuge in nearby farms must have condemned it as an act of
+useless cruelty. But in the end it probably saved more suffering than it
+entailed. Had the city been spared, the British would almost certainly
+have occupied it and held it throughout the remainder of the war, just
+as they held New York. It would have been a haven for Tories from all
+the adjacent states, the British would have made it a great naval and
+military base, from it expeditions would have been launched up the great
+Virginia rivers as Berkeley had launched expeditions from the Eastern
+Shore.</p>
+
+<p>Since the Virginians had no fleet of warships capable of driving Dunmore
+out of their waters, they decided to starve him out. They even
+threatened to move the entire population of parts of Norfolk and
+Princess Anne Counties to prevent provisions from reaching him. In May
+he gave orders for the fleet to leave the Elizabeth River and proceed to
+Gwynn's Island, in the Chesapeake Bay, near the mouth of the
+Rappahannock River. Here he established a camp. But when General Andrew
+Lewis set up batteries on the mainland and opened fire, the place became
+untenable. One shot struck the <i>Dunmore</i> and wounded the Governor. "Good
+God! that ever I should come to this!" he shouted. A few days later his
+fleet sailed down the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> bay and out through the capes. With it went the
+last vestige of British authority in Virginia.<a name="FNanchor_55_636" id="FNanchor_55_636"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_636" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p>
+
+<p>Now the question of independence was in the minds of all. The small
+planter as he set out his tobacco crop debated it with himself; the
+blacksmith talked it over with his client as he shod his horse; it was
+the topic of conversation in the church yard before the sermon began;
+the members of the convention debated it as they rode along the muddy
+roads. In May, 1775, Dunmore wrote: "It is no longer to be doubted that
+independence is the object in view."<a name="FNanchor_56_637" id="FNanchor_56_637"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_637" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> But in this he was wrong. The
+colonists did not want independence. They were Englishmen, most of them,
+speaking the English language, living under English law, attached to
+English institutions. They had hardly ceased to speak of England as
+"home." They looked to the British navy for protection, they were keenly
+alive to their economic dependence upon the mother country, they were
+weak and disunited. The colonies went into the war hugging the hope that
+there might yet be reconciliation, with Washington referring to the
+British soldiers as the Ministerial troops, and the American chaplains,
+in public services, praying for the King.</p>
+
+<p>The colonies, in taking up arms, sought only to maintain existing
+conditions. The King and the Ministry were the real revolutionists, not
+the Americans. It was Washington who wrote in 1769, that "at a time when
+our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing less
+than the deprivation of American freedom, something should be done to
+avert the stroke and maintain the liberty which we have derived from our
+ancestors." Washington by no means considered himself a rebel. He was
+championing the British constitution and American rights under it
+against the illegal aggressions of a reactionary Ministry.</p>
+
+<p>But the war had not been long in progress before the people saw that
+they must preserve their freedom at the bayonet's point, or make abject
+submission. When, in the summer of 1775, Richard Penn and Arthur Lee
+went to England with the last effort of Congress for reconciliation, the
+so-called Olive Branch, they were rebuffed. The King and his Ministers
+refused to see them. While they were in London a proclamation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> was read
+at Palace Yard and Temple Bar by heralds, prohibiting all intercourse
+with the colonies.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the ties of reverence and affection gave way rapidly before
+the anger and bitterness of war. The news that the King was purchasing
+troops from certain German rulers for use against them aroused the
+Americans to fury. Angry men gathered everywhere, in the coffee houses,
+on the village greens, or around the courthouses to discuss the burning
+of Portland in the midst of a Maine winter, or the arming of the slaves
+by Dunmore.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this moment that Tom Paine's <i>Common Sense</i> made its
+appearance. Although this pamphlet was bombastic, radical, and filled
+with absurdities, it fell in with the trend of the day, and so tended to
+crystallize thought in favor of independence. More than 100,000 copies
+were sold, and it was estimated that every third person in the colonies
+read it. "Where, some say, is the King of America? I'll tell you friend.
+He reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the royal brute
+of England. A government of our own is our natural right. Ye who oppose
+independence now, ye know not what ye do: ye are opening a door to
+eternal tyranny."</p>
+
+<p>Reluctantly the leaders of thought in Virginia came to the conclusion
+that the British government was forcing them into independence.
+Jefferson wrote John Randolph in November, 1775, that he loved the union
+with Great Britain, "but by the God that made me I will cease to exist
+before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament
+propose, and in this I think I speak the sentiments of America."</p>
+
+<p>Yet the Virginia convention, in August, 1775, had declared: "We again
+and for all, publickly and solemnly declare, before God and the world,
+that we do bear faith and true allegiance to his Majesty George the
+Third, our only lawful and rightful King."<a name="FNanchor_57_638" id="FNanchor_57_638"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_638" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p>
+
+<p>But before the meeting of the convention of May 6, 1776, sentiment had
+changed. Jefferson said that nine out of every ten persons were now for
+independence.<a name="FNanchor_58_639" id="FNanchor_58_639"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_639" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> In February, Benjamin Harrison had hinted strongly
+that the time was ripe for separation. In January Washington had written
+Joseph Reed that "a few more such flaming arguments" as Falmouth and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>
+Norfolk would not leave many to oppose a separation. On April 12 John
+Page predicted that independence would be voted in the approaching
+convention; two days later Carter Braxton expressed the opinion that
+independence was not only desirable but inevitable; Pendleton, though
+greatly disturbed at the prospect of separation, thought that no other
+course was possible.</p>
+
+<p>There was great excitement in Williamsburg when the delegates arrived to
+take their seats in the Hall of Burgesses for the opening of the
+convention. The crowds which filled the gallery must have pointed out
+each <ins class="correct" title="distingiushed">distinguished</ins> member as he entered&mdash;the aged Richard Bland; George
+Mason, his black hair now showing a touch of gray; Patrick Henry, in the
+plain garb he always wore; Richard Henry Lee, who had been called from
+Congress by the illness of his wife; James Madison, a small delicate
+young man, widely known as a scholar and political thinker; Edmund
+Pendleton, six feet in height, lithe, and handsome; Robert Carter
+Nicholas, Henry Lee, Edmund Randolph.<a name="FNanchor_59_640" id="FNanchor_59_640"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_640" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p>
+
+<p>On the question of independence there were three opinions. Nicholas was
+opposed to separation, for he thought there was still hope for
+conciliation. Henry wished Congress to establish independence through a
+declaration. Pendleton argued for a statement by the convention and by
+Congress that independence already existed by the action of King and
+Parliament.</p>
+
+<p>In the end Pendleton was directed to prepare a resolution on
+independence. So, on May 15, Thomas Nelson, Junior, rose and read two
+resolutions which Pendleton had drawn up:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Forasmuch as all the endeavors of the United Colonies, by the most
+decent representations and petitions to the King and Parliament of
+Great Britain to restore peace and security to America under the
+British government, and a reunion with that people upon just and
+liberal terms, instead of a redress of grievances, have produced,
+from an imperious and vindictive administration, increased insult,
+oppression, and a vigorous attempt to effect our total destruction.
+By a late act, all these colonies are declared to be in rebellion,
+and out of the protection of the British Crown; our properties
+subjected to confiscation; our people, when captivated, compelled
+to join in the murder and plunder of their relations and
+countrymen; and all former rapine and oppression of Americans
+declared legal and just. Fleets and armies are raised, and the aid
+of foreign troops engaged to assist in these destructive purposes.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p>
+<blockquote><p>The King's representative in this colony hath not only withheld all
+the powers of government from operating for our safety, but, having
+retired on board an armed ship, is carrying on a piratical and
+savage war against us, tempting our slaves by every artifice to
+resort to him, and training and employing them against their
+masters. In this state of extreme danger, we have no alternative
+left but an abject submission to the will of those overbearing
+tyrants, or a total separation from the Crown and government of
+Great Britain, uniting and exerting the strength of all America for
+defence, and forming alliances with foreign powers for commerce and
+aid in war: Wherefore, appealing to the SEARCHER OF HEARTS for the
+sincerity of former declarations, expressing our desire to preserve
+the connection with that nation, and that we are driven from that
+inclination by their wicked councils, and the eternal laws of
+self-preservation:</p>
+
+<p>Resolved, unanimously, That the delegates appointed to represent this
+colony in the General Congress, be instructed to propose to that
+respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent
+states, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon the Crown or
+Parliament of Great Britain; and that they give the assent of this
+colony to such declaration, and to whatever measures may be thought
+proper and necessary by the Congress for forming foreign alliances, and
+a confederation of the colonies, at such time, and in the manner as to
+them shall seem best; Provided, the power of forming government for, and
+the regulations of the internal concerns of each colony, be left to the
+respective colonial legislatures.</p>
+
+<p>Resolved unanimously, That a committee be appointed to prepare a
+DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, and such a plan of government as will be most
+likely to maintain peace and order in this colony, and secure
+substantial and equal liberty to the people.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The people of Virginia everywhere applauded this final breach with Great
+Britain. In Williamsburg the "Union flag of the American states" was
+raised over the Capitol. The troops, under General Lewis, wheeled and
+marched in a nearby grove in the presence of the members of the
+Committee of Safety and of the convention and a crowd of citizens. After
+the resolutions of the convention had been read to the troops, a toast
+was proposed to "The American Independent States," which was drunk to
+the shouts of the crowd and the firing of the artillery. Then followed
+toasts to "The Grand Congress of the United States and their Respective
+Legislatures," and to "General Washington and Victory for the American
+Arms."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> With coming of night the people illuminated the town amid
+demonstrations of joy "that the domination of Great Britain was now at
+an end."<a name="FNanchor_60_641" id="FNanchor_60_641"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_641" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p>
+
+<p>The resolutions of the convention were tantamount to a Virginia
+declaration of independence. Though it was thought wise to act in
+concert with the other colonies, the convention did not wait for
+Congress, but proceeded to draw up a constitution for an independent
+state, with Governor, Senate, House of Delegates, and judiciary. One
+hundred and sixty-nine years, almost to a day, after Captain Christopher
+Newport planted the English flag on the Jamestown peninsula, English
+authority in Virginia was overthrown.</p>
+
+<p>As the delegates rode home after the convention had concluded its work,
+the minds of some must have gone over the developments of those
+seventeen decades, the heritage of self-government which their ancestors
+had brought with them from England, the struggle to defend their liberty
+against the assaults of despotic Kings and despotic Governors, the
+spirit of self-reliance fostered by life in the New World, and now the
+attempts of a reactionary government in Great Britain to turn back the
+hands of the clock and deprive them of the rights they had won. It had
+been James I and Charles I, and even George III who, in their dealings
+with the colonies, had insisted upon "obedience," but the colonists
+insisted upon another word, the word "liberty." Now that they had won
+liberty, it remained to be seen whether they could preserve it against
+the attacks of the British armies and navy. And none could foresee that
+at Yorktown, but a few miles away, British armed might in America was
+destined to be broken, as its political power had already been broken at
+Williamsburg.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_582" id="Footnote_1_582"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_582"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Virginia Gazette</i>, P. and D., Oct. 27, 1768.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_583" id="Footnote_2_583"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_583"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_584" id="Footnote_3_584"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_584"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> CO5-1332, Feb. 18, 1769.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_585" id="Footnote_4_585"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_585"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Virginia Gazette</i>, P. and D., May 18, 1769.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_586" id="Footnote_5_586"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_586"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_587" id="Footnote_6_587"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_587"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> CO5-1332, Botetourt to Hillsborough, May 19, 1769.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_588" id="Footnote_7_588"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_588"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1766-1769: 227.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_589" id="Footnote_8_589"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_589"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Virginia Gazette</i>, P. and D. Oct. 18, 1770.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_590" id="Footnote_9_590"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_590"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Supplement.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_591" id="Footnote_10_591"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_591"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> William Smith, <i>Diary</i>, Dec. 1, 1770; July 9, 1771.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_592" id="Footnote_11_592"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_592"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Virginia Gazette</i>, P. and D., Sept. 17, 1771.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_593" id="Footnote_12_593"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_593"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>The writings of Thomas Jefferson</i>, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 1:
+7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_594" id="Footnote_13_594"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_594"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_595" id="Footnote_14_595"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_595"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> T. J. Wertenbaker, <i>Norfolk: historic southern port</i>, 55.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_596" id="Footnote_15_596"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_596"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Journal of Philip Vickers Fithian</i>, ed. H. D. Farish,
+257.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_597" id="Footnote_16_597"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_597"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>The writings of Thomas Jefferson</i>, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 1:
+9.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_598" id="Footnote_17_598"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_598"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1773-1776: 124.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_599" id="Footnote_18_599"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_599"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Virginia Gazette</i>, P. and D., June 2, 1774.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_600" id="Footnote_19_600"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_600"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>The writings of Thomas Jefferson</i>, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 1:
+11.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_601" id="Footnote_20_601"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_601"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 10.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_602" id="Footnote_21_602"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_602"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Lower Norfolk County Antiquary</i> 5: 32-35.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_603" id="Footnote_22_603"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_603"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Writings of George Washington</i>, ed. Jared Sparks, 2:
+389.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_604" id="Footnote_23_604"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_604"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Dunmore papers, No. 22.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_605" id="Footnote_24_605"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_605"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Burke's speech</i>, ed. S. C. Newsom, 105, 106.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_606" id="Footnote_25_606"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_606"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Dunmore papers, Dunmore to Dartmouth, March 14, 1775.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_607" id="Footnote_26_607"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_607"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, No. 28.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_608" id="Footnote_27_608"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_608"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, No. 30.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_609" id="Footnote_28_609"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_609"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, No. 26.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_610" id="Footnote_29_610"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_610"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> William Wirt, <i>Life of Patrick Henry</i>, 139-141.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_611" id="Footnote_30_611"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_611"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Philip Vickers Fithian, journal</i>, eds. Albion and Dodson,
+24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_612" id="Footnote_31_612"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_612"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Dunmore papers, no. 26.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_613" id="Footnote_32_613"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_613"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_614" id="Footnote_33_614"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_614"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>The Virginia Gazette</i>, Pinckney, May 11, 1775.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_615" id="Footnote_34_615"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_615"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Dunmore papers, No. 28.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_616" id="Footnote_35_616"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_616"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_617" id="Footnote_36_617"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_617"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1773-1776: 174,
+175.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_618" id="Footnote_37_618"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_618"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 219-221.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_619" id="Footnote_38_619"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_619"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Dunmore papers, No. 28.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_620" id="Footnote_39_620"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_620"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_621" id="Footnote_40_621"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_621"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, No. 29.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_622" id="Footnote_41_622"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_622"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>Journals of the House of Burgesses</i>, 1773-1776.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_623" id="Footnote_42_623"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_623"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Dunmore papers, No. 22.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_624" id="Footnote_43_624"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_624"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>Proceedings of the Convention</i>, etc.; C. R. Lingley,
+<i>Transition in Virginia</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_625" id="Footnote_44_625"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_625"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_626" id="Footnote_45_626"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_626"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>Dunmore papers</i>, No. 29.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_627" id="Footnote_46_627"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_627"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, No. 22.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_628" id="Footnote_47_628"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_628"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> T. J. Wertenbaker, <i>Norfolk: historic southern port</i>, 57,
+67.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_629" id="Footnote_48_629"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_629"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Dunmore papers, No. 32.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_630" id="Footnote_49_630"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_630"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> <i>American Archives</i>, Fourth Ser. 4: 343.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_631" id="Footnote_50_631"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_631"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Richmond College historical papers</i> 1: 101.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_632" id="Footnote_51_632"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_632"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 115-121.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_633" id="Footnote_52_633"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_633"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 138, 139, 148.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_634" id="Footnote_53_634"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_634"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> <i>Lower Norfolk County Antiquary</i> 2: 80.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_635" id="Footnote_54_635"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_635"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>American Archives</i>, Fourth Ser. 4: 540; <i>Virginia
+Magazine</i> 23: 414.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_636" id="Footnote_55_636"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_636"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Fifth Ser. 1: 150, 151, 431, 432.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_637" id="Footnote_56_637"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_637"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Dunmore papers, No. 27.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_638" id="Footnote_57_638"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_638"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>American Archives</i> 4: 391.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_639" id="Footnote_58_639"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_639"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> <i>The writings of Thomas Jefferson</i>, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 4:
+255.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_640" id="Footnote_59_640"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_640"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> H. B. Grigsby, <i>The Virginia convention of 1776</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_641" id="Footnote_60_641"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_641"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> <i>Virginia Gazette</i>, Purdie, May 17, 1776.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="ESSAY_ON_SOURCES" id="ESSAY_ON_SOURCES"></a>ESSAY ON SOURCES</h2>
+
+
+<p>Any political history of Virginia in the colonial period must be based
+chiefly on the documents in the British Public Record Office. During
+many months of work in this office the author made more than eight
+hundred pages of notes and transcripts which he has used freely in the
+writing of this volume. The notations CO1-3, CO5-1318, etc., in the
+footnotes all refer to the Public Record Office.</p>
+
+<p>It is especially fortunate that these documents have been preserved,
+since of the copies left in Virginia, when there were copies, most have
+been destroyed. Among the scores of manuscript volumes on Virginia in
+the Record Office, thirty-two are devoted to the correspondence of the
+Board of Trade, seventeen to the correspondence of the Secretary of
+State, twenty-two to Entry Books, letters, commissions, warrants, etc.,
+for the period from 1680 to the American Revolution alone.</p>
+
+<p>In this vast collection are found the instructions to governors;
+memorials concerning the clergy, the revenue, the College of William and
+Mary; addresses of the Assembly to the Throne; reports of special agents
+of the Crown; accusations against governors; nominations to office; the
+journals of the Council and of the House of Burgesses.</p>
+
+<p>During the second half of the nineteenth century William Noel Sainsbury,
+Assistant Keeper of the Records, made no less than twenty volumes of
+abstracts of these documents, which have been deposited in the Virginia
+State Library. They cover the long period from the founding of the
+colony to 1730. The McDonald Papers, also transcribed from the documents
+in the Public Record Office, and also deposited in the Virginia State
+Library, parallel the Sainsbury abstracts, but they are fuller and give
+some papers overlooked by Sainsbury. The author spent the summer of 1908
+in Richmond to study these papers, but they merely whetted his desire to
+see the original collection. So June, 1910, found him in the chilly old
+building off Chancery Lane, London, immersed in the musty but
+fascinating mass of documents.</p>
+
+<p>Virginia historians today no longer have to make the journey across the
+Atlantic, for the United States Government has had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> transcriptions made
+of the papers relating to our colonial history for the Library of
+Congress. Moreover, the journals of the House of Burgesses and the
+journals of the Council have been published. Many other documents in the
+Public Record Office have been published in part or in full in the
+<i>Calendar of State Papers</i>, <i>Colonial Series, America and West Indies</i>,
+and in historical magazines.</p>
+
+<p>The Coventry papers relating to Virginia, Barbados, and other colonies,
+at Longleat, the magnificent residence of the Marquess of Bath, which
+have been microfilmed by the American Council of Learned Societies,
+throw a flood of light on Virginia history, especially upon Bacon's
+Rebellion. They contain letters from Bacon to Berkeley, from Berkeley to
+Bacon, and from Philip Ludwell to Lady Berkeley, reports from the
+Virginia agents who were seeking a charter for the colony, Berkeley's
+account of the evacuation of Jamestown, and many other valuable
+documents. They give new and overwhelming evidence that Bacon and his
+followers rose in arms, not only to protect the people from the Indians,
+but to right their wrongs under Berkeley's government.</p>
+
+<p>The American Council of Learned Societies was also responsible for the
+microfilming of the Sackville manuscripts belonging to the Earl of
+Dorset. They contain letters to the British Government from the Virginia
+House of Burgesses and from the Council in 1631, and throw a gleam of
+light on an obscure period.</p>
+
+<p>The correspondence of Lord Dunmore and Lord Dartmouth, in the British
+Public Record Office, is vital to any account of the early years of the
+Revolution in Virginia. In his letters Dunmore reports on the committees
+of correspondence, the boycott, the plight of the Tories, his conflict
+with the Assembly, the arming of the patriots, his flight from
+Williamsburg, his seizure of Norfolk, etc. This correspondence is
+available to scholars in microfilm in the Library of Congress.</p>
+
+<p>W. W. Hening (ed.), <i>The Statutes at Large</i> (1809-1823), in thirteen
+volumes, are indispensable to the historian. In addition to the Virginia
+laws it publishes a few extremely important documents.</p>
+
+<p>The county records throw light on local government and the use of the
+patronage by the governors to control the Assembly. It is unfortunate
+that many documents in the county court<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>houses were destroyed in the
+Revolution and the War between the States. Yet the records of Surry,
+York, Essex, Rappahannock, Accomac, Elizabeth City, and other counties
+have been preserved.</p>
+
+<p>Peter Force (ed.), <i>Tracts and Other Papers</i> (1836), has many valuable
+documents relating to early Virginia history. The accounts of Bacon's
+Rebellion are of especial interest. Edward Arber (ed.), <i>The Works of
+Captain John Smith</i> (1910), is a main source for the founding and early
+history of Jamestown. But Smith's tendency to glorify himself and the
+probability that he colored his account to further the designs of King
+James I and the court party have caused many historians to distrust much
+that he has written.</p>
+
+<p>Alexander Brown, <i>Genesis of the United States</i> (1890), gives many
+documents on early Virginia history which had long been inaccessible to
+scholars. Other publications of documents or early histories are Susan
+M. Kingsbury (ed.), <i>The Records of the Virginia Company of London</i>
+(1906-1935); J. C. Hotten (ed.), <i>Original Lists of Emigrants to
+America, 1606-1700</i> (1874); <i>Lower Norfolk County</i> Antiquary; Lyon G.
+Tyler (ed.), <i>Narratives of Early Virginia</i> (1907); Charles M. Andrews
+(ed.), <i>Narratives of Insurrections</i> (1915); Clayton C. Hall (ed.),
+<i>Narratives of Early Maryland</i> (1910); and Edmund Goldsmid (ed.),
+<i>Hakluyt's</i>, <i>The Principal Navigations</i> (1885-1890).</p>
+
+<p>R. A. Brock (ed.), <i>The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie</i>
+(1883-1884); while of great value, is incomplete, since many letters in
+the British Public Record Office have been omitted. R. A. Brock (ed.),
+<i>The Original Letters of Alexander Spotswood</i> (1882-1885), from the
+manuscript collection in possession of the Virginia Historical Society,
+is also far from complete.</p>
+
+<p>Among the historical magazines which have published documents relating
+to Virginia the most important are <i>The Virginia Magazine of History and
+Biography</i>, <i>William and Mary College Quarterly</i>, <i>Tyler's Quarterly
+Historical and Genealogical Magazine</i>, and the <i>Massachusetts Historical
+Society, Proceedings</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Three narratives, Henry Hartwell, James Blair, and Edward Chilton, <i>The
+Present State of Virginia and the College</i>; Robert Beverley, <i>The
+History and Present State of Virginia</i>; and Hugh Jones, <i>The Present
+State of Virginia</i>, have all the value of primary sources. The Hartwell,
+Blair, and Chilton history was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> written in 1697 and first published by
+John Wyat at the Rose, in St. Paul's churchyard, London, in 1727. It was
+republished in 1940, with an able introduction by Hunter D. Farish.
+Beverley's volume appeared in 1705, and a new edition was published in
+1947. Hugh Jones' history came out in 1724, was reprinted in 1865 in a
+limited edition, and republished in 1956. The last edition, edited by
+Richard L. Morton, has a valuable introduction, and more than a hundred
+pages of illuminating notes.</p>
+
+<p>There are a number of histories of Virginia. William Stith, <i>The History
+of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia</i> (1747), is little
+more than a rehash of Captain John Smith's story. John Burk, <i>The
+History of Virginia</i> (1822), though more critical, is out of date since
+the author did not have access to a mass of documents now available to
+the historian. The same criticism applies to Charles Campbell, <i>History
+of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia</i> (1860). Henry Howe,
+<i>Historical Collections of Virginia</i> (1845), brings together many facts,
+traditions, and biographical sketches. It also gives brief descriptions
+of contemporaneous life in the various counties. John Fiske's <i>Old
+Virginia and her Neighbors</i> (1900), is interesting, but untrustworthy.
+Edward D. Neill, <i>Early Settlement of Virginia and Virginiola</i> (1878),
+<i>The English Colonization of America during the Seventeenth Century</i>
+(1871), <i>History of the Virginia Company of London</i> (1869), <i>Virginia
+Vetusta</i> (1885), and <i>Virginia Carolorum</i> (1886), are based on primary
+sources and are still valuable. John Esten Cooke, <i>Virginia: A History
+of the People</i> (1884), is interesting but full of mistakes.</p>
+
+<p>Other works on early Virginia history are Alexander Brown, <i>The First
+Republic in America</i> (1898), T. J. Wertenbaker, <i>Virginia under the
+Stuarts</i> (1914); Mary Newton Stanard, <i>The Story of Virginia's First
+Century</i> (1928); Matthew Page Andrews, <i>The Soul of a Nation</i> (1943),
+and <i>Virginia, the Old Dominion</i> (1937); William Foote, <i>Sketches of
+Virginia</i> (1850); Robert R. Howison, <i>A History of Virginia</i> (1848);
+Conway W. Sams, <i>The Conquest of Virginia</i> (1924); and Wesley Frank
+Craven, <i>Dissolution of the Virginia Company</i> (1932).</p>
+
+<p>In 1957 the Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation published
+a series of booklets on seventeenth-century Virginia history under the
+able editorship of Dr. Earl G. Swem.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> Among them are E. G. Swem and John
+M. Jennings, <i>A Selected Bibliography of Virginia</i>, 1607-1699; William
+W. Abbot, <i>A Virginia Chronology</i>, 1585-1783; Samuel M. Bemiss (ed.),
+<i>The Three Charters of the Virginia Company of London</i>; Wesley Frank
+Craven, <i>The Virginia Company of London</i>; Charles E. Hatch, Jr., <i>The
+First Seventeen Years at Jamestown</i>, 1607-1634; Thomas J. Wertenbaker,
+<i>Bacon's Rebellion</i> and <i>The Government of Virginia in the Seventeenth
+Century</i>; Richard L. Morton, <i>Struggle against Tyranny and the Beginning
+of a New Era</i>; Martha W. Hiden, <i>How Justice Grew</i>. Dr. Wilcomb E.
+Washburn, <i>Virginia under Charles I and Cromwell</i>, takes issue with most
+Virginia historians by coming to the defense of Governor John Harvey who
+was kicked out of Virginia because of his despotic rule, abuse of the
+courts, and disregard of law.</p>
+
+<p>Among the special studies relating to the political history of Virginia
+are Philip A. Bruce, <i>The Institutional History of Virginia</i> (1910);
+Julian A. C. Chandler, <i>The History of Suffrage in Virginia</i> (1901);
+Oliver P. Chitwood, <i>Justice in Colonial Virginia</i> (1905); Percy S.
+Flippin, <i>Financial Administration of the Colony of Virginia</i> (1915);
+Armistead C. Gordon, <i>The Laws of Bacon's Assembly</i> (1914); Albert O.
+Porter, <i>County Government in Virginia</i> (1947); Mary N. Stanard, <i>The
+Story of Bacon's Rebellion</i> (1907); R. T. Barton, <i>Colonial Decisions</i>
+(1909); Edward Ingle, <i>Virginia Local Institutions</i> (1885); Elmer I.
+Miller, <i>The Legislature of the Province of Virginia</i> (1907); Lyon G.
+Tyler, <i>The Cradle of the Republic</i> (1906); Moncure D. Conway, <i>Omitted
+Chapters</i> (1888); H. J. Eckenrode, <i>The Revolution in Virginia</i> (1916);
+Hugh Blair Grigsby, <i>The Virginia Convention of 1776</i> (1855); Charles R.
+Lingley, <i>The Transition in Virginia from Colony to Commonwealth</i>
+(1910); Charles S. Sydnor, <i>Gentlemen Freeholders, Political Practices
+in Washington's Virginia</i> (1952); Curtis P. Nettels, <i>George Washington
+and American Independence</i> (1951).</p>
+
+<p>Biographies of prominent Virginians seem to come in pairs. There are two
+biographies of William Claiborne, Norton C. Hale, <i>Virginia Venturer</i>
+(1951), and John H. Claiborne, <i>William Claiborne of Virginia</i> (1917);
+two biographies devoted to the Lee family, Burton J. Hendrick, <i>The Lees
+of Virginia</i> (1935), and Cazenove G. Lee, Jr., <i>Lee Chronicle</i> (1956);
+two short studies of James Blair, Daniel E. Motley, <i>Life of Com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>missary
+James Blair</i> (1901), and Edgar L. Pennington, <i>Commissary Blair</i> (1936);
+two biographies of Edmund Pendleton, Robert L. Hilldrup, <i>The Life and
+Times of Edmund Pendleton</i> (1939), and David J. Mays, <i>Edmund Pendleton</i>
+(1952); there are several biographies of Captain John Smith.</p>
+
+<p>Philip A. Bruce, <i>The Virginia Plutarch</i> (1929), gives brief biographies
+of Sir William Berkeley, Nathaniel Bacon, Alexander Spotswood, William
+Byrd II, Patrick Henry, and others. Among other biographies are Richmond
+C. Beatty, <i>William Byrd of Westover</i> (1932); Thomas J. Wertenbaker,
+<i>Torchbearer of the Revolution, The Story of Bacon's Rebellion and Its
+Leader</i> (1940); Leonidas Dodson, <i>Alexander Spotswood</i> (1932); Louis K.
+Koontz, <i>Robert Dinwiddie</i> (1941); Louis Morton, <i>Robert Carter of
+Nomini Hall</i> (1941); Kate Mason Rowland, <i>Life and Correspondence of
+George Mason</i> (1892); William Wirt Henry, <i>Patrick Henry</i> (1891); A. T.
+S. Goodrick, <i>Edward Randolph</i> (1898-1909); Thomas Jefferson,
+<i>Autobiography</i>.</p>
+
+<p>There are numerous Virginia local histories, among them W. Asbury
+Christian, <i>Richmond, Her Past and Present</i> (1912); (1931); Ralph T.
+Whitelaw, <i>Virginia's Eastern Shore</i> (1951); John B. Bodie, <i>Seventeenth
+Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia</i> (1938); Marshall Wingfield, <i>A
+History of Caroline County, Virginia</i> (1924); and Herbert C. Bradshaw,
+<i>History of Prince Edward County, Virginia</i> (1955).</p>
+
+<p><i>The Virginia Gazette</i> is a major source for the history of Virginia in
+the eighteenth century. The scattered numbers still in existence have
+been photostated and copies deposited in some of the larger libraries.
+Their usefulness has been greatly enhanced by the preparation of an
+Index by Lester J. Cappon and Stella F. Duff.</p>
+
+<p>Virginia historians will always be grateful to Dr. Earl G. Swem for his
+<i>Virginia Historical Index</i>, covering <i>The Virginia Magazine of History
+and Biography</i>, volumes 1-38; <i>William and Mary College Quarterly</i>,
+first series, volumes 1-27; second series, volumes 1-10; Hening's
+<i>Statutes at Large</i>, and other publications.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum">
+<a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a><br />
+<a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="Index" id="Index"></a><i>Index</i></h2>
+
+<p class="noin">
+Acadians: ejected, <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br />
+<br />
+Allerton, Isaac:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bribed with seat in Council, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">refuses oath of allegiance, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Amherst, General Jeffrey: replaces Loudoun, <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br />
+<br />
+Andros, Sir Edmund:<br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">despotic in New England, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">mild in Virginia, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">quarrels with Blair, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">suspends Blair from Council, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">resigns, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Appomatox Indians: hostile, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br />
+<br />
+Argall, Samuel:<br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">cruelty of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Aristocracy:<br />
+<span class="in">effect of slavery on, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">libraries, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">mansions, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">intermarriages, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">dominate General Court, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Armistead, Col. John:<br />
+<span class="in">Councillor, 119;</span><br />
+<span class="in">refuses oath of allegiance, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Association:<br />
+<span class="in">to boycott British goods, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">successful, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Attainder: bill of in <a href="#Page_167">167</a>7, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Auditor:<br />
+<span class="in">duties of, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">William Byrd, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Philip Ludwell, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Bacon, Nathaniel:<br />
+<span class="in">early life of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">quarrels with Berkeley, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">knew Lawrence and Drummond, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">his overseer murdered, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">frontiersmen make leader, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">denounces Berkeley, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">defeats Occaneechees, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">elected Burgess, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">captured, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">submits, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reappointed Councillor, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">blames Assembly, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">escapes, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">takes Jamestown, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">made general, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">pleads with Burgesses, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">master of Virginia, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">conversation with Goode, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">at Middle Plantation, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">plans of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">captures Jamestown, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">burns Jamestown, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">secret burial of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">people mourn, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Bacon, Nathaniel, Sr.: ousted from Council, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br />
+<br />
+Bacon's Laws:<br />
+<span class="in">aimed at Berkeley, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">credit due Bacon, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">a victory for democracy, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span><br />
+Ballard, Thomas: expelled from Council, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br />
+<br />
+Baltimore, Lord:<br />
+<span class="in">visits Virginia, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">refuses oath, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Harvey aids, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">settles Maryland, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">recognizes Commonwealth, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Barr&eacute;, Col. Isaac: denounces Stamp Act, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br />
+<br />
+Bennett, Richard:<br />
+<span class="in">favors Parliament, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sent to get Puritan ministers, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">commissioner for Parliament, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Cromwell continues, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Berkeley, Lady Frances:<br />
+<span class="in">marriage, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">insults Jeffreys, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">heads faction, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Berkeley, Lord John: brother of Sir William, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br />
+<br />
+Berkeley, Sir William:<br />
+<span class="in">limits franchise, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">appointed Governor, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">early life, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">arrives, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">popular, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">favors jury trial, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">gift of houses to, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">salary, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">fights for King, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">defeats Indians, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">expels Puritan preachers, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">prosecutes Puritans, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">proclaims Charles II, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">defies Parliament, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">to resist Parliamentary forces, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">surrenders, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">under Commonwealth, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">elected Governor, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reappointed by Charles II, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">dictatorial, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">greed, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">marriage, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">distrusts self-government, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">use of patronage, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">corrupts Assembly, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">the Long Assembly, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">accused by Charles City, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">grants of land, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">people hate, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">favorites of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">asks free trade, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">denounces Navigation Acts, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">makes Bacon Councillor, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">despotism of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sends force against Indians, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Indian policy, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">people in arms, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">calls an election, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">captures Bacon, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">forces Bacon's submission, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">overawes Burgesses, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">submits to Bacon, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">starts civil war, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">flees to Eastern Shore, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span><span class="in">executes patriots, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">illegal seizures, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">quarrels with Jeffreys, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ordered to England, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">picks Burgesses, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sails, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">death, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Berry, Sir John: committee on Bacon's Rebellion, <a href="#Page_92">92</a><br />
+<br />
+Beverley, Peter: court of oyer and terminer, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br />
+<br />
+Beverley, Robert:<br />
+<span class="in">Green Spring faction, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Assembly minutes seized from, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">testifies against Nicholson, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Bill of Ports:<br />
+<span class="in">Burgesses reject, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Spotswood secures, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>-<a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">patronage from, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Gooch secures, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Blair, Archibald: hates Spotswood, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br />
+<br />
+Blair, Rev. James:<br />
+<span class="in">defends Harrison, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">founds college, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Commissary, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">church reform plans, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Quarrel with Andros, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Andros ousts from Council, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">restored, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ousts Andros, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">for Nicholson, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson angers, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">accuses Nicholson, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">called King maker, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">called hypocrite, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">visits England, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">to be "Prime Minister," <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Blair, John:<br />
+<span class="in">meets Dinwiddie, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">calls Assembly, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">prepares expedition, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Bland, Gyles: executed, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br />
+<br />
+Bland, Col. Richard:<br />
+<span class="in">defends Two-penny Act, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">for self-government, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">to submit to Stamp Act, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">General Committee of Safety, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">convention of 1776, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Botetourt, Lord:<br />
+<span class="in">Governor General, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">welcomed, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">popular, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">warns British government, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">promises repeal of Townshend Acts, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">death, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Braddock, General: defeat of, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br />
+<br />
+Braxton, Carter: predicts independence, <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br />
+<br />
+Buck, Rev.: Minister at Jamestown, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br />
+<br />
+Buckner, John: sets up press, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br />
+<br />
+Burgesses, House of:<br />
+<span class="in">bribed by Governors, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">represent people, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">privileges, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">franchise, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">wages, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">county pays, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Speaker, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">committees, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">guards elections, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span><span class="in">as a court, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">control of taxation, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-<a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">act of 1680, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">rule under Commonwealth, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">elect Governor, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Berkeley corrupts, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">end of Long Assembly, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon's victory in, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon's Laws, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">pro-Berkeley in <a href="#Page_167">167</a>7, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">protest appeals to England, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">James II scorns petition, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">protest fees, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sole right to tax, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">dispute King's authority, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reject royal bills, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">rile Edward Randolph, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">refuse aid to New York, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">£500 for New York, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">name Treasurer, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson wheedles, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Spotswood bribes, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">new election, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">oppose Spotswood, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Spotswood rebuffs, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">judges elections, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">strike at Governors' power, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Spotswood denounces, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">deride Spotswood, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">charges against Spotswood, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">praise Drysdale, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">contempt of punished, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">praise Gooch, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">growth of, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">salaries, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">power of grows, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">aristocrats in, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">praise Gooch, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">protest pistole fee, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">fee called arbitrary taxation, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">appeal to King, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">audacity of, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">eject Acadian exiles, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">vote £60,000, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">emit treasury notes, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reply to Fauquier, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">declaration of rights, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">protest Stamp Act, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Henry's resolutions, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Botetourt opens, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>8, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reassert sole right to tax, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">meet unofficially, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Botetourt promises repeal, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">call convention, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">take lead in Revolution, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">many in uniform, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">last session, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Burke, Edmund: on "Conciliation," <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br />
+<br />
+Burwell, Lewis:<br />
+<span class="in">land holdings, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson threatens, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Burwell, Lucy:<br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson in love with, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-<a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">returns gifts, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Butler, Nathaniel: his "Unmasking of Virginia," <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br />
+<br />
+Butts, Thomas:<br />
+<span class="in">refuses to certify grievances, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">House asks arrest, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Byrd, William I:<br />
+<span class="in">auditor, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">makes rent roll, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">respect due to, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>Byrd, William II: Receiver General, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;<br />
+<span class="in">Spotswood ousts, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">opposes new court, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Spotswood denounces, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">agent for Burgesses, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Byrd, William III: <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Camm, Rev. John:<br />
+<span class="in">takes clergy protest to King, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sues for salary, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Fauquier denounces, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">case thrown out, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">supports Dunmore, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Capitol:<br />
+<span class="in">plan, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">burns, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">rebuilt, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">soldiers lodge in, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">convention of 1776, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Carter, Landon: defends Two-penny Act, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br />
+<br />
+Carter, Robert:<br />
+<span class="in">Speaker of House, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Treasurer, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">influence of, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">charges against Nicholson, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">haughty, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">President, 1726, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">slaves of, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Carter, Robert, of Nomini Hall:<br />
+<span class="in">refuses tea, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">not a "courtier," <a href="#Page_242">242</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Charles City County:<br />
+<span class="in">grievances of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">accuse Berkeley, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">grievances neglected, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">illegal voting in, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Charles I:<br />
+<span class="in">will not restore Company, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">calls Assembly, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">offers to buy tobacco crop, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">needs money, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">illegal taxes, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">tobacco contract, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">executed, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Charles II:<br />
+<span class="in">Berkeley proclaims, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">restoration, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">proclaimed in 1660, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reappoints Berkeley, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Arlington-Culpeper grant, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">on causes of Bacon's Rebellion, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sends troops, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">angered at Assembly, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">gold from Louis XIV, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">despotism in Virginia, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>-<a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">prohibits printing, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Charter:<br />
+<span class="in">granted Virginia Company, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sought by Virginians, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Assembly asks, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">again asked, 1689, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">to confirm Assembly, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Cheeseman, Major: Berkeley's brutality to, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br />
+<br />
+Chicheley, Sir Henry:<br />
+<span class="in">leads force against Indians, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Deputy Governor, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">rules impartially, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Civil War in England:<br />
+<span class="in">influence on colonies, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">affects Virginia, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Claiborne, William:<br />
+<span class="in">agent against Baltimore, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">settlement on Kent Island, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">battle with Marylanders, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">commissioner for Parliament, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span><span class="in">negotiates for peace, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Secretary, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Clergy:<br />
+<span class="in">thank Spotswood, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Two-penny Act, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">protest, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">address to King, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Cocke, William: in Indian Company, <a href="#Page_171">171</a><br />
+<br />
+Cole, William: election of thrown out, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br />
+<br />
+Committees of Correspondence: <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br />
+<br />
+Committees of Safety: take over courts, <a href="#Page_248">248</a><br />
+<br />
+Commons, House of:<br />
+<span class="in">opposes James I, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">in Civil War, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Commonwealth:<br />
+<span class="in">Virginia surrenders to, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Virginia constitution under, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">rule of, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">anarchy, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">influence of on Virginia, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Constitution of State of Virginia: drawn up, <a href="#Page_257">257</a><br />
+<br />
+Continental Congress:<br />
+<span class="in">proposed, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">delegates to, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Declaration of Rights, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">makes Washington commander, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Convention, Provincial:<br />
+<span class="in">in 1774, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">at Richmond, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>5, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Henry's address, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">prepare for war, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">take over government, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">in 1776, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">instruct for independence, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Conway, Edwin: baits Spotswood, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br />
+<br />
+Corbin, Gawin: baits Spotswood, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a><br />
+<br />
+Corbin, Richard:<br />
+<span class="in">protests paper money, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">complains to Board of Trade, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">pays for powder, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Council of Virginia:<br />
+<span class="in">powers of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">quarrels of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">under constitution of 1621, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">patronage of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">powers of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>-<a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">as cabinet, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">as Upper House, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">as supreme court, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">prestige of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Virginia House of Lords, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">conflict with Harvey, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-<a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">arrest Harvey, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Burgesses oust, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">power of from England, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">dissolve Assembly, 1659, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">lose fat jobs, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson abuses, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">six accuse Nicholson, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">represent aristocracy, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">titles of, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">respect for, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nott defers to, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">appeal for peace, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Burgesses back, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">a threat to Liberty, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">land holdings of, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span><span class="in">preserve judicial power, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-<a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">for large land grants, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">negative role in Revolution, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></span><br />
+<br />
+County courts:<br />
+<span class="in">undemocratic, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Governor's power over, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">duties of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Governor appoints, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">taxation by, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon's Laws, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Coventry, Attorney General: issues <i>quo warranto</i> against Company, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br />
+<br />
+Cromwell, Oliver:<br />
+<span class="in">neglects Virginia, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">death, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Cromwell, Richard:<br />
+<span class="in">Lord Protector, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">resigns, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Culpeper, Lord Thomas:<br />
+<span class="in">despotism under, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">limits franchise, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">grant to, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Cavalier, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">delays sailing, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">brings peace, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">forces act for "perpetual revenue," <a href="#Page_110">110</a>-<a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">returns to England, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">robs soldiers, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">hangs rioters, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Effingham succeeds, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Curtis, Edmund:<br />
+<span class="in">commissioner to Virginia, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">negotiates surrender, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Dale, Sir Thomas:<br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">brings harsh laws, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">cruelty of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Dawson, Commissary William:<br />
+<span class="in">meets Dinwiddie, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">denounces Two-penny Act, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Day of Prayer: June 1, 1774, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br />
+<br />
+Debts:<br />
+<span class="in">due merchants, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">appeals to Privy Council, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></span><br />
+<br />
+De la Warr, Lord:<br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ill, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">leaves Virginia, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">humane, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sails with Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">death, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Democracy:<br />
+<span class="in">New World favorable for, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">yeomen build up, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Quary warns of, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">gains under Commonwealth, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Glorious Revolution, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">small slave holders for, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Dennis, Captain Robert:<br />
+<span class="in">heads commission to Virginia, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">lost on the <i>John</i>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Digges, Cole:<br />
+<span class="in">election thrown out, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">named to new court, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Indian Company, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Digges, Edward: Governor, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br />
+<br />
+Dinwiddie, Robert:<br />
+<span class="in">Lieutenant Governor, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">career, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">backs Assembly, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">pistole fee, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">calls Virginians republicans, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">cautioned by King, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">horrors of Indian war, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">warns British, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span><span class="in">sends Washington to the Ohio, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">asks funds, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">vetoes bill with rider, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">wants Parliament to tax, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">expends funds, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">resigns, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sounds alarm bell, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">suggests union of colonies, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Drummond, Sarah: property confiscated, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br />
+<br />
+Drummond, William:<br />
+<span class="in">hates Berkeley, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">influences Bacon, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon consults, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">burns own house, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Berkeley's brutality to, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Drysdale, Hugh:<br />
+<span class="in">popular, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Lieutenant Governor, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">arrives, 1722, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">character, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">opposes huge land grants, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">upholds House, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">death, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Dunbar, Colonel: retreat of, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br />
+<br />
+Dunmore, Earl of:<br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">conduct in New York, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">treaty with Indians, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">seizes powder, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">threatened, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">suggests "compromise," <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">on the <i>Fowey</i>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">escapes capture, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">asks troops, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">controls water, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">in Elizabeth River, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">seizes press, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">seizes Norfolk, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">evacuates Norfolk, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">threatens bombardment, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">at Gwynn's Island, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">leaves Virginia, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">says Virginia wants independence, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Dunmore, Lady:<br />
+<span class="in">ball in honor of, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">flees Williamsburg, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Duquesne, Fort:<br />
+<span class="in">Forbes to attack, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">French evacuate, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Durand, William: persecuted for dissent, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br />
+<br />
+Dutch:<br />
+<span class="in">trade to Virginia, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">trade protected, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">wars with, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Effingham, Lord Howard:<br />
+<span class="in">despotism of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">character, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ends appeals to Assembly, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">uses patronage for political ends, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">favors Roman Catholics, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">leaves Virginia, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Elections:<br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson interferes in, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">foul play at, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Embargo:<br />
+<span class="in">opposed in England, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">enforced in 1650, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></span><br />
+<br />
+English, William:<br />
+<span class="in">denounces Harvey, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">arrested, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">released, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Fauquier, Francis:<br />
+<span class="in">Lieutenant Governor, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">erudite, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">tact, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span><span class="in">reprimanded, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">upholds Two-penny Act, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">London criticises, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">denounces Camm, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">thinks Henry extreme, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">protects Mercer, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">death, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Fees:<br />
+<span class="in">Bacon's Laws fix, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">bill to limit vetoed, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">pistole controversy, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_200">200</a></span><br />
+<br />
+First Stuart Despotism: influence on colonies, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br />
+<br />
+Fithian, Philip: sees drilling in Valley, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br />
+<br />
+Forbes, General:<br />
+<span class="in">to attack Fort Duquesne, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">takes fort, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Fouace, Rev. Stephen:<br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson jealous of, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">flees Virginia, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">testifies against Nicholson, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<i>Fowey</i>: powder taken to, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br />
+<br />
+Franchise:<br />
+<span class="in">changes in, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">under Commonwealth, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">all freemen have in June, 1676, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon's Laws widen, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Spotswood tries to restrict, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">act to limit, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></span><br />
+<br />
+French and Indian War:<br />
+<span class="in">horrors of, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Washington warns French, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Braddock's defeat, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">raids in Valley, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">influence on Revolution, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Gates, Sir Thomas:<br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">brings cruel laws, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></span><br />
+<br />
+General Assembly:<br />
+<span class="in">Magna Carta authorizes, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">under Constitution of 1621, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">meets, 1619, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">acts of in 1619, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">right to tax, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Charles I ignores, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">meets unofficially, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Charles I summons, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">oppose reviving Company, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">powers of grow, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">accuses Harvey, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reapportions taxes, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">gift to Berkeley, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">permits free trade, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">recognizes Charles II, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">surrenders to Parliament, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ousts Governor and Council, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">elects Berkeley Governor, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">powers of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">proclaim Charles II, 1660, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Berkeley corrupts, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Long Assembly, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">protest grant, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ask charter, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon demands election, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">in 1677 picked by Berkeley, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">bill of attainder, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">protest seizure of records, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Charles II assails, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">King to initiate bills, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">no appeals to, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span><span class="in">"perpetual revenue" to King, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>-<a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">attempt to repeal revenue act of 1680, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Quary on, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Queen Anne vetoes revenue act, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Jenings dissolves, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">bill of ports, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>-<a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Queen's death dissolves, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Spotswood angers, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">bills to limit Governor's power, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">use of rider by, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">thwart Spotswood, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">protest debt ruling, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">gift to Dinwiddie, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">war an opportunity for, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">vote £10,000, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">expenditure of funds, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">vote £20,000 with rider, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">support war, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ask paper money issue, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">aid to Royal American Regiment, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Governor spends funds, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">right of to govern, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">last sessions, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></span><br />
+<br />
+General Committee of Safety: ablest men on, <a href="#Page_249">249</a><br />
+<br />
+General Court:<br />
+<span class="in">court of appeals, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson's violence in, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson packs juries, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">on Burgesses' salary, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Glorious Revolution: <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_121">121</a>;<br />
+<span class="in">effect on liberty, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">effect on Virginia, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<i>Godspeed</i>: sails for Virginia, <a href="#Page_1">1</a><br />
+<br />
+Gooch, William:<br />
+<span class="in">says frontiersmen disobedient, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">character, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Lieutenant Governor, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">popular, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">courtesy of, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">praised by Burgesses, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">voted gifts, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">new bill of ports, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">for limiting franchise, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">for westward expansion, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">resists merchants, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">for duty on liquors, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">denounces merchants, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in"><i>A Dialogue</i>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">leads expedition, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">wounded, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">resigns, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">dies, 1749, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">peace and plenty, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Gosnold, Bartholomew:<br />
+<span class="in">member of Council, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">dies, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Governor:<br />
+<span class="in">office established, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">King appoints, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">vary greatly, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">qualities of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">powers of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">bribe Burgesses, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">nominate Councillors, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">use of patronage, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>-<a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">calls Assembly, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">veto, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">hold over courts, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">heads Church, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Council restricts, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Burgesses elect under Commonwealth, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">many military officers, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span><br />
+Great Bridge:<br />
+<span class="in">Dunmore fortifies, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">battle of, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Green Spring:<br />
+<span class="in">plundered, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">faction meets at, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Green Spring faction:<br />
+<span class="in">Lady Berkeley heads, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">to recover losses, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">suppress King's pardon, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">pillaging by, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Grenville, George: wants consolidated empire, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br />
+<br />
+Grievances:<br />
+<span class="in">against Harvey, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">against Berkeley, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">against law of ports, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Grymes, John:<br />
+<span class="in">Deputy Auditor, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">conceited, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">hates Spotswood, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Gwynn's Island: Dunmore at, <a href="#Page_252">252</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Habeas Corpus:<br />
+<span class="in">settlers claim, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">denied by Effingham, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Hamilton, Lord George:<br />
+<span class="in">Earl of Orkney, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Governor General, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">career of, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">patron of Spotswood, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Hansford, Thomas: executed patriot, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br />
+<br />
+Harrison, Benjamin:<br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson abuses, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Blair defends, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">criticizes Secretary's office, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Councillor, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">land holdings, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">charges against Nicholson, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Harrison, Nathaniel: proposes reconciliation, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br />
+<br />
+Harrison, Rev. Thomas:<br />
+<span class="in">Puritan minister, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">banished, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Hartwell, Henry: on Governor's patronage, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br />
+<br />
+Harvey, Sir John:<br />
+<span class="in">egocentric, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">expelled, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">arrives, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">despotic, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">misuse of courts, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">persecutes Pott, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">conflict with Council, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-<a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">appeals to King, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">strikes Stevens, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">aids Baltimore, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">urges tobacco contract, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">detains petition, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">people's grievances against, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">arrests Pott, English, and Martian, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">appeals to Council, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Council arrest, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">leaves for England, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reappointed, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">returns to Virginia, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">revenge of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">restores Mathews' property, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">prosecutes Panton, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">recalled, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">prosecuted, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span><span class="in">escapes from Virginia, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">significance of expulsion, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Harwood, Thomas:<br />
+<span class="in">agent of Assembly, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">hastens to London, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Henry, Patrick:<br />
+<span class="in">Two-penny Act, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">denounces clergy, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">says people must govern, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">resolutions of, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">accused of treason, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">alarm bell of Revolution, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">committee of correspondence, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">marches on Williamsburg, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">convention of 1776, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Hill, Col. Edward:<br />
+<span class="in">Green Spring faction, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">defies King, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Treasurer, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Holt, John: his press seized, <a href="#Page_250">250</a><br />
+<br />
+Hopkins, William:<br />
+<span class="in">contempt of House, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">forced to apologize, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Howe, Col.:<br />
+<span class="in">at Norfolk, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">hints at burning, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Hunter, Col. Robert:<br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">French capture, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Independence:<br />
+<span class="in">not wanted, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">forced by British, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in"><i>Common Sense</i>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sentiment for grows, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Virginia instructs for, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">people celebrate, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Indiana Company:<br />
+<span class="in">fort at Christanna, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">King dissolves, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ask compensation, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Indians:<br />
+<span class="in">attack Jamestown, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">massacre by, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">war with Susquehannocks, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">frontier forts, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">threaten Charles City, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">attack feared in 1689, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">raids in Valley, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Dunmore's War, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Point Pleasant, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Intolerable Acts: <a href="#Page_238">238</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+James I:<br />
+<span class="in">on kingly power, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">conflict with Parliament, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">charter to Virginia Company, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">assails London Company, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">offers compromise, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></span><br />
+<br />
+James II:<br />
+<span class="in">scorns Burgesses' petition, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">repeals act of Assembly, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">revives a law, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">favors Catholics, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">deposed, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Jamestown:<br />
+<span class="in">founded, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">first Assembly at, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">capitol at, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Lord Baltimore at, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Charles II proclaimed at, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon's Assembly, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Berkeley occupies, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon captures, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span><span class="in">burnt, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">William and Mary proclaimed, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">statehouse burns, 1698, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></span><br />
+<br />
+James, Thomas:<br />
+<span class="in">missionary to Virginia, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">driven out, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Jefferson, Thomas:<br />
+<span class="in">friend of Fauquier, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">committee of correspondence, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">answers British "compromise," <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">prefers independence to slavery, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">on independence, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Jeffreys, Col. Herbert:<br />
+<span class="in">ousts Councillor, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Lieutenant Governor, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">insulted, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">promises reforms, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ill, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ousts Beverley, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">indicts Philip Ludwell, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">dies, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">wife imprisoned, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Jeffries, Jeffrey: agent for charter, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a><br />
+<br />
+Jenings, Edmund:<br />
+<span class="in">Councillor, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">acting Governor, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">career of, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">dissolves Assembly, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">suspended from Council, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></span><br />
+<br />
+The <i>John</i>:<br />
+<span class="in">sails to Virginia, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sinks, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Johnson, Edward: on God's revenge on Virginia, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br />
+<br />
+Johnson, Samuel: denounces Americans, <a href="#Page_223">223</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Kemp, Matthew: insulted in House, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br />
+<br />
+Kemp, Richard:<br />
+<span class="in">advises Harvey to leave, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">carries off Mathews' property, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">prosecutes Panton, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Secretary, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">escapes to England, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">acting Governor, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Kendall, George:<br />
+<span class="in">member of Council, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">expelled, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">executed, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Knowles, Rev. John:<br />
+<span class="in">missionary to Virginia, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">driven out, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<i>Laissez faire</i>: <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;<br />
+<span class="in">passing of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Land:<br />
+<span class="in">Berkeley's grants, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">rent roll, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">must cultivate to hold, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">law defied, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Drysdale opposes large grants, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">much unpatented, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Lawrence, Thomas:<br />
+<span class="in">cheated by Berkeley, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">influence on Bacon, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon consults, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">burns own house, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">fate unknown, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Laws, Military:<br />
+<span class="in">severe, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">cruelly enforced, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Lee, Arthur: repulsed in England, <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span><br />
+Lee, Henry: convention of 1776, <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br />
+<br />
+Lee, Philip Ludwell: protests paper money, <a href="#Page_219">219</a><br />
+<br />
+Lee, Richard Henry: <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;<br />
+<span class="in">protests Stamp Act, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">committee of correspondence, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Continental Congress, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">convention of 1776, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Lewis, Gen. Andrew:<br />
+<span class="in">at Point Pleasant, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">bombards Gwynn's Island, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Liberty:<br />
+<span class="in">taxation and, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">threatened in England, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Glorious Revolution aids, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">new charter to guarantee, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson assails, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Council threatens, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">victory for, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Virginians called republican, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bland argues for, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Burke on, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">won, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Lightfoot, John:<br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson upbraids, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">charges against Nicholson, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Littlepage, Richard:<br />
+<span class="in">refuses to certify grievances, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">House asks arrest of, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></span><br />
+<br />
+London, Bishop of: calls Two-penny act treason, <a href="#Page_213">213</a><br />
+<br />
+Loudoun, Earl of:<br />
+<span class="in">praises Burgesses, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">embargo defied, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Ludwell, Philip:<br />
+<span class="in">auditor, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">marries Lady Berkeley, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">insults Jeffreys, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Green Spring faction, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">indicted, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Ludwell, Philip, Jr.:<br />
+<span class="in">accuses Nicholson, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson challenges, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">auditor, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Spotswood ousts, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">leaves new court, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Spotswood denounces, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Ludwell, Thomas:<br />
+<span class="in">seeks charter for Virginia, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">fears rebellion, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reports disasters, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">agent for Virginia, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">presides over Council, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Madison, James: convention of 1776, <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br />
+<br />
+Magna Carta of Virginia:<br />
+<span class="in">drawn up, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">De la Warr sails with, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Yeardley takes to Virginia, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Assembly authorized, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Mandeville, Lord Henry:<br />
+<span class="in">heads commission on Virginia, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reappoints Yeardley, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Martin, John: member of Council, <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br />
+<br />
+Martin, Nicholas:<br />
+<span class="in">denounces Harvey, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">arrested, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span><br />
+Maryland:<br />
+<span class="in">Baltimore founds, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">surrenders to Parliament, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Virginia seeks to annex, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Mason, George:<br />
+<span class="in">general committee of safety, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">convention of 1776, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Mathew, Thomas: says Berkeley cheated Lawrence, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br />
+<br />
+Mathews, Samuel:<br />
+<span class="in">resists Harvey, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">opposes founding of Maryland, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">opposes tobacco contract, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">compares Harvey with Richard III, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">arrests Harvey, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">King orders arrest of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sent to England, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">his property seized, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">favors Parliament, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">recalled, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">re-elected, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">dies, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Maury, Rev. James:<br />
+<span class="in">sues for salary, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Patrick Henry attorney against, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Menefie, George:<br />
+<span class="in">Harvey questions, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">accused of treason, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">withholds Harvey's commission, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Mercer, Col. George:<br />
+<span class="in">stamp distributor, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">crowd threatens, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">will not distribute, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Merchants, British:<br />
+<span class="in">oppose free trade, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">conflict with planters, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Royal African Company, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">oppose duty on slaves, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">taxed, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Virginians angered at, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Virginians in debt to, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">petition Parliament, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">protest paper money, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">renew complaints, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">for legal tender, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Meriwether, Nicholas: Spotswood removes, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br />
+<br />
+Milner, Col. Thomas: Nicholson praises, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br />
+<br />
+Molasses Act: resented in Virginia, <a href="#Page_188">188</a><br />
+<br />
+Moryson, Francis:<br />
+<span class="in">seeks charter for Virginia, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">agent for Virginia, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">committee on Bacon's Rebellion, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Navigation Acts:<br />
+<span class="in">Berkeley protests against, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">impoverish Virginia, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Nelson, Thomas: protests paper money, <a href="#Page_219">219</a><br />
+<br />
+Nelson, William: protests paper money, <a href="#Page_219">219</a><br />
+<br />
+New Granada:<br />
+<span class="in">expedition against, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">failure, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></span><br />
+<br />
+New Kent: Bacon invades, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span><br />
+Newport, Capt. Christopher: member of Council, <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br />
+<br />
+Nicholas, Robert Carter:<br />
+<span class="in">defends Two-penny Act, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Treasurer, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">burns notes, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">to submit to Stamp Act, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">day of prayer, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">prevents storming of Palace, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">constitution of 1776, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Nicholson, Sir Francis:<br />
+<span class="in">on ideal Governor, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">use of patronage, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">power over courts, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">calls Virginians republicans, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Lieutenant Governor, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">character, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">abuses clergymen, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">in New York, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">cautious, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">defends prerogative, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">aids college, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Governor General, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">program of, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">violent temper, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">offends Councillors, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">rent roll, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">offends vestries, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">tries to control Church, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">threatens Burgesses, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">gives aid to New York, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">wheedles Burgesses, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">browbeats voters, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">abuses Burgesses, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">threatens Speaker, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">violent in General Court, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">packs juries, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">heckles Council, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">abuses Wallace, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">loves Lucy Burwell, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-<a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">threatens Fouace, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">derided in England, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">challenges Philip Ludwell, Jr., <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">founds Williamsburg, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">despotism resented, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">charges against, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">denies charges, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Quary defends, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">"addresses" praise, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">removed, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Norfolk:<br />
+<span class="in">protests Stamp Act, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Dunmore seizes, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">evacuated, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Americans enter, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Dunmore threatens, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Americans burn, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Northern Neck: granted to favorites, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br />
+<br />
+Norwood, Col. Henry: criticizes courts, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br />
+<br />
+Nott, Col. Edward:<br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">mild, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">defers to Council, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Assembly weakens patronage, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">veto, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">death, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Nuthead, William: his printing press closed, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Ohio Region: French in, <a href="#Page_196">196</a><br />
+<br />
+Opechancanough: captured, <a href="#Page_58">58</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span><br />
+Ordinance and Constitution: Virginia government under, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br />
+<br />
+Oyer and Terminer, Court of:<br />
+<span class="in">Spotswood sets up, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">non-Councillors in, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Page, John, Jr.: keeps day of prayer, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br />
+<br />
+Page, Matthew:<br />
+<span class="in">Councillor, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">charges against Nicholson, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Palace:<br />
+<span class="in">mob threatens, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">raided, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Pamunkeys:<br />
+<span class="in">hostile, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">flee from Bacon, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Panton, Rev. Anthony:<br />
+<span class="in">accuses Harvey, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">fined and banished, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">vindicated, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Parke, Daniel: announces Berkeley's death, <a href="#Page_102">102</a><br />
+<br />
+Parliament:<br />
+<span class="in">expedition against Virginia, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Virginia surrenders, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">less representative, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">rotten boroughs, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">out of step with age, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ignorant of colonies, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Paper money:<br />
+<span class="in">Assembly issues, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">new issues, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">to finance war, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">rate of exchange, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">continues issues, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">to finance war, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">rate of exchange, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">continues issues, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">illegal loans, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Patronage:<br />
+<span class="in">props Governor's power, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon's Laws restrict, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Effingham uses, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson uses, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">bill to limit vetoed, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">no Burgess to hold office, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">victory for liberty, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Pendleton, Edmund: <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;<br />
+<span class="in">protests Stamp Act, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">to submit, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">committee of correspondence, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Continental Congress, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">lionized, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">General Committee of Safety, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">for independence, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">convention of 1776, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Pierce, William:<br />
+<span class="in">King orders arrest, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sent to England, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Pistole Fee:<br />
+<span class="in">for use of seal, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">counties complain of, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Stith opposes, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Attorney General upholds, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Burgesses appeal to King, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Dinwiddie says not a tax, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">King restricts use of, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">results of, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Fauquier cautious of, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Pitt, William: supports Americans, <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span><br />
+Poll tax:<br />
+<span class="in">hated, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">people protest, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon's men protest, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">crushes poor in 1677, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">liquor duty eases, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Pott, Francis:<br />
+<span class="in">circulates petition, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">arrested, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">released, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">leaves for England, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">arrested in England, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Pott, Dr. John:<br />
+<span class="in">acting Governor, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">poisons Indians, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Harvey persecutes, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">pardoned, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">aids in arresting Harvey, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Powder Horn, Williamsburg:<br />
+<span class="in">powder seized, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">trap wounds two, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Prerogative of King:<br />
+<span class="in">whittled away, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">James II stretches, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">weakened, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Two-penny Act, ignores, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Press: free prohibited, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br />
+<br />
+Purifie, Thomas: warns Harvey, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br />
+<br />
+Puritans:<br />
+<span class="in">in Virginia, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Berkeley persecutes, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">strong on Hampton Roads, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">send for ministers, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ministers driven out, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ordered to conform, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Quartering of troops: ended in Virginia, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br />
+<br />
+Quary, Col. Robert:<br />
+<span class="in">describes powers of Council, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">on decline of prerogative, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">warns English government, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">defends Nicholson, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Quit rents:<br />
+<span class="in">paid to King, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">tax on land, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">proposed to quadruple, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson's rent roll, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Dinwiddie reports loss, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Randolph, Edmund: convention of 1776, <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br />
+<br />
+Randolph, Sir John: Tory, leaves Virginia, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br />
+<br />
+Randolph, Peyton:<br />
+<span class="in">takes Burgesses' protest, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ousted as Attorney General, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reinstated, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">protests Stamp Act, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">to submit, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">moderator, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">committee of correspondence, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Continental Congress, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">prevents storming of Palace, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Ratcliffe, John: member of Council, <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br />
+<br />
+Rebellion:<br />
+<span class="in">Secretary Ludwell fears, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Virginia "ripe for," <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Berkeley fears, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">outbreaks in 1674, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Virginia ready for, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span><span class="in">led by Bacon, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>-<a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">influence of Bacon's rebellion, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">causes of, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">threatened in 1677, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">in 1689, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Richmond, Duke of: supports colonists, <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br />
+<br />
+Rights, Declaration of: committee to prepare, <a href="#Page_256">256</a><br />
+<br />
+Robinson, John:<br />
+<span class="in">Speaker and Treasurer, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Fauquier wins support, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">death, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">illegal loans of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Rolfe, John: cures tobacco, <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Sandys, Sir Edwin:<br />
+<span class="in">Puritan, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Treasurer of London Company, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">gets new charters, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Virginia Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sent to Tower, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">fights to save charter, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">advises restoring Company, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">champions English liberty, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Sandys, George: asks revival of Company, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br />
+<br />
+Second Stuart Despotism: influence on colonies, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>-<a href="#Page_121">121</a><br />
+<br />
+Secretary of State: duties of, <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br />
+<br />
+Sheriffs:<br />
+<span class="in">political use of by Berkeley, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon's Laws, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Effingham uses, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson uses, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Slavery:<br />
+<span class="in">effect on aristocracy, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">cheapens tobacco, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">small planters buy, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">slave plots, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">duty on slaves vetoed, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Virginia resents vetoes, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Dunmore recruits slaves, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Smith, Capt. John:<br />
+<span class="in">imprisoned, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">hanging threatened, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sole Councillor, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Smith, Col. Joseph:<br />
+<span class="in">accused by court, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Burgesses reprimand, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Drysdale removes, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Smith, Col. Lawrence: sued for quit rents, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br />
+<br />
+Sons of Liberty: <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br />
+<br />
+Speaker:<br />
+<span class="in">prestige, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson threatens, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">made Treasurer, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Fauquier ordered to separate, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Spencer, Nicholas: fears mutiny in 1677, <a href="#Page_100">100</a><br />
+<br />
+Spotswood, Col. Alexander:<br />
+<span class="in">able, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">on Burgesses salary, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Lieutenant Governor, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">career, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Orkney his patron, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">explores west, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">instructions, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">act for ports, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>-<a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">jobs handed out, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">House angers, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span><span class="in">to limit franchise, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Council balks, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">vetoes bills, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">denounces Burgesses, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">court of oyer and terminer, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-<a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">defends new court, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">foul play at elections, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">defeated, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">charges against, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">seeks flattering addresses, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">answers charges, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Board of Trade upholds, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">to live in Virginia, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Tubal Cain, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reconciled to Council, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">administration of, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Stamp Act:<br />
+<span class="in">dismay at, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Barr&eacute; denounces, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ready to resist, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Mercer distributor, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">stamps not landed, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Norfolk protests, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">criticized in England, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">English merchants protest, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">repealed, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Statehouse:<br />
+<span class="in">at Jamestown, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">burned, 1698, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Stegg, Thomas:<br />
+<span class="in">aids Kemp escape, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">favors Parliament, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">commissioner for Parliament, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">lost on the <i>John</i>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Stith, Rev. William: incites against pistole fee, <a href="#Page_196">196</a><br />
+<br />
+<i>Susan Constant</i>: sails for Virginia, <a href="#Page_1">1</a><br />
+<br />
+Susquehannocks:<br />
+<span class="in">fort <ins class="correct" title="beseiged">besieged</ins>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">torture victims, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Taxation:<br />
+<span class="in">by first Assembly, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Burgesses control, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-<a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">perpetual revenue to King, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>-<a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">call fees taxes, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">protest pistole fee, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">in colonial history, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">role in self-government, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Jefferson on, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Tea:<br />
+<span class="in">tax on, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">resistance to tax, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">banned, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Carter refuses, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Thompson, Rev. William:<br />
+<span class="in">missionary to Virginia, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">driven out, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Thrale, John: defends Nicholson, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br />
+<br />
+Tobacco:<br />
+<span class="in">staple of Virginia, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Dutch buy, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">cutting riots, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Spotswood's bill of ports, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>-<a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">prices rise, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">George I vetoes bill of ports, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Gooch's bill of ports, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>-<a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">slaves cheapen, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Gooch argues for bill of ports, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in"><i>A Dialogue</i>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">poor standard of value, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Tobacco cutting riots: <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tories: few in Virginia, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span><br />
+Townshend Acts:<br />
+<span class="in">anger America, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">unconstitutional, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Treasurer:<br />
+<span class="in">Burgesses name, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">usually also Speaker, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">separation ordered, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">illegal loans by, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Utie, John:<br />
+<span class="in">opposes tobacco contract, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">arrests Harvey, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">King orders arrest, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sent to England, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Vestries:<br />
+<span class="in">govern parishes, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Bacon's Laws, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson attacks power of, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Virginia Company of London:<br />
+<span class="in">charter of 1606, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">set up despotism, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">members consider going to Virginia, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">James I attacks, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in"><i>A True Answer</i>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">blamed by commission, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">rejects King's offer, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">appeals to Parliament, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">charter revoked, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reasons for, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">restoring of opposed, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Wallace, Rev. James:<br />
+<span class="in">sermon enrages Nicholson, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">testifies against Nicholson, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Washington, George:<br />
+<span class="in">warns French on Ohio, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">expedition to Ohio, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">commands in Valley, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Continental Congress, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span><span class="in">wears uniform to Congress, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">commander-in-chief, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">predicts independence, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></span><br />
+<br />
+West:<br />
+<span class="in">expansion into, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">aids <ins class="correct" title="democacy">democracy</ins>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></span><br />
+<br />
+West, Capt. Francis: Governor, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br />
+<br />
+West, John:<br />
+<span class="in">acting Governor, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">sent to England, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></span><br />
+<br />
+William III: joint monarch, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br />
+<br />
+Williamsburg:<br />
+<span class="in">capitol at, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Nicholson founds, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">celebrates Stamp Act repeal, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">day of prayer, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">powder seized, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">an armed camp, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">celebrates independence, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Wingfield, Edward:<br />
+<span class="in">member of Council, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">ousted, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">accuses other Councillors, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Wormeley, Ralph: supports Dunmore, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br />
+<br />
+Wyatt, Sir Francis:<br />
+<span class="in">receives constitution, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Wythe, George: <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;<br />
+<span class="in">protests Stamp Act, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Yeardley, Capt. George:<br />
+<span class="in">Governor, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">brings Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">calls first Assembly, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">reappointed, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">pleads for Assembly, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="in">death, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="tn">
+
+<h3><a name="TC" id="TC">Transcriber's Corrections</a></h3>
+
+<p>Following is a list of significant typographical errors that have been
+corrected.</p>
+
+<ul> <li> Page <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, missing close quote added according to original source text by
+Brown (of the Court.").</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (King in
+Council.").</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, "Harvery" changed to "Harvey" (forced Harvey to deliver).</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, "hubub" changed to "hubbub" (hearing the hubbub).</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, "aproved" changed to "approved" (he approved of it).</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, missing open quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation ("but he
+hath not estate).</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, close quote removed based on transcriber assumption because
+open quote is missing and original source text was not found for
+confirmation (he dissolved them.).</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (the King's
+"goodness").</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (to live
+here.").</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, "perscution" changed to "persecution" (persecution and
+injustice).</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, missing open quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation
+("extraordinary emergency").</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (the people
+of Virginia?").</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, missing close quote added according to original source text
+by Lipscomb (of a whole country.").</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (reports of
+merchants").</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, "againt" changed to "against" (expedition against New
+Granada).</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, "disappointmnt" changed to "disappointment" (because of their
+disappointment).</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, "spirt" changed to "spirit" (the spirit of resistance).</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, "mazagine" changed to "magazine" (entered the magazine).</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, "distingiushed" changed to "distinguished" (each
+distinguished member).</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, "beseiged" changed to "besieged" (fort besieged, 85;).</li>
+
+<li> Page <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, "democacy" changed to "democracy" (aids democracy, 184).</li>
+
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Give Me Liberty, by Thomas J. Wertenbaker
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+</pre>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Give Me Liberty, by Thomas J. Wertenbaker
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Give Me Liberty
+ The Struggle for Self-Government in Virginia
+
+Author: Thomas J. Wertenbaker
+
+Release Date: November 27, 2010 [EBook #34455]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIVE ME LIBERTY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Patrick Hopkins and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+1. This text has a Rule 6 copyright clearance. Research has indicated
+the copyright on this book was not renewed.
+
+2. The position of some illustrations has been changed to facilitate
+reading flow.
+
+3. Footnotes are located at the end of each chapter.
+
+4. In general, geographical references, spelling, hyphenation, and
+capitalization have been retained as in the original publication.
+
+5. Minor typographical errors--usually periods, commas and hyphens--have
+been corrected without note.
+
+6. Significant typographical errors have been corrected. A full list of
+these corrections is available in the Transcriber's Corrections section
+at the end of the book.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+ GIVE ME LIBERTY
+
+
+
+
+ MEMOIRS OF THE
+
+ AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
+
+ _held at Philadelphia
+ for Promoting Useful Knowledge_
+
+ VOLUME 46
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: Thomas Jefferson. Portrait by Thomas
+ Sully in the Hall of the American Philosophical
+ Society.]
+
+
+
+
+ GIVE ME LIBERTY
+
+ _The Struggle for Self-Government
+ in
+ Virginia_
+
+
+ THOMAS J. WERTENBAKER
+ _Edwards Professor Emeritus of American History
+ Princeton University_
+
+
+ THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
+ INDEPENDENCE SQUARE
+ PHILADELPHIA
+ 1958
+
+
+
+
+ COPYRIGHT 1958 BY THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
+
+
+ _Library of Congress Catalog_
+ _Card Number: 58-9093_
+
+
+ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+ BY J. H. FURST COMPANY, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
+
+
+
+
+_Preface_
+
+
+None of the American colonies "will ever submit to the loss of those
+valuable rights and privileges which are essential to the happiness of
+every free state," George Washington wrote in October, 1774. Perhaps the
+British officer to whom he made this statement was startled to have him
+speak of the colonies as free. Yet at the time the American people were
+the freest in the world, freer even than the people of England. It was
+to defend this freedom, not to gain new rights, that the colonists
+rebelled against Great Britain. For decades they had been governing
+themselves, so when the British Ministry tried to govern them from
+London, they would not submit.
+
+To understand what was in the minds and hearts of George Washington,
+Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and the other patriots, it is necessary to
+know how the colonies became self-governing. One must follow the
+political battles and hard-earned victories of their fathers, and
+grandfathers, and great-grandfathers in the colonial Assemblies.
+
+This volume treats of the struggle for self-government in Virginia from
+the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the Declaration of Independence.
+The story of the gradual lessening of the King's prerogative, of the
+weakening of the power of the Governor, of the emergence of the Assembly
+as the ruling body could be paralleled in other colonies. But it is of
+especial importance in Virginia, where was held the first representative
+Assembly in the New World, and which gave so many leaders to the
+American Revolution.
+
+I wish to express my appreciation to my Alma Mater, the University of
+Virginia, for its award of a Thomas Jefferson Research Fellowship,
+without which this volume would not have been written.
+
+ THOMAS J. WERTENBAKER.
+
+ Princeton, N. J.
+ April 1, 1957.
+
+
+
+
+_Contents_
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ I. The Cornerstone of Liberty 1
+
+ II. Self-government 17
+
+ III. We Prefer Another Governor 36
+
+ IV. Royalty Overthrown 54
+
+ V. A Bacon! A Bacon! 76
+
+ VI. Reconstruction and Despotism 97
+
+ VII. The Glorious Revolution 122
+
+ VIII. The Virginia Hitler 133
+
+ IX. The Virginia House of Lords 151
+
+ X. Spotswood 160
+
+ XI. Peace and Prosperity 177
+
+ XII. At Stake--Liberty and a Continent 194
+
+ XIII. The Widening Rift 209
+
+ XIV. Independence 232
+
+ Essay on Sources 258
+
+ Index 265
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations
+
+
+ Thomas Jefferson. Portrait by Thomas Sully in the Hall
+ of the American Philosophical Society _frontispiece_
+
+ The Old Capitol at Williamsburg, showing the north
+ elevation which is a duplicate of the historic Virginia
+ Capitol originally completed in 1705. Courtesy of
+ Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. _facing page_ 134
+
+ The House of Burgesses in the Old Capitol at Williamsburg.
+ Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. 134
+
+ Governor Dinwiddie. Portrait in the National Portrait
+ Gallery of London 196
+
+ The General Court in the Old Capitol at Williamsburg.
+ Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. 196
+
+ Lord Dunmore. From the copy in the possession of the
+ Virginia Historical Society of the original portrait by
+ Sir Joshua Reynolds 238
+
+ The Governor's Palace, Williamsburg. Courtesy of Colonial
+ Williamsburg, Inc. 238
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE CORNERSTONE OF LIBERTY
+
+
+Three little vessels--the _Susan Constant_, the _Godspeed_, and the
+_Discovery_--left England in December, 1606, under the command of
+Captain Christopher Newport, to found a colony on the distant shores of
+Virginia. Two decades earlier Sir Walter Raleigh had sent out a group of
+settlers to what is now North Carolina, and they had disappeared
+mysteriously. What had happened to them? men asked. Had they been killed
+by the Indians? Had they fallen victims to disease? Had they starved?
+Those who shared in this new venture must have wondered if a like fate
+awaited them in this strange new land.
+
+But their spirits rose when they entered Chesapeake Bay. Landing parties
+were delighted with the "fair meddowes ... full of flowers of divers
+kinds and colors," the "goodly tall trees," and the streams of fresh
+water. It was a smiling country which seemed to bid them welcome. But
+when they entered the mouth of a broad river, which they called the
+James in honor of their King, and made their way up into the country,
+new doubts must have assailed them. They knew that savages lived in the
+dense forests which lined both banks; might not strange wild beasts live
+there also? Might there not be fatal diseases unknown in Europe?
+
+Possibly they wondered what type of government Englishmen would live
+under here. In the charter granted the Virginia Company of London in
+1606 it was promised that they should "enjoy all the liberties,
+franchises, and immunities" of Englishmen, "as if they had been abiding"
+in England. Even without this promise they would have taken it for
+granted that they were not surrendering the freedom derived from their
+ancestors. This was the view taken six decades later by Francis Moryson
+and Thomas Ludwell, agents for the colony. If the King planted a colony
+of Englishmen, they and their heirs ought by law to enjoy the "same
+liberties and privileges as Englishmen in England." After all, the
+colony would be but "an extension or dilation of the realm of
+England."[1]
+
+The men who came to Virginia had, in the mother country, participated in
+the government through representatives of their own choosing, so they
+insisted upon this right in their new home. They claimed, also, the
+habeas corpus, jury trial, and freedom from taxation save by their own
+consent. In England not even the King could take a man's money legally
+until it had been granted by the House of Commons. Upon this recognized
+principle English liberty was chiefly based; upon its acceptance in
+America depended the future of liberty there.
+
+Yet when the first band of settlers stepped ashore at Jamestown, liberty
+in England still hung in the balance. At the conclusion of the Wars of
+the Roses the King was almost absolute. The people were desperately
+tired of anarchy; they were tired also of the oppressions of the barons.
+So long as the King put an end to both they had no desire to limit his
+power. The Commons ate out of his hand. Henry VIII might tear the Church
+from the Roman see, Mary might restore it, Edward might once more break
+with Rome--in each case the people submitted. Those who dared resist
+faced the headsman's block or the pyre.
+
+But in time the memory of the Wars of the Roses grew dim. And the growth
+of the artisan class, the development of trade, the birth of a great
+literature, the work of the universities, the expansion of world
+horizons fired the imagination and awakened men to their own
+potentialities. Self-government is a tender plant which withers in the
+soil of poverty and ignorance, and it was the advance of prosperity and
+enlightenment under the Tudors which made possible the flowering of
+liberty under the Stuarts.
+
+James I had been on the throne only three years when the little town
+which bore his name was founded. James has been called the wisest fool
+in Christendom; but he was neither wise nor a fool. His conception of
+the King's office was logical and simple. It was his function to rule;
+the duty of the people was to obey. If they did not, like bad children
+they should be scolded and perhaps punished, since it was not only
+illegal but wicked to question the King's authority. "As to dispute what
+God may do is blasphemy, so it is sedition in subjects to dispute what a
+King may do," he said. Parliament he considered a nuisance. "I am
+surprised that my ancestors should have permitted such an institution to
+come into existence," he said. "I am a stranger and found it here when
+I arrived, so that I am obliged to put up with what I cannot get rid
+of."[2]
+
+The House of Commons were not inclined to accept the King's theory of
+the relations between himself and Parliament. When James told them that
+they had no privileges save by royal grace, they replied that he had
+been misinformed. When in answer to James' demand that they refrain from
+meddling in foreign affairs, they entered on their journal a
+protestation of their right of free speech, he was so enraged that he
+sent for the book and with his own hands tore out the page.
