USA > Virginia > Tazewell County > Tazewell County > History of Tazewell county and southwest Virginia, 1748-1920 > Part 13
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The dissolution of the London Company did not weaken the colony, but upon the contrary strengthened it by making it more self-reliant and independent in action. Factional fights for its control by antagonistic leaders of the company had been contin- uous from the date of the first settlement at Jamestown; and the selection of incapable, and in some instances very corrupt, men to administer its affairs had greatly retarded its success. At first the
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colonists were greatly alarmed by the dissolution of the company, fearing that it might take from them their House of Burgesses and deprive them of the already cherished form of representative self- government. The General Assembly was invested with both legisla- tive and judicial authority and had not failed to exercise freely these important functions. Fiske, in "Old Virginia and her Neigh- bors", writes very interestingly about the first American legislative body; and among other things says:
"The place of meeting was the wooden church at Jamestown, 50 feet in length by 20 in width, built in 1619, for Lord Delaware's church had become dilapidated; a solid brick church, 56 by 28, was built there in 1639. From the different plantations and hundreds the burgesses came mostly in their barges or sloops to Jamestown. In 1634 the colony was organized into counties and parishes, and the burgesses thenceforth represented counties, but they always kept their old title. At first the governor, council, and burgesses met together in a single assembly, just as in Massachusetts until 1644, just as in England the Lords and Commons usually sat together before 1339. A member of this Virginia parliament must take his breakfast of bacon and hoe-cake betimes, for the meeting was called at the third beat of the drum, one hour after sunrise. The sessions were always opened with prayers, and every absence from this service was punished with a fine of one shilling. The fine for absence during the whole day was half a crown. In the choir of the church sat the governor and council, their coats trimmed with gold lace. By the statute of 1621, passed in this very church, no one was allowed to wear gold lace, except these high officials and the commanders of hundreds, a class of dignitaries who in 1634 were succeeded by the county lieutenants. In the body of the church, facing the choir, sat the burgesses in their best attire, with starched ruffs, and coats of silk or velvet in bright colours. All sat with their hats on, in imitation of the time-honoured custom of the House of Commons, an early illustration of the democratic doctrine, 'I am as good as you'. These burgesses had their speaker, as well as their clerk and sergeant-at-arms. * From sweep- ing principles of constitutional law down to the pettiest sumptuary edicts, there was nothing which this little parliament did not super- intend and direct."
During the first years of its existence the House of Burgesses, in the exercise of its very ample powers, enacted a number of
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peculiar laws. Some of these laws were fundamentally sound, some were absurd in their intendment, and others sharply in conflict with the principles of democratic government, toward which the colony, even in its early life, seemed to be traveling. The tax question was then, comparatively, as momentous as it is today with the average citizen and the aspiring politician. One of the first acts of the Gen- eral Assembly, which was passed without a dissenting voice, was a declaration, "that the governor shall not lay any taxes or imposi- tions upon the colony, their lands or commodities, otherway than by the authority of the general assembly, to be levied and employed as the said assembly shall appoint." This was a wise protection of the functions of the legislative branch of the government from encroachments by the executive branch thereof.
Moved by a humane and philanthropic spirit, the assembly passed a law looking to the conversion and education of the young savages. The act provided for the procurement from each borough of a cer- tain number of Indian children to be educated "in true religion and a civil course of life; of which children the most towardly boys in wit and graces of nature are to be brought up by them in the first elements of literature, so as to be fitted for the college intended for them, that from thence they may be sent to that work of conversion."
This was conforming to the scheme of 1619 for establishing a col- lege in Henrico for the Indians, to which enterprise the Bishops of England had contributed fifteen thousand pounds and the London Company 10,000 acres of land; and was completely at variance with the laws passed by the assembly, after the frightful massacre of 1622, encouraging the extermination of the Indians.
