A new and comprehensive gazetteer of Virginia, and the District of Columbia, Part 81

Author: Martin, Joseph. ed. cn; Brockenbrough, William Henry
Publication date: 1835
Publisher: Charlottesville, J. Martin
Number of Pages: 1278

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USA > Virginia > A new and comprehensive gazetteer of Virginia, and the District of Columbia > Part 81

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In the year 1613, the first act passed for regulating lawyers ; though they had cer- tainly attended the several courts before that period. By the first law on the subject, no attorney was permitted to plead, without a license; which was grantable by the court in which he practised ; nor could an attorney have a license from more courts than the quarter, and one county court, -- Their fees were twenty pounds of tobacco, in the county, and fifty pounds in the quarter court : and no attorney could refuse to be retained unless employed on the other side. In 1615, all mercenary attornies were expelled from office : In 1617, that aet was amended by adding a clause to it declaring that no attornies should take any fees ; and if the court should perceive that either par- ty, by his weakness, was likely to lose his cause, they themselves should either open the case or " appoint some fit man ont of the people," to plead the cause, and allow him a reasonable compensation : no other attornies were admitted. In 1656, the act prohibiting attornies was repealed; the governor and council were authorised to li- cense them for the quarter courts, and the commissioners for the county courts, and

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IIISTORY OF VIRGINIA.

if any controversy should arise concerning their fees, it was to be settled by the courts ,respectively. In 1657-8, the law against mercenary attornies, was again revived.

An inspection of the different fee bills will shew the simplicity of judicial proceed- ings, and the small compensation allowed to the officers of court. The first officers whose fees were established by law, were the secretary who was clerk of the quarter- court, and the marshall, who executed the same duties which devolved upon the she- riff, after the appointment of that officer, which was not until the year 1634. The fees of clerks and sheriffs embraced but few objects, and were very moderate.

Clerks of county courts were, at one time, appointed by the governor, but after- wards by the courts themselves. Commissioners of county courts, (the same as jus- tices of the peace) were formerly appointed by the governor, afterwards by act of as- sembly ; but at the commencement of the commonwealth they were appointed by the house of burgesses ; afterwards they were recommended by their courts, and commis- sioned by the governor and council, and finally their appointment was confirmed by the assembly. During the same period the county courts recommended three or more to the governor and council, out of which they made a selection for sheriffs, who were to continue in office for one year only.

No representative government was ever instituted in which the principles of uni- versal suffrage, and of full representation, were carried further than in Virginia. The right of suffrage was originally exercised by ALL. freemen; who were not compellable to go from their plantations to vote for burgesses; but might give their suffrages by subscribing a paper. This mode having been attended with considerable inconveni- ence, it was provided that all future elections should be by plurality of voices present ; and a fine was imposed on all free men, who should fail to attend at the time and place appointed for the election. The number of burgesses to a plantation or settlement (be- fore the formation of countics) was unlimited; nor does it appear that, at that time, any particular qualifications were necessary. After counties were laid off, the num- ber of representatives to a county remained without limitation, until November, 1645, when they were reduced to four to each county, except James City county, which might send five, and the city itself one; and the election was directed to be held where the county courts were, except in those places which were specially authorised by act of assembly to hold elections. These were certain parishes to which that privilege was granted; and it was afterwards extended to all parishes, they paying the expenses of their burgesses, as the counties in general were compelled to do in relation to theirs. At the March session, 1660-1, the number of burgesses was limited to two for each county, and one for James City, it being the metropolis.

The first act which in the smallest degree abridged the right of suffrage, or pre- scribed the qualifications of the members, passed at the March session, 1654-5. By this act . it was declared, that the persons who should be elected to serve in assembly be such, and no "other than such, as were persons of known integrity and of good " conversation, and of the age of one and twenty years." That all house keepers, " whether freeholders, lease-holders, or otherwise tenants, should only be capable to elect burgesses ;" provided that the term " house-keepers should extend no further than " to one person in a family." At the next session, however, so much of this act as excluded ANY FREEMAN from voting was repealed: the assembly declaring " that they conceived it something hard and unagreeable to reason that any persons should pay " equal taxes, and yet have no votes in election." . In the revisal of 1657-8, the same principle is preserved ; the right of suffrage being extended to " ALL persons inhabiting " in the colony, that are FREE MEN." By an aet of 1670, that right was, for the first time, confined to FREE HOLDERS only ; and the necessity of this qualification was fur -. ther enforced by instructions from king Charles II, to sir Wm. Berkeley, governor, in 1676: " You shall take care," says the second article of the instructions, " that the "members of the assembly be elected, only by FREE HOLDERS, as being more agreeable " to the custome of England, to which you are as nigh as conveniently you can to con- form yourselfe."

