History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia Part 28

[332:B] Chalmers' Annals, 355.

[332:C] Hening, ii. 481, 492.

[333:A] Hening, ii. 561.

[334:A] Chalmers' Annals, 340; Hening, iii. 10.

CHAPTER XLI.

1683-1688.

Persecution of Robert Beverley--Plots and Executions in England--Culpepper returns to England--Spencer, President-- Culpepper is displaced--Succeeded by Effingham--Beverley, found guilty, asks Pardon, and is released--Miscellaneous Affairs--Death of Charles the Second--Succeeded by James the Second--Beverley again Clerk--Duke of Monmouth beheaded-- Adherents of Monmouth sent Prisoners to Virginia--Instructions respecting them--Death of Robert Beverley--Despotism of James the Second--Servile Insurrection prevented--Virginia refuses to contribute to the erection of Forts in New York--Commotions in Virginia--Effingham's Corruption and Tyranny--He embarks for England--Ludwell dispatched to lay Virginia's Grievances before the Government--Abdication of James the Second.

THE vengeance of the government fell heavily upon Major Robert Beverley, clerk of the house of burgesses, as the chief instigator of these disturbances. He had incurred the displeasure of the governor and council by refusing to deliver up to them copies of the legislative journals, without permission of the house. Beverley had rendered important services in suppressing Bacon's rebellion, and had won the special favor of Sir William Berkley; but as circ.u.mstances change, men change with them, and now by a steady adherence to his duty to the a.s.sembly, he drew down upon his head unrelenting persecution. In the month of May, 1682, he was committed a close prisoner on board the ship Duke of York, lying in the Rappahannock.[335:A] Ralph Wormley, Matthew Kemp, and Christopher Wormley, were directed to seize the records in Beverley's possession, and to break open doors if necessary. He complained, in a note addressed to the captain, and claimed the rights of a freeborn Englishman. He was transferred from the Duke of York to Captain Jeffries, commander of the Concord, and a guard set over him. He was next sent on board of Colonel Custis's sloop, to be taken to Northampton. Escaping from the custody of the sheriff of York, the prisoner was retaken at his own house in Middles.e.x, and sent to Northampton, on the Eastern Sh.o.r.e. Some months after, he applied for a writ of _habeas corpus_, which was refused; and in a short time, being again found at large, he was remanded to Northampton. In January, 1683, new charges were brought against him: First, that he had broken open letters addressed to the secretary's office; Secondly, that he had made up the journal, and inserted his majesty's letter therein, notwithstanding it had first been presented at the time of the prorogation; Thirdly, that in 1682 he had refused copies of the journal to the governor and council, saying "he might not do it without leave of his masters."

In the year 1680, England was agitated and alarmed with the "Popish plot;" and the Earl of Stafford and divers others were executed on the information of Oates and other witnesses. In July, 1683, Lord Russell was beheaded on a charge of treason, and others suffered the same fate as being implicated in what was styled the "Protestant plot."

Culpepper, after staying about a year in Virginia, returned to England, leaving his kinsman, secretary Nicholas Spencer, president. Thus, again, quitting the colony in violation of his orders, he was arrested immediately on his arrival; and having received presents from the a.s.sembly, contrary to his instructions, a jury of Middles.e.x found that he had forfeited his commission. This example having shown that he who acts under independent authority will seldom obey even reasonable commands, no more governors were appointed for life.[336:A]

Beverley[336:B] gives a different account: "The next year, being 1684, upon the Lord Culpepper refusing to return, Francis, Lord Howard of Effingham, was sent over governor." But Chalmers, having access to the records of the English government, appears to be the better authority.

Lord Culpepper having it in view, as was said, to purchase the propriety of the Northern Neck, lying between the Rappahannock and the Potomac, in order to further his design, had fomented a dispute between the house of burgesses and the council; and the quarrel running nigh, his lordship procured from the king instructions to abolish appeals from the general court to the a.s.sembly, and transfer them to the crown. However, Culpepper being a man of strong judgment, introduced some salutary amendments to the laws. During his time, instead of fixed garrisons, rangers were employed in guarding the frontier. In October died Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Clayborne, (son of Colonel William Clayborne,) mortally wounded in an engagement with the Indians, which took place near West Point, at the head of York River; he lies buried on the same spot, in compliance with his dying request. The son appears to have inherited the spirit of his father.

Lord Culpepper was succeeded by Francis, Lord Howard of Effingham, whose appointment was the last act of Charles the Second in relation to the colony of Virginia. Lord Effingham was appointed in August, 1683, the thirty-fifth year of the king's reign, commissioned in September, and arriving in Virginia during February, 1684, entered upon the duties of the office in April. The a.s.sembly met on the following day. Acts were pa.s.sed to prevent plant cutting, and preserve the peace; to supply the inhabitants with arms and ammunition; to repeal the act for encouragement of domestic manufactures; to provide for the better defence of the colony; laying for the first time an impost on liquors imported from other English plantations; exempting such as were imported by Virginians for their own use, and in their own vessels. The burgesses, in behalf of the inhabitants of the Northern Neck, then called Potomac Neck, prayed the governor to secure them by patent in their t.i.tles to their lands, which had been invaded by Culpepper's charter. The governor replied that he was expecting a favorable decision on the matter from the king.