Very rigid laws were enacted to prevent drunkenness, forbidding extravagance in dress, and to suppress flirting, the latter being con- sidered a very grave social crime. For the first offence, a drunkard was privately reproved by the minister; the second time he was publicly admonished; for the third offence he was put in irons and made to pay a heavy fine; and for subsequent violations of the statute he was placed at the mercy of the governor and the council, who were to punish him severely in their discretion. Extravagance in dress was made a misdemeanor, for which an unmarried man was taxed for public purposes "according to his own apparel," and a married man "according to his own and his wife's apparel." In these days, when women have acquired the right to vote in many of the States of the Union, with the prospect of soon obtaining the exercise of suffrage in every State, the average male legislator would
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be slow in voting for a measure to regulate the dress of women, but would hastily cast himself in the midst of the great temperance wave that is sweeping over our country and the entire civilized world.
The law against flirting declared that "every minister should give notice in his church that what man or woman soever should use any word or speech tending to a contract of marriage to two several persons at one time * * * as might entangle or breed scruples in their consciences, should for such their offenses either undergo corporal correction (by whipping) or be punished by fine or other- wise, according to the quality of the person so offending." Possibly this law was suited to the times, but it would now be regarded as a disgrace to any civilized community; and the act was particularly obnoxious for the reason that the punishment to be inflicted was measured "according to the quality of the person so offending." The common folks were to be whipped and the gentle people were to be fined.
To say anything offensive about the governor or a member of the council was a misdemeanor, for which the offender was placed in the pillory. The planters were not allowed to sell any part of their tobacco crops until they had put aside a certain portion for the minister's salary. There was a law which said "No man shall disparage a mynister whereby the myndes of his parishioners may be alienated from him and his mynistrie prove less effectuall upon payne of seveerc censure of the governor and councell." From the class of "mynisters", then inflicted upon the colony it would seem that they were worthy subjects for disparaging remarks. At least the General Assembly must have thought so, as it was necessary for that august body to give warning to the clergyman by a statute which said: "Mynisters shall not give themselves to excess in drink- ing or ryote, spending their time idelie by day or night playing at dice, cards, or any unlawfull game." Evidently the "mynisters" were more at home in the tavern or at the gambling table than in the pulpit.
In recent years there has been much controversy over the ques- tion of government regulation of the sale of food products and other articles. The General Assembly of the Virginia colony exercised that power without its authority to do so being questioned. A law was made fixing retail prices for wines and other liquors. The preamble of the act said: "Whereas there hath been great abuse by the unreasonable rates enacted by ordinary keepers, and retaylers of wine and strong waters", and the assembly proceeded to fix
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maximum prices for these commodities. The penalty for a violation of the law was a finc of double the rate charged by the venders.
The House of Burgesses also passed a very stringent law to suppress the speculators, or as they were then called "forestallers", in foodstuffs and other necessary articles. The act said: "What- soever person or persons shall buy or cause to be bought any mar- chandize, victualls, or any other thinge, comminge by land or water to markett to be sold or make any bargaine, contract or promise for the haveinge or buyinge of the same *
* before the said marchandize, victualls, or other thinge shall be at the markett readie to be sold; or make any motion by word, letter or message or otherwise to any person or persons for the enhansing of the price or dearer sellinge of any thinge or thinges above mentioned, or else disswade, move or stirr any person or persons cominge to the mar- kett as aforesayd, shall be deemed and adjudged a forestaller. And if any person or persons shall offend in the thinges before recited and being thereof duly convicted or attaynted shall for his or theire first offence suffer imprisonment by the space of two monthes with- out baile or maineprize, and shall also loose and forfeite the value of the goods so by him or them bought or had as aforesayed; and for the second offence * shall suffer imprisonment by the space of one halfe yeare * * shall loose the double value of all goods * soe bought * * and for the third offence * * shall be set on the pilorie * * * and loose and forfeit all the goods and chattels that he or they then have to their owne use, and also be committed to prison, there to remayne duringe the Governors pleasure."
