History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia Part 37

[424:B] Va. Convention of '76, by Hugh Blair Grigsby, 77, citing Carrington Memoranda. Mr. Grigsby has given an interesting account of several of the distinguished Randolphs in a newspaper article, ent.i.tled "The Dead of the Chapel of William and Mary."

[426:A] De Ha.s.s's Hist. of Western Va., 37; Kercheval, 70.

[427:A] Jefferson's Notes, 16.

[428:A] Ruffner, in Howe's Hist. Coll. of Va., 451.

[429:A] Ruffner, ubi supra.

[429:B] The Grigsbys, from whom is descended Hugh Blair Grigsby, removed into the valley from Eastern Virginia, having originally come into the colony at the time of the restoration.

[430:A] Ruffner.

[431:A] So called, being a high strip of timber in an open prairie, at the first settlement.

[431:B] Kercheval's Hist. of the Valley of Virginia, 69; Foote's Sketches, second series, 14.

[432:A] Foote's Sketches, ii. 36.

CHAPTER LVII.

1744-1747.

Treaty with the Six Nations--Death and Character of Rev. James Blair--Colonel William Byrd--The Pretender's Rebellion-- Governor Gooch--Dissent in Virginia--Whitefield--Origin of Presbyterianism in Hanover--Morris--Missionaries--Rev. Samuel Davies--Gooch's Measures against Moravians, New Lights, and Methodists.

IN 1742 an act was pa.s.sed to prevent lawyers from exacting or receiving exorbitant fees. In this year the town of Richmond was established by law, and the County of Louisa formed from a part of Hanover.

Governor Spotswood had effected a treaty (1722) with the Six Nations, by which they stipulated never to appear to the east of the Blue Ridge, nor south of the Potomac. As the Anglo-Saxon race gradually extended itself, like a vapor, beyond the western base of that range, collisions with the native tribes began to ensue. A treaty was concluded (July, 1744,) at Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, by which the Six Nations unwillingly relinquished, for four hundred pounds paid, and a further sum promised, the country lying westward of the frontier of Virginia to the River Ohio. The tomahawk was again buried, and the wampum belts of peace again delivered, to brighten the silver chain of friendship. The Virginia commissioners were men of high character, but they negotiated with the red men according to the custom of that day, and regaled them with punch, wine, and b.u.mbo--that is, rum and water. The consideration apparently so inadequate, was yet perhaps equivalent to the value of their t.i.tle and the fidelity of their pledge. The expense of this treaty was paid out of the royal quit-rents.

The Rev. Anthony Gavin, a zealous minister of St. James's Parish, Goochland, (1738,) complains to the Bishop of London of difficulties with Quakers, who were countenanced by men in high station, and of the disregard of Episcopal control in Virginia, the cognizance of spiritual affairs, by the laws of the colony, being in the hands of the governor and council, and that the greatest part of the ministers "are taken up in farming, and buying slaves." The ministers were compelled either to hire or buy slaves to cultivate their glebes, on which they depended for a livelihood.[434:A] The Rev. Mr. Gavin, besides his regular duties, appears to have performed a sort of missionary service, making distant journeys as far as to the country near the Blue Ridge.

Robert Dinwiddie having been appointed (1741) surveyor-general of the customs, was named, as his predecessors had been, a member of the several councils of the colonies. Gooch readily complied with the royal order, but the council, prompted both by jealousy of Dinwiddie's functions and by an aristocratic exclusiveness, refused to allow him to act with them, and sent the king a remonstrance against it. The board of trade decided the case in Dinwiddie's favor. We may see in this affair the germ of that mutual jealousy which afterwards grew up between him and some of the leading characters in Virginia.

In the year 1743 died Edward Barradall, Esq., an eminent lawyer; he held the office of attorney-general, judge of the admiralty court, and other high posts. He married Sarah, daughter of the Honorable William Fitzhugh. He was buried in the churchyard in Williamsburg, where a Latin epitaph records his worth.

