History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia Part 27

[321:A] Chalmers' Revolt, i. 163, and Annals, 337.

[321:B] Hening, ii. 370.

[321:C] Hening, ii. 366, 428, 458.

[322:A] Hening, ii. 365.

[323:A] Chalmers' Introduction, i. 164.

[323:B] Beverley, B. i. 79.

[323:C] T. M.'s Account.

[324:A] Ma.s.s. Gen. and Antiq. Register for 1847, p. 348.

[324:B] By William H. Carpenter, Esq., of Maryland. Published in 1846.

[324:C] Hening, ii. 526.

CHAPTER x.x.xIX.

1677-1681.

Failure of the Charter--Sir William Berkley's Proclamation revoked--Ludwell's Quarrel with Jeffreys--Jeffreys dying is succeeded by Sir Henry Chicheley--Culpepper, Governor-in-Chief, arrives--His Administration--He returns to England by way of Boston.

THE agents of Virginia, in 1675, had strenuously solicited the grant of a new charter, and their efforts, though long fruitless, seemed at length about to be crowned with success, when the news of Bacon's rebellion furnished the government with a new pretext for violating its engagements. By the report of the committee for plantations, adopted by the king in council, and twice ordered to be pa.s.sed into a new charter under the great seal, it was provided, "that no imposition or taxes shall be laid or imposed upon the inhabitants and proprietors there, but by the common consent of the governor, council, and burgesses, as hath been heretofore used," reserving, however, to parliament the right to lay duties upon commodities shipped from the colony. The news of the rebellion frustrated this scheme; the promised charter slept in the Hamper[326:A] office; and the one actually sent afterwards was meagre and unsatisfactory. Colonel Jeffreys, successor to Berkley, effected a treaty of peace with the Indians, each town agreeing to pay three arrows for their land, and twenty beaver skins for protection, every year. He convened an a.s.sembly at the house of Captain Otho Thorpe, at Middle Plantation, in October, 1677, being the twenty-ninth year of Charles the Second. William Traverse was speaker, and Robert Beverley clerk. The session lasted for one month. According to instructions given to Sir William Berkley, dated in November, 1676, the governor was no longer obliged to call an a.s.sembly yearly, but only once in two years, and the session was limited to fourteen days, unless the governor should see good cause to continue it beyond that time; and the members of the a.s.sembly were to be elected only by freeholders. During this session regulations were adopted for the Indian trade, and fairs appointed for the sale of Indian commodities; but the natives being suspicious of innovations, these provisions soon became obsolete.

In 1677 Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., by a warrant from the treasury in England, was appointed auditor of the public accounts. At this time Colonel Norwood was treasurer, but the governor and council, from motives of economy, united his office with that of auditor.

It has before been mentioned that the king, by proclamation in 1677, revoked and abrogated Sir William Berkley's proclamation of February of the same year, as containing "an exception and exclusion from pardon of divers and sundry persons in his said proclamation named, for which he hath no ground or authority from our foresaid proclamation, the same being free and without exception of any person besides the said Nathaniel Bacon, who should submit themselves according to the tenor of our said proclamation."[327:A]

This appears to be unjust to the governor; for the words of the king's proclamation of October are: "And we do by these presents give and grant full power and authority to you, our said governor, for us and in our name to pardon, release, and forgive unto all such our subjects (other than the said Nathaniel Bacon) as you shall think fit and convenient for our service, all treasons, felonies," etc., evidently investing the governor with discretionary powers. The capitulation agreed upon with Ingram and Walklet, at West Point, appears to have been violated by Governor Berkley and the a.s.sembly. Colonel Philip Ludwell, alleging that he had suffered loss by Walklet's incursions, sued him in New Kent for damages. The defendant appealing to Jeffreys, he granted him a protection. Whereupon, Ludwell declared that "the governor, Jeffreys, was a worse rebel than Bacon, for he had broke the laws of the country, which Bacon never did; that he was perjured in delaying or preventing the execution of the laws, contrary to his oath of governor; that he was not worth a groat in England; and that if every pitiful little fellow with a periwig that came in governor to this country had liberty to make the laws, as this had done, his children, nor no man's else, could be safe in the t.i.tle or estate left them." Jeffreys having laid these charges and criminations before the council, they submitted the case to a jury who found Ludwell guilty. The matter was referred to the king in council; and in the mean while the accused was compelled to give security in the penalty of a thousand pounds, to abide the determination of the case, and five hundred for his good behavior to the governor.

Westmoreland was the only county that declared that it had no grievances to complain of, and the sincerity of this declaration may well be doubted. Accomac claimed as a reward for her loyalty an exemption from taxation for a period of twenty years. A letter, bearing date December the 27th, 1677, addressed by the king to Jeffreys, informed him that Lord Culpepper had been appointed governor, but that while he (Jeffreys) continued to perform the duties of the office, he should be no loser, and stating the arrangement which had been made as to the payment of their salaries. Jeffreys dying in December, 1678, was succeeded by the aged Sir Henry Chicheley, deputy governor, who entered upon the duties on the thirteenth of that month, his commission being dated February 28th, 1674.