About this time the name of Zach. Taylor, a surveyor, is mentioned, an ancestor of General Zachary Taylor, some time President of the United States.[337:A]

In May, 1684, Robert Beverley was found guilty of high misdemeanors, but judgment being respited, and the prisoner asking pardon on his bended knees, was released, upon giving security for his good behavior.

His counsel was William Fitzhugh, of Stafford County, a lawyer of reputation, and a planter. Beverley was charged with having led the people to believe that there would be a "cessation" of the tobacco crop in 1680, and such appears to have been the general impression in the summer of that year.[338:A] The abject terms in which he now sued for pardon form a singular contrast to his former constancy; and it is curious to find the loyal Beverley, the strenuous partizan of Berkley, now the victim of the tyranny which he had formerly defended with so much energy and success.

On the twentieth day of May, of this year, Lord Baltimore was at Jamestown on a visit to the governor, with a view of embarking there for England.

Owing to the incursions of the Five Nations upon the frontiers of Virginia, it was deemed expedient to treat with them through the governor of New York; and for this purpose Lord Effingham, Governor of Virginia, leaving the administration in the hands of Colonel Bacon, of the council, and accompanied by two councillors, sailed, June the twenty-third, in the "Quaker Ketch," to New York, and thence repaired to Albany, in July. There he met Governor Dongan, of New York, the agent of Ma.s.sachusetts, the magistrates of Albany, and the chiefs of the warlike Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagos, and Cayugas. The tomahawk was buried, the chain of friendship brightened, and the tree of peace planted. It was during this year that the charter of Ma.s.sachusetts was dissolved by a writ of _quo warranto_. In the same year Talbot, a kinsman of the Calverts, and a member of the Maryland Council, killed, in a private rencontre, Rousby, the collector of the customs for that province; he was tried in Virginia, and convicted, but subsequently pardoned by James the Second.

Evelyn[338:B] says: "I can never forget the inexpressible luxury, and profaneness, gaming, and all dissoluteness, and, as it were, total forgetfulness of G.o.d, (it being Sunday evening,) which this day se'nnight I was witness of, the king sitting and toying with his concubines, Portsmouth, Cleveland, and Mazarine, etc., a French boy singing love-songs in that glorious gallery, while about twenty of the great courtiers, and other dissolute persons, were at ba.s.set round a large table, a bank of at least two thousand pounds in gold before them; upon which two gentlemen, who were with me, made reflections with astonishment. Six days after, all was in the dust."

Rochester, in his epigram, described Charles the Second as one

Who never said a foolish thing, and never did a wise one.

But it is much easier to discover the foolish things that he did, than the wise things that he said. He was good-natured, free from vindictiveness, and had some appreciation of science.

The succession of James the Second to the throne was proclaimed in the Ancient Dominion of Virginia "with extraordinary joy." The enthusiasm of their loyalty was soon lowered, for the a.s.sembly meeting on the 1st day of October, 1685, and warmly resisting the negative power claimed by the governor, was prorogued on the same day to the second of November following. Robert Beverley was again clerk. Strong resolutions, complaining of the governor's veto, were pa.s.sed. After sitting for some time this and other bills were presented to him for his signature, which he refused to give, and appearing suddenly in the house prorogued it again to the 20th of October, 1686.

The Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles the Second, failing in a rash insurrection, was beheaded, July the fourteenth of this year.

The first parliament of the new reign laid an impost on tobacco; the planters, in abject terms, supplicated James to suspend the duty imposed on their staple; but he refused to comply. They also took measures to encourage domestic manufactures, which were disapproved of by the lords of the committee of colonies, as contrary to the acts of navigation.

Nevertheless, on the reception of the news of the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth, the Virginians sent a congratulatory address to the king.

A number of the prisoners taken with Monmouth, and who had escaped the cruelty of Jeffreys, were sent to Virginia; and King James instructed Effingham on this occasion in the following letter:[340:A]

"RIGHT TRUSTY AND WELL-BELOVED,--We greet you well. As it has pleased G.o.d to deliver into our hands such of our rebellious subjects as have taken up arms against us, for which traitorous practices some of them have suffered death according to law; so we have been graciously pleased to extend our mercy to many others by ordering their transportation to several parts of our dominions in America, where they are to be kept as servants to the inhabitants of the same; and to the end their punishment may in some measure answer their crimes, we do think fit hereby to signify our pleasure unto you, our governor and council of Virginia, that you take all necessary care that such convicted persons as were guilty of the late rebellion, that shall arrive within that our colony, whose names are hereunto annexed,[340:B] be kept there, and continue to serve their masters for the s.p.a.ce of ten years at least.