+
+The Commons considered it a precious privilege to be "governed by
+certain rules of law ... and not by uncertain or arbitrary form of
+government." There is a general fear among the people, they told James,
+that royal proclamations might eventually assume the nature of laws.
+Then their ancient freedom would be abridged, "if not quite taken away,"
+and "a new form of arbitrary government" brought on the realm.
+
+The conflict between King and Parliament foreshadowed the conflict
+between the Governors and the people of the colonies. The provincial
+Assemblies were not less determined to resist any infringement on their
+rights than was Parliament. And the fortunes of the contending forces in
+the mother country affected profoundly those in the colonies. Echoes of
+the First Stuart Despotism, the Civil War and Commonwealth, the
+Restoration, the Second Stuart Despotism, the Glorious Revolution, the
+laissez-faire period, and the reaction under George III reverberated in
+the colonies.
+
+But the development of self-government in America was by no means
+entirely dependent upon events in England. There were forces in the New
+World which favored democracy. The wide spaces of the frontier made men
+self-reliant and resourceful and impatient of control by a distant
+monarch, ever ready to defend old rights, quick to demand new ones.
+"People remote from the seat of government are always remarkable for
+their disobedience," wrote Governor Gooch, in 1732.[3] As the historian
+Foote has pointed out, they and "their children were republicans; in
+England they would have been styled rebels."
+
+The creating of a vast middle class in the colonies also tended toward
+democracy. The men who turned their backs on the homes of their
+ancestors to start life over again in the tobacco fields of Virginia
+were, most of them, desperately poor. Many came under terms of
+indenture. But they had, prior to the introduction of slaves in large
+numbers, every opportunity to rise. As a result there emerged a
+vigorous, intelligent, freedom-loving yeomanry, who had a profound
+influence in winning self-government.
+
+But the victory at first seemed to be with the King. When James granted
+a charter to the Virginia Company of London, he took care that it should
+include no provision for representative government. Instead he kept the
+control of the proposed colony in his own hands. There was to be a
+Council resident in England appointed by him and responsible to him.
+This body was to name another Council which was to reside in Virginia
+and administer the "Articles, Instructions, and Orders" which the King
+drew up with his own hand. In practice this body assumed administrative,
+legislative, and judicial powers, and ruled the infant colony by their
+own arbitrary will.[4]
+
+Not only was this constitution undemocratic, but it proved inefficient.
+Had the Council in England made better selections for the Council in
+Virginia, the colony would have been saved much disorder and suffering.
+But never was there a more quarrelsome set of men. The fleet had been at
+sea but a few days when Captain John Smith was accused of plotting to
+overthrow the government and murder his associates, and was kept in
+prison below decks. Only some weeks after the landing at Jamestown was
+he released and permitted to take his seat on the Council.[5]
+
+On the Council with him were Captain Christopher Newport, Edward
+Wingfield, Bartholomew Gosnold, George Kendall, John Ratcliffe, and John
+Martin. One would think that this little group, set down in the
+wilderness and faced with many perils, would have occupied their time
+better than with plotting against each other. They had enough to do to
+defend themselves against the Indians, for in a sudden attack four of
+them were wounded and another had a narrow escape when an arrow passed
+through his beard.[6]
+
+Kendall was the first to be expelled from the Council. Gosnold died.
+Wingfield, who was President of the Council, was accused of being an
+atheist, of plotting to desert the colony, and of misappropriating
+public funds, and was ousted from his seat. Since Newport had sailed
+with the fleet for England, Ratcliffe, Smith, and Martin were now the
+only remaining Councillors. But this did not bring harmony. Kendall was
+accused of plotting against the other two, tried, and hanged. Smith,
+too, was in danger of the gallows, when he was held responsible for the
+death of two men who had been killed by the Indians. Were the "whipping,
+lawing, beating, and hanging in Virginia known in England, I fear it
+would drive many well affected minds from this honorable action,"
+Wingfield stated after his return to England. With the drowning of two
+new Councillors, Captain John Smith alone remained, and for several
+months was the sole ruler of the colony.[7]
+
+When word of what was going on in Virginia reached the London Company it
+was obvious to all that the original plan of government had proved a
+failure. So they secured a new charter empowering them to change it. But
+for a remedy they turned, not to self-government, but to despotism. They
+abolished the old Council, and turned the colony over to a Governor who,
+within the limits of his instructions, was to "rule and govern by his
+own discretion or by such laws" as he should decree. To assist him he
+was to choose an advisory Council.
+
+The danger of this system was at first obscured by the wise choice of a
+Governor. Thomas Lord De la Warr was a man of distinction and ability.
+He had studied at the Queen's College, Oxford, had served with Essex in
+Ireland, and had been a member of the Privy Council under both Elizabeth
+and James.[8]
+
+Upon landing at Jamestown, De la Warr listened to a sermon by the good
+minister, Mr. Buck. He then addressed the people, "laying some blames on
+them," and promising, if forced to it, to draw the sword of justice. But
+there seems to have been no need for this. The people, forgetting former
+quarrels, were united in their efforts to serve their Governor and bring
+a degree of prosperity to the colony. The sound of hammering and sawing
+was heard on all sides as little houses were built, the fort repaired,
+the church restored. "Every Sunday, when the Lord Governor went to
+church, he was accompanied by all the Councillors, Captains, and other
+officers, and all the gentlemen, and with a band of fifty halberdiers in
+his Lordships livery, fair red cloaks, on each side and behind him. The
+Lord Governor sat in the choir in a green velvet chair, with a velvet
+cushion before him on which he knelt."[9]
+
+But that Lord De la Warr proved to be a mild and just Governor by no
+means obscures the evils inherent in absolutism. A good ruler may be
+succeeded by a bad one. In ancient Rome the people benefited by the
+establishing of law and order under the great Augustus, but they
+suffered from the cruelty of the insane Caligula and the dissolute Nero.
+So it boded no good for Virginia when De la Warr fell ill. "I was
+welcomed by a hot and violent ague," he tells us. This was followed by
+an attack of dysentery. "Then the cramp assaulted my weak body with
+strong pains, and afterward the gout." Finally scurvy came to add to his
+woes, so that he "was upon the point to leave this world." In
+desperation he set sail for the West Indies in the hope of recovering
+his health.[10]
+
+A few weeks after De la Warr's departure Sir Thomas Gates assumed
+command of the colony. In 1614 he, in turn, was followed by Sir Thomas
+Dale, Dale by Captain George Yeardley, and Yeardley by Samuel Argall.
+When Gates was in Virginia in 1610 he had brought with him certain laws,
+orders, and instructions which he posted in the church at Jamestown. As
+the people crowded into the little building to read them they must have
+expressed their resentment and horror, for the laws were more suited to
+a penal colony than to a community of free Englishmen. In 1611 Dale
+brought additional laws, and the whole body was revised in England and
+published. Gates and Dale had both served with the English army in the
+Netherlands, and these laws were "chiefly extracted out of the laws for
+governing the army" there.
+
+It was ordered that "every man and woman daily twice a day upon the
+first tolling of the bell shall upon the working days repair into the
+church to hear divine service upon pain of losing his or her day's
+allowance for the first omission, for the second to be whipped, for the
+third to be condemned to the galleys for six months." Equally severe was
+the law that "no man shall give any disgraceful words or commit any act
+to the disgrace of any person ... upon pain of being tied head and feet
+together upon the guard every night for the space of one month." To kill
+any cattle, or horse, goat, or pig, or chicken without leave was
+punishable with death. No doubt conducive to health but not to liberty
+was the order that no man or woman should wash linen or pots and pans
+"within twenty foot of the old well ... upon pain of whipping."[11]
+
+De la Warr was a humane man, who thought that order could be maintained
+without cruelty. Gates, also, seems not to have enforced the severe
+laws. But the situation changed when Dale, and after him Argall assumed
+power. These two men were guilty of reigns of terror that would have
+shamed an Ivan the Terrible or a Hitler. The Virginia Assembly of 1624
+testified that the colony suffered "under most severe and cruel laws
+sent over in print," contrary to the King's promise. And these laws were
+"mercilessly executed, often times without trial or judgment." Some who
+sought relief by fleeing to the Indians were captured and executed,
+either by hanging, or shooting, or even by being broken on the wheel.
+One man who had stolen some oatmeal had a knife thrust through his
+tongue, and then was tied to a tree where he was left to starve. In 1612
+several men tried to steal a barge and a shallop in order to risk their
+lives in a desperate attempt to reach England. For this they were "shot
+to death, hanged and broken upon the wheel."[12]
+
+But better things were in store. Many of the leading spirits of the
+London Company, who "stood best affected to religion and liberty" were
+"distasted with the proceedings of the Court." This group began now to
+dream of migrating to Virginia to set up a government there which would
+be sympathetic with their views. "Many worthy patriots, lords, knights,
+gentlemen, merchants, and others ... laid hold on ... Virginia as a
+providence cast before them."[13] Had not the Pilgrim fathers shown the
+way to New England a few years later, it might have been in Virginia
+rather than in Massachusetts that the Bible commonwealth was
+established.
+
+Prominent among the liberal faction in the Company was Sir Edwin Sandys.
+In his youth he had studied at Corpus Christi, Oxford, under Richard
+Hooker, the future founder of Connecticut, and this ardent Puritan
+influenced profoundly his views and career. It was from Hooker that he
+got the theory that the King derived his authority from a contract with
+the people, and not by divine right. Later, when as a member of the
+Commons he enunciated this theory, he drew down on his head James'
+bitter hatred. Sandys, who had long been a member of the Council of the
+London Company, was elected to the important post of Treasurer in 1617.
+To prevent his re-election three years later, the King sent the names of
+four other men to the Company with the demand that they elect one of
+them. When the Company sent a delegation to him to protest against this
+interference with their affairs, James blurted out: "Choose the devil if
+you will, but not Sir Edwin Sandys."
+
+Sandys seems to have planned to secure successive charters, each
+granting the Company greater powers than its predecessor, under the
+pretext that this was necessary for the success of the enterprise. The
+second charter, granted in 1609, is of especial importance because by it
+the King resigned the immediate control of the colony into the hands of
+the Company. The charter of 1612 still further strengthened their hands.
+
+But the Sandys faction met strenuous opposition in the Company itself.
+Many of the stockholders thought it a mistake to involve the Company in
+the political and religious struggle which was convulsing the nation. At
+times the Quarter Courts resounded with the angry debates of the
+contending parties. A momentous struggle it was, since upon the outcome
+depended the establishing of self-government in America. So there was
+rejoicing among the liberal party when Sandys was victorious.
+
+It is probable that Sandys drew up with his own hand what has been
+called the Magna Carta of Virginia in the fall of 1617, granting the
+colony the right to representative government. Lord De la Warr, who was
+still the Governor, had expected to leave at that time with this famous
+document. But his sailing was delayed until April, 1618. Unfortunately
+De la Warr, who probably had never fully recovered his health, became
+ill during the voyage and died.
+
+When news of De la Warr's death reached the London Company, they chose
+Captain George Yeardley to be his successor. In January, 1619, Yeardley
+sailed from England with several documents, probably duplicates of the
+Magna Carta, authorizing him to hold an election for a General
+Assembly.[14] His instructions have been preserved, but his commission,
+or constitution for the colony, has been lost. Yet undoubtedly it was
+similar to, if not identical with the Magna Carta of 1617, and with the
+"Ordinance and Constitution" of July 24, 1621, given Sir Francis Wyatt.
+
+This constitution called for a Council to be chosen from time to time by
+the Company to assist the Governor in maintaining the "people in justice
+and Christian conversation amongst themselves, and in strength and
+ability to withstand their enemies." Another body "to be called by the
+Governor once yearly and no oftener but for very extraordinary and
+important occasions, shall consist for the present of the said Council
+of State, and two Burgesses out of every town, hundred, or other
+particular plantation, to be respectively chosen by the inhabitants."
+This body, which was called the General Assembly, was to "have free
+power to treat, consult, and conclude, as well of all emergent occasions
+concerning the public weal of the said colony ... as also to make,
+ordain, and enact such general laws and orders ... as shall from time to
+time appear necessary." To the Governor was reserved a negative voice.
+
+The Governor and Assembly were directed "to imitate and follow the form
+of government, laws, customs, and manner of trial, and other
+ministration of justice used in the realm of England." And a limit was
+put to the authority of the Assembly by a provision that no law should
+"continue in force" unless ratified by the Company. But a degree of
+independence was granted in the instruction that "after the government
+of the said colony shall once have been framed ... no orders of court
+afterwards shall bind the said colony, unless they be ratified in like
+manner in the General Assemblies."[15]
+
+There must have been rejoicing in Virginia when Yeardley arrived with
+orders "for the better establishing a commonwealth." Perhaps there were
+cheers, perhaps tears of joy in the crowd which assembled in Jamestown
+to listen to his proclamation. It promised that those cruel laws by
+which they had so long been governed were now abrogated, and that they
+were to be governed by those free laws which his Majesty's subjects in
+England lived under.[16]
+
+On August 9, 1619, the first representative assembly in American
+history met in the crude little church at Jamestown. When Governor
+Yeardley had taken his seat in the choir, the members of the Council sat
+beside him, some on one side, some on the other. "But forasmuch as men's
+affairs do little prosper when God's service is neglected, all the
+Burgesses took their places in the choir till a prayer was said by Mr.
+Buck, the minister." Then the Burgesses were called in order by name,
+and so every man took the oath of supremacy.[17]
+
+The Assembly assumed from the first that it was to be the Parliament of
+Virginia. But they realized that they must make no laws which
+contravened those of England, or the charter, or the instructions of the
+London Company. During the first session, acts were passed concerning
+the Church, Indian affairs, land patents, morality, prices, trade, etc.
+But by far the most important law was one ordering "that every man and
+man servant above sixteen years of age shall pay into the hands and
+custody of the Burgesses ... one pound of the best tobacco."[18]
+
+The control of taxation by the representatives of the people was to play
+a vital role in the development of self-government in America. It was
+based on the fact, universally recognized by Englishmen, that no power
+had the right to take a man's property without his own consent. A
+century after the first session of the Virginia Assembly the New York
+Assembly reminded Governor Robert Hunter that their inherent right "to
+dispose of the money of the freemen" did "not proceed from any
+commission, letters patent, or other grant from the Crown, but from the
+free choice and election of the people, who ought not to be divested of
+their property (nor justly can) without their consent." Similarly the
+Virginia House of Burgesses declared: "The rights of the subjects are so
+secured by law that they cannot be deprived of the least part of their
+property but by their own consent."
+
+The Virginia Assembly of 1619, when they assumed the right to tax the
+people, probably did not realize that they were laying the cornerstone
+of the structure of American liberty. Yet it was the control of taxation
+by the representatives of the people in all the colonies which made it
+possible to win victory after victory over the royal Governors. It is an
+old saying that one dare not quarrel with one's paymaster. Yet that was
+just what most of the Governors had to do. They needed money, money to
+cover their own salaries, money with which to pay other government
+officials, money to raise and equip men to fight the Indians, or the
+Dutch, or the French. The price they had to pay was a part of the royal
+prerogative.
+
+It is to be noted that the money raised by the levy of 1619 in Virginia
+was to be paid, not to the Governor or to a Treasurer appointed by the
+Governor, but to the Burgesses. The question of who was to receive the
+revenues and who to decide upon their use was second in importance only
+to who had the right to levy taxes. It was to give rise to many disputes
+between Governors and Burgesses.
+
+The people of Virginia in their happiness in the setting up of
+representative government seem to have overlooked the King's hostility.
+But they could not have expected him to assent meekly to the duplication
+in the infant colony of the Parliament, the body which was causing him
+so much trouble and vexation. They might have been warned of what was
+coming when James threw Sir Edwin Sandys in the Tower.
+
+This was followed by a frontal assault on the London Company. John
+Ferrar wrote: "The King, notwithstanding his royal word and honor
+pledged to the contrary ... was now determined with all his force to ...
+give the death blow...."[19] He began by ordering a certain Nathaniel
+Butler to write a pamphlet describing conditions in Virginia. In his
+_Unmasking of Virginia_, as he called it, Butler drew a vivid picture of
+the suffering of the people from disease, hunger, and the Indians. In
+reply the Company published _A True Answer_, explaining the misfortunes
+which had plagued the colony, and denying responsibility for them.[20]
+
+The King now appointed a commission to inquire into "all abuses and
+grievances" in Virginia. In July, 1623, this body reported that most of
+the people sent to the colony were now dead, and that the blame must
+rest on the Company. "If his Majesty's first grant of April 10, 1606,
+... had been pursued, much better effects had been produced than had
+been by the alteration thereof into so popular a course."[21] The King
+was elated. He was determined, he said, to "resume the government, and
+... reduce that popular form so as to make it agree with the monarchical
+form."
+
+Should the Company agree, he was willing for them to retain their
+charter. But he told them that he was resolved "by a new charter to
+appoint a Governor and twelve assistants, resident here in England, unto
+whom shall be committed the government." These assistants were to
+appoint a Governor and twelve assistants to reside in Virginia, "whereby
+all matters of importance may be directed by his Majesty."[22] In
+essence this was the original plan of 1606. There was "hot debate" in
+the Company when they met to consider this proposal. Every man present
+knew that the fate of the Company hung in the balance. Yet when the
+King's offer was put to the vote, it was rejected by an overwhelming
+majority.[23]
+
+The Company now appealed to the House of Commons. But before the Commons
+could act a message came from the King warning them not to meddle in the
+affair. "Ourselves will make it our work to settle the quiet and welfare
+of the plantations," he said. So, with some "soft mutterings," they
+submitted.
+
+The people of Virginia waited impatiently for the outcome of the
+struggle which concerned them so deeply. When in March, 1624, the
+_Southampton_ arrived with word that James was determined to change the
+government, they were in despair. Was liberty to be overthrown? Were
+they to be subjected again to the brutality of a Dale or an Argall? They
+wrote the Privy Council praying that future Governors should not have
+absolute authority. "But above all we humbly entreat your Lordships that
+we may retain the liberty of our General Assembly, than which nothing
+can more conduce to our satisfaction or the public utility."[24]
+
+If this letter ever reached the Privy Council, it did not stay the
+King's hand. Attorney General Coventry had already issued a _quo
+warranto_ against the Company. Sandys and others fought the case before
+the King's Bench, but the outcome was foregone. On June 26, 1624, the
+charter was overthrown and Virginia became a royal colony.
+
+Certain historians have contended that, in destroying the Company, James
+was actuated chiefly by economic motives. They point out that the
+Company was divided into factions, that the situation in Virginia was
+desperate, and that the Company was practically bankrupt. Nothing was
+left to show for the L100,000 which had been expended, and unless this
+charge was wiped off the books by dissolving the Company, it would
+remain for decades as a burden on the colony. No doubt this may have
+influenced James in his decision. But he himself said that it had not
+been his intention to revoke the charters until the Company drove him to
+it by refusing to resign the government into his hands. He had resolved,
+he said, "by altering the charters ... as to point of government ... to
+settle such a course as might cause the said plantation to flourish, ...
+But because the said Treasurer and Company did not submit their charters
+to be reformed, our proceedings therein were stayed for a time until ...
+the said charters ... were ... avoided."
+
+The future of the colony was now left in doubt. James declared his
+intention of issuing a new charter. But since this would require "much
+time and care," he appointed a commission headed by Lord Henry
+Mandeville, to manage the colony in the meanwhile. This body's first
+step was to reappoint Governor Francis Wyatt and his Council, and to
+authorize them to exercise all the powers granted to Yeardley and his
+Council. But they made no mention of an Assembly.
+
+James, in issuing the new charter, no doubt intended to make it conform
+to the charter of 1606. Had he done so, he might have delayed the
+development of self-government in Virginia by decades. But before he
+could complete the draft, death overtook him. This dissolved the
+Mandeville commission, and postponed indefinitely a final settlement of
+Virginia affairs.
+
+Charles I was in sympathy with his father's plans for the colony, but he
+seems not to have been deeply concerned about carrying them out. His
+first step was to place the matter before the Privy Council. The Council
+called on Sir Edwin Sandys for his opinion. Sir Edwin replied in a long
+document entitled "The Discourse of the Old Company of Virginia,"
+advising the King to restore the Company. This Charles had no intention
+of doing. On May 23, 1625, he issued a proclamation declaring "that his
+intention was that the government of Virginia should immediately depend"
+upon himself. It might be proper to commit matters of trade and commerce
+to a corporation, but not state affairs. He next outlined a plan of
+government for the colony which was essentially the same as that under
+the charter of 1606.
+
+In the meanwhile, the people of Virginia awaited anxiously. Would the
+King abolish the Assembly? Would another Dale or Argall be sent over for
+a new reign of terror? They had opposed the dissolution of the Company
+because they feared it might lead to the abolishing of representative
+government. Now that the Company no longer existed they pleaded
+earnestly to be permitted to keep the Assembly. In June, 1625, the
+Governor and Council wrote the Privy Council asking that the "liberty,
+of General Assembleys" be continued in order "to avoid the oppressions
+of Governors." This letter they entrusted to Sir George Yeardley, who
+sailed with it for England and laid it before the Privy Council.[25]
+
+This body hastened to assure the Virginians that the King "doth take all
+the country and people into his royal protection and government," and
+that they were to enjoy all their former privileges. Still they made no
+promise that the people should have a voice in the government. And the
+King, because of "many other urgent occasions," still delayed making a
+permanent settlement of Virginia affairs. At last, in March, 1626, he
+appointed Yeardley to succeed Wyatt, with orders to "continue the same
+means that was formerly thought fit for the maintenance of the said
+colony."
+
+Wyatt and Yeardley were men of a different stamp from Dale and Argall.
+Had they chosen to do so, they could have ruled the colony with no
+restraint save from the Council. But they preferred to keep alive the
+spark of representative government. So they called together unofficial
+gatherings of leading citizens to sit with the Governor and the Council
+instead of the House of Burgesses. This body they called the "Governor,
+Council, and the colony of Virginia assembled together."[26]
+
+The Assembly of 1624 was automatically dissolved by the death of James
+I. So there must have been a new election, since the unofficial House of
+Burgesses, had they been appointed by the Governor and Council, would
+not have presumed to tax the people for the funds necessary for carrying
+on the government. As there was no legal authority for the gatherings
+their acts were translated into proclamations.[27]
+
+Legal authority came in an unexpected way. With the demonstration by
+John Rolfe, the man who married Pocahontas, that tobacco could be raised
+in Virginia, the Indian weed had become more and more the staple of the
+colony. Had it been assured of a monopoly of the English market by the
+exclusion of foreign tobacco and the prohibition of tobacco planting in
+England, and not hampered by high custom duties, it would have brought
+prosperity and rapid growth.[28] But both James and Charles were
+constantly in need of money, and the revenue from the duty on Spanish
+tobacco had been important to them. So in excluding all foreign leaf
+they sought to make good their losses from Virginia tobacco.
+
+In 1627 Charles decided to buy the entire colonial crop in the hope of
+selling it at a profit. But this he did not venture to do without
+securing the consent of the planters. That would have violated the
+principle that a man's property must not be taken without his consent,
+either directly or through his representative. So he directed the
+Governor to hold a general election of Burgesses, summon an Assembly,
+and place his proposition before them. Thus he gave official recognition
+to the House of Burgesses, and it was upon this recognition that its
+authority rested.[29] The Virginians rejected the King's proposal, but
+they kept their Assembly. From this date it became habitual for the
+Kings to insert in the instructions to a new Governor that he hold an
+election of Burgesses.
+
+The setting up of representative government in the first English colony
+in America has a double significance. It may be viewed as a part of the
+struggle for supremacy between King and Parliament. Sir Edwin Sandys,
+the champion of liberty in Virginia, was also a champion of liberty in
+the mother country. Had absolutism won in England, its victory in the
+colony would have been certain. And had the King succeeded in ruling the
+colony unrestrained by any representative body there, it would have
+strengthened his hand in England, would have been a defeat for the
+liberal group in Parliament.
+
+When the first Assembly met in Jamestown, the year before the Pilgrims
+landed on Cape Cod, they established a precedent which was followed in
+future English settlements. Had absolutism been firmly rooted in
+Virginia, the Stuart Kings might have tried to set it up in all the
+colonies. The Massachusetts Bay charter might have been voided, the
+charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island might have had no provision for
+representative government.
+
+On the other hand, as it was the need for money which forced the hand of
+Charles I and gave legality to the House of Burgesses, so the needs of
+all the colonial governments made necessary the calling of legislatures
+which had the right to levy taxes. It is this which forced the Duke of
+York to call an Assembly in New York in 1684. When the American patriots
+of 1775 took up arms because Parliament insisted on taxing them, they
+were not defending some new principle. The principle that one's property
+could be taken only with one's consent antedated the founding of
+Jamestown. And upon it American liberty was based from the first.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Bath papers_ II, p. 44.
+
+[2] R. W. K. Hinton, Government and liberty under James I, _Cambridge
+Historical Journal_ 11 (I).
+
+[3] Gooch to the Lords of Trade, March 30, 1732.
+
+[4] A. Brown, _Genesis of the United States_ 1: 55, 56.
+
+[5] Edward Arber, _Works of Captain John Smith_, 91.
+
+[6] _Ibid._, lii.
+
+[7] _Ibid._, lxxxiv.
+
+[8] A. Brown, _The first republic_, 84.
+
+[9] _Ibid._, 130.
+
+[10] A. Brown, _Genesis of the United States_ 1: 479.
+
+[11] Peter Force, _Tracts_ 3(2).
+
+[12] A. Brown, _The first republic_, 148, 172.
+
+[13] _Ibid._, 85.
+
+[14] A. Brown, _The first republic_, 293.
+
+[15] _Bath papers_ I.
+
+[16] A. Brown, _The first republic_, 312.
+
+[17] L. G. Tyler, _Narratives of early Virginia_, 257.
+
+[18] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1619-1659, 16.
+
+[19] A. Brown, _The first republic_, 531, 532.
+
+[20] _Ibid._, 524.
+
+[21] _Ibid._, 541.
+
+[22] _Ibid._, 542.
+
+[23] _Ibid._, 554.
+
+[24] William Stith, _History of Virginia_, 313, 315.
+
+[25] A. Brown, _The first republic_, 573.
+
+[26] CO1-3, p. 5. This and similar notations all refer to documents in
+the British Public Record Office.
+
+[27] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 129, 130.
+
+[28] CO1-4.
+
+[29] CO1-20.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SELF-GOVERNMENT
+
+
+With the calling of the Assembly of 1627 Virginia entered a new epoch.
+The people no longer looked to a commercial company for instructions and
+the appointment of the Governor and other officials, but to the King.
+
+On the whole this was a fortunate change. The Company could not finance
+the enterprise, and it might have bled the colony to make good its own
+losses. The reactionary group in the Company might in time have won
+control, and have gone back to the original form of government.
+
+It was this which made the people of Virginia resist all attempts to
+re-establish the Company. They were greatly alarmed in 1631 when word
+reached them that some of the former members had "continually importuned
+his Majesty to renew the charter," and that the King had actually given
+orders that a new one be drawn up. Someone, no doubt an agent for the
+colony, protested vigorously. The Governor and Council had "oftentimes
+petitioned ... against the renewing of any such corporation," he said,
+and he pleaded that nothing be done until they were heard from.
+
+But though the Virginians wished to remain under the jurisdiction of the
+King, and not be "subjects to their fellow subjects," they wanted to
+place their government upon a firmer basis as a guarantee that there
+would be no renewal of the "illegal proceedings and barbarous tortures"
+of former years. On three separate occasions they tried to secure a
+charter guaranteeing their liberties. In 1639, George Sandys, whom they
+appointed agent to petition for a charter, seems to have misunderstood
+his instructions, for instead of doing so he attempted to revive the
+Company. When this news reached Virginia, the Assembly hastened to
+disavow his action, and to beg the King to let them remain a royal
+colony. Their yearly Assemblies, authorized in his instructions, insured
+their present happiness, they said. So they were much relieved when
+Charles told them that he had not the least intention of placing any
+corporation over them.
+
+This satisfied the Virginians for the moment, but during the Restoration
+period, on learning that the King had made a series of grants in the
+colony to favorites, they once more petitioned for a charter. And
+though, after prolonged negotiations, a charter was passed under the
+Great Seal,[1] it was so unsatisfactory that in 1691 they made still
+another attempt. When this failed, the colony was forced to remain under
+its unwritten constitution, based on precedents, royal letters,
+proclamations, and instructions.
+
+This constitution provided that the Governor be appointed by the King.
+Consequently he represented the authority of the Crown, and through the
+Crown the interests of England. If he failed to uphold the royal
+prerogative against the assaults of the Burgesses and the Council he was
+sure to incur the frowns of his royal master. If the King were bent on
+ruling the colony with as little interference from the Assembly as
+possible, it was the Governor who tried to carry out his orders. In
+other words, in the century long battle between the King and the
+representatives of the people, it was the Governor who bore the royal
+banner.
+
+The Governors varied widely in character and ability. Sir John Harvey
+and Francis Nicholson were egocentric men, who tried to lash all who
+surrounded them into obedience to their will. Alexander Spotswood and
+Robert Dinwiddie, though not friends of representative government, were
+able administrators. Hugh Drysdale, William Gooch, and Lord Botetourt,
+because of their amiable dispositions, won lasting popularity. Culpeper
+and Effingham were hated as instruments in the hands of Charles II and
+James II in imposing the Second Stuart Despotism on the colony. Dunmore
+was detested for his role in the opening years of the Revolutionary War.
+
+It is strange that Nicholson, who was in many respects one of the worst
+of the Governors, should have given an excellent description of the
+ideal colonial executive. "It is absolutely necessary ... that the
+Governor ... may be esteemed by the people, ... to be a lover of them
+and their country ... and above all distributes equal justice."[2] Had
+he followed his own advice his second administration would not have
+ended in failure.
+
+The powers of the Governor were great, so great that even the British
+government at times thought they should be used with caution. "All
+things are made so entirely dependent on the Governor's single will and
+pleasure, that whenever there may happen an ill man in that post, it
+cannot reasonably be expected any person ... should either oppose such
+an one in whatever he may attempt or so much as give any advice," wrote
+the Lords of Trade in 1698.[3]
+
+The Governor's powers differed from time to time, depending upon the
+situation in England, upon developments in the colony, and upon the
+character of the Governor. Sir William Berkeley based his power chiefly
+on the use of the patronage; Effingham's authority was but a reflection
+of the despotism of the late Stuart Kings. On the whole, the Governors
+of the seventeenth century exercised more power than those of the
+eighteenth century.
+
+At all times the Governor was respected because back of him was the
+awe-inspiring figure of the monarch. If the Councillors or the Burgesses
+defied him, he might report their "disobedience" to the King with
+serious consequences. On more than one occasion the King ordered the
+Governor to rebuke the Burgesses for their "presumption" in disregarding
+his wishes.
+
+The Burgesses seem not to have hung their heads at these reprimands, and
+it was only when the King tried to abridge their privileges that they
+were deeply concerned. But the greatest danger lay, not in overriding
+the House, but in undermining it by political bribery. The Governor had
+in his hands many lucrative offices with which to reward those who voted
+as he wished. "Don't you know there is a sheriff and a clerk in every
+county, besides other offices of profit in the country?" Benjamin
+Harrison wrote Philip Ludwell, in 1703. "Is it not the wise man's phrase
+that a gift will blind the eyes of the wise?... Places are now shifted
+as often as the occasion requires, to put out or in, as men will or will
+not serve a turn. Sheriffs are turned out in the middle of their
+collection. Clerks are turned out without ever knowing why and so are
+other officers.... I need not tell you what men too many of our House of
+Burgesses are, how greedy they are to catch at any little place of
+profit, without considering the ill consequence that attends it; like
+the poor harmless fish that eagerly catches at the bait without
+considering the hook of destruction is under it.... Add a sheriff, a
+clerk, or a naval officer's place, and pray who would consider the
+Queen's service, the interest of the country, or the discharging a
+Burgess's oath!"[4]
+
+The most tempting plum was a seat in the Council. Though this was in the
+gift of the King, he almost invariably named the man recommended by the
+Governor. So the Burgess who aspired to it was a patriot indeed if he
+set the welfare of the country above his own ambition by opposing the
+Governor in the House.
+
+It was not necessary for the Governor to make a direct promise; every
+man of prominence and wealth knew that he was being watched. But in one
+case at least a bargain was struck. In 1683 Governor Culpeper wrote the
+Privy Council that Isaac Allerton had assured him "of his utmost
+services in whatsoever the King should command him by his Governor," and
+he had promised in return "that he should be of the Council ... though
+not to be declared till after the session of the next Assembly."[5] One
+wonders whether Allerton's conscience hurt him when, several years
+later, he took the seat which he had gained by betraying the interests
+of those who had elected him.
+
+In February, 1691, Governor Nicholson wrote the Lords of Trade
+explaining why he had deferred sending a list of recommendations for
+appointment to the Council until after a meeting of the Assembly. "I
+think it a proper time to try men in, especially considering how many of
+his Majesty's affairs are to be transacted there."[6]
+
+Even when a Carter, or a Byrd, or a Ludwell had taken his seat in the
+Council, he had to watch his step. If he opposed the Governor too
+vigorously he might be suspended. In 1677 Deputy Governor Herbert
+Jeffreys reported that "one Ballard of the Council" was "a fellow of a
+turbulent, mutinous spirit," and that he had "found very just cause of
+suspending him at present both from the Council and collectorship ...
+and advancing others more loyal, fit, and honest in his place."[7]
+
+The Governor could crack the whip over the head of any Councillor who
+defied him by threatening to kick him out of certain places of profit
+and honor. The Councillors "have all along held the places of profit in
+Virginia by the Governor's gift and during his pleasure," Henry
+Hartwell reported to the Lords of Trade, "which I have always observed
+has restrained them from due freedom of ... debate."[8] It was taken for
+granted that as soon as a man became a Councillor he was to have the
+next vacancy as colonel of militia, or collector of the export duty, or
+naval officer. In the Council of 1692 all save three were colonels. And
+if a Councillor were in high favor with the Governor, he might be in
+line as Secretary or Auditor.[9]
+
+It was the Governor who appointed sheriffs, justices of the peace, and
+other local officers. Since the county court had legislative and
+administrative as well as judicial powers it was the ruling body in the
+county. It even had the right to tax. That the justices were not elected
+by the people not only made local government undemocratic, but added
+greatly to the Governor's power. He could always appoint men who were
+favorable to his policies or turn out those who opposed him.
+
+Although the Governor was directed by his instructions to secure the
+advice of the Council before making appointments, he claimed that he did
+not have to accept it, and he often ignored it. Nicholson was bitterly
+assailed for appointing sheriffs "without the advice of the Council,"
+and for putting in and turning out "colonels, lieutenant colonels,
+majors, captains, and other officers of the militia."
+
+On the other hand, as the decades passed it became more and more the
+custom for the Governor to accept the recommendations of the Councillors
+in making appointments, until it assumed almost the character of an
+unwritten law that he must do so. In fact it was a colonial precedent
+for Senatorial courtesy in the government of the United States.[10]
+
+The Governor had the right to summon, to prorogue, and to dissolve the
+Assembly. But he was usually instructed to hold an Assembly at least
+once a year. On the arrival of a new Governor, or the accession of a
+King or Queen, the Assembly was automatically dissolved. The power of
+prorogation made it possible for a Governor, when he had a House of
+Burgesses to his liking, to continue them indefinitely. That Sir William
+Berkeley refused for at least fourteen years to hold a general election
+prior to Bacon's Rebellion was bitterly resented by the people.
+
+The Governor's veto over legislation, though absolute, was not
+frequently used. If he objected to a bill which came up from the House,
+he could, except on rare occasions, influence the Council to kill it. If
+the Council insisted on passing it, he might affix his signature but
+advise the King to disallow it.
+
+The handing out of fat jobs gave the Governor a strangle hold on the
+courts, if we may believe the testimony of Philip Ludwell and Stephen
+Fouace. "The influence of a Governor will be great both on judges and
+witnesses, particularly by the multitude of places and other favors he
+has to promise in case they favor him in the trial.... There is little
+possibility of having a fair examination."[11] Robert Beverley testified
+to the bribing of a grand jury by Governor Nicholson. "The foreman was
+favored with a naval officer's place, ... others had sheriff's places,
+etc."[12]
+
+Nicholson was accused, also, of bullying witnesses, lawyers, and juries.
+"I have heard him at trials, when judges have asked a question or argued
+or voted contrary to his humor, snap them up and revile them in a very
+contemptible manner," reported Robert Beverley. In the case of Swan
+versus Wilson "he did so grosely abuse Mr. Benjamin Harrison, who was
+counsel for Swan, that everybody cried out shame on it." Finally, James
+Blair, who was a member of the court, could stand it no longer. So,
+taking off his hat, he rose and said:
+
+ "If Mr. Harrison has done any ill thing ... I hope your Excellency
+ will find another time to call him to an account for it.... I am
+ sorry to see so much of the court's time taken up ... by reason of
+ your Excellency's prejudice against him."
+
+ "Sir, I deny the prejudice, put it down in writing," shouted
+ Nicholson.
+
+ "I hope I have liberty to speak my opinion," replied Blair.
+
+ "Who hinders you?"
+
+ "I am ashamed to sit here and see people so used," retorted Blair.
+
+ "Get you gone then. It had been good for the country if they had
+ never seen your face."[13]
+
+The Governor was the legal head of the Church, though his authority was
+disputed after the appointment of a Commissary for the Bishop of London.
+And both Governor and Commissary exercised very limited powers because
+of the resistance of the vestries. The Governor had the right to induct
+ministers after they had been presented by the vestries, but in most
+cases they refused to do so. The Governor's power of collation to vacant
+parishes remained throughout the colonial period practically a dead
+letter.
+
+The Council of State exercised administrative, legislative, and judicial
+powers. Hartwell, Blair, and Chilton, in their _The Present State of
+Virginia_, thus describe their functions: "They are the Council of State
+under the Governor, who always presides; and in the vacancy of a
+Governor and Lieutenant Governor, the eldest of the Council is
+President. They are the Upper House of Assembly, answering to the House
+of Peers in England. They are by custom, but without commission, the
+supreme judges (together with the Governor who presides) in all causes
+... and there lies no appeal from them but to the King in Council."[14]
+
+As the advisory body to the Governor, the Council wielded great
+influence. A Governor who had just taken office and was ignorant of
+conditions in the colony had to turn to them for information and advice.
+Later, when he was better informed, he still relied upon them for
+support in upholding the King's authority. If he were confronted with a
+mutiny, or an invasion by a hostile fleet, or an Indian war, or a
+decline in the price of tobacco, he was glad to get their views on what
+he should do.
+
+The members of the Council originally sat with the Burgesses during
+sessions of the Assembly, and did not constitute a separate house.
+Though this denied them an equal voice with the Burgesses, since they
+could always be outvoted, it permitted them to enter into debates with
+the Burgesses and serve on committees. It was at the suggestion of
+Governor Culpeper that the King, in 1680, gave orders that the Council
+should sit as a separate house.
+
+No doubt Culpeper did this so that he could preside at their legislative
+sessions as he did when they sat as a Privy Council or as a court. In
+this way he could keep an eye on them, could argue with them, and bring
+pressure on them to vote as he wished. It also created a buffer between
+him and the Burgesses, behind which he could take refuge against popular
+criticism. The position of the Councillors was not an easy one since as
+appointees of the King they were supposed to defend the royal authority,
+and as natives of Virginia they wished to defend her interests. Often
+they found a way out of this difficulty by voting one way and privately
+urging the Burgesses to vote the other.
+
+The members of the Council all sat on the General Court. Hartwell,
+Blair, and Chilton thus describe this body: "It is strange that they
+never had a commission for holding of this court, nor never took the
+oath of judges, perhaps it was not designed by the Crown that they
+should hold it, since besides that they are unskilful in law, it is
+thought an inconvenient thing in all governments that the justice and
+policy of the government should be lodged in the same persons, who ought
+indeed to be a check upon one another."[15] It was as though the United
+States Senate were also the Supreme Court. In other words, in colonial
+Virginia the same men who, as members of the Upper House of Assembly,
+had voted on a law were called upon to interpret it. Prior to 1680 if a
+man thought himself injured in point of law or equity by a decision of
+this court he could appeal his case to the Assembly. But after that
+date, when the judicial powers of the Assembly were voided, his only
+appeal was to the King and Privy Council, a step seldom taken because of
+the difficulty "of either prosecuting or defending matters at such a
+distance."
+
+The judicial function of the Councillors added greatly to their power
+and prestige. "They are the sole judges of law and property, which makes
+all depend on them," reported Colonel Quary.[16] The Councillors were
+well aware of the power and prestige which their judicial position gave
+them. This is shown by the bitterness with which they resisted when
+Governor Spotswood tried to weaken it by setting up a court of oyer and
+terminer with others than Councillors on the bench.
+
+The members of the Council were invariably selected from the wealthiest
+men in the colony. In their own counties they were respected and feared.
+To insult a Byrd, or a Custis, or a Carter would land one in jail. But
+if we may believe Governor Nicholson, the poor man would not cringe
+before them. "The ordinary sort of planters that have land of their own,
+though not much, look upon themselves to be as good as the best of
+them, for they know, at least have heard, from whence these mighty dons
+derive their originals." They know that they or their "ancestors were
+their equals if not their superiors, and that their getting such estates
+and places of honor was more by accident than any extraordinary honesty
+or ability in them."[17]
+
+The Council reached the height of its power during the first thirty or
+thirty-five years after the Glorious Revolution. Then it was that they
+defied the Governors, and in three cases were largely responsible for
+their removal. Nicholson complained that they "set up to have the power
+and interest of turning out and putting in Governors, and affect the
+title that the great Earl of Warwick had." Quary said they "had vanity
+enough to think themselves almost upon equal terms with the House of
+Lords." "They have by degrees endeavored to lessen the prerogative and
+render the Governor little better than a cypher, and in truth they have
+in effect gained their point."[18]
+
+The Burgesses were the representatives of the people. They were expected
+by all, wealthy landholders and owners of but a few acres, carpenters,
+coopers, clergymen, to uphold the liberties of all against the assaults
+of the King or the Governor. The poor turned to them for protection
+against the rich. Any attempt by the Governor to rule despotically or
+illegally was sure to arouse their stubborn resistance. They were in
+effect the House of Commons of Virginia, claimed the same privileges,
+and observed the same form in their proceedings. Since each county
+normally sent two Burgesses to the Assembly, the House grew in numbers
+as new counties were organized.
+
+The Assembly, during its century and a half of existence, was often
+forced to meet in private houses or taverns because of the burning of
+the statehouses, now at Green Spring, the residence of Sir William
+Berkeley, now at William Sherwood's house; now at the ordinary of Thomas
+Woodhouse. The first statehouse, which occupied a double row of little
+buildings, went up in flames in 1656, the second, which was also the
+Governor's residence, burned in 1660. The third statehouse was more
+pretentious than its predecessors, being two stories high, with a
+medieval porch in front, the tile-covered roof dominated by chimney
+stacks probably in the Tudor style. It was burned by Bacon's rebels in
+1676. The fourth statehouse, which seems to have been built on the
+foundations of the third, was destroyed by fire in 1698. It was after
+this last disaster that the seat of government was moved to
+Williamsburg, where a lovely Capitol, which has been accurately restored
+by Colonial Williamsburg Inc. in recent years, was completed in 1704.
+
+The sessions of the Burgesses in the hall provided for them in this
+building presented a picturesque scene. The Speaker, in his gown, sat in
+a high chair on a raised platform at the semicircular end of the room.
+Before him, in the center of the hall, was a table covered with green
+cloth, resting on it the mace, the emblem of the authority of the House.
+Here sat the clerk, pen in hand, jotting down notes for the journal.
+Along either side of the room were two rows of benches covered with
+green serge, where sat the Burgesses. All wore their hats. A strange
+medley they were, with the "handsome, well dressed, complete" gentlemen
+from the tidewater contrasting with the roughly clad frontiersmen.
+
+The House was quick to resent any disrespect to themselves as
+individuals or as a body. It was in October, 1693, that Mr. Matthew Kemp
+rose to complain of insults offered him and the House by a certain
+Thomas Rooke. We do not know whether he displayed a bloody nose or a
+black eye, but he accused Rooke of striking him. Thereupon a committee
+was appointed to look into the matter, Rooke was arrested and forced on
+his bended knees to apologize. "Having now a deep sense and abhorrence,
+and out of a true and unfeigned sorrow and repentence," he repeated, he
+asked forgiveness.[19] After they had released him he may have cursed
+them all under his breath, but for the future he kept his resentment to
+himself.
+
+The qualifications for the right to vote changed from time to time. On
+the whole they were liberal, for throughout the colonial period most
+freemen could voice their choice when the candidates for the House of
+Burgesses were presented. The constitution of 1621 stated that Burgesses
+were to be chosen by the "inhabitants." If this was interpreted to mean
+that all men, including indentured workers, enjoyed the franchise, it
+was later modified by a law restricting the right to vote to those who
+paid taxes. It is revealing of the high value placed on representative
+government even by the humblest, that when Governor Berkeley suggested
+that taxes be assessed, not by the poll, but only on landholders, the
+Burgesses protested that this would disfranchise great numbers of
+freemen who owned no land at all. "We are so well acquainted with the
+temper of the people that we have reason to believe they had rather pay
+their tax than lose their privilege."
+
+Seven years later another attempt to restrict the suffrage was more
+successful. Probably at Berkeley's suggestion the Assembly passed a law
+that no man should vote unless he were a landholder or housekeeper. At
+this time poor men who were apt to "make tumults at the elections" were
+pouring in, and the Governor thought it the part of wisdom to deny them
+any participation in the government. In England only property owners
+could vote, he argued, why have a different practice in Virginia?
+
+Unfortunately this happened at a time when the people were "ripe for
+rebellion," and it merely added to their resentment against the Governor
+and his puppet Assembly. It was in an effort to appease them that
+Berkeley called for a new election, in 1676, and, ignoring the law, took
+it on himself to extend the franchise to "every free born man." When
+this Assembly met, and when Bacon's army was marching on Jamestown, they
+confirmed this ruling by passing a law to give the right to vote to all
+freemen. But with the repeal of Bacon's Laws in 1677, the franchise was
+once more restricted to landowners and housekeepers.
+
+When Culpeper was appointed Governor in 1679, he was ordered to make a
+vigorous assault upon liberty in the colony. Among other repressive
+measures he was instructed to deprive mere housekeepers of the suffrage
+and limit it to freeholders. Although this measure was unjust to the
+large and intelligent artisan class--carpenters, masons, coopers, house
+painters, shipwrights, saddlers, gunsmiths, etc., it seems to have
+remained in force throughout the remainder of the colonial period.
+
+The wages of the Burgesses changed from time to time. At one time the
+pay was ten shillings a day, at another thirteen shillings, at still
+another 130 pounds of tobacco. In 1718 it was thirty shillings, a sum
+which Governor Spotswood thought far too much. His criticisms of the
+politicians of his day show that the species has not changed greatly in
+the past two and a half centuries. The salary "makes needy men try for
+the place who are not qualified for a Senate house," he said. "Those
+upon an approaching election set themselves to inventing most false and
+malicious stories.... The country to be sure is ever represented as if
+it was to be undone, and none can be judged capable of saving it but
+some of their own mobbish politicians, who engage to pursue the wild
+schemes of the electors."[20] But when he tried to cut the ground from
+under these false patriots by urging a law requiring the Burgesses to
+serve without salary, and restricting further the qualifications for
+voters and for candidates for office, it was overwhelmingly voted down.
+
+It was customary for each county to pay the salaries of its two
+Burgesses. This was unjust, for it made the burden fall much more
+heavily upon the taxpayer in a small county than one in a large county.
+It was harmful, also, as implying that the Burgess was concerned with
+the interests of his county rather than those of the colony as a whole.
+So the people of the thinly settled counties rejoiced when, in the
+mid-eighteenth century the Burgesses were paid from the revenue from the
+duty on the imports of liquors whenever there was a surplus in this
+fund.
+
+The Burgesses elected their own Speaker. This officer presided over the
+deliberations of the House, voiced their determinations, and issued
+warrants to execute their orders. In case of a tie he cast the deciding
+vote. The office was eagerly sought after, for it carried great
+influence. In 1699, when Robert Carter was elected, he said in his
+address of acceptance: "The House of Burgesses, consisting of the better
+sort of gentlemen from all parts of the country, to be in this fashion
+the object of their choice I take to be of no small reputation to
+me."[21]
+
+The prestige of the office grew with the increasing power of the House,
+until the Speaker became, next to the Governor, the most influential man
+in the colony. It became a fixed custom for the Burgesses to enhance his
+pay by making him Treasurer. In 1758, when Governor Fauquier was
+instructed to separate the two offices, he was greatly perplexed. The
+Speaker, Mr. John Robinson, is "the most popular man in the country," he
+wrote the Lords of Trade, "beloved by the gentlemen and the idol of the
+people." Any slight to him would put a stop to all legislative
+business.[22]
+
+With the growth of the House of Burgesses its business more and more was
+transacted by committees. The most important were the committees on
+Propositions and Grievances, Elections and Privileges, and on
+Proportioning the Levy. To the first of these came all manner of
+complaints. One county asks that ship captains be forbidden to throw
+ballast into the rivers, another wants a ceiling put on doctors' bills,
+still another objects to having taverns extend credit to sailors.
+
+The House kept a close watch on elections, and the Committee on
+Elections and Privileges always went over the writs in search of
+irregularities. If a sheriff should fail to make a return or should make
+an imperfect return, the messenger was sent to bring him before the
+House to explain why. Should he take it upon himself to judge who was
+eligible or not eligible for election, he was certain to receive a stern
+reprimand. In 1692 a resolution "that the House of Burgesses are the
+sole and only judges of the capacity or incapacity of their own members"
+passed unanimously.[23]
+
+The Committee on Private Causes prior to 1680 was in effect the supreme
+court of Virginia, to which appeals were made, for the House invariably
+accepted its findings. But it ceased to function when the Assembly was
+deprived of its judicial power.
+
+The Burgesses were wary of bills of attainder, the weapon used with such
+great effect by Parliament. They realized the danger in condemning
+persons without trial, especially when the colony had so much at stake
+in preserving liberty and justice. But the Assembly of February, 1677,
+which had been "hand picked" by Governor Berkeley, did attaint Bacon and
+fifteen of his followers in defiance of the King's pardon.[24] Since all
+of the victims were dead, the attaint affected only their property. When
+Charles II heard what had been done, he promptly nullified the law.[25]
+
+The Burgesses were well aware from the first that the universally
+accepted principle that no Englishman could be legally taxed without his
+own consent was the basis of liberty. They alone, as the representatives
+of the people, could take their property. If a Governor, as the
+substitute for the King, so far stretched his authority as to attempt to
+lay a levy, they were quick to call him to order. As early as 1624 the
+Assembly passed a law "that the Governor shall not lay any taxes or
+impositions upon the colony, their lands or commodities, other way than
+by the authority of the General Assembly, to be levied and imployed as
+the said Assembly shall appoint."[26] Similar laws were passed in 1631,
+1632, 1642, and 1645.
+
+Several times the Governor and Council requested the Burgesses to
+authorize them to lay taxes not to exceed a specified sum and for a
+limited period. In 1661 the House did grant such a power, but
+thereafter, despite several attempts, the Governor and Council met with
+emphatic refusals. In 1680, when Charles II was aiming deadly blows at
+liberty in the colonies, the Burgesses yielded to threats, and
+surrendered a part of the people's birthright by voting a perpetual
+revenue to the King.
+
+When the Parliamentary fleet came into the James in 1652 to force the
+Virginians to recognize the Commonwealth, the Assembly insisted on
+inserting in the articles of surrender the promise "that Virginia shall
+be free from all taxes, customs, and impositions whatsoever, and none to
+be imposed on them without the consent of the General Assembly."[27]
+
+In 1675, when the Virginia Assembly sent agents to England to petition
+for a charter, they took pains to point out that "neither his Majesty
+nor any of his ancestors or predecessors had ever offered to impose any
+tax upon this plantation without the consent of his subjects here."[28]
+It was so universally accepted that only the Assembly could tax the
+people, that the agents thought it necessary to explain why they
+considered it wise to insert an article confirming this right. "Not
+being taxed but by the General Assembly, as it hath been ever the
+practice there and the other plantations, so it is a power given them by
+royal instructions, which we conceive ought to be confirmed under the
+Great Seal, for though it might be taken for granted that as they never
+have been, so they never should be otherwise taxed, and that as of right
+they ought to be; yet the power of the Assembly being only in
+instructions, we ordered this further confirmation of it."[29]
+
+Certain historians have assumed that the Americans a century later
+annunciated a new principle in claiming that taxation without
+representation is tyranny. The fact is that the principle was older than
+the colonies themselves. All the Revolutionary patriots did was to give
+it a new and more striking wording. When Parliament passed the Stamp Act
+they were taking an unprecedented step, a step which violated the
+age-old rights of Englishmen. And in so doing, they struck a deadly blow
+at liberty in America.
+
+The most common and the most hated source of income in Virginia was the
+poll tax. It was not entirely unequal since it was imposed on all male
+whites over sixteen, all white women over sixteen who worked in the
+fields, and all slaves old enough to work. Thus the poor man paid only
+for himself and members of his family, while the rich man paid for his
+servants and slaves as well. The poll tax provided revenue, not only for
+the general government, but for the counties and parishes.
+
+Though the poll tax usually was not excessive, it was a source of
+constant irritation. The poor planter who had worked hard to raise a
+crop of tobacco just large enough to buy necessities for his family,
+thought it hard indeed when the sheriff took the government's share.
+
+The quit rents paid to the King for all land were an even greater source
+of trouble. It was impossible to make men of large estates pay in full,
+there were frauds in disposing of the tobacco in which the rents were
+paid, at times the people were so far behind that to enforce payment of
+arrears would ruin them. The quit rent fund was drawn upon for war
+purposes, building of forts, paying salaries, etc. In 1693 Commissary
+Blair received a grant of L1985.14.10 from the quit rent fund to found
+the College of William and Mary. When Attorney General Seymour objected
+to paying the money, Blair explained that it was the chief purpose of
+the college to train young men for the ministry, and begged him to
+consider that they in Virginia had souls to be saved as well as those in
+England. "Souls! Damn your souls! Make tobacco," snapped Seymour.[30]
+
+Local government was administered by the county courts. Hartwell, Blair,
+and Chilton wrote: "There is a county court in every county, which
+consists of eight or ten gentlemen ... to whom the Governor gives a
+commission during pleasure to be justices of the peace for that county.
+He renews that commission commonly every year, for that ... gives him
+an opportunity to admit into it new favorites and exclude others that
+have not been so zealous in his service.... They have court once a
+month, ... and have a power of deciding all sorts of causes."[31] But
+they did not have jurisdiction in cases involving loss of life or limb.
+
+That the people had no voice in selecting the justices was greatly
+resented, especially since the courts had the power of levying taxes.
+The people of Charles City County complained in 1677 that the justices
+had "illegally ... taken upon them without our consent from time to time
+to impose, raise, assess, and levy what taxes, levies, and impositions
+upon us ... they liked, great part of which they have converted to their
+own use."[32] The people of Surry County made a similar complaint: "It
+has been the custom of the county courts at the laying of the levy to
+withdraw into a private room by which the poor people not knowing for
+what they paid their levy did always admire how their taxes could be so
+high."[33]
+
+In each county was one or more parishes, presided over by a vestry of
+twelve men each. Since the vestry had the right to lay the parish levy,
+it was of great importance that they should be elected by the people.
+This was the practice until Berkeley's second administration, when it
+became the custom for a vestry, when once chosen at the establishing of
+a new parish, themselves to fill vacancies in their ranks, and thus to
+become self-perpetuating.
+
+Hartwell, Blair, and Chilton thought it deplorable that the vestries
+habitually refused to present their ministers for induction, so that
+they could "keep them in more subjection." This was such a hardship on
+the clergy that none who "were informed of it would come into the
+country." When one did come, he would have to be wary of preaching
+against any vices "that any great man of his vestry was guilty of," for
+fear of losing his place.[34] Yet the vestries themselves were supposed
+to be the guardians of the morals of the parishioners. In 1648 a vestry
+in Northampton found the wife of a prominent citizen guilty of adultery,
+and ordered the minister and church warden to present her to the county
+court for punishment.
+
+The most eagerly sought after offices in the colony were those of
+President of the Council, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Auditor,
+and Treasurer. It was the custom for the senior member of the Council in
+point of service to become President when the office of the Governor was
+temporarily vacant.[35] This was an unsatisfactory arrangement since it
+might happen that the senior Councillor was too old to take on important
+and arduous duties. In 1749, when Governor Gooch was about to leave for
+England, it was decided by the Council that Colonel John Custis, the
+senior member, was "utterly incapable of managing the business of the
+government."[36] At their request the Governor suspended him from the
+Council, so that Thomas Lee, next in order of seniority, could become
+President.
+
+The Secretary of State was appointed by the King. Until 1723 he held
+office only "during the pleasure" of the Governor, but thereafter for
+life. The Secretary claimed the right to appoint the clerks of the
+county courts, who acted as his deputies, and paid him a percentage of
+the income from fees arising from lawsuits and other court proceedings.
+But he seldom made an appointment "without the Governor's knowledge and
+good liking."
+
+Contemporary writers agree that the Secretary's office was a jungle of
+court records, surveys, commissions, deeds for land, probates of wills,
+writs of elections, marriage certificates, etc. If we may believe
+Benjamin Harrison it was usually in wild confusion. "Nothing hath been
+more common of late years than to hear people complain that they could
+not find the records of their patents or other deeds for their
+lands."[37] Apparently all kinds of documents were piled up together
+instead of being sorted and filed separately. "It is almost impossible
+to give a full and perfect account of the Secretary's office, there is
+such a medley in it that its scarce credible," wrote Hartwell, Blair,
+and Chilton.
+
+The Auditor for Virginia was appointed by the Auditor of the
+Plantations, usually upon the recommendation of the Governor. This
+officer audited the accounts of the quit rents, the export duty,
+escheats, etc., certified their accuracy, and reported to England. He
+received 7-1/2 per cent of all the monies passing through his hands.
+There seems to have been great laxness at times in the handling of
+funds. When Auditor William Byrd died in December, 1704, it was found
+that the account was overdrawn by L7,698.9.10.[38] It is not surprising
+that Governor Nicholson, while waiting for William Blathwait, the
+Auditor of the Plantations, to appoint Byrd's successor, decided to
+"take that trouble" on himself.[39]
+
+Philip Ludwell, who was made Auditor in 1712, seems to have been just as
+careless as Byrd. In December, 1715, Governor Spotswood called the
+attention of the Council to the confusion in his office. "Only gross
+sums are entered in one general account," he said, "and the particular
+accounts of the receivers ... only kept in loose papers."[40] When he
+recommended several reforms, Ludwell told him in effect to mind his own
+business, and that he would take orders only from the Auditor General.
+Thereupon Spotswood suspended him from his office. Ludwell came back
+with a letter "stuffed with virulent invectives," denying the legality
+of this action.
+
+Prior to 1691 the Treasurer was appointed by the Governor, but that year
+the Burgesses claimed the right of naming him, and despite the
+opposition of the Governors, eventually had their way. The Treasurer
+received the funds from various taxes and made up the accounts. He
+received six per cent of the money collected.
+
+Outwardly the government of Virginia changed little during the century
+and a half from the fall of the London Company to the Declaration of
+Independence. Actually throughout the colonial period vital developments
+were taking place. Both the Council and the House of Burgesses were
+tireless in whittling away at the King's prerogative; the Council
+gradually took out of the Governor's hands the right of naming local
+officials; the control of the purse by the Burgesses was used to such
+good effect that by the middle of the eighteenth century their influence
+was greater than that of either Governor or Council.
+
+We gain glimpses of the changes which were taking place, not by changes
+in the laws, but by seemingly unimportant incidents, and by the spirit
+of the times. What would Charles II have thought had Sir William
+Berkeley written him, boasting of his influence with the Speaker of the
+House of Burgesses? Yet that is just what Governor Fauquier did in
+1758.
+
+It was the determined, unflagging, bitter battle for self-government
+which brought victory to the people. We see them putting Governor John
+Harvey aboard a vessel and sending him back to England, when he tried to
+play the despot; we see them rising in wild rebellion against the
+misgovernment of Sir William Berkeley; we see them defending their
+liberty against the assaults of Charles II and James II.
+
+The English government was warned repeatedly of what was going on. "I
+may truly say that now or never is the only time to maintain the Queen's
+just prerogative and put a stop to these wrong, pernicious notions which
+are improving daily, not only in Virginia, but in all her Majesty's
+other governments," wrote Colonel Robert Quary, in 1705. "A frown now
+from her Majesty will do more than perhaps an army hereafter."[41] In
+another report he said that the Assembly "conclude themselves entitled
+to all the rights and privileges of an English Parliament." Nicholson
+said that the Virginians wished to set up a commonwealth.
+
+But Nicholson was wrong. The Virginians of his day, and their sons and
+grandsons after them were loyal to the British Kings, wished to remain
+in the British Empire. But they were determined to govern themselves in
+all except imperial matters. What they wanted was liberty, not
+independence. And liberty they attained decades before the Stamp Act,
+decades before Patrick Henry said: "Give me liberty or give me death."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 531-533.
+
+[2] CO5-1359, p. 344.
+
+[3] CO5-1359, p. 255.
+
+[4] CO5-1314, Doc. 15G.
+
+[5] CO5-1356, pp. 125, 126.
+
+[6] CO5-1359, p. 320.
+
+[7] CO1-40, p. 104.
+
+[8] CO5-1359, pp. 95, 96.
+
+[9] _Ibid._, 97, 98.
+
+[10] H. J. Ford, _Rise and growth of American politics_, 267.
+
+[11] CO5-1314, Doc. 17.
+
+[12] _Ibid._, Doc. 10.
+
+[13] CO5-1314, Doc. 23.
+
+[14] P. 34.
+
+[15] P. 46.
+
+[16] CO5-1315, Sept. 1, 1706.
+
+[17] CO5-1314, Doc. 43.
+
+[18] CO5-1315, Sept. 1, 1706.
+
+[19] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 477.
+
+[20] CO5-1318.
+
+[21] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1695-1702: 133.
+
+[22] June 28, 1758.
+
+[23] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693, 381.
+
+[24] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 363, 369.
+
+[25] CO1-41, p. 118.
+
+[26] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1.
+
+[27] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 363-365.
+
+[28] _Bath papers_, IIa, 44.
+
+[29] _Ibid._, 142.
+
+[30] _The complete works of Benjamin Franklin_, J. Bigelow, ed., 10:
+369.
+
+[31] _The present state of Virginia_, 44, 45.
+
+[32] _Virginia Magazine_, 3: 142.
+
+[33] _Ibid._ 2: 172.
+
+[34] _The present state of Virginia_, 66, 67.
+
+[35] CO5-1359, 344.
+
+[36] _Executive journals of the Council_ 5: 299.
+
+[37] CO5-1361, p. 426.
+
+[38] _Executive journals of the Council_ 2: 406.
+
+[39] _Ibid._, 407.
+
+[40] _Ibid._ 3: 421.
+
+[41] CO5-1314, Doc. 63I.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WE PREFER ANOTHER GOVERNOR
+
+
+The people of Jamestown in the years from 1626 to 1640, when they saw a
+vessel coming up the river, must have crowded around the landing place
+to ask sailors and passengers for the latest news from England. Was King
+Charles still raising funds with which to run the government by means of
+forced loans? Was he still billeting his soldiers on the people? Was
+martial law in force? They must have been thrilled to hear of the
+Petition of Rights in which the House of Commons protested against
+Charles' arbitrary rule.
+
+When the Burgesses came to town for a session of the Assembly, the
+struggle between King and Parliament must have been the chief topic of
+conversation around the table in each crude little tavern. Now it was
+the jailing of nine members of the House of Commons; now the granting of
+monopolies; now the collecting of ship money; now the suppression of
+free speech; now the proceedings of the Star Chamber; now the efforts of
+Archbishop Laud to enforce religious conformity.
+
+The Virginians were fully aware that these events affected them
+profoundly. They had just won a degree of self-government. If the King
+succeeded in his efforts to make himself absolute in England, all their
+gains might be lost. Might he not overthrow their Assembly? If he could
+imprison men arbitrarily in England, he would not hesitate to do so in
+Virginia. If he could tax the people of England under the thin veil of
+loans, or the revival of ancient laws, would he hesitate to tax the
+colonists without their own consent? Might he not place over them
+another Dale or Argall to hang men or break them on the wheel?
+
+So when Sir George Yeardley, their liberal Governor, died in November,
+1627, they were filled with grief. They remembered that it was he who
+had brought over the Virginia Magna Carta, and had called the first
+Assembly. We have lost "a main pillar of this our building and thereby a
+support to the whole body," wrote the Council.[1]
+
+Their concern must have been all the greater because Yeardley's
+commission of March 14, 1626, named John Harvey as his successor. The
+Virginians knew this man well. He had been one of the King's
+commissioners who came to the colony in 1624 to draw up a report on
+conditions there to be used in overthrowing the charter of the Company.
+Just why it was thought that he was the right man to act as Governor is
+not apparent, for he was a mariner by vocation and had served as captain
+of a ship which went to the East Indies in 1617. In November, 1625, we
+find him in command of a ship in the expedition against Cadiz. He may
+have owed his appointment as Governor to Viscount Dorchester, the
+Secretary of State, whom he thanked for his "wonted nobleness" to him.
+
+But Virginia was to have a breathing space before Harvey's arrival.
+Yeardley's commission had specified that in the absence of Harvey the
+Council should elect one of their number to act in his place. They chose
+Captain Francis West, brother of Lord De la Warr.[2] West was a seasoned
+Virginian, for he had come to the colony in 1608 with Captain Newport.
+He had been commander of Jamestown many years, and a member of the
+Council since 1619. It was during his brief administration that the
+first legal Assembly since the dissolution of the London Company was
+called together, the Assembly which rejected the King's proposal for a
+tobacco contract.
+
+In March, 1629, West was appointed agent for the colony and sent to
+England. To serve as Governor until his return or the arrival of Harvey,
+the Council chose Dr. John Pott. This man had been in Virginia since
+1621, when he came over as "Physician to the Company" and member of the
+Council. He was described as "a Master of Arts ... well practiced in
+chirurgery and physic, and expert in distilling of waters, besides many
+other ingenious devices."[3] He seems to have consumed a goodly quantity
+of "distilled waters" himself, for he was fond of his cups and jovial
+company. George Sandys wrote of him that "he kept company too much with
+his inferiors, who hung upon him while his good liquor lasted."[4]
+
+The most notable of Pott's "ingenious devices" was the poisoning of a
+large number of Indians after the massacre of 1622. In justification of
+this act, his friends explained that the barbarous and perfidious
+savages knew nothing about the rules of war, so it was fair play to
+resort to anything that tended to their ruin. But this did not save Pott
+from criticism in England. The Earl of Warwick was so shocked that at
+his request Pott was left out of the Council because "he was the
+poisoner of the savages there." But he seems to have been forgiven, for
+in 1626 we find him once more in his seat.
+
+It was during Pott's administration that Lord Baltimore visited
+Virginia. In 1623 he had received a grant of land in Newfoundland, and
+had planted a colony of English Catholics there. But when four years
+later he visited the place, he found "the air so intolerable cold as it
+is hardly to be endured." He wrote King Charles that he had decided to
+move with some forty persons to Virginia, and petitioned for "a precinct
+of land there."
+
+On October 1, 1629, he, with his wife and children, arrived at
+Jamestown. Here he met with a cool reception. A certain Thomas Tindall
+got into an altercation with him, called him a liar, and threatened to
+knock him down. The Virginians did not want in their midst a group of
+Catholics who were trying to lop off one of the most fertile parts of
+their territory. So to get rid of them the Governor and Council tendered
+my Lord the oath of supremacy, knowing that as a Catholic he could not
+take it, for to do so was to acknowledge the King as the supreme
+authority in ecclesiastical matters. When he refused they asked him to
+leave. This he did, but since he left his family in Virginia, it was
+obvious that he intended to return. So William Claiborne was sent after
+him as agent for the colony to oppose his designs.
+
+To add to the troubles of the people, in the early spring of 1630 Harvey
+arrived and took his seat as Governor. He had lingered in England to
+make sure that the office would yield a good return. Only after the King
+had promised him the fines imposed by any of the courts did he set sail.
+His voyage was far from being pleasant, for his ship was leaky, he was
+delayed at the Cape Verde Islands by a Dutch fleet, and he was laid low
+by "a great sickness" that attacked him at sea.[5]
+
+After landing it was several weeks before he was able to take over his
+duties. But after he had done so, his intentions at once became
+apparent. The man was by nature a despot. The despotism of Sir Edmund
+Andros in New England and of Lord Howard of Effingham in Virginia in the
+years just preceding the Glorious Revolution stemmed, not so much from
+the character of these men, as from the deliberate policy of Charles II.
+There is no evidence that Charles I ordered Harvey to make himself
+absolute. He had too many troubles at home to give much thought to
+Virginia.
+
+It may have been Harvey's training as a sea captain which made him
+impatient of restraint. In Virginia he acted as though he were still on
+the deck of his ship thundering out commands which no one must question.
+If the King were in Virginia, would not his orders be obeyed? Then why
+not the orders of his Governor? He never tired of reminding the members
+of the Council and others that he was the King's substitute. When to his
+passion for power are added his rudeness and violence, his avarice and
+disregard for the rights of others, we have the picture of one utterly
+unsuited to be the chief executive of a liberty loving people.
+
+Harvey was accused of diverting public funds to his own pocket, but of
+this we have no direct proof. It is probable that he tried to levy taxes
+without the consent of the Assembly. Otherwise one wonders why the
+Assembly should have thought it necessary to order "that the Governor
+and Council shall not lay any taxes or impositions upon the colony ...
+otherwise than by the authority of the Grand Assembly."[6]
+
+But it was chiefly through the courts that he carried out his designs.
+He himself presided over the quarter court, and it was he who appointed
+the commissioners or justices who sat on the local courts. Thus it was
+not difficult for him to secure any verdict he wished. So he had at hand
+an instrument to satisfy his lust for power by crushing those who
+resisted him, and his lust for money by imposing heavy fines. It should
+have been obvious to Charles I when he agreed to give Harvey all fines
+and amercements, that it was a dangerous thing to permit a judge, or one
+who appointed judges, to profit from his or their decisions.
+
+The most notorious abuse of the judicial power by Harvey was his
+prosecution of Dr. Pott. Charging the pleasure-loving physician with
+pardoning murder and marking other men's cattle for his own, he
+suspended him from the Council, and confined him to his plantation
+pending the day of his trial. When Pott defied the Governor's order and
+came to Elizabeth City, Harvey put him in prison and set a guard around
+it. In July, 1630, he was put on trial.
+
+We have only one detail of the proceedings, but that like a flash is
+revealing of Pott's character and of the farcical character of the
+prosecution. When a certain Richard Kingswell testified against him,
+Pott declared that he was as great a liar and hypocrite as Gusman of
+Alfrach. He was referring to the book by Mateo Aleman, of Seville, in
+which Gusman is shown first as a scullion, then as an errand boy, then
+as a thief, then as a pretended gentleman who cheated his creditors.[7]
+But this thrust did not save him. He was convicted, and his entire
+estate confiscated.[8]
+
+It would seem that in this case Harvey was actuated more by a desire to
+show his power than by avarice. If he could humble so prominent a man as
+Pott, one who had been acting Governor, others would stand in awe of
+him. "It will be a means to bring people to ... hold a better respect to
+the Governor than hitherto they have done," he wrote.[9] But having
+shown his power to ruin, he now sought to show that he could also
+restore. So he wrote the King suggesting clemency. "For as much as he is
+the only physician in the colony, and skilled in the epidemical diseases
+of the planters ... I am bound to entreat" your Majesty to pardon
+him.[10]
+
+A more sincere plea came from the doctor's wife, Elizabeth. Getting up
+from a sick bed, she made the long and dangerous voyage to England to
+complain to the King "touching the wrong" done her husband. Charles
+referred the case to the Virginia Commissioners, who listened
+sympathetically as she poured out the story of injustice and
+persecution.[11] They concluded that there had been "some hard usage
+against" Pott, and recommended that the King pardon him. Accordingly,
+Charles forgave his "offences" and restored his property.[12] But the
+jovial doctor never regained his seat in the Council.
+
+The prosecution of Pott set the example for others. "The Governor
+usurped the whole power in all causes without any respect to the votes
+of the Council," reported Samuel Mathews, "whereby justice was done but
+so far as suited his will to the great loss of many men's estates and a
+general fear in all." If other members of the court opposed him, he
+would revile them and tell them they were there merely to advise him. He
+could accept or reject their opinions as he liked, since "the power lay
+in himself to dispose of all matters as his Majesty's substitute."[13]
+
+With the General Court dominated by the overbearing and avaricious
+Governor no man was safe. At any moment one might be hauled before the
+bar, charged with some petty offence, found guilty, and given a ruinous
+fine. Mathews said that there were an "infinite number of particular
+men's grievances."[14] William Claiborne thought it strange that Harvey
+"should so demean himself," for "all men were wronged, and even good and
+bad had forsaken him."[15] It was in every man's mouth that "no justice
+was done." When a report of these things reached England, Sir John
+Wolstenholm, one of the Virginia Commissioners, said that "Sir John
+Harvey stunk in Court and city."[16]
+
+Harvey's attempts to make himself absolute, his disregard of other men's
+rights, his perversion of justice did not go unchallenged. Soon the
+meetings of the Council became stormy. The Governor insisted that he, as
+the King's substitute, had a right to determine all things. The
+Councillors were merely his assistants, whose duty it was to advise him,
+but not to oppose him. But the Councillors dissented vigorously. Look at
+your commission, they told him, and you will see that it directs that
+all matters must be determined by the majority of voices. Does it not
+say that the King grants to the Governor and Council "and the greater
+number of you respectively full power and authority to execute" the
+duties of the executive body?
+
+Soon Harvey was filling his letters with complaints of the opposition of
+the Council. "For instead of giving me assistance, they stand contesting
+and disputing my authority, averring that I can do nothing but what they
+shall advise me, and that my power extendeth no further than a bare
+casting voice."[17] He had shown them a letter from the King
+strengthening his commission, but they refused to budge from their
+position. He would be grateful if his Majesty would be so explicit "that
+the place of Governor and the duty of Councillors may be known and
+distinguished."[18]
+
+The Privy Council answered by warning both sides to put an end to their
+disputes and cooperate with each other in advancing the good of the
+colony. So they drew up and signed a formal reconciliation. They
+promised "to swallow up and bury" all complaints, and to turn their
+"alienated and distempered" minds to thoughts of love and peace. The
+Councillors vowed to give the Governor "all the service, honor, and due
+respect which belongs to him as his Majesty's substitute."[19]
+
+The reconciliation proved a sham. Harvey continued to be overbearing and
+arbitrary; the Councillors were as bitter as ever. When one of them,
+Thomas Hinton, in an outburst of anger gave Harvey some "ill words," he
+ousted him from his seat. Love and peace were far indeed from the
+Governor's mind when he responded to some "ill language" from Captain
+Richard Stevens by landing a blow in his face with a cudgel and knocking
+out some of his teeth.[20]
+
+In 1634 a certain Captain Thomas Young arrived in Virginia with a
+commission from the King authorizing him to discover and search the
+unexplored parts of the colony. Needing two shallops, and hearing that
+one of the planters had an indentured worker who was a skilled
+shipwright, he seized him and put him to work. In this violation of
+property rights he was supported by the Governor. But it aroused the
+anger of the Council, and several of them came to Harvey to demand an
+explanation.
+
+Harvey may have had in mind the Forced Loans as a precedent for taking
+the property of the subject, when he replied that his Majesty had given
+Young "authority to make use of any persons he found there." Young
+needed the shipwright "to prosecute with speed the King's service," he
+said. Speaking for the others, Samuel Mathews retorted angrily that if
+things were done in that fashion it would breed ill blood in Virginia.
+Turning his back he whirled a truncheon he carried in his hand, and
+lashed off the heads of some high weeds.[21] The Governor, ignoring
+this, said: "Come, gentlemen, let us go to supper, and for the night
+leave this discourse." But they were in no humor to be appeased. With
+one accord they turned their backs and left "in a very irreverent
+manner."
+
+The Virginians were further embittered against Harvey for the aid he
+gave to Lord Baltimore's settlers. It was on February 27, 1634, that the
+_Ark_ and the _Dove_, with Leonard and George Calvert, twenty "gentlemen
+adventurers," and three-hundred laborers, arrived at Point Comfort. They
+bore a letter to the Governor from the King requiring him to treat them
+with courtesy and respect, permit them to buy cattle and other
+commodities, and do all he could to advance their settlement.
+
+Harvey did his best to comply. He sent them some of his own cows and
+promised to procure more. But this was not easy. The planters were so
+outraged at having a part of their territory torn away for a colony of
+Catholics that they swore they would knock their cattle on the head
+rather than sell them to the Marylanders. Some of the members of the
+Council had been informed by letters from England of Lord Baltimore's
+plans. When Samuel Mathews opened one of them, he threw his hat on the
+ground in a fury, stamped, and cried: "A pox upon Maryland!"[22] He,
+with William Claiborne and other members of the Council, held many
+secret meetings to decide upon a course of action. But they were
+powerless to prevent the _Ark_ and the _Dove_ from moving up the
+Chesapeake Bay with the newcomers, and the founding of a little town
+near the mouth of the Potomac.
+
+Three years before their arrival Claiborne had made a settlement on Kent
+Island in the Chesapeake near the site of Annapolis. So now he found
+himself torn from Virginia and handed over to another government. The
+result was open warfare. It was prophetic of the battle between the
+Merrimac and the Monitor in Chesapeake waters more than two centuries
+later, when two pinnaces full of armed men captured an armed vessel sent
+out by the Kent Islanders.
+
+When this news reached Jamestown there was great indignation. Harvey
+tried to justify the Marylanders, but this merely intensified the
+people's hatred of him. So he not only aids in the dismemberment of
+Virginia, it was said, but upholds the intruders in murdering our
+people. Is it right that one who is Governor of the colony should side
+with her enemies?
+
+The crisis came in 1635. King Charles, ever pressed for money, tried
+once more to secure a tobacco contract. So he wrote Harvey directing him
+to call an Assembly and to ask for "the sole pre-emption of all
+tobacco," at a lower price and a reduced quantity. The members of the
+Council, especially Samuel Mathews, John Utie, and William Pierce,
+opposed the contract "very saucily."[23] As for the Burgesses, they
+hated all contracts. So they drew up an answer which was in effect a
+refusal. In order to give the paper the character of a petition they all
+signed it. This they gave to Harvey to send to the King.
+
+But instead of forwarding it, the Governor detained it. In excuse of
+this arbitrary action he said he feared the King "would not take well
+the matter thereof, and that they should make it a popular business by
+subscribing a multitude of hands thereto, as thinking thereby to give it
+countenance."[24] The people were outraged. So our Governor takes it on
+himself to decide what or what not we shall say to our King. Is it not
+the right of all Englishmen to address their sovereign? "The wrong done
+by the Governor to the whole colony in detaining the foresaid letters to
+his Majesty did exceedingly perplex them, whereby they were made
+sensible of the condition of the present government," wrote Samuel
+Mathews.[25]
+
+Things had now come to a head. A petition demanding a redress of
+grievances was drawn up, which Francis Pott, brother of Dr. John Pott,
+took about the country. Everywhere he found the people tired of Harvey's
+arbitrary conduct, tired of his injustice to individual persons. So they
+pressed forward eagerly to sign the petition. Harvey says that only in
+Accomac did they refuse.[26]
+
+It was in April, 1635, that Pott, Captain Nicholas Martian, and William
+English, the sheriff of York County, addressed a gathering at the house
+of William Warren. This meeting has a special significance in the long
+struggle for American liberty, for Warren's house was on or near the
+site of the Moore House, at Yorktown, where the British army under Lord
+Cornwallis surrendered a century and a half later. The speakers were
+denouncing Harvey's despotic government when some friends of the
+Governor tried to enter. A servant kept them out, but they hung around
+outside and "bended themselves to hearken to the discourse among
+them."[27] When the speeches were concluded those present gathered
+around the petition and affixed their signatures.
+
+When this was reported to Harvey, he flew into a rage. Calling the
+Council, he issued warrants for the arrest of Francis Pott, English, and
+Martian. They were brought up in irons. Pott handed over the petition
+and declared that if he had offended he appealed to the King. "He was
+sure of no justice from Sir John Harvey." When the prisoners asked why
+they were arrested, the Governor told them that they would be told at
+the gallows. So they were hustled off to prison.[28]
+
+Harvey then called the Council together again and told them that it was
+necessary to try the prisoners by martial law. But the Councillors
+insisted on a legal trial. In the dispute which followed Harvey became
+violently angry. Finally, he sat down and ordered the others to sit.
+Looking around with a frown, he said: "I am to propound a question to
+you.... What do you think they deserve that have gone about to persuade
+the people from their obedience to his Majesty's substitute?"
