USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 > Part 2
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In consequence of the oppressions suffered by the Ulster Scotch, they again determined to seek religious liberty in the wilds of America. They built a ship, which they called Eaglewing, and on September, 9th, 1636, one hundred and forty of them, including several ministers, embarked for New England. They encountered heavy storms, and when near the banks of New Foundland concluded that it was not the Lord's will they should proceed. Therefore they turned back, and on the 3rd of March, came to anchor in Loch Fergus.
The deposed ministers continued to preach as they had opportui- nity, but steps were taken to arrest them. They, therefore, escaped to Scotland, to which country many of the people fled to avoid the fines and other punishments which began to be inflicted on the non- conforming laity. The number of refugees was so large as to seriously effect the prosperity of the province. Many who did not fly were com- mitted to prison. During that time it was customary for many people to go over from Ireland at the stated communion services in Scotland ; and on one occasiou, says Reid. "five hundred persons, principally from county Down, visited Scotland, to receive that ordinance from the hands of Mr. Livingston." It was ascertained in 1638, that the num- ber of men in Ulster, able to bear arms, was above forty thousand.
In May, 1639, all the residents in Ulster above the age of sixteen, male and female, except Catholics, were required by proclamation to
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take what was known as the "Black Oath," binding them to yield an unconditional obedience to all royal commands, civil or religious, just or unjust. Many of the people refused to take the oath in the unqali- fied forni in which it was proposed. On these the heaviest penalties of the law, short of death, were inflicted. Crowds of defenceless females fled to the woods, and concealed themselves in caves. Respec- table persons were bound together with chains and confined in dunge- ons. Several were dragged to Dublin and heavily fined. Multitudes fled to Scotland, leaving their homes to go to ruin; while so many of the laboring people abandoned the country, that it was scarcely possi- ble to carry on the work of harvest.
After Land and Strafford were hurled from power, and the King was deposed, Ireland, for a time, enjoyed peace and unprecedented prosperity. To the Catholics, as well as the Protestants of all sects, ample toleration was allowed. In 1641, however, the native Irish rose in rebellion. "The insurrection," says Reid, "was speedily converted into a religious war, carried on with a vindictive fury and a savage ferocity which have been seldom exceeded." Many women and chil- dren were ruthlessly slaughtered. Ulster was converted into "a field of blood." About thirty ministers were massacred. The brunt of the conflict fell upon the people of English origin. In addition, a pes- tilence broke out which swept off many thousands of people. The rebellion extended to other parts of Ireland, but more moderation was displayed by the confederate Roman Catholics, and many of theni denounced in strong terms the massacres which had almost depopula- ted Ulster.
As a body, the Presbyterians suffered less by the rebellion than any other class. Many of them had retired to Scotland to escape the tyranny of Strafford and the severities of the Bishops, and were thus preserved. Those who remained in the country were, at first, unmo- lested by the Irish, and by the time the storm fell on them, they were prepared for the attack, and frequently repulsed the assailants. Troops arrived from Scotland, and during the year 1642, the rebellion was suppressed. Few of the English clergy, and not one prelate, remained in Ulster. The people of Scottish birth or descent, who had left the Province, gradually returned, and this class became a majority of tlie population.
During the existence of the Commonwealth, the Presbyterians in Ulster were for a time not molested by the government, and Reid states that they were joined by many of the Episcopal clergy. From this period, he further says, may be dated the commencement of the "Second Reformation" with which the Province was favored.
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The motion of "bringing home the King," Charles II, is said to have been made first by ministers of the Church of Scotland, and in this they displayed little worldly wisdom, as they demanded no guar- antees for civil and religious liberty. But they were no doubt deluded by the promises made by Charles while in exile. He was proclaimed King in London May 8th, and in Dublin May 14, 1660, and it was not long till he repudiated all his promises and even solemn oaths. He de- clared in favor of Prelacy, refused toleration to Nonconformists, and named Bishops for all the dioceses in Ireland.
It was during the seven preceding years that the Presbyterian church in Ulster acquired strength to withstand the storms which afterwards arose. In 1653, scarcely more than a half dozen ministers ventured to remain in the country ; in 1660, however, there were not less than seventy ministers regularly settled, having under them eiglity congregations, embracing a population of about one hundred thousand.