Bridges and ferries were at first established and maintained at public expense ; but this being considered burthensome to the inhabitants of many of the counties, espe- cially the poor, who seldom used them; the law, as to ferries, was repealed, and the county courts vested with power to establish ferries on the application of individuals, . and fix their rates, The exclusive right of establishing ferries was afterwards re- sumed by the assembly ; and having exercised it for a series of years, to the great mu- terruption of other public business, the legislature at the session of 1806, restored 10" the county courts the power exercised by them so long ago as the year 1617.

الوج ر

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CHAPTER V.

BACON'S REBELLION-HOSTILE DESIGNS OF THE FRENCH.

Indifference to change in England,-Navigation act,-Convicts,-Con- spiracy detected,-Discontents,-Cessation from tobacco planting for one year,-Royal grants,-Virginia's remonstrance,-Success of depu- tics,-Indian hostilities,-Army raised and disbanded by governor,- People petition for an army,-elect Bacon commander,-he marches without commission and defeats Indians,-pursued by governor, who retreats on hearing of rising at James Town,-Governor makes conces- sions,-Bacon prisoner,-is pardoned .- People force commission from governor,-Bacon marches to meet Indians,-hears he is declared a rebel by Berkeley,-marches to meet him,-he flees to Accomac,-Con- vention called and free government established .- Bacon defeats the Indians,-Berkeley obtains possession of the shipping, and occupies James Town,-is beseiged by Bacon, and driven out,-James Town burnt .- Death of Bacon,-character of his enterprise .- Predatory warfare,-treaty between governor and his opponents,-Cruelty of Berkeley,-King's commissioners,-Departure of Berkeley and" his death .- Acts of Assembly passed during Bacon's influence .- Conduct of king's commissioners,-Culpeper governor,-Discontexts,-Conduct of Beverly .- Howard governor .- General conduct of Virginia and progress of affairs .- Plan of Callier for dividing the British colonics,

As Virginia had provided for herself a government substantially free, the political changes in England could have little effect upon her repose, provided no attempt was made to interfere with the freedom of her trade, or her local government. She seemed content to be under the protection rather than control, of whatever power the people of England thought: proper to place at the head of affairs, provided that power did not seek to' extend the conceded authority. In this mood she had adhered to Charles I. until the Parliament by its commissioners promised a preservation of all! her privileges; she acknowledged Cromwell upon a similar promise, and. his son Richard under the same idea ; upon his resignation she held her -: self aloof, thus proving how perfect and how independent was her own local government, until the voice of England should declare who should. rule ; and upon the accession of Charles II. she gave in her allegiance to him. As in all these British changes she remained unconcerned and un-' moved, so the last caused neither extraordinary joy or regret. The colo- nists thus free from external sources of uneasiness, proceeded to legislate upon internal matters ; providing rewards for the encouragement of silk :. and other staples ; negociating with Carolina and Maryland for the adop- tion of uniform measures for the improvement of tobacco, and diminishing its quantity ; and providing for the erection of public buildings, the improve- ment of James Town, and other subjects of general utility.

Whilst the colonists wore proceeding in this useful occupation they were 1663. alarmed by the intelligence of the reenaction of the navigation act, . od': 's with new prohibitions, and armed with new penalties. The

العار ٢٤ مجم

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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.

Virginians had long enjoyed a very beneficial trade with other countries besides England, and had early perceived its advantages, often urging the propriety of its continuance, and contending that "freedom of trade was the life of a commonwealth." But the object of the navigation act was to con- fine its trade exclusively to England, for the encouragement of English shipping and the emolument of English merchants, as well as the promo- tion of the king's revenue ; without regard to the gross injury done to the colony by depriving her of the benefit of competition in her harbors. The colony remonstrated in vain, and continued boldly her trade with all such foreigners as would venture to encounter the risque of being taken by. the English cruisers and encountering the penalties of the act.