+
+Turning to George Menefie, he said, "I begin with you." Menefie answered
+that since he was but a young lawyer he did not dare give an opinion
+"upon the sudden." Here Nicholas Farrar interposed to protest against
+this method of proceeding. But Harvey cut him short with the command to
+hold his tongue until he was spoken to. Thereupon Samuel Mathews spoke
+up to enter his protest. But instantly, in the King's name, he was told
+to be silent. Mathews insisted there was no precedent for this attempt
+to make men incriminate themselves unless it was that by a tyrant. Here
+he was alluding to the passage in Shakespeare's _King Richard_ III in
+which Richard asked Lord Hastings what should be done to the women who
+had bewitched him. Hastings replied that if they had done so they ought
+to die. "Talk'st thou to me of ifs," replied Richard, "thou art a
+traitor. Off with his head." Harvey evidently did not relish being
+compared to Richard, and so retorted with many "bitter languages."[29]
+
+The Councillors were now determined to bring their dispute with the
+Governor to an issue. The next time he summoned them to meet, they
+brought with them fifty musketeers and concealed them near the house.
+Harvey asked them with a stern look what they thought was the reason for
+the petition against him. "The chief cause was the detaining of the
+letters to his Majesty," replied Mr. Menefie. This infuriated Harvey.
+Rising from his chair, he struck Menefie a resounding blow on the
+shoulder, saying: "I arrest you on suspicion of treason to his Majesty."
+But now he had gone too far. Utie and Mathews seized him, exclaiming:
+"And we you upon suspicion of treason to his Majesty."[30]
+
+At this juncture Dr. Pott, who was standing near the door, held up his
+hand as a signal, and the musketeers came running up "with their pieces
+presented." "Stay here until there be use of you," Pott commanded. In
+the meanwhile, Mathews had forced Harvey down into a chair. "Sir, there
+is no harm intended against you only to acquaint you with the grievances
+of the inhabitants," he told him. So he poured out the recital of the
+wrongs done the colony and demanded that they be redressed. But the
+Governor, who was in no mood for making concessions, denied that any
+wrong had been done. After an ominous pause Mathews said: "Sir, the
+people's fury is up against you and to appease it is beyond our power,
+unless you please to go for England." Harvey replied that the King had
+sent him to Virginia to be Governor, and he would not leave until he
+ordered him to do so.
+
+But he soon changed his mind. That night a courier came riding up with a
+letter to Harvey from Thomas Purifie, who seems to have been one of his
+few friends in the Council, giving an alarming report of the threatening
+attitude of the people. At first the Governor said he would defy them to
+do their worst. Would it not be better to remain, though he be cut in a
+thousand pieces, than to desert his charge? he asked Secretary Richard
+Kemp. Kemp replied that for him to remain might "hazard the King's
+service" by provoking the infuriated people to further acts of violence.
+So at last he yielded and promised to leave.[31]
+
+The rebellious Councillors now took over the government. They released
+English, Martian, and Francis Pott, forced Harvey to deliver his
+commission and instructions to Secretary Kemp, set an armed guard around
+him ostensibly to protect him from violence, posted armed men in "all
+ways and passages," called a General Assembly, and sent out a
+proclamation inviting the people to lay their grievances before it, and
+appointed their senior member, John West, a brother of Lord De la Warr,
+acting Governor.[32]
+
+In the meanwhile, Harvey had left Jamestown to seek refuge in the house
+of Mr. William Brocas, "whose wife was generally suspected to have more
+familiarity with him than befitted a modest woman." Here he thought
+himself secure enough to dismiss his guard. And from here he wrote a
+threatening letter to the members of the Assembly, commanding them in
+the King's name to disperse. He also wrote Secretary Kemp demanding the
+return of his commission and instructions. The Councillors seized the
+first letter, refused to read it to the Burgesses, and the Assembly went
+on with the consideration of the grievances, "which were innumerable."
+As for the commission and the instructions, they had taken them from
+Kemp and turned them over to Menefie for safe keeping.[33]
+
+The Assembly now passed resolutions accusing Harvey of misgovernment and
+injustice, and explaining why the people had been driven to the extreme
+expedient of sending him back to England. As their agent to deliver
+these papers to the King they appointed one of the Burgesses, Thomas
+Harwood. With him went Francis Pott to plead his case before the King.
+Since it would be several months before the tobacco ships sailed for
+England, there seems to have been only one vessel leaving at the time.
+So Harvey, as well as Pott and Harwood, had to embark on it.
+
+As events turned out this was unfortunate. Not that Harvey's frowns and
+threats frightened Pott and Harwood, but that it gave him a chance to
+frustrate their plans when they landed at Plymouth. Hardly had the ship
+touched dock when he hastened to see the mayor of the city to tell him
+of the "late mutiny and rebellion" in Virginia. So the mayor put Pott
+under arrest "as a principal author and agent thereof," and seized the
+trunk containing the papers entrusted to Harwood. Pott was dragged off
+to London and locked up in the old debtors' prison called the Fleet.[34]
+
+In the meanwhile, Harwood had set off post haste to get to London ahead
+of Harvey so as to make friends and tell of his misgovernment. He got a
+ride with the postman who was carrying the mail. At Exeter he stopped at
+the Sign of the Valiant Soldier, and drank a pint of wine with the
+proprietor. This seems to have loosened his tongue, for he poured out
+the story of Harvey's misdeeds to this stranger, told him of his
+mission, and added that if Harvey ever returned to Virginia "he would be
+pistolled or shot."[35]
+
+We do not know whether Harwood or Harvey won the race to London. But it
+was the Governor who succeeded in gaining the support of the King and
+the Privy Council. It is possible that his accusation that Harwood "was
+one of the chief of the mutineer Burgesses that opposed his Majesty's
+service in the tobacco contract and in stirring up the country to this
+mutiny," may have landed him in prison. At all events, when the Privy
+Council met, the Governor had things his own way.
+
+The King was greatly surprised that the Virginians had dared defy him by
+ousting their duly appointed Governor. He was determined to send Harvey
+back if but for one day, he said. And should he clear himself of the
+charges against him, he would keep him there longer than he had
+intended. As a further vindication of his authority, he gave orders that
+West, Mathews, Utie, and Pierce, the leaders of the mutiny, be brought
+to England "to answer their misdemeanors." He also directed the Attorney
+General to draw up a new commission for Harvey with an enlargement of
+his powers.[36]
+
+Though Harvey may have been a bit nervous over the threat of
+"pistoling," he was too anxious to regain his confiscated property and
+get revenge on his enemies to hesitate to return to Virginia. He made no
+secret of his intention to confiscate the property of those who had so
+humiliated him. As for Samuel Mathews, whose estate consisted largely of
+cattle, he vowed he would leave him not worth a cow's tail.[37] Yet he
+thought it prudent to ask for one of the King's ships, explaining that
+this would "much abate the boldness of the offenders." So on October 2,
+1636, he set forth proudly in the _Black George_. But he did not get
+very far. The _Black George_ proved so leaky that for a while it seemed
+that it might prove a Godsend to Virginia by taking Sir John to the
+bottom. But it turned back and succeeded in reaching port. The Governor
+set sail again, this time on a merchant vessel.
+
+When he reached Virginia, in January, 1637, Harvey could not wait for
+the ship to wend its way up to Jamestown before asserting his authority,
+but landed at Point Comfort and established a temporary capital at
+Elizabeth City. Here he began immediately to turn sheriffs and justices
+out of office and replace them with men more to his liking.[38]
+Messengers were sent to summon the Council to meet in the Elizabeth City
+church. It must have been with an air of triumph that he greeted the
+Councillors, for now the day of retribution had come.
+
+One would think that Harvey's expulsion would have taught him a lesson.
+Instead, his desire for revenge drove him into new excesses. With the
+enlarged powers of his new commission, with the Council submissive to
+his will, with the courts manned by his favorites, with the prestige of
+the King's backing, he went to great extremes. The Reverend Anthony
+Panton accused him of "many arbitrary and illegal proceedings in
+judgment, tyranny, extortion." The "unjust whippings, cutting of ears,
+fining and confiscation of honest men's goods," must have brought back
+memories of Dale and Argall. The converting of fines to his "own profit
+and use," or to reward his henchmen, convinced the people that men were
+accused and sentenced, not because they were guilty of any crime, but
+merely to have an excuse for taking their property.[39]
+
+In the meanwhile, West, Mathews, Utie, and Pierce had been sent as
+prisoners to England to answer the charge of mutiny, where a bill was
+exhibited against them in the Star Chamber. But here the matter hung
+fire. George Donne, Muster General of Virginia and a member of the
+Council, who had come to England to prosecute them, became ill. Harvey
+neglected to put up the money for necessary fees. The great cost of the
+voyage across the Atlantic prevented the sending over of witnesses.
+
+But in the absence of the accused men, Sir John took ample revenge on
+them. They were informed by letters from Virginia that "divers of their
+goods, cattle, and servants" had been confiscated. So they complained to
+the Privy Council. Mathews assured them that Harvey was bent on ruining
+him, and that he had been heard to say that if one "stood, tother should
+fall, and if he swum, the other should sink." He seems to have convinced
+the Privy Council, for on May 25, 1637, they wrote Harvey ordering him
+to restore Mathews' property.[40]
+
+But so reluctant was Harvey to be cheated out of his revenge that he
+postponed compliance in the hope that something might occur to give him
+an excuse for not obeying. This excuse he found in a letter from the
+Privy Council expressing satisfaction with his administration. It was
+his excuse, also, for further severities against Mathews. Kemp and
+others entered his house, broke open the doors of several rooms,
+ransacked his trunks, examined his papers, and carried off a part of his
+goods and eight of his servants.[41]
+
+When word of this reached the Privy Council, the sub-committee to whom
+the case was referred gave it as their opinion that Mathews had been
+"very hardly dealt with." "We cannot but clearly discern somewhat of
+passion in the said proceedings," they reported. So the Privy Council
+wrote again to Harvey, commanding him once more to restore Mathews'
+property. This time the Governor complied, writing the Privy Council a
+long, but lame excuse for what he had done.[42]
+
+Another victim of Harvey's malice was the Reverend Anthony Panton,
+minister of the parishes of York and Chiskiack. Panton had quarreled
+with the Governor's warm friend, Secretary Kemp, and had incurred his
+lasting enmity by calling him a "jackanapes," who was "unfit for the
+place of secretary," adding that "his hair-lock was tied up with ribbon
+as old as St. Paul's." So he was now brought to trial, charged with
+mutinous speeches and disobedience to the Governor, and with disrespect
+to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The farcical character of justice as
+administered by Harvey is shown by the fact that in the trial Kemp acted
+not only as prosecutor but as one of the judges. Panton's conviction was
+a matter of course. He was fined L500, forced to make public
+submission, and was banished from Virginia and forbidden ever to return
+on pain of death, and authority was given "to any man whatsoever to
+execute him."[43]
+
+Throughout Virginia colonial history the parties to any dispute who were
+in London to urge their side had a great advantage. So Mathews, Utie,
+Pierce, and Francis Pott, after they secured their liberty under bail,
+devoted their time to undermining Sir John at Court. The Governor
+charged that they planted spies in all parts of the city to invite
+persons who had just arrived from Virginia into taverns, treated them to
+wine to make them talkative, and got them to state their grievances. So
+they poured out the stories of Harvey's confiscations, extortions,
+whippings, and pressure on the courts of justice.[44]
+
+As the evidence against Harvey piled up the exiles gained the support of
+the sub-committee of the Privy Council to whom colonial affairs were
+usually referred. Sir John wrote at length to refute what he called "the
+malicious untruths of such who by all means do go about and study to
+traduce us." But in vain, for the Privy Council decided to remove
+him.[45]
+
+The shoe was now on the other foot. On January 11, 1639, Sir Francis
+Wyatt received a commission as Governor of Virginia. When this news
+reached the colony there was rejoicing, for Wyatt had shown himself a
+staunch defender of liberty during his previous administration. The
+people could be sure that he would redress their wrongs and see to it
+that justice was done all men. Nor were they disappointed. No sooner had
+Wyatt arrived than he summoned the General Court and brought Harvey
+before it to answer for his misdeeds.[46]
+
+Kemp, who was retained as Secretary and Councillor by order of the Privy
+Council, was helpless to prevent his fellow judges from passing sentence
+on the deposed Governor. "They of the old commission have been
+persecuted with much malice," he wrote in March, 1640, "the weight
+whereof hath hitherto principally fallen on Sir John Harvey, whose
+estate is wholly sequestered at present, and at the next court now
+approaching will assuredly be swept away."[47] Harvey wrote that he
+groaned under the oppression of his enemies, and that he was so closely
+watched that he hardly had privacy enough to write a letter. His enemies
+had now been advanced to be his judges, and were tearing his estate from
+him by inviting his creditors to clamor against him. Both Harvey and
+Kemp asked permission to go to England, but this was refused. Not only
+were they held to answer charges, but because the new administration had
+no desire to have them clamoring against them at Court.
+
+"Sir John being ... laid flat," Wyatt next took up the case of Anthony
+Panton against Kemp.[48] This matter had been sifted out by the Privy
+Council, who reported that they could find no proof of the charges
+against the minister. It seemed strange to them that he should be
+accused of mutinous behavior throughout six or seven years, in view of
+the fact that ten months previously Harvey had presented him to a
+benefice. So they suspended the harsh sentence, and referred the matter
+to Governor Wyatt. The Virginia court promptly reversed the previous
+action, declared Panton guiltless, and restored his estate. So he
+returned in triumph and resumed his duties in his two parishes. To Kemp
+this was the crowning humiliation. "I am exceedingly injured, and shall
+suffer without guilt unless my friends now assist me," he wrote. "The
+Governor and Council aim at my ruin."[49]
+
+The men employed to watch Harvey and Kemp must have relaxed their
+vigilance, for both escaped and made their way back to England. Thomas
+Stegg, who aided Kemp in getting away, had to pay dearly, for the
+Governor and Council fined him L50 and imprisoned him. In London, Harvey
+and Kemp sought influential friends, poured out their complaints to
+them, and tried to undermine Wyatt at Court. Kemp later returned to
+Virginia, where he resumed his place as Secretary, and his seat in the
+Council. Harvey seems to have given up politics as a bad business and
+returned to the sea as what he probably considered a less dangerous
+vocation. He died in 1650.
+
+The thrusting out of Sir John Harvey is a landmark in the long struggle
+for self-government in Virginia. It showed that there was a point beyond
+which no Governor dared go in trampling upon the rights of the people.
+It was a daring thing for the Virginians to defy the King by deposing
+the man he had sent as their Governor, and notifying him in effect that
+they wanted him to make a better selection. That Charles sent Harvey
+back and that he was as tyrannical after his return as he had been
+before, does not obscure the meaning of this uprising as a clash between
+the royal assertion of despotic right and the American devotion to
+liberty.
+
+Harvey based his claims to supreme power on the theory that he was the
+King's substitute, and as such should have the unquestioning obedience
+of the people. The Virginians contended that his power was limited by
+law. Even had his rule been marked by justice and moderation, they would
+have denied his pretensions. But when he made them the basis for an
+odious tyranny, they took a step unique in American colonial history, by
+laying violent hands on him, and sending him back to his royal master.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] CO1-4, p. 18.
+
+[2] _Virginia Magazine_ 13: 301.
+
+[3] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Company of London_, 221.
+
+[4] _Ibid._, 79.
+
+[5] _Virginia Magazine_ 7: 375-376.
+
+[6] W. W. Hening, _Virginia statutes at large_ 1: 171.
+
+[7] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 79.
+
+[8] CO1-5, p. 32.
+
+[9] _Ibid._
+
+[10] _Ibid._, 33.
+
+[11] CO1-5, p. 33.
+
+[12] _Ibid._
+
+[13] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 416.
+
+[14] _Ibid._, 417.
+
+[15] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 122.
+
+[16] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 430.
+
+[17] CO1-6, p. 34.
+
+[18] _Ibid._, 37.
+
+[19] _Ibid._
+
+[20] _Virginia Magazine_ 8: 405.
+
+[21] CO1-8.
+
+[22] CO1-6, p. 46.
+
+[23] CO1-8.
+
+[24] CO1-8.
+
+[25] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 416.
+
+[26] _Ibid._, 427.
+
+[27] _Ibid._, 303.
+
+[28] CO1-8, p. 48.
+
+[29] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 418, 419.
+
+[30] _Virginia Magazine_ 8: 304.
+
+[31] _Ibid._
+
+[32] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 421.
+
+[33] _Ibid._, 422; CO1-8.
+
+[34] CO1-8, p. 61.
+
+[35] _Ibid._, 403.
+
+[36] CO1-8, p. 61.
+
+[37] CO1-10, p. 64.
+
+[38] _Virginia Magazine_ 10: 265.
+
+[39] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 150; _Report of Commission on
+Historical Manuscripts_, 3.
+
+[40] _Virginia Magazine_ 9: 179, 180.
+
+[41] CO1-9, p. 121.
+
+[42] CO1-10, p. 14.
+
+[43] CO1-10, p. 32.
+
+[44] _Ibid._, 15.
+
+[45] _Ibid._, 3.
+
+[46] CO1-10, p. 61.
+
+[47] _Ibid._
+
+[48] _Ibid._, 64, I.
+
+[49] CO1-10, 64.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+ROYALTY OVERTHROWN
+
+
+It was in August, 1641, that Charles I appointed Sir William Berkeley
+Governor of Virginia to succeed Sir Francis Wyatt. The King knew this
+young man well, for he had been a gentleman usher of the Privy Chamber
+under the Lord Chamberlain, and as such had attended various ceremonies
+at Court. He was the fourth son of Maurice Berkeley, of the ancient
+Berkeley family of Bruton, Somerset, had studied at Oxford and the
+Middle Temple, and in 1630 had made the "grand tour" on the continent.
+He seems to have had thoughts of following in the footsteps of the great
+Shakespeare, for in 1638 he published a tragedy which he named _The Lost
+Lady_. He was knighted in 1639.
+
+No doubt Charles thought he was doing the Virginians a great favor in
+sending them this accomplished young man. But he probably was actuated
+also by less unselfish motives. Berkeley was warmly attached to him,
+considered his person sacred, defended his claim to rule by divine
+right, and considered the Parliamentary leaders who were defying him
+enemies of their country. It would be good policy to place such a man in
+a post of authority in Virginia, to hold the colony in line for the
+royal cause. Sir William too must have had this in mind when he
+consented to lay aside his pen and the pleasures of the Court, to face
+the difficulties and perils of life in the forests of America.
+
+But even as he was preparing to leave, the clouds were gathering for the
+storm which broke over England. The long quarrel of King and Parliament
+was nearing a crisis; high churchmen and Puritans were locked in bitter
+battle. In December, 1640, a petition signed by 15,000 persons for the
+abolition of Episcopacy "with all its roots and branches" was presented
+to the Commons. A few months later a bill of attainder against the Earl
+of Stafford was passed, and this able statesman and friend of the King
+was led to the block. The Puritans demanded that the Book of Common
+Prayer be cast aside. Charles threatened his foes in London by bringing
+in soldiers, and men went about their daily tasks under the shadow of
+an English Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre. In January, 1642, the King
+fled from London and both sides made ready for war.
+
+Berkeley arrived in Virginia early in 1642. When the Councillors
+assembled and took the oath of allegiance and supremacy, they must have
+viewed their polished and courtly new Governor with keen interest mixed
+with apprehension. Would he follow the example of Harvey in trying to
+rule like an Eastern despot? Would he try to set himself above the law?
+Would he take sides in the quarrels which had divided the colony and
+resume the persecution of one group or the other?
+
+Berkeley soon made it evident that he wished to do justice to all men.
+It mattered not whether they had been friends of Harvey or his enemies
+so long as they were loyal to the King. So Kemp, Mathews, Menefie, West,
+Pierce, and others who sat around him at the Council table, had to
+stifle old resentments and unite in support of the new administration.
+
+Harvey had assumed that since the King was absolute and so could do no
+wrong, he, as his substitute, could trample on the rights of the people
+at will. Berkeley, in contrast, acted on the theory that at a time when
+the Throne itself was in peril, it was his duty to show that under the
+royal authority there could be justice, security, and even freedom.
+Virginia had had ten years of experience of his policies when he asked
+what they could expect from a change of government. "Is it liberty? The
+sun looks not on a people more free than we are from oppression. Is it
+wealth? Hundreds of examples show us that industry and thrift in a short
+time may bring us to as high of it as the country and our conditions are
+capable of. Is it security to enjoy this wealth when gotten? Without
+blushing I will speak it, I am confident there lives not that person can
+accuse me of attempting the least act against any man's property."[1]
+
+There is every reason to believe that this boast was justified. The
+first Assembly that sat after Berkeley's arrival spoke of the "good and
+wholesome laws" that they had passed under his leadership. They were
+especially proud of "the near approach we have made to the laws and
+customs of England in proceedings of the court and trials of causes."[2]
+So we hear no more of the prosecution of men on trivial charges, of the
+overawing of judges, and of ruinous confiscations. Thomas Ludwell,
+after the surrender of the colony to the Commonwealth, when Berkeley's
+enemies might easily have hounded him in the courts, declared that there
+was not one man that either publicly or privately charged him with
+injustice.[3]
+
+It must have produced a general sense of security when Sir William
+affixed his signature to a bill giving either the plaintiff or the
+defendant in any court the right to demand trial by jury. No more could
+a body of justices, appointed by the Governor, and perhaps looking to
+him for further favors, deprive a man of his property without the
+judgment of his peers.[4] And should one be brought before the General
+Court to plead for life or limb, one need not submit to their decision
+if unjust, for now, apparently for the first time, appeals were
+permitted to the Assembly.[5]
+
+One of the chief grievances of former times had been the conscripting of
+men for public service or the service of the Governor. So now when
+Berkeley "in preferring the public freedom before his particular profit"
+gave up any claim to forced labor, he won the gratitude of the people.
+He has restored to us the birthright of our mother nation, men said. No
+longer need the poor planter fear that the sheriff would lead him off to
+work in the Governor's garden while his tobacco field went to weeds, or
+the carpenter curse the day when he was forced to give his time for the
+construction of a fort.[6]
+
+The Assembly admitted that before the arrival of the new Governor they
+had not done their full duty in passing wholesome laws and redressing
+grievances. But they now proudly submitted to the public judgment the
+many benefits to the colony from "their late consultations." Among these
+was the relief given the poor by the revising of the tax law, so as to
+make the levy "in some measure" proportionate to "men's abilities and
+estates."
+
+The Assembly thought it wise to assert once more that the Governor and
+Council had no authority to lay taxes.[7] There would seem to have been
+no need for this since, though Harvey may have tried to levy taxes on
+his own responsibility, there is no evidence that Berkeley made such an
+attempt. It seems likely that the Assembly had no more in mind in
+re-enacting this law than the emphasizing of a vital principle.
+
+Berkeley's liberal policies won something more tangible than the
+gratitude of the people, for the Assembly made him a present of two
+houses and an orchard.[8] When the Civil War in England cut off the
+Governor's pension and the allowance granted him by the King, they
+levied a tax of two shillings a tithable to raise a fund for his
+support. It is true that they did this with grave misgivings. To excuse
+themselves to the people they pointed out that such a thing had never
+occurred before from the infancy of the colony, and they prayed God it
+would never happen again. The Assembly promised that when the present
+crisis had passed they would never again consent to place the burden of
+maintaining the Governor upon the people.
+
+They seem not to have considered that to do so would be well worth the
+cost, since it would make him less dependent on the King and more
+amenable to their wishes. In the struggle for self-government in the
+American colonies nothing tended more to bring victory than the fact the
+Assemblies usually were paymasters for the Governors.
+
+But now Berkeley had to decide whether it was his duty to remain at his
+post in Virginia or whether he should hasten back to England to offer
+his sword to his King. Every vessel which came in brought news of the
+bitter conflict which was convulsing the mother country--the battle of
+Edgehill, the victory of the Londoners at Turnham Green, the murderous
+struggle in the lanes and ditches of Newbury. Though it seemed that
+final victory for the royal forces was certain, Berkeley decided that he
+was needed more in England than in Virginia. Turning the government over
+to Richard Kemp, he set sail for England early in 1644. We next hear of
+him in the following summer in Cornwall with the King when he was
+bearing down on the Parliamentary forces under Essex.
+
+It is eloquent of the work done by Berkeley in reconciling the bitter
+factions left by Harvey, that Mathews, Pierce, Menefie, and West seem to
+have accepted Kemp's appointment in good grace. But one wonders whether
+Kemp, with this dignity, got a new ribbon for his hair lock, and whether
+he patched up his quarrel with the Reverend Anthony Panton. But he was
+left little time for personal matters, for a few weeks after Berkeley's
+departure the Indians, under the leadership of the aged Opechancanough,
+fell on the outer settlements and massacred no less than five hundred
+persons.[9]
+
+Even when this terrible news reached Berkeley he seems to have delayed
+his return, for it was only on June 7, 1645, over a year after the
+massacre, that he arrived at Jamestown.[10] In the meanwhile, the whites
+had taken ample revenge on their treacherous enemies. Expeditions had
+gone out to bring fire and destruction to the Indian villages, and to
+cut down the ripening corn. No sooner had the Governor set foot on
+Virginia soil than he took personal charge of the war, leading out the
+forces, exposing himself to danger "night and day on the water and on
+the land," "visiting the remoter parts and with his presence encouraging
+the people." So indefatigable was he that "he scarce ate or slept to the
+hazard of his health."[11] At last, when he had captured Opechancanough,
+the disheartened savages sued for peace.[12]
+
+Having removed the Indian menace, Sir William was faced with the task of
+saving Virginia for the King. The news from England was
+alarming--Parliament was everywhere victorious; the use of the Book of
+Common Prayer was forbidden; hundreds of Anglican clergymen had been
+expelled from their livings; the King had fled to the Isle of Wight.
+
+The Governor knew that there was a powerful faction in the colony,
+composed chiefly of merchants and Puritans, who favored Parliament. Some
+of the merchants had bought plantations in Virginia, entered actively
+into public life, and perhaps held high offices. Thomas Stegg, one of
+the most prominent of them, in 1643 had been Speaker of the House of
+Burgesses. Richard Lee, who traded to London, was "faithful and useful
+to the interest of the Commonwealth." Richard Bennett adhered to
+Parliament not only because of his mercantile interests, but because he
+was an ardent Puritan.
+
+But the people as a whole were linked by self-interest to whatever
+government was in power in England. Virginia's prosperity depended upon
+trade. It was vital to the planters to ship their tobacco abroad and to
+get manufactured goods in exchange--cloth, clothing, household
+utensils, tools, farm implements, etc. London, the great trading center
+of England, was held by the enemies of the King. Even though the Dutch
+took off part of the tobacco crop, if Parliament should prohibit trade
+with the colony the effect might be disastrous. This helps to explain
+why such a prominent man as Samuel Mathews, who made a good income by
+selling beef to victual the English ships, became "a most deserving
+Commonwealth man."
+
+Fortunately, Parliament realized that an embargo was a sword that cut
+both ways. At first they tried to bring pressure on the colony by
+freezing their goods in England, but, no doubt at the solicitation of
+the London merchants, in October, 1644, the Commons wrote the Virginia
+Assembly that this action had been reversed. Traders hesitated even then
+to load their vessels and sail for Virginia, fearing that Berkeley, in
+his rage against Parliament, might have persuaded the Assembly to
+exclude them. But they were soon reassured. In February, 1645, the
+Assembly passed an act declaring that since "the great wants and
+extremities of the colony" made it necessary to encourage commerce, free
+trade would be allowed "to all his Majesty's subjects of England."[13]
+They went still further the next year when they thanked the House of
+Commons "for all its favors" to them.[14]
+
+Yet the planters, not knowing what would come out of the clash of
+religions, political forces, and armies which was convulsing England,
+did all they could to encourage trade with the Dutch. The merchants of
+Amsterdam paid well for their tobacco, and sold their wares at figures
+well below those charged by the English. In January, 1649, whereas there
+were only seven vessels from London and two from Bristol trading in the
+James River, there were twelve from the Netherlands.
+
+Though Berkeley had to yield to the Virginia merchants in their demand
+that trade be kept open with the mother country, he was determined to
+stamp out Puritanism in the colony. Most Virginians were attached to the
+Church of England; the use of the Book of Common Prayer was almost
+universal; the ministers adhered to Anglican canonical law. But here and
+there, especially where there were many new arrivals who had been under
+the influence of Calvinist ministers in England, there were pockets of
+Puritans.
+
+Most of the nonconformists were concentrated in southeastern Virginia in
+the counties bordering on Hampton Roads. In May, 1640, the people of the
+Lower Norfolk County parish elected the Reverend Thomas Harrison their
+minister, "to instruct them concerning their souls' health." Apparently
+Mr. Harrison did not think that the use of the Book of Common Prayer or
+catechising on Sunday afternoons was necessary for the health of their
+souls, for he neglected both.[15]
+
+Two years later a group in Upper Norfolk, headed by Richard Bennett,
+John Hill, and Daniel Gookin, wrote letters to the Elders of Boston,
+Massachusetts, bewailing "their sad condition for the want of the means
+of salvation." They would be grateful if the Elders would send them
+several ministers to instruct them in the truth as it is in Jesus. These
+letters they intrusted to Mr. Philip Bennett, brother of Richard
+Bennett, and sent him in a small pinnace on the dangerous voyage to
+Boston.[16]
+
+The Elders listened with sympathy to this appeal, for they regarded it
+as an opportunity "for enlarging the Kingdom of Christ." After much
+deliberation, they selected John Knowles, of Watertown; William
+Thompson, of Braintree; and Thomas James, of New Haven, and sent them
+off. But they had a rough time even before they reached Virginia. No
+doubt they thought it was Satan's effort to thwart them that threw their
+pinnace on the rocks at the appropriately named Hell Gate. But the
+ministers, accustomed as they were to getting the better of the Evil
+One, secured another vessel and proceeded on their way.[17]
+
+Upon their arrival in Virginia they were welcomed by the Puritans. Going
+from house to house they preached "openly to the people," and "the
+harvest they had was plentiful for the little space of time they were
+there." "It fared with them as it had done before with the Apostles in
+the primitive times that the people magnified them, and their hearts
+seemed to be much inflamed with an earnest desire after the Gospel."[18]
+
+But when Governor Berkeley heard of this invasion of New England
+divines to woo the people from the established Church, his heart too was
+inflamed. At the Assembly of March, 1643, he secured a law against
+heresy prohibiting ministers to teach or preach publicly or privately
+unless they conformed to the orders and constitutions of the Anglican
+Church, and directing the Governor and Council to expel nonconformist
+clergymen.[19]
+
+The Puritan missionaries to Virginia were less determined than were the
+Quakers who sought to convert the people of Massachusetts to their way
+of belief and after being expelled returned to face whippings,
+mutilation, and the gallows. Upon hearing the order of banishment, they
+left Virginia and did not return.
+
+But both Governor Winthrop and Edward Johnson were certain that the
+Indian massacre of 1644 was God's punishment of the Virginians for
+expelling his servants. "Oh! poor Virginia, dost thou send away the
+ministers of Christ with threatening speeches?" wrote Johnson in his
+_Wonder Working Providence_. "No sooner is this done but the barbarous,
+inhuman, insolent, and bloody Indians are let loose upon them."
+Certainly a terrible and indiscriminate revenge for a loving Heavenly
+Father.
+
+Though the New Englanders left, Harrison for the time being defied the
+law by remaining in his parish. Knowing that Cromwell was winning
+victories, he looked to Parliament to protect him. He was elated when he
+received word that the Commissioners for Plantations had issued a
+proclamation in November, 1645, granting freedom of worship in all the
+colonies. "That golden apple, the ordinance of toleration is now fairly
+fallen into the lap of the saints," he wrote Winthrop. "We have received
+letters full of life and love from the Earl of Warwick."[20]
+
+This seems to have given pause to Berkeley, and for two more years
+Harrison continued to preach. But by the autumn of 1647 the Governor
+seems to have decided to root out Puritanism in defiance of Parliament,
+and at his urging the Assembly again ordered all ministers to conform to
+the canons of the Church of England.[21] Under this act Harrison was
+banished. After leaving Virginia he went to Massachusetts, where he
+remained two years before going to England.
+
+His congregation, which had now grown to 118 persons, appealed to the
+Commons, and on October 11, 1649, the Commissioners wrote Governor
+Berkeley, ordering him to permit Harrison to return. They had heard that
+he had been banished because he would not use the Book of Common Prayer.
+"You cannot be ignorant that the use of the Common Prayer book is
+prohibited by the Parliament." By this time Berkeley was so embittered
+against the Commons that if this letter ever reached him he treated it
+with scorn. After the surrender of the colony to the Commonwealth in
+1652, Harrison could have returned had he so desired, but he chose to
+remain in England.
+
+In the meanwhile Berkeley prosecuted the remaining Puritans. A certain
+William Durand who took it upon himself to preach in the Elizabeth River
+chapel was arrested, imprisoned, and fined, and severe action was taken
+against the members of his congregation. Thereupon Durand, Richard
+Bennett, and many others left the colony and settled in Anne Arundel
+County, Maryland.[22]
+
+When the news reached Virginia that King Charles had been tried before a
+Commission of the Commons, that he had been condemned to death, and that
+the sentence had been carried out at Whitehall and the bleeding head
+held up for the awe-stricken crowds to view, Berkeley was horrified. He
+at once proclaimed Charles II King, and so won for Virginia the title of
+the Old Dominion. There was no thought on the Governor's part of
+submitting to Parliament. The Assembly passed a law making it treason to
+question the "undoubted and inherent right of his Majesty ... to the
+Colony of Virginia." To defend the proceedings against the late King was
+to become accessory after the act; to asperse his memory was punishable
+at the discretion of the Governor and Council; to propose a change of
+government was high treason.[23] You should be thankful above all else,
+Berkeley said, "that God has separated you from the guilt of the crying
+blood of our pious sovereign of ever blessed memory. But mistake not,
+gentlemen, part of it will yet stain your garments if you willingly
+submit to those murderers' hands that shed it."[24]
+
+Parliament countered by declaring the Virginians rebels and by trying
+to bring them to terms by economic pressure. In October, 1650, they
+passed an act prohibiting all persons "foreigners and others" from
+having commerce or traffic with them. English warships were to be used
+to enforce the act, and all commanders were ordered to seize any foreign
+vessels found trading with the colony. English ships were not to sail
+for Virginia without a special license from the Council of State.[25]
+
+The planters realized fully that if they were cut off from all overseas
+commerce it meant ruin. Their loyalty to the monarchy would be dearly
+purchased if their tobacco were left on their hands, and all supplies of
+cloth, clothing, and other manufactured goods denied them. Yet under the
+passionate urging of Governor Berkeley they remained firm.
+
+Calling an Assembly for March, 1651, Sir William delivered an address
+ringing with defiance. You see by the declaration of the men of
+Westminster how they mean to deal with you, he said. Surely they could
+have proposed something which might have strengthened us to bear the
+heavy chains they are making ready for us, though it were no more than
+the assurance that we shall eat the bread for which our own oxen plow,
+and which we reap with our own sweat. "Surely, gentlemen, we are more
+slaves by nature than their power can make us if we suffer ourselves to
+be shaken with these paper bullets.... Gentlemen, by the grace of God we
+will not so tamely part with our King and all those blessings we enjoy
+under him; and if they oppose us do but follow me, I will either lead
+you to victory or lose a life which I cannot more gloriously sacrifice
+than for my loyalty and your security."[26]
+
+We do not know to what extent the act of 1650 was effective in stopping
+trade to Virginia. It is probable that Dutch merchants continued to come
+in, eluding English warships, and taking off a part of the tobacco crop.
+Had it not been for this it is probable that the colony would have been
+forced to surrender, and it would have been unnecessary for Parliament
+to send a force to subdue it.
+
+During the turmoil of the early months of the Commonwealth there was
+little opportunity for the Council of State to consider what should be
+done about Virginia. But in October, 1649, they directed the Committee
+of the Admiralty to recommend steps "to reduce them to the interest" of
+Parliament. This committee called in several merchants interested in the
+tobacco trade--Maurice Thompson, Benjamin Worsley, and others--to ask
+their advice. These men were deeply concerned lest the defection of the
+colonies might ruin them by diverting trade to the Dutch. After long
+debate, it was decided that Parliament should be asked to name
+commissioners "in whom the government be immediately placed, with power
+to settle the same under the government of the Commonwealth."[27]
+
+But this plan could not be put into effect so long as the Governor and
+Assembly were holding out for the King. So when news reached England
+that the blockade had not been successful in bringing them to terms, it
+was decided to send over a naval and military expedition. Thomas Stegg,
+who was in London, no doubt told the Council of State that there were
+many in Virginia who favored the Commonwealth, and that by cooperating
+with them they might take over the colony without firing a shot. So in
+naming a commission to offer terms they included not only Stegg himself,
+but Richard Bennett and William Claiborne, both of whom were in
+Virginia. The commission was headed by Captain Robert Dennis. In the
+event of his death, his place was to be filled by Captain Edmund Curtis.
+
+They were ordered to "use their best endeavors" to bring the Virginians
+"to their due obedience," and were authorized to grant pardon to all who
+would submit. In case this did not prove effective they were to use "all
+acts of hostility ... to enforce them." They were directed, also, to
+augment their force by making recruits in the colony, appointing
+captains and other officers, and promising freedom to all indentured
+workers who would take up arms for the Commonwealth.[28]
+
+So now a fleet of two warships, the _John_ and the _Guinea Frigate_, and
+a number of armed merchant vessels was assembled, a force of six hundred
+men embarked, and arms and stores brought aboard. Captain Dennis sailed
+in the _John_, Captain Curtis in the _Guinea Frigate_. Arriving at
+Barbados, and finding a large royalist force ready to resist them, they
+landed their soldiers, and defeated them in a pitched battle. This
+caused a delay of several weeks before they could proceed on their way
+to the Chesapeake Bay. But now disaster struck, for off the coast of
+Carolina they ran into a storm which sent the _John_ to the bottom,
+taking Captain Dennis and Stegg with her. Unaware of this, the rest of
+the fleet proceeded on their way and arrived safely in Hampton Roads.
+
+Even without the _John_ the fleet must have seemed formidable to the
+planters who paused in their work to view it. It must have seemed
+formidable, also, to Governor Berkeley. But he was determined to resist
+to the end. For months he had done all in his power to create hatred of
+the Commonwealth leaders, calling them bloody tyrants, and accusing them
+of planning to restore the old London Company. The Anglican ministers,
+hurling invectives from the pulpit, "stirred up the people in all
+places." At the gatherings for the sessions of the county courts, in
+taverns, in churchyards after services, everywhere when two or more men
+came together "little else was spoken of."[29]
+
+With the enemy in Virginia waters and with messengers riding through the
+counties to summon men to the colors, the planter dropped the hoe to
+fasten on the helmet and the breastplate, and take up the fusil, the
+sword, the halberd, and the pistol. Embarking on shallops, or trudging
+through the woods and fields the trained bands converged on Jamestown
+until there were between a thousand and twelve hundred men there ready
+to defend the little capital.[30]
+
+But there was no battle. With the loss of Dennis and Stegg, Curtis,
+Bennett, and Claiborne alone were left of the Parliamentary
+commissioners. Since Curtis could be outvoted by the other two, the
+final settlement was left to all intents and purposes in the hands of
+the two Virginians. We do not know how Curtis got in touch with them,
+but they seem to have come aboard the _Guinea Frigate_ to receive their
+instructions. When they opened them and realized how great was their
+responsibility, they made up their minds to use every effort to spare
+the colony the horrors of civil war.[31]
+
+Their first step was to distribute papers among the people refuting
+Berkeley's charges that Parliament meant to enslave them, which they
+substantiated by copies of private letters. Then, hearing that a
+council of war was in session at Jamestown, they sent up a summons to
+the Governor and Council to surrender. At the same time, although they
+thought their force inadequate to defeat the Virginians, they set sail
+up the James River.
+
+In the meanwhile the Governor and Council had been considering their
+summons. One wishes a record had been kept of that stormy debate, with
+Berkeley pleading for resistance to the end, and others pointing out
+that this meant ruin. In the end they sent a reply which reached the
+fleet on its way up the river, promising to yield if the government were
+left in their hands for one more year. The commissioners replied with a
+conciliatory message, which though refusing this compromise, "produced
+the calling of an Assembly."[32]
+
+The Burgesses fully realized the folly of defying the might of England.
+Should they succeed in driving off the forces facing them, other and
+more powerful armies would follow. So they sat "in contemplation of the
+great miseries and certain destruction which were so nearly hovering
+over this whole country." When they heard the remarkably liberal terms
+offered by the commissioners, they yielded.
+
+It was agreed that Virginia should "be in due obedience and subjection
+to the Commonwealth of England." But following this one vital provision
+came a series of concessions to the colony. The surrender was to be
+considered voluntary and not forced by conquest, the Assembly was to be
+continued, pardon was granted for words and writings denouncing
+Parliament, Virginia was to be "free from all taxes, customs, and
+impositions whatsoever," a provision which Parliament might with profit
+have remembered over a century later when they were debating the Stamp
+Act. The recognized principle that within the colony the Assembly alone
+had the right to tax was now for the first time guaranteed.[33]
+
+Then followed two provisions in which the commissioners stretched their
+instructions to the limit. There can be no doubt that it was Claiborne
+who was largely responsible for the promise that "Virginia shall have
+and enjoy the ancient bounds and limits granted by the charters of the
+former Kings," for this meant that Maryland would once more become a
+part of Virginia. But it remained to be seen whether Parliament would
+ratify so drastic a measure. And when it was stipulated that the colony
+should have "free trade as the people of England do to all places and
+with all nations according to the laws of that Commonwealth," it was
+obvious that there would be strenuous opposition from the merchants of
+London and Bristol.
+
+Having affixed their signatures to these articles, the commissioners
+hastened on to Maryland to demand the surrender of that colony. But
+before sailing they called for election for a new House of Burgesses.
+With Berkeley no longer in power to urge the return of staunch
+loyalists, and with Virginia submissive to the Commonwealth, the
+personnel of the House was greatly changed. When they met at Jamestown
+on April 30, 1652, one recognized only six familiar faces.[34] In the
+meanwhile, Bennett and Claiborne, who had returned from Maryland, sat
+with them in what was in reality a constitutional convention.
+
+Their first act was to elect Bennett Governor for one year. Thus, by one
+of those strange turns of the wheel of fortune, this ardent Puritan who
+a few years before had been driven into exile because of his religious
+beliefs, was placed at the head of the government. Had he been a man of
+Sir John Harvey's disposition, he might now have taken his revenge. But
+there is no evidence that he bore malice against Berkeley and the former
+members of the Council.
+
+The Burgesses next elected Claiborne Secretary of State "to be next in
+place to the Governor." Then followed the election of a new Council. It
+is proof of the spirit of reconciliation which prevailed that most of
+the former members were chosen. But the Burgesses made it clear that the
+Assembly was to be the ruling power in the colony. They were to appoint
+the Governor and Council, who were to exercise only such powers as the
+Assembly delegated to them. And they immediately took from them the
+control of local government by themselves selecting the county
+justices.[35]
+
+Thus was self-government established in the colony. In England the clash
+of arms and the struggle of class and religious groups resulted, not in
+establishing a republic, but only in exchanging one despot for another.
+But though Virginia had played but an insignificant role in the great
+drama, she reaped a full reward. For the next eight years it was the
+people who ruled through their representatives in the House of
+Burgesses.
+
+And the people, most of them at heart still loyal to the monarchy, would
+tolerate no persecution of the King's friends. Berkeley and some of the
+Councillors, thinking that life under the new government would be
+unendurable, had stipulated in the articles that they be permitted to
+leave the colony and take their property with them. In July, 1653,
+Berkeley was still planning to leave. Yet neither he nor any of the
+others seem to have done so, contenting themselves with sending Colonel
+Francis Lovelace to Europe to attest to the exiled Prince Charles their
+continued loyalty. Only when some ardent royalist could not bridle his
+tongue were severe penalties inflicted. We have an example of this in
+Northumberland County when a Mr. Calvert had to pay one thousand pounds
+of tobacco to save his wife from thirty lashes on her shoulders for
+stigmatizing "the keepers of the liberty of England as rogues, traitors,
+and rebels."[36]
+
+Nor was there any persecution of Church of England men in retaliation
+for the expulsion of Puritans under Berkeley. There seems to have been
+no thought of prohibiting the use of the Book of Common Prayer, no
+thought of turning Anglican ministers out of their cures. In fact the
+Burgesses were so deeply concerned at the many complaints of vacant
+pulpits that they offered a reward of L20 to anyone bringing over a
+clergyman.[37]
+
+Though Puritans and Anglicans, Commonwealth men and royalists lived
+together in peace, there was friction between the English merchants and
+the planters. The former argued that the act of 1650, which prohibited
+foreign ships from trading with the colonies, was still in force. The
+latter claimed that the law had been temporary in character and was now
+invalid. And they pointed out that the articles of surrender had
+promised them free trade with all nations. So when a Dutch merchant
+vessel came into the James or the York, they gladly loaded her with
+tobacco and accepted the cheap goods of Amsterdam in exchange.
+
+But the situation changed when England became involved in war with the
+Netherlands. In the summer of 1653, when the _Leopolus_, a merchantman
+of Dunkirk, came into the Elizabeth River, the captains of two English
+ships came on board to demand her special license. Apparently the master
+had no license, for the vessel was seized by the Virginia authorities
+and sold for L400.[38]
+
+After this there seem to have been no further seizures by the
+Virginians. But the English masters took it upon themselves to try to
+break up the Dutch trade, and the planters looked on helplessly as they
+intercepted sloops taking their tobacco to the Dutch vessels, or seized
+the vessels themselves and took them off as prizes. In 1660 the Assembly
+plucked up courage to declare that "the Dutch and all strangers of what
+Christian nation soever in amity with the people of England shall have
+free liberty to trade with us." And they required the masters of all
+incoming English ships to give bond not to molest any vessels whatsoever
+in Virginia waters.[39]
+
+It is obvious that during the entire Commonwealth period the trade with
+Holland was kept open. In 1655 certain English shipowners complained
+that "there are usually found intruding upon the plantation divers
+ships, surreptitiously carrying away the growth thereof to foreign
+parts."[40] It was this which widened the market for tobacco, kept up
+the price, and brought a degree of prosperity to the colony.
+
+With the articles of surrender stipulating that Virginia should have its
+original bounds, it seemed a golden opportunity for the colony to regain
+the territory granted to Lord Baltimore. Surely the Puritan government
+of England would be eager to root out the group of Roman Catholics in
+Maryland. So when the Assembly sent Samuel Mathews to have the articles
+ratified they instructed him to plead for the annulling of Baltimore's
+patent. But Baltimore had cut the ground from under their feet by
+recognizing the Commonwealth as early as 1648, appointing a Puritan
+Governor of Maryland, and proclaiming religious freedom. Though Richard
+Bennett came over to join Mathews in defending Virginia's claim, the
+final settlement left Maryland a separate colony.[41]
+
+The people of Virginia watched with intense interest the dramatic events
+in England in the years from 1652 to the restoration of the monarchy in
+1660--the dissolution of the Rump Parliament, the election of the
+Praise-God Barebone Parliament, the naming of Cromwell Protector, the
+foreign wars, the death of Cromwell, the brief rule of Richard Cromwell.
+But they were less affected by them than by happenings in the mother
+country at any other time during the colonial period. Virginia was left
+to her own devices because the men in power in London were too greatly
+occupied with other matters to bother with her. One wonders whether they
+knew what was going on, for the correspondence with persons in the
+colony dwindled to a trickle.
+
+On August 31, 1658, a group of merchants trading to Virginia wrote the
+Council of State complaining of "the loose and distracted condition of
+that colony." It seems that Cromwell had already been considering
+certain proposals "for supplying that defect," but before he could come
+to any decision he died.
+
+Thus the people of Virginia were left to make a most interesting
+experiment in self-government. The House of Burgesses were elected on a
+broad franchise. Under the law of 1655 all housekeepers were given the
+right to vote.[42] Since it would seem that everyone must have a place
+in which to live, this was a near approach to manhood suffrage. Yet
+three years later these liberty loving people made certain that no one
+should be excluded, when the Assembly enacted that "all persons
+inhabiting in this colony that are freemen" were "to have their votes in
+the election of Burgesses."[43] One wonders whether Edmund Pendleton,
+George Mason, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and other members of the
+Virginia Convention of 1776, who voted that only freeholders should
+vote, realized that they were less advanced on the road to democracy
+than their ancestors over a century before.
+
+The convention of 1652 gave the right to elect "all the officers of this
+colony" to "the Burgesses, the representatives of the people." However,
+it seems to have been Cromwell's intention to assume the power of
+appointing the Governor, for in December, 1653, his Highness "thought
+fit to continue Colonel Bennett" in that office until he should "further
+signify his pleasure."[44] But when he did nothing more about it, in
+March, 1655, the Burgesses elected Edward Digges Governor. Three years
+later, they chose Samuel Mathews, who continued in office until his
+death in January, 1660.
+
+The Governor and Council for some years accepted with good grace the
+subordinate position accorded them. But in 1658 they made an effort to
+regain some of the powers they had held prior to the surrender to the
+Commonwealth. When the Assembly of that year were concluding their
+proceedings, they voted not to be dissolved, but merely to adjourn. But
+the Governor and Council "for many important causes" took it on
+themselves to override this decision and declare the Assembly dissolved.
+
+When this message was received by the House, some of the members started
+for the door. But they probably sat down hastily when a resolution was
+passed that if any Burgess showed his acceptance of the dissolution by
+leaving, he was to be censured "as a person betraying the trust reposed
+in him by the country." They then sent a message to the Governor and
+Council declaring their action illegal and demanding that they revoke
+the dissolution. To this the Governor and Council replied that they were
+willing for the Assembly to continue provided they bring their work to a
+speedy conclusion. As for the "dispute of the power of dissolving and
+the legality thereof" they suggested that it be referred to the Lord
+Protector.[45]
+
+But the House was now thoroughly aroused, and was determined to bring
+the matter to an issue. So they appointed a committee to draw up a
+report for the "manifestation and vindication of the Assembly's power."
+This committee proposed resolutions declaring the "power of government
+to reside in such persons as shall be impowered by the Burgesses (the
+representatives of the people) who are not dissolvable by any power now
+extant in Virginia but the House of Burgesses." They also recommended
+the immediate dismissal of the Councillors. Accordingly the House
+preceded to recall both Governor and Council. Apparently the Burgesses
+did not blame Governor Mathews for the crisis for they at once
+re-elected him, and then asked him to make recommendations for the new
+Council. It is probable that they thought Nathaniel Bacon and Francis
+Willis responsible for the attempted dissolution, for they were the
+only Councillors who had signed the offensive order who were not
+re-elected.[46]
+
+When the Assembly met again, in March, 1659, a letter was laid before
+them from Henry Lawrence, President of the Council of State in England,
+announcing the death of Cromwell and the accession of Richard Cromwell
+as Lord Protector. The government of Virginia was being studied by the
+Council, he reported, and they soon would have some positive orders. In
+the meanwhile, they directed the Governor and Council to apply
+themselves to the "management of the affairs of that colony."[47]
+
+When this letter was read to the Burgesses, they must have looked at
+each other in dismay. Did this mean that the Governor and Council
+thereafter were to derive their powers, not from the House, but from
+England? They at once acknowledged the new Lord Protector, but they
+requested the Governor to join with them in petitioning him to confirm
+their privileges.
+
+While waiting to hear from England they decided to make important
+concessions. Mathews was to be Governor for two years, at the expiration
+of which time the Assembly would choose one of the Councillors to
+succeed him. Members of the Council were to serve for life, "except in
+case of high misdemeanors." The Governor was to nominate Councillors,
+but the Burgesses were to have the privilege of confirming or rejecting.
+The Council at first assented to these changes until further directions
+from England, but later "they expressly declined the said act," and
+declared the Assembly dissolved.[48] It would seem that from March,
+1659, to March, 1660, the Governor and Council claimed that they derived
+their authority, not from the Burgesses, but from the Council of State.
+
+In the meanwhile, the people waited anxiously for news from England.
+Would the weak Richard Cromwell, Thumbledown Dick as he was called in
+contempt, gain a firm grasp on the reins of state? Or would there be
+anarchy? Or would Prince Charles be summoned from exile and placed on
+the throne of his fathers? When the tobacco fleet drifted in, the word
+they brought was alarming. Richard Cromwell had been forced to resign;
+England was subjected to the weak but violent rule of soldiers; a new
+civil war threatened. "Swordsmen bear the rule of the nation," a London
+merchant wrote his father in Virginia in December, 1659. "The soldiers
+they are divided one against another, and the people they are divided,
+some for one government some for another, and how long thus a kingdom
+divided against itself can stand, I know not."[49]
+
+To make matters still more uncertain for the Virginians, in January,
+1660, Governor Mathews died. When the summons was sent out for the
+Assembly to meet, the Burgesses straggled in to the little capital, some
+on horseback, some by boat. Little knots must have gathered on the green
+to discuss the distractions in the mother country, and their meaning for
+the future of Virginia.
+
+When they had crowded into the house where they were to meet, and had
+taken seats, their first step was to reassert their authority "as the
+supreme power in this country."[50] Then they took a step which for
+three centuries has puzzled historians--they elected Sir William
+Berkeley Governor. That this decision was made at the opening of the
+session would lead us to believe that it reflected the general sentiment
+of the people. They had had experience of Berkeley's energy, concern for
+the welfare of the colony, refusal to use the courts for personal gain.
+Certainly this is the view he himself took of his election. "In
+consideration of the service I had done the country in defending them
+and destroying great numbers of Indians ... and in view of the equal
+justice I had distributed to all men, not only the Assembly but the
+unanimous votes of all the country made me Governor."[51]
+
+It is possible, also, that the Assembly had in mind the possibility that
+the monarchy might be restored. Their action came just nine weeks before
+Charles II set foot on English soil at Dover amid the cheers of the
+crowds on the beach. The word may have gone from plantation to
+plantation that it would please Charles and recommend the colony to his
+favor to know that they had made choice of the former royal Governor, a
+man noted for his devotion to his father and himself.
+
+Yet the Assembly made it clear that Sir William would hold office from
+them as the supreme power in the colony. They stipulated that he must
+call an Assembly at least once in every two years, that he should not
+dissolve the Assembly without permission from the House, and that in
+appointing members of the Council he must have their approbation.
+
+Berkeley hesitated. Appearing before the Assembly he expressed his
+gratitude for the honor done him, and protested that there were many
+among them who were "more sufficient for it" than he. When he first came
+to Virginia, he said, he had a commission from his "most gracious master
+King Charles of ever blessed memory." When the King was put to death,
+his son sent him another commission to govern Virginia, but Parliament
+sent a force against him, and finding him defenceless, took over the
+colony. But Parliament continued not long, and now his intelligence was
+not enough to tell him who or what ruled England. "But, Mr. Speaker, it
+is one duty to live obedient to a government, and another of a very
+different nature to command under it." Yet when he had asked the Council
+for their advice, and they had concurred unanimously in his election, he
+consented.[52]
+
+Thus this professed enemy of republican principles became the head of a
+semi-independent little republic. To Governor Stuyvesant, of New
+Netherlands, he wrote: "I am but a servant of the Assembly, neither do
+they arrogate any power to themselves further than the miserable
+distractions of England force them to. For when God shall be pleased in
+his mercy to take away and dissipate the unnatural division of their
+native country, they will immediately return to their own professed
+obedience."[53]
+
+Though Charles was proclaimed King in England on May 8, 1660, it was
+only in September that the slow moving vessels of the day brought the
+news to Virginia. It was with elation that Berkeley wrote to the
+sheriffs in every county that God had invested "our most gracious
+sovereign, Charles II," with the "just rights of his royal father," and
+charged them to proclaim him King forthwith. In Jamestown there was
+rejoicing, marked by the firing of cannon, and the blare of trumpets.
+The country people for miles around must have flocked in to aid in
+making way with six cases of drams and a hundred and seventy-six gallons
+of cider.[54]
+
+Berkeley's joy was tempered with the fear that the King might be angry
+with him for having accepted office from the "rebel" Assembly. But
+Charles reassured him, and sent him a new commission. Overjoyed,
+Berkeley replied: "I ... do most humbly throw myself at your Majesty's
+feet ... that you yet think me worthy of your royal commands. It is true
+... I did something, which if misrepresented to your Majesty, may cause
+your Majesty to think me guilty of a weakness I should ever abhor myself
+for. But it was no more ... than to leap over the fold to save your
+Majesty's flock, when your Majesty's enemies of that fold had barred up
+the lawful entrance to it, and enclosed the wolves of schism and
+rebellion ready to devour all within."[55]
+
+Thus the Commonwealth period in Virginia came to an end. No longer was
+the Assembly to be the supreme power, selecting the Governor and
+Council, and controlling local government. The old struggle for
+self-government had to be resumed; the representatives of the people
+again had to steel themselves against the encroachments of arbitrary
+Kings and arbitrary Governors. More than a century was to elapse before
+the rights surrendered when Charles II was proclaimed were regained.
+
+But the training in self-government received during the eight years that
+the people were their own masters stood them in good stead in the
+conflicts ahead. Having tasted the sweets of freedom, they were ready to
+resist when Governors vetoed their bills, or corrupted the Burgesses, or
+swayed the courts, or bullied the Council. The Commonwealth period
+foreshadowed Bacon's Rebellion and the American Revolution; the
+constitutional Assembly of 1652 foreshadowed Bacon's Assembly of June,
+1676, and the Virginia Convention of 1776.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 77.
+
+[2] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 237.
+
+[3] CO1-20.
+
+[4] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 273.
+
+[5] _Ibid._, 272.
+
+[6] _Ibid._, 237.
+
+[7] _Ibid._, 244.
+
+[8] _Ibid._, 267.
+
+[9] Robert Beverley, _History and present state of Virginia_, ed. L. B.
+Wright, 60.
+
+[10] _Virginia Magazine_ 8: 73.
+
+[11] CO1-30, p. 71.
+
+[12] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 323.
+
+[13] _Ibid._, 296.
+
+[14] Report of Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Part 1: 158.
+
+[15] _Lower Norfolk County Antiquary_ 1: 83, 84.
+
+[16] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 166.
+
+[17] _Ibid._, 167.
+
+[18] _Ibid._, 172.
+
+[19] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 277.
+
+[20] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 200.
+
+[21] _Ibid._, 206.
+
+[22] _Lower Norfolk County Antiquary_ 2: 14, 61.
+
+[23] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 361.
+
+[24] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 77.
+
+[25] Scobell, _Collection of acts_ 2: 132.
+
+[26] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 77.
+
+[27] _Calendar of state papers, Colonial_ 1: 332.
+
+[28] CO1-11.
+
+[29] _Virginia Magazine_ 11: 33.
+
+[30] _Virginia Magazine_ 11: 24.
+
+[31] _Ibid._, 33.
+
+[32] _Ibid._, 23.
+
+[33] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 363-365.
+
+[34] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1619-1659, xx.
+
+[35] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 371, 372.
+
+[36] _William and Mary Quarterly_ 1: 154.
+
+[37] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 418.
+
+[38] _Virginia Magazine_ 3: 310, 311; W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_
+1: 382.
+
+[39] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 535, 536.
+
+[40] G. L. Beer, _Origins of the British colonial system_, 396.
+
+[41] N. C. Hale, _Virginia venturer_, 282-285.
+
+[42] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 412.
+
+[43] _Ibid._, 475.
+
+[44] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 408.
+
+[45] _Ibid._, 499.
+
+[46] _Ibid._, 499, 505.
+
+[47] _Ibid._, 509, 510.
+
+[48] _Ibid._, 537.
+
+[49] _Tyler's Magazine_ 1: 244, 245.
+
+[50] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 530.
+
+[51] _Bath papers_ I, "The Declaration and Remonstrance of William
+Berkeley."
+
+[52] _Southern Literary Messenger_, Jan. 1845.
+
+[53] Charles Campbell, _History of Virginia_, 246.
+
+[54] _William and Mary Quarterly_ 1: 158.
+
+[55] _Southern Literary Messenger_, Jan. 1845.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A BACON! A BACON!
+
+
+Sir William Berkeley was one of the best Governors in the history of
+colonial Virginia during his first administration; during his second he
+was one of the worst. The man who had won the gratitude of the people by
+his respect for their rights, his refusal to use the courts to further
+his own interests, his efforts to bring prosperity, was followed by
+their bitter curses when he left Virginia in 1677. The courtly young
+gentleman who had exchanged the Court of Charles I for the forests and
+tobacco fields of the colony, had become the crabbed, dictatorial old
+man. In 1672 the Quaker preacher, William Edmundson, visited him to
+intercede for the Society of Friends. The next day Richard Bennett asked
+Edmundson whether the Governor had called him dog, rogue, etc. "No," he
+replied. "Then you took him in his best humor."[1]
+
+One of Sir William's worst traits, his greed, grew on him with the
+years. "Though ambition commonly leaves old age, covetousness does not,"
+he wrote Lord Arlington. It may have been this which made him marry
+Frances Culpeper, the widow of Captain Samuel Stephens, who brought him
+a large estate. Though there was nothing wrong in this, it was whispered
+through the colony that it was the marrying of a young wife which was
+responsible for Berkeley's "old follyage." Frances seems to have been
+loyal to him amid the troubles which soon followed, even though she may
+have cast tender eyes on Philip Ludwell, whom she married after Sir
+William's death.
+
+Whatever is the explanation of the change in Berkeley's character, it
+obviously was the Civil War in England, the execution of Charles I, and
+the turmoil of the Commonwealth period which intensified his distrust of
+republican institutions. They had been tried and the experiment had
+ended in disastrous failure. True, he had been a witness of the success
+of self-government in Virginia, but this did not change his views.
+Monarchy was the form of government ordained by God. In Virginia it was
+he, as the King's representative, who should rule. So he was determined
+that there should be no more republicanism in the colony than his
+instructions required.
+
+Berkeley did not attempt the barefaced disregard of law practiced by
+Harvey. His methods were more subtile. He sought to make men obedient to
+his will by holding out to them offices of profit or honor. The people
+of Charles City County complained that Sir William, "aspiring to a sole
+and absolute power over us ... greatly neglecting the Council ... did
+take upon him the sole naming and appointing of other persons in their
+room and place such as himself best liked and thought fittest for his
+purposes."[2] The men who sat around the Council table with him might
+perhaps venture an opinion now and then, but they dared not arouse his
+brittle temper by opposing him when once he had made up his mind. To do
+so might lose one a collector's place, or a colonelship in the militia,
+or even one's seat on the Council.
+
+The situation in the House of Burgesses was similar. Berkeley was
+shameless in corrupting the representatives of the people by handing out
+jobs. It was testified that he took on himself the sole appointment of
+all officers, military as well as civil. Offices were created merely "to
+increase the number of his party ... all which offices he bestowed on
+such persons, how unfit or unskilful soever, he conceived would be most
+for his designs." Thus, by a skilful use of the patronage, he so gained
+upon and obliged all or the greatest number of men of parts and estates
+"as to ... do whatsoever he pleased."[3]
+
+If a Burgess voted as Sir William wished, he could count on perhaps a
+sheriff's place, perhaps a collector's place, almost certainly a
+commission in the militia. If the Burgesses of 1666 wore their uniforms
+when they took their seats, the session must have assumed a military
+aspect, for, of the thirty who attended, six were colonels, two
+lieutenant colonels, one major, and fourteen captains.
+
+Having in this way made a majority of the Burgesses subservient to his
+will, Berkeley used his right of prorogation to retain them
+indefinitely. In this bit of political strategy he could justify himself
+with the thought that he had the example of his royal master. The Long
+Assembly of Virginia was the counterpart of the Long Parliament of
+England. For sixteen years he refused to hold a general election, and
+he probably congratulated himself that in the colony there was but a
+mockery of self-government. The Burgesses might betray the interests of
+the people with impunity; they could not be made to answer at the polls.
+So it was with bitterness that the people paid their taxes for the
+salaries of men over whom they had no control. The people of Charles
+City County complained that their representatives had been "overswayed
+by the power and prevalency" of Berkeley and his Council, and had
+neglected their grievances.[4]
+
+As Sir William was supreme in the Assembly, so he was supreme in local
+government. The justices of the county courts were his appointees. The
+well-paid sheriffs' office, which he made the stepping stone to the
+House of Burgesses, was his to fill. So the county courts, in exercising
+their judicial, legislative, and executive powers, dared not act
+contrary to his will.
+
+Berkeley had prided himself on having won the affection of the people in
+his first administration. One wonders whether he realized that this
+affection was turning to hatred. Nathaniel Bacon accused him of
+enriching a few favorites at the expense of the people, and of glaring
+injustice to individual men. "All the power and sway is got into the
+hands of the rich, who by extortious advantages ... have curbed and
+oppressed them in all manner of ways," Bacon wrote in a fiery
+manifesto.[5] The constant breach of laws, unjust prosecutions, excuses,
+and evasions, showed that the men in power were running the government
+"as if it were but to play a booty, game, or divide a spoil." Nor was
+there any hope of redress, for to lay the people's grievances before the
+House of Burgesses was to appeal "to the very persons our complaints do
+accuse."[6]
+
+Some of the Burgesses, as well as the members of the Council, could
+expect large grants of land if they were in the Governor's good graces.
+"Some take up 2,000 acres, some 3,000, and others 10,000, and many more
+have taken up 30,000," it was said. Unable to cultivate such vast
+tracts, they merely built little shacks, or perhaps "hog houses" on them
+so as not to forfeit the deed. When the soil of the little farms of the
+poor began to wear out, or when new settlers arrived, the only
+available land was on the frontier. Here they made a precarious living
+on "barren lands" where they were in constant danger from the
+Indians.[7]
+
+But the most urgent complaint was of the heavy load of taxes. When the
+sheriff came to the poor planter to demand a part of his little crop of
+tobacco, he wanted to know to what use it would be put. He knew that a
+goodly share went to Governor Berkeley, some to the Councillors, some to
+pay the salaries of the Burgesses, but much was not accounted for. When
+the members of the county courts retired into a private room to lay the
+local levy, there were angry murmurs of fraud. Of course they will not
+tell us what the taxes are for, because part of the money they put in
+their own pockets, it was said.
+
+Bacon echoed these charges. "See what sponges have sucked up the public
+wealth, and whether it hath not been privately contrived away by
+unworthy favorites, by vile juggling parasites whose tottering fortunes
+have been repaired and supported."[8] And the small farmer cursed as
+Lady Berkeley drove by in her coach, or when they viewed the Governor's
+wide acres, his six houses, his four hundred cattle, his great flock of
+sheep, his sixty horses, his well-filled barns. Few had ever seen his
+costly plate, but its fame must have been spread abroad.[9]
+
+Berkeley was accused of using the courts to punish his enemies and
+reward his favorites. A manifesto entitled "Declaration of the People,"
+said that he had "rendered contemptible the magistrates of justice by
+advancing to places of judicature scandalous and ignorant favorites."
+Colonel Henry Norwood wrote Secretary Williamson in 1667 that great
+injury had been done in the courts "by the insinuation of some that make
+advantages of the Governor's passion, age, and weakness." It was a
+grievance, he said, that in the Assembly the chairman of the committee
+to consider appeals from the county courts was usually a member of the
+Council.[10]
+
+Berkeley vowed that he knew of nothing in which he had not distributed
+equal justice to all men, but there is reason to think that he did use
+the courts to further his own interests. Thomas Mathew states that he
+cheated Thomas Lawrence out of "a considerable estate on behalf of a
+corrupt favorite," and we know that Lawrence never forgave him. William
+Drummond was another who had a personal grievance and it was his efforts
+to gain revenge which drove the Governor to such acts of savage cruelty
+when he had him in his power.
+
+Though Berkeley may have been indifferent to the rights of others, he
+was quick to complain when his own interests were concerned. He had been
+eloquent in denouncing the restrictions on the trade of Virginia under
+the Commonwealth, and now he was greatly concerned when his adored
+Charles II gave his assent to even more stringent acts. All goods sent
+to the colonies, even though of foreign growth or manufacture, must come
+by way of England; all tobacco, sugar, wool, etc., produced in the
+colonies must be shipped to England or her dominions.[11]
+
+The results for Virginia were disastrous. The Dutch traders had paid
+three pence a pound for tobacco; the English merchants now offered a
+half penny or in some cases only a farthing. The mass of the people were
+reduced to poverty and rags. Secretary Ludwell reported that when the
+small planter had paid his taxes, very little remained for him for the
+support of his family. "So much too little that I can attribute it to
+nothing but the mercy of God that he has not fallen into mutiny and
+confusion."[12] Nine years later Ludwell had occasion to remember these
+words when the poor did fall into mutiny and confusion.
+
+Berkeley sailed for England in May, 1661, where no doubt he talked with
+his brother Lord John Berkeley in an effort to have the Navigation Acts
+repealed. But he had no success. The fault is your own, he was told.
+Stop planting so much tobacco and produce the more useful commodities
+needed by England. Send us masts for our ships, flax for our linen, hemp
+for our ropewalks, potash for our woolens.[13]
+
+Berkeley made a sincere effort to turn the colony to the production of
+commodities other than tobacco, but all his experiments ended in
+failure. Ten years later, when the Lords of Trade asked him what
+impediments there existed to trade, he blurted out: "Mighty and
+destructive by that severe act of Parliament which excludes us from
+having any commerce with any nation in Europe but our own.... If this
+were for his Majesty's service or the good of his subjects we should
+not repine, whatever our sufferings are for it. But on my soul it is
+contrary to both."[14]
+
+Not only did the Navigation Acts impoverish Virginia, but they brought
+additional disaster to the people by provoking the Dutch to war. In 1667
+a fleet of five Dutch warships entered the Chesapeake Bay. The crew of
+the English frigate _Elizabeth_, not suspecting danger, had careened her
+to clean her bottom. So they had to stand by helpless as the enemy moved
+up and captured her. The Dutch then turned on the tobacco fleet and took
+twenty vessels.[15] In a second Dutch war a desperate engagement was
+fought off Lynhaven Bay. Nine or ten of the tobacco ships, in their
+haste to get away, ran aground and were taken.[16]
+
+Had Edward Johnson been in Virginia in the year 1667, he would have been
+sure that the series of misfortunes which befell the colony came as a
+sign of God's anger. "This poor, poor country ... is now reduced to a
+very miserable condition," Thomas Ludwell wrote Lord John Berkeley. "In
+April ... we had a most prodigious storm of hail, many of them as big as
+turkey eggs, which destroyed most of our young mast and cattle.... But
+on the 27th of August followed the most dreadful hurricane that ever the
+colony groaned under.... The night of it was the most dismal time that
+ever I knew or heard of, for the wind and rain raised so confused a
+noise, mixed with the continual cracks of falling houses.... But when
+the morning came and the sun risen it would have comforted us after such
+a night, had it not lighted us to the ruins of our plantations, of which
+I think not one escaped. The nearest computation is at least 10,000
+houses blown down, all the Indian grain laid flat on the ground, all the
+tobacco in the fields torn to pieces and most of that which was in the
+houses perished with them."[17] Even then the misfortunes of the
+planters were not ended, for in 1673 an epidemic occurred among their
+cattle, which carried off fifty thousand animals.[18]
+
+In the midst of their suffering the people looked back on the
+Commonwealth period as a golden era. Then they had enjoyed
+self-government; now their representatives had betrayed them. Then the
+trade with the Dutch had brought prosperity; now the Navigation Acts had
+made their tobacco almost worthless and reduced them to rags. Then men
+were advanced to places of trust and honor because of their ability; now
+the chief offices were reserved for those who toadied to the Governor.
+Then taxes had been moderate; now they were crushing.
+
+The legend built up by Berkeley that Charles I had been the loving
+father of the people received a crushing blow when it became known that
+he had granted all the vast region between the Potomac and the
+Rappahannock to Lord Hopton and several other noblemen. Charles II so
+far responded to the plea of the Virginians for relief as to recall the
+patent and issue another in its place containing promises to protect
+their rights and property. But when they noted that the new patent
+required them to duplicate the quit rents of the past eleven years to
+pay off the patentees, they were in despair. This would amount to so
+vast a sum that it would wipe out many estates.[19] So they appointed
+Major General Robert Smith, Colonel Francis Moryson, and Thomas Ludwell
+to plead their cause in England.
+
+In the meanwhile, the patent had been assigned to the Earl of St. Albans
+and three others. The agents began negotiations with these men and
+apparently purchased it for a large sum to be raised in the colony.
+Several years later Berkeley wrote that the two great taxes of sixty
+pounds of tobacco per poll to buy in the Northern patent had so aroused
+the people that many were "ripe for mutiny."
+
+Negotiations with St. Albans were still under way when the agents were
+amazed to find that the King had issued a patent to the Earl of
+Arlington and Lord Culpeper to all Virginia, with such rights and powers
+as to make them practically masters of the colony. To them were to go
+all escheats, quit rents, and duties formerly belonging to the Crown;
+they could create new counties and parishes, issue patents to land,
+appoint civil officers.
+
+This not only revokes former grants and privileges, but leaves us at the
+mercy of these lords who may look after their own interests "without
+regard to the liberty of the people," complained the Assembly. The
+common people were so wrought up "by being left to the oppression of
+their fellow subjects" that they might mutiny or desert the colony.[20]
+Fortunately, Arlington and Culpeper agreed to give up their patent in
+exchange for a grant of the Northern Neck, with the quit rents and
+escheats.
+
+To protect the colony from such grants in the future, the agents now
+pleaded for a charter guaranteeing that the people should have their
+immediate dependence upon the Crown. They sought a promise, also, that
+they should be taxed only by the Assembly. Had it not been for the
+outbreak of Bacon's Rebellion the charter might have gone through, for
+twice it reached the great seal. As it was, when it was granted it
+contained little more than the promise that Virginia should be directly
+dependent on the Crown.
+
+Never in American history were a people more greatly wronged than the
+Virginians in the Restoration period. With Charles II repaying their
+loyalty by sacrificing them to the greed of favorites, with the Governor
+they had trusted making a mockery of self-government by corrupting the
+Burgesses, with their economic interests ignored to build up English
+commerce and shipping, they reflected bitterly that they had been
+betrayed. It was Berkeley himself who thought that if they saw an
+opportunity, the poor planters might go over to the Dutch in "hopes of
+bettering their condition by sharing the plunder of the country with
+them."[21] They "speak openly there that they are in the nature of
+slaves, so that the hearts of the greatest part of them are taken away
+from his Majesty," reported a certain John Knight.[22]
+
+In 1674, when the sheriffs began to collect the heavy taxes, there was a
+wild burst of anger. The money is not to be used for the benefit of the
+colony, it was whispered, but merely "the enriching of some few
+people."[23] In two separate places the people rushed to arms,
+determined to resist. Berkeley at once issued a proclamation, requiring
+them to disperse. But had they had a leader, some "person of quality,"
+they would probably have anticipated Bacon's Rebellion by flying in the
+face of the government. As it was, by "the advice of some discreet
+persons that have an influence upon them," they refrained from
+violence.[24] But in many an humble cottage there were prayers that God
+would send a leader to direct them in righting their many wrongs.
+
+This leader they found two years later in Nathaniel Bacon. The son of a
+wealthy English squire, Thomas Bacon of Friston Hall, Suffolk;
+fellow-commoner in St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge; a pupil of the great
+scientist John Ray and his companion in his celebrated tour of the
+continent, he seemed as much out of place in the forests of Virginia as
+Berkeley had been when he arrived three decades earlier. Bacon had been
+in Virginia but a few months when the Governor made him a member of the
+Council. "Gentlemen of your quality come very rarely into this country,
+and therefore when they do come are used by me with all respect,"[25] he
+explained.
+
+It was with Sir William's friendly approbation that Bacon purchased a
+plantation at Curles Neck, on the James, forty miles above Jamestown. He
+bought also, a "quarter," or farm to be managed by an overseer, on the
+frontier at the site of Richmond. "I chose to seat myself so remote, I
+having always delighted in solitude," he said.[26]
+
+Bacon soon found himself at odds with the dictatorial Governor. It seems
+probable that prowling Indians made off with some of his livestock and
+that he, without consulting Berkeley, had retaliated. When Sir William
+reproved him, he lost his temper and was guilty of "unbecoming
+deportment."[27] At the meetings of the Council he obviously did not
+like the way things were conducted, for he absented himself as much as
+possible.
+
+When he was in Jamestown it is certain that he knew both Lawrence and
+Drummond. In fact it is probable that he boarded with Mrs. Lawrence, who
+took in paying guests, and no doubt was one of several persons accused
+of keeping ordinaries "at extraordinary prices." When the Assembly or
+the General Court was in session, her house was crowded. To her clients
+Lawrence, in so subtle a manner as not to cause suspicion, suggested the
+possibility of curbing "the forwardness, avarice, and French despotic
+methods of the Governor."[28] That he poured out the story of his own
+and the people's wrongs in Bacon's ears, and that Bacon proved a
+sympathetic listener, hardly admits of a doubt. Otherwise he would not
+have risked his neck to seek him and Drummond out for a midnight
+conference after Berkeley had proclaimed him a rebel.
+
+With Virginia a mass of explosives, the match which set them off was an
+Indian war. The Susquehannocks, a tribe friendly with the whites, had
+been attacked by the Senecas and driven from their towns at the head of
+the Chesapeake Bay to the north bank of the Potomac near the site of
+Fort Washington. Here they began a series of raids on the plantations on
+both sides of the river in search of food. When a band of Indians of
+another tribe crossed over to Virginia, killed several people, and
+escaped into Maryland, an enraged party of whites pursued them.
+Unfortunately, they made the mistake of attacking the Susquehannocks and
+killing fourteen of them. The Susquehannocks retaliated with a series of
+murders, and the Indian war was on.[29]
+
+While the Virginians and Marylanders were gathering their forces, the
+Indians busied themselves building a fort with high embankments, moat,
+and corner bastions. It presented so formidable an appearance that
+before attacking it the white commanders summoned the Indian "great men"
+to a parley. But when they came out, Major Trueman, of the Maryland
+forces, charging them with the recent murders, had them knocked on the
+head. Infuriated at this breach of faith, the Indians in the fort made a
+successful resistance, and at last broke through the besieging forces,
+made their way up the left bank of the river, and crossed over to
+Virginia.[30]
+
+Falling upon the frontier plantations, they took ample revenge for the
+murder of their "great men." In a few days they had wiped out a number
+of families. Dragging off their miserable captives to secluded spots in
+the forest, they staged scenes of horror that would have staggered the
+imagination of a Dante. Some they roasted alive and cut off pieces of
+their flesh, which they offered to their other victims. Others they
+bound to stakes, pulled their nails off, stuck feathers in their flesh,
+ripped them open and wound their entrails around the trunks of
+trees.[31]
+
+Memories of the days when he led his men to victory over Opechancanoe
+must have come to Sir William, but he was now too old to take the
+field. But he collected a strong force to go out against the Indians,
+and gave the command to Sir Henry Chicheley. Then, to everyone's
+amazement, he changed his mind and disbanded the soldiers.[32] This he
+seems to have done for fear Chicheley might not be able to discriminate
+between friendly and unfriendly Indians. He stated that he planned to
+use the Pamunkeys and Appomatox to be his "spies and intelligence to
+find out the more bloody enemies."
+
+Unfortunately, these tribes were no longer friendly. The gradual
+encroaching on their lands by the frontier families had forced them to
+"live remote in the woods," and caused them to harbor a deep sense of
+injustice. But even after Berkeley finally came to realize this, and
+admitted that the neighboring tribes were aiding the Susquehannocks, he
+kept reverting to this policy.
+
+So, when the savages renewed their raids, he called the Assembly
+together and pushed through legislation for a defensive war. It called
+for the erection of forts on the frontier, the enlistment of five
+hundred men, and the use of friendly Indians.[33]
+
+To the exposed families this seemed mere folly. Is it not easy for the
+Indians to sneak in between forts to fall upon us and commit their
+devilish murders? they asked. We are already burdened enough with taxes
+without having more piled on for works which give us no protection. What
+is needed is a large mobile force to seek out the enemy and destroy
+them. When petition after petition reached Berkeley, asking him to send
+a leader, it merely aroused his brittle temper. As one group stood
+humbly before him, they spoke of themselves as "Your Honor's subjects."
+"Why you are a set of fools and loggerheads. You are the King's
+subjects, and so am I. A pox take you."[34]
+
+In this Berkeley made his greatest mistake. Since he would not send the
+frontiersmen a leader of his own selection, they picked a leader for
+themselves. When the dread news spread in Charles City County that large
+bodies of Indians were on the upper James ready to descend on them,
+hundreds of angry men assembled in arms to resist them. Bacon, whose
+outer plantation had been plundered by the Indians and his overseer
+murdered, was easily persuaded to join them. When he appeared a shout
+went up, "A Bacon! A Bacon! A Bacon! A Bacon!" From that moment they
+were ready to follow wherever he would lead.
+
+From the first Bacon made it clear that he would try to redress the
+people's grievances as well as save them from the Indians. As the
+frontiersmen gathered around him he addressed them, denouncing "the
+government as negligent and wicked," calling the ruling clique
+"treacherous and incapable," the "laws and taxes unjust and oppressive,"
+and dwelling on "the absolute necessity of redress."[35] Amid the shouts
+of approval he made them sign a large paper, "writing their names
+circular-wise that the ringleaders might not be found out." He then sent
+out "emissaries" to all parts of the colony to denounce the Governor,
+complain of the restrictions on the franchise, and demand the dismissal
+of the Long Assembly and a new election of Burgesses.[36] Instantly he
+became the hero of the people, "the only patron of the country and the
+preserver of their lives and fortunes."
+
+He hoped to gain his ends by peaceful means, and wrote the Governor
+asking for a commission to fight the Indians. When Berkeley, enraged at
+the accusations of misgovernment, proclaimed him a rebel, he wrote that
+he had taken up arms only to defend the country against the Indians. He
+then marched into New Kent, a county "ripe for rebellion" to attack the
+Pamunkeys, whom he had reason to believe had participated in some of the
+murderous raids. But when they fled, he turned south in pursuit of a
+band of Susquehannocks. When he arrived at the Roanoke River, the
+Occaneechees, a friendly tribe living on an island in the river,
+volunteered to go out and give battle to the Susquehannocks. But after
+they had defeated them and returned to the island they became involved
+in a quarrel with Bacon. A desperate battle ensued in which the Indians
+were defeated and forced to flee. After gathering up the spoils, Bacon
+turned his face homeward.