As usual at such times, many persons who had been zealous suppor- ters of Cromwell, proved their new-born loyalty to the King by de- nouncing and persecuting those whom they had shortly before pursued for their attachment to monarchy.
The Irish Parliament met on the 8th of May, the House of Lords being composed largely of the Bishops. The new speaker of the Con- mons had been a violent opponent of prelacy. but was now an ardent conformist. A declaration was put forth establishing the former eccle- astical laws, and forbidding all to preach who would not conform. The dissenting ministers remained among their people, however, and offic- iating in private, were not immediately molested.
The Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, convinced of the loyalty of the Presbyterians, refrained from harassing them ; and the oppressions of the ecclesiastical courts and the exorbitant demands of the established clergy for tithes, constituted their principal griev- ances. At this time the people of Scotland were suffering the most intolerable persecution, and the Ulster Scotch lived in comparative peace and comfort. Their ministers preached in barns, and adminis- tered the sacraments in the night. By degrees they attained to such freedom, that in 1668, they began to build meeting-houses, and to officiate in public. They were, however, precluded from ordaining new ministers, and from holding meetings for the exercise of ecclesias- tical jurisdiction. Even at the burial of their dead, they were hardly permitted to conduct the services according to their own usages.
In the year 1672, a strange thing happened in the history of the Ulster Dissenters-King Charles II, of his own motion, ordered twelve
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hundred pounds to be distributed annually to the ministers, in consid- eration of their former sufferings on account of their loyalty ; and the grant was continued for many years under successive sovereigns. Thus a body of men not recognized by law, and legally outlaws, were the recipients of royal bounty. (We should feel more respect for them if they had declined the gift.) But throughout, the trouble to which Dissenters were subjected, was not caused so much by the civil as by the ecclesiastical authorities. Dean Swift, High Churchinan as he was, gives a woful account of the Bishops of the Irish established church. He describes them as highwaymen, who waylayed and mur- dered the persons appointed in England, and stealing their credentials, came to Dublin and were consecrated in their stead. *
For many years, the Dissenters were harrassed on account of marriages solemnized by their ministers, although publicly, after proc- lamation, and after payment of fees to the established clergy. Such marriages, although irregular, were recognized, and the offspring treat- ed as legitimate, by the civil courts. But the Bishops considered them serious ecclesiastical offences. In their courts the marriages were de- clared to be void, the parties guilty of the sin of fornication, and their children pronounced bastards.
The battle of Bothwell Bridge, in Scotland, occurred on June 22, 1679. Some of the prisoners taken there and who escaped, made their way to Ulster, and from them many of the people of Augusta County have descended. #
For observing a fast-day in 1681, four ministers were sentenced to pay a fine of twenty pounds each, or be imprisoned, and were confined
* Fronde.
# An appendix to the old Scotchi book called "A Cloud of Witnesses," says: "Anno 1679, of the prisoners taken at Bothwell, were banished to America, 250 who were taken away by - Paterson, a merchant of Leith, who transacted for them with Provost Milns, Laird of Barnton, the man that first burnt the covenant, whereof 200 were drowned by shipwreck at a place called the Mulehead of Darness, near Orkney, being shut up by the said Paterson's order beneath the hatches-50 escaped." The Bothwell prisoners were herded like cattle for many months in Grayfriars' churchyard, Edinburgh, without shelter, half clad and half starved. Those who refused to take the oath of allegiance to the persecuting government were sentenced to banishment. The list of these men reads like a muster roll of Angusta county people, including the familiar names of Anderson, Bell, Brown, Brownlee, Cochran, Craig, Campbell, Finley, Hutchison. Hamilton, Henderson, Morrison, Reid, Scott, Steele, Waddell, Walker, White, Wilson, &c. The following are the names of some of the prisoners who survived the shipwreck and escaped to Ireland : John Thomson, William Waddell, John Gardner, Thomas Miller, Thomas Thomson, Andrew Thomson, Hugh Montgomery, John Martin, Andrew Clark and James Young.