It appears to have been for some time the practice to send felons and other obnoxious persons to the colony, to expiate their offences by serving the planters for a term of years. At the restoration many of the veteran soldiers of Cromwell to whom it was anticipated the return of the ancien regime would not be particularly palatable, were shipped to Virginia to work off their spleen in the cultivation of tobacco. It appears that this new business was not as agreeable to them as they had found the psalmn- singing and plundering of the royalists under the command of their devout leader ; and they accordingly quickly organized an insurrection, by the operation of which they were to change places with such of their masters as were left alive by the process. But this out-breaking which seems to have been well planned and extensively organized, was prevented by the compunction of one of their associates, who disclosed the whole affair to the governor the evening before it was to have gone into effect; and ade- Feb. 13. quate means were taken to prevent the design. Four of the con- spirators were executed. But this evil of importing jail-birds as they were called, increased to such an extent that it was prohibited by the General Court in 1670, under severe penalties .*

The increase in the amount of tobacco raised by the increase of the colony June 5, 1666, and the settlement of Maryland and Carolina, far outstripped the. increase of taste for it, rapid as that was, and caused such a glut of the commodity that its price fell to an amount utterly ruinous to the planter. In this the exclusive privilege of purchase which England enjoyed, notwithstanding the extensive contraband trade, no doubt largely contributed; but this the planters could not prevent, and their only remaining resource was in diminishing the amount of tobacco raised. To effect this various schemes had been devised, but they were all liable to be evaded, and were if successful, too partial in their operation to effect the object desired. Nothing could be efficient, short of a total cessation from planting for 'one year, and this was at last accomplished after long negotiations with Mary- Jand and Carolina.

Many other staples had been recommended from time to time to the planters, and even encouraged by bounties and. rewards, and this year it was thought would give them more leisure to attend to the subject. But it is not probable that many engaged in the occupations proposed, which re- quired the investment of capital, the acquisition of skill, and the aid of time to render them profitable; and the year's leisure only served to increase the growing discontent, especially as towards its end Maryland began to be suspected of bad faith.

*lIcning, v. 1I. p. 510.

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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.

There were other causes of discontent which probably prevailed between different classes of society. Loud complaint was made of the manner in which taxes were levied, entirely on persons without regard to property, which as there must have been a very large class of poor. free persons now existing from the frequent emancipation, and expiration of the terms of those who came over as servants, besides those who were free but poor when they came to the country, must have created considerable excitement. An effort was made to remedy this evil by laying a tax on property but ineffectually; the only result being a small export duty on tobacco, in aid of the general revenue.

While the taxes bore thus hard upon the poorer portion of the communi- ty they also had just reason to complain of exclusion from the right of suffrage by an act of 1670, and from the Legislature, to which none but freeholders could be chosen ; as well as of the enormous pay which the Burgesses appropriated to themselves, of one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco per diem, and one hundred for their horses and servants. The forts were also complained of as a source of heavy expenditure without any benefit; their chief use indeed being rather injurious, as they kept off traders who violated the navigation acts.

But these evils in domestic legislation were trivial compared with those produced by the criminal prodigality of Charles, who wantonly made exorbitant grants to his favorites of large tracts of lands, without a knowl- edge of localities, and consequently without regard to the claims or even the settlements of others. To cap the climax of royal munificence the gay monarch in perhaps a merry mood, granted to Lords Culpeper and Arlington the whole colony of Virginia for thirty-one years, with privileges effectually royal, as far as the colony was concerned, only re- serving some mark of homage to himself. This might be considered at court perhaps as a small bounty to a favorite, but was taken in a very seri- ous light by the forty thousand people thus unceremoniously transferred. The Assembly in its extravagance only took from them a great proportion of their profits ; but the king was filching their capital, their lands, and their homes which they had inherited from their fathers, or laboriously ac- quired by their own strenuous exertion.