+
+In the meanwhile, Berkeley had raised a force of three hundred men to
+intercept Bacon at the falls of the James. But he hastened back when he
+received word that the people everywhere were rising against him.
+Astonished, he asked the Council what the people wanted. They replied
+that they were crying out against his refusal to hold an election for so
+many years, and the denial to many of the right to vote. Since
+Berkeley's whole structure of political control was based on these two
+points, to waive them must have seemed to him like complete surrender.
+But he yielded, and called for an election of Burgesses in which all
+freemen had the right to vote.
+
+Berkeley watched anxiously as the returns came in, and his henchmen, one
+after the other, were defeated. When on June 5, 1676, the Burgesses
+assembled in the little statehouse in Jamestown, all but eight were of
+"Bacon's faction." Bacon, himself was elected as one of the
+representatives of Henrico County. Had he been permitted to take his
+seat, with an overwhelming majority behind him, he undoubtedly would
+have dominated the proceedings and pushed through the reforms he had
+demanded.
+
+But he was not destined to take his seat. Instead of coming to Jamestown
+on horse with a strong force, and posting the men in or near the town,
+he set out in his sloop with only forty armed men. When they attempted
+to land they were fired on. That night Bacon slipped into town and held
+a long conference with Lawrence and Drummond.[37] We can only surmise
+what passed between these two embittered men and the daring young
+leader. But it is safe to say that they discussed, not only Berkeley's
+"French despotism," but what reforms Bacon should propose in the
+Assembly. It is probable that Lawrence and Drummond had already talked
+with some of the pro-Bacon leaders, for the Governor warned the
+Burgesses not to be misled by these "two rogues."
+
+As Bacon was returning to his sloop he was discovered and captured and
+brought before the Governor.
+
+"Now I behold the greatest rebel that ever was in Virginia," Sir William
+said.
+
+Then, after a pause, he asked: "Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a
+gentleman?"
+
+"No, may it please your honor."
+
+"Then, I'll take your parole."
+
+A few days later, when the Council and Burgesses were assembled in the
+Statehouse, Berkeley rose and said:
+
+"If there be joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that
+repenteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before
+us. Call Mr. Bacon."
+
+Bacon then stepped forward and handed in his written submission. The
+Governor resumed:
+
+"God forgive you! I forgive you!"
+
+"And all that were with him?" asked one of the Councillors.
+
+"Yea, and all that were with him. Mr. Bacon, if you will live civilly
+but till next quarter court I will promise to restore you again to your
+place there," resumed the Governor, pointing to Bacon's vacant seat.[38]
+In fact it was the very next day that he reappointed him to the Council.
+
+Philip Ludwell explained this great leniency by pointing out that there
+were hundreds of armed men within a day's march of Jamestown ready to
+revenge any harm done to their leader. But Berkeley had an additional
+motive. Bacon in the Council was far less dangerous than Bacon in the
+House of Burgesses. In the Council he would be under his watchful eye;
+in the House he would put himself at the head of the majority in pushing
+through reform measures.
+
+So Bacon had to sit as a helpless and dissatisfied spectator, as
+Berkeley once more dominated the Assembly. Thomas Mathew, who was
+present, tells us that "some gentlemen took this opportunity to endeavor
+the redressing several grievances the country then labored under," when
+they were interrupted by pressing messages from the Governor to meddle
+with nothing until the Indian business was dispatched.
+
+With the matter of reform sidetracked, there followed a debate as to
+whether two Councillors should be asked to sit on the committee on
+Indian affairs. "The great sway that those of the Council bear over the
+rest of the Assembly in matters of laws and also in orders upon appeals,
+being commonly appointed chairman in all committees,"[39] had been a
+long-standing grievance. So now one member rose and pointed out that if
+they had bad customs they had come together to correct them. In the end
+the matter "was huddled off without coming to a vote, and so the
+committee must submit to be overawed, and have every carped at
+expression carried straight to the Governor."[40]
+
+Bacon grew more and more restive as he saw the way things were going.
+The Assembly did not prove "answerable to our expectation," for which
+they should be censured, he said later. When a motion was presented to
+request Berkeley not to resign, he must have looked on with disgust as
+enough pro-Bacon men assented for it to pass.
+
+So under the pretext that his wife was ill, he got permission to leave
+town. Then, instead of visiting Curles Neck, he headed for Henrico. Here
+his veterans gathered around him. When they heard that he had suffered
+humiliation, that he had been denied a commission, and that their
+grievances had not been redressed, they "set their throats in one common
+key of oaths and curses." We will have a commission or "pull down the
+town," they said. "Thus the raging torrent came down to town."[41]
+
+Berkeley made hasty preparations to resist them. But it was too late. In
+Jamestown all was confusion. The cry was: "To arms! To arms! Bacon is
+within two miles of the town." When the Governor realized that
+resistance would be useless, he ordered the guns to be dismantled, and
+returned to the statehouse. So the motley army streamed into the
+village--weatherbeaten frontiersmen, demanding to be led out against the
+Indians; poor planters, seeking relief from heavy taxes; freedmen made
+desperate by hunger and nakedness. The common cry was, "No levies! No
+levies!"[42]
+
+The Burgesses, hearing the hubbub, rushed to the windows of their hall
+on the second story of the statehouse to witness the exciting scenes
+below. Bacon had asked them to grant him his commission, and now he
+called up to them, "You Burgesses, I expect your speedy result."
+Whereupon his men cocked their fusils and aimed them at the windows.
+"For God's sake hold your hands, forbear a little and you shall have
+what you please," cried the Burgesses.[43]
+
+And have it they did. It was now Berkeley's turn to be humiliated. He
+was forced to make Bacon General of all the forces in Virginia. When
+this was followed with a demand that he write the King a letter
+testifying to Bacon's loyalty and the legality of all he had done, he
+could no longer contain himself. Rushing out he threw back his coat and
+cried out; "Here, shoot me, fore God fair mark." Bacon replied that he
+would not hurt a hair of his head. And in the end he got the letter he
+wanted.[44]
+
+He also got "the redress of the people's grievances," he told Berkeley
+he had come for. He mounted the stairs to the long room where the
+Burgesses sat and "pressed hard, nigh an hour's harangue," not only on
+preserving the colony from the Indians, but on "inspecting the revenues,
+the exorbitant taxes, and redressing the grievances of that deplorable
+country." Then, to his surprise, he learned that a series of reform laws
+had already been put through.
+
+Bacon's escape from Jamestown had confronted the Assembly with a
+completely changed situation. No longer was he a virtual prisoner under
+the Governor's eye and his veterans without a leader. Now he was at
+their head once more to march on the town and revenge their wrongs with
+arms in their hands. "We have all the reason in the world to suspect
+that their designs are ruinous," said Philip Ludwell. So the pro-Bacon
+majority in the Assembly took advantage of the general alarm to rush
+through a remarkable series of reform laws that struck at the very basis
+of Berkeley's power. Sir William certainly would not have affixed his
+signature had he not considered his situation desperate. Some months
+later, after the rebellion had been suppressed, all the laws of this
+session were repealed on the ground that they had been secured by
+violence.
+
+These bills may have been outlined by Bacon, Lawrence, and Drummond
+during their famous midnight conference and introduced by some friend in
+the House. They may have been drawn up by the committee on grievances.
+Thomas Blayton was later accused of being "Bacon's great engine" in the
+Assembly, and James Minge, the clerk, of being "another Bacon's great
+friends in forming the laws." Virginia historians have long called them
+Bacon's Laws and rightly, since they struck at the abuses he had
+denounced, were passed in an Assembly dominated by his friends, and
+under the pressure of his armed forces.
+
+The very enactment of Bacon's Laws throws a flood of light on the abuses
+they were intended to rectify. They broadened the franchise by giving
+all freemen the right to vote; they restored a degree of democracy in
+local government by giving the people a voice in assessing county taxes
+and in naming vestrymen and by barring Councillors from sitting on the
+county courts; they fixed fees for sheriffs and other officials; they
+struck at the Governor's appointive power by making it illegal for
+sheriffs to serve more than one year at a time, or for anyone to hold
+more than one of the offices of sheriff, clerk of the court, surveyor,
+or escheator at the same time.[45] Far-reaching though they were,
+Bacon's Laws did not include an act to prohibit officeholders from
+sitting in the Assembly. Such a law, if permitted to stand, would have
+put an end forever to the Berkeley system of rule by placemen.
+
+After Bacon left Jamestown to battle with the Indians the colony might
+have enjoyed internal peace had Berkeley remained quiet, contenting
+himself with placing the whole matter before the King. But he tried to
+raise forces to take the rebels in the rear, and civil war resulted.
+
+In this war Bacon at first seemed to sweep all before him. As he led his
+men back from the frontier he was everywhere hailed as the people's
+friend and savior. On the other hand, none but a handful remained loyal
+to the Governor, so that he was forced to take refuge across the
+Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore.
+
+When Bacon found himself master of all Virginia except Northampton and
+Accomac Counties, he set up his headquarters at Middle Plantation, the
+site of Williamsburg. Here he was joined by Lawrence and Drummond, who
+seem to have helped him in drawing up a manifesto against Berkeley, and
+in holding a conference with a number of leading planters and binding
+them by oath to be faithful to him.[46]
+
+Soon after this Bacon held a conversation with a certain John Goode
+which shows that he had thoughts of extending his rebellion to
+neighboring colonies and setting up an independent state.
+
+"There is a report that Sir William Berkeley hath sent to the King for
+2,000 redcoats, and I do believe it may be true," said Bacon. "Tell me
+your opinion, may not 500 Virginians beat them, we having the same
+advantages against them the Indians have against us?"
+
+"I rather conceive 500 redcoats may either subject or ruin Virginia,"
+Goode replied.
+
+"You talk strangely. Are we not acquainted with the country, can lay
+ambushes, and take to trees and put them by the use of their discipline,
+and are doubtless as good or better shots than they?"
+
+"But they can accomplish what I have said without hazard ... by ...
+landing where there shall be no opposition, firing our houses and
+fences, ... preventing all trade."
+
+Bacon replied that he knew how to prevent this.
+
+Goode then pointed out that all the principal men in the country would
+join the redcoats.
+
+"Sir," he added, "you speak as though you designed a total defection
+from his Majesty and our country."
+
+"Why, have not many princes lost their dominions so?" asked Bacon.
+
+Goode replied that his followers did not think themselves engaged
+against the King's authority, but against the Indians.
+
+"But I think otherwise, and I am confident of it that it is the mind of
+this country, and of Maryland and Carolina also to cast off their
+Governors, ... and if we cannot prevail by arms to make our conditions
+for peace, or obtain the privilege to elect our own Governor, we may
+retire to Roanoke."[47]
+
+Whether Bacon could have enlisted the peoples of Carolina and Maryland
+in his cause, secured naval and military aid from the Dutch, and
+anticipated the American Revolution by a century, must remain in the
+realm of speculation. But before he could proceed far with his plans he
+suffered an irreparable disaster--he lost command of the water.
+
+In Bacon's Rebellion, as in the Revolution and the War between the
+States, the great Virginia rivers made it possible for the side which
+had superior naval forces to penetrate into the heart of the country,
+while they proved a barrier to the movement of troops by land. So when
+several merchant vessels, which Bacon had seized and armed, fell into
+Berkeley's hands, leaving him the undisputed master in Virginia waters,
+the rebel cause became almost hopeless.[48]
+
+Yet it is remarkable that when the Governor had assembled a formidable
+force, brought them up the James, and occupied Jamestown, Bacon
+succeeded in driving him out. The place seemed impregnable, since the
+only approach was over a narrow isthmus, protected by barricades and
+guarded by the cannon of the ships in the river. Berkeley himself
+supplies the explanation when he reported that his men refused to fight,
+but in spite of his urgent pleas, hurried him on shipboard and away.[49]
+
+So Bacon's men entered the little capital unopposed. But they realized
+that they could not hold it, for Berkeley's fleet was still nearby,
+while other loyalist forces were threatening from the north. After a
+consultation, the leaders decided to burn the town. Lawrence applied the
+torch to his own house. Drummond to his, Bacon to the little church,
+others to Berkeley's five houses, and the statehouse.[50] As Berkeley
+saw the flames rising above the rooftops and reflected on the waters of
+the James he cursed the cowardice of the men who had forced him to
+desert the place.
+
+But now the end was at hand for Bacon. While at the house of Major
+Thomas Pate, in Gloucester County, he became ill of dysentery. As he lay
+on his deathbed, he kept inquiring whether the redcoats had arrived, and
+whether there was a strong guard around the house. We do not know
+whether his wife was there to comfort him in his last hours, but it is
+probable that she was far away at Curles Neck. He died October 26, 1676.
+Knowing that Berkeley would want to expose the body on a gibbet,
+Lawrence is said to have disposed of it in secret, probably with a night
+service somewhere in the Virginia woods, and then to have had a public
+funeral with a casket weighted with stones.[51]
+
+Bacon was mourned in many a humble cottage throughout the colony. Who
+now would lead the people in their struggle to gain their rights? One of
+his followers wrote in touching verse that death had ended "our hopes of
+safety, liberty, our all."[52] There was no one else who had won the
+confidence and affection of the people to take his place.
+
+The struggle continued for three more months, the rebels won more
+victories, but something like anarchy ensued. There was no central
+government, some of the county courts were closed, crops were rotting in
+the fields, servants and slaves left their masters to join the rebel
+forces, there was indiscriminate plundering, the masters of the
+incoming merchant vessels refused to sell their goods to the rebels or
+buy what tobacco they had on hand.
+
+As soon as Berkeley got his hands on some of Bacon's followers, he began
+a series of executions unparalleled in American history. Thomas Hansford
+pleaded that he might be shot like a soldier, but Sir William told him
+he was condemned, not as a soldier, but as a rebel. As he stood on the
+scaffold he addressed the assembled crowd, declaring that he died a
+loyal subject and lover of his country.[53] When Major Cheeseman was
+brought before the Governor, his wife rushed in to plead that she be
+hanged and her husband spared. Berkeley spurned her with a vile insult.
+Cheeseman cheated the hangman by dying in prison.[54] But Captain
+Wilford, George Farloe, Thomas Young, and others soon followed Hansford
+to the gallows.
+
+The end came before the arrival of the English troops. Group after group
+surrendered, and their leaders took the oath of loyalty, kissed the
+Governor's hand, and were pardoned. But there was no pardon for Bacon's
+two chief advisers. "I so much hate Drummond and Lawrence that though
+they could put the country in peace into my hands, I would not accept it
+from such villains," Berkeley declared.[55]
+
+Lawrence escaped. He was last seen with four others on the extreme
+frontier, riding through the snow and disappearing into the forest.
+Their fate is unknown. Drummond was found hiding in Chickahominy Swamp
+and brought before the Governor. He was greeted with a mocking bow. "Mr.
+Drummond, you are very welcome. I am more glad to see you than any man
+in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in half an hour." He was
+treated with savage brutality, and then, after the pretence of a trial,
+hurried off to the scaffold.[56]
+
+Bacon and Drummond did not die in vain. Though they and thousands of
+others were stigmatized as rebels and traitors, though the cause they
+contended for ended in disastrous failure, Bacon's Rebellion had a
+lasting influence on American history. It served as a warning that
+Americans would not submit to misgovernment and despotism under whatever
+form. Had not the British Government under George III forgotten that
+warning there might have been no American Revolution.
+
+To contend, as some have done, that Bacon's Rebellion was no more than a
+quarrel between a rash young man and an old fool, is to make the most
+shallow interpretation. Men do not rush to arms, and risk their lives
+and property in a wild uprising because of a dispute between
+individuals. As Professor Charles M. Andrews has pointed out,
+revolutions "are the detonations of explosive materials, long
+accumulating and often dormant. They are the resultant of a vast complex
+of economic, political, social, and legal forces, which taken
+collectively are the masters, not the servants, of statesmen and
+political agitators. They are never sudden in their origin, but look
+back to influences long in the making."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] William Edmundson, _Journal_, 71, 72.
+
+[2] _Virginia Magazine_ 3: 134.
+
+[3] _Ibid._, 135.
+
+[4] _Virginia Magazine_ 3: 141, 142.
+
+[5] CO5-1371, p. 241.
+
+[6] _Bath papers_, "Virginia's Deplored Condition."
+
+[7] _Ibid._ 1: 173.
+
+[8] _Bath papers_, "Bacon's Manifesto."
+
+[9] _Ibid._, Berkeley to Right Honorable, Feb. 9, 1677.
+
+[10] CO1-21, Norwood to Williamson, 17, 1667.
+
+[11] G. L. Beer, _The old colonial system_.
+
+[12] CO1-21.
+
+[13] CO1-16.
+
+[14] CO1-26, p. 77.
+
+[15] COl-21, pp. 61, 62.
+
+[16] CO1-30, pp. 51, 53.
+
+[17] CO1-21.
+
+[18] CO1-30, pp. 17, 51.
+
+[19] _Bath papers_, "The Assembly to the King." Sept., 1674.
+
+[20] _Ibid._, July 1, 1776.
+
+[21] CO1-30, p. 51.
+
+[22] CO1-30, p. 78.
+
+[23] CO1-36, p. 37.
+
+[24] CO1-36, p. 55.
+
+[25] _Bath papers_, Berkeley to Bacon, Sept. 21, 1675.
+
+[26] _Ibid._, July 18, 1675.
+
+[27] _Ibid._
+
+[28] Thomas Mathew, _Bacon's rebellion_.
+
+[29] T. J. Wertenbaker, _Virginia under the Stuarts_, 146, 147.
+
+[30] CO1-36, p. 78. 605-1381, p. 367.
+
+[31] _Bath papers._ May 23, 1676.
+
+[32] CO5-1371, pp. 373, 411.
+
+[33] CO5-1371, pp. 373, 411.
+
+[34] CO1-40, p. 106.
+
+[35] _Ibid._ p. 377.
+
+[36] _Bath papers_, "The Council to Most Honorable."
+
+[37] CO5-1371, p. 380.
+
+[38] Thomas Mathew, _Bacon's rebellion_, 12, 13.
+
+[39] CO1-21. Henry Norwood to Sec. Williamson, July 17, 1667.
+
+[40] Thomas Mathew, _Bacon's rebellion_.
+
+[41] CO5-1371, pp. 381, 382.
+
+[42] CO1-37, p. 17.
+
+[43] CO5-1371, p. 382.
+
+[44] It is in the British Public Record Office.
+
+[45] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 353, 357, 359.
+
+[46] CO1-37, p. 42.
+
+[47] CO5-1371, pp. 232-240.
+
+[48] _Ibid._, p. 394.
+
+[49] _Bath papers_ 1: 350-355.
+
+[50] _Ibid._, 355; CO5-1371, p. 405.
+
+[51] _Virginia Historical Register_ 3: 133, 134.
+
+[52] T. J. Wertenbaker, _Torchbearer of the revolution_, 179, 180.
+
+[53] _Ingram's proceedings_, 33.
+
+[54] _Ibid._, 35.
+
+[55] _Bath papers_ 3: 170.
+
+[56] _Virginia Historical Register_ 3: 135; _Ingram's proceedings_, 49.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+RECONSTRUCTION AND DESPOTISM
+
+
+When the news of Bacon's Rebellion reached Charles II he thought it past
+belief that "so considerable a body of men, without the least grievance
+or oppression, should rise up in arms and overturn the government." He
+did not stop to consider that he himself, by giving away huge areas in
+the colony to favorites, was in part responsible, or that the passage of
+the Navigation Acts and the consequent precipitous break in the price of
+tobacco could be called a grievance. As for Berkeley's policy of rule by
+placemen, if he knew anything about it, he could but reflect that he
+himself had set the example.
+
+But he realized that something had to be done, not only to restore
+order, but to remove at least some of the causes of discontent. So he
+appointed Colonel Herbert Jeffreys, Sir John Berry, and Colonel Francis
+Moryson a committee to go to Virginia to enquire into all grievances and
+report back to him. As for Berkeley, though he was to retain the title
+of Governor, he was ordered to return to England "with all possible
+speed." During his absence Jeffreys was to be Lieutenant Governor, with
+all the powers of Governor.[1]
+
+The King then drew up a proclamation, which he directed Jeffreys to
+publish in the colony, stating that he was willing to extend his royal
+compassion to all except Bacon who would return to their duty and
+obedience, and authorizing the Governor in his name to pardon all he
+thought "fit and convenient for our service."[2] But he mingled force
+with leniency by placing a thousand well-equipped men under Jeffrey's
+command. For the second time within twenty-five years an English
+expedition set sail to bring the Virginians to "obedience." Berry and
+Moryson, with part of the army, arrived in the James River in January,
+1677, and Jeffreys soon followed with the rest.[3]
+
+They found the colony in a deplorable condition. With the people bitter
+and sullen, with neighbor arrayed against neighbor, with hundreds of
+houses and barns in ashes, with trade disrupted, there was need for
+unselfish and statesmanlike guidance. There should have been an
+immediate restoration of the rule of law, so that no man could be made
+to suffer without a trial before his peers. There should have been an
+election of Burgesses, in which the people could make their choices
+without pressure from the Governor and the Council. There should have
+been an honest effort to assuage flaming resentments, to give heed to
+the people's grievances, to unite all classes in binding up the wounds
+of war and bringing peace and some measure of prosperity to the
+distracted colony.
+
+The situation was not unlike that in the South at the close of the War
+between the States. And as the South, after the assassination of
+President Lincoln, was left a prey to vultures--the so-called
+Carpetbaggers and Scaliwags--Virginia after the collapse of Bacon's
+Rebellion, was sacrificed to the vindictiveness and greed of Berkeley
+and his supporters.
+
+"Two wrongs do not make a right." Though a loyalist may have suffered
+severely by the plundering of rebel bands, he was not justified in
+trying to make good his losses by robbing a neighbor, even though that
+neighbor had sided with Bacon. But the Governor, instead of insisting
+that his friends seek restitution only through the courts, himself was
+foremost in making illegal seizures. When he returned to Green Spring,
+the sight of his plundered house and barns, and the empty meadows where
+once hundreds of cattle and sheep had grazed drove him to fury. He
+showed "a greedy determination thoroughly to heal himself before he
+cared to staunch the bleeding gashes of the woefully lacerated country,"
+by seizing men's "estates, cattle, servants, and carrying off their
+tobacco."[4] Some of the wretched men who were dragged before him he
+threatened with hanging unless they gave him most or all that they
+owned. A certain James Barrow was imprisoned at Green Spring, where "by
+reason of the extremity of cold, hunger, loathsomeness of vermin," he
+was forced to agree to the payment of a ruinous composition.[5]
+
+The King's commissioners received a cool reception from Berkeley. He
+wanted no investigation of the causes of the rebellion, he wanted no
+interference with his hangings and seizures. He pointed out that he had
+suppressed the rebellion before the arrival of the troops, and pretended
+to be surprised that the King had thought it necessary to send them.[6]
+When the commissioners told him that illegal seizures must stop, he flew
+into such a rage that they decided that future communication with him
+should be by writing. This would avoid the "loud and fierce speaking"
+necessitated by his deafness.[7]
+
+But there must have been "loud and fierce speaking" indeed when the
+commissioners went to Green Spring and showed Berkeley the King's
+proclamation of pardon, and the order that he return immediately to
+England. All his life Berkeley had regarded the King's command as
+sacred. To resist his will was as wicked as it was illegal. But now, on
+flimsy pretexts, he deliberately disobeyed him. He postponed his
+departure for three months, declaring that the word "conveniency" gave
+him the right to remain as long as he wished. He did publish the
+proclamation, but here again he found an excuse to balk the King's
+obvious intent to pardon all save Bacon. Issuing a proclamation of his
+own he "saw fit" to exempt from pardon not only a long list by name, but
+all persons then in prison charged with rebellion. Since the jails were
+overflowing, this left scores of miserable men trembling for their
+lives.
+
+So the trials and executions continued. Gyles Bland, despite the
+pleading of influential friends in England, was hastened off to the
+gallows. When Robert Jones showed the wounds he had received fighting
+for the King in the Civil War, Moryson pleaded with Lady Berkeley to
+intercede for him. "I would with more easiness of mind have worn the
+canvas linen the rebels said they would make me glad of," replied this
+proud lady.[8] Yet she weakened, and the Governor did pardon him. Others
+were not so fortunate. Not until the Assembly requested him "to hold his
+hand from all other sanguinary punishment," after a score or more had
+paid the extreme penalty, did he put an end to the executions.[9]
+
+Yet the Assembly was overwhelmingly loyalist. If we may believe William
+Sherwood most of the Burgesses were Berkeley's "own creatures and chose
+by his appointments before the arrival of the commissioners."[10] In the
+elections intimidation and even fraud were used freely. Jeffreys wrote
+that the Assembly "by reason of the unsettled condition of the country
+was not so legally nor freely elected."[11] In Charles City County a
+petition was posted on the courthouse door demanding a new election on
+the grounds that there had been illegal voting.[12]
+
+As was to be expected, this Assembly backed Berkeley in all he had done
+and was doing. They praised his wisdom, bravery, justice, and integrity.
+They did their best to block the commissioners in their inquiry into the
+causes of the rebellion. When the people presented their grievances they
+were denounced as "libellous, scandalous, and rebellious."[13] Many
+former rebels were forced to make humble submission on their knees
+before the Governor and Council, with ropes around their necks.[14] Some
+were attainted, some were banished. To speak ill of the Governor and
+Council was made a high crime punishable by whipping.
+
+The people were deeply angered by the brutality of the Governor and his
+puppet Assembly. Governor Notley, of Maryland, thought that, should a
+leader appear who was bold enough to risk his neck, "the commons of
+Virginia would enmire themselves as deep in rebellion as ever they did
+in Bacon's time."[15] Many a sullen planter eyed his fusil longingly, in
+the hope that Lawrence might emerge from the forests to head a new
+mutiny.[16] "The putrid humor of our unruly inhabitants are not so
+allayed, but that they do frequently vent themselves ... and were they
+not awed by the overruling hand of his Majesty would soon express
+themselves by violent acts," wrote Secretary Nicholas Spencer.[17] That
+the Assembly was not unconcerned at the danger is shown by their
+re-enacting in much the original form of several of Bacon's reform laws.
+
+Berkeley and his friends treated Jeffreys with contempt. "A pitiful
+little fellow with a periwig," Philip Ludwell called him.[18] But it
+took a woman's spite to give him the greatest insult. When the
+commissioners heard that at last Berkeley was about to leave for
+England, they called on him at Green Spring. On leaving they found the
+Governor's coach waiting for them at the door. They did not realize that
+Lady Berkeley was peeping through "a broken quarrel of glass to observe
+how the show looked." But they were horrified to learn on reaching their
+destination that the coachman was the "common hangman." "The whole
+country rings of ... the public odium and disgrace cast on us, as the
+Exchange itself shortly may," they wrote.[19]
+
+It was on May 5, 1677, that Berkeley sailed for England on the
+_Rebecca_. The passage, though quick, was a terrible one for him. As he
+paced the deck, he could but reflect that the time was at hand when he
+must account to his royal master, not only for the failure of his
+administration, but for his flagrant disobedience. By the time he
+reached England the "tedious passage and grief of mind" had reduced him
+to great weakness. But he pleaded for an opportunity to "clear his
+innocency." If it is true, as was whispered about, that word reached his
+ears that the King had said that that old fool had hanged more men in
+that naked country than he for the murder of his father, it must have
+broken his heart. He died on July 13, 1677, and was interred at
+Twickenham.
+
+Berkeley's departure did not bring peace to the distracted colony. The
+loyalist faction had spread the report that Jeffreys was merely Sir
+William's deputy, that he could not exercise the full powers of
+Governor, and would retire upon his return. To refute these rumors
+Jeffreys issued a proclamation a few days before Berkeley left, formally
+taking over the government. In it he declared that he had as much power
+as any other Governor, and warned all men against belittling his office.
+And he put his finger on the very foundation of the Berkelean system
+when he declared that he would strive to reform, regulate, and redress
+"all apparent abuses, oppressions, excesses, and defects in the power,
+practice, and proceedings of all county courts."[20]
+
+But reform was just what the loyalists did not want. They wanted the
+grievances of the people suppressed, the county courts to be packed with
+their friends; they wished to continue their illegal seizures. The
+leader of this group was the colorful and vigorous Lady Berkeley. She
+held such frequent meetings at her home that the loyalists became known
+as the Green Spring Faction. Here came Colonel Edward Hill, "a great
+oppressor, of unparalleled impudence"; Philip Ludwell, Lady Berkeley's
+future husband; Robert Beverley, who Jeffreys declared had risen from a
+"mean condition" by toadying to Berkeley; and others.[21]
+
+As they sat in the spacious hall where the Assembly had met after the
+burning of the statehouse in Jamestown, they denounced Jeffreys as a
+nincompoop, who was not worth a groat in England, as a liar, as a "worse
+rebel than Bacon." They would secure compensation for their losses
+despite all he could do. So they planned their strategy. Lady Berkeley
+was to strike terror into the people by threatening dire things when Sir
+William returned. Nor did they relax their efforts when word of
+Berkeley's death reached the colony. It was known that Lord Culpeper was
+his successor, so Lady Berkeley gave it out that he was her close
+friend, and promised great favors upon his arrival. To plead their cause
+in England they engaged Captain Alexander Culpeper, Lady Berkeley's
+brother.[22]
+
+After Berkeley's departure Jeffreys had called for the election of a new
+Assembly to meet October 10, 1677. Unfortunately, at this moment, when
+he was most needed, he became ill. Early in September a letter from the
+Privy Council to the Governor and Council had been received, making void
+Berkeley's proclamation of February 10, which had excepted so many
+persons from the royal pardon. Had Jeffreys been a well man he would
+certainly have published this letter immediately and relieved the people
+from their fear. But the Council urged him to conceal it for the
+present, and being weak and in bed, he yielded. This daring defiance of
+the King's orders had an important effect on the election, for the
+people were still trembling for their lives and property, and so were
+bullied by the sheriffs into returning loyalist Burgesses. Daniel Parke
+reported that there had been illegal elections in James City County,
+Kent, and elsewhere.[23]
+
+It was in October that Parke arrived from England and delivered to
+Jeffreys a letter from Secretary Coventry, telling him that Berkeley had
+died and that Culpeper had kissed the King's hand as Governor. Even then
+the Council was opposed to the publication of the King's order to void
+Berkeley's proclamation, protesting that it had been procured by
+misinformation. But the contents leaked out, and there was bitter
+resentment at the delay. Most of the Assembly demanded its publication.
+At last, when Jeffreys and Parke had won over a majority of the Council
+to the view that it would be unwise to trifle further with the royal
+command, the two Ludwells flung themselves away in "a seeming passion."
+But there was great relief and widespread rejoicing among the
+people.[24]
+
+The Assembly met at Middle Plantation, the site of Williamsburg, in the
+house of Captain Otho Thorp. Despite the irregularity of the elections
+it showed a far greater spirit of independence than its predecessor. It
+passed a law against making unreasonable compositions for injuries done
+during the rebellion; it imposed a penalty for the use of such terms as
+traitor, rebel, or rogue; it forbade the impressing of cattle, boats, or
+provisions without compensation; it regulated fees.[25] But it placed a
+crushing burden on the prostrate colony by levying a tax of 100 pounds
+of tobacco per tithable. "This, with the county and parish tax is in
+some counties 250 pounds, in some 300, and in some 400, which falls very
+heavily on the poorer people," Parke reported.[26]
+
+The Thorp house rang with protests when Robert Beverley, who was clerk
+of the Assembly, reported that the King's commissioners had taken their
+journals, orders, and acts from him by force. In a vigorous protest to
+Jeffreys, they declared this a great violation of their privileges. This
+seizure we "humbly suppose his Majesty would not ... command, for that
+they find not the same to have been practiced by any of the Kings of
+England." So they asked Jeffreys to give assurance that such a thing
+would not happen again.[27]
+
+When this was reported to Charles II he was surprised at the presumption
+of the Assembly in calling in question his authority. Referring the
+matter to the Lords of Trade, he asked them what he should do to bring
+the Assembly to a sense "of their duty and submission." The Lords
+thought that the protest tended to rebellion, and that the Governor
+should rebuke the Assembly and punish the "authors and abettors."[28]
+Charles issued the order, but later, on the earnest plea of the Virginia
+Council, rescinded it. But he insisted that the protest be "razed out of
+the books of Virginia."[29] It was a strange twist of fate which caused
+an attempt by the King to investigate the grievances of the people to
+result in what may be considered the opening act of the Second Stuart
+Despotism in Virginia.
+
+In the meanwhile, during Jeffreys' illness, Thomas Ludwell presided over
+the meetings of the Council. So the King's commands were ignored, and
+the plundering, confiscations, and banishing continued. "Great numbers
+of poor men, having wives and children to maintain," faced utter
+ruin.[30] The lengths to which the Green Spring Faction was prepared to
+go is illustrated by a statement of Colonel Edward Hill at one of their
+gatherings. One of those present remarked that William Byrd would
+certainly win a case pending in which he was involved because he was in
+England and could secure the King's backing. "That will not do," said
+Hill, "for if the King should send in his letter, in that case we are
+not to take notice of it."[31]
+
+This is just what they did when Charles wrote in behalf of Sarah
+Drummond, widow of William Drummond. This poor woman made the long
+voyage across the ocean to lay her case before the King. So great was
+Governor Berkeley's hatred of her husband, she said, that he had not
+only taken his life, but had seized his small plantation for his own use
+and forced her to flee with her five small children into the woods,
+where they might have starved had not the commissioners befriended
+them.[32] Moved by her misfortunes, the King sent an especial command
+that her property be returned. But when she brought an action in the
+General Court against Lady Berkeley, and the King's letter was read, one
+of the Councillors, turning to the crowd in the courtroom, declared in a
+loud voice that it was based on nothing but lies. "So they dismissed the
+case."[33]
+
+In the meanwhile, Jeffreys had sufficiently recovered his health to
+strike back at his enemies. He had tried to win them over by appointing
+them to collectors' places and doing them other favors, but without
+success. So at last he retaliated upon Beverley by ousting him from his
+civil and military offices and "silenced him from pleading in the
+courts."[34] When Philip Ludwell's many insults were reported to
+Jeffreys he had him arrested and charged him with "scandalizing the
+Governor and abusing the authority of his Majesty." This was a serious
+matter indeed, for the penalty was whipping or the payment of a fine of
+500 pounds of tobacco. The jury pronounced Ludwell guilty, and asked the
+Council to fix the punishment. Since most of the Council were Ludwell's
+warm friends, Jeffreys appealed the case to the King. Ludwell countered
+by appealing to the Assembly. In the end it was decided that the whole
+case, including the matter of appeal, should be left to his Majesty.[35]
+
+But in the summer of 1678 Jeffreys again became ill, and the Green
+Spring Faction renewed the "old exactions and abuses." William Sherwood
+reported: "The colony would be as peaceful as could be wished except for
+the malice of some discontented persons of the late Governor's party,
+who endeavor by all the cunning contrivances that by their artifice can
+be brought about, to bring a contempt of Colonel Jeffreys, our present
+good Governor.... It is to be feared unless these fiery spirits are
+allayed or removed home, there will not be that settled, happy peace and
+unity which otherwise might be, for they are entered into a faction
+which is upheld by the expectation of my Lord Culpeper's doing mighty
+things for them."[36]
+
+Jeffreys died on December 17, 1678. A well-meaning man, who tried to
+rule justly, he lacked the strength of character needed to bring peace
+to the colony. With an army at his command, he should have put Governor
+Berkeley on board ship and sent him to England when he refused to obey
+the King's commands. This would have prevented many hangings, relieved
+the fears of the people, and given pause to the Green Spring Faction.
+But Jeffreys knew that Berkeley's brother, Lord John Berkeley, was in
+high favor with the King, and he dared not offend him.
+
+Jeffreys' wife came from England to join him, but she was just in time
+to say a farewell, for he was seized with a violent sickness four hours
+after her arrival and died soon after.[37] So bitter were the Green
+Spring Faction against him that they tried to prevent the payment to his
+widow of L1,200 due him for nine months' salary, and to charge her with
+all the perquisites he had received. When, as a consequence, she could
+not meet all his obligations, they imprisoned her for debt. It was only
+by appealing to Secretary Coventry that she received the arrears due her
+and was able to free herself from the power of her enemies.[38]
+
+Upon the death of Jeffreys, Sir Henry Chicheley produced a commission as
+Deputy Governor given him in 1674. Chicheley was a "most loyal, worthy
+person, and deservedly beloved by the whole country."[39] He had been a
+Burgess, a member of the Council, had commanded the Virginia forces in
+the Indian war, had remained loyal to Berkeley during the rebellion, and
+had been imprisoned by Bacon. But he was now "old, sickly, and crazy,"
+and lacked the vigor to force obedience and restore order. During the
+eighteen months of his administration the old factions were not
+reconciled to one another.[40]
+
+Yet Chicheley, to the extent of his ability, ruled impartially and well.
+At the election of 1679 he insisted that the people be protected from
+intimidation at the polls. As a result the Assembly showed a spirit of
+independence and a desire to rectify the people's grievances. A degree
+of democracy was introduced into local government by an act empowering
+the voters of each parish to elect two men to sit in the county courts
+in the making of by-laws. A limit was put to fees demanded by the
+collectors of customs and the clerks of the courts. The claim of the
+Green Spring Faction for compensation for their losses was referred to
+the next session.[41]
+
+In May, 1680, Lord Culpeper arrived in Virginia after a tedious passage
+of two and a half months, in which scurvy and other diseases took a
+heavy toll. Chicheley handed over the government to him and the
+reconstruction period came to an end.
+
+The patriotic Virginian, as he looked back over the years from the
+collapse of Bacon's Rebellion to the arrival of Culpeper must have seen
+in them nothing but confusion and disaster. The colony was divided
+against itself, the most pressing of the people's grievances had not
+been redressed, many families had been reduced to poverty, the right to
+vote was denied to hundreds, taxes were higher than ever, and tobacco
+was still a drug on the market.
+
+Yet important changes were taking place which gave reason for hope.
+During Berkeley's administration the newly created aristocracy, the men
+of wealth, the leaders in their own counties--the Ludwells, the Parkes,
+the Custises, the Coles--had worked in close alliance with the Governor.
+The common people, on the other hand, lacked leaders to guide them in
+their struggle for their rights. But with Berkeley's departure the
+aristocrats, so far from allying themselves with his successor, came
+into violent conflict with him. And the Governor now assumed the role of
+the people's friend and protector.
+
+So engrossed were the Virginians in their own disputes that their
+attention was diverted from events in England, events that were to
+affect them profoundly. For many years Charles II had lived in
+comparative peace with his Cavalier Parliament, maintaining his
+mistresses in luxury despite the meagerness of his revenue. But the rise
+of the Whig Party under the leadership of the able Earl of Shaftesbury
+was now threatening to undermine his power. All London was in terror
+when Titus Oates came forward with a wild story that the Catholics were
+plotting to bring in Irish and French troops, massacre the Protestants,
+and murder the King. The Whigs were demanding the exclusion from the
+succession of Charles' Roman Catholic brother James, and some actually
+proposed that the King divorce his Catholic wife and marry a Protestant.
+
+Faced with the loss of his prerogatives, the indolent King struck back.
+His father had tried to free himself from dependence on Parliament by
+illegal taxation; he by sacrificing England's foreign interests for
+French gold. In March, 1678, Charles negotiated a secret treaty with
+Louis XIV in return for L300,000. Now he was in a position to thumb his
+nose at the Commons when they tried to control and thwart him. It was
+the beginning of the Second Stuart Despotism.[42]
+
+The change was immediately reflected in colonial policies. The old
+Council of Plantations, and its successor the Council of Trade and
+Plantations had done little to supervise and control the conduct of
+affairs in America. But in December, 1674, after the fall of the Cabal
+Ministry, the direction of colonial matters was turned over to a
+committee of the Privy Council, presided over by the Secretary of State.
+In this way the King's most trusted ministers were brought into close
+touch with the colonies. Sir Joseph Williamson, Secretary from 1674 to
+1678, was a most obedient servant of the King; his fellow Secretary, Sir
+Henry Coventry, had defended Charles I on the field of battle, and now
+defended his son before the public; Sir Leoline Jenkins was called "the
+most faithful drudge of a Secretary that ever the Court had."
+
+We have no way of knowing whether these men, in their assault on liberty
+in the colonies, were merely carrying out the commands of Charles II and
+James II, or whether on their own initiative they shaped colonial policy
+in accord with domestic policy. In either case it was the Second Stuart
+Despotism in England which was responsible for the Andros despotism in
+New England, and for the equally dangerous attack on liberty in
+Virginia.
+
+It was prophetic of what was to come that Secretary Coventry, in
+January, 1678, read to the Committee on Foreign Affairs a series of
+proposals concerning Virginia. Three companies of soldiers were to be
+left in the colony, a fort was to be erected "whereby the King may be
+safe from rebellions," all laws were to be sent to England for revision.
+The last proposal was an innovation of serious import.[43] The
+Virginians had never questioned the right of the King to veto the acts
+of Assembly, but never before had he demanded the right to revise laws
+already on the statute books.
+
+Of even greater significance was the initiation of bills by the King.
+Charles wrote Culpeper that whereas certain laws had been recommended to
+him in Council of which he approved, "these bills we have caused to be
+under the Great Seal of England, and our will is that the same bills ...
+you shall cause to be considered ... in our Assembly of Virginia ... and
+to these bills you do give and declare our royal assent." One was an act
+of general pardon, one an act for naturalization, and the other an act
+for raising a public revenue.[44]
+
+This was accompanied by an attempt to deprive the Assembly of the right
+to initiate legislation. Culpeper was commanded to send to the King a
+draft of such bills as he and the Council should think fit to be passed,
+so that he could go over them and return them in the form he thought
+they should be enacted in. "Upon receipt of our commands you shall
+summon an Assembly and propose the said laws for their consent."[45]
+
+As though this were not enough, Charles demanded the sole power,
+heretofore exercised by the Governor, of calling sessions of the
+Assembly. "It is our will and pleasure that for the future no General
+Assembly be called without our special directions, but that, upon
+occasion, you do acquaint us by letter with the necessity of calling
+such an Assembly, and pray our consent and directions for their
+meeting."[46]
+
+The King struck a fatal blow at the control of justice in Virginia by
+the people, by depriving the Assembly of its privilege of acting as the
+supreme court of appeals. "Our pleasure also is that for the better and
+more equitable administration of justice in our said colony, appeals be
+allowed in cases of error from the courts ... to our Governor and our
+Council there, and to no other court or jurisdiction whatsoever."[47]
+
+Although Thomas Culpeper had been too young to fight in the Civil War,
+he donned a suit of armor with breastplate, shoulderpieces, and
+brassarts, to have his portrait painted. But the face is not that of a
+warrior. It is draped by the flowing hair of the Cavalier, has a
+prominent nose and a weak mouth with the trace of a sneer. Culpeper had
+followed Charles into exile, and with the Restoration had expected
+compensation for his losses. But since there was not enough to go round
+among all the hungry Cavaliers, the King repaid him at the expense of
+his subjects in Virginia, first with the Arlington-Culpeper grant, and
+then by making him Governor of Virginia.
+
+The outlook for the colony was gloomy. The King was determined to
+override the people's rights and make himself absolute. Culpeper was
+interested in filling his pockets. The Green Spring Faction were still
+seeking to make good their losses at the expense of the rebels. The
+common people were suffering from the high taxes and the low price of
+tobacco.
+
+The King had as much trouble in getting Culpeper to sail for Virginia as
+he had had in making Berkeley come back to England. My Lord had no
+desire to exchange London for the forests of Virginia; he had little
+interest in carrying out his instructions. All he wanted was his salary
+and anything he could make out of the Northern Neck. At last, after two
+years of dillydallying, the King told him that unless he sailed at once
+he would remove him as Governor. So in February, 1680, he left the Downs
+with the tobacco fleet.[48]
+
+On his arrival at Jamestown, the members of the Council and other
+leading planters flocked around him, eager to give their version of the
+troubles in the colony and to secure his support. When the Council met,
+Culpeper was assured that the King had been misinformed on many points
+by Moryson and Berry. Philip Ludwell was a loyal, honest servant of the
+King, and should be restored to his place in the Council. Injustice had
+been done to Colonel Hill, and they begged the new Governor to intercede
+for him.[49]
+
+As for the King's rebuke to the Assembly for questioning his right to
+seize their records, the Council advised Culpeper not to present it. To
+do so would "unravel and disturb the good and cheerful settlement we are
+now in by your Excellency's great prudence and conduct."[50] So they
+induced him to suspend the rebuke until the King should order to the
+contrary.
+
+Culpeper seems to have brought a degree of peace to the contending
+factions. The act of pardon ended the plundering of the estates of the
+former rebels, and the aggrieved loyalists were encouraged to seek
+redress through the Assembly. Colonel Spencer wrote that the "late
+different interests" had been "perfectly united to the general
+satisfaction of all."
+
+United the people had to be to defend their liberties. When the wealthy
+landholder and the humble owner of but fifty acres, the loyalist and the
+former rebel alike realized that Charles was bent on reducing both
+Council and Assembly to impotence, their domestic quarrels seemed
+unimportant compared to the public danger.
+
+Since the statehouse at Jamestown was still in ashes, the Assembly of
+June, 1680, crowded into the house of Mrs. Susanne Fisher. Some of the
+Burgesses had come on horseback from their James City or Charles City
+plantations, others by shallops from the Upper James, still others from
+the far-off Eastern Shore. A sturdy, stubborn group they were, like
+other Burgesses before and after them, determined to uphold the rights
+of the people.
+
+They were dismayed, then, when Governor Culpeper placed before them the
+three bills prepared and signed by the King. What right has he or the
+Privy Council to introduce bills in this Assembly? they asked. And they
+were especially concerned over the King's demand for a perpetual
+revenue.
+
+There had existed since 1661 a law for laying a duty of two shillings
+for every hogshead of tobacco exported from the colony. But the revenue
+was to be disposed of by the Assembly. It was they who decided whether
+it should be used to pay the Governor's salary, or to defend the colony
+against the Indians, or for repairing the statehouse, or for paying the
+salaries of the Burgesses. Now the Privy Council took it upon themselves
+to draw up a similar act, but differing from the old one in one
+all-important respect--it specified that the returns should go, not to
+the Assembly, but "to the King's most excellent Majesty, his heirs and
+successors forever."
+
+The debate which followed was long and bitter. Every man in the
+Assembly, whether Burgess or Councillor, knew that the King was
+demanding the surrender of their birthright.[51] So they replied to the
+Governor: "The House do most humbly desire to be excused if they do not
+give their approbation to his Majesty's bill."[52] And when the matter
+was brought again before them by the Governor, they refused even to
+resume the debate.
+
+But Culpeper knew that he would be severely blamed by Charles if he did
+not succeed in forcing this bill through. Returning to the attack he
+pointed out that the King claimed the right of disposing of all
+revenues. Moreover, they were in no position to defy him, for he had it
+in his power to ruin most of them by demanding all arrears of quit
+rents. We do not know how many lucrative jobs Culpeper handed out to
+bring the reluctant Burgesses around, but he himself tells us that he
+won over one influential member by the promise of a seat in the
+Council.[53]
+
+In the end the King had his way. The Burgesses made two minor
+amendments, and then passed the bill. When it came before Charles again,
+he vetoed one of these amendments, and allowed the other. A quarter of a
+century later, when the Board of Trade asked Attorney General Simon
+Harcourt and Solicitor General James Montague to pass on the validity of
+the act, they reported that it had been put through irregularly. "It
+would be wise," they said, "if any part of her Majesty's revenue depends
+on this act, to have another in its place."[54]
+
+Yet the act was permitted to stand, and the cause of self-government in
+colonial Virginia suffered its greatest reverse. No longer could the
+Assembly force the Governor to sign this bill or that by refusing to
+vote his salary. No longer did they hold a sword over the heads of the
+Council. It is true that they still retained in part their grip upon
+the purse, since the export duty together with the quit rents seldom met
+even the ordinary needs of the government, and were entirely inadequate
+in times of emergency. It is this which explains why such notable gains
+for liberty were made during the colonial wars. Yet from this time until
+the Declaration of Independence the Virginia Assembly had to fight the
+royal prerogative with one hand tied behind its back.[55]
+
+Having secured the passage of the King's three laws, Culpeper rested on
+his laurels. He seems to have yielded to the plea of the Council not to
+deliver the King's rebuke to the Assembly. If he ever told the Council
+of his instruction to initiate bills with their advice and secure the
+King's approval before sending them to the House, they must have argued
+that it was impractical. They had no desire to have representative
+government in the colony made a mockery. Were the Burgesses to have the
+right of amending bills? they must have asked. If so, would the amended
+bills have to go back to England for the King's approval? Under such
+conditions, it might take years to enact the simplest laws. So this
+instruction was ignored.
+
+Equally impractical was it to secure the King's permission before
+calling an Assembly. In case of a sudden emergency it might be fatal to
+wait until the Governor had written to Secretary Coventry, until he had
+taken the matter up with his Majesty, until some vessel sailed and had
+made the tedious voyage to Virginia. If the need were the outbreak of
+war with the Indians, half the colony might be scalped before the
+Assembly could meet to raise men and money for arms and forts. So
+Culpeper ignored this instruction also.
+
+As for the instruction to forbid appeals from the General Court to the
+Assembly, the Governor kept it to himself. Three years later, at an
+inquiry held on his neglect of his office, he explained: "Having some
+thoughts of getting a revenue bill to pass, I was unwilling actually to
+repeal the laws relating thereunto till the next session of Assembly
+should be over, well knowing how infinitely it would trouble them."[56]
+
+As soon as the Assembly had been dismissed Culpeper made ready to return
+to England, after having been in Virginia only a few weeks. Yet for his
+supposed services he had been receiving L2,000 a year from the revenues
+of the colony ever since the death of Berkeley.[57] Not content with
+this, he contrived to rob the English soldiers who had remained in
+Virginia after Bacon's Rebellion of more than L1,000. These men had
+received no pay for many months, and were discontented and mutinous.[58]
+So the Privy Council gave Culpeper money to satisfy them and the
+families on whom they had been quartered. On his arrival he bought up
+all the worn Spanish pieces of eight he could find, arbitrarily
+proclaimed them legal tender at six shillings, which was a shilling more
+than they were worth, and then paid the soldiers and landlords. But
+before his salary became due, he restored the ratio to five to one.[59]
+
+In 1682 news reached England of a series of tobacco-cutting riots in
+Virginia. The glut of tobacco in the English warehouses and its
+consequent low price had convinced the people that a restriction on the
+output was necessary. It was to be a kind of soil bank, though without
+the subsidy. When this failed because Maryland refused to join in, angry
+mobs went from plantation to plantation, cutting down the tender plants.
+Fearing that this might be the beginning of a new rebellion, the Privy
+Council ordered the reluctant Culpeper to go back at once to suppress
+the riots and punish the ringleaders.[60]
+
+Culpeper arrived in December, 1682. Finding that the riots were over, he
+contented himself with hanging two of the most notorious of the plant
+cutters, and then hastened back to England. By this time Charles had
+lost patience with him for his neglect of his government, the Attorney
+General was ordered to take action against him, and his commission as
+Governor of Virginia was declared void. In September, 1683, Lord Howard
+of Effingham was made Governor in his place.
+
+Effingham was well fitted to carry out the King's attack on liberty in
+Virginia. Deceitful, persistent, unscrupulous, he would have ridden
+roughshod over the people's rights had he not encountered the determined
+resistance of the House of Burgesses. No sooner had he arrived than the
+struggle began.
+
+When the Assembly met in April, 1684, he put on his peer's coronet and
+velvet and ermine robes, and told the Burgesses that he intended to
+enforce the King's order to prohibit appeals to the Assembly. This was
+received with dismay. They appealed to Effingham and the Council to join
+them in an address to the King imploring him to restore a privilege
+enjoyed from the earliest times. But in vain. "It is what I can in no
+part admit of," was Effingham's curt reply. Since this made the General
+Court the last court of appeals in Virginia, the structure of justice
+became aristocratic rather than democratic.
+
+Future Governors had reason to regret this change, for it added greatly
+to the influence of the Council, and the day was not distant when the
+Council was to become so powerful as to threaten to make the Governor a
+mere figurehead. It was the Council which was to be responsible for the
+dismissal of Andros and Nicholson. Governor Spotswood, in his bitter
+quarrels with the Councillors tried to undermine their power by striking
+at their judicial privileges, but he failed, and he too was forced out
+of office by their influence.
+
+Even more alarming to the people than the ending of appeals to the
+Assembly was an order from the King that certain causes arising in the
+courts be referred to England for decision. The Burgesses protested.
+Such a thing would be "grievous and ruinous," they said, and would
+involve delays and great expense. Moreover, they could not find that
+appeals to England had been allowed "from the first settling of the
+colony." When Effingham and the Council refused to join them, they sent
+their petition to the King as the protest of the Lower House alone.[61]
+
+But James II, who had succeeded to the throne on the death of Charles in
+February, received their appeal with contempt. In the new instructions
+to Effingham drawn up in October, 1685, he wrote: "Whereas ... our
+Committee of Trade and Plantations ... have received from some unknown
+persons a paper entitled An Address and Supplication of the General
+Assembly of Virginia to the late King ... which you have refused to
+recommend as being unfit ... we cannot but approve of your
+proceedings.... And we do further direct you to discountenance such
+undue practices for the future, as also the contrivers and promoters
+thereof."[62]
+
+At this dark hour, when American liberty hung in the balance, the
+Burgesses were quick to repel any attempt to tax the people without
+their consent. In May, 1688, they stated that they had received "many
+grievous complaints" that unlawful fees had "under color of his
+Majesty's royal authority" been unjustly imposed upon the people. They
+protested especially against a fee of 200 pounds of tobacco for affixing
+the great seal of the colony, a fee of 30 pounds of tobacco for
+recording surveys of land, and a fee of L5 for escheats.[63]
+
+And they were adamant in refusing repeated demands for permission for
+the Governor and Council by themselves to levy a tax even though a very
+small one. "Your Lordships will ... find their total denial that the
+Governor and Council should have any power to lay the least levy to ease
+the necessity for so frequent Assemblys," Effingham wrote the Committee
+of Trade and Plantations in February, 1686. "This was propounded by me
+to them before his Majesty's instructions came to hand ... but nothing
+would prevail, nor I believe will, unless his Majesty's special command
+therein."[64]
+
+There was consternation in the Assembly when they learned that the King
+was attempting to build up a revenue independent of the Burgesses by
+increasing the returns from the quit rents. This tax on land, for such
+it really was, had always been paid in tobacco. In 1662 the Assembly had
+fixed the rate of payment at twopence a pound, which at that time
+approximated the current price. But the decline in the value of the leaf
+had greatly lessened the value of the returns. So in 1684 the King
+ordered Effingham to accept only specie, "that is to say in money and
+not in tobacco or in any other commodity."[65] Since tobacco was then
+selling at a halfpenny a pound, this would have quadrupled the value of
+the quit rents, imposed a heavy burden on the impoverished country, and
+strengthened the authority of the Governor.
+
+The controversy over this matter led to another and a more serious
+encroachment on the rights of the people, for when the Assembly refused
+to repeal the law of 1662, the King voided it by proclamation. Having
+heard that "persons go about ... imposing bad tobacco upon our
+collectors at the rate of 2d per pound, under pretence of an act of
+Assembly ... we have thought fit to repeal the said act."[66] Upon
+receipt of this order Effingham sent for the Burgesses to meet him in
+the Council Chamber. When they filed in he soon found that they were in
+no mood to yield. Not only did they again refuse to repeal the law of
+1662, but they "rudely and boldly disputed the King's authority in
+repealing laws by proclamation."[67] Moreover, they pointed out, it was
+impossible to pay in pounds or shillings since there were not enough in
+the entire colony. This argument was unanswerable, and in the end the
+Governor was forced to assent to a compromise by which the tax was to be
+paid in tobacco, but at the rate of one penny per pound instead of two.
+
+The difference in the theories of government held by Charles and James
+on the one hand, and the people of the colony on the other was brought
+into focus by a dispute over the King's right to revive a law by
+repealing a law which had repealed it. When James revived a law of 1680
+concerning attorneys by annulling the repealing law of 1682, the
+Burgesses rose as one man in angry protest. "A law may as well receive
+its beginning by proclamation as such a revival," they said. "Some
+Governor may be sent to govern us who under the pretence of the liberty
+he hath to construe prerogative and stretch it as far as he pleaseth,
+may by proclamation revive all the laws that for their great
+inconveniences to the country have been repealed through forty years
+since."[68]
+
+The Councillors as well as the Burgesses must have been startled when
+Effingham in reply told them that the King had the right to nullify or
+revive what laws he pleased, since the only authority the Assembly had
+to legislate at all rested on a grant from the Throne. They had been
+under the impression that the right of the people to make laws through
+their representatives was inherent in all Englishmen. If it were a grant
+from the King, which the King might at will withdraw, liberty in America
+rested on a shaky basis indeed. In an address to Effingham they stated
+that they did not dare "to say what is prerogative and what is not,"[69]
+but they made it clear that when prerogative was stretched so far that
+it threatened to enslave them, they would resist by every means within
+their power.
+
+Despots throughout the years have feared a free press, and have either
+prohibited printing or controlled it for their own purposes. So it was
+in keeping with the spirit of the Second Stuart Despotism that Charles
+and James would allow no press in Virginia. It was in 1682 that John
+Buckner, a prominent merchant and landowner of Gloucester County, and a
+member of the House of Burgesses, employed William Nuthead to set up a
+printing establishment at Jamestown. But they had picked an inauspicious
+time for their venture. Nuthead was ordered to appear before the Council
+"to answer for his presumption in printing the acts of Assembly ... and
+several other papers without licence." The Council ordered that "for
+prevention of all troubles and inconveniences that may be occasioned
+through the liberty of a press ... Mr. John Buckner and William Nuthead
+the printer enter into bond for one hundred pounds sterling ... that
+from and after the date hereof nothing be printed by either of them ...
+in this colony until the signification of his Majesty's pleasure shall
+be known."[70]
+
+His Majesty's pleasure therein was a foregone conclusion. "Whereas we
+have taken notice of the inconvenience that may arise by the liberty of
+printing in Virginia," stated Charles in his instructions to Effingham,
+"no person is to be permitted to use any press for printing upon any
+occasion whatsoever."[71] So Nuthead took the press to Maryland and for
+nearly half a century Virginia was without a printer.[72]
+
+The quartering of troops upon the people has been a serious grievance
+wherever it has been practiced. People object to having rough soldiers
+thrust into their homes, to disrupt their daily life, or perhaps to
+create disorders. When the British troops sent over to suppress Bacon's
+Rebellion were quartered on the people, there were bitter complaints.
+"Instead of being a guard and safety" to us as was intended, "they have
+by their long stay and ill behavior not only been totally useless, but
+dangerous," and the greatest of our terrors.[73] To make matters worse,
+complaints came in to the Assembly from Isle of Wight, York, James City,
+and Nansemond Counties that payments for quarters were in arrears by six
+months or more. So it was with thanksgiving that the people received the
+announcement that the money to pay for the quarters had arrived from
+England together with orders to disband the troops.[74]
+
+Effingham was even more brazen than Berkeley in using the patronage
+openly to force obedience to the King. Berkeley ruled chiefly by
+rewarding those who did as he told them; Effingham by punishing all who
+opposed him. To acquiesce in everything he proposed was the only way for
+one to retain one's job. William Sherwood and Colonel Thomas Milner, for
+forwarding an address of the Burgesses to the Privy Council, were
+dismissed from office. Mr. Arthur Allen was "turned out of all
+employment, civil and military" to his great loss, "he being a surveyor
+of land at that time."[75] Effingham himself explains why. He was "a
+great promoter of those differences between me and the Assembly
+concerning the King's negative voice ... as not thinking it fit that
+those who are peevishly opposite to his Majesty's interest should have
+any advantage by his favor."[76]
+
+Another prominent member of the House of Burgesses, Mr. Charles
+Scarburgh, was "turned out of all employment, and as a mark of his
+Lordship's displeasure, a command was sent to the clerk of the county to
+raze his name out of the records as a justice of peace."[77] Mr. William
+Anderson, Scarburgh's colleague from Accomac County, must have been even
+more active in opposing the Governor, for when the session of 1688 was
+over he had him "put in the common jail," where he was "detained seven
+months without trial, though often prayed for.... Nor could he obtain
+the benefit of habeas corpus."[78]
+
+"From whence the people conclude these severities are inflicted rather
+as a terror to others than for any personal crimes of their own," it was
+said, "and is of such ruinous consequence that either the public or
+particular interests must fall, for if none oppose, the country must
+languish under the severity of the government, or fly into mutiny to
+save themselves from starving. If any do appear more zealous in
+prosecuting the country's complaints they know what to expect. It being
+observable that none has been thus punished but those who were forward
+in the Assembly to oppose the encroachments on the people, and promote
+the complaint to England, being out of hope of relief on the
+place."[79]
+
+In Virginia, as in England, there was much dissatisfaction at the
+accession of the Roman Catholic James II. Many would have preferred
+Charles' illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth. When news came that he
+had raised the standard of revolt, had landed in Dorset, had gathered an
+army of rustics, and was marching on London, some did not hesitate to
+express their sympathy. Effingham wrote that "so many took liberty of
+speech upon the rebellion ... that I was fearful it would have produced
+the same here."[80] But when he issued a proclamation forbidding "false,
+seditious, and factious discourse and rumors," and made "some examples,"
+quiet was restored. The defeat of the rebels at Sedgemoor, the bloody
+revenge taken by James, and the execution of Monmouth ended all hope for
+the time being.
+
+But Effingham's proclamation could not prevent news of what was
+happening in England from reaching the people. In Ireland James was
+recruiting a Catholic army under a Catholic general. At home he was
+replacing civil and military officers by Catholics. To remove all
+restrictions on Catholics he issued declarations of indulgence, giving
+freedom of worship to dissenters and Catholics. He converted two Oxford
+colleges into Catholic seminaries, and ousted the Fellows of Magdalen to
+make room for Catholic successors.
+
+These events were soon reflected in Virginia. It was noted that when
+important offices in the government became vacant, Effingham filled them
+with Catholics. Both of his appointees to the Council were members of
+the Roman Catholic Church--Colonel Isaac Allerton and Colonel John
+Armistead. That several justices of the peace refused to take the oath
+of allegiance "through scruple of conscience" in 1691, after James had
+been deposed, shows that the Governor tried also to pack the county
+courts with Catholics.
+
+The people watched these developments with resentment, mixed with fear.
+The shudder of horror which had gone through England a few years before,
+when Titus Oates accused the Jesuits of a "hellish plot" to fire London,
+conquer the country with Irish and French armies, and massacre the
+Protestants, was still fresh in men's minds. Perhaps his story is not
+false after all, it was whispered. Perhaps the plan may still be carried
+out. Think of what has just happened in France, where thousands of men
+and women, for refusing to give up their faith were driven into exile or
+thrown into loathsome prisons with criminals, starved, and beaten. Are
+we sure that it will not be our turn next?
+
+The Assembly which met in April, 1688, reflected the ugly mood of the
+people. They were determined to redress the grievances which poured in
+from one county after another. The Governor's appeal for aid for New
+York and for a bill to prohibit the exportation of loose tobacco
+received scant consideration. "Debates of grievances jostled out most
+other matters," reported Nicholas Spencer.[81] When the Council
+requested a conference on the tobacco bill, the House countered with a
+proposal for a conference on the people's wrongs. But their message was
+couched in such bitter terms that the Council thought "no success could
+be expected from a conference agitated with heat and resolvedness."[82]
+
+Nor would the Council join the Burgesses in an address to Effingham for
+redress of "the many grievous oppressions this poor country at present
+groans under." Thereupon the House drew up a petition to the King which
+they entrusted to Philip Ludwell to deliver. Before James could reply,
+he was forced to flee from England, and it was only in February, 1689,
+that the petition came before the Council of State.
+
+Such was the situation when Effingham left Virginia "for recovery of his
+health by change of air." He may have realized also that the air of
+Virginia was becoming unhealthful for him in more sense than one, for
+had he not left it is possible that the people might have risen in arms
+and sent him home. Several years later, when Francis Nicholson asked the
+Council whether "if his Excellency my Lord Effingham had stayed" the
+country would not have been in trouble? they replied in the affirmative.
+"The country were in great dissatisfaction ...and there was great cause
+to doubt that some disturbance would have been."[83]
+
+But it was only in the spring of 1689, some months after his departure,
+that an uprising actually occurred. Then it was touched off by a weird
+story told by a stray Indian to some of the settlers on the northern
+frontier of a plot by Jesuits and Indians to attack Virginia and
+Maryland. No less than 10,000 Senecas and 9,000 Nanticocks were under
+arms, he said, ready to cut off all the Protestants. As the report
+spread from plantation to plantation, the outlying families fled in
+terror, while men gathered volunteers by beat of drum. We must defend
+ourselves in arms, they said, since no reliance can be placed on the
+Council or even on the county magistrates, for most of them are
+Catholics.
+
+The Council thought the story of the Catholic plot "only a gloss to
+their rebellious purposes." In October, 1688, James had sent word to
+Effingham that William of Orange was preparing to invade England, and
+had ordered him to place the colony in a posture of defence.[84] It was
+to seize this opportunity to rise against the government, rather than
+the imaginary Indian plot, that had made them take up arms, the Council
+thought. Preferring not to take sides in a matter which could be settled
+only in England, they arrested some of the ringleaders.[85] But when,
+apparently on the same day, a letter came to hand from the Privy
+Council, announcing that William and Mary had been proclaimed joint
+monarchs of England, order was instantly restored. On April 26, 1688,
+their Majesties were proclaimed before the courthouse door at Jamestown.
+
+There were two things which the colonial Virginians dreaded--despotism
+and the tomahawk. And it is significant that both were factors in the
+two uprisings of the seventeenth century. In Bacon's Rebellion the
+people demanded, not only protection from the savages, but an end to
+Berkeley's misgovernment. If the Council was right in their
+interpretation of the disorders of 1688, they, like the ousting of
+Andros in New England, were a part of the Glorious Revolution. The
+Council afterwards took great credit for suppressing the disorders, but
+one can only surmise whether the people would have remained quiet had
+not James been overthrown. We must not permit the Indian terror to blind
+us to the fact that the rebellions of 1676 and 1688 were both in defense
+of liberty.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] CO389.6, pp. 113, 137.
+
+[2] H. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 423, 424.
+
+[3] CO389.6, p. 116.
+
+[4] CO1-40, p. 23.
+
+[5] CO1-40, p. 23.
+
+[6] CO5-1371, pp. 27, 33.
+
+[7] CO5-1371, pp. 55, 60.
+
+[8] _Ibid._, p. 152.
+
+[9] CO5-1371, p. 152.
+
+[10] CO1-40, p. 43.
+
+[11] _Bath papers_ 3: 155.
+
+[12] CO1-40, pp. 73, 106.
+
+[13] CO1-39, p. 38.
+
+[14] W. W. Hening, _Virginia statutes at large_ 2: 366, 386.
+
+[15] CO1-40, p. 88.
+
+[16] CO5-1371, p. 132.
+
+[17] CO1-40, p. 89.
+
+[18] _Virginia Magazine_ 18: 12.
+
+[19] CO5-1371, pp. 220-231.
+
+[20] CO1-40, Doc. 53.
+
+[21] _Bath papers_ 3: 187-198.
+
+[22] _Ibid._
+
+[23] CO1-42, p. 17.
+
+[24] _Bath papers_ 3: 206.
+
+[25] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 407-432.
+
+[26] CO1-42, Doc. 1.
+
+[27] CO1-41, Doc. 87.
+
+[28] CO1-42, Doc. 11.
+
+[29] Sainsbury, 18: 129.
+
+[30] CO1-42, Doc. 23.
+
+[31] _Ibid._, Doc. 107.
+
+[32] _Virginia Magazine_ 18: 2-5.
+
+[33] _Bath papers_, 3: 168, 169.
+
+[34] _Virginia Magazine_, XVIII, p. 20.
+
+[35] _Bath papers_ 3: 214.
+
+[36] CO1-42, Doc. 117.
+
+[37] _Bath papers_ 3: 295.
+
+[38] CO5-1355, Docs. 304, 305, 309, 370.
+
+[39] CO1-41, Doc. 121.
+
+[40] Sainsbury, 14: 230.
+
+[41] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 441, 443, 456.
+
+[42] G. M. Trevelyan, _England under the Stuarts_, 396.
+
+[43] CO1-42, Doc. 152.
+
+[44] CO1-43, Doc. 165.
+
+[45] _Ibid._, p. 313.
+
+[46] _Ibid._, p. 334.
+
+[47] _Ibid._, p. 349.
+
+[48] CO5-1355, p. 378.
+
+[49] CO5-1376, p. 265.
+
+[50] CO5-1355, p. 384.
+
+[51] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 126.
+
+[52] _Ibid._
+
+[53] CO5-1356, pp. 125, 126.
+
+[54] CO5-1315, Dec. 23, 1707.
+
+[55] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 134.
+
+[56] CO5-1356, p. 142.
+
+[57] _Ibid._, p. 56.
+
+[58] CO1-42, p. 152.
+
+[59] Robert Beverley, _The present state of Virginia_, ed. L. B. Wright,
+89, 90.
+
+[60] CO5-1356, p. 76.
+
+[61] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 228.
+
+[62] CO5-1357, p. 58.
+
+[63] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 316, 317.
+
+[64] CO5-1357, p. 95.
+
+[65] CO5-1356, p. 282.
+
+[66] CO5-1357, p. 113.
+
+[67] _Ibid._, p. 126.
+
+[68] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 305.
+
+[69] _Ibid._, 308.
+
+[70] _Executive journals of the Council_ I: 493.
+
+[71] CO5-1356, p. 271.
+
+[72] D. C. McMurtrie, _A history of printing in the United States_,
+276-279.
+
+[73] CO5-1376, p. 285.
+
+[74] CO5-1356.
+
+[75] _McDonald papers_ 7: 26.
+
+[76] CO5-1357, p. 129.
+
+[77] _McDonald papers_ 7: 437-441.
+
+[78] _Ibid._
+
+[79] _Ibid._
+
+[80] _Executive journals of the Council_ 1: 75.
+
+[81] CO5-1357, p. 214.
+
+[82] _Ibid._, p. 216.
+
+[83] CO5-1306, Doc. 114.
+
+[84] CO5-1357, p. 229.
+
+[85] _Executive journals of the Council_ 1: 105.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION
+
+
+The Glorious Revolution completely changed the relations between the
+English people and the King. No sooner had James fled than a committee
+of the Commons drew up a "Declaration of Rights," to secure the liberty
+of the subjects and the power of Parliament, which was accepted by both
+Houses and by William. Parliament then declared William and Mary joint
+monarchs. Mary could argue that as the child of James II she was the
+rightful heir to the Throne, but William could make no such claim. So
+the old Tory doctrine of divine right was officially repudiated, and the
+monarch henceforth ruled by the consent of the nation. The Revolution
+opened a new epoch of liberty.
+
+The people of Virginia were well aware that they were to share in this
+liberty. In an address to the King and Queen, the Assembly gave them
+heartfelt thanks for "so magnanimously exposing" their persons in
+rescuing them, their religion, laws, and liberties from the twin evils
+of slavery and popery. They begged them, while extending their justice
+and goodness over the English nation, not to forget their faithful
+subjects in Virginia. They, too, were "descended of Englishmen," and had
+the right to enjoy "the just and lawful liberties and privileges of free
+born" Englishmen.[1]
+
+In this they were not disappointed. During the next seventy-five years
+they advanced steadily along the road to liberty. From time to time they
+had to contend with despotically inclined Governors, but these men,
+prior to the reign of George III, in assailing the rights of the people
+acted on their own initiative rather than at the command of the King. By
+the middle of the eighteenth century Virginia had become in internal
+affairs practically a self-governing dominion. People began to say
+openly that final authority rested, not with the King, but with the
+people, and that governments derived their powers from the consent of
+the governed.
+
+This trend was noted early in the eighteenth century. As early as 1706
+Colonel Quary warned the English government of what was coming. A few
+years later Governor Spotswood wrote: "If the ancient and legal rights
+of the Crown must give place to the later customs of an infant colony,
+especially if the practice and usage which ... men would introduce shall
+be of greater force, the prince's power and authority must daily lose
+ground here."[2]
+
+It was a slow, almost imperceptible process. But year after year the
+Burgesses whittled away at the powers of the Governor, until, after the
+passage of decades, the change became apparent to all. Berkeley,
+Culpeper, and Effingham had exercised almost dictatorial powers; Gooch,
+Fauquier, and Botetourt ate out of the hands of the Assembly. Whereas
+the Governors of the seventeenth century commanded and threatened, those
+of the mid-eighteenth century pleaded. On one occasion Governor Fauquier
+wrote the Lords of Trade that he had signed a bill, not because he
+approved of it, but because had he vetoed it he "must have despaired of
+ever gaining any influence either in the Council or House of Burgesses."
+
+The shouting and firing of guns in celebration of the accession of
+William and Mary had hardly ended when the Virginians turned their
+thoughts to the long desired new charter. The Bill of Rights gave them
+as well as Englishmen residing in England guarantees of liberty, but
+they had distinctive interests which they thought ought to be protected.
+Appointing Jeffrey Jeffreys to manage the affair, the Council and
+Burgesses sent him L200 for expenses and suggested that he call to his
+support any Virginians who chanced to be in London. That the art of
+lobbying was as well understood in the seventeenth century as it is
+today is shown by their instruction "to procure the assistance ... of
+the nobility and such as have offices at Whitehall and other men of note
+... to be mediators with their Majesties."[3]
+
+The proposed charter was to confirm the authority of the Assembly. At
+first sight this would seem to be unnecessary since the Assembly had
+been in existence since 1619, and had been recognized by James I,
+Charles I, Charles II, and James II. But the attempts to undermine its
+authority during the Second Stuart Despotism had convinced the people
+that its very existence might be threatened by some future King.
+
+They asked, also, that in the charter it be promised "that no tax be
+made upon this country but by the consent of the Assembly." The people
+had been deeply disappointed that a like promise had been left out of
+the charter of 1676. They took for granted that Parliament would not
+violate their rights as Englishmen by taxing them, but it would have
+comforted them to have it down in black and white. How necessary such a
+guarantee was became apparent eighty-five years later with the passage
+of the Stamp Act.
+
+The charter was to promise, also, that the King and Queen would continue
+to the Virginians and their descendants their rights as natural born
+subjects of England, and that as "near as may be" they should be
+governed after the same method as Englishmen, and "have the full benefit
+of the Great Charter and all other laws and statutes indulging the
+liberty of the subjects." Jeffreys was to ask that "the ancient method"
+of making appeals from the General Court to the Assembly be restored,
+since appeals to the Privy Council were in most cases impractical
+because of the expense involved and the difficulty of bringing
+"evidences, papers, and other records" to England.[4]
+
+We do not know why the application for the charter was dropped. It may
+have been because Jeffreys found that it would not meet with success, or
+the Assembly may have been persuaded that a charter was unnecessary
+under the liberal administration of the new monarchs.
+
+Francis Nicholson, who had been selected to serve as Lieutenant Governor
+during Effingham's absence, arrived in Virginia in May, 1690. The choice
+was unfortunate. This man was a strange mixture of contrasting
+characteristics. A devoted Church of England man and a friend of the
+clergy, he was at times shockingly profane. One of the patrons of the
+College of William and Mary, and the founder of the city of
+Williamsburg, he was unscrupulous in trampling on the rights of all who
+opposed him. Seeking the admiration of those with whom he was
+associated, he alienated his best friends by his fits of uncontrollable
+temper. Capable of acts of great generosity, he was accused of being
+parsimonious in his private life.
+
+Nicholson's treatment of the Reverend Mr. Slaughter was typical. He and
+a certain Captain James Moodie had gone to York to a funeral. "The
+ceremony and sermon being over," Moodie relates, "he went out of church,
+where he saw and heard the Governor in the most outrageous passion that
+he ever saw, swearing the most horrid oaths and most bitter imprecations
+against Mr. Slaughter, the minister of that parish, calling the said
+Slaughter rogue, rascal, knave, and all the base billingsgate language
+that could be in the basest of men's mouths, shaking his horsewhip and
+threatening to beat the said minister therewith, and to pull his gown
+over his ears."[5] Apparently Mr. Slaughter had brought on this torrent
+of abuse by asking for a fee for the funeral sermon.
+
+Nicholson's conduct as Deputy Governor of New York under Sir Edmund
+Andros at the time of the Glorious Revolution was not such as to inspire
+confidence that he would do well in Virginia. With no official orders to
+proclaim William and Mary, and with the people ready to rush to arms,
+what was needed was tact and conciliatory measures. Instead, Nicholson
+flew into a rage and talked about suppressing the "uproar and
+rebellion." It was rumored that he planned to burn the city, and that
+the people were to be betrayed and murdered. When some armed men, under
+the German merchant Jacob Leisler, seized the fort, Nicholson deserted
+his post and took ship for England.[6]
+
+The first meeting of the Council after Nicholson arrived at Jamestown
+was held on January 3, 1690. After he had shown his commission, he and
+the Councillors went to the courthouse where it was read to the people
+assembled there. If the Virginians had been prejudiced against the new
+Lieutenant Governor by reports of his conduct in New York, they could
+not have been reassured by his personal appearance. It was said that
+when he made a bow to the ladies, he looked like a goose picking up
+straws.
+
+Nicholson began his administration with a due regard to the influence of
+the Council. He had noticed that some of them held large tracts of land
+for which they paid no quit rents, and he pointed out, in a letter to
+the Earl of Nottingham, that it would strengthen the hands of the
+Governor if they were forced to pay up. "But the great men being
+concerned, I dare not venture to put any new method in execution
+without an instruction."[7]
+
+He was equally cautious at first to defer to the Council in making
+appointments. When the sheriff of Middlesex died, he asked those
+Councillors who lived in that part of the country to nominate his
+successor. When they suggested Mr. Robert Dudley, Nicholson at once gave
+him a commission. At the same meeting he pointed out that the regular
+time for naming sheriffs and coroners was at hand, and asked that the
+Councillors be prepared to make nominations at their next meeting.[8]
+
+But it was not long before he began to use the patronage to build up his
+own power under the guise of defending the royal prerogative. When the
+oath of supremacy was tendered the members of the Council, Richard Lee,
+Isaac Allerton, and John Armistead refused to take it because they were
+Roman Catholics. Nicholson filled one vacancy by naming Attorney General
+Edmund Jenings. He then sent a list of four other prominent men to the
+King and Queen, with the suggestion that they select the other two from
+it. Three of the four deserved well, he pointed out, because in the
+House of Burgesses they had been "for their Majesties' interest."
+Colonel Thomas Milner, the Speaker, behaved very well too, "but he hath
+not estate enough to be a Councillor. But he should have promise of some
+place of profit."[9]
+
+We have no evidence that Nicholson tried to build up a party in the
+House of Burgesses by distributing sheriff's places to the members. But
+he did try to ingratiate himself by hobnobbing with them and "admitting"
+them daily to his table. This he did, he said, in order to keep a good
+agreement with them for their Majesties' service and advance the public
+affairs of the country, and not to propose or gain anything to be done
+in the Assembly. But the fact that he used the same technique to gain
+power during his second administration, makes his protestations seem
+rather hollow.
+
+Nicholson claimed great success for his administration. He had
+befriended the clergy and bettered their condition, he pointed out, he
+had "looked after their Majesties' revenue," and left it in excellent
+condition, he had reorganized the militia. But he admitted, in fact
+boasted, that he had defended the royal prerogative on all occasions. He
+might have added that he had given Commissary Blair his wholehearted
+support in his efforts to found a college.
+
+When Nicholson heard that Effingham had retired as Governor General of
+Virginia, and that he had been succeeded by Sir Edmund Andros, he was
+bitterly disappointed. As Lieutenant Governor under Effingham, he
+thought that when the government became vacant it was his due. He was
+especially disgruntled that Andros had been selected since he had
+against him a long standing pique. Yet he made the best of the
+situation, greeted Andros upon his arrival, and, at the head of the
+James City County militia, escorted him to Jamestown "through the
+several counties which were in his way."[10]
+
+It must have been with apprehension that the Virginians received Sir
+Edmund, for reports of his despotism in New England had preceded him.
+They had heard that there he ruled like an Eastern despot, promulgating
+laws, levying taxes without the consent of the Assemblies, placing men
+under arrest and denying them the right of _habeas corpus_. And they
+knew that the Bostonians had at last captured him, put him aboard a
+vessel, and shipped him back to England. The Virginians were ready to
+offer stiff resistance should he try to rule them with a harsh hand.
+
+So they were surprised to find Andros a mild mannered man, who not only
+made no attack on their liberty, but tried to live in peace with both
+Council and Burgesses. He seems not to have used the patronage to build
+up his power, nor to have broken the grip of the House on the purse by
+demanding large fees; he would have allowed the Burgesses to appoint
+their own clerk had his instructions permitted it, and he carefully kept
+off the explosive subject of the arrears of quit rents. Edward Randolph
+summed it up by saying that he had "mightily gained upon the Council and
+chief men in the country by his even temper."[11]
+
+Nothing can illustrate better the progress made in self-government in
+Virginia since the overthrow of James II than the Burgesses' cavalier
+treatment of two bills recommended by the King and Queen. The first, a
+bill to prohibit the exportation of loose tobacco, was greatly desired
+by the English merchants. The other, a bill to establish ports in the
+Virginia rivers, had been passed in 1688 by the Assembly, and was now
+returned for certain revisions before becoming law. The Burgesses
+promptly voted down both measures. "The appointment of ports and
+enjoining the landing and shipping of all goods ... from the same will
+... be very injurious and burdensome," they said. There was a long
+debate on the question of prohibiting the exportation of loose tobacco,
+but this bill too failed to pass. Andros was deeply concerned at this
+disregard of the royal wishes, but when the Council advised him that
+nothing more could be done with the Burgesses, he dissolved them.[12]
+
+The British government also decided that it was best not to press the
+matter. In 1695 Andros spoke of the King's "goodness" in dispensing with
+his prerogative "to establish ports without the consent of the Assembly,
+and leaving it to our choice, and also in waiving the prohibition of
+bulk tobacco so earnestly desired in England because it was found not
+pleasing here." But the victory of the Burgesses riled Edward Randolph.