This act was very drastic but not too severe. It was directed against monsters concealed in human forms, vampires who dared to call themselves men, but who did not scruple to sacrifice the comfort and life of men, women, and children to gratify their greed of gold. ยท The greatest present menace to the life and happiness of the American people comes from "forestallers"-speculators and extor- tioners-who infest our land, and who are plying their wretched trade, despite any feeble endeavor made by the Federal and State governments to fasten punishment upon them. It would be well for the suffering public if the Old Virginia House of Burgesses could return to exercise its legislative functions and supply the Congress of the United States with quaint but effective laws to suppress the worst of criminals.
T.H .- 9
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CHAPTER IV.
FROM DEATH OF JAMES I TO 1676.
On the 27th of March, 1625, King James I. died, after an unpopular reign of twenty-two years. He was succeeded by his son, Charles I., who had no more regard for the political rights and privileges of the Virginia colonists than he showed for his subjects in England. But the General Assembly, when informed of the death of King James, sent Sir George Yeardley, then a member of the council, as an envoy to England to present their respects to King Charles; and to give him assurance that the Virginians were satis- fied with the government his father had given them. The request was presented that no change be made in their very liberal form of government; and in 1626 Sir George Yeardley was appointed gov- ernor of Virginia, which satisfied the colonists that their request had been favorably received by their sovereign. All through his reign of twenty-five years, Charles was involved in such bitter strife with Parliament and his Scotch and English subjects that he could give but little attention to the Virginia colony.
Within a period of twenty years the colony had three forms of government. When the settlement was first made at Jamestown its nature was that of a Proprietary Government, and it so remained until the second charter was obtained in 1609 by the London Com- pany. It then became a Corporation, and continued as such under the third charter until the company was dissolved by a decree of the Court of King's Bench in 1624, when it was made a Royal Province. Soon after ascending the throne, Charles I. appointed William Claiborne secretary of state for the colony, and in Clai- borne's commission designated it "Our Kingdom of Virginia." It may be gratifying to some Virginians of this day, who are charmed with royalty and the degenerate European nobility, to know that for about a quarter of a century Virginia was recognized as a Kingdom by an English monarch.
The administration of justice when the colony was first estab- lished was lodged with the president and council; and after a governor was substituted for the president all judicial authority was vested in the governor and his council. This was a very dangerous power to place with a single man, who might prove himself either a knave or a fool and trample upon justice, rather than uphold and vindicate the rights of the people. In 1628-29, commissions were
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issued to justices or magistrates to hold monthly courts in each of the boroughs or hundreds. These courts were the origin of the old county courts that administered justice in the counties of Virginia until the Constitution of 1870 was put in operation.
From "Acts made by the Grand Assemblie Holden at James City the 21st, August, 1633," we find that the colony had then so extended its limits and had become so permanently planted as to require the establishment of a county or shire system of government. Consequently an Act was passed by the "Grand Assemblie", creat- ing eight shires and they were given the following names: James City, Henrico, Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick River, War- rosquyoak, Charles River, Accawmack. These shires were to be organized and governed in the same manner as the shires in Eng- land; and they were subsequently designated and conducted as coun- ties. Their original boundaries cannot be ascertained, despite the most diligent researches of archivists and historians. But their location is known from the counties that now bear the same name, to-wit: James City, Henrico. Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick, York (Charles River) and Accomac. At a Grand Assemblie, Holden at James City, the 2nd day of March 1642-3, the following act was passed: "Be it further enacted and confirmed that the plantation and county knownc now by the name of Acomack shall be knowne and called by the county of Northampton. It is likewise enacted . and confirmed that Charles River County shall be distinguished by this name (County of York). And that Warwick River shall be called the County of Warwick." From that time all counties in Virginia were created by special acts of the General Assembly. .
