USA > Virginia > History of the colony and ancient dominion of Virginia > Part 18
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* Description of New Albion, in Force's Hist. Tracts, ii.
(210)
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on their heads, and rode on beasts like horses, but with much longer ears. These people were probably the Spaniards. Sir William Berkley prepared to make an exploration with fifty horse and as many foot,* but he was disappointed in this enterprise.
At this period the settlement of all the New England States had been commenced; the Dutch possessed the present States of New York, New Jersey, and part of Connecticut, and they had already pushed their settlements above Albany; the Swedes oc- cupied the shores of Pennsylvania and Delaware; Maryland was still in her infancy; Virginia was prosperous; the country now known as the Carolinas belonged to the assignees of Sir Robert Heath, but as yet no advances had been made toward the occu- pation of it.t
Upon complaint of the necessities of the people, occasioned by barren and over-wrought land, and want of range for cattle and hogs, permission was granted them to remove during the following year to the north side of Charles (York) and Rappahannock rivers.
The congregation of dissenters collected by the three mis- sionaries before mentioned from Massachusetts, amounted in 1648 to one hundred and eighteen members. They encountered the continual opposition of the colonial authorities. Mr. Durand, their elder, had already been banished by the governor; and in the course of this year their pastor, Harrison, being ordered to depart, retired to New England. On his arrival there he repre- sented that many of the Virginia council were favorably dis- posed toward the introduction of Puritanism, and that "one thousand of the people, by conjecture, were of a similar mind."§ The members of the council at that time were Captain John West, Richard Kempe, secretary, Captain William Brocas, Captain Thomas Pettus, Captain William Bernard, Captain Henry. Browne, and Mr. George Ludlow. When the pre-
* Hening, i. 353.
¡ Martin's History of North Carolina, i. 105-6. This is a valuable work, but marred, especially in the first volume, by the unparalleled misprinting, the engage- ments of the author not permitting him to correct the proofs.
į Force's Hist. Tracts, ii., " A New Description of Va."
¿ Hawks' Narrative, 57, citing Savage's Winthrop, ii. 334.
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valence of Puritanism in the mother country is considered, and the numerous ties of interest and consanguinity that con- nected it with the colony, the estimate of the number favora- bly disposed toward Puritanism does not appear improbable. John Hammond afterwards gave an account of the proceedings against the Puritans in Virginia .* According to him, during the reign of Charles the First, Virginia "was wholly for mo- narchy." A congregation of people calling themselves Inde- pendents having organized a church, (probably in Nansemond County,) and daily increasing, several consultations were held by the authorities of the colony how to suppress and extinguish them. At first their pastor was banished, next their other teachers, then many were confined in prison; next they were generally dis- armed, which was a very harsh measure in such a country, where they were surrounded by the Indian savages; lastly, the non-con- formists were put in a condition of banishment, so that they knew not how in those straits to dispose of themselves. The leader in this persecution, according to Hammond, was Colonel Samuel Matthews, member of the council in 1643, and subse- quently agent for Virginia to the parliament. A number of these dissenters having gained the consent of Lord Baltimore and his deputy governor of Maryland, retired to that colony, and settled there. Among these, one of the principal was Richard Bennet, a merchant and a Roundhead. For a time these refugees pros- pered and remained apparently content with their new place of abode; and others, induced by their example, likewise removed thither.
King Charles the First, after having been a prisoner for several years, was beheaded in front of Whitehall Palace, on the 30th day of January, 1648. He died with heroic firmness and dig- nity.t The Commonwealth of England now commenced, and continued till the restoration of Charles the Second, in 1660. Upon the dissolution of the monarchy in England, there were not wanting those in Virginia who held that the colonial govern-
* Leah and Rachel, in Force's Hist. Tracts, iii., Leah and Rachel representing the two sisters, Virginia and Maryland.
¡ In the same year the Netherlands became independent.
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ment, being derived from the crown, was itself now extinct; but the assembly, by an act of October of the same year, declared that whoever should defend the late traitorous proceedings against the king, should be adjudged an accessory after the fact, to his death, and be proceeded against accordingly; to asperse the late most pious king's memory was made an offence punishable at the discretion of the governor and council; to express a doubt of the right of succession of Charles the Second, or to propose a change of government, or to derogate from the full power of the govern- ment of the colony, was declared to be high treason .* The prin- ciple, however, that the authority of the colonial government ceased with the king's death, was expressly recognized at the surrender of the colony to the parliamentary naval force in 1651.
