USA > Virginia > Historical collections of Virginia : containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c. relating to its history and antiquities ; together with geographical and statistical descriptions ; to which is appended, an historical and descriptive sketch of the District of Columbia. > Part 7
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one of those matters of importance which could not be decided, by the terms of their charter, except at a regular quarterly meeting ; but the council would not listen to the proposition, ordering the company to meet again in three days, and give a clear, direct, and final answer. In obedience to this order, an extraordinary court was suatmoned. and the question of surrender submitted to their consideration, upon which only nine of the seventy present voted in its favor ; an answer was returned that they would defend their charter. The knowledge of these proceedings transpiring produced a shock to the credit of the company, which palsied for the time the spirit of commercial enterprise ; to remedy this evil the privy council declared that the private property of every one should be protected, and secured by additional guarantees if necessary ; that they should proceed with their regular business ; and all ships bound for Virginia should sail. To endeavor to discover something more authentic against the company than his secret conclave of commissioners had yet been able to obtain, the king now thought proper to Oct. 24, 1623, send John Harvey, John Pory, Abraham Piersey, Samuel Matthews, and John Jefferson, as commissioners to Virginia, " To make more particu- lar and diligent inquiry touching divers matters, which concerned the state of Virginia ; and in order to facilitate this inquiry, the governor and council of Virginia were ordered to assist the commissioners, in this scrutiny, by all their knowledge and influence."
The commissioners early in the ensuing year arrived in the 1624. colony. In all of this controversy between the king and the company, the colony not supposing its chartered rights were likely to be violated by either party, and feeling little interest in the discussion of rights which belonged entirely to others, and which they never supposed they were to possess ; had acted with entire neutrality, and cared little whether they were to be under the general superintendence of the courts of the company, or a council chosen by the king, so long as they could regulate their own affairs by their own General Assembly .*
In such a mood would the commissioners have found the colony and General Assembly, had they not procured copies of the two slanderous petitions, in spite of all the precautions of the king, and the secrecy of his council and commissioners. Although they felt little interest in the controversy, they felt great interest in defend- ing themselves from defamation, and their country from false and malicious representations, well calculated to disparage and depre- ciate it in the estimation of those with whom they wished it to Feb. 20, 1624. stand fairest. In six days from their meeting they had prepared spirited and able answers to these petitions ; declaring in their preamble, "that they, holding it a sin against God and their own sufferings, to permit the world to be abused with false reports, and to give to vice the reward of virtue,-They, in the name of the whole colony of Virginia, in their General Assembly met, many of them having been eye-wit-
* The king and company quarrelled, and, by a mixture of law and force, the latter were ousted of all their rights, without retribution, after having expended £100,000 in establishing the colony, without the smallest aid from the government. King James suspended their powers by proclamation of July 15, 1624, and Charles I took the government into his own bands. Both sides had their partisans in the colony ; but in truth the people of the colony in general thought themselves little concerned in the * dispute. There being three parties interested in these several charters, what passed between the first and second it was thought could not affect the third. If the king seized on the powers of the company, they only passed into other hands, without iu- crease or diminution, while the rights of the people remained as they were. Jefferson's Notes on Va., p. 152-3.
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messes and sufferers in those times, had framed, out of their duty to their country and love of truth, the following answer given to the praises of Sir T. Smith's government, in the said declaration."
They next drafted a petition to the king, which, with a letter to the privy council and the other papers, were com- mitted to the care of Mr. John Pountis, a member of the coun- cil, who was selected to go to England to represent the gen- eral interests of the colony before his majesty and the privy council ; and whose expenses were provided for by a - tax of four pounds of the best merchantable tobacco for every male person sixteen years of age, who had been in the country for one year. This gentleman unfortunately died on his passage. The letter to the privy council marks very strongly the value which they set even at that carly day upon the right of legislating for themselves ; the principal prayer in it being, " that the governors may not have absolute power, and that they might still retain the fiberty of popular assemblies, than which, nothing could more con- duce to the public satisfaction and public utility.