In the same year died the Rev. James Blair, Commissary to the Bishop of London. Finding his ministry in Scotland obstructed by popular prejudice, he retired to London, whence he was sent over to Virginia as a missionary, (1685.) He was minister for Henrico Parish nine years; in 1689 was appointed commissary. From Henrico he removed to Jamestown, in order to be near the college, which he was raising up. He became (1710) the minister of Bruton Parish, and resided at Williamsburg. He was a minister in Virginia for about fifty-eight years, commissary for fifty-four years, and president of the college fifty years. His sermons, one hundred and seventeen in number, expository of the Sermon on the Mount, were published in England, (1722,) and pa.s.sed through two editions. They are highly commended by Dr. Waterland and Dr. Doddridge.

Dr. Blair appears to have been a plain-spoken preacher, who had the courage to speak the truth to an aristocratic congregation. Alluding in one of these sermons to the custom of swearing, he says: "I know of no vice that brings more scandal to our Church of England. The church may be in danger from many enemies, but perhaps she is not so much in danger from any as from the great number of profane persons that pretend to be of her, enough to make all serious people afraid of our society, and to bring down the judgments of G.o.d upon us: 'by reason of swearing the land mourneth.' But be not deceived: our church has no principles that lead to swearing more than the Dissenters; but whatever church is uppermost, there are always a great many who, having no religion at all, crowd into it, and bring it into disgrace and disreputation." Commissary Blair left his library and five hundred pounds to the college of which he was the founder, and ten thousand pounds to his nephew, John Blair, and his children.[435:A] Commissary Blair was alike eminent for energy, learning, talents, piety, and a catholic spirit; he was a sincere lover of Virginia and her benefactor; his name is identified with her history, and his memory deserves to be held in enduring respect and veneration.

In November, 1743, William Fairfax, son of Lord Fairfax, proprietor of the Northern Neck, was appointed one of the council in the place of Dr.

Blair. The Rev. William Dawson succeeded him as president of the College of William and Mary, and as commissary.

About this time also died Colonel William Byrd, of Westover, second of the name, one of the council. A vast fortune enabled him to live in a style of hospitable splendor before unknown in Virginia. His extensive learning was improved by a keen observation, and refined by an acquaintance and correspondence with the wits and n.o.blemen of his day in England. His writings display a thorough knowledge of the natural and civil history of the colony, and abound in photographic sketches of the manners of his age. His diffuse style is relieved by frequent ebullitions of humor, which, according to the spirit of his times, is often coa.r.s.e and indelicate. His sarcasm is sometimes unjust, and his ridicule frequently misplaced, yet his writings are among the most valuable that have descended from his era, and to him is due the honor of having contributed more perhaps to the preservation of the historical materials of Virginia than any other of her sons, by the purchase of the Records of the Virginia Company. He lies buried in the garden at Westover, where a marble monument bears the following inscription: "Here lieth the Honorable William Byrd, Esq. Being born to one of the amplest fortunes in this country, he was sent early to England for his education, where, under the care and direction of Sir Robert Southwell, and ever favored with his particular instructions, he made a happy proficiency in polite and various learning. By the means of the same n.o.ble friend he was introduced to the acquaintance of many of the first persons of that age for knowledge, wit, virtue, birth, or high station, and particularly contracted a most intimate and bosom friendship with the learned and ill.u.s.trious Charles Boyle, Earl of Orrery. He was called to the bar in the Middle Temple; studied for some time in the Low Countries; visited the court of France, and was chosen Fellow of the Royal Society. Thus eminently fitted for the service and ornament of his country, he was made receiver-general of his majesty's revenues here; was thrice appointed public agent to the court and ministry of England; and being thirty-seven years a member, at last became president of the council of this colony. To all this were added a great elegancy of taste and life, the well-bred gentleman and polite companion, the splendid economist, and prudent father of a family, withal the constant enemy of all exorbitant power, and hearty friend to the liberties of his country.