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for more than eight months. Thereupon the meeting houses in Ulster were closed, and public worship prohibited. This state of affairs con- tinuing for several years, many of the ministers declared their inten- tion to emigrate to America, but were induced to remain, hoping for better times.
James II came to the throne in February, 1685, and then the clergy and members of the established church began to feel the brint of persecution. Every favor was shown by the King to Roman Cath- olics, and to gain the support of Dissenters, he issued his "Declaration for liberty of conscience." This afforded relief to the Presbyterians, and the fears of the established clergy for their own safety induced them to relax in their severities towards Nonconformists. In this hour of peril, the Presbyterians forgot their recent sufferings, and made common cause with the Episcopalians iu opposition to the despotic and bigoted monarch. They were the first to hail the arrival of William, Prince of Orange. The native Irish rose in behalf of King James, and a general massacre of Protestants was threatened. In 1688, the Earl of Antrim, a partisan of James, was approaching Londonderry to occu- py it with his regiment. A majority of the established clergy inculcat- ed the necessity of non-resistance ; but a number of resolute youths, called "The Prentice Boys of Derry," encouraged by the bulk of the inhabitants, seized the keys and closed the gates against the Earl. The small town of Derry thus became the only refuge of the Protestants of Ulster. Upon the march northward of the army of James, says Ma- cauley, "all Lisburn fled to Antrim, and, as the foes drew near, all Lisburn and Antrim together came pouring into Londonderry. Thirty thousand Protestants, of both sexes and of every age were crowded be- hind the bulwarks of the City of Refuge. The ordinary population of the town and suburbs furnished only about six hundred fighting men ; but when the siege began there were 7,300 men armed for defence." Dissenters having been luded from offices in the army, none of that class were fitted by pr ous military experience for command. There- fore a majority of the nigher officers were of the Church of England. A majority of the inferior officers, captains and others, were Presbyte- rians, and of the soldiers and people generally, the Dissenters out- numbered the others by fifteen to one. The commanding officer, Lundy, proposed to surrender ; but the great body of the soldiers and people, headed by Capt. Adam Murray, defeated the scheme, and Lundy was compelled to fly from the town in disguise. Even the Rev. Mr. Walker, the assistant governor, who afterwards claimed most of the credit of the defence for himself, wavered and was disposed to capitit- late. *
Reid.
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"Now," says Froude, in his History of Ireland, "was again wit- nessed what Calvinism-though its fires were waning-could do in making commou men into heroes. Deserted by the English regiments, betrayed by their own commander, without stores and half armed, the shopkeepers and apprentices of a commercial town prepared to defend an unfortified city against a disciplined army of 25,000 men, led by trained officers, and amply provided with artillery. They were cut off from the sea by a boom across the river. Fever, cholera and famine came to the aid of the besiegers. Rats came to be danties, and hides and shoe leather were ordinary fare. They saw their children pine away and die-they were wasted themselves till they could scarce handle their firelocks on their ramparts." Still they held on through more than three miserable months. Finally, a frigate and two provis- ion ships came in, and Derry was saved. The garrison had been re- duced to about three thousand men. Enniskillen was successfully de- fended in like manner.
Seldom has an unfortified and ill-supplied place been defended with such obstinate valor. On the 31st of July, the siege was raised, having lasted 105 days. Before retiring the army of James lost an hundred officers and between 8,000 and 9,000 men.
The Duke of Schomberg and his army arrived in August, and secured comparative peace and safety to the inhabitants. Soon there- after, King William wrote to Schomberg, recommending the Ulster Scotch to his protection.
The law prohibiting Presbyterian ministers from officiating in public was still in force, and Presbyterians were still legally incapable of holding any public office. These laws, however, were not enforced for a time. But as soon as the recent danger was over, there was a renewal of unfriendly feeling on the part of the established clergy to- wards the Presbyterians, and occasionally one of the former sought to revive the penalties of the law against a dissenting brother.