A. contest of wits was commenced between the commissioners and the Assembly `The former, under various pretexts, withheld from the latter a sight of their commission, · and the other papers with which they had been charged ; and the governor and the Assembly thought proper to preserve an equal mystery as to their own proceedings. In this dilemme Mr. Pory, who was one of the commissioners, and who had been secretary to the company, and discharged from his post fer betraying its councils to the earl of Warwick, now suborned Edward Sharpless, a clerk of the council, to give him copies of the proceedings of that body and of the Assembly. This treachery was discovered, and the clerk was punished with the loss of his ears; while an account was sent home to the company, expressive of the greatest abhorrence at the baseness and treachery of Pory. The commissioners finding their secret manwovring defeated, nest endeavored, by the most artful wheedling, to induce the Assembly to petition the crown for a revo- cation of the charter. In reply to this the Assembly asked for their authority to make such a proposition, which of course they could not give without betraying their secret instructions, and were compelled to answer the requisition in general terms and profes- sions. The Assembly took no farther notice of the commissioners, but proceeded with their ordinary legislation.
Thirty-five acts of this Assembly have been preserved to the present time, and exhibi:, with great strength, the propriety and good sense with which men can pass laws for the re- gulation of their own interests and concerns. One of these acts establishes at once, in the znost simple and intelligible language, the great right of exemption from taxation without representation ; it runs in these words :- " The governor shall not lay any taxes or impo- sitions upon the colony, their lands or commodities, other way than by the authority of the General Assembly, to be levied and employed as the said Assembly shall appoint." By a subsequent act it was declared that the governor should not withdraw the inhabitants from their private labors to any service of his own. upon any color whatsoever and in case the public service required the employment of many hands, before the holding of a General Assembly, he was to order it, and the levy of men was to be made by the governor and whole body of the council. in such manver as would be least burdensome to the people and most free from partiality. To encourage good conduct, the old planters who had been in the colony since the last arrival of Gates, were exempted from taxation of mili- tary duty. Many acts of general utility were passed ; the members of the Assembly were privileged from arrest ; lands were to be surveyed and their boundaries recortes. which is no doubt the origin of our highly beneficial recording statutes ; vessels arriving were prohibited from breaking their cargoes until they had reported thenselves ; insper- tors of tobacco were established in every settlement ; the use of spaled weights and measures was enforced ; provision was made for paying the public debt, " brought on by the late troubles :" no person was, upon the mmer of supposed change and alteration, to
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presume to be disobedient to the present government, or servants to their private officers, masters, or overseers, at their uttermost perils.
Wise regulations were likewise made to prevent surprises by the Indians ; every house was to be fortified with palisadocs ; no man should go or send abroad without a party sufficiently armed, or to work without their arms, with a sentinel over them ; the inhabi- fants were forbidden to go aboard ships or elsewhere in such numbers as to cudanger the safety of their plantations ; every planter was to take care to have sufficient arms and ammunition in good order ; watch was to be kept by night ; and no planter was to suffer powder to be expended in amusement or entertainments. To promote corn-planting, and ensure plenty of provision, no limit was fixed to its price ; viewers were appointed to see that every man planted a sufficiency for his family, and all trade with the savages for corn was strictly prohibited.