Thomas, Lord Culpepper, Baron of Thorsway, had been appointed in July, 1675, governor of Virginia for life--an able, but artful and covetous man.[328:A] He had been one of the commissioners for plantations some years before. He was disposed to look upon his office as a sinecure, but being reproved in December, 1679, by the king for remaining so long in England, he came over to the colony in 1680, and was sworn into office on the tenth of May. He found Virginia tranquil. He brought over several bills ready draughted in England to be pa.s.sed by the a.s.sembly, it being "intended to introduce here the modes of Ireland."[329:A] His lordship being invested with full powers of pardon, found it the more easy to obtain from the people whatever he asked. After procuring the enactment of several popular acts, including one of indemnity and oblivion, he managed to have the impost of two shillings on every hogshead of tobacco made perpetual, and instead of being accounted for to the a.s.sembly, as formerly, to be disposed of as his majesty might think fit. Culpepper, notwithstanding the impoverished condition of the colony, contrived to enlarge his salary from one thousand pounds to upwards of two thousand, besides perquisites amounting to eight hundred more. After the rebellion, the governor was empowered to suspend a councillor from his place. It was also ordered, that in case of the death or removal of the governor, the president, or oldest member of the council, with the a.s.sistance of five members of that body, should administer the government until another appointment should be made by the crown.[329:B]

In the year 1680 Charles the Second granted to William Blathwayt the place of surveyor and auditor-general of all his revenues in America, with a salary of five hundred pounds to be paid out of the same, Virginia's share of the salary being one hundred pounds.

In August of this year, Lord Culpepper returned to England, by way of Boston, in the ship "Betty," belonging to Jervis, who married the widow of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., (a cousin of Culpepper,) Jervis being also a pa.s.senger. Elizabeth, or Betty, was the Christian name of Bacon's widow.

The vessel having run aground in the night, his lordship landed on the wild New England sh.o.r.e, one hundred and thirty miles from Boston, with two servants, each carrying a gun, and made his way twenty miles to Sandwich, where he was furnished with horses and a guide, and so reached Boston, where the Betty arrived ten days thereafter. In a letter, dated September the twentieth, addressed to his sister, he mentions that he has with him, "John Polyn, the cook, the page, the great footman, and the little one that embroiders." The Betty conveyed soldiers, servants, plate, goods, and furniture. Culpepper was received at Boston by twelve companies of militia; and was well pleased with the place, "finding no difference between it and Old England, but only want of company."[330:A]

Virginia now enjoyed repose, and large crops of tobacco were raised, and the price again fell to a low ebb. The discontents of the planters were aggravated by the act "for cohabitation and encouragement of trade and manufacture," restricting vessels to certain prescribed ports where the government desired to establish towns.

In the year 1680 Charleston was founded, the metropolis of the infant colony of South Carolina. By the grant of Pennsylvania, made by Charles the Second to William Penn, dated in March, 1681, Virginia lost another large portion of her territory.

FOOTNOTES:

[326:A] Hening, ii. 531; Hamper, _i.e._ Hanaper.

[327:A] The direction of this proclamation is as follows: "To our trusty and well-beloved Herbert Jeffreys, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor, and the council of our colony and plantation of Virginia in the West Indies."

[328:A] Account of Va. in Ma.s.s. Hist. Coll., first series, v. 142.

[329:A] Chalmers' Introduction, i. 164.

[329:B] In 1678 the vestry at Middle Plantation determined to erect a brick church, the former one being of wood.

[330:A] Va. Hist. Reg., iii. 189.

CHAPTER XL.

1681-1683.

Statistics of Virginia--Colonial Revenue--Courts of Law-- Ecclesiastical Affairs--Militia--Indians--Negroes--Riotous cutting up of Tobacco-plants--Culpepper returns--Declaration of a.s.sembly expunged--The Governor alters the Value of Coin by Proclamation.

FROM a statistical account of Virginia, as reported by Culpepper to the committee of the colonies, in 1681, it appears that there were at that time forty-one burgesses, being two from each of twenty counties, and one from Jamestown. The colonial revenue consisted--First, of parish levies, "commonly managed by sly cheating fellows, that combine to cheat the public." Secondly, public levies raised by act of a.s.sembly, both derived from t.i.thables or working hands, of which there were about fourteen thousand. The cost of collecting this part of the revenue was estimated at not less than twenty per centum. Thirdly, two shillings per hogshead on tobacco exported, which, together with some tonnage duties, amounted to three thousand pounds a year. The county courts held three sessions in the year, an appeal lying to the governor and council, and from them, in actions of three hundred pounds sterling value, to his majesty; in causes of less consequence, to the a.s.sembly.