Colonel Norwood, a loyal refugee in Holland, having formed a plan with two comrades, Major Francis Morrison and Major Richard Fox, to seek their fortunes in Virginia, they met in London, August, 1649, for the purpose of embarking. At the time when they had first concerted their scheme, Charles the First was a prisoner at Carisbrook Castle, in the Isle of Wight. He had since been executed; the royalists, thunderstruck at this catastrophe, saw their last gleam of hope extinguished; and Nor- wood and his friends were eager to escape from the scene of their disasters. At the Royal Exchange, whose name was now for a time to be altered to the "Great Exchange," the three forlorn cavaliers engaged a passage to Virginia in the "Virginia Mer- chant," burden three hundred tons, mounting thirty guns or more. The charge for the passage was six pounds a head, for themselves and servants. The colony of Virginia they deemed preferable for them in their straitened pecuniary circumstances; and they brought over some goods with them for the purpose of mercantile adventure. September the 23d, 1649, they embarked in the "Virginia Merchant," having on board three hundred and thirty souls. Touching at Fayal, Norwood and his companions met with a Portuguese lady of rank with her family returning, in an English ship, the "John," from the Brazils to her own country. With her they drank the healths of their kings, amid
* Hening, i 360.
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thundering peals of cannon. The English gentlemen discovered a striking resemblance between the lady's son and their own prince, Charles, which filled them with fond admiration, and flattered the vanity of the beautiful Portuguese. Passing within view of the charming Bermuda, the "Virginia Merchant" sailing for Virgi- nia, struck upon a breaker early in November, near the stormy Cape Hatteras. Narrowly escaping from that peril, she was soon overtaken by a storm, and tossed by mountainous towering north- west seas. Amid the horrors of the evening prospect, Norwood observed innumerable ill-omened porpoises that seemed to cover the surface of the sea as far as the eye could reach. The ship at length losing forecastle and mainmast, became a mere hulk, drifting at the mercy of the winds and waves. Some of the passengers were swept overboard by the billows that broke over her; the rest suffered the tortures of terror and famine. At last the tempest subsiding, the ship drifted near the coast of the East- ern Shore. Here Norwood and a party landing on an island, were abandoned by the Virginia Merchant. After enduring the extremities of cold and hunger, of which some died, Norwood and the survivors in the midst of the snow were rescued by a party of friendly Indians. In the mean while the ship having arrived in the James River, a messenger was dispatched by Go- vernor Berkley in quest of Norwood and his party. Conducted to the nearest plantation, they were everywhere entertained with the utmost kindness. Stephen Charlton (afterwards, in 1652, burgess from Northampton County,) would have the Colonel to put on a good farmer-like suit of his own. After visiting Cap- tain Yeardley, (son of Sir George Yeardley, the former gover- nor,) the principal person in that quarter of the colony, Norwood crossed the Chesapeake Bay in a sloop, and landed at 'Squire Ludlow's plantation on York River. Next he proceeded to the neighboring plantation of Captain Ralph Wormley, at that time burgess from York County, and member of his majesty's council. At Captain Wormley's he found some of his friends, who had likewise recently arrived from England, feasting and carousing. The cavaliers had changed their clime but not their habits. These guests were Sir Thomas Lundsford, Sir Henry Chicheley, (pronounced Chickley,) Sir Philip Honeywood, and Colonel Ham-
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mond. Sir Thomas Lundsford lies buried in the churchyard of Williamsburg. At Jamestown Norwood was cordially welcomed by Sir William Berkley, who took him to his house at Green- spring, where he remained for some months. Sir William, on many occasions, showed great respect to all the royal party who made that colony their refuge; and his house and purse were open to all such. To Major Fox, who had no other friend in the colony to look to for aid, he exhibited signal kindness; to Major Morrison he gave command of the fort at Point Comfort, and by his interest afterwards advanced him to be governor of the colony. In 1650 Governor Berkley dispatched Norwood to Holland to find the fugitive king, and to solicit for the place of treasurer of Virginia, which Sir William took to be void by "the delin- quency" of William Clayborne, the incumbent, who had long held that place. The governor furnished Norwood with money to defray the charge of the solicitation, which was effectual, although Prince Charles was not found in Holland, he having gone to Scotland. Charles the Second was crowned by the Scotch at Scone, in 1651 .*
Bennet and other dissenting Virginians, who had settled in Maryland, were not long there before they became dissatisfied with the proprietary government. The authority of Papists was irksome to Puritans, and they began to avow their aversion to the oath of allegiance imposed upon them; for by the terms of it Lord Baltimore affected to usurp almost royal authority, con- cluding his commissions and writs with "We," "us," and "given under our hand and greater seal of arms, in such a year of our dominion." The Protestants of Maryland, no doubt saw, in the political character of the Commonwealth of England, a fair pros- pect of the speedy subversion of Baltimore's power; nor were they disappointed in this hope.