Having thus given a specimen of colonial spirit, and colonial legislation, we return to the little intrigues of James, who was striving by every means in his power to become possessed of the control of the colony ; partly to gratify his love of arbitrary author- ity and of money, and partly to gratify his royal self-complacency, by framing a code of laws for a people with whose character and condition he was utterly unacquainted, and who, from the speci- mens recently given, appeared to be fully competent to the man- agement of their own affairs, without the dictation or advice of this royal guardian ; who, while he displayed the craft without the talent of a Philip, aspired to the character of a Solon. The recent acts of the king led to a solemn council of the company on the state of their affairs, in which they confirmed by an overwhelm - ing majority the previous determination to defend their charter, and asked for a restitution of their papers for the purpose of pre- paring their defence. This request was pronounced reasonable by the attorney-general, and complied with. While these papers were in the hands of the company, they were transcribed. and the copy has been fortunately preserved, and presents a faithful record of many portions of Virginia history, which it would be otherwise impossible to elucidate .*
The king had caused a quo warranto to be issued against the Nov. 10, 1624. company soon after the appointment of his com-
missioners to go to Virginia, and the cause was tried in the King's Bench, in Trinity Term of 1624. A cause which their royal master had so much at heart could not long be doubtful with judges entirely dependent upon his will for their places; it is even credibly reported that this important case, whereby the rights of a powerful corporation were divested, and the possibility of a remuneration for all of their trouble and expense forever cut off, was decided upon a mere technical ques- tion of special pleading !t
* Burke, p. 274-5. Stith compiled his history principally from these documents.
* Note to Bancroft, p. 207. Stith, p. 329, 330, doubts if judgment was passed. "The doubt may be removed. " Before the end of the same term, a judgment was de- clared by the Lord Chief Justice Ley, against the company and their charter, only upon feiler of mistake in pleading " Ser a short Collection of the most Remarkable Pas- sages from the Original to the Dissolution of the Virginia Company : London, 1651, p. 15. See also Hazard, vol. I. p. 19; Chalmers, p. 62 ; Proud's Pennsylvania, voi. 1., p. 107.
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In the mean time the commissioners had returned, and reported very favorably of the soil and climate of Virginia, but censuring deeply the conduct of the company,-recommending the govern- ment of the original charter of 1600, and declaring that a body so large and so democratic in its forms as the company. could never persevere in a consistent course of policy, but must veer about as the different factions should prevail. In this it must be admitted that there was much truth, and all hopes of profit having for some time expired, and the company only being kept up by the distinguished men of its members, from patriotic motives and as an instrument of power for thwarting the king, in which capacity its present unpopularity rendered it of little use-it was now suffered to expire under the judicial edict, without a groan. The expiration of the charter brought little immediate change to the actual gov- ernment of the colony :- a large committee was formed by the king, consisting principally of his privy council, to discharge the functions of the extinct company : Sir Francis Wyatt was reap- pointed governor, and he and his council only empowered to govern " as fully and amply as any governor and council resident there, at any time within the space of five years last past" -- which was the exact period of their representative government. The king, in appointing the council in Virginia, refused to appoint embittered partisans of the court faction, but formed the govern- ment of men of moderation.
So leaving Virginia free, while his royal highness is graciously pleased to gratify his own vanity in preparing a new code of laws to regulate her affairs, we pass on to a new chapter.
CHAPTER IV.
PROGRESS OF THE COLONY FROM THE DISSOLUTION OF THE LONDON COMPANY, TO THE BREAKING OUT OF BACON'S REBELLION IN 1675.
Accession of Charles I .- Tobacco trade .- Yeardley governor-his commission favora- ble -- his death and character .--- Lord Baltimore's reception .- State of religion --- legie .. lation upon the subject .- Invitation to the Puritans to settle on Delaware Bay .- Harvey governor .- Grant of Carolina and Maryland .- Harvey deposed -- restored .- Wyatt governor .- Acts of the Legislature improperly censured .- Berkeley governor. -Indian relations .- Opechancanough prisoner-his death .- Change of government in England .-- Fleet and army sent to reduce Virginia .- Preparation for defence by Berkeley .--- Agreement entered into between the colony and the commissioners of the commonwealth .- Indian hostilities .-- Matthews elected governor .-- Difficulties between the governor and the legislature-adjusted .- State of the colony and its trade .- Com. missioners sent to England .-- The Restoration .- General legislation.