+"They are full of conceit, and fancy themselves as great as the House of
+Commons in England," he said in disgust.[13]
+
+It is probable that the King was so lenient with the Assembly because he
+wanted them to vote men and money to assist New York in her struggle
+with the French and Indians. Andros did his best, pointing out that New
+York was a bulwark for Virginia, and that if she fell the war cry would
+soon be heard on the Virginia frontier. The Burgesses were not
+convinced. The situation in New York was not so desperate as had been
+represented; they denied that New York was the "bulwark and defense of
+Virginia"; they were at heavy expense to guard their own frontier. It
+was characteristic of Andros that he asked the Council to reply for him.
+The Councillors at heart were no doubt as reluctant as the Burgesses to
+send aid to New York, but they were in the position of royal advocates
+and put up the best argument they could. Yet the session ended without
+anything being done.[14]
+
+When the Assembly met in 1695, Andros had better success. He had been
+instructed by the King to send a quota of men from the Virginia militia
+whenever the Governor of New York asked for them, he said. This alarmed
+the Burgesses. They thought it would not only weaken the defense of
+Virginia by taking away so many men, but would so frighten the young
+freemen that many would desert their wives and children and leave the
+colony. In the end they compromised by voting L500 in lieu of men.[15]
+This Andros was forced to accept, though by so doing he brought on
+himself a reprimand from the Committee of Trade.[16]
+
+It is strange that Andros, who was so moderate in his dealings with the
+House of Burgesses, and declared that he never thought himself better
+than when he had them about him to consult for the good of the country,
+should have bearded them on one of their most sensitive points--the
+appointment of a Treasurer. In 1691 the Assembly passed two laws, one
+for levying a poll tax, and one laying a duty on liquors, both of which
+were to be "paid by the collectors thereof to the Treasurer." Included
+in the act was the naming of Colonel Edward Hill as Treasurer.[17]
+
+A year later, when Nicholson gave him a lucrative job as collector, Hill
+had to vacate this office, since it was unlawful for the same man to
+hold both. To act as Treasurer until the Assembly convened, the Governor
+named one of the Council, Henry Whiting. When the Burgesses met they
+questioned Whiting's authority, but he satisfied them by showing them
+his commission. They then passed a bill to name a permanent Treasurer,
+but the Council, probably at Andros' urging, refused to concur. "The
+Governor would never consent to the Assembly's appointing their own
+Treasurer but would rather lose a tax than suffer them to do so," James
+Blair testified. But, he added: "This makes them suspicious and more
+unwilling to raise money."[18]
+
+Whiting held the office until his death, which occurred probably in
+September, 1694. Then, for several years, there seems to have been no
+Treasurer. But the Burgesses were merely biding their time. Their
+opportunity came in 1699. The old statehouse at Jamestown had burned
+down, and there was urgent need for an appropriation to build a new one.
+They passed a bill placing a duty on the importation of servants and
+slaves, and laying a levy by poll, the revenue from both to be paid
+into the hands of the Treasurer for financing a new Capitol. Since there
+was no Treasurer they included in the act the appointment of Colonel
+Robert Carter to that office. The Governor and Council, realizing that
+they could not have the Capitol without the Treasurer, yielded.[19]
+
+The undoing of Andros was his quarrel with the Reverend James Blair,
+Commissary for the Bishop of London in Virginia. When this rugged
+Scotsman came to the colony he found conditions in the Church far from
+satisfactory. Since there was no college in the colony the parishes were
+entirely dependent upon England for their ministers. The dispersal of
+the people was such that if a parish were large enough to provide the
+rector with an adequate living, it was too large for him to minister to
+properly. Some parishes extended forty miles or more along the banks of
+the great Virginia rivers, the minister was usually too poor to have a
+library or to marry. Since English clergymen were reluctant to come over
+under such conditions, there were many vacant parishes. Often the
+vestries in desperation were forced to accept any that offered
+themselves, however unsuitable. There were many able and pious ministers
+in Virginia, but some were of inferior ability, and a few were a
+disgrace to their calling. And it was inevitable that amid the woods and
+tobacco fields of a new country they should neglect many features of the
+liturgy--the use of vestments, the observance of the saints' days,
+burial in consecrated ground, etc.
+
+With the enthusiastic support of the Bishop of London and of Governor
+Nicholson, Blair had worked out a plan of reform. He would found a
+college to educate young Virginians for the ministry; he would secure an
+act of Assembly increasing the ministers' salary; he would enforce
+ecclesiastical discipline; he would give the clergy a voice in the
+government by procuring a seat in the Council for the Commissary. Going
+to England, he gained the backing of the Archbishop of Canterbury and
+other prelates, and through them of King William and Queen Mary.[20]
+
+Their Majesties granted a charter for the college, permitted it to be
+named William and Mary, gave L1,985.14.10 out of the quit rent fund,
+10,000 acres of land, the revenue of one pence a pound on tobacco
+exported from Virginia to any other colony, and a salary for the
+Commissary from the quit rents. So Blair returned in triumph and took
+his seat beside the great men of the Council. But it was a triumph which
+won him the enmity of Andros. The Governor, no doubt, was jealous of his
+influence in high circles in England, and he viewed with alarm the
+diversion from the use of the government to the college and the clergy
+of urgently needed funds. With the opening of the year 1694 the
+government was facing a deficit with no way of meeting it except by the
+hated levy by poll, or by drawing on the quit rents.
+
+Soon Blair was complaining that Andros was trying to obstruct his
+reforms for the clergy. There must have been stormy scenes in the
+Council meetings, with Blair hurling accusations at the Governor, and
+the latter denying them. The President of the College "could not be
+obliged by all endeavors to contain himself within bounds," wrote Andros
+to Secretary Shrewsbury. "His restless comport I ever passed by till the
+whole Council ... faulting him as unfit to be in the Council, I thought
+it my duty ... to suspend him."[21]
+
+But Andros did not reckon on Blair's influence in England. Undoubtedly
+the Commissary wrote the Bishop of London of his suspension, and the
+Bishop complained to the Lords of Trade. In due time Andros received a
+rebuke from the King. He had appointed Blair to the Council "the better
+to enable him to promote and carry on" the "good and useful" work of
+founding a college. Now he found that his gracious intentions had been
+discouraged by his suspension. "Our will and pleasure is that forthwith
+upon the receipt hereof you take off the said suspension."[22] It was a
+bitter humiliation for Andros when, in August, 1696, Blair produced the
+King's letter and resumed his seat.[23] So bitter, in fact, that he
+dared a second time to oust the hated Commissary. At a meeting of the
+Council in April, 1697, Blair asked whether a recent act of Parliament
+did not debar him from sitting in the General Court since he was a
+native of Scotland. Whereupon the Council, with a promptness he probably
+did not expect, voted that not only did it do so, but that it made him
+ineligible for the Council as well.[24]
+
+Blair's answer was to take ship for England, there to lay his complaints
+before the English prelates and through them before the Board of Trade.
+To the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Salisbury, and the Bishop
+of London he undoubtedly poured out his complaints of Andros--that he
+was an enemy of the college, that he did not support the efforts to
+secure better livings for the clergy, that he had disobeyed the King's
+express orders to keep him in the Council. This ecclesiastical lobby was
+too much for Sir Edmund. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, he wrote
+that he wished to come home because of ill health. On May 31, 1698, his
+resignation was accepted and Francis Nicholson named to succeed him as
+Governor General.[25]
+
+When Andros bade Jamestown goodbye and set sail for England, a full
+decade had passed since the Glorious Revolution, time sufficient for one
+to judge its effect upon self-government in Virginia. Some of the losses
+of the Second Stuart Despotism had not been regained. The act of 1680
+giving the Crown a perpetual revenue had not been repealed; the judicial
+powers of the Assembly had not been restored; the efforts to secure a
+charter for the colony had been abandoned; the Burgesses had not
+regained the right to name their clerk.
+
+Yet the gains far outweighed these failures. Of first importance was it
+that the Assembly itself had been preserved with most of its rights and
+privileges. It still could initiate legislation, it alone could initiate
+money bills, it could determine the uses of all appropriated funds, it
+could appoint the Treasurer. The petitions of the Assembly to the Throne
+were no longer cast aside with scorn as in the days of Charles II and
+James II, but were given careful consideration. The battle for liberty
+had not yet been won, many bitter struggles lay ahead, but the gains
+made under the mild rule of King William and Queen Mary were vital to
+the eventual victory.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1660-1693: 370.
+
+[2] CO5-1318.
+
+[3] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1660-1693: 352.
+
+[4] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1660-1693: 352.
+
+[5] CO5-1314, Doc. 9.
+
+[6] _Documentary history of New York_ 2: 25, 31, 42, 181-183.
+
+[7] CO5-1306, Doc. 64.
+
+[8] _Executive journals of the Council_ I: 158.
+
+[9] CO5-1306, Doc. 41.
+
+[10] _Sainsbury papers_ 5: 100.
+
+[11] A. T. S. Goodrick, _Edward Randolph_ 7: 430.
+
+[12] _Sainsbury papers_ 5: 165.
+
+[13] A. T. S. Goodrick, _Edward Randolph_ 7: 448.
+
+[14] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 292, 482-493.
+
+[15] _Ibid._, 1695-1702: 9-42.
+
+[16] CO5-1359, p. 79.
+
+[17] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 360.
+
+[18] CO5-1359, pp. 101, 102.
+
+[19] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 3: 197, 198.
+
+[20] T. J. Wertenbaker, _The first Americans_, 133.
+
+[21] _Sainsbury papers_ 5: 225, 226.
+
+[22] _Ibid._, 236.
+
+[23] _Executive journals of the Council_ I: 350, 352.
+
+[24] _Ibid._, 364.
+
+[25] CO5-1359, p. 208.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE VIRGINIA HITLER
+
+
+It was James Blair who was chiefly responsible for the appointment of
+Francis Nicholson as Governor General of Virginia. Nicholson's hearty
+support for his plans to found a college and better the condition of the
+clergy when he was Lieutenant Governor, made the Commissary eager to
+have him back. So when Andros resigned, he used his influence with the
+Bishop of London, who was one of the Commissioners of Trade, to have him
+made his successor.
+
+It seems strange that one identified with the interests of Virginia
+should have foisted on the colony one of the worst Governors in its
+history. But at the time Blair seems to have permitted the man's good
+qualities--his undoubted ability, his energy, and his devotion to the
+Church--to blind him to his many faults. Blair himself admitted this
+later after he came into violent conflict with Nicholson, and wrote to
+the Bishop of London in a repentant mood.
+
+The new Governor General arrived in Virginia in the winter of 1698. He
+found that the personnel of the Council had been greatly changed during
+his absence. But there were several familiar faces in the group which
+met in the great hall of the residence of the late William Sherwood.
+Nicholson then announced the King's appointments to the Council and
+administered the oath required by Parliament to those who were present.
+One wonders whether Matthew Page and Benjamin Harrison, in their elation
+at being elevated to the "Virginia House of Lords," suspected that it
+would involve them in bitter controversy with the Governor, or that
+they, together with four of their fellow Councillors, would be
+responsible for his removal from office.
+
+There was nothing basically despotic in the program Nicholson outlined
+for himself. He sought to set the finances of the colony in order by
+eliminating frauds and demanding a strict payment of quit rents so as to
+increase the royal revenue. He was determined to uphold the King's
+prerogative against all assaults by the Council or the Burgesses. He
+wished to put the colony in a state of readiness to repel any attack by
+hostile Indians, and to aid other colonies who should become involved in
+Indian wars. He tried to gain permanent tenure for the clergy so as to
+give them a degree of independence of the vestries. He planned a new
+city which was to be the seat of government, with broad streets and
+charming Capitol and Governor's mansion.
+
+Since certain features of this program ran counter to the interests of
+the Council, and others to those of the people, to carry them through
+would have required resolution, tact, moderation, and ability to handle
+men. Resolution Nicholson had in abundance, but in other respects he was
+entirely unsuited for the task he set himself. To vilify men, to call
+them rascals, to threaten to lash them with his whip was not the way to
+handle the liberty-loving Virginians. His attempts to bribe the
+Councillors and the Burgesses with fat jobs and to pack the courts with
+favorites, might have been more successful had they not been accompanied
+with such violent bursts of temper and such threats of ruin against any
+who opposed him.
+
+It so happened that the Committee of Trade, finding that the amount of
+tobacco received in England was far greater than that on which the
+export duty was paid in Virginia, became convinced that there were great
+frauds in collections. The fault lay with the naval officers and
+collectors, they thought. They instructed Nicholson not to appoint the
+same person to both offices, and not to permit members of the Council to
+hold either. When the Governor, not wishing to offend, at first failed
+to comply, they gave him a severe rebuke. In June, 1699, he was forced
+to turn several Councillors out of their lucrative jobs.
+
+This drew from them a violent protest. They denied that they had any
+knowledge of frauds in the collections. To forbid Councillors to hold
+these positions was to reverse the custom of many years. The income was
+their only compensation for their expense in journeying perhaps seventy
+miles, perhaps one hundred miles, in some cases crossing great rivers,
+to attend meetings of the Council and the General Court. And though they
+could not directly blame Nicholson, they probably suspected that it was
+at his suggestion that the instruction had been made. So it was a soured
+and discontented group of men who dispersed to return to their homes
+after the Council meeting ended.
+
+ [Illustration: The Old Capitol at Williamsburg, showing the north
+ elevation which is a duplicate of the historic Virginia Capitol
+ originally completed in 1705. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg,
+ Inc.]
+
+ [Illustration: The House of Burgesses in the Old Capitol at
+ Williamsburg. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.]
+
+Nicholson's efforts to secure more accurate returns of the quit rents
+did not put them in better humor. It was well known that it was a common
+practice for men to "conceal" part of their holdings when the sheriff
+came round to collect the rent, and, if the sheriff happened to be a
+friend or a relative, he would not look into the matter too closely. As
+for the great tracts held by the wealthy, the sheriffs dared not demand
+the rent. To do so would certainly be bitterly resented and might cost
+them their jobs. Nicholson was convinced that a strict accounting would
+greatly increase the returns.
+
+When he was Lieutenant Governor he had tried to force the large
+landholders to pay their rents by taking the matter into the courts.
+Making a test case of Colonel Lawrence Smith, who had several large
+properties, he ordered the Attorney General to prosecute him. The case
+was ready for trial when Nicholson was removed and it was afterwards
+compounded for a small sum.[1]
+
+At the time Nicholson had had some thoughts of drawing up "an exact,
+true, and perfect rent roll." But the Council, who had no desire to have
+their own "concealed" acres exposed, pointed out that it would be a
+difficult and costly undertaking. So for the time being the matter was
+dropped. But when Nicholson began his second administration he resumed
+his efforts. He instructed William Byrd, the Auditor, to order the
+sheriffs to make accurate rolls of holdings in their counties. But as
+late as October, 1703, Byrd reported that though he had urged this on
+the sheriffs he realized that there was "still very great abuse
+therein."[2] Yet the next year the Governor had in his hands a rent
+roll, which, however imperfect, must have been of great value in the
+collection of the rents. Undoubtedly much of the unoccupied lands were
+not put down on the rolls, yet some of the members of the Council were
+hard hit. Byrd now had to pay on 20,700 acres, Custis on 12,600,
+Harrison on 9,100, and the others on holdings ranging from 2,000 to
+7,000 acres. Other members of the aristocracy, many of them related to
+one or more Councillors, were put down for thousands of acres. Lewis
+Burwell had 7,000 acres in the Isle of Wight County, 4,800 acres in King
+William, 3,300 acres in Gloucester, 2,100 acres in York, and 1,300 in
+James City County.[3]
+
+Having alienated the Councillors and other influential men by striking
+at their pocketbooks, Nicholson proceeded to cross swords with another
+influential group--the vestrymen. The Virginia clergymen had long
+complained of the insecurity of their tenure, for the vestries who
+appointed them claimed the right also of dismissing them when they
+proved unsatisfactory. "They are to their vestries in the nature of
+hired servants, agreed with from year to year, and dismissed ... without
+any crime proved or so much as alleged against them," Commissary Blair
+complained.
+
+Claiming that whenever a vestry failed to present their minister to him
+for induction, he had the right to fix him on them for life by
+collation, Nicholson appealed to Sir Edward Northey, Attorney General of
+England. Northey's opinion supported him fully, and in triumph the
+Governor sent copies to all the vestries. But he met with one rebuff
+after another. We "do not think it proper, neither are we willing to
+make presentation for induction," replied one vestry. Another declared
+that the word induction sounded very harsh in their ears, and as for
+collation they hoped the Governor would not try it. And Nicholson,
+realizing that, if he should, the vestry would refuse to pay his
+appointee his salary and so starve him out, was forced to let the matter
+drop.
+
+Despite his efforts for the clergy, the Governor managed to change the
+friendship of the man who was so largely responsible for his appointment
+into bitter hatred. Blair turned against him because he took over many
+functions rightly belonging to the Commissary and tried to make himself
+head of the Church. "He has invaded almost all ... parts of the
+ecclesiastical jurisdiction," Blair complained, "such as convoking the
+clergy, ... appearing himself in their meetings and proposing the
+subject matter of their consultations, ... requiring of some ministers
+canonical obedience to himself as their bishop, taking upon himself to
+turn out ministers."[4]
+
+This was followed by an attempt to take out of the hands of the
+Councillors the control of the military forces of the colony. In the
+summer of 1701, when England was on the verge of war with France, word
+reached Virginia that a French fleet was preparing to sail for the West
+Indies. Claiming that there was danger that they might attack Virginia,
+"being an open and defenseless country," Nicholson organized a new force
+to resist them. He ordered the captains of militia to pick out every
+fifth man in their companies, "being persons young, brisk, fit, and able
+to go out to war," and organize them into bands of thirty, mounted and
+fully equipped.[5]
+
+Thus the militia, who were largely under the command of members of the
+Council, were to be superseded by a new force under Nicholson himself.
+The people became alarmed when it was rumored that he was trying to
+persuade the English government to keep a standing army in America with
+himself as Captain General. If he succeeds, men told each other, we may
+as well bid goodbye to liberty, for then he will carry out his threats
+of taking and arming all our servants, of bringing the Burgesses with
+ropes about the necks, and daring the Assembly to "deny him
+anything."[6]
+
+When the war with France began and the attack fell, not on Virginia, but
+on New York, King William asked the Assembly to give financial aid. But
+the Burgesses refused, pointing out that they needed all their resources
+to protect their own exposed frontier. It is possible that it was
+because this answer interfered with his own ambition that it was so
+displeasing to Nicholson. His Majesty should signify his resentment and
+order the Burgesses on their allegiance to comply, he thought, "and I
+hope in God that they will then" do so.[7] Losing his temper, as he
+always did when opposed, he threatened to draft men, even members of the
+House, on his own authority and send them to fight in New York. Much
+more to his credit was his action in advancing L900 to New York out of
+his own pocket.
+
+It is probable that Nicholson, when he had cooled off, had no real
+intention of carrying out his threats against the Burgesses, but he did
+try to control them by a brazen use of the patronage. Of twenty-two
+sheriffs whom he appointed in June, 1699, no less than sixteen were
+Burgesses. Ignoring the advice of the Council, he put men in or turned
+them out as they voted as he directed. During one session of the
+Assembly, when seven of the Burgesses were county clerks, he had seven
+blank commissions made out and placed in the Secretary's office where
+all could see them. Then he spread the report that any or all of the
+clerks who proved to be "bad boys" were to be dismissed and the
+commissions given to those who behaved better.[8]
+
+"Are not all the places of profit in the hands of the Governor?" it was
+asked.[9] The sheriff of King and Queen County was arbitrarily removed
+when he was busy collecting the poll tax. If it happened that one of
+Nicholson's favorites was legally ineligible for an office he would give
+him a blank commission and tell him to fill it in with the name of a
+relative or friend, or even to sell it. Colonel John West was stated to
+have sold a sheriff's commission for 8,000 pounds of tobacco.[10]
+
+The members of the House who were deaf to his threats and promises, the
+Governor tried to wheedle. "We have a way of treating three days in a
+week all the Assembly time," said Harrison, "where some of the House
+constantly attend to get their bellies full of victuals and too many
+times their heads full of strong drink."[11]
+
+Fearing that even such measures would not avail if a hostile House were
+returned, the Governor interfered actively in the elections. "We have
+had an election of Burgesses ... in which there hath been ... promises,
+threats, spreading scandalous reports ... browbeating ... and what not,"
+Philip Ludwell, Junior, wrote his father. Nicholson had been in Charles
+City County to oppose the election of Benjamin Harrison, promising
+sheriff's and clerk's places to some and threatening others. "Having rid
+all through Charles City, from house to house, he went to Surry." Here
+he commanded the sheriff to draw up a list of those who spoke ill of
+Major Allen, the candidate he favored. When Major Thomas Swan was
+elected, he forbade the sheriff "at his peril" to return him. And he
+told the sheriff of James City County that he could not serve two
+masters, and if Benjamin Harrison were chosen, he need never expect any
+more favors from him.[12]
+
+In his dealing with the House of Burgesses, the Governor sacrificed any
+influence he had built up, by his disregard of their privileges and his
+violent abuse of individual members and of the body as a whole. His
+agent in London, John Thrale, saw no reason why the Burgesses should be
+angered at him for proposing a tax bill. If Mr. Thrale knew how they
+disliked those levy bills which arose outside the House, he would change
+his mind, Philip Ludwell pointed out.[13] In one of his fits of temper
+Nicholson threatened to cut the Speaker's throat.[14]
+
+In the General Court Nicholson made free use of threats and promises to
+secure verdicts to his liking. Robert Beverley said it was his constant
+practice to browbeat and vilify both lawyers and their clients. Two
+cases, especially, he managed with such violence "that there was not one
+person in court, favorite or foe, but thought it very hard and unjust
+dealing." One case had to be postponed several times because as soon as
+it came up he flew into such a rage that the court had to adjourn.[15]
+
+Nicholson threw one suit out of court without even consulting the other
+Judges. In another he pleaded "from the bench more like a party than a
+judge and flew into great heats and passions." In the case of Swan
+_versus_ Wilson, he grossly abused Swan's attorney. When the verdict
+went for Swan, Wilson's attorney said there had been an error in form.
+To this Harrison replied that the form had been in keeping with Virginia
+practice. Instantly Nicholson turned on him, thundering out: "Sir, you
+are the Queen's counsel and pretend to set up a precedent in Virginia
+contrary to the practice in England. You shall not impose upon me with
+your tricks and equivocations."[16] On another occasion he became so
+enraged against Mr. Bartholomew Fowler, one of the attorneys, "a very
+sickly, weak man," that he seized him by the collar and shook him,
+swearing that his commands must be obeyed without hesitation or
+reserve.[17]
+
+If we may believe Robert Beverley, the Governor made a habit of packing
+the grand jury, in order to get flattering addresses from them. He would
+pick out men whom he knew he could influence, send for them to come to
+Williamsburg, and order the sheriff to put them on the jury in place of
+others of whom he was doubtful. Beverley was talking with a man whom the
+sheriff had summoned and then had discharged, when the sheriff happened
+to pass. So the man stopped him to ask why he had done it. He replied
+that the Governor had ordered him to do it. When the jury he had
+selected for the purpose gave him the address he wanted, he showered
+them with favors. To the foreman he gave a naval officer's place, others
+he "favored by barefaced methods" in cases at law in which they were
+concerned, still others had sheriff's places.[18]
+
+Nicholson's greatest blunder was to antagonize the Council. Its members,
+representing the Virginia aristocracy, and having influential friends at
+Court, were not the men to sit quietly and see their hard-earned
+privileges taken from them. Is the Council so mean spirited as to let a
+Governor do all the ill things he pleases in their names, and all the
+while using them like slaves, not suffering them to have any opinion of
+their own? Philip Ludwell asked. "Arbitrary power is grown to a high
+pitch among us. Hectoring is the only court language. Our laws and
+liberties openly trampled upon."[19]
+
+Nicholson should have known that he was in for a fight to the finish
+when he bearded the Councillors. Prominent among them was the pugnacious
+Commissary James Blair. Robert Carter, of Corotoman, had been a Burgess
+at twenty-eight, and had twice been Speaker. A man of great energy,
+shrewd, and dominating he was dubbed "King Carter." Benjamin Harrison
+had represented Surry in the House of Burgesses, was a Visitor of the
+College of William and Mary, was commander of the Surry militia. Philip
+Ludwell, Jr., Page, Custis, Bassett, Duke, and the others were all men
+of wealth and influence.
+
+The first open breach between these men and Nicholson came when he began
+to make appointments to office without consulting them. They were
+outraged when he removed their friends from lucrative jobs to make room
+for his own favorites. They protested the issuing of warrants on the
+revenue and the giving of patents to land without their consent. It was
+almost an insult for him to prorogue the Assembly on his own authority
+and without their knowledge.
+
+Later Nicholson put the blame on the Councillors themselves for his
+failure to get along with them. They hated him, he said, because he
+would not be guided and governed by them, and turn secretaries,
+auditors, collectors, naval officers, and others out of their places and
+put them and their friends in, and would not let them do what they
+pleased.[20]
+
+The Council meetings became stormy, with the Councillors protesting to
+the Governor and the Governor flying into a rage. When the sessions
+were held in the Wren Building at the college prior to the completing of
+the new Capitol, passersby could hear Nicholson storming "as loud as he
+could extend his voice." If any member dared to oppose him in any
+measure he was sure to bring down on himself a volley of insults.
+
+The Councillors were liable to abuse even when the Council was not in
+session. One day when John Lightfoot was in Williamsburg, he called on
+the Governor. He had not been in his presence fifteen minutes before
+Nicholson began to storm at him, calling him a rogue, a rascal, and a
+villain. "You have sided with that damned Scotch parson, Blair, and by
+God, sir, you have shipped yourself in a leaky vessel.... You shall be
+turned out of the Council." Then he flew out against the rest of the
+Council, saying there was not one of them who was not a rogue and a
+coward, who did not dare look a man in the face.[21]
+
+The testimony regarding Nicholson's violent temper is so overwhelming as
+to indicate that the man was unbalanced. On one occasion while talking
+with Captain James Moodie in an "upper apartment" of the college, he
+flew into a violent passion against the Commissioners of the Navy,
+"calling them all the basest names the tongue of man could express."
+These imprecations were thundered out "with such a noise that the people
+down in the lower rooms came running up stairs ... believing that the
+college had been on fire." Several sea captains, who were lodging in a
+room some distance away, "came running out of their beds in their
+shirts," one of them "without his wooden leg, holding himself by the
+wall."[22]
+
+If Nicholson had contented himself with hurling imprecations at those
+who offended him, his victims might have been able to endure it. "I must
+confess I have no reason to be satisfied with the insolent, tyrannical
+behavior of our Governor, but as long as he is vested with the Queen's
+authority, I will quietly endure his barbarous usage," wrote Philip
+Ludwell.[23] But when Nicholson carried his malice so far as to
+prosecute those to whom he took a disliking, deprive them of their jobs,
+and imprison them, their safety lay in fleeing the colony.
+
+Clergymen seem to have been especially unfortunate in incurring
+Nicholson's resentment. At a convocation of the clergy in Elizabeth City
+church, on October 28, 1702, Commissary Blair asked the Reverend James
+Wallace, the minister, to deliver a sermon. The Governor, who claimed
+to be the head of the Virginia Church and had summoned the meeting in
+order to secure a flattering address, was present. It may have been this
+which influenced Mr. Wallace to choose as his text: "Herein do I
+exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God
+and toward men," and to use it to illustrate the duty of both government
+officials and clergymen.
+
+Shortly after the services were over Nicholson sent for Mr. Wallace.
+"How durst you preach such a sermon?" he demanded. "How dare you take
+such a text? How dare you presume to tell me my duty? I will not be told
+my duty." From that day the Governor pursued him with the greatest
+malice. He summoned him before the Council, and threatened him with
+ruin, calling him villain, hypocrite, Jesuit. He went all the way to
+Elizabeth City to lay charges against him before his vestry. When Mr.
+Wallace could endure this persecution no longer and prepared to sail for
+England, he tried to stop him.[24]
+
+If anything else were needed to make Nicholson a ridiculous figure, it
+was his love affair with Lucy Burwell. Lucy's father, Major Lewis
+Burwell, was perhaps the wealthiest man in Virginia. Owning many
+thousands of acres of land, served by scores of slaves and indentured
+workers, connected by marriage and birth with some of the most
+influential families in the colony, he was the typical Virginia
+aristocrat. Carter's Creek, his residence in Gloucester County, remained
+standing for over two centuries as witness to his lavish style of
+living. The great halls, the marble mantels, the elaborate staircase,
+the wainscoting carved to resemble drapery were reminiscent rather of
+England than of seventeenth-century Virginia. However, Lucy seems to
+have spent most of her childhood, not at Carter's Creek, but at King's
+Creek, an historic old estate left to her parents by her mother's uncle,
+Nathaniel Bacon, Senior. And here it was that Nicholson pressed his
+suit, riding over to see her whenever there was a lull in the business
+of the General Court and the Assembly was not in session.
+
+Lucy and her family received him with the courtesy due the
+representative of the Crown. But they knew of the Governor's fits of
+anger, of his profanity, and the abuse he had heaped on their relatives.
+Lucy was not attracted to him and, telling him she did not love him,
+refused to marry him.
+
+When he was at last convinced that all hope of winning Lucy was gone,
+Nicholson acted like a madman. He swore that if she married another he
+would with his own hands cut the throats of the bridegroom, the
+minister, and the justice of the peace who issued the license.[25] All
+pretence of friendship for her relatives was thrown to the winds. Every
+few days he sent Major Burwell such threats of ruin that the poor man
+was kept in a constant state of alarm. "For what I know not, unless it
+is because I will not force my daughter to marry utterly against her
+will, which is a thing no Christian body can do," he wrote Philip
+Ludwell, Senior. "If it please God I live until the return of our next
+fleet, I propose for England, for I shall not be able to live here."[26]
+
+Nicholson became violently jealous of young Stephen Fouace, minister of
+Martin's Hundred parish, in which the Burwells resided. One night, when
+he was returning from a pastoral call at King's Creek he happened to
+meet the Governor. Falling into one of his rages, Nicholson, in a
+thundering voice, commanded him never again to visit the house unless
+sent for, and never again to speak to Lucy.[27]
+
+"Why, Sir," stammered the frightened pastor, "what is the matter? Does
+your Excellency take me for your rival? I assure you, sir, I have not
+that foolish presumption to think to be preferred to your Excellency."
+
+"Hold your prate, sirrah. I have taken good notice of you. You are an
+impudent rogue, a villain, a rascal."
+
+As they were riding along together Nicholson reached over and pulled
+Fouace's hat from his head.
+
+"How do you have the impudence to ride with me with your hat on?"
+
+"I hope you will not use me like a footman," said Fouace.
+
+After a pause Nicholson asked: "Is it not a shame for one of your
+function to suffer me to be ridiculed and railed at in some companies
+where I know you have been? Is it not your duty to reprove them?"
+
+Fouace replied that the best way to avoid ridicule was to be sure that
+his behavior was such as not to expose him to odium and contempt, that
+even the King of France could not hinder many of his subjects from
+speaking ill of him.
+
+"But seeing your Excellency is pleased to make me mindful of my duty to
+reprove the evil I see done in my presence, I must make bold to reprove
+your Excellency for using at this rate in the highway, in the woods, and
+in the night, on a Sunday, a clergyman coming from visiting the sick of
+his parish."
+
+Nicholson received this in silence. But a few minutes later he ran at
+Fouace, trying to seize him, and threatening to lash him with his whip.
+This frightened him, for the Governor had his sword and pistols with
+him, and they were alone in the night. So he wheeled, set spurs to his
+horse, and fled.[28]
+
+But he could not escape Nicholson's malice. He soon found that life in
+Virginia was intolerable, and laid his plans to leave for England. But
+the Governor had no desire to have him lay charges against him before
+the Bishop of London and the Lords of Trade and Plantations. After he
+had gone aboard the tobacco fleet, he tried to bring him back, but by
+shifting from ship to ship Fouace managed to escape.
+
+Nicholson's folly aroused astonishment even in England, and the gossips
+in the London Exchange and the coffee houses tittered at his
+unsuccessful suit. An English clergyman wrote him an anonymous letter.
+"It is not here as in some barbarous countries where the tender lady is
+often dragged into the Sultan's arms just reeking in the blood of her
+nearest relations, and yet must strongly dissemble her aversion. But
+English women are the freest in the world, and will not be won by
+constraint, but hate them who use them and theirs roughly."
+
+One day when Nicholson was calling on Lucy, before the final breach had
+occurred, she happened to drop her handkerchief. He picked it up,
+slipped several rings in it unobserved by Lucy, and handing it to her
+mounted his horse and rode away. She sent them back to him, but he
+returned them. And for a while she kept them. Later he complained of the
+costliness of his suit. "Though she would not accept him," he told
+several persons, "she and her friends had taken presents to the value of
+L500."[29]
+
+When this came to Lucy's ears, she thought it necessary to return
+everything he had given her. So she, with her mother and brother,
+together with her uncle, Philip Ludwell, Junior, went to Williamsburg
+with them. But Nicholson, hearing of their mission, "slipt out in the
+morning." The little group retired to the nearby Wren building, and
+waited there until six o'clock in the evening. Then they went back to
+Nicholson's house, where Ludwell went in to the "public room" and left
+the gifts on the table.
+
+Late that night, after he had retired, Ludwell was aroused by two
+messengers sent by the Governor, one bringing the gifts, and the other a
+summons in the Queen's name for him to come to Nicholson immediately.
+Ludwell told the man that he "could not apprehend the Queen had any
+occasion for his services" just at that moment, and so went back to bed.
+
+But the next morning he went to the Governor's house, taking the gifts
+with him. He found Nicholson in a towering rage.
+
+"I wonder how you dare come into my house yesterday when I was abroad to
+offer me such an insult?" he said.
+
+"Sir, I never offered your Excellency an affront in my life that I know
+of," Ludwell replied.
+
+"Yes you have, several, like the base villain and rascal that you are."
+
+Ludwell bowed and thanked him for this "civil usage." But Nicholson
+began again to storm, calling him "rogue, lying villain, base rascal,
+and coward," and declaring that he would teach him his duty. Finally he
+told him to get out of his house and not return until he was sent for.
+This Ludwell did with alacrity. But he took good care to leave the
+gifts. At first this escaped Nicholson's notice, but while Ludwell was
+putting on his boots he rushed up to him, "calling him all the names the
+Devil could invent" and commanding him to take the things.[30]
+
+When Ludwell had mounted his horse and started to ride away, the
+Governor ran out "stark mad," and catching hold of his coat tried to
+pull him from his horse. Failing in this, he snatched his whip from his
+hand, and ordered him in the Queen's name to dismount. When he had done
+so, he shook the whip over his head, and swore that he had a mind to
+slash him soundly. Ludwell told him that as he was Governor of Virginia
+he had to take all his ill usage, but if he were in another place he
+would not dare treat him so. A few days later Nicholson challenged
+Ludwell to a duel. But Ludwell declined. He had not so much love for the
+gallows, he said. "But I always wear a sword with which to defend
+myself, and I am always easily found."
+
+When one reads the long recital of Nicholson's misdeeds, one is apt to
+forget that he conferred one lasting benefit on the colony, a benefit
+which today is shared by millions of Americans from all parts of the
+country. He was the founder of Williamsburg. It was on October 21, 1698,
+that a fire broke out in the statehouse at Jamestown which in a few
+hours laid the building in ashes. So the old question of moving the
+capital away from the mosquito-infested town on the banks of the James
+was again debated. Nicholson favored Middle Plantation. The college was
+located there, there was ample room for a town, there were several
+springs of pure water, and the place was healthful. The Assembly voted
+that a city be laid out there, which, in honor of the "most gracious and
+glorious King William," was to be named Williamsburg.
+
+Nicholson busied himself with planning the streets, which at first he
+hoped to lay out in the form of the letters W and M in honor of King
+William and Queen Mary. When this proved too complicated, he decided to
+run a central avenue from the college to the site of the Capitol, to be
+named Duke of Gloucester Street, paralleled by two side streets, one of
+which was to be called Nicholson and the other Francis. To aid him in
+designing the Capitol, he called in the ablest architect and builder in
+the colony, Henry Cary, and day after day the pair pored over the
+drawings. What book of designs they had before them from which to
+draw their inspiration we do not know, but it must have been of
+recent publication, for the building was typical of the late
+seventeenth-century English houses.
+
+The plan called for a brick structure of two wings, connected by a
+gallery, the whole to be two stories high, with a sharply rising roof
+pierced with dormers and surmounted by a high cupola. The floors of the
+first story were to be laid in flagstones, while the roof was to be
+covered with cyprus shingles. Inside were to be rooms for the Council,
+the General Court, the House of Burgesses, and several committee rooms.
+
+The gratitude of the Virginians to Nicholson for founding their new
+capital and adorning it with beautiful buildings did not blind them to
+his violence, his injustice, and his persecution of innocent men. Does
+he think he is governing the Moors or some other slavish people? they
+asked. He seems to think it a crime in us to demand the liberties of
+Englishmen. "That which bears up their spirits under all the heavy
+customs on their commodities, and restraints in point of trade, is that
+they have the happiness to enjoy the British laws and constitution,
+which they reckon the best of Governments," said Philip Ludwell, Senior.
+"But if once their Governors be suffered to break in upon them in this
+tender point, and to treat them with the arbitrariness of France, or the
+insolence of Morocco, as this gentleman has done, it is not to be
+imagined how ill this will go down with Englishmen that have not forgot
+the liberty of their mother country. The least that can be expected from
+it is that men of substance, if they find no redress, will remove
+themselves and their effects out of the colony to any other part of the
+world where they may enjoy peace and quietness."[31]
+
+At last six members of the Council--Lightfoot, Page, Harrison, Carter,
+Blair, and Ludwell--drew up charges against Nicholson. Though they were
+careful to keep the matter secret the Governor suspected that something
+was up. In July, 1703, he wrote the Lords of Trade: "It hath been
+industriously reported here that ... I was turned out of the government
+for maladministration.... I hope in God, I shall not only be able to
+clear myself, but to make my accusers appear ill people."[32]
+
+Nicholson might have surmised that it was Blair who would present
+charges against him when, several weeks later, the Commissary left for
+England. But he could not have anticipated the strategem which the
+shrewd Scot was to adopt. Though he arrived in November, 1703, he did
+not present the charges of the six Councillors to the Queen in the
+Council until late in the following March, after the tobacco fleet had
+sailed for Virginia. Thus months would elapse before Nicholson could
+have word of them and prepare his answers.
+
+The Privy Council referred the charges to the Lords of Trade and
+Plantations. It must have been with surprise that they listened as the
+petition was read. We appeal to "your Majesty for relief of ourselves
+and other subjects of Virginia from many great grievances and pressures
+we lie under by reason of the unusual, insolent, and arbitrary methods
+of government, as well as wicked and scandalous examples of life, which
+have been now for divers years past put in practice by Nicholson, which
+we have hitherto in vain endeavored by more soft and gentle applications
+to himself to remedy and prevent. But to our unspeakable grief we have
+reaped no other fruit ... but that thereby we have so highly exasperated
+the revengeful mind of Nicholson to the height of implacable malice and
+enmity against ourselves and the better part of the people ... that
+without your Majesty's seasonable interposition we fear the dangerous
+consequences, not only in fomenting lasting feuds and acrimonies among
+the people here, but in endangering the public peace of Virginia."[33]
+
+During the summer Blair had not been idle. It is probable that the
+little colony of Virginians in London got together to plan their
+strategy. When the matter came before the Lords of Trade, the Commissary
+was armed with affidavits from Fouace, Captain James Moodie, and others,
+and letters from Philip Ludwell, Junior, and Benjamin Harrison to the
+elder Ludwell, accusing Nicholson of tyranny. At the hearing Wallace,
+George Luke, and Robert Beverley were called on to tell their stories of
+persecution and injustice.
+
+Hearing that John Thrale was agent for Nicholson, the Lords called him
+in. He made the best defense he could, but he was ignorant of the whole
+matter, and he had not witnesses to refute the charges. When he demanded
+particular instances of misgovernment and injustice, Blair and Beverley
+overwhelmed him with them.[34] To make the Governor's case hopeless,
+Thrale died in the midst of the hearings, leaving him without anyone to
+defend him.[35]
+
+Late in October, 1704, when the first word of the petition reached
+Nicholson he was heard "to make a terrible imprecation, vowing to the
+living God that he would pursue the petitioners with eternal vengeance."
+At a meeting of the Council he glared at the members. "Whoever they were
+that signed that petition I hope they will be obliged to stand by it in
+England and that such of them as are there will be obliged to stay and
+those here to go thither, where it is my desire to come to a fair
+hearing," he told them.[36]
+
+He defended himself in several long letters to the Board. He had done no
+more than defend the Queen's prerogative against the assaults of the
+Council, he said. If everything they asked were granted them, "her
+Majesty would have but a skeleton of a government left, and hardly the
+power of a Doge of Genoa. And I think the question may be put to them
+as the wise King Solomon did to his mother, why don't they ask the
+kingdom or the government also?" As for Commissary Blair, he "and his
+little faction now set up to have the power and interest of turning out
+and putting in Governors, and affect the title that the great Earl of
+Warwick had." If he were ousted, he would present himself to the Board,
+"when I hope I shall not be found to have a cloven foot, to be a fury,
+or to have snakes instead of hair."[37]
+
+If we may credit the reports from Virginia which reached Blair, Ludwell,
+and Fouace in England in January, 1705, Nicholson began proceedings to
+"terrify all people" from discussing his conduct. "He sets up
+inquisition courts, giving commissions to some of his creatures to
+examine all persons on oath if ever they heard such a man reflect upon
+the Governor ... which practice is very terrible to all, there being few
+in Virginia who have not sometimes in private spoke of him as he
+deserves ... If witnesses are backward they are threatened by the
+Governor himself and terrified into depositions." When anyone was
+accused of complaining of him, even in private, he ordered the Attorney
+General to prosecute him under the law against defaming the Governor
+passed after Bacon's Rebellion.[38]
+
+The Governor had one warm defender in Colonel Robert Quary. In a letter
+to the Board of Trade he testified that, when Nicholson was appointed,
+the Councillors expected to "govern and direct all matters," to
+monopolize all places of profit and honor, and have him "suppress all
+that were not of their faction." But when they found that he would not
+be governed by them, they turned upon him with the greatest malice.
+"They aspersed and blackened him both in the country and by letters to
+England, as if he had been the greatest monster in nature." He had been
+guilty of no maladministration in his government "further than some
+escapes of his passion, which their injustice often forced him to."[39]
+
+During the first week of March, 1705, Nicholson was busy preparing his
+defence so that it could get off on the first vessel sailing for
+England. He penned long letters to the Lords of Trade on the first, the
+third, and the sixth, and enclosed them with a memorial against Blair,
+and an address from the Virginia clergy. These papers were received on
+May 2, and read May 31. Whether they would have influenced the Lords in
+Nicholson's favor we do not know, for on April 2, just a month before
+their arrival, the Board received a communication from Secretary Hedges,
+advising them that the Queen wished them to prepare a commission and
+instructions for Colonel Edward Nott to be Governor General of
+Virginia.[40]
+
+It was on August 15, 1705, that the Council met in their beautiful room
+in the new Capitol, for Nott's inauguration. When all had been seated
+Nicholson entered and read a letter from the Queen directing him to
+deliver up the government and "repair to her royal presence." He must
+have looked around at the men who had been his bitter enemies with an
+air of triumph as he read a letter from Secretary Hedges, stating that
+he was being recalled, not because of the charges made against him, but
+merely for her Majesty's service. Then he handed over the seal of the
+colony and the charter of 1676. One wonders whether, as he bowed himself
+out, he took one last look at the room for which he had been so largely
+responsible--the portrait of Queen Anne, the large oval table, the
+stiff-backed chairs, the Queen's arms, the panelling.
+
+Nicholson's administration proved once more that the Virginians could
+not be governed by illegal and arbitrary means. That he was not ousted
+by violence as was Sir John Harvey, or that he did not drive the people
+into open rebellion as did Berkeley, is explained by the difference in
+the character of the times. Harvey acted in the spirit of the First
+Stuart Despotism, Berkeley of the Second Stuart Despotism; Nicholson was
+out of step with his time. To remove him it was not necessary to resort
+to violence; an appeal to the Queen was all that was needed.
+
+Perhaps it was fortunate for the cause of self-government that an
+experiment in despotism had failed in the opening years of the
+eighteenth century. It made succeeding Governors wary of trampling upon
+the people's rights, it gave the people confidence. Having won this
+victory, they went on to others until their Governors became their
+servants rather than their masters.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] CO5-1309, Doc. 9.
+
+[2] CO5-1339, Doc. 33 V.
+
+[3] T. J. Wertenbaker, _Planters of colonial Virginia_, 183, 247.
+
+[4] T. J. Wertenbaker, Attempt to reform the church of colonial
+Virginia, _Sewanee Review_ 25: 273-275.
+
+[5] CO5-1409, p. 135A.
+
+[6] CO5-1314, Doc. 35, IIb.
+
+[7] CO5-1360, p. 117.
+
+[8] CO5-1314, Doc. D10.
+
+[9] _Ibid._, Doc. 15G.
+
+[10] CO5-1314, Doc. 36.
+
+[11] _Ibid._, Doc. 15G.
+
+[12] _Ibid._, Doc. 15.
+
+[13] CO5-1314, Doc. 17.
+
+[14] _Ibid._, Doc. 35 II 6.
+
+[15] _Ibid._, Doc. 10.
+
+[16] _Ibid._, Doc. 23.
+
+[17] _Ibid._, Doc. 24.
+
+[18] _Ibid._, Doc. 10.
+
+[19] _Ibid._
+
+[20] CO5-1314, Doc. 40.
+
+[21] _Ibid._, Doc. 14c.
+
+[22] _Ibid._, Doc. 9.
+
+[23] _Ibid._, Doc. 15.
+
+[24] _Ibid._, Doc. 12.
+
+[25] _Ibid._, Doc. 7.
+
+[26] _Ibid._, p. 23.
+
+[27] _Ibid._, Doc. 7.
+
+[28] _Ibid._
+
+[29] CO5-1314, Doc. 15f.
+
+[30] _Ibid._
+
+[31] _Ibid._, Doc. 17.
+
+[32] CO5-1360, p. 424.
+
+[33] CO5-1660, pp. 463-465.
+
+[34] _Ibid._, Docs. 23, 24.
+
+[35] CO5-1360, p. 480.
+
+[36] CO5-1314, Doc. 36.
+
+[37] _Ibid._, Docs. 43, 44.
+
+[38] CO5-1314, Doc. 36.
+
+[39] _Ibid._, Doc. 67.
+
+[40] _Ibid._, Doc. 46.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE VIRGINIA HOUSE OF LORDS
+
+
+Though the members of the Council must have been surprised when
+Nicholson read Secretary Hedges' letter, they did not let it disturb
+them. They were rid of him, and that was what really mattered. No more
+could he bully them in the Council meetings, no more could he thwart
+them in the General Court by packing juries, no more could he ignore
+them in appointing officers, no more could he insult and revile them. As
+they sat around the table with the mild-mannered Nott, they realized
+with satisfaction that his personality was in strong contrast with that
+of his predecessor. Perhaps it would be easy to control him and keep the
+power in their own hands.
+
+To a large extent this is just what they did. Though Nott was no
+weakling, he was anxious to live in peace with both Council and
+Assembly. It was said of him that his "whole study was to do everybody
+justice."[1] Like other Governors when they first arrived and were
+unacquainted with men and conditions in the colony, he was dependent
+upon the Councillors for advice and guidance. Before he could learn the
+ropes, he died. Since four years elapsed before a new Governor arrived
+to take his place, the Council remained for half a decade the
+controlling power in the colony. From August, 1705, to July, 1710, the
+government was neither despotic nor democratic, but aristocratic.
+
+Nathaniel Bacon, Nicholson, Spotswood, and others derided the "mighty
+dons" of the Council, pointing out that they came from humble families
+in England. These critics did not stop to consider that it was more to
+their credit to have won by their own efforts positions of wealth and
+power than to have inherited them. Virginia itself offered them the
+opportunity, but it was they who seized it.
+
+The group of well-to-do planters whom the Council represented, in the
+early years of the eighteenth century were far from numerous. "In every
+river there are from ten to thirty men who by trade and industry have
+gotten very competent estates," wrote Colonel Quary. "Out of this number
+are chosen her Majesty's Council, the Assembly, the justices, and
+officers of the government."[2]
+
+It must have been a humiliation to such proud men as William Byrd II,
+"King" Carter, and Benjamin Harrison that they were not admitted to the
+English peerage. But though there were no dukes, nor lords, nor knights
+among the Councillors, they had the right to certain titles which
+carried great distinction. The term "esquire" was given to members of
+the Council, and was invariably used by them in signing legal documents.
+If a man were not a Councillor, yet was prominent and wealthy, he had
+the right to sign himself "gentleman." The holders of high office in the
+militia--colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors, and captains--prized
+their titles highly and used them in conjunction with "esquire," or
+"gentleman."[3]
+
+Nor did the English nobility command greater respect than did the
+members of the Council in Virginia. When a certain Humphrey
+Chamberlaine, of Henrico County, became angry with William Byrd I, and,
+stripping off his coat, drew his sword as if to attack him, he was
+arrested and clapped into jail. At his trial he excused himself by
+saying he was a stranger in the country and ignorant of its laws and
+customs. But the court, ruling that no one "could be insensible of the
+respect and reverence due so honorable a person as Colonel Byrd," fined
+him five pounds sterling.[4]
+
+Although the basis of the wealth of the aristocracy was land, the
+holding of large tracts did not in itself bring riches unless the owner
+could find the labor necessary to work them. During most of the
+seventeenth century indentured workers were used extensively. But their
+cost and the fact that they served but four or five years limited the
+return they brought their masters. With the importing of slaves in large
+numbers in the last two decades of the seventeenth century and the first
+third of the eighteenth century, the cost of raising tobacco was greatly
+lowered. This not only doubled or tripled existing fortunes, but created
+many new ones. It is this which explains why the Virginia aristocracy,
+which so late as the last decade of the seventeenth century was little
+more than a group, by the mid-eighteenth century had become a numerous
+class.[5]
+
+In their mode of life the aristocracy consciously imitated the English
+country squires. The large libraries which they accumulated served
+practical as well as cultural ends. The wealthy man who wished to build
+a residence pored over James Gibbs' _A Book of Architecture_, or Abraham
+Swan's _The British Architect_. In laying out his garden he consulted
+Kip's _English Houses and Gardens_, or John James' _The Theory and
+Practice of Gardening_. On his shelves were English books on law,
+medicine, religion, agriculture.
+
+Fortunately some of the mansions of colonial Virginia have survived the
+ravages of time, fires, and wars, to bear witness to the charm and
+dignity of the plantation life of two centuries ago. Carter's Grove,
+Mount Airy, Gunston Hall, Westover, Brandon, and others constitute
+history in brick and wood. The lovely gardens, some of which have been
+restored in recent years, are in the formal style of Le Notre and Rose.
+The mansions were furnished with tables, chairs, bookcases by the
+English masters; on the tables were pitchers, goblets, and candlesticks
+by English silversmiths. The aristocrat dressed himself and his family
+in the latest English fashions, owned an English-made coach, imported
+English race horses, perhaps sent his son to Oxford, when he visited
+England had his portrait painted by Lely or Kneller.
+
+It was inevitable that in so small a group as the early Virginia
+aristocracy there should be frequent intermarriages. In 1717 half of the
+members of the Council were related to each other by blood or marriage.
+James Blair and Philip Ludwell were brothers-in-law of Nathaniel
+Harrison; William Byrd's wife was the niece of Ludwell; William Bassett
+and Edmund Berkeley had married half-nieces of Ludwell; Ludwell's wife
+was Harrison's sister. Governor Spotswood habitually referred to them as
+"the family."
+
+It was wrong, Spotswood pointed out, that a group of relatives should
+wield such power. Since they all sat on the General Court, it was to be
+expected that they would vote as a unit if the interests of any one of
+them were involved. "Whoever has lived here and frequented the General
+Courts held of late in Virginia, has abundant reason to know that there
+is a strong link of relatives on the bench, who by their majority have
+the determination of all causes," he wrote in 1718. "When one of their
+kindred is charged with enormous crimes, clerks may safely keep back the
+examination, and sheriffs keep back the witnesses.... When the King has
+been plaintiff in a civil action against one of that family, the cause
+could not be tried for want of judges to make up a bench exclusive of
+those who were akin to the defendant."[6]
+
+One wonders how long Governor Nott would have put up with this kind of
+thing had not death overtaken him. Despite his desire to work in harmony
+with the Council, there is evidence that he had no intention of letting
+them ride over him roughshod. This became evident when they tried to
+take the patronage out of his hands. "I do believe the Council have a
+mind to dispute with me the making of the collectors of the two
+shillings per hogshead," he wrote the Lords of Trade. "Their pretence is
+that it is said in my instructions I shall not make them but by advice
+of Council. Now they have a mind to turn several out and put in their
+own relatives. And that is not my turn of temper."[7]
+
+When he asked the advice of the Council before reappointing naval
+officers, they objected to Major Arthur Allen, Colonel Miles Gary, and
+Colonel William Wilson. But when nothing of consequence was brought
+against them, the Governor insisted on continuing them. At the same time
+he shook off responsibility by refusing to renew their commissions until
+he had instructions to do so from the Lord Treasurer.[8]
+
+Whatever resentment the Councillors bore him for this was forgotten when
+he championed their plea that they should not be forbidden to become
+naval officers. "I think this instruction very strange," he wrote the
+Lords of Trade. "To be deprived of those few places of profit ... brings
+the consequence that the good men are very indifferent to being one of
+the Council. I hope you are of opinion that this restriction may be
+taken off."[9]
+
+The Governor thought it his duty to defer to the Council in most of his
+appointments to lesser offices. "I have directed new commissioners of
+peace," he wrote the Lords of Trade, "and not knowing persons yet, I
+left the nomination of justices solely to the Council. I have continued
+the former escheators since there was no objection to them."[10]
+
+When Nott first took over the government, he found the colony divided
+against itself. The people as a whole were overjoyed to get rid of
+Nicholson, but a group made up no doubt of men who had received favors
+at his hands, resented his removal. When an election was held for a new
+Assembly, opposing candidates were put up by the pro-Nicholson and
+anti-Nicholson factions. Although the latter won an overwhelming
+victory, enough Nicholson men were returned to continue the old feuds
+and hatreds. Governor Nott made his opening address an appeal for peace.
+It was his earnest hope, he said, that all animosities be laid aside,
+and that the only contention be as to who should be most obedient to the
+Queen and most serviceable to the country.[11]
+
+Despite this plea the pro-Nicholson faction presented under the guise of
+a grievance a resolution which was in reality a reproof of the six
+members of the Council who had presented the charges against the
+Governor. No one should take upon himself to represent to the Queen the
+grievances of the colony without the consent of the House of Burgesses,
+it said. No thanks, but rather a check should be given to those that had
+done so against the late Governor. But they met with a severe rebuff. So
+far from approving, the House ordered the so-called grievance to "be
+burnt under the gallows by the sheriff of York County as a mutinous,
+seditious, and scandalous paper."[12]
+
+Though there is no evidence that Nott tried to render the Burgesses
+submissive to his will by bribing them with offices, the Assembly
+thought this a golden opportunity to weaken the Governor's appointive
+power. Some could recall Berkeley's Long Assembly, and all had been
+witnesses of the shameless way in which Nicholson had handed out jobs.
+So they passed a bill requiring each county court to nominate three men,
+all of them justices, from whom the Governor was to select one as
+sheriff, who was to serve not more than two years. Had not Nott been so
+anxious to avoid any conflict with the Assembly, he would certainly have
+vetoed this bill, for not only did it restrict his power of appointment,
+but it infringed upon the royal prerogative.
+
+But he balked when the House sent up a bill to require the Governor, in
+appointing the justices of the peace, to secure the assent of the
+Council, or at least five of them. He thought they were going too far in
+this attempt to deprive the Governor of the patronage, leave him at the
+mercy of the Council and Assembly, and make him a mere figurehead. When
+the Lords of Trade heard that he had vetoed this bill, they wrote
+congratulating him. "The restraining Governors from making justices ...
+is entrenching on prerogative, and you may be assured it will not be
+approved here. In all other plantations the power of appointing and
+removing justices of the peace is solely in the Governor.... But it
+would be prudence in the Governor to advise for his better
+information."[13]
+
+When the Assembly met again, in April, 1706, they made a daring attempt
+to weaken the Governor's power by passing a substitute law for the
+famous Act of 1680 which gave a perpetual revenue to the Crown. The new
+bill bore the disarming title of "An Act for raising a public revenue
+for the better support of the government ... and for ascertaining the
+salary of the Council." Nott apparently saw nothing alarming in it, but
+Colonel Quary at once suspected that it was intended to weaken the Act
+of 1680, and perhaps set a precedent which would eventually give the
+House control of the revenue from the export duty on tobacco.
+
+"These topping men" were merely waiting an opportunity to have the old
+law damned, he wrote the Lords of Trade. "Had the Assembly only designed
+to have augmented and added to the Queen's revenue, why could they not
+make an act of it without damning and destroying the former act? And
+that your Lordships may see the snake in the grass, please observe that
+the Assembly are pleased to appropriate the Queen's revenue as they
+think fit, a thing never pretended to before, and to limit and confine
+her Majesty from disposing of her own money.... Whereas in a former act
+the Queen was graciously pleased to appropriate L370 to be divided among
+the Council for attendance, in this act they have ordered otherwise ...
+by which they have tied up the Queen's hands from giving any part of her
+bounty but according to their pleasure."[14]
+
+When this bill came before the Board of Trade they referred it to
+Attorney General Harcourt and Solicitor General Montague. Although these
+astute men, as we have seen, gave it as their opinion that the old act
+had been passed in a way "contrary to the present method," and should be
+superseded by a new one, the Board decided to let sleeping dogs lie. So
+they advised the Queen to veto the Act of 1716. "'Tis hoped it will
+never be revived by any Governor who has at heart the interests of the
+Crown, and wishes that people should distinguish between what they owe
+to the indulgence of the Sovereign and what they may claim as their
+right by the laws of Virginia," wrote Governor Spotswood several years
+later.[15]
+
+The climate of Virginia, which was fatal to so many newcomers from
+England, took a heavy toll of Governors. Lord De la Warr fell a victim
+to the Virginia sickness; Herbert Jeffreys died after having been in the
+colony only a few months. Now, on August 23, 1706, death ended the brief
+administration of Governor Nott. He was mourned by the people, and was
+buried in Bruton Parish churchyard with all the solemnity the colony was
+capable of. "Had it pleased God to have spared him but a little time
+longer amongst us, he would have healed all those unhappy differences
+that have of late made us uneasy, and united us again to be one people,"
+wrote William Bassett.[16]
+
+When the Council met after Nott's death they opened his commission and
+listened intently as it was read. And there was great satisfaction when
+they found that in the event of a Governor's death the Council was to
+take on themselves the administration of the government. But they were
+far from happy that Colonel Edmund Jenings, as the senior Councillor,
+was to preside at their meetings with such powers as were necessary in
+"carrying on the public service." They insisted that the Attorney
+General of the colony, in drawing up the first proclamation under the
+new government, should issue it, not under the name of the President
+alone, but of the President and Council.[17]
+
+Jenings wrote to the Lords of Trade to ask just what his status should
+be. Their answer was decisive. The instruction that the Council should
+take over the government upon the death of a Governor had caused many
+controversies between the President and the Councillors and had greatly
+hindered public business. So they altered it to read: "The eldest
+Councillor do take upon him the administration of the government ... in
+the same manner ... as other our Governor should do."[18]
+
+Francis Nicholson had written the Lords of Trade some years previously
+expressing doubts as to the wisdom of making any member of the Council
+the chief executive. "There may happen great disputes about the person
+of the President and his powers. And may be when the President and the
+Council are all natives or else entirely settled here, nature and
+self-interest may sway them to do some things and pass some acts that
+may be (as they will imagine) for the good of their country and make and
+secure an interest with the people. This may be prejudicial to their
+Majesties' service."[19] No doubt the Lords of Trade saw the force of
+this reasoning, but they were not prepared to keep a Lieutenant Governor
+in Virginia whose only function it would be to wait around ready to step
+in when the Governor died or was recalled.
+
+Although the other members of the Council seem to have regarded Jenings
+with something like scorn, and one of them had spoken of him as "the
+right noble little Colonel Jenings," the man had had a distinguished
+career. He had been clerk of the York County court, collector of the
+York River district, commissioner for the College of William and Mary,
+member of the Council, Attorney General, and Secretary. And now, as
+President of the Council, he seems to have laid aside former
+animosities, and considered himself merely first among equals.
+
+It was taken for granted that Jenings' administration would be brief,
+and that a new Governor would come over as soon as one could be
+appointed. Word had come that a commission had been drawn up for Colonel
+Robert Hunter, and that he had sailed from Portsmouth in June, 1707. But
+month after month passed and he failed to appear. As late as March,
+1708, the Council was wondering what had become of him. At last they
+heard that the vessel in which he had shipped had been taken by the
+French, and that he was held captive in France. So they had to wait two
+more years before a Governor arrived.[20]
+
+This suited President Jenings and the Council, for it left them in
+undisputed control of the government. They even refused to hold an
+Assembly for fear it might question their proceedings. It is true that
+six times they set the date for a meeting of the Assembly, but six times
+they postponed it. At last, when people began to question whether these
+frequent postponements did not put an end to the Assembly, the Council
+settled all doubts by dissolving them by proclamation.
+
+This was a dangerous thing to do, for it was in the midst of the War of
+the Spanish Succession, and an Assembly was needed to provide funds for
+the defense of the colony. But the Council gambled that no French fleet
+would appear in the Chesapeake Bay. The normal expenses of the
+government--their own salaries and those of the President, Auditor,
+Attorney General, and other officials--they paid out of the export duty
+on tobacco and the quit rent fund. In September, 1708, Jenings wrote
+that privateers had come in between the capes and had chased a merchant
+vessel up the York River, that the Indians were threatening the
+frontier, that the Governor's house was unfinished, and that the quit
+rent fund was "much drained," but that despite all, the Council would
+not call an Assembly.[21]
+
+In December, 1709, Lord George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney, was appointed
+Governor General of Virginia. Orkney had been trained as a soldier, and
+had distinguished himself at Namur, Blenheim, Malplaquet, and elsewhere.
+It is probable that it was intended from the first that the office
+should be a sinecure, and though Orkney held it for years he never set
+foot on Virginia soil. But Virginia had to pay his salary, for his
+L1,000 a year was taken out of the export duty on tobacco. To carry on
+the administration in the colony Colonel Alexander Spotswood was made
+Lieutenant Governor.
+
+It would seem that in the years from the recall of Nicholson to the
+arrival of Spotswood, the danger to liberty in Virginia came less from
+the Throne than from the Council. A free people could not be quiet under
+the rule of a body of twelve men, not chosen by the voters but appointed
+by the sovereign.
+
+The average planter, not only the owner of only a few acres, but the man
+of means had reason to be alarmed. Was it consistent with the principles
+of English liberty, they must have asked, for a clique of wealthy men,
+many of them united in one family, to have such power over their lives
+and their property? If the people were to rule, final authority must be
+vested in the House of Burgesses, not the Council.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] CO5-1315, Bassett to Perry & Co., Aug. 30, 1706.
+
+[2] CO5-1314, Doc. 63iv.
+
+[3] Hugh Jones, _The present state of Virginia_, ed. R. L. Morton, 93.
+
+[4] P. A. Bruce, _Social life of Virginia_, 133
+
+[5] T. J. Wertenbaker, _The planters of colonial Virginia_, 155-160.
+
+[6] CO5-1318, Spotswood to Lords of Trade, March 20, 1718.
+
+[7] CO5-1340, Doc. 15.
+
+[8] _Ibid._
+
+[9] _Ibid._, Doc. 19.
+
+[10] CO5-1316, p. 450.
+
+[11] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1702-1712: 131.
+
+[12] _Ibid._, 147.
+
+[13] CO5-1362, March 26, 1707.
+
+[14] CO5-1315, Quary to Lordships, Sept. 1, 1706.
+
+[15] CO5-1317.
+
+[16] CO5-1315, Aug. 30, 1706.
+
+[17] _Executive journals of the Council_ 3: 119, 120.
+
+[18] CO5-1362, p. 121.
+
+[19] CO5-1314, Doc. 15.
+
+[20] CO5-1362, pp. 336-340.
+
+[21] CO5-1362, pp. 318, 325.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+SPOTSWOOD
+
+
+Alexander Spotswood arrived in Virginia June 20, 1710, aboard the
+warship _Deptford_, and spent the night at Green Spring, with his future
+enemy, Philip Ludwell. Two days later he met with the Council around the
+oval table in the beautiful Council Chamber in the new Capitol, and laid
+his commission before them.
+
+The new Lieutenant Governor was descended from a family of Scottish
+Anglicans. His great-grandfather had seconded Archbishop Laud's attempt
+to introduce the Prayer Book in Scotland; his grandfather had been put
+to death by the Presbyterians. Perhaps it was this tragedy which induced
+his father to desert his native land and take service in the English
+army. It was while he was with his regiment in Tangier that Alexander
+Spotswood was born.
+
+The son chose to follow in the father's footsteps, and in 1693 we find
+him serving in the Earl of Bath's regiment in Flanders. He fought
+gallantly, was wounded at Blenheim, and was captured at Oudenarde. It is
+possible that he served under the Earl of Orkney, also, and that was the
+reason he named him as his deputy in Virginia. "I must ever own
+gratefully that to your Lordship's good will I owe my station here," he
+wrote Orkney in 1718.
+
+Spotswood was one of the ablest Governors sent to America to represent
+the British Crown. He did much to open the West to Virginia, encouraged
+settlement in the Piedmont, and erected forts in the passes of the Blue
+Ridge. He wiped out a nest of pirates under the notorious Blackbeard and
+strung several of them up at Williamsburg. A man of artistic interests,
+he was responsible for the beautiful Palace gardens, with their wealth
+of boxwood, walks, walls, lake, ornate gates, flower beds; and designed
+charming Bruton Parish Church.
+
+In 1716 he led a party of gentlemen, accompanied by rangers, servants,
+and Indians, on an exploring expedition to the West. As they rode
+through the wilderness of the Piedmont, they shot deer and bears, camped
+in the open, roasted venison on wooden forks. On reaching the Blue
+Ridge they toiled to the summit, and there, looking out over the Valley
+of Virginia, drank the health of King George I and the royal family.
+After descending into the Valley and crossing the Shenandoah River, they
+turned their horses' heads homeward. Back in Williamsburg, the Governor
+presented each of his companions with a golden horseshoe, inscribed with
+_sic juvat transcendere montes_.
+
+Although Spotswood was accused of being haughty and implacable, he
+lacked the fiery temper of Nicholson or the revengeful fury of Sir
+William Berkeley. In his conflicts with the Council his astute mind and
+his knowledge of English and Virginia constitutional law made it easy
+for him to refute their arguments. Though he defended the powers of the
+Crown, he was honestly concerned for the welfare of the colony. But he
+hated democracy, and he had no patience with what he termed the follies
+of the ignorant multitude. Despite his assaults on the Virginia
+aristocracy, his ambition was to become one of them, and he used his
+office to build up one of the greatest estates in the colony.
+
+The instructions given Spotswood by the Lords of Trade were on the whole
+wise and liberal. The people of Virginia were to have the full benefit
+of the _habeas corpus_; fees and salaries must be moderate; no one must
+be deprived of life, member, or property without due process of law;
+martial law was forbidden; the people were to be supplied with arms. Yet
+several clauses were loaded with trouble for the Lieutenant
+Governor--one for appointing courts to try criminals; another for
+preventing frauds in the accounts of governmental receipts and payments;
+another for collecting arrears of quit rents; one to prevent the holding
+of large tracts of unoccupied land.
+
+When this last instruction was read to the Council, they must have
+shifted uneasily in their seats, for most of them held land which they
+did not cultivate. Fourteen years earlier Edward Randolph had reported
+this to the Lords of Trade. The reason the colony was so thinly settled,
+he thought, was that poor men would not go there "because members of the
+Council and others who made an interest in the government, have from
+time to time procured grants of very large tracts of land." Thus
+newcomers and indentured workers on becoming free were forced to be
+tenants or go to the utmost bounds of the colony. The remedy, he
+suggested, was to force payment of arrears of quit rents and prohibit
+for the future grants of more than 500 acres.[1]
+
+Both Nott and Hunter had been instructed to cancel patents for land of
+any who neglected to cultivate even a small part of their holdings. So
+now Spotswood, in the face of bitter opposition, restricted all grants
+to 400 acres unless the patentee showed that he was able to meet this
+requirement. In 1710 he tried to satisfy the Lords of Trade by pushing
+through a law stating what should be considered satisfactory seating,
+and in 1713 another making the regulations still more specific.[2]
+
+The chief effect of these acts was to arouse the resentment of the
+Council. They assented to them in their capacity as the Upper House of
+the Assembly because they dared not flaunt openly the commands of the
+British government. But they found means to make them inoperative. The
+rumor was spread throughout the colony that the attorney general in
+England had ruled that no lands patented prior to the passage of these
+acts was liable to forfeiture. To ease men's fears, several large
+landholders purposely refused to pay quit rents. Even John Grymes, the
+deputy auditor into whose hands the quit rents were paid, himself
+remained in arrears "to show no danger in that law."[3] Spotswood
+admitted that the law was a failure when he wrote in 1718: "No man in
+Virginia has yet had land granted away for non-payment of quit rents."
+
+When Spotswood came to Virginia there were many complaints of hard
+times. The war in Europe had proved disastrous to the tobacco trade, the
+flow of hogsheads to the continent of Europe had been reduced to a
+trickle, tobacco piled up in the British warehouses, the merchants left
+a part of each crop on the planters' hands, and the price dropped lower
+and lower. Many of the poorer farmers were in rags, and some began to
+raise sheep and to spin and weave. The salaried class, especially the
+clergy, were in dire straits also, since they were paid in tobacco,
+often of the lowest grade.
+
+The fertile brain of Spotswood now thought out a scheme intended to
+raise the price of tobacco, give the colony a convenient and stable
+currency, make the collecting of quit rents easier, and prevent frauds
+in shipping out tobacco. So he got one of his friends in the Assembly to
+introduce a bill to require inspection of all tobacco at government
+warehouses, and the issuing of tobacco notes which were to be legal
+tender. This plan had much to recommend it, and a similar one was put
+into successful operation later during the administration of Governor
+Gooch.
+
+Despite violent opposition in certain quarters, the tobacco bill passed
+both Houses of Assembly and was signed by the Governor. So now there
+were sounds of hammering and sawing as warehouses arose on the great
+rivers. Soon the tobacco vessels were tying up at the adjacent wharves,
+and the planters were rolling their hogsheads for the inspection. After
+the agent had examined the leaf, he either rejected it as "trash" and
+unfit for exportation, or stamped on the hogshead the weight and variety
+of the tobacco, and gave the owner his certificate.
+
+At first everything seemed to be going smoothly. The quit rents were
+collected in tobacco notes, the price of the leaf rose in the English
+market. The clergy wrote Spotswood thanking him for the increased value
+of their salaries. "Their livings, which by the badness of the pay were
+sunk to little or nothing, begin now to be much more valuable by your
+wise and just contrivance to keep up the credit of the public
+payments."[4]
+
+None the less, the law was unpopular. The debtor objected to paying in
+appreciated currency. It was a heavy expense for the planter to roll his
+hogsheads over the bad roads to the warehouses and then pay for
+inspection and storage. He was resentful if his tobacco was judged to be
+unfit for export. At the courthouses local politicians began to denounce
+the act to willing listeners. "He is the patriot who will not yield to
+whatever the government proposes," complained Spotswood. "Him they call
+a poor man's friend who always carries still-yards to weigh to the needy
+planter's advantage, and who never judges his tobacco to be trash."[5]
+
+Spotswood said that the tobacco act was looked upon to be the most
+extraordinary one that ever passed a Virginia Assembly. When he first
+outlined his plans for it his friends assured him it would be impossible
+to persuade the Assembly to pass it. Yet it was adopted unanimously by
+the Council, and passed in the House "with some address and great
+struggle."
+
+What the Governor meant by "address" is revealed by an examination of
+the list of fat jobs that he handed out to individual Burgesses. Of the
+fifty-one members, seventeen were justices of the peace. Fearing perhaps
+that this did not assure the passage of his bill, he was lavish in
+promising tobacco agents' places, and no less than twenty-five Burgesses
+cast their votes with this job in sight. Only nineteen members failed to
+get one or the other of these posts, and some got both.[6] "I have, in a
+great measure, I think, cleared the way for a Governor towards carrying
+any reasonable point in the House of Burgesses," Spotswood boasted, "for
+he will have in his disposal about forty agencies, which one with
+another are likely to yield nigh 250 pounds per annum each."[7]
+
+But Spotswood would not have been so pleased with himself if he had
+realized the resentment which this open bribery of the people's
+representatives caused throughout the colony. The Assembly "gave him all
+things asked, and he them agent's places to pick our pockets," said one
+disgruntled planter. But what the officeholder had to expect if he
+opposed the measures urged by the Governor is shown by his treatment of
+Nicholas Meriwether. When Meriwether not only spoke against the tobacco
+bill in the Assembly, but by "many seditious speeches" denounced it to
+the people of New Kent County, Spotswood promptly removed him from his
+place as justice of the peace. This, he thought, would discourage others
+from following his example.
+
+Having corrupted the Burgesses and made most of them his henchmen,
+Spotswood would have no doubt continued them indefinitely by successive
+adjournments, had they not been automatically dissolved by the death of
+Queen Anne. "By a good providence we were delivered from them, else they
+would have continued as long as he," wrote Joshua Gee.[8] Just how
+passively the people would have submitted to another long Assembly must
+remain a matter of speculation, but their resentment against both
+Spotswood and his puppets is shown by their selections for the House of
+Burgesses in 1715. Of the twenty-five members who had accepted agents'
+jobs, only one, William Armistead, of Elizabeth City, was returned. And
+the voters of New Kent showed their anger at Spotswood's treatment of
+Meriwether by returning him to the House. Altogether only sixteen
+Burgesses of the old House had seats in the new, and of these eleven had
+been neither agents nor justices.
+
+Spotswood was deeply resentful. The new Burgesses, he thought, were a
+set of ignorant demagogues, determined to oppose anything he suggested.
+It was all the fault of the law which permitted any man to vote who
+owned any real estate, even half an acre. Just before an election
+reports were spread that the country was on the verge of ruin, and no
+one was qualified to save it but "some of their own mobbish
+politicians." It was no wonder that some of the Burgesses could not
+write grammatical English, since the ignorant people insisted on
+electing men of their own stamp.[9]
+
+The new Assembly was as hostile to the Governor as their predecessors
+had been subservient. Everything he proposed they objected to, in some
+cases for no other reason than to thwart him. They were egged on by
+Gawin Corbin, who had been ousted from his job as naval officer; George
+Marable, whom Spotswood had removed from the James City County court;
+and Edwin Conway, of Lancaster County. But the whole atmosphere of the
+House was one of hostility.
+
+No sooner had the House been organized than grievances from various
+counties poured in, most of them complaining against the tobacco law.
+The people of Surry prayed that the law be repealed, the people of
+Henrico wanted it repealed, the people of Essex wanted it repealed, the
+people of Warwick complained of the hardships of the law. It seemed that
+no more than two counties in all Virginia were satisfied.[10] Spotswood
+claimed that these grievances did not represent the views of a majority
+of the people. Many of them were drawn up by members of the House, some
+were signed at election fields, horse races, and drunken meetings. "Nor
+shall a seditious paper, signed by five obscure fellows who must have a
+scribe to write all their names, ever pass with me for a county
+grievance."[11]
+
+When Richard Littlepage and Thomas Butts, two of the justices of New
+Kent, refused to certify the grievances of that county, they were
+arrested under the Speaker's warrant. Though the House voted them guilty
+of high misdemeanor and contempt, they refused to appear, claiming that
+the Burgesses had no legal authority over them. Thereupon the House
+appealed to the Governor to arrest them. "The freedom and privileges of
+this House are in danger of being utterly subverted," they said, "when
+justices ... assume a jurisdiction and by their judgment debar the
+people and their rightful representatives of the rightful ways ... for
+redressing their grievances ... we believe that such matters do concern
+the Burgesses in Assembly."[12] But Spotswood rebuffed them. They were
+exceeding their authority, he told them, when they persecuted justices
+and tried to punish them for their proceedings on the bench.
+
+In his anger at not being able to control the Burgesses, Spotswood tried
+to make the House less democratic by restricting the right to vote. But
+not daring to reveal his intention, he approached the question in a
+roundabout way. In September, 1715, he sent out a printed letter to all
+of the county courts, questioning whether the justices should levy a tax
+to pay the Burgesses' salaries when no law existed empowering them to do
+so.[13] To the Lords of Trade he explained that if the justices declined
+to pay the levy, "the Burgesses must have become suitors for an act
+wherein might properly have been described the qualifications of the
+electors and elected."[14] In other words, he was prepared to veto any
+bill to legalize the collecting of salaries that did not disfranchise
+the small landholder and restrict the right to sit in the House to the
+well-to-do. So he kept mum on the fact that the salaries could be
+assessed by the sheriffs on a writ, as was the practice in England.
+
+But in this matter he was balked by the members of the Council. Carter,
+Blair, Ludwell, and the others no doubt guessed what Spotswood was
+aiming at, and they were unwilling to have him undermine the very
+foundations of liberty in Virginia. So in the General Court they passed
+"an unpreceded sentence" to levy the Burgesses' salary on the private
+estates of the justices if they refused "to levy it on their
+counties."[15]
+
+The House asserted in no uncertain terms its right to judge of the
+election and qualifications of its members. When they heard that William
+Cole and Cole Digges, of Warwick County, had promised the voters that if
+elected they would serve without salary, they refused to seat them. A
+new election was held in which, presumably, no such promise was made,
+and Cole and Digges were again elected, and this time permitted to take
+their seats.[16] Spotswood taunted the House for not grasping at this
+opportunity to reduce the heavy burden of the poll tax, and the Council
+thought there was neither law nor practice to justify their action.[17]
+Yet the Burgesses were right, not only in regarding Cole and Digges'
+offer as bribery, but in claiming that it was contrary to a law passed
+in October, 1705.[18]
+
+The House now made a major assault upon the powers of the Governor. The
+time had come, they thought, to put an end to the bribing of its members
+with lucrative jobs, which had been done with such pernicious
+consequences by Berkeley, Nicholson, and others. They passed an act
+making it unlawful for any Burgess to be also a naval officer, tobacco
+agent, clerk of a county court, or hold any other office of profit in
+the government. They next tried to put an end to long Assemblies by
+prohibiting their continuance for more than three years. A third measure
+"for ascertaining secretaries', sheriffs', clerks' and constables' fees"
+was designed to make the bait of office less attractive. These bills
+aroused Spotswood's ire, for he saw immediately that they were designed
+to strike the vital power of patronage from his hands and the hands of
+his successors. So he vetoed all three.
+
+The Governor's main purpose in calling the Assembly of 1715 was to have
+them vote assistance to South Carolina in that colony's bloody struggle
+with a powerful confederation of Indians. "We must appear to have
+neither policy nor bowels of compassion, if this government can remain
+unconcerned while savage pagans are overwhelming one of our adjacent
+provinces, and inhumanly butchering and torturing our brethren," he told
+the Burgesses in his opening address.[19] To them South Carolina seemed
+a long way off. They had troubles enough at home without sending men and
+money there, but, since the Governor was so set on it, they would yield
+if he would consent to something they wanted.
+
+They passed a bill to raise L450 for the purchase of supplies for South
+Carolina, but tacked on a rider for the repeal of the hated tobacco act.
+This, of course, Spotswood vetoed. To let it pass, he thought, would be
+an act of high injustice, since upon the faith of the tobacco law at
+least L7,000 had been spent in erecting warehouses and wharves, and in
+the purchase of scales.[20] Neither he nor the Burgesses realized that
+the law was under attack in England. The merchants were dissatisfied
+with it, and Solicitor General William Thompson held that it was an act
+in restraint of trade. In July, 1717, the act was vetoed by King George
+I.[21]
+
+Spotswood closed the session with an ill-natured and bitter denunciation
+of the Burgesses. "The true interest of your country is not what you
+have troubled your heads about," he said. "All your proceedings have
+been calculated to answer the notions of the ignorant populace, and if
+you can excuse yourselves to them, you matter not how you stand before
+God, your Prince, and all judicious men or before any others to whom you
+think you owe not your elections.... In fine, I cannot but attribute
+those miscarriages to the people's mistaken choice of a set of
+representatives whom Heaven has not generally endowed with the ordinary
+qualifications requisite to legislators, for I observe that the grand
+ruling party in your House has not furnished chairmen for two of your
+standing committees who can spell English or write common sense. And to
+keep such an Assembly on foot would be discrediting a country that has
+many able and worthy gentlemen in it. And therefore I dissolve you."[22]
+
+Having insulted the Burgesses and the people who had elected them,
+Spotswood next incurred the enmity of a majority of the Council. The
+trouble started when he laid before them the instruction requiring him
+to see that fair books of accounts be kept of the Crown revenues.[23]
+Since only the gross sums had been reported and itemized accounts kept
+only on "loose papers," he demanded that the Auditor and the Receiver
+General adopt more businesslike methods. To this Receiver General
+William Byrd and Auditor Ludwell replied that they kept their accounts
+as their predecessors had kept them and in accordance with instructions
+from the Auditor General for all the colonies.