And that they be not permitted in any manner to redeem themselves by money or otherwise until that term be fully expired. And for the better effecting hereof, you are to frame and propose a bill to the a.s.sembly of that our colony, with such provisions and clauses as shall be requisite for this purpose, to which you, our governor, are to give your a.s.sent, and to transmit the same unto us for our royal confirmation.

Wherein expecting a ready compliance, we bid you heartily farewell. Given at our court at Whitehall, the 4th of October, 1685, in the first year of our reign.

"SUNDERLAND."

Virginia made no law conformable to the requisitions of the king.

James the Second, strongly resenting the too democratical proceedings of the Virginia a.s.sembly, ordered their dissolution, and that Robert Beverley, as chief promoter of these disputes, should be disfranchised and prosecuted,[340:C] and directed that in future the appointment of the clerk of the house of burgesses should be made by the governor.

Several persons were punished about this time for seditious and treasonable conduct. In May, 1687, the a.s.sembly was dissolved. In the spring of this year Robert Beverley died--the victim of tyranny and martyr of const.i.tutional liberty: long a distinguished loyalist, he lived to become still more distinguished as a patriot. It is thus in human inconsistency that extremes meet.

The English merchants engaged in the tobacco trade, in August, 1687, complained to the committee of the colonies of the mischiefs consequent upon the exportation of tobacco in bulk; and the committee advised the a.s.sembly to prohibit this practice. The a.s.sembly refused compliance; but the regulation was subsequently established by parliament. A meditated insurrection of the blacks was discovered in the Northern Neck just in time to prevent its explosion. In November a message had been received from the Governor of New York, communicating the king's instructions to him to build forts for the defence of that colony, and the king's desire that Virginia should contribute to that object, as being for the common defence of the colonies. This project of James, it was suspected, had its origin in his own proprietary interest in New York. The Virginians replied, that the Indians might invade Virginia without pa.s.sing within a hundred miles of those forts, and the contribution was refused. In December, William Byrd succeeded Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., as auditor of the accounts of his majesty's revenue in Virginia; he continued to hold that place for seventeen years. His MS. accounts are still preserved.

James the Second, influenced by the counsels and the gold of France, and in violation of the most solemn pledges made to the parliament when he ascended the throne, showed himself incorrigibly bent upon introducing absolute government and establishing the Roman Catholic religion in England. In Virginia the council displayed, as usual, servility to power. Upon the dissolution of the a.s.sembly, the colony was agitated with apprehensions and alarm. Rumors were circulated of terrible plots, now of the Papists, then of the Indians. The County of Stafford was inflamed by the bold harangues of John Waugh, a preacher of the established church, and three councillors were dispatched to allay the commotions. Part of Rappahannock County was in arms. Colonel John Scarburgh, of the Eastern Sh.o.r.e, was prosecuted for saying to the governor that "his majesty King James would wear out the Church of England, for that when there were any vacant offices he supplied them with men of a different persuasion." Scarburgh was discharged by the council. Others were prosecuted and imprisoned; and James Collins was put in irons for treasonable words uttered against the king.

Effingham, no less avaricious and unscrupulous than his predecessor Culpepper, by his extortions and usurpations aroused a general spirit of indignation. He prorogued and dissolved the a.s.sembly; he erected a new court of chancery, making himself a petty lord chancellor; he multiplied fees, and stooped to share them with the clerks, and silenced the victims of his extortions by arbitrary imprisonment. The house of burgesses, preparing to pet.i.tion the king against the new invention of a seal, by which his lordship extracted from the country one hundred thousand pounds of tobacco per annum of extraordinary fees and perquisites, and the governor getting wind of it, sent for them, and they, knowing that his object was to dissolve them, completed the pet.i.tion, signed it, and ordered their clerk and one of their members to transmit it to Whitehall for the king. But instead of being delivered to his majesty, the original pet.i.tion was sent back from England to the governor, with an account of the manner in which it had been transmitted. In consequence whereof, Colonel Thomas Milner, being a surveyor and clerk of the house, was removed from those offices, and the burgess being a lawyer, was prohibited from practising at the bar.[342:A]

At length, the complaints of the Virginians having reached England, Effingham embarked, in 1688, for that country, and the a.s.sembly dispatched Colonel Ludwell to lay their grievances before the government; but before they reached the mother country, the revolution had taken place, and James the Second[342:B] had closed a short and inglorious reign, spent in preposterous invasions of civil and religious liberty, by abdicating the crown.

FOOTNOTES:

[335:A] Hening, iii. 540.

[336:A] Chalmers' Annals, 345.

[336:B] Beverley, B. i. 89.

[337:A] One of the James River merchant-vessels mentioned by the first William Byrd, was called the "Zach. Taylor."

[338:A] Va. Hist. Reg., i. 166.

[338:B] Diary, ii. 211.

[340:A] Chalmers' Annals, 358

[340:B] The list is still preserved in the London state-paper office.

[340:C] Hening, iii. 40.

[342:A] Account of Virginia, in Ma.s.s. Hist. Coll., first series.

[342:B] Chalmers' Annals, 347.