The Legislature sent three deputies to England to remonstrate with the king against these intolerable grants, to endeavor to procure his assent to some charter which might secure them against such impositions for the future; and if they should fail in the first of these objects to endeavor to buy out the rights of the patentees. To bear the expense of these three deputies, Mr. Ludwell, Mr. Morryson, and Mr. Smith, the enormous annual tax of fifty pounds of tobacco was laid upon every tithable person for two . years, which, though it was for a popular object, was considered as of itself an intolerable grievance, at which we cannot wonder when we reflect that many who had to pay this tax did not own a foot of land. The amount can only be accounted for by supposing much of it was to be used as secret service money, with such of his majesty's minions as could only see justice through a golden medium.

These deputies exerted themselves with remarkable success, and pro- cured from the king an order for a charter, precisely in conformity to the petition which they presented, and providing against the grievances cf which they complained ; especially grants from the crown without infor- mation from the governor and council in Virginia that such grant would

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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.

be of no injury ; dependence immediately upon the crown of England and not on any subfeudatory ; and exemption from taxation without consent of the Grand Assembly. His majesty ordered the solicitor general and attor- ney general. to prepare a bill embodying these and the other matters em- braced in their petition in due legal form for his signature ; but the matter, notwithstanding the most assiduous attention of the deputies, was so long delayed in going through the official forms that it was finally stopped, be- fore its completion, in the Hanaper office, by the news of Bacon's Rebel- lion .*

Soon after the deputies left Virginia, the difficulties of the colony had been increased by the addition of an Indian war, which although not now as formerly a matter causing danger of destruction to the whole colony, and requiring all its strength to repel it, was yet a subject of great terror and annoyance to the frontier.

A standing army of five hundred men, one-fourth of which was to consist Mar. 7. 1675. of cavalry, was raised by the Legislature, and every provision 1 : made for their support and regulation ;t but after it was raised and in a complete state of preparation to march against the Indians, it was .. suddenly disbanded by the governor without any apparent cause.# This was followed by earnest petitions to the governor from various quarters of the coun- try, to grant a commission to some person to chastise the Indians, the petition- - ers offering to serve in the expedition at their own expense. This reasonable request was refused, and the people seeing their country left defenceless to the inroads of a savage foe, assembled of themselves in their primary capacity, in virtue of their right of self-defence, to march against the ene- my. They chose for their leader Nathaniel Bacon, junior, a young gen- tleman of highly respectable family and education, who although he had . returned to Virginia but three years before, from the completion of his studies in England, had already received the honor of a colonel's rank in the militia and a seat in the Legislature for Henrico, in which county his estate lay,-exposed by its situation to the fury of the Indians. He stood high in the colony, and was possessed of courage, talent and address which fitted him well for such an enterprise. > After Bacon had been selected by this volunteer army as their leader, his first step was to apply to the governor for a commission, in order if possible to have the sanction of the legitimate authorities for his conduct. . The governor evaded this rational and respectful request, by saying that he could not decide upon so impor- tant a matter without. his council, which he summoned to consult, at the same time artfully hinting to Bacon the injury which he might probably ; do himself by persevering in his course.§ Bacon despatched messengers to James Town to; receive the commission which he did not doubt would be ultimately granted ; and as public impatience would not abide the dila- tory proceedings of the governor, and he. was probably nettled at the in- sinuations addressed to his selfishness, in the governor's communication,- he proceeded on his expedition, authorized only by the will of the people, the danger of the country, and the anxious wish of those who trusted their lives to his control.

Hening, vol. II. p. 531.

t Heniug, vol. II. 327.

# Breviare and Conclusum in Burke v. II. p. 250.

§ Ancient Records quoted by Burk, vol. II. p. 163.

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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.