+
+Soon after this Byrd left for England, taking with him, if we may
+believe Spotswood, "all the books of the revenue." The Governor then
+demanded of Ludwell whether or not he intended to comply with the
+instruction to keep account books. Ludwell replied that he could not
+change the old method without orders from the Auditor General. Since
+this was nothing less than setting up the authority of this officer
+against that of the King, the Governor thought the excuse a very poor
+one. So, in January, 1716, he ousted both Ludwell and Byrd from
+office.[24]
+
+No doubt there had been confusion in the accounts, and no doubt
+Spotswood's insistence on having account books would have done much to
+bring them into order. It is possible, also, that there had been much
+remissness in paying taxes and some fraud. The Governor wrote the Lords
+of Trade: "Notwithstanding all the contrivances of the family to justify
+the late officers of the revenue, here is now demonstration, not only of
+darkness and confusion in the manner of collecting the quit rents, but
+likewise of frauds and errors in accounting for the King's revenue."[25]
+
+Realizing that he had brought down on himself the hostility of the
+Councillors, Spotswood now tried to undermine their power by setting up
+courts of oyer and terminer to which he appointed persons other than
+themselves. The General Court, on which all members of the Council and
+none else sat, had long been the court of last appeal in the colony. The
+Councillors prized their seats in this court not less than their seats
+in the Upper House of Assembly or around the Council table. Spotswood
+claimed that their power over the lives and property of the people made
+all regard them with awe, and "kept the country in subjection to their
+party."[26] "They know that they have now lodged wholly in their hands
+that power that Absalom wanted for effectually securing the people in
+his interest, when he longed to be the judge of every man's cause."[27]
+
+It was to be expected, then, that they should insist that none but
+themselves should sit on the new court of oyer and terminer. In May,
+1717, eight of them met in secret and drew up a letter to the Lords of
+Trade defending their position. The charter of 1676 expressly stated
+that the Governor and Council had authority to try "all treasons,
+murders, felonies." The laws of Virginia made the Governor and Council
+the supreme court. They could not believe that a Governor could "break
+through laws and charters and alter all the ancient usage and tradition
+of the government."[28]
+
+Spotswood also appealed to the Lords of Trade. And he was overjoyed when
+this body wrote him that they could not see what reason the Council had
+to insist upon being the sole judges of the new court since his
+commission empowered him to "appoint judges."[29] They were backed by
+Attorney General Edward Northy in his opinion of December 24, 1717.
+Northy advised, however, that Governors be instructed not to hold courts
+of oyer and terminer except in cases of "extraordinary emergency."[30]
+
+The test came in December, 1718, when the court of oyer and terminer was
+about to begin its session. Several Councillors had taken their seats
+when Spotswood announced that he was joining with them Mr. Cole Digges
+and Mr. Peter Beverley. Since neither was a member of the Council,
+Ludwell and four others got up and left. The five then drew up a
+remonstrance, which Ludwell presented to Spotswood in court, with a
+"long harangue." Noticing that people were gathering, he turned around,
+and raising his voice, addressed them. "The Governor's power of naming
+other judges than the Councillors in life and death cases is of
+dangerous consequence to the lives and liberties of free subjects," he
+said. "For that reason I refuse to sit in the court of oyer and terminer
+with those gentlemen."[31]
+
+In London, Byrd pleaded the cause of the Council before the Lords of
+Trade. It would be fatal, he argued, to permit a Governor to try any
+person by what judges he thought proper. "Whoever has had the fortune to
+live in the plantations knows that Governors are not in the least exempt
+from human frailties, such as passionate love of money, resentment
+against such as presume to oppose their designs, particularly to their
+creatures and favorites."[32] To this Spotswood retorted: "What else
+could tempt the ruling party in the Council so strenuously to insist on
+a right, never claimed before, of being judges of oyer and terminer, but
+the desire of gaining to one family an entire power over the lives, as
+they now have over the estates, of the people of Virginia?"[33]
+
+To the Earl of Orkney, Spotswood wrote bitterly. If he lost his battle
+with the Council, future Governors would think it folly to oppose them.
+"I take the power, interest, and reputation of the King's Governor in
+this dominion to be now reduced to a desperate gasp, and if the present
+efforts of the country cannot add new vigor to the same, then the
+haughtiness of a Carter, the hypocrisy of a Blair, the inveteracy of a
+Ludwell, the brutishness of a Smith, the malice of a Byrd, the
+conceitedness of a Grymes, and the scurrility of a Corbin, with about a
+score of base disloyalists and ungrateful Creolians for their adherents,
+must for the future rule the province."[34]
+
+Since the Virginia treasury was now overflowing as a result of peace in
+Europe and the shipping out of vast quantities of tobacco, Spotswood
+managed to get along without an Assembly for three years. He would
+probably have continued to do so indefinitely, had he not wanted an act
+to reimburse the Indian Company which had been dissolved by order of the
+King. The trade with the Indians had recently become a mere trickle,
+because South Carolina had confiscated the goods of some Virginia
+traders, and lawless savages had robbed others. So an act was passed in
+1714 under which a monopoly of the trade with the southern tribes was
+lodged in the Virginia Indian Company.
+
+In return the company was required to contribute L100 towards building a
+public magazine at Williamsburg, to garrison and keep in repair a fort
+at Christanna on the frontier, and erect a schoolhouse there for Indian
+children. Some of the leading men in the colony became stockholders,
+among them William Cocke, Mann Page, William Cole, Nathaniel Harrison,
+and Cole Digges. They had spent large sums "in purchasing servants,
+taking up land and making settlements on the frontier, clearing roads,
+and building warehouses," when word came that the act under which they
+operated had been vetoed by the King.[35] Since they were now left
+holding the bag, they asked that the Assembly reimburse them.
+
+The election which followed was one of the bitterest in Virginia
+history. Spotswood made full use of the patronage. "Commissions flew
+about to every fellow that could make two or three votes," wrote Joshua
+Gee. "He gave the power to his friends to make a discreet use of [them].
+And indeed never fouler play was by men, than at most of our
+elections."[36] Political pamphlets were distributed at every
+courthouse. One of them began: "Having seen a rascally paper which
+contained advice to freeholders in favor of a court party and tools of
+arbitrary power to enslave and ruin a free born people ... to prevent
+which I thought it my duty to open your eyes.... You are to know,
+brother electors, that this Assembly is called for no other reason but
+to pay to the Indian Company their charges on Fort Christanna, if they
+can get a set of men fit for that purpose to gull into that unjust
+payment."[37]
+
+The outcome of the election was another defeat for the Governor. No less
+than thirty-four members of the hostile House of Burgesses of 1715 were
+returned. Of the new members Gawin Corbin, John Grymes, Archibald Blair,
+and others were bitter enemies of Spotswood. During the session the
+Governor kept his temper, since he had been ordered to do so by the
+Lords of Trade, but the Burgesses, remembering his former insults, did
+everything they could to annoy him. Though his opening address was
+conciliatory, it was greeted with "violent censures." One wrathful
+member "shot his bolt" and cried out: "It is all stuff and calculated
+only for the latitude of Whitehall." When Spotswood laid before the
+House several letters from New York in regard to renewing a treaty with
+the Indians, "they made it their jest, and setting up a great laugh ...
+cried out in their vulgar language, 'A bite!'"[38]
+
+Needless to say, Spotswood got practically nothing out of this Assembly.
+They refused to repay the Indian Company for what they had laid out for
+the defense of the colony. They refused to pay for a proposed trip to
+New York by Spotswood to renew the treaty with the Iroquois. To his
+request for payment of his expenses in making fatiguing journeys in the
+service of the country, they replied, "we hope they will give you the
+satisfaction of reflecting that you have deserved the salary allowed by
+his Majesty."[39]
+
+But the Burgesses were not yet done with him. Late in the session, when
+it seemed that nothing more of importance was to come before them, and
+some had gone home and others were at the race track, the "party
+managers" brought in an address to the King with a long string of
+accusations against him. Spotswood intimates that Blair and Ludwell were
+responsible for this maneuver in order to have the House second the
+complaints of the Council. Blair made his influence felt through his
+brother, Archibald Blair, and Ludwell through his son-in-law, John
+Grymes. "As during the last two sessions the one has scarce let a day
+pass without dropping in the Assembly some scurrilous reflection upon
+me," Spotswood wrote, "so the other can't keep his temper when he
+perceives any matter agreeable to me is likely to be carried."[40]
+
+The accusations, which were embodied in instructions to William Byrd II
+as agent for the House, were carried by a vote of twenty-two to
+fourteen. But when they were considered one by one most of them were
+struck out. In their final form the accusations boiled down to little
+more than that the Governor had misconstrued the laws, that he had tried
+to keep the justices from levying the salaries of the Burgesses, and
+that he had by provoking speeches and messages abused the House.[41]
+Spotswood, in two long papers, had no difficulty in answering the
+charges, but they remained as convincing evidence that there existed
+widespread dissatisfaction with his administration.
+
+To counteract this impression he now followed the precedent set by
+Nicholson of seeking flattering addresses. "To support his cause tools
+were picked to make up grand juries to deliver fulsome addresses to the
+Governor and abuse the Council and Assembly," Joshua Gee tells us. "The
+same tools made addresses from the courts and even engaged every
+barefooted fellow to sign addresses from the counties."[42] The address
+from Middlesex spoke of Spotswood's wise and moderate government; that
+of the "justices, clergy, and principal inhabitants" of New Kent
+declared that his character had been traduced; that of King and Queen
+County that the charges against him were false. All in all, the
+addresses came from twenty-one of the twenty-five counties.[43]
+
+This deluge of praise must have had its influence with the Lords of
+Trade and the Earl of Orkney. But more convincing was the logic of
+Spotswood's letters in which he answered the charges against him. He had
+brought down on his head the hostility of the Councillors and Burgesses
+through his efforts to carry out their Lordships' orders and uphold the
+prerogative of the King, he said. To remove him for doing his duty would
+render the situation hopeless for future Governors.
+
+So, despite the arguments and pleading of William Byrd, both Orkney and
+the Lords of Trade gave Spotswood their support. Orkney thought that no
+essential complaint had been brought against him, and praised him for
+putting the government of Virginia upon a much improved footing.[44] The
+Board of Trade wrote Spotswood, in June, 1719: "You may depend upon all
+the countenance and support which we can give you which we think you
+have deserved."[45] It was rumored in Virginia, also, that the Board was
+considering removing from the Council some of the Governor's bitterest
+enemies.
+
+Yet at the moment of triumph, Spotswood, instead of lauding it over the
+Councillors and forcing them to submit, seemed anxious to compromise all
+differences. The key to his moderation is found in his opening address
+to the Burgesses in November, 1720: "To consider the stake I have among
+you and the free choice I've made to fix it under this government, you
+have not surely any grounds to suspect me of injurious designs against
+the welfare of this colony."[46] Then he indulged in a metaphor to show
+that the interests of Virginia and Great Britain did not conflict. "I
+look upon Virginia as a rib taken from Britain's side, and believe that
+while they both proceed as living under the marriage contract, this Eve
+must thrive as long as her Adam flourishes."
+
+In other words, Spotswood did not want to continue his differences with
+the planter aristocracy because he planned to become one of them. In
+1716 he had acquired 3,229 acres on the Rappahannock, known as the
+Germanna Tract, and peopled it with German tenants. Three years later he
+granted 3,065 acres, the so-called Wilderness Tract, to a certain
+Richard Hickman, who transferred it to him. He next acquired the Fork
+Tract, the Barrows Tract, the Mine Tract of 15,000 acres, the Lower
+Massaponax Tract, and the Upper Massaponax Tract. In 1729, when the new
+county of Spotsylvania was created, the Governor owned 25,000 acres
+within its borders.[47] On his Mine Tract he had invested so heavily in
+an iron foundry that Byrd called him the Tubal Cain of Virginia.
+
+So, when Nathaniel Harrison approached him with proposals for a
+reconciliation, Spotswood was quite willing to do his part. But there
+were long negotiations before peace was concluded. On May 16, 1718, when
+the Governor made new overtures, they were greeted by stiffness and
+reserve. Yet the Councillors at his invitation, went from the Capitol to
+the Palace, and there gathered around a bowl of arrack, drinking until
+midnight. On the other hand, the hostile eight shunned Spotswood's
+celebration of the King's birthday, "got together all the turbulent and
+disaffected Burgesses, had an entertainment of their own in the
+Burgesses House, and invited all the mob to a bonfire, where they were
+plentifully supplied with liquors."[48]
+
+In the end the Councillors came to terms. Smith and Berkeley were dead,
+while Carter, Blair, Ludwell, Lewis, Byrd, and Harrison had seen the
+handwriting on the wall. At a meeting in the Council Chamber of the
+Capitol, in April 1720, with Spotswood at the head of the table, it was
+agreed that all past controversies be forgotten, and that in the future
+there should be no other contention than who should most promote the
+King's service and the public benefit of the colony.[49]
+
+For some months there was comparative quiet in Virginia. But in 1721
+Spotswood became uneasy when James Blair decided to visit England. "He
+is continually assuring me of all the service he can do me at home," the
+Governor wrote to the Bishop of London, "but ... I shall be contented
+with his not offering to do me any disservice."[50] These fears were
+well-grounded, for there is reason to think that the Commissary was
+instrumental in having him removed from office, just how is not known.
+It is significant that when it was rumored that a new Governor was
+coming over, "it was understood that Parson Blair was likely to act as
+prime minister." Significant, also, is it that Hugh Drysdale, who
+succeeded Spotswood early in 1722, came to Virginia on the same vessel
+as Blair, and remained on the most intimate terms with him throughout
+his short administration.[51]
+
+Spotswood's last act as Lieutenant Governor reflects no credit upon his
+character, and did disservice both to the Crown and colony. Upon hearing
+that he was to be removed, he made out patents for huge tracts of land
+in Spotsylvania County to certain persons who immediately conveyed them
+to him.[52] He later adopted a system of tenantry, leasing land in small
+parcels for two generations, a system which was copied in the huge
+Virginia manors developed in western Virginia late in the century.
+Although tenantry hastened settlement, it was inconsistent with the
+democratic spirit of the frontier, and was largely abolished by the
+Revolution.
+
+Nathaniel Blakiston said of Spotswood: "That gentleman has real capacity
+and talents to manage in a high sphere, but he adheres too much to his
+own sentiments, and thinks himself ill-treated if everybody does not
+think as he does."[53] This weakness accounts in part for his inability
+to get along with either the Council or the Burgesses. Many of the
+policies which he advocated were wise, but his attempts to force them
+through were unwise. When the Council opposed him he tried to break
+their power; when the Burgesses thwarted him, he tried to bribe them
+into submission.
+
+Spotswood's administration was marked by several years of great
+prosperity, by the expansion of the frontier, by the attempts to develop
+manufactures, by the regulation of the tobacco trade; but more important
+was the demonstration that the people would no longer permit their
+representatives in the Assembly to be made submissive to the Governor by
+the use of the patronage. The punishment which they meted out to the
+faithless in the Assembly of 1714 marked a notable advance along the
+road to liberty, and was a warning to future Governors not to attempt to
+rule by corruption.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] CO5-1315, Doc. 26.
+
+[2] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 3: 525.
+
+[3] CO5-1318.
+
+[4] CO5-1406, Dec. 7, 1714.
+
+[5] _Spotswood letters_ 2: p. 50.
+
+[6] _Virginia Magazine_ 2: 2-15.
+
+[7] _Spotswood letters_ 2: 49.
+
+[8] CO5-1319.
+
+[9] CO5-1318.
+
+[10] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 132, 133.
+
+[11] _Ibid._, 167.
+
+[12] _Ibid._, 147, 148.
+
+[13] CO5-1318.
+
+[14] _Ibid._
+
+[15] _Ibid._
+
+[16] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, xxxiii.
+
+[17] _Ibid._, 153, 165, 168.
+
+[18] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 3: 243.
+
+[19] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 122.
+
+[20] _Ibid._, 169.
+
+[21] CO5-1313.
+
+[22] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 170.
+
+[23] CO5-1416.
+
+[24] _Executive journals of the Council_ 3: 437.
+
+[25] CO5-1318, Spotswood to the Lords of Trade, March 20, 1718.
+
+[26] _Ibid._
+
+[27] _Ibid._, Spotswood to Orkney, July 1, 1718.
+
+[28] Ludwell, Smith, Lewis, Bassett, Harrison, Berkeley, Carter, and
+Blair.
+
+[29] CO5-1364.
+
+[30] CO5-1318.
+
+[31] CO5-1318, Spotswood to the Lords of Trade, March 5, 1719.
+
+[32] _Ibid._, Byrd Concerning Courts.
+
+[33] _Ibid._, Spotswood to the Lords of Trade, Dec. 22, 1718.
+
+[34] _Ibid._, Spotswood to Orkney, Dec. 22, 1718.
+
+[35] CO5-1317, Memorial of the Virginia Indian Company.
+
+[36] CO5-1319, Letter of Mr. Gee, Oct. 5, 1721.
+
+[37] CO5-1318, "Advice to Freeholders."
+
+[38] CO5-1318, Answer to Lieutenant Governor Spotswood.
+
+[39] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 213.
+
+[40] CO5-1318, Spotswood to Orkney, Dec. 22, 1718.
+
+[41] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 230, 231.
+
+[42] CO5-1319, Letter of Mr. Gee.
+
+[43] CO5-1318.
+
+[44] _Board of Trade journal_, 1715-1718: 425, 426.
+
+[45] CO5-1365, Lords of Trade to Spotswood, June 26, 1719.
+
+[46] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 250.
+
+[47] Leonidas Dodson, _Alexander Spotswood_, Chap. XIII.
+
+[48] _Spotswood letters_ 2: 284.
+
+[49] _Executive Journals of the Council_ 3: 524.
+
+[50] Rawlinson manuscript.
+
+[51] CO5-1319.
+
+[52] Ludwell papers 2 (40).
+
+[53] _Ibid._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+PEACE AND PROSPERITY
+
+
+As the first quarter of the eighteenth century was a period of bitter
+contention between the Governors of Virginia and the Council and
+Burgesses, so the second quarter was marked by peace and harmony. In
+England the government, under the leadership of Sir Robert Walpole,
+adopted a conciliatory policy toward the colonies, the famous policy of
+letting sleeping dogs lie. Great Britain was reaping huge profits from
+the trade with America, and the chief concern of the Board of Trade was
+to see that no laws were passed by the Assemblies to lessen them. On the
+other hand, the colonies were permitted to govern themselves to a degree
+that would not have been tolerated under the Stuarts.
+
+Possibly it was by chance that the two Lieutenant Governors whose
+administrations covered this period--Hugh Drysdale and William
+Gooch--were admirably suited to carry out this policy. Or they may have
+been selected because of their winning personalities, their ability to
+see both sides of a question, their desire to do justice to all men,
+their lack of greed and ambition to dictate. We know that Drysdale was
+recommended to the Earl of Orkney by Walpole himself.[1] At all events,
+after contending for years with the implacable Nicholson and the
+dictatorial Spotswood, Drysdale and Gooch must have seemed gifts from
+Heaven to the Virginians.
+
+Drysdale arrived in Virginia on September 25, 1722, and two days later
+was sworn in in the Council Chamber. He was heartily welcomed. A few
+months later he could report that there was "universal contentment on
+the change made in the government," and that his administration had the
+approbation of all ranks of people.[2] In marked contrast to their wordy
+war with Spotswood, the Burgesses showed him only respect and affection.
+"We must acknowledge the present calm and tranquility to be the
+consequences of your prudence and moderation," they told him.[3] When
+he was planning to leave for England because of ill health, they
+addressed the King to say that his speedy return would be a great
+happiness to the people of the colony.[4]
+
+Drysdale's popularity was based more on what he did not do than what he
+did do. He made no attempt to undermine the judicial power of the
+Council, he seems not to have used the patronage to control the House of
+Burgesses, he did not try to make the colony less democratic by
+restricting the right to vote, he did not deny to the Burgesses their
+ancient privileges, he did not use his office for personal gain.
+
+He was at first critical of the policy, favored by the Council, of
+issuing patents for huge tracts of land. His predecessor had granted
+some for 10,000 acres, some for 20,000 acres, some for 40,000 acres
+despite the order that I,000 acres should be the limit. "Thus the
+intention of the government to make Spotsylvania a well inhabited
+frontier is frustrated," he said.[5]
+
+But the Councillors and other men of wealth persuaded him that large
+holdings which could be cut up into small farms and leased to tenants
+hastened rather than retarded settlement. "The Council are of opinion
+that the limiting the quantity of land to be taken up in the new
+counties is prejudicial and a discouragement to their speedy
+settlement," he wrote in July, 1724.[6] He did not stop to consider that
+the growth of tenantry would be a blow, not only to economic democracy,
+but political democracy as well, since tenants, unless they were also
+freeholders, had no right to vote.
+
+Drysdale called for an election for a new Assembly who met in the
+Capitol on May 9, 1723. The Burgesses had hardly settled themselves in
+their seats when they took up two cases which concerned the rights of
+the people and their privileges. In Essex County grievances had been
+presented to the court for certification to the Assembly, charging
+Colonel Joseph Smith, commander of the county militia, with harsh and
+illegal conduct while a member of a court-martial. Colonel Smith,
+himself a member of the court, refused to sign this paper, so that it
+failed to reach the House. Thereupon the Burgesses declared him "guilty
+of a breach of his duty," and ordered the Speaker to reprimand him.[7]
+In striking contrast to Spotswood's upholding of Littlefield and Butts
+in a similar case, Drysdale backed the House by removing Smith from the
+county court.[8]
+
+In the other case a certain William Hopkins was accused of "rude,
+contemptuous, and indecent" language in the House about one of the
+members--Mr. Matthew Kemp. When he was adjudged guilty and ordered on
+his knees to ask the pardon of the Burgesses and Mr. Kemp, he flatly
+refused. It was then ordered that he be led through the Duke of
+Gloucester Street, from the Capitol to the college gate and back, with a
+placard pinned to his breast bearing the following inscription: "For
+insolent behavior at the bar of the House of Burgesses, when he was
+there as an offender and with obstinacy and contempt disobeying their
+order." This prospect was too much for Hopkins, so, no doubt with inward
+curses, he made the apology.[9]
+
+There was universal grief in Virginia when Drysdale died, on July 22,
+1726. He was buried with elaborate ceremonies, to the booming of cannon.
+The Council wrote Mrs. Drysdale expressing "the just sense" of "the
+public loss," and giving her permission to remain for the time being in
+the Palace.[10] Pending the appointment of a new Lieutenant Governor,
+they voted to make Robert Carter President. The selection normally would
+have gone to Edmund Jenings, as the senior member of the Council, but he
+had just been suspended because of his age and because he was much
+"decayed in his understanding."
+
+William Gooch, who was appointed to succeed Drysdale, took the oath of
+office on September 11, 1727. It must have been with apprehension that
+the members of the Council greeted him. It would be too much to expect
+that the colony would have in succession two Governors of the stamp of
+Drysdale. Might not the new arrival be another Spotswood, or even
+another Nicholson?
+
+They were not long kept in doubt. Gooch proved to be one of the most
+popular Governors in the history of the colony. Sincerely interested in
+the welfare of the people, conciliatory in his dealings with both the
+Council and the Burgesses, he brought internal peace and contentment.
+The story was told of him that one day when in the company of several
+gentlemen, he happened to pass a Negro slave. When the Negro lifted his
+hat, Gooch lifted his in return.
+
+"What, Governor Gooch, do you lift your hat to a slave?" one of his
+companions asked.
+
+"I would be deeply humiliated to be surpassed in courtesy by a slave,"
+was the reply.
+
+Throughout Gooch's administration there was practically no friction
+between the Governor and the Assembly. The public affairs were carried
+on in perfect harmony and good understanding, he reported in 1734. The
+address of the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Sir John Randolph, to
+Gooch is one of the most remarkable in Virginia history. "You have
+shew'd how easy it is to give universal satisfaction to the people under
+your government.... You have not been intoxicated with the power
+committed to you by his Majesty, but have used it like a faithful
+trustee for the public good.... You never propose matters without
+supposing your opinion subject to the examination of others, nor strive
+to make other men's reason blindly and implicitly obedient to yours....
+You have extirpated all factions among us ... and plainly proved that
+none can arise, or be lasting, but from the countenance and
+encouragement of a Governor."[11]
+
+Both the Council and the Burgesses expressed their gratitude to Gooch by
+gifts of money, the former voting him L300 to cover the expense of his
+voyage to Virginia, and the latter giving him L500. Although his
+instructions forbade his acceptance, he pocketed the money. "I thought
+it would not become me to refuse this extraordinary instance of their
+regard," he wrote the Lords of Trade. There was a precedent for his
+acceptance, for Nicholson had had L300 when that sum was worth L600 in
+the present currency. And though the Board censured him, they did not
+make him refund the money.[12]
+
+It was typical of Gooch that he was willing to yield in matters of which
+he did not fully approve in order to carry points which he had very much
+at heart. He had not been long in the colony when he came to the
+conclusion that it would greatly benefit the planters if the tobacco
+inspection act of 1713 could be revived. But he was well aware that the
+people had not forgotten the use Spotswood had made of it to gain
+control of the House of Burgesses, or his veto of the bill to prohibit
+Burgesses from holding places of profit in the government. So, in
+return for the passage of a new tobacco law, he assented to an act to
+keep officeholders out of the House. "The Burgesses were for this bill,"
+he wrote the Lords of Trade, "and my desire to keep them in good humor
+while matters of greater moment were under their deliberation, prevailed
+with me to assent to it."[13]
+
+But he thought that the act had nothing in its favor, except that it was
+an imitation of the laws of England made for securing the freedom of
+Parliament. "In my humble opinion this country is yet too young for so
+refined a regulation. Places of profit are indeed but few, but men of
+capacity for the discharge of them do not much more abound; therefore
+either the government must be ill served, or the House of Burgesses
+meanly fitted if men of capacity and integrity must be shut out either
+of the one or the other."[14]
+
+Gooch either did not understand the importance of this bill, or
+deliberately concealed it from the British Government. Had he known of
+the use of the power of appointment by former Governors to gain control
+of the House of Burgesses, he could not have dismissed the measure so
+lightly. Nor could he have realized what a major victory it was for
+liberty. Henceforth no Berkeley could bribe the Burgesses into
+submission and so rule the colony like a despot; no Nicholson could hand
+out commissions as sheriffs, or collectors, or officers in the militia
+in exchange for votes in the House; no Spotswood could create tobacco
+agents' jobs to tempt the people's representatives.
+
+Though Gooch was solicitous for the welfare of the poor planter, he was
+not in favor of manhood suffrage. So he affixed his signature to a bill
+limiting the right to vote to freeholders owning 100 acres of unoccupied
+land or twenty-five acres with a house.[15] Had he had his way the
+limitation would have been greater. "Yet as the former laws had allowed
+any kind of a freehold to give that right, and all attempts made
+heretofore to exclude the mob of the populace ... had proved vain, it is
+much better to have that point fixed on some certain basis, than to
+leave all persons indefinitely at liberty to have a vote. ... After such
+a beginning it may be hoped a further regulation will follow to remove
+from the House such members as have little recommended them to the
+people's choice besides the art of stirring up discontents."[16]
+
+Though Gooch thus frankly avowed his dislike of democracy, he promoted
+its growth by encouraging the westward expansion of settlement, not only
+in the Piedmont, but in the Shenandoah Valley. In 1736 he wrote the
+Lords of Trade: "Great numbers, as well of his Majesty's natural born
+subjects as foreigners, ... have removed into this colony on the west
+side of our mountains." This he pointed out would be a protection to the
+older parts of the colony by heading off any attempt of the French at
+penetration.
+
+Perhaps it had not occurred to Gooch that expansion would divide the
+colony into two parts--the democratic up-country, and the aristocratic
+tidewater. Spotsylvania, Brunswick, Goochland, Amelia, Caroline, and
+other counties in the Piedmont were filling up with small farmers from
+the east, Frederick with poor Germans and Swiss. It is true that some
+well-to-do planters established "quarters" managed by overseers above
+the Fall Line, and later invaded parts of the Valley, but even as late
+as the French and Indian War frontier conditions persisted in the
+regions on either side of the Blue Ridge. The influence of the west grew
+steadily as each new county sent its two representatives to the House of
+Burgesses. Whereas in 1727 when there were 65 members of the House, only
+10 were from the west, in 1752, when the members numbered 104, 46 were
+from the western or southwestern counties. The time was not distant when
+the up-country members would count a majority. A bewigged Carter, or
+Harrison, or Wormeley, in his broadcloth suit with silver buttons, may
+have been resentful when a roughly clad delegate from Albemarle or
+Frederick took a seat beside him, but he dared not show it.
+
+But in the first test of strength the newcomers lost because the east
+still dominated the Council. In 1749, after the burning of the Capitol
+in Williamsburg, the western Burgesses proposed that the seat of
+government be moved to a site on the Pamunkey, in Hanover County, which
+would save them many miles of travel in attending meetings of the
+Assembly. The feeling on each side ran high. Mr. John Blair, a member of
+the Council, in conversation with one of the Burgesses, pointed to the
+Speaker, saying: "There goes the man who is at the bottom of this
+hellish scheme." The House was deeply offended, and was appeased only
+when Blair apologized. After much hesitation the bill for the removal
+was passed by a vote of forty to thirty-eight, but it was promptly
+rejected by the Council.[17] So the Capitol was rebuilt on the old
+foundations, but with the proviso that this would not fix the seat of
+government permanently in Williamsburg. It did, however, fix it there
+until the Revolution, when, in response to the wishes of an overwhelming
+majority of the people, it was moved to Richmond.
+
+During most of Gooch's administration the two Houses worked in harmony.
+But occasionally there was friction. At the close of the session of 1728
+the Burgesses passed a resolution to pay their own salaries out of the
+fund raised by the duty on liquors in order to lessen the hated poll
+tax. But the Council refused to concur. The Burgesses then voted that
+they be paid from funds in the hands of the Treasurer. Again the Council
+demurred. They argued that the salaries of the Burgesses was the concern
+of the counties. "It would be an unequal distribution of the public
+money to allow the same share of it to a county which has a thousand
+tithables as one that has three thousand."[18] This reasoning was based
+on the assumption that a Burgess represented only the interests of the
+county which elected him and not those of the colony as a whole, an
+assumption contradicted by the whole history of the House. Yet the
+Burgesses, though with some bitterness, were forced to yield for the
+time being.
+
+Gooch was much concerned over the dispute, for he was convinced that it
+was not ended. He was right. At the very next session a bill was passed
+to pay the Burgesses out of the money in the Treasurer's hands, provided
+this should not reduce the fund below L1,500.[19] The Council consented,
+under Gooch's urging, because the bill allowed the Burgesses only ten
+shillings a day instead of thirteen as formerly, and nothing when not
+actually in attendance, but "at home about their private affairs or
+perhaps in pursuit of their pleasures." Gooch wrote the Lords of Trade
+congratulating himself on having reduced salaries, but this does not
+obscure the fact that the act was a victory for the House.[20]
+
+In fact, the House of Burgesses, like the House of Commons, was becoming
+the dominating body, and the Council, like the House of Lords, was
+growing weaker. With the multiplying of the number of wealthy planters
+through the use of slave labor, the twelve men who made up the Council
+ceased to be the sole representatives of their interests. Many
+aristocrats were honored to have a seat in the Lower House. One has only
+to glance down the list of Burgesses to find many of the proudest names
+in colonial Virginia--Page, Harrison, Fairfax, Randolph, Burwell,
+Carter, Ball, Wormeley, Digges, Spotswood, Lee, Byrd, Claiborne, etc. So
+the aristocrat as well as the small farmer, the wealthy easterner as
+well as the pioneer of Orange or Albemarle, or the German of Frederick
+looked to the House to protect their interests.
+
+While the leadership of the House continued to be aristocratic, the rank
+and file grew more democratic. The open spaces of America fostered a
+spirit of independence. When men had gone into a wilderness, cleared
+openings in the forest, built their simple houses, laid out crops,
+fought the Indians, they became impatient of control by a group of
+eastern aristocrats, or by a government three thousand miles away in
+which they had no voice.
+
+Nor was democracy confined to the west, for the small farmer class of
+the east persisted despite the importation of thousands of slaves. It is
+true that many, finding it difficult to compete with slave labor, sold
+their little holdings, packed up their few household goods, and set out
+for the West or for one of the northern colonies. But others kept their
+heads above water by producing only the highest grades of tobacco, for
+which the blacks at first were not suited. "I must beg you to remember
+that the common people make the best," Gooch wrote in 1731.
+
+But this reprieve was only temporary, for in time the wealthy planter
+taught the Africans to produce even the high priced Orinoco. Then the
+poor planter had to join the class of slaveholders by making a few
+purchases, or sink into abject poverty. That thousands did buy slaves we
+know from an examination of the tax lists. In 1716, in Lancaster County,
+of some 200 slave-owners, 165 had from one to four only. The only large
+owner was the wealthy Robert Carter who had 126.[21]
+
+The replacing of the Virginia yeomanry, the men who cultivated their
+holdings with their own hands, by small slaveholders was in many ways a
+development to be deplored, but it saved the small farmer class from
+extinction, and democracy from a fatal blow. Without it all the eastern
+part of the colony and part of the Piedmont would have become a land of
+wealthy proprietors and their slaves, and ignorant, degraded,
+poverty-stricken whites.
+
+The small slaveholders were fiercely jealous of their rights, both
+social and political. From the proud aristocrat they demanded courtesy
+and respect. And these the aristocrat thought it wise to accord them,
+for he knew that they constituted an overwhelming majority of the
+voters. Nor were there anywhere, in the northern colonies or in the
+West, more ardent upholders of self-government. In the long struggle for
+liberty it was usually the aristocrats who led the way, but they would
+have been powerless had they not had the loyal support of the small
+eastern farmer as well as the western frontiersman.
+
+And the climax of this struggle was not distant. Walpole resigned in
+1752, and his successors were not inclined to let the colonies become
+semi-independent little republics. Had their attention not been diverted
+by European wars, they would probably have come to grips with the
+colonial governments sooner than they did.
+
+At the moment, however, the chief differences between Virginia and the
+mother country seemed to be economic rather than constitutional. The
+planters had long protested against the Navigation Acts, but they had in
+time adjusted themselves to them. To the merchants of England they were
+tied by the bonds of mutual interest, for they were dependent upon them
+for transporting and disposing of their tobacco, and for bringing them
+manufactured goods in return.
+
+But there developed various points of difference. And it became a bitter
+grievance to the planters that when these differences were placed before
+the British government, the decision always favored the merchants. In
+fact, so great was the influence of certain traders that at times their
+recommendations to important posts in the colonies were decisive. Among
+the best known of these men was Micajah Perry, whose opinion the Board
+of Trade frequently sought on matters affecting commerce. It was rumored
+that it was he who persuaded the Auditor General to appoint Philip
+Ludwell Auditor of Virginia. And when the British government turned down
+the recommendation of a Governor in filling a vacancy in the Council in
+favor of one by the merchants, it was deeply resented in the colony.
+"Your Lordships cannot but be sensible that little regard is likely to
+be paid a Governor who shall be supposed to have no interest at your
+Lordships' Board," Gooch wrote in 1747.
+
+The people were even more resentful at the insistence of the merchants
+in blocking any measure by the Assembly, no matter how beneficial, if
+they thought it would lessen their profits. Many of them had invested in
+the Royal African Company, and the slave trade to Virginia was booming.
+It was stated that black workers were coming in at the rate of 1,500 or
+1,600 a year, and at every landing place scores were sold to the highest
+bidders. In 1730, out of a total population of 114,000, no less than
+30,000 were Negroes.[22] With profits piling up, the merchants wanted no
+interference with this trade, however inhuman it was, and however
+harmful to the economic and social structure of the colony.
+
+Many thoughtful men in the colony viewed the situation with alarm, not
+only because the importation of so many blacks was drying up the stream
+of white immigrants from England, but because it was driving out of the
+colony poor men who did not want to compete with slave labor. And the
+planters had reason to dread slave insurrections. Some of the Africans
+were docile enough, but a few resented their bonds fiercely. In 1710 a
+conspiracy was discovered in Surry and James City Counties, in which the
+Negroes planned to rise, kill all who opposed them, and escape out of
+the colony. Several were tried in the General Court, convicted and
+executed.[23]
+
+There was much satisfaction when the Assembly, in the revenue act of
+1723, tried to stem the tide by placing a duty on the importation of
+slaves. But when the act came before the Lords of Trade, the merchants
+opposed it vigorously. John Gary, who had lived in Virginia, and later
+went to England to enter the tobacco trade, when summoned before the
+Board, argued against it. It would ruin the poor planters, he said,
+because it would run up the cost of slaves, and they would not be able
+to buy enough to cultivate their plantations.[24] This argument, as we
+have seen, was not entirely misleading, but it ignored the predicament
+of the thousands who could afford not even one, no matter how cheap, and
+so sank into great poverty, became "poor white trash." Yet the Board
+sided with Cary and his fellow merchants, and in January, 1724, advised
+the King to veto the act.
+
+The Assembly, greatly disappointed, five years later made another
+attempt, placing a duty of forty shillings a head on the importation of
+slaves. Gooch gave them his full support. The merchants would not be
+injured by the law, he argued, since the purchasers had to pay the
+tax.[25] But the importers did not see it that way, and at their urging
+the King disallowed the act.
+
+How bitterly these vetoes were resented in Virginia is shown by a
+statement of Thomas Jefferson in his "A Summary View of the Rights of
+British America," written in 1774. "The abolition of slavery is the
+great object of desire in those colonies, where it was, unhappily,
+introduced in their infant state. But previously to the enfranchisement
+of the slaves we have, it is necessary to exclude all further
+importations from Africa. Yet our repeated attempts to effect this, by
+prohibitions, and by imposing duties which might amount to a
+prohibition, having been hitherto defeated by his Majesty's negative:
+thus preferring the immediate advantages of a few British corsairs to
+the lasting interests of the American States, and the rights of human
+nature deeply wounded by this infamous practice. Nay, the single
+interposition of an interested individual against a law was scarcely
+ever known to fail of success, though, in the opposite scale, were
+placed the interests of a whole country."[26]
+
+The merchants opposed, not only the duty on slaves, but any other duty
+which they thought might lessen imports. The Assembly repeatedly passed
+laws to place duties on rum, brandy, wine, cider, beer, and ale, not
+because they thought they would debauch the people, but to raise revenue
+to meet the needs of the government without resorting to the hated poll
+tax. They finally persuaded the merchants that light duties on liquors
+would do them no harm. And perhaps the King was persuaded to give his
+assent by the urgings of Gooch. "The revenue arising from the duty on
+liquors is the best expedient to raise money for defraying the
+contingent charges of the government and the chief support of the
+College of William and Mary," he wrote. "By it most of the public debts
+are paid and the people eased of an intolerable poll tax, which many of
+the poorer sort would be unable to pay."
+
+But in 1730 the Assembly went too far when, in the revenue bill of that
+year, they exempted Virginia owners from half the tax in a rather
+forlorn attempt to build up local shipping. The merchants were
+indignant. It was a very partial procedure, they thought, for the
+colonists to tax his Majesty's subjects at large to a higher degree than
+themselves. Moreover, it set up the shipping of Virginia in opposition
+to and in great prejudice to the navigation of Great Britain. Needless
+to say the act was disallowed.[27] It was now the turn of the planters
+to be indignant. Gooch wrote the Board: "I cannot conceal from your
+Lordships the resentment of the people against the merchants."[28]
+
+The Virginians, like the peoples of the other colonies, were angered at
+the passage of the Molasses Act, which placed prohibitive duties on the
+trade between the British colonies on the American continent and the
+foreign West Indies. Virginia's stake in the trade to the French and
+Spanish islands was much less than that of New England, but it was great
+enough to draw a protest from Gooch. And the good Governor seems to have
+winked at the violations of the act. In 1734 he wrote the Lords of
+Trade: "As to trade, upon the strictest inquiry I can make I can find
+none ... but with Great Britain, the British islands in the West Indies,
+and the island of Madeira."[29] The Board might well have asked why it
+was, if this were true, that so many Spanish pieces of eight and so many
+pistoles and French guineas and crowns were circulating in the colony.
+
+Even more serious than the conflict between planters and merchants over
+the restrictions of trade, was the quarrel over debts. The trade with
+Great Britain was carried on chiefly by credit, and in times when the
+price of tobacco was high and profits good the planters lived well and
+spent freely. Then it was that they made heavy purchases of silverware,
+handsome furniture, or even blooded horses. And only too often, when
+prices of tobacco fell, they could not bring themselves to curtail
+expenditures in proportion. In fact, when they placed their orders they
+could not foresee just what their year's crop would yield. Many of them
+became involved in debt. When they could not meet their obligations, the
+merchants demanded that their lands be forfeited. On the other hand, the
+planters, from time to time, tried to lessen the burden by paying their
+creditors in depreciated paper money.
+
+When the merchants appealed to the Virginia courts to force payment of
+debts they found them usually sympathetic with the debtors. Moreover, in
+most cases they could not appeal to the British courts for there was a
+law forbidding it in cases involving less than L300. For larger suits
+the shoe was on the other foot, for when they were taken before the
+Privy Council, the advantage was all with the merchants. Residing in
+Great Britain, most of them in London, they could appeal in person to
+present their cause. Since the prosperity of the kingdom was so
+dependent upon its commerce, they always received a sympathetic hearing.
+
+Typical was the suit of the executors of Micajah and Richard Perry to
+recover debts from the estate of Colonel William Randolph, who had had a
+long-standing account with them. When the Virginia courts decided in
+favor of the defendants, the executors of the Perrys appealed to the
+King. The Privy Council referred the matter to a commission of four
+merchants, three of whom gave it as their judgment that with compound
+interest and insurance charges the defendants owed L2,460. So the
+verdict of the Virginia court was reversed.
+
+The Council and Burgesses protested in an address to the King. They were
+alarmed that this case had been decided without a legal trial by jury,
+they said. It had never been the practice to charge "interest upon
+interest" in "open running accounts." They thought it wrong that "the
+reports of merchants" who were not under oath and were inclined to favor
+one another, should be permitted to overrule the verdict of legal
+juries. If the planters were to be loaded with whatever charges their
+factors thought fit, it would greatly discourage trade and industry.[30]
+
+But they were unprepared for the extreme lengths to which the merchants
+would go. At a meeting of the Council in October, 1731, they could
+hardly credit their ears when Gooch read them a letter stating that they
+were about to present a petition to Parliament concerning the colonies.
+They wanted first a law prohibiting the Assemblies from passing any
+acts affecting trade and navigation, second, a law making real estate
+liable for debts, and third, a law permitting appeals from the Virginia
+General Court to the Privy Council in suits involving L100 or more.[31]
+
+Gooch wrote at once to the Board denouncing this attempt to muzzle the
+Assembly. "When I considered, my Lords, how long and happily the British
+subjects have traded to America and acquired great riches under the
+ancient establishment made in these points by the Crown, set forth in
+the royal charters and instructions, without seeking to abridge the
+people of the plantations of their birthright as Englishmen, or limiting
+the Crown in the methods of government, I must confess I was somewhat
+startled."[32]
+
+The Council also protested vigorously. It was impossible for the
+Assembly to avoid all legislation affecting trade, they said in a letter
+to the Board, since it might prohibit certain vitally necessary laws. If
+the merchants objected to any act of Assembly, they could lay the matter
+before the King. As for making the land of the planters liable for
+debts, it was pointed out that there was no law making the lands of the
+merchants liable to the demands of the colonists. Yet the factors were
+as often in the planters' debt as the planters in theirs. It would
+create uneasiness in the minds of a loyal people to find they had not
+equal justice. And to allow appeals to the King in cases involving as
+little as L100 would be a heavy burden; for the expense of the planter,
+who would have to make a voyage to England to defend his rights, would
+be as great as the sum involved.[33]
+
+It was no doubt to anticipate any action to forbid legislation in the
+colony affecting trade that a clause was added to certain acts
+suspending their operation until the King had given his assent. During
+Gooch's administration the first such act appropriated L1,000 for the
+erection of a lighthouse of brick and stone on Cape Henry, provided
+Maryland appropriate a like amount and the King gave his assent. A duty
+of one penny a ton was to be levied on all vessels passing the light.
+Gooch urged the Lords of Trade to influence Lord Baltimore to recommend
+the matter to the Maryland Assembly. But he was treading on dangerous
+ground when he suggested that if the Marylanders balked, the Board
+secure an act of Parliament "to bind both governments to do that good to
+themselves and the trade of Great Britain."[34] Fortunately the Board
+refused to take such a drastic step, and it was only in 1772 that the
+lighthouse was erected.[35]
+
+Knowing that the King had vetoed the tobacco act of 1713, Gooch took
+pains to prepare the minds of the Board of Trade to consider favorably
+the new one he was contemplating. The government was being defrauded by
+running tobacco into Great Britain without paying the duty there, he
+wrote them. It was the practice for sailors to buy "mean and trash
+tobacco," and sell it to agents who knew how to dispose of it. "Thus is
+the market for the good tobacco damped by the fraudulent importation of
+the bad." The remedy was to bring all the tobacco under strict
+inspection by sworn officers, all the bad destroyed, and the weight of
+every hogshead reported to the commissioners of the customs.
+
+The tobacco act of 1730 provided for warehouses to which all tobacco
+must be brought in hogsheads for inspection, where it would be burnt if
+of low grade, or stamped if good, and the owner paid in notes which
+circulated as money. At the time the price of tobacco was low, and the
+planters, especially the small farmers, were in dire need. Gooch
+contended that the law would stimulate trade and bring relief.
+
+His arguments were set forth in a printed pamphlet entitled _A Dialogue
+between Thomas Sweet-scented, William Orinoco, Planters, both Men of
+Good Understanding, and Justice Love-Country_.
+
+Will opened the discussion: "I am sure I have heard a great many
+speeches against it at the race-grounds and at the county courts....
+Why, pray is it not a clear case, don't we see our tobacco burnt?...
+T'was constantly buzzed about as if by this law the rich intended to
+ruin the poor."
+
+Justice: "None but the worst villains could suggest such a reflection."
+
+And so the arguments went, with Justice answering every objection.
+
+Gooch claimed that the law in operation benefited the poor. It was the
+rich man with his slave labor who was responsible for most of the
+"trash" which the inspectors burnt. The small farmer who planted,
+tended, and cured his own tobacco produced the best.[36] In fact, he
+added, "the greatest encouragement is given to the common people to make
+tobacco that could be thought of, for ... they take as many notes for it
+as they please, i. e. notes for fifty or a hundred pounds ... [which]
+will be accepted as payment at any store or shop." In other words, it
+gave them a far more convenient currency than their bulky tobacco. More
+convincing to the small farmer than these arguments was the rise in the
+price of tobacco which followed the passage of the act. But it must have
+been obvious to thoughtful men that no regulation of the tobacco trade
+could better the condition of the poor man so long as he had to compete
+with slave labor. It was slavery which created a trash far more harmful
+than poor tobacco--poor white trash.
+
+Gooch's success in securing the King's assent to the tobacco law was
+matched by his success in persuading the Assembly to assist with men and
+money in an expedition against New Granada on the northern coast of
+South America. In May, 1740, an act was passed to impress men, and in a
+few weeks about four hundred had been raised. A ragged, motley crowd
+they must have been, for no one was taken who had any lawful occupation
+or who had a right to vote.[37] But the officers were from the best
+Virginia families, among them Lawrence Washington, half-brother of
+George Washington. Later the Assembly voted L5,000 to cover the cost of
+feeding and transporting the troops as far as Jamaica, where they were
+to join the forces sent out from England.
+
+Former Governor Spotswood had been appointed to lead the colonials, but
+when he died before the ships sailed, Governor Gooch, leaving the
+government in the hands of the senior Councillor, Commissary Blair, took
+over the command. The attack on Cartagena proved a failure. The British
+ships could not get near enough to shell the town. When the troops tried
+to storm the walls the ladders proved too short, and they were repulsed
+with heavy losses. Gooch himself was wounded.
+
+Gooch was knighted in 1746, and made a major general in the British
+army. He seems never to have recovered fully from his wound, and from
+an illness contracted during the New Granada campaign. Complaining that
+he had grown old and infirm, he asked the King for permission to "go
+home" to recover his health. To the universal regret of the people of
+Virginia, he left for England in the summer of 1749. He died December
+17, in London.
+
+Gooch himself gave the key to his administration when he wrote: "The
+condition of affairs in this colony may be summed up in two words, peace
+and plenty." With many families becoming rich through the settlement of
+the West and the growth of the tobacco trade, with many hundreds of
+small farmers acquiring a degree of well-being by the purchase of a few
+slaves, with no immediate threat from the Indians on the frontier, with
+Governor and Council maintaining cordial relations, with the Governor
+cooperating with the Assembly and not trying to dominate it, with rapid
+strides being made toward the goal of self-government, the years of
+Gooch's administration may aptly be termed the golden era of Virginia
+colonial history.
+
+Many of the addresses of various bodies to the Virginia Governors lack
+the ring of sincerity, because they were obtained by bribery or threats.
+But the Council, in 1736, seem to have spoken from their hearts when
+they told Gooch: "As for us, Sir, who have the honor to be the near
+witnesses of the prudence, moderation, and justice of your
+administration, we should be unjust to ourselves, as well as ungrateful
+to your character, if we ... did not declare that we esteem the quiet
+and tranquillity which this colony has enjoyed under your government as
+one of the greatest public blessings."
+
+The Burgesses were even more articulate: "We are very sensible how much
+the colony owes to your good conduct in the government, and that all
+your actions are directed to a faithful discharge of your duty to his
+Majesty and to promote our common good. And should we distrust so just
+and upright a magistrate it would be discountenancing a virtuous
+administration, and making no difference between that and the greatest
+enormities, tyranny, and oppression. Or should we withhold our
+confidence from a person who for so many years has never once abused it,
+we might justly be reckoned an unworthy representative of a grateful
+people."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Leonidas Dodson, _Alexander Spotswood_, 270, 271.
+
+[2] _Sainsbury transcripts_ 9: 74, 75.
+
+[3] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 402.
+
+[4] _Ibid._, 419.
+
+[5] _Sainsbury transcripts_, 9: 121.
+
+[6] _Ibid._, 134.
+
+[7] _Ibid._, xlix, 1.
+
+[8] _Executive journals of the Council_ 4: 40.
+
+[9] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 1.
+
+[10] _Executive journals of the Council_ 4: 114.
+
+[11] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1727-1740: 242.
+
+[12] Gooch to the Lords of Trade, Feb. 12, 1728; Aug. 9, 1728.
+
+[13] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 4: 292.
+
+[14] July 23, 1730.
+
+[15] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 4: 475.
+
+[16] Gooch to the Lords of Trade, Oct. 5, 1736.
+
+[17] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1742-1749: xxvii, xxviii.
+
+[18] Gooch to the Lords of Trade, June 8, 1728.
+
+[19] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 4: 279.
+
+[20] July 23, 1730.
+
+[21] _William and Mary Quarterly_ 2: 106-122.
+
+[22] CO5-1322, Report of Gooch.
+
+[23] _Executive journals of the Council_ 3: 234, 235.
+
+[24] _Sainsbury transcripts_ 9: 112.
+
+[25] June 8, 1728.
+
+[26] _The writings of Thomas Jefferson_, A. A. Lipscomb, ed. 1: 201.
+
+[27] CO5-1322, pp. 287, 317.
+
+[28] Oct. 22, 1731.
+
+[29] May 24, 1734.
+
+[30] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1712-1726: 422-424.
+
+[31] _Executive journals of the Council_ 4: 252.
+
+[32] July 10, 1731.
+
+[33] Council to the Lords of Trade, Jan. 1, 1732.
+
+[34] June 8, 1728.
+
+[35] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 6: 227.
+
+[36] Gooch to the Lords of Trade, Feb. 27, 1731.
+
+[37] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 5: 94-96.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+AT STAKE--LIBERTY AND A CONTINENT
+
+
+When Robert Dinwiddie stepped ashore at Yorktown on November 20, 1751,
+he was greeted by Secretary Thomas Nelson and two members of the
+Council--Colonel William Fairfax and William Nelson. Hastening on to
+Williamsburg, he was met on the road by Commissary William Dawson, John
+Blair, and Philip Ludwell. When the little cavalcade reached the
+outskirts of the town, they found the Mayor, Aldermen, and other
+prominent citizens waiting to welcome them. At the Palace, Dinwiddie
+took the oath of office. He and the members of the Council then went to
+Wetherburn's tavern for dinner, where they were guests of the town. As
+the cannons at the powder horn roared their approval, they lifted their
+glasses to drink the "royal healths."
+
+The inauguration of Dinwiddie brought to an end the custom of appointing
+military officers as Governors or Lieutenant Governors of the colony.
+Nicholson, Andros, Spotswood, Hunter, Drysdale, and Gooch had all been
+soldiers. One wonders why the policy had persisted so long, for there
+would seem to be little in the training of an army officer to fit him
+for the duties of a colonial administrator. The habit of issuing
+commands and expecting instant obedience might easily cause failure in
+dealing with a liberty-loving people. Yet in practice, it seems to have
+been the personal character of the Governor, rather than his training,
+which determined his conduct. Nicholson and Spotswood were by nature
+dictators, Drysdale and Gooch had no desire for power for power's sake.
+
+Yet the Virginians were no doubt pleased with the appointment of a man
+from civil life. Dinwiddie came from a family of Glasgow merchants, and
+as a young man had been engaged in the pottery business. At the age of
+twenty-eight he was made Collector of Customs in Bermuda, in which
+office he won the approval of the Lords of Trade by uncovering serious
+frauds in the collecting of customs in the West Indies. In 1738 he was
+advanced to the important post of Surveyor General of the southern ports
+of the North American continent. Additional responsibilities were
+placed upon him a few years later, when he was made Inspector General of
+the Customs. In 1749 he resigned this office, probably in order to
+engage in trade.
+
+The painting of Dinwiddie in the National Portrait Gallery, London,
+shows a rather stout, middle-aged man. The face which looks out from
+beneath a large wig, despite the placid expression, shows strength in
+the lines of the mouth and the steady gaze of the eyes. Dinwiddie,
+throughout his career did not willingly provoke a conflict, but when the
+conflict was started he fought stubbornly. Yet when necessity dictated
+he knew how to yield. The first of these qualities made him an important
+factor in preserving the most important part of North America for
+British civilization. The other contributed greatly to the triumph of
+self-government in Virginia.
+
+The new Lieutenant Governor's administration began auspiciously. In his
+opening address to the Assembly he expressed his pleasure at being in
+Virginia, where he had so many friends. He realized it would be
+difficult to equal the record of his predecessor, but he hoped, with the
+advice of the Council and the Burgesses, to serve the colony well. One
+wonders whether he had in mind some of the former Governors of Virginia
+when he pointed out that indolence, avarice, and ambition were
+responsible for many public calamities.
+
+The spirit of good will to the Governor ripened into gratitude when he
+sided with the Assembly in their protest against an action of the King
+in Council. This was almost unprecedented, for a Governor was supposed
+to defend anything the royal government did, no matter how harmful to
+the colony or unjust.
+
+It seems that the Assembly, in 1748 and 1749, had made a laborious
+revision of the laws. The completed work, in sixty-seven acts, they sent
+to the King so that he could review them. But it was not anticipated
+that he would either veto or sign any of them. So there was
+consternation when Dinwiddie reported that the King in Council had
+signed fifty-seven of the revised laws and vetoed ten. Of the latter,
+two--one declaring slaves personal property and the other setting up the
+General Court--were of great importance. Each House drew up an address
+to the King pleading with him to reconsider his action. When Dinwiddie
+promised to endorse and deliver them, Councillors and Burgesses alike
+were grateful. Before dispersing they voted him a gift of L500, which
+Dinwiddie, despite his instructions seems to have accepted.[1]
+
+But the honeymoon was of short duration. Before Dinwiddie left England
+he was entrusted with a new seal for Virginia. It was this, no doubt,
+which gave him the idea of adding to his income by charging a pistole
+for signing patents for land and affixing the seal. Had he been aware of
+the storm raised by the similar attempt by Lord Effingham sixty-four
+years earlier, he would have known what was in store for him. The
+Council, too, seem to have been forgetful in this matter, for when the
+Governor asked their opinion, they advised him to go ahead.[2]
+
+When the Assembly met in November, 1753, Dinwiddie told them that a
+large body of French regulars, accompanied by Indian allies, had marched
+down from Canada into the Ohio region and had built a fort there. The
+King had commanded him to lay before them a request for funds to defeat
+their designs, and to purchase gifts for the friendly Indians.
+
+The Burgesses were fully aware of the danger. For the French to build a
+chain of forts on the Monongahela and the Ohio to connect with those on
+the Mississippi would make a barrier to further expansion of the English
+colonies to the west. It would also constitute an ever present threat to
+their frontier, since in future wars the way would be open to forays of
+hostile Indians. Such men as Joshua Fry, Edmund Pendleton, John
+Robinson, and Benjamin Harrison may have realized that the fate of
+Virginia and of all English North America hung in the balance.
+
+But for the moment the Burgesses were more interested in preserving
+their liberty than their safety. They began by considering the
+complaints of several counties against the pistole fee. Dinwiddie
+accused the Reverend William Stith, President of the College of William
+and Mary, of inciting the people against the fee. Stith was his personal
+enemy, he thought, because he had opposed his appointment as Commissary
+of the clergy.[3] So he wrote to the Bishop of London suggesting that if
+he would advise Stith "to be peaceable and quiet and teach the doctrine
+of love," it would make him more easy in his government.[4] If it was
+Stith who aroused the people against the pistole fee, he made a good
+job of it. Henrico County protested, Chesterfield protested, Albemarle
+protested, Cumberland, Amelia, Dinwiddie Counties protested.
+
+ [Illustration: Governor Dinwiddie. Portrait in the National Portrait
+ Gallery of London. Reproduced by permission.]
+
+ [Illustration: The General Court in the Old Capitol at Williamsburg.
+ Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.]
+
+The Burgesses were deeply concerned. In an address to the Lieutenant
+Governor they declared that their duty in the discharge of the trust
+reposed in them by the people required them to ask him by what authority
+he demanded the fee. He replied that he had acted on his own authority,
+with the advice of the Council. And he intimated that the taking of the
+fee was a thing that did not concern them.
+
+The Burgesses were indignant. In an address of historic significance
+they told Dinwiddie "in the strongest terms" that it was their undoubted
+right to enquire into the grievances of the people. To question it was
+to threaten the liberties of his Majesty's subjects and the constitution
+of the government. "The rights of the subject are so secured by law that
+they cannot be deprived of the least part of their property but by their
+own consent. Upon this excellent principle is our constitution founded,
+and ever since this colony has had the happiness of being under the
+immediate protection of the Crown the royal declarations have been:
+'That no man's life, member, freehold, or goods be taken away or harmed
+but by established and known laws.'"[5]
+
+Well would it have been if the King and his advisers had pondered well
+this declaration when it came before them, for it gave in unmistakable
+language the principle in defense of which the American Revolution was
+fought. And it would have been well for Dinwiddie had he bowed to the
+wishes of the Burgesses at a time when their cooperation was needed to
+save the British colonies from French aggression.
+
+But in the meanwhile he had placed the matter before the Board of Trade,
+and the Board had asked the opinion of Attorney General Sir Dudley
+Ryder.[6] When Dinwiddie received word that Sir Dudley thought the
+assent of the Assembly unnecessary, he was resolved not to yield. The
+fee relates solely to the disposal of the King's lands, he told the
+Burgesses, which is a matter of favor from the Crown.
+
+The Governor's plea that the fee was necessary in order to bring
+thousands of occupied, but unpatented acres, under the rent roll seems
+to have been an afterthought. "On my arrival I found in the Secretary's
+office a list of lands taken up near 1,000,000 acres, which, most of
+them, should have been patented," he wrote the Board of Trade, "which is
+an annual loss to the quit rents."[7] But he did not explain how the
+charging of a pistole fee would have been an incentive to the holders of
+these lands to have them patented.
+
+The Burgesses were by this time thoroughly aroused. The Governor said it
+was only "some hotheaded young men" who had stirred up all the trouble,
+but when it was resolved that his answer was unsatisfactory, there was
+not one dissenting voice. The demand for the fee, they insisted, was
+illegal and arbitrary, contrary to the charters of the colony, to King
+William's express order, and tending to the subversion of laws and
+constitution. They were determined to place the matter before the King
+in a "dutiful and loyal address."[8]
+
+At the close of the session, after the Governor's speech proroguing
+them, the Burgesses refused to budge from their seats until they had
+passed still another resolution which breathed the spirit of revolution:
+"That whoever shall hereafter pay a pistole as a fee to the Governor for
+the use of the seal to patents for land shall be deemed a betrayer of
+the rights and privileges of the people." This Dinwiddie thought tended
+to "sowing sedition and rebellion among the people."[9]
+
+In the meanwhile, the Burgesses had drawn up the address to the King and
+appointed Attorney General Peyton Randolph their agent to take it to
+England. To defray his expenses and pay him for his services, they voted
+him L2,500 out of the funds in the hands of the Treasurer. When this
+came before the Council, they rejected it. The Treasurer then declared
+that he would pay the money without their consent, but he refrained when
+the Governor told him it would not be allowed in his accounts.
+
+"I am sorry to find them very much in a republican way of thinking,"
+Dinwiddie wrote to the Earl of Halifax, "and indeed they do not act in a
+proper constitutional way, but making encroachments on the prerogative
+of the Crown, which some former Governor submitted too much to them, and
+I fear without a very particular instruction it will be difficult to
+bring them in order."[10]
+
+When Randolph asked Dinwiddie for permission to go to England, he met
+with a prompt refusal. "You have not acted agreeable to your duty and
+your office," he told him. When Randolph insisted upon going, the
+Governor assumed that he had vacated his office and appointed George
+Wythe Attorney General in his place.[11]
+
+Soon after Randolph's arrival in England articles began to appear in the
+gazettes intended to arouse sentiment against the pistole fee, which
+Dinwiddie wrongly attributed to him. The fee was no less than a tax
+levied on the people without their consent, they said. Foreign
+Protestants and others were leaving the colony rather than pay it. To
+this Dinwiddie replied that any thinking man could distinguish between a
+fee and a tax. And he denied flatly that one person had left Virginia to
+avoid the pistole fee.[12] But he was sorry that the affair had made so
+much noise in the English coffee houses.
+
+The Board of Trade considered the pistole dispute most inopportune. At a
+time when the French were challenging the right of Great Britain to the
+vast trans-Allegheny region, it was unfortunate that the Governor should
+have aroused the bitter resentment of the Assembly. "It is necessary
+that harmony and mutual confidence be established between the Governors
+and people in all the colonies," they wrote, "but especially in
+Virginia, on the frontier of which the French are carrying on their
+encroachments."[13]
+
+But they could not desert Dinwiddie entirely since the issue involved
+the royal prerogative. The King rejected the address of the Burgesses,
+and the Board confirmed the Governor's right to the fee. But they hedged
+it about with several restrictions. There must be no fee for grants of
+less than one hundred acres, or for lands granted for importing
+settlers, or for lands west of the mountains. They reproved Dinwiddie
+for proposing that the fee be established by act of Assembly, in
+violation of the King's rights. The making out of surveys for land and
+neglecting to pass patents was clearly "in the Governor's power to
+prevent." "We expect you to do your duty ... even though no pecuniary
+advantage should arise from it." And they recommended that he reinstate
+Randolph as Attorney General. "This may quiet the minds of the people
+and stop this unjust clamor."[14]
+
+Dinwiddie was far from happy about this report. The proposal to
+establish the fee by act of Assembly had come from the Council, not from
+him, he wrote in reply. As for not taking a fee for patents west of the
+mountains, he wanted to know which mountains. He had taken no fee for
+lands beyond the Alleghenies. The suggestion to reinstate the Attorney
+General was especially displeasing. However, when Randolph arrived at
+Williamsburg with many letters of recommendation from men of influence
+in England, denying that he had written the attacks on the Governor in
+the press, and promising "to conduct himself more regularly in future
+and with more regard to his Majesty's service," he reinstated him.[15]
+
+One wonders just how many pistoles Dinwiddie pocketed for the use of the
+seal in the six and a half years of his administration. A few months
+after he had left Virginia for good there were no less than 1,360
+applications for patents waiting to be sealed. Governor Fauquier,
+Dinwiddie's successor, stated that this was costing the Crown L1,000 a
+year in quit rents. It would seem to indicate that Dinwiddie, ignoring
+the positive orders of the Board of Trade, had appeased the people by
+permitting 1,000,000 acres of occupied land to remain unpatented. Thus
+the Governor's victory was a hollow one, and the Burgesses, without
+acquiescing in the decision of the Board, were content to let the matter
+drop so long as the fee was not collected.
+
+Fauquier, on his part, handled this hot potato with care. "Being
+extremely desirous to keep peace and harmony in this country," he wrote
+the Lords of Trade, "and that his Majesty's revenue should not suffer
+... I have made a declaration in Council that I would be willing to
+acquiesce in anything that should be thought reasonable to procure both
+these advantages. This affair has formerly raised a great flame in this
+country which is not yet quite subsided, and ... I am endeavoring to
+quench it entirely that the Assemblies may the easier be prevailed upon
+to give what is necessary."[16]
+
+In the meanwhile the storm of war had broken over the colonies. A
+terrible war it was. It lacked the wholesale devastation of the atomic
+bomb and the hydrogen bomb, but it was marked by infinite cruelties.
+Dinwiddie described it vividly. "Think you see the infant torn from the
+unavailing struggles of the distracted mother, the daughters ravished
+before the eyes of their wretched parents, and then, with cruelty and
+insult, butchered and scalped. Suppose the horrid scene completed, and
+the whole family, man, wife, and children murdered and scalped by these
+relentless savages, and then torn in pieces."[17]
+
+To Dinwiddie goes the credit of warning the British government that the
+French were trying to confine the English to the region east of the
+Alleghenies. In December, 1752, he wrote the Board of Trade that they
+had built a string of forts from Canada to the mouth of the Mississippi,
+that they had 5,000 soldiers at New Orleans, and 1,600 elsewhere in
+America. When he heard that a force of French and Indians had built a
+fort on the Allegheny River, and were preparing to descend on the Ohio,
+he sent young George Washington to warn them to leave. This proving
+ineffectual, he came to the Assembly for funds to finance an expedition
+to drive them out.
+
+This was the first of a series of appeals for money which gave the
+Assembly a golden opportunity to weaken the power of the Governor and
+the royal prerogative. Yet it was an opportunity full of danger. If they
+clogged their grants with such conditions that Dinwiddie would not
+accept them, they ran the risk of having the colony overrun by the
+enemy. At times the Governor was in despair. "The French could have cut
+off every one of our men and marched down to Hampton without the least
+danger," he wrote in July, 1754.
+
+When the Assembly met in February, 1754, Dinwiddie told them that
+Washington had seen a large body of the enemy on the upper Allegheny.
+Give me men and supplies to oppose them, he pleaded. The safety of
+Virginia depends on you at this critical juncture.[18] In reply to this
+appeal they did vote L10,000 but Dinwiddie was far from happy about it
+because the bill named a committee of the two Houses to supervise its
+expenditure. "This bill takes from me the undoubted right I have of
+directing the application of the money," he complained. But since funds
+could be had on no other terms he gave his assent. "I assure you it was
+contrary to my inclination, but necessity has no law," he wrote James
+Abercrombie.[19]
+
+So men were raised and equipped and sent out to the junction of the
+Allegheny and the Monongahela. Here, under the command of George
+Washington, they were fortifying themselves when they were attacked by
+the French and Indians and forced to retire. Again Dinwiddie pleaded for
+a grant large enough to meet the emergency. When the Assembly responded
+by voting L20,000, he was delighted until he discovered a rider to pay
+Peyton Randolph the L2,500 they had promised him for representing them
+in England in the pistole affair. This was too much for Dinwiddie to
+swallow, so he vetoed the bill.[20]
+
+In his perplexity the Governor now made a radical suggestion to the
+Board of Trade. "I think it impossible to conduct any expedition in
+these parts with a dependence on the Assemblies for supplies, without a
+British act of Parliament to lay a poll tax on the whole subjects of
+these provinces, to bring them to a sense of their duty to the King, to
+awaken them from their insolence, to take care of their lives and
+fortunes."[21]
+
+It is easy to imagine the storm of indignation this would have raised in
+Virginia had the people known of it. Why, no such thing had been done in
+the century and a half of the colony's existence. Charles I had not
+dared tax the colonists without their consent; Charles II, though he
+obtained a revenue in Virginia by threatening the Assembly, had not
+acted without their consent. Over and over the people had sought
+guarantees that they should enjoy the inherent right of all Englishmen
+of being taxed only by their own representatives.
+
+Dinwiddie's suggestion undoubtedly reflected the changed attitude of the
+British government. He would hardly have dared make it if he had thought
+it would shock the British Ministry. On the other hand, the violent
+reaction of the people of the colony to the pistole fee should have made
+it clear to him that they would resist taxation by Parliament fiercely.
+In other words, his action was revealing of how far apart Britain and
+her colonies had grown, and prophetic of the clash that was to come.
+
+But now Dinwiddie was cheered by word that the King had promised
+L20,000 and 2,000 stand of arms from the royal stores to aid in the war.
+With this evidence that Great Britain was willing to do her part, he
+again appealed to the Assembly. He was overjoyed when they granted
+L20,000. "I parted with the Assembly on good terms. I shall try to keep
+them in good humor," he wrote the Board. When he heard that two
+regiments of British regulars were on their way to Virginia, he
+confidently expected that the French would soon be driven from the Ohio
+region. All Virginia was elated when the troops arrived at Alexandria in
+their brilliant red coats. The Assembly voted an additional L22,000.
+
+Then came disaster. General Braddock, who commanded the British, knew
+nothing about Indian fighting, and scorned the advice of those who did.
+"These savages may, indeed, be a formidable enemy to your raw American
+militia, but upon the King's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is
+impossible that they should make any impression," he told Benjamin
+Franklin. So his advanced regiment, as it was filing through the woods,
+was attacked and cut to pieces. The Virginia contingent fought bravely,
+but could not stem the tide. Braddock himself was killed. Colonel
+Dunbar, in command of the other regiment, though his men had taken no
+part in the battle and still outnumbered the enemy, marched them off to
+Philadelphia, and left the Virginia frontier open.
+
+The dismay of the people when the news of this unexpected defeat reached
+them was tempered by their pride in the heroism of the Virginia troops,
+"who purchased with their lives immortal glory to their country and
+themselves on the banks of the Monongahela." So when Dinwiddie asked for
+more funds, the Assembly voted L40,000.[22] To raise this sum they
+levied heavy taxes on the people and placed a five per cent duty on
+imports. In times of peace no Governor would have consented to an import
+duty on British goods, for it would have brought immediate protests from
+the merchants. But Dinwiddie signed the bill and praised the Assembly
+for its "unanimity" and "martial spirit."[23]
+
+When they met again in October, 1755, they forgot for the moment the
+Indian terror and spent their time on a project to emit L200,000 in
+paper and set up a loan office. To this the Governor would not assent,
+and after a session of only twelve days, he dissolved them to take his
+chances on a new election. The Board of Trade praised him. "Their
+availing themselves of this time of danger and distress to establish a
+paper currency, so destructive of credit, justifies your dissolving
+them."[24]
+
+Dinwiddie was now so out of patience that he suggested once more that
+Parliament pass the Assembly by and itself levy a tax on the people of
+the colonies. He recommended a poll tax of twelve pence for two years,
+and a permanent tax of two shillings on every one hundred acres of land.
+"I know our people will be inflamed if they hear of my making this
+proposal, as they are averse to all taxes," he wrote the Board of
+Trade.[25] One wonders what the Americans would have done had the
+British Government followed this suggestion. It might have alienated
+their affection at the very moment when it was most needed. It would
+probably have been as impossible to collect the taxes as it was to
+enforce the Stamp Act a decade later. Fortunately, the Board of Trade
+decided that this was not the proper time to start a controversy with
+the colonies over this vital matter.
+
+The new House of Burgesses who met in March, 1756, while showing a
+willingness to support the war, were just as independent, just as
+jealous of their privileges as former ones. When some of their members
+were absent from their seats while attending the General Court, they
+sent their mace-bearer within the bar to bring them back. This Dinwiddie
+resented as an indignity to the court. The orderly administration of
+justice was just as important as the enacting of laws, he told the
+House.
+
+Their audacity was shown at the same session in the matter of the
+Acadian exiles. Governor Charles Lawrence, of Nova Scotia, on the advice
+of his Council, had decided to distribute these unfortunates throughout
+the British colonies. When the people of Virginia heard that a fleet
+with over eleven hundred had arrived in their waters, they were deeply
+concerned. No Governor had a right to unload on them such a number of
+French Roman Catholics, they said. Their remaining in the colony at a
+time when Great Britain and France were at war would be very dangerous.
+So they passed a bill, to which the Governor assented, to ship the
+exiles to Great Britain.[26]
+
+But while the Assembly was sitting, the Indians were making a series of
+murderous raids in the Valley of Virginia. Washington, who was left in
+command of the Virginia forces after Dunbar withdrew, wrote Dinwiddie in
+April, 1756, to describe the plight of the people. "I see their
+situation, know their danger, and participate in their sufferings,
+without having it in my power to give them further relief than uncertain
+promises.... The supplicating tears of the women, and moving petitions
+from the men melt me into such deadly sorrow that I solemnly declare ...
+I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy
+provided that would contribute to the people's ease."[27]
+
+Nor were the Burgesses deaf to the sufferings of these poor people.
+Although the burden of taxation was very heavy, they voted L60,000 for
+the erection of forts and the sending of the militia into the Valley.
+Part of this sum they provided for by the emission of treasury notes.
+"In the situation I was obliged to give my assent or disband our forces
+and leave our frontier unguarded and exposed to the incursions of a
+merciless foe," Dinwiddie wrote the Board of Trade. But he assured them
+that the merchants would not be losers since the notes bore interest at
+five per cent, and would be redeemed in 1760. Virginia had voted in all
+L150,000 for the war, he pointed out, which was much more than any other
+colony had done.[28]
+
+At a short session in September, 1756, Dinwiddie told the Assembly of
+the surrender of Oswego. All realized that it was a crushing blow, since
+it cut off the English from the Great Lakes, made a deep impression on
+the Indians, and opened New York to invasion. When the Governor asked
+for men and money as Virginia's contribution to the Royal American
+Regiment, which the Earl of Loudoun, Commander-in-Chief of the British
+forces, was recruiting, they voted L8,000. This the Earl promised to
+report to the British government "in the very handsome manner" it
+deserved.[29]
+
+But when they met in April, 1757, they did not permit this compliment to
+keep them from taking issue with Loudoun for laying an embargo on
+commerce in order to put an end to the sending of supplies by the
+colonists to the French. It was obvious to all that this would do more
+harm than good, they said. Wheat stored in vessels ready to set out for
+Great Britain was "likely to perish." And unless the planters could
+sell their tobacco, it would be impossible for them to pay their taxes.
+After all, men asked, what authority had Loudoun to give such an order?
+The Burgesses petitioned Dinwiddie to rescind it so far as Virginia was
+concerned. They were determined to vote no more supplies until he did
+so.[30] Dinwiddie was forced to yield, and the fleet waiting in Virginia
+waters cleared for Great Britain.
+
+As one vessel after another sailed out between Cape Henry and Cape
+Charles, the Assembly acted quickly to support the war. They raised
+L6,000 to send out rangers against the Indians, L25,000 to pay arrears
+due officers and men of the Virginia forces, and issued L80,000 in
+non-interest bearing notes, renewable in seven years.[31] At once the
+old "heats and disputes" with the Governor were resumed. Dinwiddie was
+opposed to paper money, but the Burgesses, knowing that they had the
+whip hand, would not yield. "They took advantage of the emergency of our
+affairs, when without money every operation must be stopped, and the
+protection of the country, the lives and properties of these very people
+[have] been exposed to the barbarous enemy," the Governor complained. "I
+was obliged at last, much against my judgment, to assent."[32]
+
+In one vital matter the Burgesses themselves had to yield. The
+expenditure of money appropriated during previous sessions had proved so
+unsatisfactory that they left all new disbursements to the Governor.
+They appointed three commissioners to examine such accounts as he should
+turn over to them, but they were merely to assist, not control him.[33]
+
+Despite the one point of difference, Dinwiddie, in proroguing the
+Assembly, praised them for their "dutiful obedience to his Majesty's
+commands," and their compliance with what he himself had recommended. He
+had told them earlier in the summer that his health had been failing and
+that he had asked permission to resign his office and return to Great
+Britain. Now he said goodbye. "I shall always retain a sincere regard
+for the prosperity of this dominion," he said.[34] He sailed from
+Yorktown in January, 1758.
+
+To Robert Dinwiddie goes a large part of the credit for saving the major
+part of North America for British civilization. It was he who saw the
+meaning of the encroachments of the French in the Ohio Valley; it was he
+who sounded the alarm in both Great Britain and America. And when the
+fateful struggle with France was under way, his appreciation of what was
+at stake made him subordinate other issues to it. He broke his
+instructions repeatedly because he thought it necessary in order to win
+the war.
+
+This resulted in substantial gains for self-government in Virginia. In
+voting funds, not only did the Assembly specify the uses to which they
+should be put, but tried to supervise each disbursement. In sending the
+Acadians to England and forcing Dinwiddie to raise Loudoun's embargo
+they showed their spirit of independence. The issuing of paper money was
+in direct conflict with the Governor's instructions. And the British
+government dared not take steps to curb them so long as the French
+threat remained.
+
+But there is abundant evidence that the King's Ministers were merely
+biding their time. The old laissez-faire policy of Sir Robert Walpole
+was giving way to a closer scrutiny of colonial affairs. When the Earl
+of Loudoun was made Governor General of Virginia, he received more than
+a hundred instructions. He must guard zealously the prerogative of the
+Crown, he must permit no riders to acts of Assembly, he must accept no
+gifts from the Assembly, he must not permit the issuing of paper money.
+The twenty-fourth instruction is especially revealing of the accepted
+view in Great Britain that American interests must be disregarded if
+they clashed with those of the mother country. The Governor was not to
+assent to any act putting duties on slaves to "the great discouragement"
+of British merchants, or duties on felons, since this was contrary to
+the act of Parliament for "preventing robbery, burglary, and other
+felonies, and for the more effectual transportation of felons."
+
+It has often been said that had the French power in America not been
+broken, the colonists would not have dared to rebel against Great
+Britain. It would be more to the point that if the French threat had not
+been removed the British government would not have dared to drive the
+Americans into rebellion. So long as the war with France lasted the
+colonial Assemblies were masters of the situation; when it was over the
+assault on their liberty was not long delayed.
+
+Perhaps it is not too much to say that the war called the attention of
+the British Government to the colonies. They could not have overlooked
+such letters as that from Dinwiddie to Pitt on June 18, 1757: "I am
+convinced if alterations are not made in the present constitutions of
+the colonies, and have a general mode of government under his Majesty's
+immediate directions, and a coalition of the whole, it will be
+impracticable to conduct his Majesty's affairs with that spirit which
+the present emergency requires."[35]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 99.
+
+[2] _Executive journals of the Council_ 5: 385.
+
+[3] Dinwiddie to the Lords of Trade, Jan. 22, 1754.
+
+[4] Jan. 22, 1754.
+
+[5] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 143, 144.
+
+[6] CO5-1328, pp. 85, 86.
+
+[7] June 16, 1753.
+
+[8] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 155.
+
+[9] Dinwiddie to Holdernesse, Dec. 29, 1753.
+
+[10] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed. R. A. Brock, 1: 100,
+101.
+
+[11] Dinwiddie to the Board of Trade, Jan. 29, 1754.
+
+[12] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed. R. A. Brock, 1: 153.
+
+[13] CO5-1367, pp. 94-101.
+
+[14] _Ibid._
+
+[15] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed., R. A. Brock, 1: 507.
+
+[16] Sept. 23, 1758.
+
+[17] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 176.
+
+[18] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 176.
+
+[19] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed. R. A. Brock, 1: 157.
+
+[20] _Ibid._, 328.
+
+[21] _Ibid._, 329.
+
+[22] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 301.
+
+[23] _Ibid._, 315.
+
+[24] Board of Trade to Dinwiddie, Feb. 17, 1756.
+
+[25] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_, ed. R. A. Brock, II: 341.
+
+[26] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 351.
+
+[27] _Writings of George Washington_, J. C. Fitzpatrick, ed. 2: 324,
+325.
+
+[28] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_ 2: 464.
+
+[29] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: 413.
+
+[30] _Ibid._, 448.
+
+[31] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: xxviii.
+
+[32] Dinwiddie to the Lords of Trade, Sept. 12, 1757.
+
+[33] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1752-1758: xxviii.
+
+[34] _Ibid._, 492.
+
+[35] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_ 2: 642, 643.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE WIDENING RIFT
+
+
+Francis Fauquier, who succeeded Dinwiddie as Lieutenant Governor, is
+described as "a gentleman of most amiable disposition, generous, just,
+and mild, and possessed in an eminent degree of all the social virtues."