Tu dissolution of the London Company was soon followed by March 27, 1625. Charles I. The king troubled himself little about the death of James, and the accession of his son, the political rights and privileges of the colony, and suffered them
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to grow to the strength of established usage by his wholesome neglect; while he was employed in obtaining a monopoly of their tobacco. This valuable article, the use of which extended with such unaccountable rapidity, had early attracted the avidity of King James. 'The 19th article of the charter of 1600 had exempted the company, their agents. factors, and assignees, from the pay- ment of all subsidies and customs in Virginia for the space of one and twenty years, and from all taxes and impositions forever, upon any goods imported thither, or exported thence into any of the realms or dominions of England ; except the five per cent. usual by the ancient trade of merchants. But notwithstanding the ex- press words of this charter, a tax was laid by the farmers of the customs, in the year 1620, upon the tobacco of the colony ; which was not only high of itself, but the more oppressive because it laid the same tax upon Virginia and Spanish tobacco, when the latter sold in the market for three times the price of the former. In the same year the same prince was guilty of another violation of the charter. in forcing the company to bring all of their tobacco into England ; when he found that a portion of their trade had been diverted into Holland, and establishments made at Middleburg and Flushing. The charters all guarantied to the colony all of the rights, privileges, franchises, and immunities of native born Englishmen, and this act of usurpation was the first attempt on the part of the mother country to monopolize the trade of the colony. The next year the king, either his avidity being unsatis .. fied, or not liking the usurped and precarious tenure by which his gains were held, inveigled the Virginia and Somer Isles com- pany into an' arrangement, by which they were to become the sole importers of tobacco; being bound, however, to import not less than forty nor more than sixty thousand pounds of Spanish vari- nas, and paying to the king, in addition to the sixpence duty be- fore paid, one-third part of all the tobacco landed in the realms. The king, on his part, was to prohibit all other importation and all planting in England and Ireland; and that which was already planted was to be confiscated.
When the company petitioned parliament to prolong its existence, in opposition to the efforts of the king, they failed -- but that por tion of their petition, which asked for the exclusive monopoly of Sep. 29, 1624. ed, and a royal proclamation issued accordingly tobacco to Virginia and the Somer Isles, was grant- Whether this exclusiveness was understood with the limitation in the previous contract between the king and the two companies. it is impossible to sav, as the original documents are not accessible to the writer .* But the probabilities are greatly against the limitation.
Charles had not been long on the throne before he issued a.
* Burke, I. 291, and Bancroft, I. 206-quoting Stith, Cobbett's Parliament. Fisi and Hazard.
-----
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April 9, 1625. proclamation, confirming the exclusive privileges of the Virginia and Somer Isles tobacco ; and pro- . hibiting a violation of their monopoly, under penaby of censure by the dread star-chamber. This was soon followed by another. in which he carefully set forth the forfeiture of their charter by the company, and the immediate dependence of the colony upon the crown ; concluding by a plain intimation of his intention to become their sole factor.
Soon after this, a rumor reached the colonies that an individual was in treaty with the king for an exclusive contract for tobacco ; one of the conditions of which would have led to the importation of so large an amount of Spanish tobacco, as would have driven that of the colonists from the market. The earnest representations of the colony on this subject caused an abandonment of the scheme ; but in return, the colony was obliged to excuse itself from a charge of trade with the Low Countries, and promise to trade only with England. But the king's eagerness for the possession of this monopoly was not to be baffled thus. He made a formal propos! tion to the colony for their exclusive trade, in much the same language as one tradesman would use to another; and desired that the General Assembly might be convened for the purpose of Mar. 26, 1623. considering his proposition. The answer by the General Assembly to this proposition is preserved. It sets forth in strong, but respectful language the injury which had been done the planters, by the mere report of an intention to subject their trade to a monopoly : they state the reasons for not engaging in the production of the other staples mentioned by the king ; and dissent from his proposition as to the purchase of their tobacco ; demanding a higher price and better terms of admission, in exchange for the exclusive monopoly which he wished.
