The History of Virginia Part 7

Now the glory Col. Nicholson got in that affair was this: after he had represented Virginia as republican and rebellious for not complying with his proposal, he said publicly that New York should not want the 900 pounds, though he paid it out of his own pocket, and soon after took a journey to that province.

When he arrived there, he blamed Virginia very much, but pretending earnest desires to serve New York, gave his own bills of exchange for 900 pounds to the aforesaid use, but prudently took a defeasance from the gentleman to whom they were given, specifying, "that till her majesty should be graciously pleased to remit him the money out of the quit rents of Virginia, those bills should never be made use of." This was an admirable piece of sham generosity, and worthy of the great pains he took to proclaim it. I myself have frequently heard him boast that he gave this money out of his own pocket, and only depended on the queen's bounty to repay him: though the money is not paid by him to this day.

-- 147. Neither was he contented to spread abroad this untruth there; but he also foisted it into a memorial of Col. Quarry's to the council of trade, in which are these words:

"As soon as Governor Nicholson found the a.s.sembly of Virginia would not see their own interest, nor comply with her majesty's orders, he went immediately to New York; and out of his great zeal to the queen's service, and the security of her province, he gave his own bills for 900 pounds to answer the quota of Virginia, wholly depending on her majesty's favor to reimburse him out of the revenues in that province.

"Certainly his excellency and Colonel Quarry, by whose joint wisdom and sincerity this memorial was composed, must believe that the council of trade have very imperfect intelligence how matters pa.s.s in that part of the world, or else they would not presume to impose such a banter upon them."

But this is nothing, if compared with some other pa.s.sages of that unjust representation, wherein they took upon them to describe the people of "Virginia to be both numerous and rich, of republican notions and principles such as ought to be corrected and lowered in time; and that then, or never, was the time to maintain the queen's prerogatives, and put a stop to those wrong, pernicious notions which were improving daily, not only in Virginia but in all her majesty's other governments.

A frown now from her majesty will do more than an army hereafter," &c.

With those inhuman, false imputations, did those gentlemen afterwards introduce the necessity of a standing army.

-- 148. Thus did this gentleman continue to rule till August 1705, when Edward Nott, esq., arrived governor, and gave ease to the country by a mild rule. His commission was to be governor-general, but part of his salary was paid my Lord Orkney as chief. Governor Nott had the general commission given him, because it was suggested that that method, viz: the supreme t.i.tle, would give the greater awe, and the better put the country to rights.

-- 149. Governor Nott called an a.s.sembly the fall after his arrival, who pa.s.sed the general revisal of the laws, which had been too long in hand.

But that part of it which related to the church and clergy Mr.

Commissary could not be pleased in; wherefore that bill was dropt, and so it lies at this day.

-- 150. This a.s.sembly also pa.s.sed a new law for ports and towns, grounding it only upon encouragements, according to her majesty's letter to that purpose. But it seems this also could not please the Virginia merchants in England, for they complained against it to the crown, and so it was also suspended.

-- 151. This a.s.sembly also pa.s.sed the law making slaves a real estate, which made a great alteration in the nature of their estates, and becomes a very good security for orphans whose parents happened to die intestate.

-- 152. This a.s.sembly also voted a house to be built for the governor's residence, and laid duties to raise the money for it. But his excellency lived not to see much effected therein, being taken off by death in August 1706. In the first year of his government the college was burnt down to the ground.

-- 153. After this governor's death, their being no other nominated by her majesty to succeed him, the government fell into the hands of Edmund Jenings, Esq., the president, and the council, who held no a.s.sembly during his time, neither did anything of note happen here. Only we heard that Brigadier Robert Hunter received commission to be lieutenant-governor under George, Earl of Orkney, the chief, and set out for Virginia, but was taken prisoner into France.

-- 154. During Brigadier Hunter's confinement in France, a new commission issued to Colonel Alexander Spotswood to be lieutenant-governor, who arrived here in Anno 1710. He, to the extraordinary benefit of this country, still continues governor, having improved it beyond imagination. His conduct has produced wonders. But it would not become me to affront his modesty by publishing those innumerable benefits of his administration to his face; therefore I shall leave them to adorn the brighter history of some abler penman.

BOOK II.

OF THE NATURAL PRODUCT AND CONVENIENCES OF VIRGINIA IN ITS UNIMPROVED STATE, BEFORE THE ENGLISH WENT THITHER.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE BOUNDS AND COAST OF VIRGINIA.

-- 1. Virginia, as you have heard before, was a name at first given to all the northern part of the continent of America; and when the original grant was made, both to the first and second colonies, that is, to those of Virginia and New England, they were both granted under the name of Virginia. And afterwards, when grants for other new colonies were made by particular names, those names for a long time served only to distinguish them as so many parts of Virginia; and until the plantations became more familiar to England, it was so continued. But in process of time, the name of Virginia was lost to all except to that tract of land lying along the bay of Chesapeake, and a little to the southward, in which are included Virginia and Maryland; both which, in common discourse, are still very often meant by the name of Virginia.

The least extent of bounds in any of the grants made to Virginia, since it was settled, and which we find upon record there, is two hundred miles north from Point Comfort, and two hundred miles south, winding upon the sea coast to the eastward, and including all the land west and northwest, from sea to sea, with the islands on both seas, within an hundred miles of the main. But these extents, both on the north and south, have been since abridged by the proprietary grants of Maryland on the north, and Carolina on the south.

-- 2. The entrance into Virginia for shipping is by the mouth of Chesapeake bay, which is indeed more like a river than a bay; for it runs up into the land about two hundred miles, being everywhere near as wide as it is at the mouth, and in many places much wider. The mouth thereof is about seven leagues over, through which all ships pa.s.s to go to Maryland.