Early in 1642 Sir William Berkeley was appointed governor of Virginia by Charles I. About the same time the London Company sought to regain control of the colony by a petition directed to Parliament. The General Assembly met and made a strong protest against the restoration of the company, avowing that control by the corporation would be very detrimental to the welfare of the colony. Speaking of the written protest sent by the assembly to the king, Howe, in his History of Virginia, says: "This paper is drawn with great ability, and sets forth the objections to the peti- tion in very strong and striking terms. They enlarge especially upon the wish and the power of the company to monopolize their trade; the advantage and happiness secured to them by their present form of government, with its annual assemblies and trial by jury; the fact, that a restitution of the power of the company would be an admission of the illegality of the king's authority, and a consequent
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nullification of the grants and commissions; and the impossibility of men, however wise, at such a distance, and unacquainted with the elimate or condition of the country, to govern the colony as well as it could be governed by their own Grand Assembly." The king was so favorably impressed with the spirit and foree of the protest that he refused to consent to any change in the form of government that had brought so much happiness to the colonists.
The above shows all that remains of the city of Jamestown-the ruined tower of the brick church built in 1639.
In 1644 the colony suffered from another massacre by the Indians. The natives had been driven away from their homes on the borders of the rivers in the tidewater seetion, where the lands were fertile and easily tilled, and were foreed to struggle for a precarious existence in the highlands, where the soil was thin. They had been greatly reduced in numbers by the poliey of extermination which the House of Burgesses had inaugurated shortly after the dreadful massaere of 1622. Those who had fled to the interior for safety had beeome more skilled in warfare, and were made desperate by the continued eneroachments of the settlers, who were forcing
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them still further away from the homes they and their fathers had occupied so happily for many years. Opechancanough, Powhatan's brother and successor, had grown so old that he had to be carried about on a litter, and he was so weak that he could not raise his eyelids without assistance; but his mental faculties were so well preserved that he was able to gather all the tribes of the confederacy together, without being discovered, and make a concerted attack on the colonists. On the 18th of April, 1644, the day appointed for the massacre, the Indians made their attack on the frontier settle- ments and killed three hundred persons. Owing to their greatly reduced number of warriors and the increased number of the colonists, the strength of the hostile Indians was soon broken. Recalling the terrible reprisals the whites had made upon them fol- lowing the massacre of 1622, the natives fled in dismay to the remote thick forests. Opechancanough was made a captive by Sir William Berkeley, who had run the Indians down with a squadron of cavalry. The old chief was imprisoned at Jamestown, where he was brutally murdered by a cowardly soldier who was guarding him. Soon after this deplorable incident Governor Berkeley sailed for England, where he remained for a year, and upon his return to Jamestown he negotiated a treaty in 1646 with Necotowance, who had succeeded Opechancanough as chief of the remnant of the Powhatan Confed- cracy. The Indians made a complete submission to the whites and ceded such lands as were demanded. From that time, being at peace with the natives, with an abundance of fertile lands, and free markets for their tobacco, the colony was very prosperous and grew rapidly. Their ports were visited by the ships of the leading com- mercial nations, and historians say that, "At Christmas 1648, there were trading in Virginia ten ships from London, two from Bristol, twelve Hollanders and seven from New England."
The number of the colonists had grown to twenty thousand, but they were so much occupied with their own affairs that they could give but little attention to the bitter and bloody struggles that were taking place in England between the royalists and the Parliament. But when Charles I. was beheaded. in 1619, the Virginia Govern- ment recognized his son Charles II. as their sovereign; and "Vir- ginia was whole for monarchy, and the last country belonging to England that submitted to obedience to the commonwealth." Being struck with horror at the monstrous crime of the Parliament that had beheaded their king, numbers of the nobility, gentry, and clergy fled from England and found generous welcome and safe asylum
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in Virginia. "The mansion and the purse of Berkeley were open to all, and at the hospitable dwellings that were scattered along the rivers and among the wilds of Virginia, the Cavaliers, exiles like their monarch, met in frequent groups to reeount their toils, to sigh over defeats, and to nourish loyalty and hope." Thus were the English Cavaliers introduced into Tidewater Virginia in such numbers as to win for the State in coming years the name of Land of the Cavaliers.