+When Thomas Jefferson was a student at the College of William and Mary,
+he, together with Professor William Small and George Wythe, dined with
+him frequently. "At these dinners I have heard more good sense, more
+rational and philosophical conversations than in all my life besides,"
+Jefferson said many years later.[1] Fauquier, who was an accomplished
+musician, delighted in joining with Jefferson and several others in
+weekly concerts in the lovely ballroom of the Palace. He was a member of
+the Royal Society, and, if we may judge from the presence in his library
+of a set of Palladio, a student of architecture.
+
+When Fauquier arrived, on June 5, 1758, he found the colonists absorbed
+in preparations to send strong forces to join General Forbes in his
+expedition against Fort Duquesne. Ever since the French had established
+themselves there it had been a nest from which swarms of Indians had
+made raids on the frontier. "I found this colony zealous in his
+Majesty's service, and very strenuous to support the common cause,"
+Fauquier wrote the Lords of Trade.[2]
+
+Secretary Pitt and General Abercrombie had written urging the Virginians
+to exert themselves to the utmost. John Blair, President of the Council
+and Acting Governor pending Fauquier's arrival, had called the Assembly
+together and asked them to vote funds for a new regiment. The vote was
+unanimous. They were eager to help in any attack on their "cruel
+neighbors of Fort Duquesne." So now the colony resounded to the beat of
+drums as officers brought in the recruits. Some ensigns raised ten, some
+lieutenants twenty, some captains seventy. To supply the men with arms,
+Blair stripped the magazine at Williamsburg and even took the muskets
+from the Governor's Palace. Tents and kettles he ordered from
+Philadelphia, pledging the credit of the colony to pay for them.[3]
+
+This was the situation when Fauquier landed, and it gave him reason to
+hope that Fort Duquesne would be in English hands early in the autumn.
+When long delays made this unlikely, he summoned the Assembly to ask for
+more funds. But now he was confronted with a perplexing problem. It had
+long been the practice for the House of Burgesses to make their Speaker
+the Treasurer of the colony. Dinwiddie, probably because of a grudge
+against John Robinson, who held these two offices, had recommended their
+separation. The Board of Trade approved and directed Fauquier to see
+that this was done.[4] But the Governor held back. He was not long in
+finding that Robinson was the most popular man in Virginia, the idol of
+the people whether rich or poor. Had he insisted that someone else be
+made Treasurer, the Burgesses would not have voted a penny for the
+expedition. Fearing that the Board's instruction might be whispered
+around and come to Robinson's ear, he decided to take him into his
+confidence and place the whole matter before him. The Speaker was much
+gratified. "I am told by those who know his character that I have
+attached him to me in the strongest manner by the openness of my
+behavior," Fauquier wrote the Board.[5] So the supply bill went through
+with a rush. But the Board must have realized that their authority in
+the colony had sunk to a new low when the Governor not only ignored
+their orders, but thought it necessary to apologize for them in order to
+curry favor with the Speaker of the House.
+
+In the meanwhile, things were going well in the war. Under the able
+leadership of Pitt, Great Britain had poured men and money into the
+colonies, and replaced the incompetent Loudoun with the able General
+Jeffrey Amherst. A blow of great importance for Virginia was struck when
+a small force captured Fort Frontenac at the outlet of Lake Ontario.
+This cut the French line of communication with the west and made Fort
+Duquesne untenable. So this key position fell without firing a shot. As
+Forbes' army approached, the garrison blew up the fort, and taking to
+their canoes fell down the Ohio.
+
+Fauquier congratulated himself for his part in this success. He had kept
+the Burgesses in good humor; he had obtained the funds needed to keep
+the Virginia troops in the field. If he had been lax in defending the
+King's prerogative, surely the end justified the means. So he was not a
+little piqued when he received a reprimand from the Board of Trade.
+
+The trouble stemmed from the fact that tobacco provided a very poor
+standard of value. When the crop was bountiful its purchasing power
+fell, if the summer were dry and the leaves withered in the field, it
+doubled or tripled. In the first case debts and taxes could be paid at a
+low value, in the other the value might be so great as to threaten
+widespread injustice and suffering.
+
+In 1748 by an act of Assembly the salary of the clergy had been fixed at
+16,000 pounds of tobacco. This law had received the King's assent, and
+according to the "ancient constitution," could not be repealed without
+his approval. Yet, seven years later, when there had been a severe
+drought, the Assembly passed an act permitting payment of all
+obligations in money at the rate of two pence a pound. The law was to
+continue in force for ten months only, and there was no clause
+suspending its operation until the King had given his assent.
+
+The clergy were bitter. They thought it hard that when the price of
+tobacco was low they were forced to accept it, but when it was high they
+were to be paid in money at one third the market price of tobacco. In a
+petition to the House of Burgesses they pointed out that their average
+income was so inadequate that they found it difficult to support their
+families. It was this which explained why so few graduates of Oxford and
+Cambridge entered the ministry in Virginia, and why so few in the colony
+thought it worth while to study divinity.[6]
+
+A delegation of four ministers called on Governor Dinwiddie to urge him
+to veto the bill. But Dinwiddie, who was begging for funds and troops,
+had no stomach for a conflict with the Assembly over this affair. "What
+can I do?" he told them. "If I refuse to approve the act, I shall have
+the people on my back." So he signed the bill.
+
+Unwilling to let the matter rest here, ten of the ministers, among them
+the Reverend Patrick Henry, uncle of the statesman, appealed to the
+Bishop of London. The unjust Two-penny Act would lower them in the eyes
+of the people, it would discourage them in the discharge of their duty.
+And, to clinch their argument, they pointed out that their cause was
+also the cause of the King. "Our salaries have had the royal assent and
+cannot be taken from us or diminished in any respect by any law made
+here without trampling upon the royal prerogative."[7]
+
+Three years later, when again there was a "prodigious dimunition" in the
+tobacco crop, the Assembly acted to give relief to debtors and taxpayers
+by again making obligations payable in money at tuppence a pound. This
+time the clergy made no appeal to the Burgesses, but Commissary Dawson,
+John Camm, and Thomas Robinson went to the Palace to urge Fauquier to
+veto the bill. Note that it has no suspending clause, they said. Note
+that it alters a bill to which the King gave his assent. If you let it
+pass, will you not be ignoring your instructions?[8]
+
+But Fauquier was as much in need of funds as Dinwiddie had been. He
+answered that that was not the point to be considered. What was
+important was what would please the people. So he gave the act his
+approval. "The bill was a temporary law to ease the people from a burden
+which the country thought too great for them to bear," he wrote the
+Lords of Trade. "A suspending clause would have been to all intents and
+purposes the same as rejecting it.... The country were intent upon it
+... and I conceived it would be a very strong step for me to take ... to
+set my face against the whole colony.... I am persuaded that if I had
+refused it, I must have despaired of our gaining any influence either in
+the Council or the House of Burgesses."[9]
+
+But the clergy were determined to bring the matter to an issue.
+Commissary Dawson advised caution, but pressure from other ministers
+forced him to call a convention. When they met they not only vented
+their indignation in many denunciations of the Two-penny Act, but drew
+up an address to the King entitled "The Representation of the Clergy."
+In it they hammered on the point that their cause was his cause. The act
+was as injurious to the royal prerogative as to the rights of the
+Church. "It gives us great concern that an ancient, standing law of this
+dominion, confirmed by the sanction of the royal assent, is no security
+to our livings."[10]
+
+This appeal they entrusted to the Reverend John Camm with instructions
+to place it in the King's hands. Camm, who later became Commissary,
+President of the College of William and Mary, and a member of the
+Council, was a man of great ability, but according to Fauquier,
+turbulent and delighting "to live in a flame." On his arrival in England
+he obtained an interview with the King and delivered the
+"Representation." His Majesty referred it to the Privy Council, who, in
+turn, handed it on to the Board of Trade.
+
+This suited Camm exactly, for his trump card was the Bishop of London,
+and the Bishop's influence with the Board was great. His Lordship was
+exasperated at the presumption of the Virginia Assembly. "To make an act
+to suspend the operations of the royal act is an attempt which in some
+times would have been called treason, and I do not know any other name
+for it in our law," he told the Board. "To assume a power to bind the
+King's hands, and to say how far his power shall go and where it shall
+stop, is such an act of supremacy as is inconsistent with the dignity of
+the Crown of England." It manifestly tended to draw the colonists from
+their allegiance to the King for them to find that they had a higher
+power to protect them. "Surely it is time for us to look about us, and
+to consider the several steps lately taken in the diminution of the
+prerogative and influence of the Crown."
+
+The Bishop denounced Governor Fauquier for signing the Two-penny bill.
+"What made him so zealous in this cause I pretend not to judge, but
+surely the great change which manifestly appears in the temper and
+disposition of the people of this colony in the compass of a few years
+deserves highly to be considered, and the more so as the Deputy
+Governors and the Council seemed to act in concert with the people."[11]
+
+The Board was duly impressed. They denounced the Two-penny Act as a
+usurpation and advised the King to declare it null and void. Not only
+did the King do so, but he gave Fauquier a stunning rebuke. "We do ...
+strictly command and require you for the future, upon pain of our
+highest displeasure, and of being recalled from the government of our
+said colony, punctually to observe and obey the several directions
+contained in the 16th article of our said instructions, relative to the
+passing of laws...."[12]
+
+Camm sent copies of these papers to Virginia, and when they were handed
+around among his friends the clergy rejoiced. The King was on their
+side, all would be well. Camm wrote to his attorney in Virginia to bring
+suit in the General Court against the vestry of his parish for his
+salary in tobacco. On the other hand, the people of the colony were
+highly resentful against the clergy, and especially against the Bishop
+of London. Colonel Landon Carter and Colonel Richard Bland wrote
+pamphlets defending the Two-penny Act and denouncing his Lordship. To
+the Bishop's contention that the act tended to draw the people from
+their allegiance, it was answered that nothing was more apt to estrange
+them than to deny them the right to protect themselves from distress.
+His Lordship had called the act treason. "But were the Assembly to do
+nothing? This would have been treason indeed." In case of an eventuality
+which the Governor's instructions could not provide for, which could
+bring ruin before relief could come from the throne, it was the duty of
+the Assembly to deviate from the fixed rules of the constitution. The
+preservation of the people could not possibly be treason.[13]
+
+In the meanwhile Fauquier had been waiting impatiently for his copies of
+the King's veto and his instructions in the matter. Month after month
+passed and nothing came. Finally, late in June, ten months after they
+had been written, Camm appeared with them at the door of the Palace.
+Fauquier took them, and then denounced him for slandering him in
+England. Then he called out in a loud voice for his Negro servants, and
+when they had assembled, pointed his finger at Camm. "Look at that
+gentleman and be sure to know him again, and under no circumstances
+permit him to revisit the Palace," he said.[14]
+
+As time passed the war of pamphlets was renewed. In 1763 Camm wrote
+assailing Carter and Bland and trying to answer their arguments. But so
+unpopular was the cause of the clergy that no one in Virginia would
+publish what he wrote, and he had to have it done in Maryland. Bland
+retorted in a letter in the _Virginia Gazette_, and Camm came back in a
+letter which he called "Observations."[15]
+
+Interest now centered on a test case in which the Reverend James Maury
+brought suit for his salary in tobacco in the Hanover County court, in
+November, 1763. The court declared the Two-penny Act no law, since it
+had been vetoed by the Crown, and ordered that at the next court the
+jury should determine how much damages, if any, should be paid. Maury's
+case seemed as good as won, and the attorney for the defendants, Mr.
+John Lewis, retired from the case. In his place they engaged a young,
+little-known lawyer, named Patrick Henry.
+
+It was on December 1, 1763, that a great crowd assembled at the Hanover
+courthouse, filling the little room and overflowing into the yard. Among
+them were twenty clergymen. But when Henry saw his uncle there, he
+persuaded him to leave. John Henry, Patrick's father, presided. When
+several gentlemen refused to serve on the jury, the sheriff was forced
+to fill their places with men of the small farmer class. Several were
+dissenters.
+
+The case was opened by Mr. Peter Lyons, attorney for the plaintiff. When
+he had concluded, Henry rose to reply. At first he seemed hesitant and
+awkward. But soon he warmed up to his subject. His eyes kindled, his
+gestures were bolder, he seemed to grow more erect, his voice resounded
+through the room. His audience were spellbound, and on every bench, at
+the door, in every window people leaned forward, their eyes fixed on the
+youthful orator.
+
+Henry contended that there was a contract between King and people. The
+King owed the people protection; the people owed the King obedience and
+support. But should either violate the contract, it released the other
+from the obligation. The Two-penny Act was good and essential, and its
+disallowance was a breach of the contract. It was an instance of
+misrule, a neglect of the interests of the colony. The King, from being
+the father of his people, became a tyrant who had forfeited the
+obedience of the subjects. At this point Mr. Lyons cried out: "The
+gentleman has spoken treason." And from various parts of the room arose
+a murmur of "treason! treason!"
+
+But Henry turned to the ministers seated before him and denounced them
+and the rest of the clergy in blazing words for trying to triple their
+salaries at the expense of the people. "Do they manifest their zeal in
+the cause of religion and humanity by practicing the mild and benevolent
+precepts of the Gospel of Jesus?... Oh no! Gentlemen. Instead of feeding
+the hungry and clothing the naked these rapacious harpies would ...
+snatch from the hearth of their honest parishioner his last hoe-cake,
+from the widow and her orphaned child their last milch-cow."[16] At this
+the ministers got up and left the room. When the jury brought in a
+verdict of one penny damages, the throng shouted their approval. Strong
+arms lifted Henry aloft and bore him out of the courthouse.
+
+Henry's contention in essence was that the people of the colonies had a
+right to govern themselves. And in this he was but finding legal
+arguments for the existing state of affairs. The Assembly, after a
+century and a half of battling with Kings and Governors, had made itself
+to all intents and purposes supreme. In annulling the Two-penny Act the
+King crossed lances with the representatives of the people and had come
+off second best. The jury, sitting in the little country courthouse,
+under the urging of an obscure lawyer, had defied him. Thus, two years
+before the Stamp Act, Virginia inaugurated the policy of resistance.
+Most of Henry's arguments were borrowed from the Carter and Bland
+pamphlets, but whereas they pleaded, he secured positive action. In so
+far as the Two-penny Act was concerned, the King's veto power was
+annulled.
+
+Bland summed up the constitutional argument behind this action in a
+pamphlet written at the time of the trial but published only eight
+months later. "Under an English government all men are born free, are
+only subject to laws made by their own consent.... If then the people of
+this colony are free born, and have a right to the liberties and
+privileges of English subjects, they must necessarily have a legal
+constitution, that is a legislature, composed in part of the
+representatives of the people, who may enact laws for the INTERNAL
+government of the colony, ... and without such a representative I am
+bold to say no law can be made."[17]
+
+But the stubborn Mr. Camm was determined not to give up. In April, 1764,
+his cause came up in the General Court after a delay of five years. The
+case against him was argued by Robert Carter Nicholas, who claimed that
+when the Governor had approved a law it was legal, even though in so
+doing he broke his instructions. A majority of the court[18] were
+convinced and voted that the Two-penny Act of 1758 was valid despite the
+King's veto.[19] Camm appealed the case to the Privy Council. It came
+up in 1767, and was thrown out on a technicality. In this way they
+avoided giving further offense to the colony without admitting the
+validity of their claims.
+
+The controversy over the Two-penny Act came at a time when the Board of
+Trade was at odds with the Virginia Assembly over the repeated issues of
+paper money. Had Dinwiddie and Fauquier not assured them that without
+these issues there would have been no funds with which to carry on the
+war, they would certainly have put a stop to them. As it was, all they
+could do was to urge that steps be taken to prevent the paper from
+declining in value and to protect the interests of the British
+merchants.
+
+Prior to 1757 each issue had borne five per cent interest, and taxes had
+been voted for their redemption. But in April of that year the notes
+were all called in and new ones issued in their place bearing no
+interest. This, with a new issue of L80,000 brought the total to
+L179,962.10.0. This was more than was needed to carry on the business of
+the colony, and the value of the notes began to sink.[20] In 1748 an act
+had been passed declaring that debts contracted in sterling could be
+paid in Virginia currency at a twenty-five per cent advance, or one
+pound five shillings for one pound sterling. But as the rate of exchange
+was not long in rising above this figure, the merchants feared large
+losses.
+
+The London merchants, speaking not only for themselves, but for those of
+Bristol, Liverpool, and Glasgow, laid their complaint before the Board
+of Trade. The issuing of large amounts of paper money could be most
+injurious to trade by putting it upon an uncertain basis, they said. And
+to pay debts contracted in sterling in depreciated colonial currency was
+as unjust as it was unwise. So they asked the King to instruct the
+Governor to urge the Assembly to amend the act of 1748 to make all debts
+due to persons in Great Britain payable according to the real difference
+in exchange.[21]
+
+It seems strange that the merchants and the Board of Trade did not know
+that what they asked for had already been done. In 1755 the act of 1748
+had been amended so as to direct the courts in cases where contracts had
+been made in sterling, to order payment in Virginia money at the rate of
+exchange they thought just.[22] "The merchants do not know the law,"
+Fauquier wrote the Board. "Let the value of paper currency fall as much
+as they please ... exchange will rise as fast, and they will obtain for
+a sterling debt just as much of the paper currency as will purchase a
+good sterling bill of exchange. And what injury is done them unless ...
+the whole court combine in a barefaced villainy to defraud them?" At the
+last court the exchange had been fixed at 35 per cent.[23]
+
+The amendment to the law of 1748 had had no clause suspending its
+operation until the King had given his assent, and, like the Two-penny
+Act, was a clear infringement on the royal prerogative. But since it had
+merely anticipated the King's wishes, it drew no rebuke from him. None
+the less, it was one more step toward autonomy, one more demonstration
+that in internal affairs the Virginians were a self-governing people.
+
+The fixing of the rate of exchange quieted the merchants for the time
+being, even though they looked on uneasily as Fauquier assented to
+further emissions, for L57,000 in September, 1758; L52,000 in February,
+1759; L10,000 in November, 1759; L20,000 in March, 1760; L32,000 in May,
+1760; and L30,000 in March, 1762. The whole totalled nearly L413,000,
+and William Hunter's printing press at Williamsburg was kept busy
+stamping out notes of L10, L15, L3, 10 shillings, 3 shillings, etc. In
+the meanwhile, only L51,156.10.0. had been retired and burnt, leaving
+L362,000 in circulation.[24]
+
+Long before this figure had been reached, opposition to paper money had
+grown within the colony itself. The law which protected the British
+merchants did not apply to Virginia creditors, since their contracts
+usually had been made in the local currency. So, as the flood of paper
+continued to mount, the small farmer or shopkeeper who had borrowed from
+his wealthy neighbor, could pay him back in depreciated notes. And as
+they were legal tender, he had to accept them. "Debtors pursued their
+creditors relentlessly and paid them without mercy."
+
+In 1762, though a bill to issue L30,000 in paper money passed the House
+by a vote of 66 to 3, it hung fire in the Council. At the time there
+were only six members in attendance, three of whom opposed any further
+emissions, so Fauquier got the Speaker to hold back the bill while he
+sent out a hurry call for the others. In the end the bill passed by a
+vote of five to four. "On this occasion I have stretched my influence to
+the utmost pitch," the Governor wrote the Board.[25] The four dissenting
+Councillors--William Nelson, Thomas Nelson, Richard Corbin, and Philip
+Ludwell Lee--all of them rich men, made a vigorous protest, which was
+entered upon the Journal.[26]
+
+Not satisfied with this, Corbin took the step, unusual for a member of
+the Upper House, of complaining to the Board of Trade against an act of
+Assembly. He was astute enough to base his case, not on his personal
+losses, but on the losses to the revenue and to the merchants. Taxes had
+been paid in the depreciated currency. In turn this had made it
+impossible to meet the needs of the government and at the same time sink
+the outstanding notes. As for the merchants, though it was true that
+sterling contracts were to be paid at the current rate of exchange, and
+though the judges who determined it seemed to be impartial, the rate
+might rise from five to fifteen per cent between the date of their
+decision and the date of settlement, to their great loss.[27]
+
+When the British merchants heard that some of the most prominent men in
+Virginia had sided with them in urging that an end be put to currency
+inflation, they were encouraged to renew their complaints to the Board
+of Trade. The Board, in turn, wrote Fauquier to urge the Assembly to
+give them satisfaction. So the Governor, on May 19, 1763, addressed the
+House, pointing out that common justice required that every man should
+receive full payment for debts due him. And the support of the public
+credit, so vital for a trading country like Virginia, made it absolutely
+necessary to redeem the paper in circulation at the dates fixed by
+law.[28]
+
+The Burgesses responded by adding to the fund for sinking the paper
+money by laying additional taxes on slaves, wheel carriages, licenses,
+etc.[29] But they would not budge from their determination to keep all
+the notes legal tender. And they made a long and able reply to the
+Governor, drawn up by Charles Carter, Edmund Pendleton, Wythe, and
+Richard Henry Lee, justifying their proceedings and claiming that the
+merchants had no just grounds for complaint. In it they inserted a
+declaration of American rights which the British Ministry would have
+been wise to take to heart. Their dependence upon Great Britain they
+acknowledged as their greatest happiness and only security. But this was
+not the dependence of a conquered people, but of sons sent out to
+explore and settle a new world for the mutual benefit of themselves and
+their common parent. It was the dependence of the part upon the whole,
+which, by its admirable constitution, diffused a spirit of patriotism
+which made every citizen, however remote from the mother kingdom,
+zealous for the King and the public good.[30]
+
+But the merchants were far from being satisfied, and a group in Glasgow
+sent another appeal to the Board of Trade. They thought that part of the
+trouble came from the ease with which paper money could be
+counterfeited. And they were sure that the hundreds of counterfeit
+notes, passing from hand to hand in Virginia, partly accounted for the
+enormous heights of exchange. But they supported the Assembly in
+continuing the legal tender clause. To take it off might make the
+currency debts "more fluctuating, uncertain, and less valuable." The
+only effectual remedy was to forbid further issues of paper money, to
+see that notes as they were brought into the treasury were duly burnt,
+to order that circulating notes bear five per cent interest, and to
+remedy any deficiency in the taxes.[31] When Parliament passed an act to
+prohibit future emissions in the colonies, they seemed satisfied.
+
+But there was a strong underlying sentiment in the colony against
+burning the notes. The soil of tidewater Virginia, after a century and a
+half of cultivation, was beginning to wear out, and thousands of acres
+were gradually reverting to forest land. This, with war taxes and an
+occasional drought, had brought hard times. But the planters, instead of
+tightening their belts, continued the old extravagant mode of living by
+borrowing money. "I fear they are not prudent enough to quit any article
+of luxury till smart obliges them," observed Fauquier.[32] So for many
+cheap money meant salvation from ruin.
+
+These men made their influence felt in the House when a scheme for
+borrowing L240,000 from the British merchants was passed in May, 1765.
+Of this sum L100,000 was to be used for a new currency to replace old
+notes, and L140,000 to be lent out at five per cent interest. But when
+the bill came up to the Council it was bitterly opposed by Corbin and
+finally defeated.[33]
+
+In the meanwhile, people were wondering why the rate of exchange did not
+drop. They were not ignorant of the quantative law of currency, and they
+knew that the amount of paper in circulation ought to have been reduced
+each year. So they were surprised to find it remaining between sixty and
+sixty-five per cent. Behind this apparent contradiction of economic law
+there must be some mystery.[34]
+
+The mystery was explained in May, 1766, when a bomb exploded which shook
+the colony from the capes to the Alleghenies. That month the beloved
+John Robinson, Speaker and Treasurer, died. Fauquier had called him "the
+darling of the country." The _Gazette_ lamented his loss and praised
+"the many amiable virtues which adorned his private station."
+
+So there was universal astonishment when the examiners of his accounts
+found a deficit of L100,000. Robinson had not taken the money for his
+own use. Even had he been dishonorable enough to do so, there would have
+been no need for it, since he was one of the richest men in the colony.
+What he had done was to lend his friends thousands of pounds from the
+public funds.[35] In this he was guilty of two serious breaches of his
+duty. Since the Assembly had refused to establish a public loan office,
+he must have known that he had no right to do so on his own
+responsibility. And there could be no excuse for his disregard of the
+law which required that he burn the paper money as it came in.
+
+But when his friends came to him in distress begging loans to save them
+from ruin, he did not have the strength of character to refuse them.
+Thousands of pounds went out to men in all parts of the colony, among
+them members of some of the oldest and most distinguished
+families--William Byrd III, Charles Carter, Jr., George Braxton, Henry
+Fitzhugh, Lewis Burwell, etc. Robinson's estate was large enough to
+cover all these loans, but it took many years for his executors to
+recover even part of what was due him.
+
+Robert Carter Nicholas, Robinson's successor as Treasurer, was bitter in
+condemnation of what he had done. "The seeming mysteries of our exchange
+now begin to unfold themselves," he wrote in a letter to the _Gazette_.
+"It comes out that a great part of the money squeezed from the people
+for their taxes, instead of being sunk ... was thrown back into
+circulation." The Assembly had given their word that they would protect
+the interests of the British merchants by burning the paper promptly on
+the dates of their retirement. What must the world think when these good
+intentions had been in part defeated by a strange kind of misconduct?
+What made it worse was the need the colony had for the friendship of the
+merchants at a time when the great men in England had their eyes fixed
+upon all the Assemblies. "The consequences are as glaring as the sun in
+the meridian."[36]
+
+Nicholas saw to it that the law was obeyed. As the notes came in they
+were burnt. As a result the exchange began to drop until in a few months
+it became normal. The day of easy money was over, and the host of
+debtors faced ruin. For many months the pages of the _Gazette_ were
+crowded with notices of slaves and plantations for sale.
+
+In the meanwhile, the century and a half old struggle between mother
+country and colonies was rapidly approaching a crisis. The issue had
+long been postponed because of the inactivity of the King's ministers,
+who were content to close their eyes to what was going on across the
+Atlantic. But the time was at hand when the question of whether the
+Americans should be governed from London or should govern themselves had
+to be settled.
+
+This was in part due to the fact that as time passed Parliament had
+grown less and less representative of the people. In Great Britain there
+was no provision, as there is in the Constitution of the United States,
+for periodic reapportionments of the people's representatives to keep
+step with changes in population. For centuries most of the Commons had
+been elected under a very restricted franchise by certain old boroughs.
+Though with the passing of the decades many of these boroughs, once
+centers of population and wealth, had fallen into decay, they still sent
+their representatives to the House of Commons. Perhaps the most
+notorious was Old Sarum, a city of Norman times, whose castle and
+cathedral and crowded houses overlooked the Salisbury plain, but which
+for centuries had been deserted. Unless the ghosts of men long dead were
+to have a voice in running the nation, it was absurd for these old ruins
+to be represented in the Commons. In practice the rotten borough system,
+as it was called, tended to perpetuate the ascendency of the landed
+proprietors.
+
+And the country squires wanted no change. They thought the British
+Government the best in the world, and were determined to defend their
+privileges. It never occurred to them that duty required that they
+should try to alleviate the miseries of the poor people; they were too
+intent on enjoying their great manor houses, their formal gardens, their
+stately dinners, their fox hunts, to heed the voices which were pleading
+for social and political reform.[37]
+
+But it would be a mistake to assume that Great Britain had become static
+in intellectual, social, and institutional matters. On the contrary, the
+first seven decades of the eighteenth century was a period of tremendous
+activity. It was the period of Richardson and Fielding in literature, of
+the great religious revival led by Wesley and Whitefield, of renewed
+interest in Shakespeare, of the birth of industrial Britain, of the bold
+defiance of authority by John Wilkes. Had Parliament truly reflected the
+spirit of the age, had it not revered the old system of government as
+the best attainable by man, it would have attuned itself to these
+changes.
+
+If the Commons were out of step with the march of events in Great
+Britain, they were far more so with developments in the colonies. They
+knew nothing of the influence of the vast natural resources and the
+limited supply of labor in lifting the level of the common man and
+giving him a sense of self-respect, nothing of the democratizing power
+of the frontier. And what little they saw they disliked. No doubt some
+would have applauded Samuel Johnson when he said of the Americans: "Sir,
+they are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful for anything we
+allow them short of hanging."
+
+With such irreconcilable differences between the ruling group in Great
+Britain and the people of the colonies the conflict was inevitable. The
+King, the Privy Council, the Board of Trade, the Commons construed the
+many instances of colonial disobedience as attacks on the foundations
+of the established order, as revolutionary innovations. To Americans
+they seemed no more than the assertion of rights inherent in all free
+men. And though many of their claims had no precedent in English
+experience, they began to speak of them as ancient and necessary for the
+existence of representative government.
+
+That the clash came when it did was in part due to the passing of the
+laissez-faire period in the British Government. New figures had made
+their appearance at Whitehall, who had no patience with the old slipshod
+way of doing things. They wanted a consolidated empire, ruled from
+London, rather than a loose federation of semi-independent states. To
+them it seemed intolerable that the colonial Assemblies should defy the
+King at will. "Must we and America be two distinct kingdoms, and that
+now immediately?" asked George Grenville.
+
+The French and Indian War revealed much concerning conditions in the
+colonies which surprised and alarmed the Ministry. They had found it
+impossible to get the colonies to act in unison, they had defied the
+King's wishes repeatedly, the Governors were kept busy explaining why
+they had to disregard one instruction after another, they were disgusted
+at the pouring out of paper money, and they must have been influenced by
+the warnings that the Americans were too much of a republican way of
+thinking. The advice to have Parliament lay a general tax on the
+colonies had come, not only from Dinwiddie, but from various parts of
+America.
+
+The determination of the Ministry to follow this advice was based
+ostensibly on the reasonableness of requiring the colonies to bear their
+share of the burden of the expense of the war. It may be argued that
+Virginia and some of the others, because of the disruption of trade, the
+very heavy taxes, the devastation on the frontiers, and their heavy
+losses in men, had already paid more than their share. But that there
+was something deeper, more vital, behind the resolve to tax than a mere
+matter of finance, is obvious. It was a demonstration of policy, a
+manifesto that Great Britain was determined to govern her colonies.
+
+When word reached America that the Ministry planned to tax the colonies
+by a stamp Act, there was general dismay. There were many grave faces
+among the Burgesses as they took their seats in November, 1764. Some of
+the ablest men in Virginia, among them Peyton Randolph, Edmund
+Pendleton, George Wythe, and Richard Henry Lee, drew up a protest to
+the King and Parliament. They begged the King to protect the people of
+the colony in the enjoyment of their ancient right of being governed in
+internal affairs by laws derived from their own consent, with the
+approbation of their sovereign or his substitute. This right, as men and
+descendants of Britons, they had possessed ever since they left the
+mother kingdom to extend its commerce and dominion.
+
+To the House of Lords they pointed out that, as their ancestors had
+brought with them to America every right and privilege they could claim
+in the mother kingdom, their descendants could not justly be deprived of
+them. It was a fundamental principle of the British Constitution,
+without which freedom could nowhere exist, that the people are not
+subject to any taxes except by their own consent or by those who were
+legally appointed to represent them.
+
+They reminded the Commons that this principle had been recognized ever
+since the founding of the colony. During the reign of Charles II, when
+the British Government sought a revenue to support the government of
+Virginia, they had tacitly admitted that Parliament had no right to levy
+the tax. Instead they drew up a bill in England and sent it over to be
+acted on by the Assembly.[38]
+
+As they penned this protest the thoughts of Wythe and the others must
+have reverted to the part played by the control of taxation in winning
+self-government for the colony. They spoke of their rights as ancient,
+yet they must have known that the Virginia of their day was far freer
+than it had been under the Stuarts. And there could be no doubt as to
+how this great change had come about. They and their fathers and their
+great-grandfathers had used the control of the purse to whittle the
+royal prerogative until little was left. For Parliament to strike this
+weapon from their hands would be to nullify the gains of many decades
+and leave them defenseless.
+
+When the bill to tax the Americans came before the Commons, on February
+7, 1765, a lengthy debate followed. It was on this occasion that Colonel
+Isaac Barre retorted to Charles Townshend's assertion that the Americans
+had been "planted by our care, nourished by our indulgence." "Your
+oppressions planted them in America," he shouted. "They grew up by your
+neglect of them.... They protected by your arms! They have taken up
+arms in your defence."[39] But when the Virginia memorial was presented
+it was rejected by an overwhelming majority.[40] The bill passed the
+Commons by 205 votes to 49, and the House of Lords without a division.
+The measure required the colonists to use stamps, purchased from the
+British Government through royal agents, on newspapers, almanacs,
+pamphlets, advertisements, and various kinds of legal documents.
+
+It was with heavy hearts that the Assembly met in May, 1765. Edmund
+Pendleton, when news of the passage of the Stamp Act reached him, had
+exclaimed, "Poor America!" As he, George Wythe, Richard Bland, Robert
+Carter Nicholas, Henry Lee, Peyton Randolph, and other leading statesmen
+took their seats, they had no thought of resistance. They proceeded with
+routine business--the authorizing of a ferry over the Potomac, giving
+rewards for killing wolves, opening a road through the Swift Run Gap,
+preventing escapes from debtors' prisons, etc. Probably none of the
+aristocrats from the tidewater paid any attention to young Patrick Henry
+when he joined the House late in the session. When most of the bills had
+passed the third reading many of the members left, and mounting their
+horses rode out of town, leaving only thirty-nine to wind up business.
+
+This was Henry's opportunity. Opening an old law book he wrote down
+seven resolutions. Then, rising, he introduced them in the House. In
+substance the first four declared that Virginians from the first
+settlement had possessed all the privileges of the people of Great
+Britain, that these privileges had been confirmed to them by two royal
+charters, that the taxation of the people by themselves was the
+distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and that the people of
+the colony had never forfeited the right to be governed by their own
+Assembly in the articles of taxation and internal policy.
+
+When Henry came to the fifth resolution there must have been a gasp of
+surprise. It held that any attempt to vest the power to tax the colonies
+in any other body than the Assembly was illegal, unjust, and
+unconstitutional, and tended to destroy British as well as American
+liberty. Henry did not introduce the other two resolutions, probably
+because of the uproar which the reading of the fifth occasioned.
+
+A violent debate ensued. George Wythe, John Robinson, Peyton Randolph,
+and others thought the language too extreme. But what Fauquier described
+as "the young, hot, and giddy members," were carried along by Henry's
+eloquence. "Tarquin and Caesar each had his Brutus, Charles I his
+Cromwell, and George III...." At this point he was interrupted by the
+Speaker who declared that he had spoken treason. Henry denied that he
+advocated treason. If he had said anything wrong, it should be
+attributed to his concern over his country's dying liberty.[41]
+
+The first four resolutions passed by safe margins, but the fifth barely
+got by, by a vote of twenty to nineteen. In alarm the more conservative
+members sent out a hurry call for such absent Burgesses as were still in
+or near Williamsburg. When several had come in an attempt was made to
+have the resolutions struck off the journal. They succeeded with the
+fifth, Fauquier reported, "which was thought the most offensive," but
+failed with the other four.[42]
+
+Perhaps Henry, himself, as he left Williamsburg, wearing a pair of
+leather breeches and leading his bony nag by the bridle, did not realize
+that his resolutions would be the alarm bell of revolution. The
+_Maryland Gazette_, the _Newport Gazette_, the _Boston Gazette_, and
+other papers published them, not only the four which passed in the
+House, but the other three as well. And the sixth and seventh were
+radical indeed. They declared that the people of the colony were not
+bound to obey any laws to tax them other than those passed by the
+Assembly, and that any person who should uphold such laws "by speaking
+or writing" should be deemed an enemy of the colony. It was the policy
+of resistance.
+
+Virginia was now aflame. It was rumored that groups of men from all
+parts of the colony were preparing to march on Williamsburg to seize and
+destroy the stamps as soon as they arrived. Many justices declared that
+they would resign rather than use the stamps in the processes of their
+courts, and it seemed certain that others would follow their example.
+From Westmoreland came word that a mob had burned in effigy the stamp
+distributor for Virginia, Colonel George Mercer, a native Virginian who
+had served in the French and Indian War.[43] Fauquier waited anxiously
+for his arrival with the stamps, praying that adverse winds would delay
+him until the session of the General Court was over and the crowds of
+merchants, persons involved in suits, debtors, witnesses, and others had
+left town.
+
+But the Fates were against him. Mercer arrived on October 30, and at
+once went to his father's house. Having word of this, a crowd of men,
+some of them leading citizens in their home counties, started off to
+find him. As they approached the Capitol they met him and asked him
+whether he intended to retain his office as stamp distributor. To this
+he gave an evasive answer, and continued to the coffee house nearby
+where Governor Fauquier, Speaker Robinson, and several members of the
+Council were seated on the porch. The crowd, which had followed him,
+pressed toward them and a cry was heard, "Let us rush in." But when
+Fauquier and the others advanced to repel them, someone called out, "See
+the Governor, take care of him." Upon this they fell back. And when
+Mercer promised that he would give his answer at the Capitol the next
+day at five, they seemed satisfied and permitted him to walk through
+them side by side with the Governor to the Palace.[44]
+
+In the meanwhile, word of Mercer's arrival had spread through the
+countryside, so that the next day hundreds of persons poured into town.
+As five o'clock approached a vast crowd assembled in the Capitol yard.
+There Mercer spoke to them. His appointment had been unsolicited, he
+said. He had not, as had been rumored, urged the passage of the Stamp
+Act. "And now," he added, "I will not, directly by myself or deputies
+proceed in the execution of the act ... without the assent of the
+General Assembly of this colony." At this there was a great shout of
+approval, and those near him raised him aloft and bore him out through
+the gate to a nearby tavern. As they entered, the huzzas were redoubled,
+while drums rattled, and horns blared. That night the town was
+illuminated and bells rang out. The following night the occasion was
+climaxed by "a splendid ball."[45]
+
+As for the stamps, they never touched land. They were transferred to a
+warship, "it being the place of the greatest, if not the only security
+for them." If the mob could have laid their hands on them they would
+certainly have gone up in flames.
+
+Now in various parts of the colony men met to organize what they called
+Sons of Liberty. The merchants of Norfolk, native-born Scotsmen many of
+them, had a double grievance, since the Sugar Act threatened their trade
+and the Stamp Act their liberty. In March about thirty leading citizens
+met at the house of Mayor Calvert, where "they brought daylight on"
+debating the best way to resist both acts. At their call the people
+crowded into the courthouse to protest. "We will ... defend ourselves in
+the full enjoyment of ... those inestimable privileges of freeborn
+British subjects of being taxed only by representatives of their own
+choosing.... If we quietly submit to the execution of the said Stamp
+Act, all our claims of civil liberty will be lost, and we and our
+posterity become absolute slaves."[46]
+
+A few days later, when word went round that a certain Captain William
+Smith had been responsible for the seizure of several vessels in the
+Elizabeth River, he was arrested by a group of leading citizens.
+Hurrying him to the County Wharf, they tarred and feathered him, set him
+in the ducking stool, and pelted him with stones and rotten eggs. They
+next marched him through the town with drums beating, ducked him again,
+and at last threw him headlong into the water. Had not a passing boat
+pulled him out, more dead than alive, he would have been drowned.[47]
+
+At Hobb's Hole, Essex County, a merchant named Ritchie barely escaped
+similar treatment. A number of men, hearing that he had boasted that he
+could secure stamps and was determined to clear his ship with them,
+marched on the town and drew up along the main street. They brought
+Ritchie out and threatened to strip him to the waist, tie him to the
+tail of a cart, and then fix him in the pillory. This was too much for
+him. Reluctantly he swore on "the holy Evangels" that no vessel of his
+would clear "on stamped paper." Thereupon most of the crowd dispersed,
+and those living nearby went to the tavern "where they spent the evening
+with great sobriety."[48]
+
+The people of the colony were encouraged in their resistance to the
+Stamp Act by articles in British gazettes and magazines, which were
+reprinted in the _Virginia Gazette_. A writer in the _Gentleman's
+Magazine_ contended that the act violated the British constitution,
+which "declared that no Englishman is to be taxed without his own
+consent." "I know very well I shall be told that though the Americans
+are not immediately represented in the English Parliament, they are
+nevertheless represented virtually.... But why, in the name of common
+sense, if the mother country judged herself the virtual representative
+of all her various dependencies, did she grant a provincial legislature
+to her colonies, and from the time of their first existence invest this
+legislature with the sole power of internal taxation?" For the colonists
+to yield, he thought, would be to confess themselves slaves.[49]
+
+And when the Virginians read the _Gazette_ they noted with satisfaction
+that the disruption of trade was causing great distress in England. A
+dispatch from Birmingham stated that unless the Stamp Act were repealed
+twenty thousand persons would be out of work.[50] The merchants of
+London petitioned the Commons for relief. Their trade with the colonies,
+which was of such great importance to the nation, faced utter ruin, they
+said. They could not collect debts due them in America, because the
+Sugar Act and the Stamp Act had thrown the colonies into confusion and
+brought on many bankruptcies. Unless these acts were repealed a
+multitude of workers would become a burden on the community or else seek
+their bread in other countries.[51]
+
+It was late in May, 1766, that a vessel arrived in Virginia waters
+bearing the news that the Stamp Act had been repealed. As horsemen
+galloped along the roads and boatsmen in their shallops ascended the
+great rivers, the word was passed from mouth to mouth. Everywhere there
+was joyous celebration. At Great Bridge the people listened to a
+patriotic sermon in St. Giles Church, and then went to the Banqueting
+Room, where they raised their glasses in a series of toasts--to the King
+and Queen, Colonel Barre, and others. At Hampton there was a banquet at
+the Bunch of Grapes, followed by a ball at the King's Arms Tavern, while
+outside there was a great bonfire.[52] The people of Williamsburg waited
+for their celebration until the convening of the court when the town
+was crowded. Then every house was illuminated, and there was "a ball and
+elegant entertainment at the Capitol," marked by "much mirth" and the
+drinking of toasts.[53]
+
+With the French and Indian War brought to a successful conclusion, with
+the problem of currency inflation settled, with the Stamp Act repealed,
+it seemed that Fauquier might look forward to a period of harmony and
+prosperity. But fate soon struck a cruel blow. In the summer of 1767 the
+Governor became ill with a very painful disorder. And though, under the
+care of Dr. Matthew Pope, of York, he became better, he never fully
+recovered his health.[54] He died in the early hours of March 3, 1768.
+In his will he directed that if the nature of his illness should not be
+understood by his physicians, an autopsy be held on his body, so that he
+might become more useful to his fellow creatures in death than he had
+been in life. He desired, also, that he be buried "without any vain
+funeral pomp."[55]
+
+Francis Fauquier was an able, just, tactful Governor, who tried to do
+his duty both to the King and to the colony. His was an extremely
+difficult task. His sympathies seem to have been with the people. Living
+among them, knowing their views, he must have deplored the policy of the
+Ministry in trying to deprive them of the cherished right of
+self-government. Great Britain's strongest link with America was not the
+link of government, not even the economic link, but the link of
+affection. And nothing tended more to strengthen it than the appointment
+of such a man as Fauquier to be Lieutenant Governor of the largest of
+the colonies. It would have been a lasting grief to Fauquier had he
+lived to see the final separation of mother country and colonies.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _The writings of Thomas Jefferson_, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 14:231.
+
+[2] CO5-1329, June 11, 1758.
+
+[3] CO5-1329, Blair to Lords of Trade, June 20, 1758.
+
+[4] _Official records of Robert Dinwiddie_ 1: 375.
+
+[5] CO5-1329, June 28, 1758.
+
+[6] Charles Campbell, _History of Virginia_, 508.
+
+[7] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1761-1765: xlii-xlvi.
+
+[8] _William and Mary Quarterly_, First Ser. 19: 16.
+
+[9] CO5-1329, Jan. 5, 1759.
+
+[10] CO5-1329. Read May 23, 1759.
+
+[11] _Ibid._, "Thomas London on the Clergy Bill," June 14, 1759.
+
+[12] G. M. Brydon, _Virginia's Mother Church_ 2: 318, 319.
+
+[13] Charles Campbell, _History of Virginia_, 509-511.
+
+[14] _William and Mary Quarterly_, First Ser. 19: 19.
+
+[15] _Ibid._, 21.
+
+[16] W. W. Henry, _Life, letters, and correspondence of Patrick Henry_
+1: 39-41.
+
+[17] _William and Mary Quarterly_, First Ser. 19: 33.
+
+[18] Blair, Tayloe, Byrd, Thornton, and Burwell.
+
+[19] CO5-1330, Fauquier to the Lords of Trade, May 9, 1764.
+
+[20] CO5-1330, Glasgow Merchants to Board of Trade, Jan. 10, 1764.
+
+[21] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1758-1761: 40, 41.
+
+[22] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 6: 478-483.
+
+[23] CO5-1329, Jan. 5, 1759.
+
+[24] _Ibid._, June 1, 1763.
+
+[25] CO5-1330, April 8, 1762.
+
+[26] _Legislative journals of the Council_ 3: 1281.
+
+[27] CO5-1330.
+
+[28] _Ibid._; _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1761-1765: xxvii.
+
+[29] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_, 7: 639.
+
+[30] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1761-1765: xxx-xxxiv.
+
+[31] CO5-1330, Jan. 10, 1764.
+
+[32] _Ibid._, Fauquier to the Lords of Trade, Nov. 3, 1760.
+
+[33] _Journal of the House of Burgesses_, 1761-1765: 350.
+
+[34] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., June 27, 1766.
+
+[35] D. J. Mays, _Edmund Pendleton_ 1: 174-208.
+
+[36] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., June 27, 1766.
+
+[37] Charles M. Andrews, The American Revolution, _American Historical
+Review_ 31: 219-232.
+
+[38] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1761-1765: liv-lviii.
+
+[39] _Parliamentary history of England_, ed. T. C. Hansard, 16: 38, 39.
+
+[40] L. P. Gipson, _The coming of the Revolution_, 81.
+
+[41] William Wirt, _Sketches of Patrick Henry_. The eyewitness account
+by a French traveler throws doubt on the long accepted statement that
+Henry replied to the Speaker's charge: "If this be treason make the most
+of it." _American Historical Review_ 25: 745.
+
+[42] CO5-1330, June 5, 1765.
+
+[43] _William and Mary Quarterly_, First Ser. 18: 162n.
+
+[44] CO5-1330, Fauquier to the Lords of Trade, Nov. 3, 1765.
+
+[45] _Virginia Gazette_, Oct. 25, 1765. Supplement.
+
+[46] _Virginia Gazette_, April 4, 1766.
+
+[47] CO5-1331, J. Morgan to Fauquier, April 7, 1766.
+
+[48] _Tyler's Magazine_ 16: 111-114.
+
+[49] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., Apr. 4, 1766.
+
+[50] _Ibid._
+
+[51] _Ibid._, Apr. 25, 1766.
+
+[52] _Ibid._, June 13, 1766.
+
+[53] _Ibid._, June 20, 1766.
+
+[54] _Ibid._, July 16, 1767.
+
+[55] _William and Mary Quarterly_, First Ser., 8: 173-177.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+INDEPENDENCE
+
+
+It was in October, 1768, when news reached Virginia that Norborne
+Berkeley, Lord Botetourt, had kissed the King's hand as Governor
+General. The unrest in the colony had convinced the Privy Council that
+the government "should no longer be administered by a substitute." So
+when Sir Jeffrey Amherst declined "going over to America," it was
+decided to appoint one who would go. For the first time since the death
+of Nott, Virginia had a resident Governor General. The people of the
+colony regarded this as a singular honor. When Botetourt arrived in
+Williamsburg, he found the members of the Council, the Speaker of the
+House, the Attorney General, and other prominent men waiting to receive
+him at the gate of the Capitol yard. After they had gone in to the
+Council Chamber, where the new Governor administered the oath, they
+stepped over to the Raleigh Tavern for supper. Then Botetourt was
+escorted to the Palace through the illuminated Duke of Gloucester Street
+and the Palace Green.[1]
+
+If the British Government had hoped to please the people of Virginia in
+sending them a Governor General, they were not disappointed. "All ranks
+vied with each other in testifying their gratitude and joy that a
+nobleman of such distinguished merit and abilities is appointed to
+preside over and live among them."[2] But it was not so much his rank as
+his personality which won all hearts. He was easily accessible, affable
+to the humblest visitor, sympathetic with the people's grievances.
+
+The new Governor was at once confronted with grave issues. In May, 1767,
+Charles Townshend had secured an act of Parliament placing duties on
+glass, lead, painters' colors, and tea imported into the colonies. It
+was expressly stated that the revenue was to be used to pay the salaries
+of British officials in America. Another act was passed to enforce the
+trade laws, and still another to suspend the New York Assembly for its
+defiance of the Billeting Act.
+
+Again all America seethed. It is obvious, men told each other, that the
+British Government will not be content until they have made slaves of
+us. At first they claimed that they were seeking nothing more of us than
+a revenue. Now they openly avow that these new duties are to be used to
+make British officials in America independent of the Assemblies. That
+would be the final triumph of royal authority.
+
+So when Botetourt dissolved the old Assembly and called for a new
+election, the people selected their ablest and most patriotic men. Among
+them were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Richard
+Henry Lee, Henry Lee, and Edmund Pendleton. When they met, in May, 1769,
+Governor Botetourt entered an elegant coach which had been presented to
+him by King George III, on it the insignia of royalty, drawn by six
+milk-white horses, and drove from the Palace to the Capitol. After the
+usual address to the Assembly and the replies of the Council and the
+Burgesses, Botetourt entertained many of the members at dinner.
+
+In the previous February the Governor had written the Lords of Trade
+warning them of the temper of the people. "I must not venture to flatter
+your Lordships that they will ever willingly submit to being taxed by
+the mother country. The reverse is their creed. They universally avow a
+most ardent desire to assist upon every occasion, but pray to be allowed
+to do it in consequence of requisition."[3]
+
+It seems strange, then, that he should have been surprised to hear that
+the Burgesses had passed several resolutions asserting the rights of the
+people. They declared that the sole right of imposing taxes "is now, and
+ever hath been" constitutionally vested in the House of Burgesses; that
+the people have the right to petition the sovereign for redress of
+grievances; and that trials for crimes committed in the colony should be
+tried in the Virginia courts.[4]
+
+The next day the Governor summoned the Council and Burgesses to the
+Council Chamber, where he said he had heard of the resolutions, that he
+predicted they would have an ill effect, and that according to his duty,
+he dissolved them.
+
+But the Burgesses would not be silenced. Filing out of the Capitol, they
+went to the nearby Raleigh Tavern for an unofficial session. After they
+had elected Peyton Randolph moderator, they discussed the serious
+problems facing the colony. They then appointed a committee to draw up a
+plan for an association, and adjourned until the next day.
+
+The report of the committee, which was signed by eighty-eight men is a
+document of the greatest importance in the history of the clash between
+the American colonies and Great Britain. It spoke of the "grievances and
+distresses" with which the people were oppressed, of the evils which
+threatened their ruin and the ruin of their posterity by reducing them
+"from a free and happy people to a wretched and miserable state of
+slavery." They denounced "the restrictions, prohibitions, and
+ill-advised regulations in several late acts of Parliament," and
+declared that the "unconstitutional act imposing duties on tea, paper,
+glass, etc. for the sole purpose of raising a revenue in America is
+injurious to property, and destructive to liberty."[5] Those who signed
+the association promised to discourage luxury and extravagance, agreed
+not to import goods taxed by Parliament or any of a long list of
+commodities, until the hated duties were removed.
+
+After all had affixed their signatures, they gathered around the punch
+bowl to drink a series of toasts--to the King, the Queen and the Royal
+Family, Lord Botetourt, A Speedy and lasting Union between Great Britain
+and her Colonies, The Constitutional British Liberty in America and all
+true Patriots, the Supporters thereof, the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of
+Shelburne, Colonel Barre, the late Speaker, etc. At last, either because
+the liquor or the toasts gave out, the meeting came to an end.[6]
+
+It was while the Assembly was in session that Secretary Hillsborough
+wrote Botetourt assuring him that the King's ministers would soon
+propose the repeal of the obnoxious duties. Whereupon the Governor
+called an Assembly and laid the joyous news before them. But the
+Burgesses must have seen the joker in the announcement when they noted
+that the repeal would be based, not on any illegality in the duties, but
+on the fact that they had been laid "contrary to the true principles of
+commerce."[7]
+
+Yet Botetourt was all optimism. "I will be content to be declared
+infamous if I do not to the last hour of my life ... exert every power
+with which I am or ever shall be legally invested ... to obtain and
+maintain for the continent of America that satisfaction which I have
+been authorized to promise by the confidential servant of our gracious
+sovereign." Some months later, when the Virginians learned just how the
+Ministry had carried out this promise, Botetourt had reason to think
+that he had been led into deceiving them. It is true that all the duties
+had been taken off save that on tea. But so far from considering this a
+favor, the colonists resented it as a bait to make them acknowledge the
+right of Parliament to tax them. The resentment of the people was all
+the greater because of their disappointment. Hillsborough's promise had
+made them lax in enforcing the association, so in June, 1770, they
+organized a new one. A long list of imported goods were to be boycotted,
+industry was to be encouraged, prices were not to be advanced. To see
+that the agreement was carried out committees were to be organized in
+every county to examine invoices and expose violators.
+
+It was unfortunate for Virginia that Botetourt's administration was
+short. He died October 15, 1770. "Truly and justly to express the many
+great virtues and amiable qualities which adorned this noble lord, as
+well in his public as private character, would demand the skill of the
+ablest penman," stated the death notice in the _Gazette_. "Virginia, in
+his fall, sorely laments the loss of the best of Governors and the best
+of men."[8]
+
+A few days later a sorrowful procession moved from the Palace to Bruton
+Parish Church, amid the tolling of the bells in the church, the college,
+and the Capitol. In front of and beside the hearse were eight mourners
+carrying staffs draped in black, around them were the pallbearers--six
+Councillors and the Speaker of the House. Then followed the Governor's
+servants, the clergy, the professors of the college, the Williamsburg
+officials preceded by the city mace, and many others, all having white
+hatbands and gloves. After the service in the church the procession
+moved to the Wren Building where the lead casket, covered with a crimson
+velvet cloth, was placed in a vault below the floor of the chapel.[9]
+
+As a token of affection the Assembly employed Richard Hayward, of
+London, to make a marble statue of Botetourt, which arrived in 1773 and
+was set up in the piazza of the Capitol. Later it was mutilated by a
+crowd of vandals as an expression of their hostility to all things
+British. In 1801 the College of William and Mary acquired it and removed
+it to the campus in front of the Wren Building, where it stands today an
+object of veneration for faculty, students, and alumni.
+
+The grief of the people at the loss of Botetourt would have been all the
+greater had they known who was to be his successor. At the time John
+Murray, Earl of Dunmore, was Governor of New York, where he was regarded
+with contempt. At a feast of the Sons of St. Andrew he got drunk, acted
+like "a damned fool," and "sank himself" so low with vile language that
+the entire company was abashed. When word reached him that he was to be
+transferred to Virginia, he expressed resentment. "Damn Virginia!" he
+cried. "Why is it forced on me? I asked for New York. New York I love
+and they have robbed me of it." At a farewell dinner given in his honor,
+"he took too cheerful a glass," and got into a fight.[10]
+
+The people of Virginia were probably not aware of Dunmore's character,
+for they greeted him cordially upon his arrival in Williamsburg, late in
+September, 1771. In the evening the city was illuminated, with a candle
+in every window, as a testimony of joy at his Excellency's safe
+arrival.[11]
+
+The time was auspicious, for there was a lull in the controversy with
+the mother country. Though the duty on tea had not been removed, there
+was general hope that all differences could be adjusted. It is true that
+Dunmore aroused suspicion by trying to create new fees with which to pay
+his secretary, but his promptness in relinquishing them soon dissipated
+it. "A ball and elegant entertainment" at the Capitol given by the
+Burgesses in his honor testified to a spirit of cordiality.
+
+It was just this lull which alarmed some of the younger leaders in
+Virginia. As long as the tax on tea remained they realized that the
+danger to liberty persisted. So when the Assembly met in the spring of
+1773, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, and others
+held private consultations in the Raleigh Tavern on how to awaken the
+people, not only of Virginia, but of all the colonies, to the need of a
+common defense.[12]
+
+A momentous series of meetings they proved to be, for out of them came
+the intercolonial system of committees of correspondence and the
+Continental Congress. "We were all sensible that the most urgent of all
+measures was that of coming to an understanding with all the other
+colonies to consider the British claims as a common cause to all, and to
+produce a unity of action," Jefferson stated afterward. "And for this
+purpose that a committee of correspondence in each colony would be the
+best instrument for intercommunication. And that their first measure
+would probably be to propose a meeting of deputies from every colony, at
+some central place, who should be charged with the direction of the
+measures to be taken by all."[13]
+
+On March 13, the resolution to appoint the committee of correspondence
+for Virginia was introduced in the House of Burgesses by Dabney Carr,
+and adopted unanimously. To the committee were appointed some of the
+first men in the colony--Peyton Randolph, Thomas Jefferson, Richard
+Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Edmund Pendleton, etc.
+
+William Lee, writing from London, said that this action "struck a
+greater panic into the Ministers" than anything since the passage of the
+Stamp Act. And well it might, for soon the entire country was covered
+with committees, who kept in close touch with each other, formulated
+public opinion, and prepared the way for revolutionary action.
+
+The need for these bodies became glaringly evident when the British
+Government adopted a policy of repression which aroused the spirit of
+resistance to the highest pitch. At the time the East India Company was
+on the verge of bankruptcy. In order to save it the government agreed to
+remit the long-standing duty of twelve pence a pound on tea entering
+Great Britain. When the tea was re-exported to America the price, even
+after the three pence duty there had been paid, would be nine pence less
+than formerly. George III approved of the plan heartily, and confidently
+expected the colonists to swallow the pill of Parliamentary taxation,
+now that it was coated with the sugar of reduced prices.
+
+Never was a man more mistaken. The Americans, after struggling for a
+century and a half to win liberty, were not going to sell it for a cup
+of tea. When the East India Company ships arrived, angry mobs forced
+some to turn back with their cargoes, some were boarded and the tea
+destroyed. When the brigantine _Mary and Jane_ arrived in Norfolk with
+nine chests of tea, a crowded meeting at the courthouse demanded that
+they be sent back. When the importers complied they received a vote of
+thanks.[14] The York County committee, headed by Thomas Nelson, debated
+whether a ship which came in with two chests of tea should not be burnt,
+but contented themselves with forcing her to leave without the expected
+cargo of tobacco.
+
+Tea was banned in every patriotic household. One evening at Nomini Hall,
+Mrs. Robert Carter made "a dish of tea" for her husband. "He smelt,
+sipt, looked." "What is this?" he asked. Then "splash" he emptied the
+cup in the fire.[15] But what chiefly aroused the ire of the British
+Ministry was the so-called Boston Tea Party, when fifty or sixty men,
+disguised as Indians, boarded the tea ships and threw box after box in
+the harbor, while a large crowd looked on and applauded.
+
+This provoked the British Government into making their most serious
+blunder--the passage of what the Americans called the "Intolerable
+Acts." The port of Boston was closed; the Massachusetts government was
+altered to increase the power of the Governor; in certain cases accused
+persons might be sent to England for trial; the Governors were
+authorized to requisition buildings for the use of royal troops; the
+boundaries of the province of Quebec were extended to the Mississippi on
+the west and the Ohio on the south.
+
+The American patriots now realized that they must act with vigor and
+firmness or lose all that they held most dear. The King and Parliament
+were determined to force the issue. When the Virginia Assembly met in
+May, 1774, Henry, Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, and several others met
+in the Council Chamber in the Capitol to agree on some measure to arouse
+the people to a sense of the danger. After some discussion it was
+decided to propose to the Burgesses that they make June 1, the date set
+for the closing of the port of Boston, a day of general fasting and
+prayer. The resolution was introduced by Robert Carter Nicholas, and
+passed without opposition.[16]
+
+ [Illustration: Lord Dunmore. From the copy in the possession of the
+ Virginia Historical Society of the original portrait by Sir Joshua
+ Reynolds.]
+
+ [Illustration: The Governor's Palace, Williamsburg. Courtesy of
+ Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.]
+
+The resolution stated that it was necessary to have a day of "fasting,
+humiliation, and prayer, devoutly to implore the divine interposition
+for averting the heavy calamity which threatens destruction to our civil
+rights, and the evils of civil war; to give us one heart and mind firmly
+to oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to American
+rights; and that the minds of his Majesty and his Parliament may be
+inspired from above with wisdom, moderation, and justice to remove from
+the loyal people of America all cause of danger from a continued pursuit
+of measures pregnant with ruin." Dunmore thought the resolution
+reflected on the King and Parliament, and so made it necessary for him
+to dissolve the Assembly.[17]
+
+But on June 1, in all parts of Virginia, the people dropped their daily
+tasks to assemble in the churches. Every face reflected the universal
+alarm, as the eastern aristocrat, the frontiersman in his buckskin
+clothes, the great landholder, and the small planter knelt in prayer. In
+Williamsburg the citizens and as many of the Burgesses as had remained
+in town, assembled at the courthouse and moved in solemn procession to
+the church to listen to a sermon by the chaplain of the House.[18] There
+had been no such solemn occasion since the French and Indian War, and it
+came as an electric shock to the people.[19]
+
+In the meanwhile, events of great importance were taking place in
+Williamsburg. When Dunmore dissolved the Assembly, the Burgesses,
+instead of dispersing, met as they had done five years before in the
+Raleigh Tavern. Here, as they sat in the beautiful Apollo Room, they
+renewed the association to boycott English goods; proposed to the
+committees of correspondence in every colony that they appoint deputies
+to a continental Congress; and suggested that each county in Virginia
+should elect representatives to a convention to meet at Williamsburg on
+August 1.[20]
+
+Despite their revolutionary activities, the members of the Assembly
+maintained cordial relations with the Governor. When Lady Dunmore joined
+her husband earlier in the spring, she was greeted with cheers by the
+people of Williamsburg. On May 26, the Burgesses gave a ball and
+entertainment in the Capitol in her honor. My lady seems to have been a
+most graceful dancer. When she and the Governor visited Norfolk where a
+ball was given them, the city authorities sent to Princess Anne County
+for Colonel Moseley to come "with his famous wig and shining buckles" to
+dance the minuet with her. So when the fiddles struck up away she went
+"sailing about the room in her great, fine hoop-petticoat, and Colonel
+Moseley after her wig and all."[21]
+
+Most of the Burgesses of the Assembly of 1774 had hardly rested from
+their journey home when they had to repack their saddlebags, mount their
+horses, and set out again for Williamsburg to attend the provincial
+convention. When they had assembled they once more renewed the
+association, and then proceeded to the election of delegates to the
+Continental Congress. Randolph was chosen because it was thought he
+would preside, Washington because he might be called on to command the
+army, Henry and Richard Henry Lee because of their eloquence, Bland,
+Harrison, and Pendleton because of their ability as political leaders.
+
+As these men turned their faces toward Philadelphia, their minds must
+have reverted to the series of violations of the rights of the people
+which had brought on the crisis. The questions George Washington asked
+himself no doubt were in the minds of all. "Does it not appear as clear
+as the sun in its meridian brightness that there is a regular,
+systematic plan formed to fix the right and practice of taxation upon
+us?... Does not the uniform conduct of Parliament for some years past
+confirm this?... Is not the attack upon the liberty and property of the
+people of Boston ... a plain and self-evident proof of what they are
+aiming at? Do not subsequent bills ... convince us that the
+administration is determined to stick at nothing to carry its
+point?"[22]
+
+Congress met in the "plain and spacious rooms" on the lower floor of
+Carpenter's Hall which had been completed four years before. After some
+debate they adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances, stating the
+American case against taxation without representation and demanding the
+repeal of the "unpolitic, unjust, cruel, and unconstitutional"
+Intolerable Acts. They then framed a "Continental Association" to be
+enforced by local committees.
+
+The Association proved remarkably successful. To this Dunmore himself
+bore testimony. To the Earl of Hillsborough he wrote in December, 1774:
+"The Associations ... recommended by the people of this colony, and
+adopted by what is called the Continental Congress, are now enforcing
+throughout this country with the greatest rigor. A committee has been
+chosen in every county whose business it is to carry the Association of
+the Congress into execution, which committee assumes an authority to
+inspect the books, invoices, and all the secrets of the trade and
+correspondence of the merchants, to watch the conduct of every
+inhabitant without distinction, and send for all such as come under
+their suspicion into their presence, to interrogate them ...and to
+stigmatize, as they term it, such as they find transgressing what they
+are hardy enough to call the laws of Congress."[23]
+
+The American patriots were greatly encouraged by the support they
+received from many of the ablest men in Great Britain. These men were
+shocked at the disregard by Parliament of the principle that no man
+should be taxed without his own consent. Pitt declared that if America
+fell the British Constitution would fall with her. When troops were sent
+to Boston, the Duke of Richmond blurted out: "I hope from the bottom of
+my heart that the Americans may resist and get the better of the forces
+sent against them."
+
+Today one wonders how the King and Parliament could have turned a deaf
+ear to the ringing words of Edmund Burke in his famous address on
+"Conciliation with the Colonies." "As long as you have the wisdom to
+keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of
+liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the
+chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their
+faces toward you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will
+have; the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be
+their obedience. Slavery they can have anywhere--it is a seed that grows
+in every soil.... But, until you become lost to all feeling of your true
+interest and your national dignity, freedom they can have from none but
+you.... Deny them this participation of freedom, and you break that sole
+bond which originally made, and must still preserve, the unity of the
+Empire.... It is the spirit of the English Constitution which, infused
+through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivifies
+every part of the Empire, even down to the minutest members."[24]
+
+In the revolutionary changes in Virginia it was the House of Burgesses,
+not the Council, who took the lead. Washington, Henry, Jefferson,
+Pendleton, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason were all Burgesses. In fact
+the members of the Council were placed in a most embarrassing position.
+Appointed by the King to aid and advise the royal Governor, they owed a
+double allegiance--to Crown and country. To them the breach was a
+tragedy, the choice of allegiance a difficult one. So for the most part
+they played a negative role. In the Council meetings they usually voted
+with the Governor. But as the crisis grew more acute they drifted away
+from him to join their countrymen in resisting the assaults on their
+liberty.
+
+John Page, Junior, in Council supported Dunmore in dissolving the
+Assembly in May, 1774; yet he remained in town and joined the Burgesses
+in the procession to the church on the fast day.[25] On the other hand,
+Robert Carter, though he had refused to drink a cup of tea, would not
+permit any of his family to observe the day. "By this I conclude he is a
+courtier," wrote Fithian in his _Diary_. But he did not long remain a
+"courtier." "The enemies of government are so numerous and so vigilant
+over the conduct of every man that the loyalists have been so
+intimidated that they have entirely shrunk away," wrote Dunmore in July,
+1775. "Even the Council ... approves everything done by the Burgesses."
+The only members he could rely upon were Ralph Wormeley, Gawin Corbin,
+and the Reverend John Camm.[26] The rest, while not subscribing to the
+Association, adhered strictly to it.
+
+But John Randolph, the Attorney General, remained faithful to the King
+to the end. His opposition to the resolutions denouncing the Stamp Act,
+the boycott, and the calling of the provincial and Continental
+Congresses brought down on him the wrath of the patriots. Dunmore stated
+that he was insulted, his life threatened, and his home destroyed.[27]
+In 1775 he sailed for England with his family, never to return.
+
+In the fall of 1774 Dunmore brought on himself the hatred of the
+Virginia frontiersmen by his conduct in a war with the western Indians.
+Placing himself in command of one force, and General Andrew Lewis of
+another, he gave the order to advance. Lewis defeated the famous chief
+Comstock in the bloody battle of Point Pleasant, but Dunmore, ignoring
+the chance to deliver a crushing blow, made a treaty of peace with the
+Indians.
+
+The frontiersmen, as they turned their faces homeward, cursed the
+Governor as a traitor, who spared the Indians because he planned to use
+them against the Virginians should they go to war with Great Britain.
+Nor were their suspicions groundless, for a few months later Dunmore
+wrote the Earl of Dartmouth that if the King would send him "a small
+body of troops" and arms and ammunition, he could raise "such a force
+among Indians, Negroes, and other persons" as would soon reduce Virginia
+to obedience.[28]
+
+But at this moment obedience was far from the minds of the people. On
+March 20, 1775, the second Provincial Congress met in St. John's Church,
+Richmond. The place was but a straggling village, but it was more
+centrally located than Williamsburg, and further away from the British
+warships in the York River. The delegates were unanimous in approving
+the proceedings of the Continental Congress, and in thanking the
+Virginia representatives for their services. But it soon became evident
+that they were divided on the vital question of preparing for war. When
+Henry introduced resolutions for putting the colony in a state of
+defense by arming and disciplining a force of militia, some of the
+leading members drew back. War was unthinkable, they said. The country
+was too weak, too defenseless, too open to invasion. The only hope was
+for reconciliation, for the mediation of America's friends in
+Parliament.
+
+This brought Henry to his feet. "What has there been in the conduct of
+the British Ministry for the last ten years to justify hope? Are fleets
+and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? These are the
+instruments of subjugation sent over to rivet upon us the chains which
+the British Ministry have been so long forging. What have we to oppose
+them? Shall we try argument? We have been trying that for the last ten
+years.... Shall we resort to entreaty and supplication? We have
+petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have supplicated; and we have been
+spurned from the foot of the throne.... If we wish to be free we must
+fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!... Is life so dear or peace so
+sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it,
+Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me,
+give me liberty or give me death."[29] Henry's eloquence carried the
+day, yet so fraught with danger was the issue, that his motion was
+carried by a majority of five only.
+
+A few days later Dunmore wrote to Dartmouth denouncing the proceedings
+of the Convention. "The most dangerous, as well as the most daring
+attempt is the resolution which is adopted for raising a body of armed
+men, horse and foot as well. The plan for imbodying, arming, and
+disciplining of which is by these resolutions published as the final
+order for putting the same into execution."
+
+Almost overnight Virginia was converted into an armed camp. Everywhere
+there was the sound of drums, the sharp commands of drillmasters,
+marching and countermarching. Even in Williamsburg the streets were full
+of men with arms in their hands. In the Valley of Virginia, Fithian
+jotted down in his _Diary_ on June 6: "Here every presence is warlike,
+every sound is martial! Drums beating, fifes and bagpipes playing....
+Every man had a hunting-shirt, which is the uniform of each company.
+Almost all have a cockade and bucktail in their hats to represent that
+they are hardy, resolute, and invincible natives of the woods of
+America."[30]
+
+These warlike preparations drove Dunmore to take a step, which aroused
+the fury of the patriots. In Williamsburg there still stands a little
+octagonal building which was used as a magazine in colonial days. Here
+were stored twenty barrels of powder and several guns. To keep the
+independent companies from seizing the powder the Governor ordered a
+party of sailors to take it on board an armed schooner nearby in the
+James River. Before daybreak, on April 20, they made off with most of
+it, and it was later put on board the _Fowey_ man-of-war.[31]
+
+Despite the gloom of early dawn the removal of the powder was observed,
+and the beating of drums gave the alarm. The independent companies got
+under arms, the people assembled, and the Governor was threatened with
+violence unless he returned the powder. The mayor and other city
+officers, leaving the troops nearby, went to the Palace with an address
+which Dunmore thought amounted to a peremptory demand for the powder.
+Should he refuse they could not answer for the dreadful consequences.
+
+The Governor not only refused, but prepared to resist any attack with
+the aid of several British officers and a few men from the warships. Had
+not Peyton Randolph and Robert Carter Nicholas persuaded the angry
+troops to disperse, the war in Virginia would have begun with an assault
+on the Palace. As it was, parties of armed men continued to pour into
+Williamsburg, and word came that several hundred cavalry were at
+Fredericksburg, ready to march, and that Patrick Henry was leading a
+force up from the south. In alarm the Governor sent Lady Dunmore and his
+children to one of the warships, and threatened to arm the slaves and
+reduce Williamsburg to ashes.[32]
+
+The more conservative leaders among the Virginians, who were still
+hoping for a compromise with Great Britain, were able, though with great
+difficulty, to restrain the troops. At Fredericksburg the men pledged
+themselves to be in readiness at a moment's notice to defend the laws,
+the liberties, and the rights of Virginia and any sister colony, and
+then dispersed.[33] Henry's force got within fifteen miles of
+Williamsburg, and halted only when Richard Corbin, the Receiver General,
+paid for the powder from the royal funds by handing him a bill of
+exchange for L330.
+
+Fate decreed that hostilities should begin, not in Virginia, but in
+Massachusetts. The Virginia delegates were just preparing to leave for
+the second Continental Congress when the news of the skirmish at
+Lexington and Concord arrived. New England was already at war. The
+question in everyone's mind was, would the rest of the country follow?
+Washington's answer was to wear his military uniform. Along the road he
+and the other Virginia delegates were cheered on by crowds of
+enthusiastic people, amid the blaring of bands and the firing of guns.
+
+It was with difficulty that some of the conservative members of Congress
+prevented a declaration of independence. And though a petition to the
+King was agreed on, the taking over of the New England army around
+Boston and appointing Washington commander in chief, was in effect a
+declaration of war. Yet, as Washington was leaving for the east to draw
+the sword, Pendleton returned to Virginia to resume his post as Speaker
+in a last attempt to re-establish the old government.
+
+He was welcomed to Williamsburg like a conquering hero. A detachment of
+cavalry met him at the Pamunkey River and escorted him the rest of the
+way. Two miles from the city they were joined by a company of infantry.
+At sunset, as they entered Williamsburg, they were received by the
+ringing of bells and the cheers of the crowds in the streets. At dark
+every house was illuminated.
+
+Dunmore thought "this pompous military exhibition" had been planned "to
+raise the importance of the members of this new created power, the
+Congress, before the people." And the "appearance of numbers of the
+Burgesses in the clothes of the American troops, wearing a shirt of
+coarse linen or canvas over their clothes and a tomahawk by their
+sides," added fuel to the fire.[34]
+
+The Assembly had been in session but three days when several overzealous
+young men broke into the magazine to take out some of the arms. They
+stumbled against a cord which had been attached to a gun pointed at the
+entrance, which went off wounding two of them. This aroused the people
+to action, and the next day at noon an angry crowd, among them several
+Burgesses, entered the magazine and carried off about 400 stand of arms.
+A committee of the House of Burgesses persuaded the people to return the
+arms, and then set a military guard around the magazine. "So the custody
+of the magazine and public stores is thus wrested out of the hands of
+the Governor," complained Dunmore.[35]
+
+At the opening of the Assembly the Governor began by urging the
+acceptance of the resolutions which Lord North had pushed through
+Parliament in February, as the basis for reconciliation. These
+resolutions promised that if any colony would raise of its own authority
+the cost of its own government, Parliament would not tax that colony. In
+other words, if the Americans guaranteed to pay into the hands of the
+King's Governors funds sufficient to make them independent of the
+Assemblies, Parliament would not take their money from them to do so.
+The Burgesses must have been indignant when Dunmore told them that he
+had strong hopes a consideration of this offer would bring to an end the
+disputes with the mother country.[36]
+
+The reply of the Burgesses, which was almost certainly written by
+Jefferson, is notable because of the clearness with which it exposed the
+unconstitutionally of the British position. They had viewed the proposal
+with pain and disappointment, for it merely changed the form of
+oppression without lightening its burden. "The British government has no
+right to intermeddle with the support of civil government in the
+colonies. For us, not for them, has government been instituted here....
+We cannot conceive that any other legislature has a right to prescribe
+either the number or pecuniary appointment of our officers." The claim
+of Parliament of the right to tax the people of the colony had no
+precedent. Even the act of 1680 giving the King a perpetual revenue was
+passed, not by Parliament, but by his Majesty "with the consent of the
+General Assembly."[37]
+
+The Burgesses were not willing to purchase exemption from an unjust
+taxation by saddling the people with a perpetual tax to be disposed of
+by the King or Parliament. "We have a right to give our money as the
+Parliament does theirs, without coercion.... It is not merely the mode
+of raising, but the freedom of granting our money for which we have
+contended, without which we possess no check on the royal prerogative."
+
+Upon receiving assurance that no harm was intended his family, Dunmore
+had brought them back to the Palace. But on June 8, before daybreak, he,
+Lady Dunmore, the children, his secretary, and some of the servants
+stole out and went on board the _Fowey_. "My house was kept in continued
+alarm and threatened every night with an assault," Dunmore explained.
+"Surrounded as I was by armed men ... and situated so far from any place
+where men-of-war can approach, ... I could not think it safe to continue
+in that city."[38]
+
+The Assembly urged the Governor to return, but he refused. So on the
+night of June 24, a large body of men forced their way into the Palace
+by bursting open a window, and carried off several hundred stand of arms
+which had been kept in the hall. Some days later another group entered
+the building, went from room to room breaking into cabinets, and
+carried off arms of various sorts.[39]
+
+And now Williamsburg became an armed camp. Bands of horse and foot, in
+uniforms and each company displaying their distinctive badge flocked in.
+Some of them lodged in the Capitol, the cavalry encamped on the Palace
+Green.[40] One wonders whether these men knew that a century earlier
+Nathaniel Bacon had assembled his men on or near this spot, or whether
+any of them realized that they had fought for the same cause as they,
+the cause of liberty?
+
+With Dunmore on the _Fowey_ and the Assembly in Williamsburg, the
+remainder of the session was rather futile. There was renewed bickering
+over the removal of the powder, the Burgesses drew up a long address to
+the Governor criticizing his administration, and accusing him of
+misrepresenting conditions in Virginia in one of his letters to the Earl
+of Dartmouth. The Assembly adjourned on June 24, until October 12, and
+on that date, when only thirty-seven members showed up, adjourned again
+until March 7, 1776. This time less than a fourth of the Burgesses
+attended, and immediately adjourned to May 6, when several members met,
+"but did neither proceed to business nor adjourn, as a House of
+Burgesses." And so died the Virginia Assembly after more than a century
+and a half of existence, in which it had fought and won the good battle
+for liberty. It now remained for other bodies to defend and preserve
+that liberty for future generations.[41]
+
+Even while the Assembly was in session the government, in reality, had
+passed into the hands of the conventions and the committees of safety.
+As early as December, 1774, Dunmore wrote that the royal government had
+been "entirely overthrown." "There is not a justice of peace in Virginia
+that acts except as a committeeman. The abolishing of the courts of
+justice was the first step taken, in which the men of fortune and
+pre-eminence joined equally with the lowest and meanest. The General
+Court ... is in much the same predicament."[42] All that was needed to
+take the government completely out of the hands of the Governor and the
+Assembly was an executive head. And this was supplied by the third
+convention which met in Richmond in July, 1775, by the appointment of a
+"general committee of safety."
+
+To this body were appointed some of the ablest men in the
+colony--Pendleton, George Mason, John Page, Richard Bland, Thomas
+Ludwell Lee, and others. It was given almost dictatorial powers, for it
+had the supervision of military affairs, appointing officers, collecting
+supplies, and naming paymasters; it corresponded with the county
+committees, arrested Loyalists, held inquiries.[43]
+
+The convention, having created a body to take over the functions
+formerly exercised by the Governor and Council, itself practically
+replaced the dying Assembly. It prepared for the defense of the colony
+by raising two regular regiments and several thousand minutemen,
+reorganizing the militia, and setting up works for the manufacture of
+arms and powder. It authorized the Treasurer to issue L350,000 of paper
+money. It levied taxes on tithables, coaches, land, licenses, legal
+papers, etc.[44]
+
+A state of war now existed. If they could have laid hands on Dunmore,
+the patriots no doubt would have kept him in confinement. And on one
+occasion he barely escaped. It was in July that he went in a barge to a
+farm which he owned on a creek about seven miles from Williamsburg. He
+and Captain Montague, of the _Fowey_, had just finished dinner when the
+servants rushed in to warn them that the Americans were coming. They had
+barely time to run to their boat and push off. Two of their men were
+captured, and another, jumping into a canoe, paddled desperately with
+bullets whizzing past his head.[45]
+
+As early as May, 1775, Dunmore wrote Dartmouth that he could not
+maintain even an appearance of authority without "a force to support
+it." Dartmouth replied that he was sending him 3,000 stand of arms, 200
+rounds of powder and ball for each musket, and four light brass cannon.
+"I see that Gage has ordered sent you a detachment of the Fourteenth
+Regiment. I hope with the Negroes, Indians, etc., you can reduce
+Virginia.... It is the King's firm resolution that the most vigorous
+efforts should be made, by sea and land, to reduce his rebellious
+subjects to obedience."[46]
+
+Dunmore was soon in control of Virginia waters. The sloop of war _Otter_
+arrived late in June, the _Mercury_, carrying twenty guns, on July 10,
+to be followed by the _Liverpool_, a frigate of twenty-eight guns; the
+_Kingfisher_, and the _Dunmore_. But the Governor was never able to
+raise a land force capable of contending with the Virginians. With the
+arrival of seventy men from St. Augustine and one company from Rhode
+Island to add to the marines, he could muster about 200 men. This small
+force he hoped would be a nucleus for an army of Tories and Negroes, and
+on November 7 he issued a proclamation declaring martial law, summoning
+all "loyal" citizens to join him, and offering freedom to any slaves who
+would take up arms for the King.[47]
+
+In the meanwhile, he had moved with his little fleet into the Elizabeth
+River. It was necessary for him to find provisions, and he counted upon
+the Scottish merchants of Norfolk and other Tories in the lower counties
+to supply him. When the local committee of safety denounced all who sent
+food out to the ships as enemies of liberty, he threatened to bombard
+the city.
+
+The Norfolk printer, John Holt, ignoring the guns of the warships which
+pointed out over the town, continued to issue his gazette and to urge
+the people not to give up their liberty. On September 30 a party of
+British rowed ashore, marched to the printing office, and carried off
+the press, the type, the ink, the paper, and two of the printers. As
+they embarked they gave three huzzas, in which a crowd of Negroes
+joined. "I am now going to have a press for the King," Dunmore said.[48]
+
+On November 16, Dunmore took possession of Norfolk, where he raised the
+royal standard. To his great satisfaction the Scottish merchants and
+their clerks, some Negroes, and others took the oath. He then began to
+fortify the city with earthworks.[49] He would have done better to build
+forts at different points on the long, circuitous road by which alone
+Norfolk could be approached, between the Dismal Swamp and the heads of
+several branches of the Elizabeth River. Not until it was too late did
+he fortify Great Bridge where the Southern Branch flowed between two
+marshes, each crossed by a long causeway.