In October, 1650, the Long Parliament passed an ordinance prohibiting trade with Barbadoes, Virginia, Bermuda, and An- tigua. The act recited that these colonies were, and of right ought to be, subject to the authority of Parliament; that divers
* Force's Hist. Tracts, iii .; Churchill's Voyages. A Major Norwood is men- tioned in Pepys' Diary, i. 46.
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acts of rebellion had been committed by many persons inhabiting Virginia, whereby they have most traitorously usurped a power of government, and set themselves in opposition to this common- wealth. It therefore declared such persons notorious robbers and traitors; forbade all correspondence or commerce with them, and appointed commissioners, and dispatched Sir George Ayscue, with a powerful fleet and army, to reduce Barbadoes, Bermuda, and Antigua to submission.
Charles the Second having invaded England at the head of a Scottish army, was utterly defeated and overthrown by Cromwell, at Worcester, September the 3d, 1651. Charles himself, not long after, with difficulty and in disguise, escaped to France. In Sep- tember of the same year the council of state, of which Bradshaw was president, issued instructions for Captain Robert Dennis, Mr. Richard Bennet, Mr. Thomas Steg,* and Captain William Clayborne, appointed commissioners, for the reducement of Vir- ginia and the inhabitants thereof, to their due obedience to the Commonwealth of Virginia. A fleet was put under command of Captain Dennis, and the commissioners embarked in the Guinea frigate. They were empowered to assure pardon and indemnity to all the inhabitants of the said plantations that shall submit unto the present government and authority, as it is established in the Commonwealth of England. In case they shall not submit by fair ways and means, the commissioners were to use all acts of hostility that lay in their power to enforce them; and if they should find the people so to stand out as that they could by no other ways or means reduce them to their due obedience, they, or any two or more of them, whereof Captain Robert Dennis was to be one, had the power to appoint captains and other officers, and to raise forces within each of the aforesaid plantations, for the furtherance of the service; and such persons as should come in and serve as soldiers, if their masters should stand in opposition to the government of the English Commonwealth, might be dis- charged and set free from their masters, by the commissioners. A similar measure was adopted by Lord Dunmore in 1776. In
* A Mr. Thomas Stagg was a resident planter of Virginia in 1652. Hening, i. 375.
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case of the death of Captain Dennis, his place was to be filled by Captain Edmund Curtis, commander of the Guinea frigate .* It is a mistake to suppose that the members of the Long Par- liament were all of them, or a majority of them, Puritans, in the religious sense of the term; but they were so in political principles.
In March, 1652, Captain Dennis arrived at Jamestown, and demanded a surrender of the colony. It is said by some his- torians that Sir William Berkley, either with a hope of repelling them, or of commanding better terms, prepared for a gallant re- sistance, and undertook to strengthen himself by making use of several Dutch ships, t which happened to be there engaged in a contraband trade, and which he hired for the occasion; that there chanced to be on board of the parliament's fleet some goods be- longing to two members of the Virginia council, and that Dennis sent them word that their goods should be forfeited if the colony was not immediately surrendered; and that the threat kindled dissensions in the council, and the governor found himself con- strained to yield on condition of a general amnesty.}
Such is the account of several chroniclers, but it appears to be based only on a loose and erroneous tradition. It would have been a mere empty gasconade for Sir William Berkley to oppose the English naval force, and the truth appears to be, that as soon as the parliamentary squadron entered the Chesapeake Bay, all thoughts of resistance were laid aside. If the story of the preparation for resistance were credited, it must at the same time be believed that this chivalry and loyalty suddenly evaporated under the more potent influence of pecuniary interest.§
The capitulation was ratified on the 12th of March, 1652, by which it was agreed that the Colony of Virginia should be subject
* Virginia and Maryland, 18; Force's Hist. Tracts, ii.
¡ Only one ship appears to have been confiscated. Hening, i. 382.
į Chalmers' Annals, 123; Beverley, B. i. 54.