The first step which King William caused to be taken for the re- lief of the Irish Presbyterians, was the abolition of the oath of supre- macy. Accordingly, the English Parliament passed an act, in 1691, abolishing the oath, and substituting another which the dissenters did not scruple to take, and thereby all public employments were opened up to them. Still the public exercise of their religious worship, thoughi connived at, was legally prohibited under heavy penalties.
It was well known that King William was anxious to obtain from the British Parliament the abolition of tests, and to secure for his Dis- senting subjects in England ample toleration ; but his plans were de- feated by the Higli Church party. The same influence arrested his
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measures for the protection of the Irish Presbyterians. The Irish Bishops, who constituted a majority of their House of Lords, insisted upon "Sacramental Tests," by which all public officers should be re- quired to receive the communion as administered by the clergy of the Church of England. Public opinion and the favor of the executive relieved Dissenters from some of their annoyances ; and the parochial clergy generally and Presbyterian ministers co-operated in repairing the disasters of the war.
The matter of marriages by Presbyterian clergymen was again brought forward. The ministers were "libeled" in the Bishop's courts for celebrating the marriages of their own people, and heavy penalties were imposed upon them; and the parties married were con- demned, either publicly to confess themselves guilty of sinful cohabi- tation, or to pay heavy fines to the officers of the Courts ; while the marriages of those who refused to submit, were declared void, and their children pronounced illegitimate. No attempt was made, how- ever, by the established clergy, to have the validity of such marriages tested in the civil courts, for the reason that they had been held to be valid contracts, though irregularly entered into.
During the time of Cromwell, a number of French Protestant refugees settled in Ireland, and afterwards, upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, many more came over. Being of the same religious faith as the Ulster Presbyterians, they affiliated with them, and thus it is that some French names appear among the Scotch-Irishi.
King William died in March, 1702, all his efforts to obtain Par- liamentary relief and protection for the Dissenters in Ireland, having failed. Queen Anne immediately placed herself under the guidance of the High Church Tories, and from the beginning of her reign the series of anti-popery laws began, which have been the cause of so much misery to Ireland. The Sacramental Test Act was now enacted, by which all Nonconformists, Protestants and Catholics, were excluded from public offices. The Roman Catholics employed counsel to oppose the measure, and in his appeal he reminded the Parliament of the ser- vices of Protestant Dissenters in the defence of Londonderry and Enniskillen. They were then thought fit to command, he said. Whatever Papists might be thought to deserve, the Dissenters stood clear before the government, and to pass the bill would be an unkind return and poor encouragement for them or others to do likewise in a similar emergency. But all in vain. The bill was passed in 1704, and received the royal assent. Thenceforth no Presbyterian could hold any office, civil or military. A majority of the city officers of Londonderry were turned out, and that too in a city which most of
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these men liad contributed to preserve by their services and sufferings during the siege. * Thronghont Ulster most of the magistrates were ejected, and others appointed "who had nothing to recommend them but their going to church." (De Foe.)
In addition to the oppressions on account of their religion, the industry and commerce of the people of Ulster were systematically re- pressed by the English government. Twenty thousand people left Ulster on the destruction of their woolen trade in 1698. Many more were driven away by the passage of the Test Act. The wonder is that the whole people did not leave the country, and seek rest elsewhere from their intolerable harassments. But, notwithstanding their oppres- sions, they enjoyed a good degree of business prosperity, so that at one time they were able to send pecuniary relief to their suffering co- religionists in Holland. Their industry and thrift enabled them to survive, and to some extent flourish, in the midst of the oppressive ineasures of government. Moreover, they were constantly buoyed up by the hope of relief.
In 1711, the Tory party of England came into power again, and this political revolution was the signal of a fresh outburst of High Church zeal against Dissenters. Appeal after appeal was addressed by the Dissenters of Ireland to the authorities in England, and one Commissioner after another was sent to represent them before the Queen. Among the grievances complained of was the refusal of Epis- copal land owners to renew leases to Presbyterian tenants. They also complained of the Test Act and the oath of abjuration which some of their people scrupled to take.
A new Lord Lieutenant having come into office, some of the miin- isters of Ulster laid before him a statement of their grievances, and said they contemplated going to America that they might in a wilder- ness enjoy the quiet which was denied them in their native country.