Sir William Berkeley, (whose conduct notwithstanding the high enco- miums bestowed upon him, seems to have been marked in ordinary times only by a haughty condescension, which in his excellency was called suavity of manners, and in times of difficulty, by vacillating imbecility,) after tem- . porising in the most conciliating manner with Bacon until his departure, now denounced him and his followers as mutineers and traitors for daring ? to defend their country after his excellency had refused them a commission'; [+ and gathering together such forces as he could collect consisting princi-> pally of the wealthy aristocrats in the settled country, who probably liked the mode of taxation which was least injurious to them, and who suffered little from Indian incursions upon the frontier, he marched to put down the rebellious troops. He had not proceeded further than the falls of James3 river, when he received intelligence of a rising in the neighborhood of James 'Town of a more formidable nature than Bacon's, which compelled him to retreat and take care of affairs at home. This new ebullition of: feeling was headed by Ingram and Walklate, and was probably produced by the indignation of the common people at the absurd conduct of the) governor in first refusing a commission to Bacon, and then marching to> destroy him, whilst engaged in so useful an occupation; be this as it may, ' we find them insisting upon dismantling the forts which were intolerably . oppressive, without producing any good effect against an enemy whose. progress was by stealth, whose onset was sudden and furious, and whose" retreat was immediate. Against such an enemy active operations, in the> field were required, and the vigorous prosecution of the war in his own country. The forts probably were regarded by the poor as instruments of power in the hands of the rich; which they kept up by oppressive acts whilst they took measures to put down Bacon's operations, which consti- tuted the only hope which the people had for protection. The governor was obliged to yield to the storm. , The forts were ordered to be dismant- led, and the obnoxious Assembly was dissolved, and writs issued for a new election, in which for the first time freemen, as distinguished from freehold- ers, were elected.

In the mean time Bacon had been very successful in defeating the In- dians, destroying their towns, and taking them captive, and was returning leisurely to James Town. when he heard of the revolution there. . This induced him to leave his little army and with a few followers embark for. James Town, but he was taken on his. voyage by Gardiner who was cruis- ing to intercept him ; and sent a prisoner to the governor .. Bacon had. been elected a member for Henrico in the new Legislature, and was par- doned and permitted to take his seat upon his confessing the impropriety and disobedience of: his conduct, praying pardon of the governor and pro- mising future obedience. Credible report* says that he was induced to make this full and humiliating acknowledgmentt upon a promise by the governor not only of pardon but of a commission; and indeed without supposing it the result of a compromise, it is difficult to account either for this act, or his subsequent conduct. The causes which induced his next step are not sufficiently explained by the historians of the times, but it was probably produced by the solicitations of his friends in the Legislature, who found that they could gain no redress of grievances. He collected

*See Breviare and Conclusum in Burk, v. II. p. 251.

· t Hening, v. II. p. 543.

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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.

troops in the country, and marched to James Town; he surrounded the state house with his enraged soldiers, demanding a commission for him, which by the carnest solicitation of the Council and Assembly was at length obtained from the governor, together with a full act of indemnity for his present conduct, and a letter highly applauding his designs and his proceedings addressed to the king and signed by the Burgesses, the Coun- cil and the governor.

Thus relieved from all former sources of fear and provided against fu- ture contingencies Bacon again sallied forth towards the frontier. But the governor had not long been relieved from his presence before he dis- . solved the Assembly and retiring into Gloucester again declared Bacon a rebel and his army traitors, and raised the standard of opposition. Upon being informed of this Bacon immediately fell back by forced marches upon Gloucester, and compelled his puissant excellency to retreat with precipitation to Accomac. This county was at that time considered as a distinct territory although under the control of Virginia, and Bacon taking advantage of this against an unpopular governor, called a convention for the purpose of settling the government, declaring that the governor had abdicated. This convention met at Middle Plantation on the third of August, 1676, and declared that the government was vacant by the abdi- cation of Sir William Berkeley, and that by invariable usage the council or the people might fill the vacancy until the king's pleasure should be known. Writs were then issued by five* members of the council for a new election of Burgesses. The convention next declared Sir William Berkeley guilty of aiding and abetting certain evil disposed persons in fomenting and stirring up the people to civil war ; and that they would aid in discovering all such evil disposed persons and opposing their forces until the king be fully informed of the state of the case; and that they would aid Bacon and his army against the common enemy, and in sup- pressing the horrid outrages and murders daily committed by them.

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A new and comprehensive gazetteer of Virginia, and the District of Columbia, Part 81

Author: Martin, Joseph. ed. cn; Brockenbrough, William Henry Publication date: 1835 Publisher: Charlottesville, J. Martin Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Martin, Joseph. ed. cn; Brockenbrough, William Henry
Publication date: 1835
Publisher: Charlottesville, J. Martin
Number of Pages: 1278