Nat. Mar. 28, 1674. Mort. Aug. 26, 1744. An. aetat. 70." His portrait, a fine face, is preserved. Colonel Byrd ama.s.sed the finest private library which had then been seen in the New World, a catalogue of which, in quarto, is preserved in the Franklin Library, Philadelphia. Sir Robert Southwell was envoy extraordinary to Portugal in 1665, and to Brussels in 1671; was subsequently clerk of the privy council, and was repeatedly chosen president of the Royal Society. He died in 1702.

France, endeavoring to impose a popish pretender of the house of Stuart upon the people of England, the colonies were advised to put themselves in readiness against the threatened blow. Accordingly in the following year the a.s.sembly met, but still adhering to a rigid economy, the burgesses refused to make any appropriation of money for that purpose.

About this time Edward Trelawney, governor of Jamaica, was authorized to recruit a regiment in Virginia. In 1745 a rebellion burst forth in Scotland in favor of the Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart, grandson of James the Second. When intelligence of this event reached Virginia, the a.s.sembly was again called together, and the college, the clergy, and the a.s.sembly, unanimously pledged their private resources and those of the colony to support the house of Hanover. A proclamation was also issued against Romish priests, sent, it was alleged, as emissaries from Maryland, to seduce the people of Virginia from their allegiance. The tidings of the overthrow of the Pretender by the Duke of c.u.mberland, at Culloden, on the 16th of April, 1746, were joyfully received in the Ancient Dominion, and celebrated by burning the effigies of the unfortunate prince, and by bonfires, processions, and illuminations.

About this time the Rev. William St.i.th was engaged in composing his "History of Virginia," at Varina, on the James River. It is much to be regretted that this accurate, judicious, and faithful writer did not receive encouragement to complete the work down to his own times.

In May, 1746, the a.s.sembly appropriated four thousand pounds to the raising of Virginia's quota of troops for the invasion of Canada. They sailed from Hampton in June, under convoy of the Fowey man-of-war; the expedition proved abortive. Governor Gooch, who had been appointed commander, but had declined the appointment, was knighted during this year. Not long afterwards the capitol at Williamsburg was burnt, and the burgesses availed themselves of this conjuncture to propose the establishment of the metropolis at a point more favorable to commerce; but this scheme was rejected by the council. Governor Gooch, on this occasion, appears to have exhibited some duplicity: in his communications to the board of trade he extolled the enlarged views of the burgesses, while he censured the selfishness of the council; yet in public he blamed the burgesses, "as he thought this the best method to stifle the flame of contention." In this case he would seem not to have reckoned "honesty the best policy;" and it often is not, else there would perhaps be more of it in the world; but it is certainly always better than policy.

In the year 1748 Petersburg and Blandford were incorporated. In the same year the town of Staunton, in Augusta County, was laid off, and it was incorporated in the following year. This happened to be one of the acts repealed by the crown under subsequent protest of the house of burgesses; and another act of incorporation was not applied for until about 1762-63. Hence originated a mistake in all the histories as to the date of the charter.[438:A] Staunton thus appears to be the oldest town in the valley.

The a.s.sembly appointed a committee to revise the laws of Virginia; it consisted of Peyton Randolph, Philip Ludwell, Beverley Whiting, Carter Burwell, and Benjamin Waller. During this year the vestries were authorized to make presentation to benefices, an act which Bishop Sherlock complained of as a serious encroachment on the rights of the crown.

Dissent from the established church began to develope itself in Virginia. In 1740 the celebrated Whitefield, then about twenty-six years of age, preached at Williamsburg, by the invitation of Commissary Blair.

The extraordinary religious excitement which took place at this time in America, and which was increased by the impa.s.sioned eloquence of Whitefield, was styled "the New Light Stir." It produced a temporary schism in the American Presbyterian Church, and the two parties were known as Old Side and New Side. The Synod of Philadelphia was Old Side; the Presbyteries of New Castle, New Brunswick, and New York, New Side.