+
+In the meanwhile, the Virginia troops had been concentrating at
+Williamsburg, under the command of Colonel Woodford. They now crossed
+the James, marched through Suffolk, and headed for the Great Bridge.
+Many of the men were from the western counties, and were armed, not with
+muskets, but with rifles. They were deadly shots, as the British soon
+found to their sorrow. When the Virginians reached Great Bridge, the
+British, instead of waiting for them to attack their almost impregnable
+position, themselves took the initiative. The regulars led the way over
+the causeways and the bridge, followed by the Tories and Negroes.[50]
+"Reserve your fire until they are within fifty yards," the Virginia
+officers ordered. Then the shirtmen, aiming as coolly as though they
+were shooting deer, let fly. The regulars were cut to pieces, the Tories
+and Negroes refused to fight, so with the coming of darkness the British
+left their posts and streamed back to Norfolk.[51]
+
+When Dunmore heard of this defeat he raved like a madman, and even
+threatened to hang the boy who brought the news. With the shirtmen
+advancing on the city, flight was all that was left him. Soon the
+streets were jammed with panicky soldiers, men, women, and children,
+hastening to the wharves to take refuge on the warships or the fleet of
+merchantmen. They were none too soon, for on December 11, the
+Virginians, reinforced by a body of North Carolinians under Colonel
+Howe, entered the city.
+
+But having gained Norfolk, the two commanders now debated what they
+should do with it. If a large force of British attacked it by land and
+sea it could not be defended, and the garrison would be captured.[52] On
+the other hand, for the enemy it would be invaluable as a base for
+attacks on any point in eastern Maryland, Virginia, or North Carolina.
+Howe wrote the Virginia convention, hinting for permission to burn the
+city.
+
+Dunmore's folly gave him an excuse for doing so without waiting for a
+reply. Food and water were becoming scarce on the crowded ships in the
+river, many of the refugees became ill, several died. So Dunmore
+threatened to bombard the city if the patriots cut off supplies, and
+moved the warships to a position close by. But now the riflemen, firing
+from warehouses near the wharves, began picking off his men whenever
+they appeared on deck. On the afternoon of January 1, 1776, the warships
+opened fire, and several boatloads of soldiers rowed up to the wharves
+and set fire to the adjacent buildings.[53]
+
+It was a striking evidence of the sacrifices which the colonial
+Virginians were willing to make in the cause of liberty that twice they
+applied the torch to one of their towns to prevent the enemy from using
+it as a base. The burning of Jamestown by Bacon and his men foreshadowed
+the burning of Norfolk by the revolutionary troops a century later.
+Seizing upon the fires set by the British as an excuse, the soldiers
+went from house to house to spread the flames. In all nearly nine
+hundred houses were destroyed. A month later, by command of the
+convention, the Americans burned down what was left of the city, 416
+houses in all.[54]
+
+The burning of Norfolk was a drastic step indeed. All who witnessed the
+plight of the people as they trudged along the roads leading out of the
+city to seek refuge in nearby farms must have condemned it as an act of
+useless cruelty. But in the end it probably saved more suffering than it
+entailed. Had the city been spared, the British would almost certainly
+have occupied it and held it throughout the remainder of the war, just
+as they held New York. It would have been a haven for Tories from all
+the adjacent states, the British would have made it a great naval and
+military base, from it expeditions would have been launched up the great
+Virginia rivers as Berkeley had launched expeditions from the Eastern
+Shore.
+
+Since the Virginians had no fleet of warships capable of driving Dunmore
+out of their waters, they decided to starve him out. They even
+threatened to move the entire population of parts of Norfolk and
+Princess Anne Counties to prevent provisions from reaching him. In May
+he gave orders for the fleet to leave the Elizabeth River and proceed to
+Gwynn's Island, in the Chesapeake Bay, near the mouth of the
+Rappahannock River. Here he established a camp. But when General Andrew
+Lewis set up batteries on the mainland and opened fire, the place became
+untenable. One shot struck the _Dunmore_ and wounded the Governor. "Good
+God! that ever I should come to this!" he shouted. A few days later his
+fleet sailed down the bay and out through the capes. With it went the
+last vestige of British authority in Virginia.[55]
+
+Now the question of independence was in the minds of all. The small
+planter as he set out his tobacco crop debated it with himself; the
+blacksmith talked it over with his client as he shod his horse; it was
+the topic of conversation in the church yard before the sermon began;
+the members of the convention debated it as they rode along the muddy
+roads. In May, 1775, Dunmore wrote: "It is no longer to be doubted that
+independence is the object in view."[56] But in this he was wrong. The
+colonists did not want independence. They were Englishmen, most of them,
+speaking the English language, living under English law, attached to
+English institutions. They had hardly ceased to speak of England as
+"home." They looked to the British navy for protection, they were keenly
+alive to their economic dependence upon the mother country, they were
+weak and disunited. The colonies went into the war hugging the hope that
+there might yet be reconciliation, with Washington referring to the
+British soldiers as the Ministerial troops, and the American chaplains,
+in public services, praying for the King.
+
+The colonies, in taking up arms, sought only to maintain existing
+conditions. The King and the Ministry were the real revolutionists, not
+the Americans. It was Washington who wrote in 1769, that "at a time when
+our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing less
+than the deprivation of American freedom, something should be done to
+avert the stroke and maintain the liberty which we have derived from our
+ancestors." Washington by no means considered himself a rebel. He was
+championing the British constitution and American rights under it
+against the illegal aggressions of a reactionary Ministry.
+
+But the war had not been long in progress before the people saw that
+they must preserve their freedom at the bayonet's point, or make abject
+submission. When, in the summer of 1775, Richard Penn and Arthur Lee
+went to England with the last effort of Congress for reconciliation, the
+so-called Olive Branch, they were rebuffed. The King and his Ministers
+refused to see them. While they were in London a proclamation was read
+at Palace Yard and Temple Bar by heralds, prohibiting all intercourse
+with the colonies.
+
+Moreover, the ties of reverence and affection gave way rapidly before
+the anger and bitterness of war. The news that the King was purchasing
+troops from certain German rulers for use against them aroused the
+Americans to fury. Angry men gathered everywhere, in the coffee houses,
+on the village greens, or around the courthouses to discuss the burning
+of Portland in the midst of a Maine winter, or the arming of the slaves
+by Dunmore.
+
+It was at this moment that Tom Paine's _Common Sense_ made its
+appearance. Although this pamphlet was bombastic, radical, and filled
+with absurdities, it fell in with the trend of the day, and so tended to
+crystallize thought in favor of independence. More than 100,000 copies
+were sold, and it was estimated that every third person in the colonies
+read it. "Where, some say, is the King of America? I'll tell you friend.
+He reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the royal brute
+of England. A government of our own is our natural right. Ye who oppose
+independence now, ye know not what ye do: ye are opening a door to
+eternal tyranny."
+
+Reluctantly the leaders of thought in Virginia came to the conclusion
+that the British government was forcing them into independence.
+Jefferson wrote John Randolph in November, 1775, that he loved the union
+with Great Britain, "but by the God that made me I will cease to exist
+before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament
+propose, and in this I think I speak the sentiments of America."
+
+Yet the Virginia convention, in August, 1775, had declared: "We again
+and for all, publickly and solemnly declare, before God and the world,
+that we do bear faith and true allegiance to his Majesty George the
+Third, our only lawful and rightful King."[57]
+
+But before the meeting of the convention of May 6, 1776, sentiment had
+changed. Jefferson said that nine out of every ten persons were now for
+independence.[58] In February, Benjamin Harrison had hinted strongly
+that the time was ripe for separation. In January Washington had written
+Joseph Reed that "a few more such flaming arguments" as Falmouth and
+Norfolk would not leave many to oppose a separation. On April 12 John
+Page predicted that independence would be voted in the approaching
+convention; two days later Carter Braxton expressed the opinion that
+independence was not only desirable but inevitable; Pendleton, though
+greatly disturbed at the prospect of separation, thought that no other
+course was possible.
+
+There was great excitement in Williamsburg when the delegates arrived to
+take their seats in the Hall of Burgesses for the opening of the
+convention. The crowds which filled the gallery must have pointed out
+each distinguished member as he entered--the aged Richard Bland; George
+Mason, his black hair now showing a touch of gray; Patrick Henry, in the
+plain garb he always wore; Richard Henry Lee, who had been called from
+Congress by the illness of his wife; James Madison, a small delicate
+young man, widely known as a scholar and political thinker; Edmund
+Pendleton, six feet in height, lithe, and handsome; Robert Carter
+Nicholas, Henry Lee, Edmund Randolph.[59]
+
+On the question of independence there were three opinions. Nicholas was
+opposed to separation, for he thought there was still hope for
+conciliation. Henry wished Congress to establish independence through a
+declaration. Pendleton argued for a statement by the convention and by
+Congress that independence already existed by the action of King and
+Parliament.
+
+In the end Pendleton was directed to prepare a resolution on
+independence. So, on May 15, Thomas Nelson, Junior, rose and read two
+resolutions which Pendleton had drawn up:
+
+ Forasmuch as all the endeavors of the United Colonies, by the most
+ decent representations and petitions to the King and Parliament of
+ Great Britain to restore peace and security to America under the
+ British government, and a reunion with that people upon just and
+ liberal terms, instead of a redress of grievances, have produced,
+ from an imperious and vindictive administration, increased insult,
+ oppression, and a vigorous attempt to effect our total destruction.
+ By a late act, all these colonies are declared to be in rebellion,
+ and out of the protection of the British Crown; our properties
+ subjected to confiscation; our people, when captivated, compelled
+ to join in the murder and plunder of their relations and
+ countrymen; and all former rapine and oppression of Americans
+ declared legal and just. Fleets and armies are raised, and the aid
+ of foreign troops engaged to assist in these destructive purposes.
+ The King's representative in this colony hath not only withheld all
+ the powers of government from operating for our safety, but, having
+ retired on board an armed ship, is carrying on a piratical and
+ savage war against us, tempting our slaves by every artifice to
+ resort to him, and training and employing them against their
+ masters. In this state of extreme danger, we have no alternative
+ left but an abject submission to the will of those overbearing
+ tyrants, or a total separation from the Crown and government of
+ Great Britain, uniting and exerting the strength of all America for
+ defence, and forming alliances with foreign powers for commerce and
+ aid in war: Wherefore, appealing to the SEARCHER OF HEARTS for the
+ sincerity of former declarations, expressing our desire to preserve
+ the connection with that nation, and that we are driven from that
+ inclination by their wicked councils, and the eternal laws of
+ self-preservation:
+
+Resolved, unanimously, That the delegates appointed to represent this
+colony in the General Congress, be instructed to propose to that
+respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent
+states, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon the Crown or
+Parliament of Great Britain; and that they give the assent of this
+colony to such declaration, and to whatever measures may be thought
+proper and necessary by the Congress for forming foreign alliances, and
+a confederation of the colonies, at such time, and in the manner as to
+them shall seem best; Provided, the power of forming government for, and
+the regulations of the internal concerns of each colony, be left to the
+respective colonial legislatures.
+
+Resolved unanimously, That a committee be appointed to prepare a
+DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, and such a plan of government as will be most
+likely to maintain peace and order in this colony, and secure
+substantial and equal liberty to the people.
+
+The people of Virginia everywhere applauded this final breach with Great
+Britain. In Williamsburg the "Union flag of the American states" was
+raised over the Capitol. The troops, under General Lewis, wheeled and
+marched in a nearby grove in the presence of the members of the
+Committee of Safety and of the convention and a crowd of citizens. After
+the resolutions of the convention had been read to the troops, a toast
+was proposed to "The American Independent States," which was drunk to
+the shouts of the crowd and the firing of the artillery. Then followed
+toasts to "The Grand Congress of the United States and their Respective
+Legislatures," and to "General Washington and Victory for the American
+Arms." With coming of night the people illuminated the town amid
+demonstrations of joy "that the domination of Great Britain was now at
+an end."[60]
+
+The resolutions of the convention were tantamount to a Virginia
+declaration of independence. Though it was thought wise to act in
+concert with the other colonies, the convention did not wait for
+Congress, but proceeded to draw up a constitution for an independent
+state, with Governor, Senate, House of Delegates, and judiciary. One
+hundred and sixty-nine years, almost to a day, after Captain Christopher
+Newport planted the English flag on the Jamestown peninsula, English
+authority in Virginia was overthrown.
+
+As the delegates rode home after the convention had concluded its work,
+the minds of some must have gone over the developments of those
+seventeen decades, the heritage of self-government which their ancestors
+had brought with them from England, the struggle to defend their liberty
+against the assaults of despotic Kings and despotic Governors, the
+spirit of self-reliance fostered by life in the New World, and now the
+attempts of a reactionary government in Great Britain to turn back the
+hands of the clock and deprive them of the rights they had won. It had
+been James I and Charles I, and even George III who, in their dealings
+with the colonies, had insisted upon "obedience," but the colonists
+insisted upon another word, the word "liberty." Now that they had won
+liberty, it remained to be seen whether they could preserve it against
+the attacks of the British armies and navy. And none could foresee that
+at Yorktown, but a few miles away, British armed might in America was
+destined to be broken, as its political power had already been broken at
+Williamsburg.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., Oct. 27, 1768.
+
+[2] _Ibid._
+
+[3] CO5-1332, Feb. 18, 1769.
+
+[4] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., May 18, 1769.
+
+[5] _Ibid._
+
+[6] CO5-1332, Botetourt to Hillsborough, May 19, 1769.
+
+[7] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1766-1769: 227.
+
+[8] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D. Oct. 18, 1770.
+
+[9] _Ibid._, Supplement.
+
+[10] William Smith, _Diary_, Dec. 1, 1770; July 9, 1771.
+
+[11] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., Sept. 17, 1771.
+
+[12] _The writings of Thomas Jefferson_, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 1: 7.
+
+[13] _Ibid._
+
+[14] T. J. Wertenbaker, _Norfolk: historic southern port_, 55.
+
+[15] _Journal of Philip Vickers Fithian_, ed. H. D. Farish, 257.
+
+[16] _The writings of Thomas Jefferson_, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 1: 9.
+
+[17] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1773-1776: 124.
+
+[18] _Virginia Gazette_, P. and D., June 2, 1774.
+
+[19] _The writings of Thomas Jefferson_, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 1: 11.
+
+[20] _Ibid._, 10.
+
+[21] _Lower Norfolk County Antiquary_ 5: 32-35.
+
+[22] _Writings of George Washington_, ed. Jared Sparks, 2: 389.
+
+[23] Dunmore papers, No. 22.
+
+[24] _Burke's speech_, ed. S. C. Newsom, 105, 106.
+
+[25] Dunmore papers, Dunmore to Dartmouth, March 14, 1775.
+
+[26] _Ibid._, No. 28.
+
+[27] _Ibid._, No. 30.
+
+[28] _Ibid._, No. 26.
+
+[29] William Wirt, _Life of Patrick Henry_, 139-141.
+
+[30] _Philip Vickers Fithian, journal_, eds. Albion and Dodson, 24.
+
+[31] Dunmore papers, no. 26.
+
+[32] _Ibid._
+
+[33] _The Virginia Gazette_, Pinckney, May 11, 1775.
+
+[34] Dunmore papers, No. 28.
+
+[35] _Ibid._
+
+[36] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1773-1776: 174, 175.
+
+[37] _Ibid._, pp. 219-221.
+
+[38] Dunmore papers, No. 28.
+
+[39] _Ibid._
+
+[40] _Ibid._, No. 29.
+
+[41] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1773-1776.
+
+[42] Dunmore papers, No. 22.
+
+[43] _Proceedings of the Convention_, etc.; C. R. Lingley, _Transition
+in Virginia_.
+
+[44] _Ibid._
+
+[45] _Dunmore papers_, No. 29.
+
+[46] _Ibid._, No. 22.
+
+[47] T. J. Wertenbaker, _Norfolk: historic southern port_, 57, 67.
+
+[48] Dunmore papers, No. 32.
+
+[49] _American Archives_, Fourth Ser. 4: 343.
+
+[50] _Richmond College historical papers_ 1: 101.
+
+[51] _Ibid._, 115-121.
+
+[52] _Ibid._, 138, 139, 148.
+
+[53] _Lower Norfolk County Antiquary_ 2: 80.
+
+[54] _American Archives_, Fourth Ser. 4: 540; _Virginia Magazine_ 23:
+414.
+
+[55] _Ibid._, Fifth Ser. 1: 150, 151, 431, 432.
+
+[56] Dunmore papers, No. 27.
+
+[57] _American Archives_ 4: 391.
+
+[58] _The writings of Thomas Jefferson_, ed. A. A. Lipscomb, 4: 255.
+
+[59] H. B. Grigsby, _The Virginia convention of 1776_.
+
+[60] _Virginia Gazette_, Purdie, May 17, 1776.
+
+
+
+
+ESSAY ON SOURCES
+
+
+Any political history of Virginia in the colonial period must be based
+chiefly on the documents in the British Public Record Office. During
+many months of work in this office the author made more than eight
+hundred pages of notes and transcripts which he has used freely in the
+writing of this volume. The notations CO1-3, CO5-1318, etc., in the
+footnotes all refer to the Public Record Office.
+
+It is especially fortunate that these documents have been preserved,
+since of the copies left in Virginia, when there were copies, most have
+been destroyed. Among the scores of manuscript volumes on Virginia in
+the Record Office, thirty-two are devoted to the correspondence of the
+Board of Trade, seventeen to the correspondence of the Secretary of
+State, twenty-two to Entry Books, letters, commissions, warrants, etc.,
+for the period from 1680 to the American Revolution alone.
+
+In this vast collection are found the instructions to governors;
+memorials concerning the clergy, the revenue, the College of William and
+Mary; addresses of the Assembly to the Throne; reports of special agents
+of the Crown; accusations against governors; nominations to office; the
+journals of the Council and of the House of Burgesses.
+
+During the second half of the nineteenth century William Noel Sainsbury,
+Assistant Keeper of the Records, made no less than twenty volumes of
+abstracts of these documents, which have been deposited in the Virginia
+State Library. They cover the long period from the founding of the
+colony to 1730. The McDonald Papers, also transcribed from the documents
+in the Public Record Office, and also deposited in the Virginia State
+Library, parallel the Sainsbury abstracts, but they are fuller and give
+some papers overlooked by Sainsbury. The author spent the summer of 1908
+in Richmond to study these papers, but they merely whetted his desire to
+see the original collection. So June, 1910, found him in the chilly old
+building off Chancery Lane, London, immersed in the musty but
+fascinating mass of documents.
+
+Virginia historians today no longer have to make the journey across the
+Atlantic, for the United States Government has had transcriptions made
+of the papers relating to our colonial history for the Library of
+Congress. Moreover, the journals of the House of Burgesses and the
+journals of the Council have been published. Many other documents in the
+Public Record Office have been published in part or in full in the
+_Calendar of State Papers_, _Colonial Series, America and West Indies_,
+and in historical magazines.
+
+The Coventry papers relating to Virginia, Barbados, and other colonies,
+at Longleat, the magnificent residence of the Marquess of Bath, which
+have been microfilmed by the American Council of Learned Societies,
+throw a flood of light on Virginia history, especially upon Bacon's
+Rebellion. They contain letters from Bacon to Berkeley, from Berkeley to
+Bacon, and from Philip Ludwell to Lady Berkeley, reports from the
+Virginia agents who were seeking a charter for the colony, Berkeley's
+account of the evacuation of Jamestown, and many other valuable
+documents. They give new and overwhelming evidence that Bacon and his
+followers rose in arms, not only to protect the people from the Indians,
+but to right their wrongs under Berkeley's government.
+
+The American Council of Learned Societies was also responsible for the
+microfilming of the Sackville manuscripts belonging to the Earl of
+Dorset. They contain letters to the British Government from the Virginia
+House of Burgesses and from the Council in 1631, and throw a gleam of
+light on an obscure period.
+
+The correspondence of Lord Dunmore and Lord Dartmouth, in the British
+Public Record Office, is vital to any account of the early years of the
+Revolution in Virginia. In his letters Dunmore reports on the committees
+of correspondence, the boycott, the plight of the Tories, his conflict
+with the Assembly, the arming of the patriots, his flight from
+Williamsburg, his seizure of Norfolk, etc. This correspondence is
+available to scholars in microfilm in the Library of Congress.
+
+W. W. Hening (ed.), _The Statutes at Large_ (1809-1823), in thirteen
+volumes, are indispensable to the historian. In addition to the Virginia
+laws it publishes a few extremely important documents.
+
+The county records throw light on local government and the use of the
+patronage by the governors to control the Assembly. It is unfortunate
+that many documents in the county courthouses were destroyed in the
+Revolution and the War between the States. Yet the records of Surry,
+York, Essex, Rappahannock, Accomac, Elizabeth City, and other counties
+have been preserved.
+
+Peter Force (ed.), _Tracts and Other Papers_ (1836), has many valuable
+documents relating to early Virginia history. The accounts of Bacon's
+Rebellion are of especial interest. Edward Arber (ed.), _The Works of
+Captain John Smith_ (1910), is a main source for the founding and early
+history of Jamestown. But Smith's tendency to glorify himself and the
+probability that he colored his account to further the designs of King
+James I and the court party have caused many historians to distrust much
+that he has written.
+
+Alexander Brown, _Genesis of the United States_ (1890), gives many
+documents on early Virginia history which had long been inaccessible to
+scholars. Other publications of documents or early histories are Susan
+M. Kingsbury (ed.), _The Records of the Virginia Company of London_
+(1906-1935); J. C. Hotten (ed.), _Original Lists of Emigrants to
+America, 1606-1700_ (1874); _Lower Norfolk County_ Antiquary; Lyon G.
+Tyler (ed.), _Narratives of Early Virginia_ (1907); Charles M. Andrews
+(ed.), _Narratives of Insurrections_ (1915); Clayton C. Hall (ed.),
+_Narratives of Early Maryland_ (1910); and Edmund Goldsmid (ed.),
+_Hakluyt's_, _The Principal Navigations_ (1885-1890).
+
+R. A. Brock (ed.), _The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie_
+(1883-1884); while of great value, is incomplete, since many letters in
+the British Public Record Office have been omitted. R. A. Brock (ed.),
+_The Original Letters of Alexander Spotswood_ (1882-1885), from the
+manuscript collection in possession of the Virginia Historical Society,
+is also far from complete.
+
+Among the historical magazines which have published documents relating
+to Virginia the most important are _The Virginia Magazine of History and
+Biography_, _William and Mary College Quarterly_, _Tyler's Quarterly
+Historical and Genealogical Magazine_, and the _Massachusetts Historical
+Society, Proceedings_.
+
+Three narratives, Henry Hartwell, James Blair, and Edward Chilton, _The
+Present State of Virginia and the College_; Robert Beverley, _The
+History and Present State of Virginia_; and Hugh Jones, _The Present
+State of Virginia_, have all the value of primary sources. The Hartwell,
+Blair, and Chilton history was written in 1697 and first published by
+John Wyat at the Rose, in St. Paul's churchyard, London, in 1727. It was
+republished in 1940, with an able introduction by Hunter D. Farish.
+Beverley's volume appeared in 1705, and a new edition was published in
+1947. Hugh Jones' history came out in 1724, was reprinted in 1865 in a
+limited edition, and republished in 1956. The last edition, edited by
+Richard L. Morton, has a valuable introduction, and more than a hundred
+pages of illuminating notes.
+
+There are a number of histories of Virginia. William Stith, _The History
+of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia_ (1747), is little
+more than a rehash of Captain John Smith's story. John Burk, _The
+History of Virginia_ (1822), though more critical, is out of date since
+the author did not have access to a mass of documents now available to
+the historian. The same criticism applies to Charles Campbell, _History
+of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia_ (1860). Henry Howe,
+_Historical Collections of Virginia_ (1845), brings together many facts,
+traditions, and biographical sketches. It also gives brief descriptions
+of contemporaneous life in the various counties. John Fiske's _Old
+Virginia and her Neighbors_ (1900), is interesting, but untrustworthy.
+Edward D. Neill, _Early Settlement of Virginia and Virginiola_ (1878),
+_The English Colonization of America during the Seventeenth Century_
+(1871), _History of the Virginia Company of London_ (1869), _Virginia
+Vetusta_ (1885), and _Virginia Carolorum_ (1886), are based on primary
+sources and are still valuable. John Esten Cooke, _Virginia: A History
+of the People_ (1884), is interesting but full of mistakes.
+
+Other works on early Virginia history are Alexander Brown, _The First
+Republic in America_ (1898), T. J. Wertenbaker, _Virginia under the
+Stuarts_ (1914); Mary Newton Stanard, _The Story of Virginia's First
+Century_ (1928); Matthew Page Andrews, _The Soul of a Nation_ (1943),
+and _Virginia, the Old Dominion_ (1937); William Foote, _Sketches of
+Virginia_ (1850); Robert R. Howison, _A History of Virginia_ (1848);
+Conway W. Sams, _The Conquest of Virginia_ (1924); and Wesley Frank
+Craven, _Dissolution of the Virginia Company_ (1932).
+
+In 1957 the Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation published
+a series of booklets on seventeenth-century Virginia history under the
+able editorship of Dr. Earl G. Swem. Among them are E. G. Swem and John
+M. Jennings, _A Selected Bibliography of Virginia_, 1607-1699; William
+W. Abbot, _A Virginia Chronology_, 1585-1783; Samuel M. Bemiss (ed.),
+_The Three Charters of the Virginia Company of London_; Wesley Frank
+Craven, _The Virginia Company of London_; Charles E. Hatch, Jr., _The
+First Seventeen Years at Jamestown_, 1607-1634; Thomas J. Wertenbaker,
+_Bacon's Rebellion_ and _The Government of Virginia in the Seventeenth
+Century_; Richard L. Morton, _Struggle against Tyranny and the Beginning
+of a New Era_; Martha W. Hiden, _How Justice Grew_. Dr. Wilcomb E.
+Washburn, _Virginia under Charles I and Cromwell_, takes issue with most
+Virginia historians by coming to the defense of Governor John Harvey who
+was kicked out of Virginia because of his despotic rule, abuse of the
+courts, and disregard of law.
+
+Among the special studies relating to the political history of Virginia
+are Philip A. Bruce, _The Institutional History of Virginia_ (1910);
+Julian A. C. Chandler, _The History of Suffrage in Virginia_ (1901);
+Oliver P. Chitwood, _Justice in Colonial Virginia_ (1905); Percy S.
+Flippin, _Financial Administration of the Colony of Virginia_ (1915);
+Armistead C. Gordon, _The Laws of Bacon's Assembly_ (1914); Albert O.
+Porter, _County Government in Virginia_ (1947); Mary N. Stanard, _The
+Story of Bacon's Rebellion_ (1907); R. T. Barton, _Colonial Decisions_
+(1909); Edward Ingle, _Virginia Local Institutions_ (1885); Elmer I.
+Miller, _The Legislature of the Province of Virginia_ (1907); Lyon G.
+Tyler, _The Cradle of the Republic_ (1906); Moncure D. Conway, _Omitted
+Chapters_ (1888); H. J. Eckenrode, _The Revolution in Virginia_ (1916);
+Hugh Blair Grigsby, _The Virginia Convention of 1776_ (1855); Charles R.
+Lingley, _The Transition in Virginia from Colony to Commonwealth_
+(1910); Charles S. Sydnor, _Gentlemen Freeholders, Political Practices
+in Washington's Virginia_ (1952); Curtis P. Nettels, _George Washington
+and American Independence_ (1951).
+
+Biographies of prominent Virginians seem to come in pairs. There are two
+biographies of William Claiborne, Norton C. Hale, _Virginia Venturer_
+(1951), and John H. Claiborne, _William Claiborne of Virginia_ (1917);
+two biographies devoted to the Lee family, Burton J. Hendrick, _The Lees
+of Virginia_ (1935), and Cazenove G. Lee, Jr., _Lee Chronicle_ (1956);
+two short studies of James Blair, Daniel E. Motley, _Life of Commissary
+James Blair_ (1901), and Edgar L. Pennington, _Commissary Blair_ (1936);
+two biographies of Edmund Pendleton, Robert L. Hilldrup, _The Life and
+Times of Edmund Pendleton_ (1939), and David J. Mays, _Edmund Pendleton_
+(1952); there are several biographies of Captain John Smith.
+
+Philip A. Bruce, _The Virginia Plutarch_ (1929), gives brief biographies
+of Sir William Berkeley, Nathaniel Bacon, Alexander Spotswood, William
+Byrd II, Patrick Henry, and others. Among other biographies are Richmond
+C. Beatty, _William Byrd of Westover_ (1932); Thomas J. Wertenbaker,
+_Torchbearer of the Revolution, The Story of Bacon's Rebellion and Its
+Leader_ (1940); Leonidas Dodson, _Alexander Spotswood_ (1932); Louis K.
+Koontz, _Robert Dinwiddie_ (1941); Louis Morton, _Robert Carter of
+Nomini Hall_ (1941); Kate Mason Rowland, _Life and Correspondence of
+George Mason_ (1892); William Wirt Henry, _Patrick Henry_ (1891); A. T.
+S. Goodrick, _Edward Randolph_ (1898-1909); Thomas Jefferson,
+_Autobiography_.
+
+There are numerous Virginia local histories, among them W. Asbury
+Christian, _Richmond, Her Past and Present_ (1912); (1931); Ralph T.
+Whitelaw, _Virginia's Eastern Shore_ (1951); John B. Bodie, _Seventeenth
+Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia_ (1938); Marshall Wingfield, _A
+History of Caroline County, Virginia_ (1924); and Herbert C. Bradshaw,
+_History of Prince Edward County, Virginia_ (1955).
+
+_The Virginia Gazette_ is a major source for the history of Virginia in
+the eighteenth century. The scattered numbers still in existence have
+been photostated and copies deposited in some of the larger libraries.
+Their usefulness has been greatly enhanced by the preparation of an
+Index by Lester J. Cappon and Stella F. Duff.
+
+Virginia historians will always be grateful to Dr. Earl G. Swem for his
+_Virginia Historical Index_, covering _The Virginia Magazine of History
+and Biography_, volumes 1-38; _William and Mary College Quarterly_,
+first series, volumes 1-27; second series, volumes 1-10; Hening's
+_Statutes at Large_, and other publications.
+
+
+
+
+Index
+
+ Acadians: ejected, 204
+
+ Allerton, Isaac:
+ bribed with seat in Council, 20, 119;
+ refuses oath of allegiance, 126
+
+ Amherst, General Jeffrey: replaces Loudoun, 210
+
+ Andros, Sir Edmund:
+ Governor, 127;
+ despotic in New England, 127;
+ mild in Virginia, 129;
+ quarrels with Blair, 131;
+ suspends Blair from Council, 131;
+ resigns, 132
+
+ Appomatox Indians: hostile, 86
+
+ Argall, Samuel:
+ Governor, 6;
+ cruelty of, 7
+
+ Aristocracy:
+ effect of slavery on, 152, 153;
+ libraries, 153;
+ mansions, 153;
+ intermarriages, 153;
+ dominate General Court, 153, 154
+
+ Armistead, Col. John:
+ Councillor, 119;
+ refuses oath of allegiance, 126
+
+ Association:
+ to boycott British goods, 239;
+ successful, 240, 241
+
+ Attainder: bill of in 1677, 29
+
+ Auditor:
+ duties of, 33;
+ William Byrd, 34;
+ Philip Ludwell, 34
+
+
+ Bacon, Nathaniel:
+ early life of, 84;
+ quarrels with Berkeley, 84;
+ knew Lawrence and Drummond, 84;
+ his overseer murdered, 86;
+ frontiersmen make leader, 87;
+ denounces Berkeley, 87;
+ defeats Occaneechees, 87;
+ elected Burgess, 88;
+ captured, 88;
+ submits, 88, 89;
+ reappointed Councillor, 89;
+ blames Assembly, 90;
+ escapes, 90;
+ takes Jamestown, 90;
+ made general, 90;
+ pleads with Burgesses, 91;
+ master of Virginia, 92;
+ conversation with Goode, 92, 93;
+ at Middle Plantation, 92;
+ plans of, 93;
+ captures Jamestown, 93, 94;
+ burns Jamestown, 94;
+ secret burial of, 94;
+ people mourn, 94
+
+ Bacon, Nathaniel, Sr.: ousted from Council, 71
+
+ Bacon's Laws:
+ aimed at Berkeley, 91;
+ credit due Bacon, 91;
+ a victory for democracy, 91, 92
+
+ Ballard, Thomas: expelled from Council, 20
+
+ Baltimore, Lord:
+ visits Virginia, 38;
+ refuses oath, 38;
+ Harvey aids, 43;
+ settles Maryland, 43;
+ recognizes Commonwealth, 69
+
+ Barre, Col. Isaac: denounces Stamp Act, 225, 226
+
+ Bennett, Richard:
+ favors Parliament, 58;
+ sent to get Puritan ministers, 60;
+ commissioner for Parliament, 64;
+ Governor, 67;
+ Cromwell continues, 70
+
+ Berkeley, Lady Frances:
+ marriage, 76;
+ insults Jeffreys, 100, 101;
+ heads faction, 101, 102
+
+ Berkeley, Lord John: brother of Sir William, 80
+
+ Berkeley, Sir William:
+ limits franchise, 27;
+ appointed Governor, 54;
+ early life, 54;
+ arrives, 55;
+ popular, 55, 56;
+ favors jury trial, 56;
+ gift of houses to, 57;
+ salary, 57;
+ fights for King, 57;
+ defeats Indians, 58;
+ expels Puritan preachers, 61;
+ prosecutes Puritans, 62;
+ proclaims Charles II, 62;
+ defies Parliament, 63;
+ to resist Parliamentary forces, 65, 66;
+ surrenders, 66;
+ under Commonwealth, 68;
+ elected Governor, 73;
+ reappointed by Charles II, 75;
+ dictatorial, 76;
+ greed, 76;
+ marriage, 75;
+ distrusts self-government, 76;
+ use of patronage, 77;
+ corrupts Assembly, 77;
+ the Long Assembly, 77, 78;
+ accused by Charles City, 77, 78;
+ grants of land, 78, 79;
+ people hate, 78;
+ favorites of, 79;
+ asks free trade, 80;
+ denounces Navigation Acts, 80, 81;
+ makes Bacon Councillor, 84;
+ despotism of, 84;
+ sends force against Indians, 86;
+ Indian policy, 86;
+ people in arms, 87;
+ calls an election, 88;
+ captures Bacon, 88;
+ forces Bacon's submission, 88, 89;
+ overawes Burgesses, 89;
+ submits to Bacon, 90, 91;
+ starts civil war, 92;
+ flees to Eastern Shore, 92;
+ executes patriots, 95, 96, 99;
+ illegal seizures, 98;
+ quarrels with Jeffreys, 98, 99;
+ ordered to England, 99;
+ picks Burgesses, 99, 100;
+ sails, 101;
+ death, 101
+
+ Berry, Sir John: committee on Bacon's Rebellion, 92
+
+ Beverley, Peter: court of oyer and terminer, 170
+
+ Beverley, Robert:
+ Green Spring faction, 101, 102;
+ Assembly minutes seized from, 103;
+ testifies against Nicholson, 148
+
+ Bill of Ports:
+ Burgesses reject, 128;
+ Spotswood secures, 162-165;
+ patronage from, 163, 164;
+ Gooch secures, 191, 192
+
+ Blair, Archibald: hates Spotswood, 172, 173
+
+ Blair, Rev. James:
+ defends Harrison, 22;
+ founds college, 31;
+ Commissary, 130;
+ church reform plans, 130, 131;
+ Quarrel with Andros, 131;
+ Andros ousts from Council, 131;
+ restored, 131;
+ ousts Andros, 132;
+ for Nicholson, 133;
+ Nicholson angers, 136;
+ accuses Nicholson, 147, 148;
+ called King maker, 149;
+ called hypocrite, 171;
+ visits England, 175;
+ to be "Prime Minister," 175, 176
+
+ Blair, John:
+ meets Dinwiddie, 194;
+ calls Assembly, 209;
+ prepares expedition, 209, 210
+
+ Bland, Gyles: executed, 99
+
+ Bland, Col. Richard:
+ defends Two-penny Act, 214;
+ for self-government, 216;
+ to submit to Stamp Act, 226;
+ General Committee of Safety, 249;
+ convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Botetourt, Lord:
+ Governor General, 232;
+ welcomed, 232;
+ popular, 232;
+ warns British government, 233;
+ promises repeal of Townshend Acts, 234, 235;
+ death, 235
+
+ Braddock, General: defeat of, 203
+
+ Braxton, Carter: predicts independence, 255
+
+ Buck, Rev.: Minister at Jamestown, 5
+
+ Buckner, John: sets up press, 117
+
+ Burgesses, House of:
+ bribed by Governors, 19, 20;
+ represent people, 25;
+ privileges, 26;
+ franchise, 26;
+ wages, 27, 28;
+ county pays, 28;
+ Speaker, 28;
+ committees, 29;
+ guards elections, 29;
+ as a court, 29;
+ control of taxation, 29-31;
+ act of 1680, 30;
+ rule under Commonwealth, 67, 68;
+ elect Governor, 70;
+ Berkeley corrupts, 77;
+ end of Long Assembly, 87, 88;
+ Bacon's victory in, 88;
+ Bacon's Laws, 91, 92;
+ pro-Berkeley in 1677, 99;
+ protest appeals to England, 114;
+ James II scorns petition, 114;
+ protest fees, 115;
+ sole right to tax, 115;
+ dispute King's authority, 115, 116;
+ reject royal bills, 127;
+ rile Edward Randolph, 128;
+ refuse aid to New York, 128;
+ L500 for New York, 128, 129;
+ name Treasurer, 128, 129;
+ Nicholson wheedles, 138;
+ Spotswood bribes, 163, 164;
+ new election, 164;
+ oppose Spotswood, 165;
+ Spotswood rebuffs, 165, 166;
+ judges elections, 166;
+ strike at Governors' power, 167;
+ Spotswood denounces, 168;
+ deride Spotswood, 171;
+ charges against Spotswood, 173;
+ praise Drysdale, 177, 178;
+ contempt of punished, 179;
+ praise Gooch, 180;
+ growth of, 182;
+ salaries, 183;
+ power of grows, 184;
+ aristocrats in, 184;
+ praise Gooch, 193;
+ protest pistole fee, 197;
+ fee called arbitrary taxation, 197;
+ appeal to King, 198;
+ audacity of, 204;
+ eject Acadian exiles, 204;
+ vote L60,000, 205;
+ emit treasury notes, 205;
+ reply to Fauquier, 219;
+ declaration of rights, 220;
+ protest Stamp Act, 224, 225;
+ Henry's resolutions, 226;
+ Botetourt opens, 1768, 233;
+ reassert sole right to tax, 233;
+ meet unofficially, 233, 234;
+ Botetourt promises repeal, 235;
+ call convention, 239;
+ take lead in Revolution, 242;
+ many in uniform, 246;
+ last session, 248
+
+ Burke, Edmund: on "Conciliation," 241
+
+ Burwell, Lewis:
+ land holdings, 135;
+ Nicholson threatens, 143
+
+ Burwell, Lucy:
+ Nicholson in love with, 142-145;
+ returns gifts, 144, 145
+
+ Butler, Nathaniel: his "Unmasking of Virginia," 11
+
+ Butts, Thomas:
+ refuses to certify grievances, 165;
+ House asks arrest, 165, 166
+
+ Byrd, William I:
+ auditor, 34;
+ makes rent roll, 135;
+ respect due to, 152
+
+ Byrd, William II: Receiver General, 168;
+ Spotswood ousts, 169;
+ opposes new court, 170;
+ Spotswood denounces, 171;
+ agent for Burgesses, 173
+
+ Byrd, William III: 221
+
+
+ Camm, Rev. John:
+ takes clergy protest to King, 213;
+ sues for salary, 214;
+ Fauquier denounces, 214;
+ case thrown out, 216;
+ supports Dunmore, 242
+
+ Capitol:
+ plan, 146;
+ burns, 182;
+ rebuilt, 183;
+ soldiers lodge in, 248;
+ convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Carter, Landon: defends Two-penny Act, 214
+
+ Carter, Robert:
+ Speaker of House, 28;
+ Treasurer, 130;
+ influence of, 140;
+ charges against Nicholson, 147, 148;
+ haughty, 171;
+ President, 1726, 179;
+ slaves of, 184
+
+ Carter, Robert, of Nomini Hall:
+ refuses tea, 238;
+ not a "courtier," 242
+
+ Charles City County:
+ grievances of, 32;
+ accuse Berkeley, 77;
+ grievances neglected, 78;
+ illegal voting in, 100
+
+ Charles I:
+ will not restore Company, 13;
+ calls Assembly, 15;
+ offers to buy tobacco crop, 15;
+ needs money, 16;
+ illegal taxes, 36;
+ tobacco contract, 44;
+ executed, 62
+
+ Charles II:
+ Berkeley proclaims, 63;
+ restoration, 73;
+ proclaimed in 1660, 74;
+ reappoints Berkeley, 75;
+ Arlington-Culpeper grant, 82;
+ on causes of Bacon's Rebellion, 97;
+ sends troops, 97;
+ angered at Assembly, 103;
+ gold from Louis XIV, 107;
+ despotism in Virginia, 108-113;
+ prohibits printing, 117
+
+ Charter:
+ granted Virginia Company, 4, 5;
+ sought by Virginians, 17, 18;
+ Assembly asks, 83;
+ again asked, 1689, 123;
+ to confirm Assembly, 123, 124
+
+ Cheeseman, Major: Berkeley's brutality to, 95
+
+ Chicheley, Sir Henry:
+ leads force against Indians, 86;
+ Deputy Governor, 106;
+ rules impartially, 106
+
+ Civil War in England:
+ influence on colonies, 3;
+ affects Virginia, 36
+
+ Claiborne, William:
+ agent against Baltimore, 38;
+ settlement on Kent Island, 43;
+ battle with Marylanders, 43;
+ commissioner for Parliament, 64;
+ negotiates for peace, 65, 66;
+ Secretary, 67
+
+ Clergy:
+ thank Spotswood, 163;
+ Two-penny Act, 211;
+ protest, 211, 212;
+ address to King, 212
+
+ Cocke, William: in Indian Company, 171
+
+ Cole, William: election of thrown out, 166, 167
+
+ Committees of Correspondence: 236, 237, 239
+
+ Committees of Safety: take over courts, 248
+
+ Commons, House of:
+ opposes James I, 3;
+ in Civil War, 36
+
+ Commonwealth:
+ Virginia surrenders to, 66;
+ Virginia constitution under, 66, 67;
+ rule of, 70;
+ anarchy, 73;
+ influence of on Virginia, 75
+
+ Constitution of State of Virginia: drawn up, 257
+
+ Continental Congress:
+ proposed, 236, 237, 239;
+ delegates to, 240;
+ Declaration of Rights, 240;
+ makes Washington commander, 245
+
+ Convention, Provincial:
+ in 1774, 240;
+ at Richmond, 1775, 243;
+ Henry's address, 243, 244;
+ prepare for war, 244;
+ take over government, 248, 249;
+ in 1776, 255;
+ instruct for independence, 255, 256
+
+ Conway, Edwin: baits Spotswood, 165
+
+ Corbin, Gawin: baits Spotswood, 165, 172
+
+ Corbin, Richard:
+ protests paper money, 219;
+ complains to Board of Trade, 219;
+ pays for powder, 245
+
+ Council of Virginia:
+ powers of, 4;
+ quarrels of, 4, 5;
+ under constitution of 1621, 21;
+ patronage of, 21;
+ powers of, 23-25;
+ as cabinet, 23;
+ as Upper House, 23, 24;
+ as supreme court, 24;
+ prestige of, 24, 25;
+ Virginia House of Lords, 25;
+ conflict with Harvey, 41-47;
+ arrest Harvey, 46;
+ Burgesses oust, 71;
+ power of from England, 72;
+ dissolve Assembly, 1659, 72;
+ lose fat jobs, 134;
+ Nicholson abuses, 140, 141;
+ six accuse Nicholson, 147-150;
+ represent aristocracy, 151, 152;
+ titles of, 152;
+ respect for, 152;
+ Nott defers to, 154, 155;
+ appeal for peace, 155;
+ Burgesses back, 155;
+ a threat to Liberty, 159;
+ land holdings of, 162;
+ preserve judicial power, 169-171;
+ for large land grants, 178;
+ negative role in Revolution, 242
+
+ County courts:
+ undemocratic, 21;
+ Governor's power over, 22;
+ duties of, 31;
+ Governor appoints, 78;
+ taxation by, 78;
+ Bacon's Laws, 92
+
+ Coventry, Attorney General: issues _quo warranto_ against Company, 12
+
+ Cromwell, Oliver:
+ neglects Virginia, 70;
+ death, 72
+
+ Cromwell, Richard:
+ Lord Protector, 72;
+ resigns, 72
+
+ Culpeper, Lord Thomas:
+ despotism under, 18;
+ limits franchise, 27;
+ grant to, 82;
+ Governor, 102;
+ Cavalier, 109;
+ delays sailing, 109;
+ brings peace, 110;
+ forces act for "perpetual revenue," 110-112;
+ returns to England, 112;
+ robs soldiers, 113;
+ hangs rioters, 113;
+ Effingham succeeds, 113
+
+ Curtis, Edmund:
+ commissioner to Virginia, 64;
+ negotiates surrender, 65
+
+
+ Dale, Sir Thomas:
+ Governor, 6;
+ brings harsh laws, 6;
+ cruelty of, 7
+
+ Dawson, Commissary William:
+ meets Dinwiddie, 194;
+ denounces Two-penny Act, 212
+
+ Day of Prayer: June 1, 1774, 238, 239
+
+ Debts:
+ due merchants, 189;
+ appeals to Privy Council, 189, 190
+
+ De la Warr, Lord:
+ Governor, 5, 6;
+ ill, 6;
+ leaves Virginia, 6;
+ humane, 7;
+ sails with Magna Carta, 8;
+ death, 8
+
+ Democracy:
+ New World favorable for, 3;
+ yeomen build up, 3;
+ Quary warns of, 35;
+ gains under Commonwealth, 75;
+ Glorious Revolution, 122;
+ small slave holders for, 185
+
+ Dennis, Captain Robert:
+ heads commission to Virginia, 64;
+ lost on the _John_, 64
+
+ Digges, Cole:
+ election thrown out, 166, 167;
+ named to new court, 170;
+ Indian Company, 171
+
+ Digges, Edward: Governor, 71
+
+ Dinwiddie, Robert:
+ Lieutenant Governor, 194;
+ career, 195;
+ backs Assembly, 195;
+ pistole fee, 196-200;
+ calls Virginians republicans, 198, 199;
+ cautioned by King, 199, 200;
+ horrors of Indian war, 201;
+ warns British, 201;
+ sends Washington to the Ohio, 201;
+ asks funds, 201;
+ vetoes bill with rider, 202;
+ wants Parliament to tax, 202, 204;
+ expends funds, 206;
+ resigns, 206;
+ sounds alarm bell, 207;
+ suggests union of colonies, 208
+
+ Drummond, Sarah: property confiscated, 104
+
+ Drummond, William:
+ hates Berkeley, 80;
+ influences Bacon, 84;
+ Bacon consults, 88;
+ burns own house, 94;
+ Berkeley's brutality to, 95
+
+ Drysdale, Hugh:
+ popular, 18;
+ Lieutenant Governor, 175, 176;
+ arrives, 1722, 177;
+ character, 177;
+ opposes huge land grants, 178;
+ upholds House, 178, 179;
+ death, 179
+
+ Dunbar, Colonel: retreat of, 203
+
+ Dunmore, Earl of:
+ Governor, 236;
+ conduct in New York, 236;
+ treaty with Indians, 243;
+ seizes powder, 244;
+ threatened, 245;
+ suggests "compromise," 246, 247;
+ on the _Fowey_, 248;
+ escapes capture, 249;
+ asks troops, 249;
+ controls water, 250;
+ in Elizabeth River, 250;
+ seizes press, 250;
+ seizes Norfolk, 250, 251;
+ evacuates Norfolk, 251;
+ threatens bombardment, 251, 252;
+ at Gwynn's Island, 252;
+ leaves Virginia, 253;
+ says Virginia wants independence, 253
+
+ Dunmore, Lady:
+ ball in honor of, 239;
+ flees Williamsburg, 245, 247
+
+ Duquesne, Fort:
+ Forbes to attack, 209;
+ French evacuate, 210
+
+ Durand, William: persecuted for dissent, 62
+
+ Dutch:
+ trade to Virginia, 68, 69;
+ trade protected, 69;
+ wars with, 81
+
+
+ Effingham, Lord Howard:
+ despotism of, 18, 118;
+ Governor, 113;
+ character, 113;
+ ends appeals to Assembly, 114;
+ uses patronage for political ends, 118;
+ favors Roman Catholics, 119;
+ leaves Virginia, 120
+
+ Elections:
+ Nicholson interferes in, 138;
+ foul play at, 172
+
+ Embargo:
+ opposed in England, 59;
+ enforced in 1650, 63
+
+ English, William:
+ denounces Harvey, 44, 45;
+ arrested, 45;
+ released, 47
+
+
+ Fauquier, Francis:
+ Lieutenant Governor, 209;
+ erudite, 209;
+ tact, 210;
+ reprimanded, 211, 213;
+ upholds Two-penny Act, 212;
+ London criticises, 213;
+ denounces Camm, 214;
+ thinks Henry extreme, 227;
+ protects Mercer, 228;
+ death, 231
+
+ Fees:
+ Bacon's Laws fix, 92;
+ bill to limit vetoed, 167;
+ pistole controversy, 196-200
+
+ First Stuart Despotism: influence on colonies, 3
+
+ Fithian, Philip: sees drilling in Valley, 244
+
+ Forbes, General:
+ to attack Fort Duquesne, 209;
+ takes fort, 210
+
+ Fouace, Rev. Stephen:
+ Nicholson jealous of, 143;
+ flees Virginia, 144;
+ testifies against Nicholson, 148
+
+ _Fowey_: powder taken to, 244
+
+ Franchise:
+ changes in, 26;
+ under Commonwealth, 70;
+ all freemen have in June, 1676, 88;
+ Bacon's Laws widen, 91;
+ Spotswood tries to restrict, 166;
+ act to limit, 181
+
+ French and Indian War:
+ horrors of, 201;
+ Washington warns French, 201;
+ Braddock's defeat, 203;
+ raids in Valley, 205;
+ influence on Revolution, 207, 208
+
+
+ Gates, Sir Thomas:
+ Governor, 6;
+ brings cruel laws, 6
+
+ General Assembly:
+ Magna Carta authorizes, 8;
+ under Constitution of 1621, 9;
+ meets, 1619, 9, 10;
+ acts of in 1619, 10;
+ right to tax, 10;
+ Charles I ignores, 13;
+ meets unofficially, 14;
+ Charles I summons, 15;
+ oppose reviving Company, 17;
+ powers of grow, 34, 35;
+ accuses Harvey, 47;
+ reapportions taxes, 56;
+ gift to Berkeley, 57;
+ permits free trade, 59;
+ recognizes Charles II, 62;
+ surrenders to Parliament, 66;
+ ousts Governor and Council, 71;
+ elects Berkeley Governor, 73;
+ powers of, 74;
+ proclaim Charles II, 1660, 74;
+ Berkeley corrupts, 77;
+ Long Assembly, 77, 78;
+ protest grant, 82;
+ ask charter, 85;
+ Bacon demands election, 87, 88;
+ in 1677 picked by Berkeley, 99, 100;
+ bill of attainder, 100;
+ protest seizure of records, 103;
+ Charles II assails, 108, 109;
+ King to initiate bills, 108;
+ no appeals to, 109, 113, 114;
+ "perpetual revenue" to King, 110-112;
+ attempt to repeal revenue act of 1680, 156;
+ Quary on, 156, 157;
+ Queen Anne vetoes revenue act, 157;
+ Jenings dissolves, 159;
+ bill of ports, 162-165;
+ Queen's death dissolves, 164;
+ Spotswood angers, 164;
+ bills to limit Governor's power, 167;
+ use of rider by, 167, 168;
+ thwart Spotswood, 172;
+ protest debt ruling, 189;
+ gift to Dinwiddie, 195, 196;
+ war an opportunity for, 201;
+ vote L10,000, 201;
+ expenditure of funds, 201, 202;
+ vote L20,000 with rider, 202;
+ support war, 203;
+ ask paper money issue, 203, 204;
+ aid to Royal American Regiment, 205;
+ Governor spends funds, 206;
+ right of to govern, 216;
+ last sessions, 248
+
+ General Committee of Safety: ablest men on, 249
+
+ General Court:
+ court of appeals, 113, 114;
+ Nicholson's violence in, 139;
+ Nicholson packs juries, 139, 140;
+ on Burgesses' salary, 166
+
+ Glorious Revolution: 3, 119-121;
+ effect on liberty, 122;
+ effect on Virginia, 122, 123, 132
+
+ _Godspeed_: sails for Virginia, 1
+
+ Gooch, William:
+ says frontiersmen disobedient, 3;
+ character, 177;
+ Lieutenant Governor, 179;
+ popular, 179;
+ courtesy of, 179, 180;
+ praised by Burgesses, 180;
+ voted gifts, 180;
+ new bill of ports, 180, 181, 191, 192;
+ for limiting franchise, 181, 182;
+ for westward expansion, 182;
+ resists merchants, 186;
+ for duty on liquors, 187;
+ denounces merchants, 190;
+ _A Dialogue_, 191;
+ leads expedition, 192;
+ wounded, 192;
+ resigns, 192;
+ dies, 1749, 193;
+ peace and plenty, 193
+
+ Gosnold, Bartholomew:
+ member of Council, 4;
+ dies, 4, 5
+
+ Governor:
+ office established, 5;
+ King appoints, 18;
+ vary greatly, 18;
+ qualities of, 18;
+ powers of, 19;
+ bribe Burgesses, 19;
+ nominate Councillors, 20;
+ use of patronage, 19-21;
+ calls Assembly, 21;
+ veto, 22;
+ hold over courts, 22;
+ heads Church, 22, 23;
+ Council restricts, 25, 171;
+ Burgesses elect under Commonwealth, 70;
+ many military officers, 194
+
+ Great Bridge:
+ Dunmore fortifies, 250;
+ battle of, 251
+
+ Green Spring:
+ plundered, 98;
+ faction meets at, 101, 102
+
+ Green Spring faction:
+ Lady Berkeley heads, 101;
+ to recover losses, 102;
+ suppress King's pardon, 102;
+ pillaging by, 104, 105
+
+ Grenville, George: wants consolidated empire, 224
+
+ Grievances:
+ against Harvey, 47;
+ against Berkeley, 77;
+ against law of ports, 165
+
+ Grymes, John:
+ Deputy Auditor, 162;
+ conceited, 171;
+ hates Spotswood, 172, 173
+
+ Gwynn's Island: Dunmore at, 252
+
+
+ Habeas Corpus:
+ settlers claim, 2;
+ denied by Effingham, 118
+
+ Hamilton, Lord George:
+ Earl of Orkney, 159;
+ Governor General, 159;
+ career of, 159;
+ patron of Spotswood, 160
+
+ Hansford, Thomas: executed patriot, 95
+
+ Harrison, Benjamin:
+ Nicholson abuses, 22;
+ Blair defends, 22;
+ criticizes Secretary's office, 33;
+ Councillor, 133, 140;
+ land holdings, 135;
+ charges against Nicholson, 147, 148
+
+ Harrison, Nathaniel: proposes reconciliation, 175
+
+ Harrison, Rev. Thomas:
+ Puritan minister, 60;
+ banished, 61
+
+ Hartwell, Henry: on Governor's patronage, 20, 21
+
+ Harvey, Sir John:
+ egocentric, 18;
+ expelled, 35;
+ Governor, 37;
+ arrives, 38;
+ despotic, 39;
+ misuse of courts, 39, 40;
+ persecutes Pott, 39, 40;
+ conflict with Council, 41-47;
+ appeals to King, 41, 42;
+ strikes Stevens, 42;
+ aids Baltimore, 43;
+ urges tobacco contract, 44;
+ detains petition, 44;
+ people's grievances against, 44;
+ arrests Pott, English, and Martian, 45;
+ appeals to Council, 45;
+ Council arrest, 46;
+ leaves for England, 47;
+ reappointed, 48;
+ returns to Virginia, 48, 49;
+ revenge of, 49, 50;
+ restores Mathews' property, 50;
+ prosecutes Panton, 51, 52;
+ recalled, 51;
+ prosecuted, 51, 52;
+ escapes from Virginia, 52;
+ significance of expulsion, 52, 53
+
+ Harwood, Thomas:
+ agent of Assembly, 47;
+ hastens to London, 48
+
+ Henry, Patrick:
+ Two-penny Act, 215;
+ denounces clergy, 215, 216;
+ says people must govern, 216;
+ resolutions of, 226, 227;
+ accused of treason, 227;
+ alarm bell of Revolution, 229;
+ committee of correspondence, 237;
+ marches on Williamsburg, 245;
+ convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Hill, Col. Edward:
+ Green Spring faction, 101;
+ defies King, 104;
+ Treasurer, 129
+
+ Holt, John: his press seized, 250
+
+ Hopkins, William:
+ contempt of House, 179;
+ forced to apologize, 179
+
+ Howe, Col.:
+ at Norfolk, 251;
+ hints at burning, 251
+
+ Hunter, Col. Robert:
+ Governor, 158;
+ French capture, 158
+
+
+ Independence:
+ not wanted, 253;
+ forced by British, 253, 254;
+ _Common Sense_, 254;
+ sentiment for grows, 254, 255;
+ Virginia instructs for, 255, 256;
+ people celebrate, 256
+
+ Indiana Company:
+ fort at Christanna, 171;
+ King dissolves, 171;
+ ask compensation, 171
+
+ Indians:
+ attack Jamestown, 4;
+ massacre by, 57, 58;
+ war with Susquehannocks, 85;
+ frontier forts, 86;
+ threaten Charles City, 86;
+ attack feared in 1689, 120, 121;
+ raids in Valley, 204, 205;
+ Dunmore's War, 242, 243;
+ Point Pleasant, 243
+
+ Intolerable Acts: 238
+
+
+ James I:
+ on kingly power, 2, 3;
+ conflict with Parliament, 3;
+ charter to Virginia Company, 4;
+ assails London Company, 11;
+ offers compromise, 12
+
+ James II:
+ scorns Burgesses' petition, 114;
+ repeals act of Assembly, 115, 116;
+ revives a law, 116;
+ favors Catholics, 119;
+ deposed, 120
+
+ Jamestown:
+ founded, 2;
+ first Assembly at, 9;
+ capitol at, 25, 26;
+ Lord Baltimore at, 38;
+ Charles II proclaimed at, 74;
+ Bacon's Assembly, 88;
+ Berkeley occupies, 93;
+ Bacon captures, 93;
+ burnt, 94;
+ William and Mary proclaimed, 121;
+ statehouse burns, 1698, 146
+
+ James, Thomas:
+ missionary to Virginia, 60;
+ driven out, 61
+
+ Jefferson, Thomas:
+ friend of Fauquier, 209;
+ committee of correspondence, 237;
+ answers British "compromise," 247;
+ prefers independence to slavery, 254;
+ on independence, 254
+
+ Jeffreys, Col. Herbert:
+ ousts Councillor, 20;
+ Lieutenant Governor, 97;
+ insulted, 100, 101;
+ promises reforms, 101;
+ ill, 102;
+ ousts Beverley, 104;
+ indicts Philip Ludwell, 104, 105;
+ dies, 105;
+ wife imprisoned, 105
+
+ Jeffries, Jeffrey: agent for charter, 123, 124
+
+ Jenings, Edmund:
+ Councillor, 126;
+ acting Governor, 157, 158;
+ career of, 158;
+ dissolves Assembly, 159;
+ suspended from Council, 179
+
+ The _John_:
+ sails to Virginia, 64;
+ sinks, 65
+
+ Johnson, Edward: on God's revenge on Virginia, 61
+
+ Johnson, Samuel: denounces Americans, 223
+
+
+ Kemp, Matthew: insulted in House, 179
+
+ Kemp, Richard:
+ advises Harvey to leave, 46;
+ carries off Mathews' property, 50;
+ prosecutes Panton, 50, 51;
+ Secretary, 51;
+ escapes to England, 52;
+ acting Governor, 57
+
+ Kendall, George:
+ member of Council, 4;
+ expelled, 4;
+ executed, 5
+
+ Knowles, Rev. John:
+ missionary to Virginia, 60;
+ driven out, 61
+
+
+ _Laissez faire_: 177;
+ passing of, 224
+
+ Land:
+ Berkeley's grants, 78, 79;
+ rent roll, 135;
+ must cultivate to hold, 162;
+ law defied, 162;
+ Drysdale opposes large grants, 178;
+ much unpatented, 198
+
+ Lawrence, Thomas:
+ cheated by Berkeley, 79, 80;
+ influence on Bacon, 84;
+ Bacon consults, 88;
+ burns own house, 94;
+ fate unknown, 95
+
+ Laws, Military:
+ severe, 6, 7;
+ cruelly enforced, 7
+
+ Lee, Arthur: repulsed in England, 254
+
+ Lee, Henry: convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Lee, Philip Ludwell: protests paper money, 219
+
+ Lee, Richard Henry: 219;
+ protests Stamp Act, 224;
+ committee of correspondence, 237;
+ Continental Congress, 240;
+ convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Lewis, Gen. Andrew:
+ at Point Pleasant, 243;
+ bombards Gwynn's Island, 252
+
+ Liberty:
+ taxation and, 2;
+ threatened in England, 2;
+ Glorious Revolution aids, 122;
+ new charter to guarantee, 124;
+ Nicholson assails, 146, 147;
+ Council threatens, 159;
+ victory for, 181;
+ Virginians called republican, 198;
+ Bland argues for, 216;
+ Burke on, 240;
+ won, 257
+
+ Lightfoot, John:
+ Nicholson upbraids, 141;
+ charges against Nicholson, 147, 148
+
+ Littlepage, Richard:
+ refuses to certify grievances, 165;
+ House asks arrest of, 165
+
+ London, Bishop of: calls Two-penny act treason, 213
+
+ Loudoun, Earl of:
+ praises Burgesses, 205;
+ embargo defied, 205, 206;
+ Governor, 207
+
+ Ludwell, Philip:
+ auditor, 34;
+ marries Lady Berkeley, 76;
+ insults Jeffreys, 100;
+ Green Spring faction, 101;
+ indicted, 104, 105
+
+ Ludwell, Philip, Jr.:
+ accuses Nicholson, 138;
+ Nicholson challenges, 145;
+ auditor, 168;
+ Spotswood ousts, 169;
+ leaves new court, 170;
+ Spotswood denounces, 171
+
+ Ludwell, Thomas:
+ seeks charter for Virginia, 1;
+ fears rebellion, 80;
+ reports disasters, 81;
+ agent for Virginia, 82;
+ presides over Council, 104
+
+
+ Madison, James: convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Magna Carta of Virginia:
+ drawn up, 8;
+ De la Warr sails with, 8;
+ Yeardley takes to Virginia, 8;
+ Assembly authorized, 8, 9
+
+ Mandeville, Lord Henry:
+ heads commission on Virginia, 13;
+ reappoints Yeardley, 13
+
+ Martin, John: member of Council, 4
+
+ Martin, Nicholas:
+ denounces Harvey, 44, 45;
+ arrested, 45
+
+ Maryland:
+ Baltimore founds, 43;
+ surrenders to Parliament, 67;
+ Virginia seeks to annex, 69
+
+ Mason, George:
+ general committee of safety, 249;
+ convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Mathew, Thomas: says Berkeley cheated Lawrence, 79
+
+ Mathews, Samuel:
+ resists Harvey, 42, 43;
+ opposes founding of Maryland, 43;
+ opposes tobacco contract, 44;
+ compares Harvey with Richard III, 45;
+ arrests Harvey, 46;
+ King orders arrest of, 48;
+ sent to England, 49;
+ his property seized, 50;
+ favors Parliament, 56;
+ Governor, 71;
+ recalled, 71;
+ re-elected, 72;
+ dies, 73
+
+ Maury, Rev. James:
+ sues for salary, 214;
+ Patrick Henry attorney against, 215
+
+ Menefie, George:
+ Harvey questions, 45;
+ accused of treason, 46;
+ withholds Harvey's commission, 47
+
+ Mercer, Col. George:
+ stamp distributor, 227, 228;
+ crowd threatens, 228;
+ will not distribute, 228
+
+ Merchants, British:
+ oppose free trade, 68, 69;
+ conflict with planters, 185;
+ Royal African Company, 186;
+ oppose duty on slaves, 186;
+ taxed, 186;
+ Virginians angered at, 188;
+ Virginians in debt to, 188, 189;
+ petition Parliament, 189, 190;
+ protest paper money, 217;
+ renew complaints, 219;
+ for legal tender, 220
+
+ Meriwether, Nicholas: Spotswood removes, 164
+
+ Milner, Col. Thomas: Nicholson praises, 126
+
+ Molasses Act: resented in Virginia, 188
+
+ Moryson, Francis:
+ seeks charter for Virginia, 1;
+ agent for Virginia, 81;
+ committee on Bacon's Rebellion, 97
+
+
+ Navigation Acts:
+ Berkeley protests against, 80;
+ impoverish Virginia, 81
+
+ Nelson, Thomas: protests paper money, 219
+
+ Nelson, William: protests paper money, 219
+
+ New Granada:
+ expedition against, 192;
+ failure, 192
+
+ New Kent: Bacon invades, 87
+
+ Newport, Capt. Christopher: member of Council, 4
+
+ Nicholas, Robert Carter:
+ defends Two-penny Act, 216;
+ Treasurer, 222;
+ burns notes, 222;
+ to submit to Stamp Act, 226;
+ day of prayer, 238;
+ prevents storming of Palace, 245;
+ constitution of 1776, 255
+
+ Nicholson, Sir Francis:
+ on ideal Governor, 18;
+ use of patronage, 20, 21;
+ power over courts, 22;
+ calls Virginians republicans, 35;
+ Lieutenant Governor, 124;
+ character, 124, 125;
+ abuses clergymen, 124, 125;
+ in New York, 125;
+ cautious, 125;
+ defends prerogative, 126, 127;
+ aids college, 127;
+ Governor General, 133;
+ program of, 133, 134;
+ violent temper, 134;
+ offends Councillors, 134;
+ rent roll, 135;
+ offends vestries, 136;
+ tries to control Church, 136;
+ threatens Burgesses, 137;
+ gives aid to New York, 137;
+ wheedles Burgesses, 138;
+ browbeats voters, 138;
+ abuses Burgesses, 138;
+ threatens Speaker, 139;
+ violent in General Court, 139;
+ packs juries, 139;
+ heckles Council, 140;
+ abuses Wallace, 142, 143;
+ loves Lucy Burwell, 142-145;
+ threatens Fouace, 143, 144;
+ derided in England, 144;
+ challenges Philip Ludwell, Jr., 145;
+ founds Williamsburg, 146;
+ despotism resented, 146, 147;
+ charges against, 147-150;
+ denies charges, 148, 149;
+ Quary defends, 149;
+ "addresses" praise, 149;
+ removed, 150
+
+ Norfolk:
+ protests Stamp Act, 229;
+ Dunmore seizes, 250;
+ evacuated, 251;
+ Americans enter, 251;
+ Dunmore threatens, 251, 252;
+ Americans burn, 252
+
+ Northern Neck: granted to favorites, 83
+
+ Norwood, Col. Henry: criticizes courts, 79
+
+ Nott, Col. Edward:
+ Governor, 150;
+ mild, 151;
+ defers to Council, 154;
+ Assembly weakens patronage, 155;
+ veto, 156;
+ death, 157
+
+ Nuthead, William: his printing press closed, 117
+
+
+ Ohio Region: French in, 196
+
+ Opechancanough: captured, 58
+
+ Ordinance and Constitution: Virginia government under, 9
+
+ Oyer and Terminer, Court of:
+ Spotswood sets up, 169;
+ non-Councillors in, 170
+
+
+ Page, John, Jr.: keeps day of prayer, 242
+
+ Page, Matthew:
+ Councillor, 133;
+ charges against Nicholson, 147, 148
+
+ Palace:
+ mob threatens, 245, 247;
+ raided, 247, 248
+
+ Pamunkeys:
+ hostile, 86;
+ flee from Bacon, 87
+
+ Panton, Rev. Anthony:
+ accuses Harvey, 49;
+ fined and banished, 50, 51;
+ vindicated, 52
+
+ Parke, Daniel: announces Berkeley's death, 102
+
+ Parliament:
+ expedition against Virginia, 64;
+ Virginia surrenders, 66;
+ less representative, 222;
+ rotten boroughs, 222, 223;
+ out of step with age, 223;
+ ignorant of colonies, 223
+
+ Paper money:
+ Assembly issues, 205;
+ new issues, 206;
+ to finance war, 217;
+ rate of exchange, 218;
+ continues issues, 218;
+ to finance war, 217;
+ rate of exchange, 218;
+ continues issues, 218;
+ illegal loans, 221
+
+ Patronage:
+ props Governor's power, 19, 20, 21;
+ Bacon's Laws restrict, 92;
+ Effingham uses, 118;
+ Nicholson uses, 137, 138;
+ bill to limit vetoed, 167;
+ no Burgess to hold office, 181;
+ victory for liberty, 181
+
+ Pendleton, Edmund: 219;
+ protests Stamp Act, 224;
+ to submit, 226;
+ committee of correspondence, 237;
+ Continental Congress, 240;
+ lionized, 246;
+ General Committee of Safety, 249;
+ for independence, 255;
+ convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Pierce, William:
+ King orders arrest, 48;
+ sent to England, 49
+
+ Pistole Fee:
+ for use of seal, 196-200;
+ counties complain of, 196;
+ Stith opposes, 196;
+ Attorney General upholds, 197;
+ Burgesses appeal to King, 198;
+ Dinwiddie says not a tax, 199;
+ King restricts use of, 199, 200;
+ results of, 200;
+ Fauquier cautious of, 200
+
+ Pitt, William: supports Americans, 241
+
+ Poll tax:
+ hated, 31;
+ people protest, 83;
+ Bacon's men protest, 90;
+ crushes poor in 1677, 103;
+ liquor duty eases, 187
+
+ Pott, Francis:
+ circulates petition, 44;
+ arrested, 45;
+ released, 47;
+ leaves for England, 47;
+ arrested in England, 48
+
+ Pott, Dr. John:
+ acting Governor, 37;
+ poisons Indians, 37, 38;
+ Harvey persecutes, 39, 40;
+ pardoned, 40;
+ aids in arresting Harvey, 46
+
+ Powder Horn, Williamsburg:
+ powder seized, 244;
+ trap wounds two, 246
+
+ Prerogative of King:
+ whittled away, 34, 35;
+ James II stretches, 116;
+ weakened, 123;
+ Two-penny Act, ignores, 212
+
+ Press: free prohibited, 116, 117
+
+ Purifie, Thomas: warns Harvey, 46
+
+ Puritans:
+ in Virginia, 58;
+ Berkeley persecutes, 59;
+ strong on Hampton Roads, 60;
+ send for ministers, 60;
+ ministers driven out, 61;
+ ordered to conform, 61
+
+
+ Quartering of troops: ended in Virginia, 117
+
+ Quary, Col. Robert:
+ describes powers of Council, 24, 25;
+ on decline of prerogative, 35;
+ warns English government, 123;
+ defends Nicholson, 149
+
+ Quit rents:
+ paid to King, 31;
+ tax on land, 115;
+ proposed to quadruple, 115;
+ Nicholson's rent roll, 135;
+ Dinwiddie reports loss, 198
+
+
+ Randolph, Edmund: convention of 1776, 255
+
+ Randolph, Sir John: Tory, leaves Virginia, 242
+
+ Randolph, Peyton:
+ takes Burgesses' protest, 198;
+ ousted as Attorney General, 199;
+ reinstated, 200;
+ protests Stamp Act, 224;
+ to submit, 226;
+ moderator, 234;
+ committee of correspondence, 237;
+ Continental Congress, 240;
+ prevents storming of Palace, 245
+
+ Ratcliffe, John: member of Council, 4
+
+ Rebellion:
+ Secretary Ludwell fears, 80;
+ Virginia "ripe for," 82;
+ Berkeley fears, 83;
+ outbreaks in 1674, 83, 84;
+ Virginia ready for, 85;
+ led by Bacon, 87-96;
+ influence of Bacon's rebellion, 95, 96;
+ causes of, 96;
+ threatened in 1677, 100;
+ in 1689, 120, 121
+
+ Richmond, Duke of: supports colonists, 241
+
+ Rights, Declaration of: committee to prepare, 256
+
+ Robinson, John:
+ Speaker and Treasurer, 28;
+ Fauquier wins support, 210;
+ death, 221;
+ illegal loans of, 221
+
+ Rolfe, John: cures tobacco, 15
+
+
+ Sandys, Sir Edwin:
+ Puritan, 8;
+ Treasurer of London Company, 8;
+ gets new charters, 8;
+ Virginia Magna Carta, 8;
+ sent to Tower, 11;
+ fights to save charter, 12;
+ advises restoring Company, 13;
+ champions English liberty, 15
+
+ Sandys, George: asks revival of Company, 17
+
+ Second Stuart Despotism: influence on colonies, 3, 106-121
+
+ Secretary of State: duties of, 33
+
+ Sheriffs:
+ political use of by Berkeley, 78;
+ Bacon's Laws, 91;
+ Effingham uses, 118;
+ Nicholson uses, 137, 138
+
+ Slavery:
+ effect on aristocracy, 152;
+ cheapens tobacco, 184;
+ small planters buy, 184, 185;
+ slave plots, 186;
+ duty on slaves vetoed, 186, 187;
+ Virginia resents vetoes, 187;
+ Dunmore recruits slaves, 250
+
+ Smith, Capt. John:
+ imprisoned, 4;
+ hanging threatened, 5;
+ sole Councillor, 5
+
+ Smith, Col. Joseph:
+ accused by court, 178;
+ Burgesses reprimand, 178;
+ Drysdale removes, 179
+
+ Smith, Col. Lawrence: sued for quit rents, 135
+
+ Sons of Liberty: 229
+
+ Speaker:
+ prestige, 28;
+ Nicholson threatens, 139;
+ made Treasurer, 210;
+ Fauquier ordered to separate, 210
+
+ Spencer, Nicholas: fears mutiny in 1677, 100
+
+ Spotswood, Col. Alexander:
+ able, 18;
+ on Burgesses salary, 27, 28;
+ Lieutenant Governor, 159;
+ career, 160;
+ Orkney his patron, 160;
+ explores west, 161;
+ instructions, 161;
+ act for ports, 162-165;
+ jobs handed out, 163, 164;
+ House angers, 165;
+ to limit franchise, 166;
+ Council balks, 166;
+ vetoes bills, 167;
+ denounces Burgesses, 168;
+ court of oyer and terminer, 169-171;
+ defends new court, 170, 171;
+ foul play at elections, 172;
+ defeated, 172;
+ charges against, 173;
+ seeks flattering addresses, 173;
+ answers charges, 174;
+ Board of Trade upholds, 174;
+ to live in Virginia, 174;
+ Tubal Cain, 175;
+ reconciled to Council, 175;
+ administration of, 176
+
+ Stamp Act:
+ dismay at, 224;
+ Barre denounces, 225;
+ ready to resist, 227;
+ Mercer distributor, 227, 228;
+ stamps not landed, 228;
+ Norfolk protests, 229;
+ criticized in England, 230;
+ English merchants protest, 230;
+ repealed, 230
+
+ Statehouse:
+ at Jamestown, 24;
+ burned, 1698, 129
+
+ Stegg, Thomas:
+ aids Kemp escape, 52;
+ favors Parliament, 58;
+ commissioner for Parliament, 64;
+ lost on the _John_, 65
+
+ Stith, Rev. William: incites against pistole fee, 196
+
+ _Susan Constant_: sails for Virginia, 1
+
+ Susquehannocks:
+ fort besieged, 85;
+ torture victims, 85
+
+
+ Taxation:
+ by first Assembly, 10;
+ Burgesses control, 29-31, 115;
+ perpetual revenue to King, 30, 110-112;
+ call fees taxes, 115;
+ protest pistole fee, 197;
+ in colonial history, 225;
+ role in self-government, 225;
+ Jefferson on, 247
+
+ Tea:
+ tax on, 236;
+ resistance to tax, 237, 238;
+ banned, 238;
+ Carter refuses, 238
+
+ Thompson, Rev. William:
+ missionary to Virginia, 60;
+ driven out, 61
+
+ Thrale, John: defends Nicholson, 148
+
+ Tobacco:
+ staple of Virginia, 15;
+ Dutch buy, 59;
+ cutting riots, 113;
+ Spotswood's bill of ports, 162-165;
+ prices rise, 163;
+ George I vetoes bill of ports, 168;
+ Gooch's bill of ports, 180-181, 191, 192;
+ slaves cheapen, 184;
+ Gooch argues for bill of ports, 191;
+ _A Dialogue_, 191;
+ poor standard of value, 211
+
+ Tobacco cutting riots: 113.
+
+ Tories: few in Virginia, 242
+
+ Townshend Acts:
+ anger America, 232;
+ unconstitutional, 234
+
+ Treasurer:
+ Burgesses name, 128, 129;
+ usually also Speaker, 210;
+ separation ordered, 210;
+ illegal loans by, 221
+
+
+ Utie, John:
+ opposes tobacco contract, 44;
+ arrests Harvey, 46;
+ King orders arrest, 48;
+ sent to England, 49
+
+
+ Vestries:
+ govern parishes, 32;
+ Bacon's Laws, 92;
+ Nicholson attacks power of, 136
+
+ Virginia Company of London:
+ charter of 1606, 1, 4;
+ set up despotism, 5;
+ members consider going to Virginia, 7;
+ James I attacks, 11;
+ _A True Answer_, 11;
+ blamed by commission, 11;
+ rejects King's offer, 12;
+ appeals to Parliament, 12;
+ charter revoked, 12;
+ reasons for, 13;
+ restoring of opposed, 17
+
+
+ Wallace, Rev. James:
+ sermon enrages Nicholson, 141, 142;
+ testifies against Nicholson, 148
+
+ Washington, George:
+ warns French on Ohio, 201;
+ expedition to Ohio, 202;
+ commands in Valley, 205;
+ Continental Congress, 240;
+ wears uniform to Congress, 245;
+ commander-in-chief, 245;
+ predicts independence, 254, 255
+
+ West:
+ expansion into, 182;
+ aids democracy, 184
+
+ West, Capt. Francis: Governor, 37
+
+ West, John:
+ acting Governor, 47;
+ sent to England, 49
+
+ William III: joint monarch, 121, 122
+
+ Williamsburg:
+ capitol at, 146;
+ Nicholson founds, 146;
+ celebrates Stamp Act repeal, 230;
+ day of prayer, 239;
+ powder seized, 244;
+ an armed camp, 248;
+ celebrates independence, 256, 257
+
+ Wingfield, Edward:
+ member of Council, 4;
+ ousted, 5;
+ accuses other Councillors, 5
+
+ Wormeley, Ralph: supports Dunmore, 242
+
+ Wyatt, Sir Francis:
+ receives constitution, 9;
+ Governor, 51
+
+ Wythe, George: 219;
+ protests Stamp Act, 224
+
+
+ Yeardley, Capt. George:
+ Governor, 6;
+ brings Magna Carta, 9;
+ calls first Assembly, 10;
+ reappointed, 13;
+ pleads for Assembly, 14;
+ death, 36
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Transcriber's Corrections
+
+Following is a list of significant typographical errors that have been
+corrected.
+
+- Page 7, missing close quote added according to original source text by
+Brown (of the Court.").
+
+- Page 23, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (King in
+Council.").
+
+- Page 47, "Harvery" changed to "Harvey" (forced Harvey to deliver).
+
+- Page 90, "hubub" changed to "hubbub" (hearing the hubbub).
+
+- Page 123, "aproved" changed to "approved" (he approved of it).
+
+- Page 126, missing open quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation ("but he
+hath not estate).
+
+- Page 128, close quote removed based on transcriber assumption because
+open quote is missing and original source text was not found for
+confirmation (he dissolved them.).
+
+- Page 128, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (the King's
+"goodness").
+
+- Page 143, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (to live
+here.").
+
+- Page 148, "perscution" changed to "persecution" (persecution and
+injustice).
+
+- Page 170, missing open quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation
+("extraordinary emergency").
+
+- Page 171, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (the people
+of Virginia?").
+
+- Page 187, missing close quote added according to original source text
+by Lipscomb (of a whole country.").
+
+- Page 189, missing close quote added based on transcriber assumption
+because original source text was not found for confirmation (reports of
+merchants").
+
+- Page 192, "againt" changed to "against" (expedition against New
+Granada).
+
+- Page 235, "disappointmnt" changed to "disappointment" (because of
+their disappointment).
+
+- Page 237, "spirt" changed to "spirit" (the spirit of resistance).
+
+- Page 246, "mazagine" changed to "magazine" (entered the magazine).
+
+- Page 255, "distingiushed" changed to "distinguished" (each
+distinguished member).
+
+- Page 284, "beseiged" changed to "besieged" (fort besieged, 85;).
+
+- Page 286, "democacy" changed to "democracy" (aids democracy, 184).
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Give Me Liberty, by Thomas J. Wertenbaker
+
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