The coast is a bold and even coast, with regular soundings, and is open all the year round; so that, having the lat.i.tude, which also can hardly be wanted upon a coast where so much clear weather is, any ship may go in by soundings alone, by day or night, in summer or in winter, and need not fear any disaster, if the mariners understand anything; for, let the wind blow how it will, and chop about as suddenly as it pleases, any master, though his ship be never so dull, has opportunity, (by the evenness of the coast,) either of standing off and clearing the sh.o.r.e, or else of running into safe harbor within the capes. A bolder and safer coast is not known in the universe; to which conveniences, there is the addition of good anchorage all along upon it, without the capes.

-- 3. Virginia, in the most restrained sense, distinct from Maryland, is the spot to which I shall altogether confine this description; though you may consider, at the same time, that there cannot be much difference between this and Maryland, they being contiguous one to the other, lying in the same bay, producing the same sort of commodities, and being fallen into the same unhappy form of settlements, altogether upon country seats, without towns. Virginia, thus considered, is bounded on the south by North Carolina, on the north by Potomac river, which divides it from Maryland, on the east by the main ocean, called the Virginia seas, and on the west and northwest by the Californian sea, whenever the settlements shall be extended so far, or now by the river Mississippi.

This part of Virginia, now inhabited, if we consider the improvements in the hands of the English, it cannot upon that score be commended; but if we consider its natural apt.i.tude to be improved, it may with justice be accounted one of the finest countries in the world. Most of the natural advantages of it, therefore, I shall endeavor to discover, and set in their true light, together with its inconveniences, and afterwards proceed to the improvements.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE WATERS.

-- 4. The largeness of the bay of Chesapeake, I have mentioned already.

From one end of it to the other, there is good anchorage, and so little danger of a wreck, that many masters, who have never been there before, venture up to the head of the bay, upon the slender knowledge of a common sailor. But the experience of one voyage teaches any master to go up afterwards without a pilot.

Besides this bay, the country is watered with four great rivers, viz: James, York, Rappahannock, and Potomac rivers, all which are full of convenient and safe harbors. There are also abundance of lesser rivers, many of which are capable of receiving the biggest merchant ships, viz: Elizabeth river, Nansemond, Chickahominy, Pocoson, Pamunkey, Mattapony, (which two last are the two upper branches of York river,) North river, Eastermost river, Corotoman, Wiccocomoco, Pocomoke, Chissenessick, Pungotegue, and many others. But because they are so well described in the large maps of Virginia, I shall forbear any farther description of them.

These rivers are of such convenience, that for almost every half dozen miles of their extent, there is a commodious and safe road for a whole fleet, which gives opportunity to the masters of ships to lie up and down straggling, according as they have made their acquaintance, riding before that gentleman's door where they find the best reception, or where 'tis most suitable to their business.

-- 5. These rivers are made up by the conflux of an infinite number of crystal springs of cool and pleasant water, issuing everywhere out of the banks and sides of the valleys. These springs flow so plentifully, that they make the river water fresh fifty, threescore, and sometimes a hundred miles below the flux and reflux of the tides, and sometimes within thirty or forty miles of the bay itself. The conveniences of these springs are so many, they are not to be numbered. I shall therefore content myself to mention that one of supplying the country elsewhere, except in the lowlands, with as many mills as they can find work for; and some of these send forth such a glut of water, that in less than a mile below the fountain head, they afford a stream sufficient to supply a grist mill, of which there are several instances.

-- 6. The only mischief I know belonging to these rivers is, that in the month of June annually, there rise up in the salts, vast beds of seedling-worms, which enter the ships, sloops or boats wherever they find the coat of pitch, tar, or lime worn off the timber, and by degrees eat the plank into cells like those of a honey-comb. These worms continue thus upon the surface of the water, from their rise in June until the first great rains after the middle of July, but after that do no fresh damage till the next summer season, and never penetrate farther than the plank or timber they first fix upon.

The damage occasioned by these worms may be four several ways avoided.

1. By keeping the coat (of pitch, lime and tallow, or whatever else it is) whole upon the bottom of the ship or vessel, for these worms never fasten nor enter, but where the timber is naked.

2. By anchoring the large vessel in the strength of the tide, during the worm season, and hauling the smaller ash.o.r.e; for in the current of a strong tide, the worm cannot fasten.

3. By burning and cleaning immediately after the worm season is over; for then they are but just stuck into the plank, and have not buried themselves in it; so that the least fire in the world destroys them entirely, and prevents all damage that would otherwise ensue from them.

4. By running up into the freshes with the ship or vessel during the five or six weeks that the worm is thus above water; for they never enter, nor do any damage in fresh water, or where it is not very salt.

CHAPTER III.

OF THE EARTH AND SOILS.

-- 7. The soil is of such variety, according to the difference of situation, that one part or other of it seems fitted to every sort of plant that is requisite either for the benefit or pleasure of mankind.

And were it not for the high mountains to the northwest, which are supposed to retain vast magazines of snow, and by that means cause the wind from that quarter to descend a little too cold upon them, 'tis believed that many of those delicious summer fruits, growing in the hotter climates, might be kept there green all the winter without the charge of housing, or any other care, than what is due to the natural plants of the country, when transplanted into a garden. But as that would be no considerable charge, any man that is curious might, with all the ease imaginable, preserve as many of them as would gratify a moderate luxury; and the summer affords genial heat enough to ripen them to perfection.

There are three different kinds of land, according to the difference of situation, either in the lower parts of the country, the middle, or that on the heads of the rivers.