The preachers of the New Side were often styled "New Lights." A hundred years before, the Presbyterians of Ireland denounced the sectarian (or Cromwell) party of England, as those who "vilify public ordinances, speak evil of church government, and invent d.a.m.nable errors, under the specious pretence of a gospel-way and new light."[439:A]

Between the years 1740 and 1743 a few families of Hanover County, in Lower Virginia, withdrawing themselves from attendance at the services of the established church, were accustomed to meet for worship at the house of Samuel Morris, the zealous leader of this little company of dissenters. One of these, a planter, had been first aroused by a few leaves of "Boston's Fourfold State," that fell into his hands. Morris, an obscure man, a bricklayer, of singular simplicity of character, sincere, devout, earnest, was in the habit of reading to his neighbors from a few favorite religious works, particularly "Luther on the Galatians," and his "Table-Talk," with the view of communicating to others impressions that had been made on himself. Having (1743) come into possession of a volume of Whitefield's Sermons, preached at Glasgow, he commenced reading them to his audience, who met to hear them on Sunday and on other days. The concern of some of the hearers on these occasions was such that they cried out and wept bitterly. Morris's dwelling-house being too small to contain his increasing congregation, it was determined to build a meeting-house merely for reading, and it came to be called "Morris's Reading-Room." None of them being in the habit of extemporaneous prayer no one dared to undertake it. Morris was soon invited to read these sermons in other parts of the country, and thus other reading-houses were established. Those who frequented them were fined for absenting themselves from church, and Morris himself often incurred this penalty. When called on by the general court to declare to what denomination they belonged, these unsophisticated dissenters, knowing little of any such except the Quakers, and not knowing what else to call themselves, a.s.sumed for the present the name of Lutherans, (unaware that this appellation had been appropriated by any others,) but shortly afterwards they relinquished that name.[439:B]

Partaking in the religious excitement which then pervaded the colonies, limited in information and in the means of obtaining it, these unorganized dissenters became bewildered by discordant opinions. Some of them seemed to be verging toward antinomianism; and it came to be a question among them whether it was right to pray, since prayer could not alter the Divine purposes, and it might be impious to desire that it should. At length, Morris and some of his a.s.sociates were summoned to appear before the governor and council at Williamsburg. Having discarded the name of Lutherans, and not knowing what to call themselves, they were filled with apprehensions in the prospect of the interview. One of them making the journey to Williamsburg alone, met with, at a house on the way, an old Scotch Presbyterian "Confession of Faith," which he recognized as embodying his own creed. The book being given to him, upon rejoining his friends at Williamsburg they examined it together, and they determined to adopt it as their confession of faith. When called before the governor and council and interrogated, they exhibited the book as containing their creed. Gooch, being a Scotchman, and, as is said, having been educated a Presbyterian, immediately remarked, on seeing the book, "These men are Presbyterians," and recognized their right to the privileges of the toleration act. The interview between the governor and council and Morris and his friends, was interrupted by a thunder-storm of extraordinary fury; the council was softened; and this was one of a series of incidents which Morris and his companions looked upon as providentially instrumental in bringing about the favorable issue of this affair.

The Rev. William Robinson, a Presbyterian, was the first minister, not of the Church of England, that preached in Hanover. The son of a Quaker physician near Carlyle, in England, he emigrated to America, and (1743) sent out by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, visited the frontier settlements of Virginia and North Carolina. Near Winchester he was apprehended by the sheriff, to be sent to the governor to answer for preaching without license, but the sheriff soon released him. He preached among the Scotch-Irish settlers of Charlotte, Prince Edward, Campbell, and Albemarle, and in Charlotte established a congregation.

Overtaken at Rockfish Gap by a deputation from Hanover, he was induced to return and visit that county, and he preached for some days to large congregations, some of his hearers publicly giving utterance to their emotions, and many being converted. Before his departure he corrected some of the errors into which the dissenters had fallen, and taught them to conduct public worship with better order, prayer and singing being now introduced, so that "he brought them into some kind of church order on the Presbyterian model."[441:A] He was followed shortly afterwards by the Rev. John Blair, whose preaching was equally impressive. Another missionary, the Rev. John Roan, from the New Castle Presbytery, preached to crowded congregations there and in the neighboring counties. The consequent excitement, and his speaking freely in public and in private of the delinquency of the parish ministers, and his denouncing them with unsparing invective, in spite of reproaches, ridicule, and threats, gave alarm to them and their supporters, and measures were concerted to arrest the inroads of these offensive innovations. To aggravate the indignation of the government a witness swore "that he heard Mr. Roan utter blasphemous expressions in his sermons," preached at the house of Joshua Morris, in James City County.