In the mean time, the death of his father rendered it necessary 1626. for Sir Francis Wyatt to return to Europe, to attend to his
private affairs ; and the king appointed Sir George Yeard- lev his successor. This was itself a sufficient guarantee of the political privileges of the colony ; as he had had the honor of calling the first colonial assembly. But in addition to this, his powers were, like those of his predecessor, limited to the executive au- thority exercised by the governor within five years last past. These circumstances taken in connection with the express sanction given by Charles to the power of a legislative assembly, with re- gard to his proffered contract for tobacco, sufficiently prove that he had no design of interfering with the highly prized privilege of self-govermincat enjoyed by the colonists : and fully justifies the General Assembly in putting the most favorable construction upon the king's ambiguous words, announcing his determination to pre- serve inviolate all the "former interests" of Virginia, which occur in his letter of 1627.
Thus were those free principles established in Virginia, for which the mother country had to struggle for some time longer.
1
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The colony rose in the estimation of the public, and a thousand new emigrants arrived in one year; which of course much enhanced the price of provision.
Death now closed the career of Yeardley. The character of his
Nov. 14, 1627. administration is exhibited in the history of the colony : and the estimate placed upon his character by those who were best acquainted with his conduct, and who were little disposed to flatter undeservedly either the living or the dead, is to be found in a eulogy written by the government of Virginia to the privy council, announcing his death. In obedience to the king's commission to the council, they elected Francis West governor, the day after the burial of Yeardley. Ile held the commission until the 5th of March, 1628, when, designing to sail for England, John Pott was chosen to succeed him. Pott did not continue long in office, for the king, when the death of Yeardley was known, issued his commission to Sir John Harvey, who arrived some time between October, 1628, and March, 1629.
In the interval between the death of Yeardley and the arrival of Harvey, occurred the first act of religious intolerance which defiles the annals of Virginia.
Lord Baltimore, a Catholic nobleman, allured by the rising reputation of the colony, abandoned his settlement in Newfoundland and came to Virginia ; where, instead of be - ing received with the cheerful welcome of a friend and a brother, he was greeted with the oath of allegiance and supremacy; the latter of which, it was well known, his conscience would not allow him to take.
Much allowance is to be made for this trespass upon religious freedomn before we at- tribute it to a wilful violation of natural liberty. The times and circumstances ought to be considered. The colony had grown into life while the violent struggles between the Romish and Protestant churches were yet rife. The ancient tyranny and oppression of the Holy See were yet fresh in the memory of all ; its cruelties and barsh intolerance in England were recent ; and yet continuing in the countries in which its vetaries had the control of the civil government. The light of Protestantism itself was the first dawn of religious freedom ; and the thraldom in which mankind had been held by Catholic fetters for so many ages, was too terrible to risk the possibility of their &c- quiring any authority in government. Eye-witnesses of the severities of Mary were yet alive in England, and doubtless many of the colonists had heard fearful relations of the religious sufferings during her reign, probably some had suffered in their own families : most of them had emigrated while the excitement against the Papists was still raging in England with its greatest fury, and continually kept in action by the discovery, or pretended discovery, of Fopish plots to obtain possession of the government. Was it wonderful, then, that a colony which, with a remarkable uniformity of sentiment, pro- fessed a different religion, should be jealous of a faith which sought by every means in its power to obtain supreme control, and used that control for the extermination, by the harshest means, of all other creeds ?
The colony in Virginia was planted when the incestuous and monstrous connection of church and state had not been severed in any civilized country on the globe ; at a period when it would have been heresy to attempt such a divorce, because it required all the aid of the civil power to give meu suthcient freedom to "profess, and by algu- ment to maintain," any other creed than one-and that one the creed of Rome. The anxiety of the British government upon this subject, so far from being unnatural, was highly laudable, since all its efforts were necessary to sustain its new born power of professing its own creed. The awful effect of Catholic supremacy, displayed in a neighboring kingdom, afforded a warning too terrible* to be easily forgotten ; and it would have been as unwise to allow the Catholics equal civil privileges at that day, as .it would be impolitiv and unjust now to exclude them. We find this regard for religious
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