In 1714, under the inspiration of the Tory party, the "schism bill" was passed, by which every Presbyterian in Ireland who ventured to teach school, except of the hmmmblest description, was liable to be imprisoned for three months. In various parts of Ulster Presbyterian catechisms and other religious books were seized when exposed for sale, and in several towns the Presbyterian churches were shut and nailed up.
The accession of George I to the throne, in 1714, arrested the career of the High Church party, and gave some relief to the Irish Presbyterians. Several leading members of the late Englishi ministry were arraigned for high treason. The Ulster people lost no time in
* Among the Burgesses removed from office was a Robert Gamble.
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appealing to the King, who uniformly showed a liberal spirit toward them.
In 1715, an invasion by the Pretender was threatened, and the Protestant militia of Ireland were called out. This proceeding placed members of the Presbyterian Church in an embarrassing position. If they enrolled, either as officers or privates, and received pay, they ex- posed themselves to the penalties of the Test Act ; and if they refused, they were liable to the charge of deserting their sovereign and country in the time of danger. A meeting of gentlemen was held at Belfast, and resolved to assist in the defence of the country and brave the pen- alties of the law. This action being communicated to the government authorities, parliamentary relief was promised, and accordingly a bill was introduced to exempt Dissenters in the militia from penalties. But it was opposed by the Bishops and abandoned. The House of Commons, however, adopted a resolution, declaring that any person who should commence a prosecution against any Dissenter who accepted a commission in the army or militia was "an enemy to King George and the Protestant interest, and a friend to the Pretender."
The Presbyterian people, though favored by the crown and pro- tected by the House of Commons, were still exposed to annoyances in regard to their marriages. The Rev. Gilbert Kennedy, alluding to the excommunications by the Bishops, says, in a letter, dated October 5th, 1716, "Our prelates are violent where I live. Four of my flock have been lately delivered to Satan for being married by me."
The Act of Toleration was passed in 1724, and by it liberty of worship was granted to Presbyterians, but other grievances were left nnredressed. Presbyterians were still subject to frequent prosecutions and expensive litigation in the ecclesiastical courts for the marriages celebrated by their clergy.
George I died, and was succeeded by his son George II in June, 1727. The highest authorities in the Irish church and State were then generally favorable to the Presbyterians. Dr. Boulton, the Epis- copal primate, was a friend to toleration and disposed to relieve Dis- senters of their grievances, except those arising out of tithes and church dues. As leases of lands expired, the proprietors began to raise their rents, and as the rents increased, the tithes, payable to the estab- lished clergy, increased in proportion. In addition, the three succes- sive harvests after 1724, were unfavorable. These discouragements, with the Test Act and other civil disabilities, caused the Presbyterians, in 1728, to look to America as a country for investment of capital and labor, and where religious liberty might be enjoyed. In 1718, six ministers and many of their people came to America. The passage of
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the Toleration Act and the hope of further relief, checked the spirit of emigration for a season. It revived in 1724, and in 1728 attracted the attention of the government. Archbishop Boulton sent to the Secretary of State in England, a "melancholy account," as he calls it, of the state of the North. He says the people who go complain of the oppressions they suffer, as well as the dearness of provisions. The whole North, he says, is in a ferment, and the humour has spread like a contagion. "The worst is," says the Archbishop, "that it affects only Protestants, and reigns chiefly in the North, which is the seat of our linen manufacture." Writing in March, 1729, he says : "There are now seven ships at Belfast, that are carrying off about 1000 pas- sengers tliither"-to America. From another source we learn that, in 1729, near 6000 Irish, nearly all Presbyterians, came to America, landing at Philadelphia. Before the middle of the century nearly 12,000 arrived annually for several years. Almost all who came to America were Presbyterians. Protestant Episcopalians did not have the same motive for emigration, and the tide of Catholic emigration from Ireland did not set in till after the American Revolution.
Another attempt was made to obtain the repeal of the Test Act, and again it failed. The only relief extended to the Presbyterians dur- ing the reign of George II, was an act, passed in 1738, exempting them from prosecution for marriages celebrated by ministers who had quali- fied under the Toleration Act.
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