Sir William Berkeley, in recognition of his loyalty, was recom- missioned governor by Charles II. The fidelity of the Virginians to the royal cause was resented by Parliament; and the Council of State, of which Oliver Cromwell was the leading spirit, was ordered to take steps for bringing the rebellious colonies into obedience to the authority of the new republican English Government. Parlia- ment passed a law to prevent foreign ships entering and trading at any of the ports "in Barbadoes, Antigua, Bermudas and Vir- ginia." This law would have practically destroyed the foreign trade of the colony; but it was found so damaging to eommeree that it was repealed before the authority of the Parliament was acknowledged in Virginia. The Virginians were so confident of their ability to defy the authority of Parliament that Governor Berkeley, speaking for the colonists, wrote to Charles II., then in exile at Breda, inviting him to come to Virginia and establish his Kingdom in America.
Parliament determined to bring into subjection the colonies that were adhering to the royalists. A large fleet and a considerable number of soldiers were sent out to make the rebellious colonists acknowledge allegiance to the Commonwealth. The fleet sailed first to Barbadoes and Antigua, and after bringing those two colonies into submission, unannounced, arrived at and anchored before Jamestown. Anticipating such a movement, Governor Berke- ley and the colonists had made preparations to resist the Common- wealth's military and naval expedition; but the commissioners sent by Parliament along with the fleet offered such fair and liberal terms that the Virginians accepted the proposed articles of surrender. So far as self-government was concerned the colony was placed in a better situation than it had ever oceupied under the royal govern- ments.
Sir William Berkeley, who remained a royalist in heart, declined to hold the governorship under the Parliament, and Richard Bennett, a Roundhead. and who was one of the Virginia Council, was elected
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governor. A council was also elected by the assembly, with powers to conform to any instructions they might receive from the Parlia- ment. Bennett's conduct of the government was so honest and liberal that it was approved by both the colonists and the Parlia- ment; and when he retired from office in 1655, Edward Diggs was elected his successor. It is a notable fact that Cromwell never made any appointments of officers for Virginia during his protec- torate; but encouraged the colony to become as nearly self-govern- ing as possible.
On the 20th of April, 1653, Oliver Cromwell dissolved, or rather dispersed with his soldiers, the notorious Rump Parliament, and thence forward he became supreme ruler of England until his death in 1658. He grasped power and ignored the exasperating assumptions of Parliaments, only because he sought to promote in the speediest and surest way the prosperity, happiness and glory of his country. Under his administration as Lord Protector, he proved himself England's greatest ruler. His home policies were liberal and just, ever looking to the elevation of the masses, while his foreign policies were of such a nature as to secure for England a more commanding position among other nations than she had ever occupied. Virginia, and all the English colonies in America, made wonderful progress under Cromwell's liberal and able rule. He died on September the 3rd, 1658, and was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son, Richard. The General Assembly of Virginia, after maturely considering the matter, recognized Richard Cromwell as their ruler. He was a man of mediocre intellect, idolent by nature, and entirely unqualified to occupy the position his father had filled with such distinction. During his feeble administration, which was for a little more than seven months, Virginia was left free to conduct her own affairs. The General Assembly had elceted Samuel Matthews governor in 1658, and he died shortly after Richard Cromwell was removed as.Lord Protector.
Sir William Berkeley was re-elected governor in 1660, and the General Assembly by enactment declared "that the supreme power of the government of this country shall be resident in the assembly ; and all writs shall issue in its name until there shall arrive from England a commission, which the assembly itself shall adjudge to be lawful." This action was taken to prevent the governor from assuming authority to control the conduct of the General Assembly as Governor Matthews had previously attempted.
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