At the meeting of the general court in April, Governor Gooch, in his charge to the grand jury, denounced, in strong terms, "certain false teachers lately crept into this government, who, without order or license, or producing any testimonial of their education or sect, professing themselves ministers under the pretended influence of new light, extraordinary impulse, and such like satirical [sic] and enthusiastic knowledge, lead the innocent and ignorant people into all kinds of delusion." He even suspected them to be Romish emissaries, saying, "their religious professions are very justly suspected to be the result of jesuitical policy, which also is an iniquity to be punished by the judges." He calls upon the jury to present and indict these offenders. On the next day the jury presented John Roan for "reflecting upon and vilifying the established religion," and Thomas Watkins, of Henrico County, for saying "your churches and chapels are no better than the synagogues of Satan," and Joshua Morris, "for permitting John Roan, the aforementioned preacher, and very many people, to a.s.semble in an unlawful manner at his house on the seventh, eighth, and ninth of January last past."

The intolerant spirit of the government continuing unabated, the Conjunct Presbyteries of New Castle and New Brunswick, at the instance of Morris and some of his friends, who were apprehensive of severe measures being adopted against them, sent an address in their behalf to Governor Gooch, by two clergymen, Gilbert Tennent and Samuel Finley.

They were respectfully received, and allowed to preach in Hanover, where they remained for a week.

The Synod of Philadelphia being now apprehensive that their congregations in the valley of Virginia might also be involved in the penalties threatened by the governor, in May, 1745, in an address to him, disclaimed all connection with the Presbytery of New Castle, which had commissioned Mr. Roan, and expressed their deep regret that any who a.s.sume the name of Presbyterians should be guilty of conduct so uncharitable and so unchristian as that mentioned in his honor's charge to the grand jury; and they a.s.sure him that these persons never belonged to their body, but were missionaries sent out by some who, in May, 1741, had been excluded from the Synod of Philadelphia by reason of their divisive and uncharitable doctrines and practices, and whose object was, in a spirit of rivalry, "to divide and trouble the churches." To this address Gooch made a very kind and respectful reply.

In the summer of the ensuing year he issued a proclamation against the Moravians, New Lights, and Methodists, prohibiting their meetings under severe penalties. There would seem to be some inconsistency in bringing such harsh and sweeping charges against those ministers whom he had recently received so courteously, and had permitted to preach. Perhaps when he at first reckoned the visits of these missionaries transient, and their influence inconsiderable, he was willing to indulge his courtesy and obliging disposition toward them; but when dissent was found spreading with such unexpected rapidity, Gooch, together with the clergy and other friends of the establishment, became alarmed, and had recourse to measures of intolerance, which they would rather have avoided. Besides this, the address of the Synod of Philadelphia could not but confirm the unfavorable opinion at first formed of the missionaries.

FOOTNOTES:

[434:A] Bishop Meade's Old Churches, etc., i. 456.

[435:A] Old Churches, i. 154, 165; Evang. and Lit. Mag., ii. 341.

[438:A] Letter from Bolivar Christian, Esq., of Staunton, referring to the records of Augusta.

[439:A] Milton's Prose Works, i. 423.

[439:B] Memoir of Samuel Davies, in Evang. and Lit. Mag., (edited by Rev. Dr. John H. Rice,) ii. 113, 186, 201, 330, 353, 474. "Origin of Presbyterianism," ib., 346. "Sketch of Hist. of the Church in Va." (by Rev. Moses Hoge, President of Hampden Sidney College,) appended to J. W.

Campbell's Hist. of Va., 290; Hawks, chap. 6: Burk, iii. 119: Hodge's Hist. of Presbyterian Church, part ii. 42, 284; Foote's Sketches of Va., 119.

[441:A] Evang. and Lit. Mag., ii. 351.