The ecclesiastical affairs of the colony were subject to the control of the governor, who granted probates of wills, and had the right of presentation to all livings, the ordinary value of which was sixty pounds per annum; but at that particular time, owing to the impoverishment of the country and the low price of tobacco, not worth half that sum. The number of livings was seventy-six. Lord Culpepper adds: "And the parishes paying the ministers themselves, have used to claim the right of presentation, (or rather of not paying,) whether the governor will or not, which must not be allowed, and yet must be managed with great caution." There was no fort in Virginia defensible against a European enemy, nor any security for ships against a superior sea force.

There were perhaps fifteen thousand fighting men in the country.[332:A]

His lordship describes the north part of Carolina as "the refuge of our renegades, and till in better order, dangerous to us." Yet it is certain that some of the early settlers of this part of North Carolina were of exemplary character, and were driven from Virginia by intolerance and persecution. According to his lordship, "Maryland is now in a ferment, and not only troubled with our disease, poverty, but in a great danger of falling to pieces." The colony of Virginia was at peace with the Indians; but long experience had taught, in regard to that treacherous race, that when there was the least suspicion then was there the greatest danger. But the most ruinous evil that afflicted the colony was the extreme low price of the sole commodity, tobacco. "For the market is overstocked, and every crop overstocks it more. Our thriving is our undoing, and our buying of blacks hath extremely contributed thereto by making more tobacco."[332:B]

Emanc.i.p.ated Indian or negro slaves were prohibited from buying Christian servants, but were allowed to buy those of their own nation. Negro children imported had their ages recorded by the court, and became t.i.thable at the age of twelve years. In June, 1680, an act was pa.s.sed for preventing an insurrection of the negro slaves, and it was ordered that it should be published twice a year at the county courts of the parish churches.[332:C] Negroes were not allowed to remain on another plantation more than four hours without leave of the owner or overseer.

After "his excellency," Lord Culpepper, went away from Virginia in August, 1680, leaving Sir Henry Chicheley deputy governor, tranquillity prevailed until the time for shipping tobacco in the following year, when the trade was greatly obstructed by the act for establishing towns, which required vessels to be laden at certain specified places. The act being found impracticable, was disobeyed, and much disturbance ensued.

In compliance with the pet.i.tions of several dissatisfied counties, an a.s.sembly was called together in April, 1682, by Sir Henry Chicheley, without the consent of the council. The session being occupied in agitating debates, the body was dissolved, and another summoned, according to an order just received from the crown, to meet in November, 1682, by which time Culpepper was commanded to return to Virginia. The disaffected in the pet.i.tioning counties, Gloucester, New Kent, and Middles.e.x, in May proceeded riotously to cut up the tobacco-plants in the beds, especially the sweet-scented, which was produced nowhere else.

To put a stop to this outbreak, the deputy governor issued sundry proclamations.[333:A]

Lord Culpepper having arrived, the a.s.sembly met shortly afterwards. He demanded of the council an account of their administration during his absence, and it was rendered. In his address to the a.s.sembly, he enlarged upon the king's generous and undeserved concessions to the colony; he announced the king's high displeasure at the declaration made by them that the seizing of their records by the king's commissioners was an unwarrantable violation of their privileges, and, in the king's name, ordered the same to be expunged from the journal of the house, and proposed to them a bill a.s.serting the right of the king and his officers to call for all their records and journals whenever they should think it necessary for the public service.

The governor claiming authority to raise the value of the coin, the a.s.sembly warmly opposed it, as a dangerous encroachment on their const.i.tutional rights; and a bill was brought in for regulating the value of coins, which was interrupted by the governor, who claimed that power as belonging to the royal prerogative. He issued a proclamation, in 1683, raising the value of crowns, rix dollars, and pieces of eight, from five to six shillings, half pieces to three shillings, quarter pieces to eighteen pence, and the New England coin to one shilling, declaring money at this rate a lawful tender, except for the duty of two shillings a hogshead on tobacco, the quit-rents, and other duties payable to his majesty, and for debts contracted for bills of exchange.

His own salary and the king's revenues were, in this way, in a period of distress, exempted from the operation of the act, a proceeding characteristic of the reign of Charles the Second, in which official energy was mainly exhibited in measures of injustice and extortion.

The ringleaders in the plant cutting were arrested, and some of them hanged upon a charge of treason; and this, together with the enactment of a riot act, and making the offence high treason, put a stop to the practice.[334:A]

FOOTNOTES:

[332:A] The number of half-armed train-bands, in 1680, were 7268 foot and 1300 horse--total, 8568.--_Chalmers' Annals_, 357.