¿ Bancroft, Hist. of U. S., i. 223, citing Clarendon, B. xiii. 466, and other authorities, says that the fleet was sent over by Cromwell, and came to Virginia after having reduced the West India Islands. Cromwell, however, although at this time the master-spirit of England, had not yet assumed dictatorial powers.
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to the Commonwealth of England; that the submission should be considered voluntary, not forced nor constrained by a conquest upon the country; and that "they shall have and enjoy such freedoms and privileges as belong to the free-born people of Eng- land;" the assembly to meet as formerly, and transact the affairs of the colony, but nothing to be done contrary to the government of the Commonwealth of England; full indemnity granted for all offences against the Parliament of England; Virginia to have and enjoy the ancient bounds and limits granted by the charters of former kings; "and that we shall seek a new charter from the Parliament to that purpose, against any that have entrenched upon the rights thereof," alluding no doubt to Lord Baltimore's intrusion into Maryland; that the privilege of having fifty acres of land for every person transported to the colony, shall continue as formerly granted; that the people of Virginia shall have free trade, as the people of England do enjoy, to all places, and with all nations, according to the laws of that Commonwealth; and that Virginia shall enjoy all privileges equally with any English plantation in America.
The navigation act had been passed in the preceding October, forbidding any goods, wares, or merchandise, to be imported into England, except either in English ships, or in ships of the country where the commodities were produced-a blow aimed at the carrying-trade of the Dutch. It was further agreed by the articles of surrender, that Virginia was to be free from all taxes, customs, and impositions whatsoever, and none to be imposed on them without consent of the grand assembly; and so that neither forts nor castles be erected, or garrisons maintained, without their consent : no charge to be made upon Virginia on account of this present fleet; the engagement or oath of allegiance to be ten- dered to all the inhabitants of Virginia; recusants to have a year's time to remove themselves and their effects out of Virginia, and in the mean time, during the said year, to have equal justice as formerly; the use of the Book of Common Prayer to be per- mitted for one year, with the consent of a majority of a parish, provided that those things which relate to kingship, or that government, be not used publicly; and ministers to be continued in their places, they not misdemeaning themselves; public ammu-
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nition, powder and arms, to be given up, security being given to make satisfaction for them; goods already brought hither by the Dutch to remain unmolested; the quit-rents granted by the late king to the planters of Virginia for seven years, to be confirmed; finally, the parliamentary commissioners engage themselves and the honor of the Parliament for the full performance of the articles, the governor and council and burgesses making the same pledge for the colony .*
On the same day some other articles were ratified by the commissioners and the governor and council, exempting the governor and council from taking the oath of allegiance for a year, and providing that they should not be censured for pray- ing for, or speaking well of the king, for one whole year in their private houses, or "neighboring conference;" Sir William Berkley was permitted to send an agent to give an account to his majesty of the 'surrender of the country; Sir William and the members of the council were permitted to dispose of their estates, and transport themselves "whither they please." Pro- tection of liberty and property were guaranteed to Sir William Berkley.
Major Fox, (comrade of Norwood,) commander of the fort, at Point Comfort, was allowed compensation for the building of his house on Fort Island. A general amnesty was granted to the inhabitants, and it was agreed that in case Sir William or his councillors should go to London, or any other place in England, that they should be free from trouble or hindrance of arrests, or such like, and that they may prosecute their business there for six months. It would seem that some important articles of surrender were not ratified by the Long Parliament.
The Fourth Article was, "That Virginia shall have and enjoy the ancient bounds and limits granted by the charters of the former kings, and that we shall seek a new charter from the Parliament to that purpose, against any that entrenched against the rights thereof." This article was referred in August, 1652, to the committee of the navy, to consider what patent was fit to be granted to the inhabitants of Virginia.
* Hening, i. 363.
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The Seventh Article was, "That the people of Virginia have free trade, as the people of England do enjoy, to all places and with all nations, according to the laws of that commonwealth; and that Virginia shall enjoy all privileges equal with any Eng- lish plantations in America." The latter clause was referred to the same committee.
The Eighth Article was, "That Virginia shall be free from all taxes, customs, and impositions, whatsoever, and none to be im- posed on them without consent of the grand assembly, and so that neither forts nor castles be erected, or garrisons maintained, with- out their consent." This was also referred to the navy com- mittee, together with several papers relative to the disputes between Virginia and Maryland. The committee made a report in December, which seems merely confined to the Fourth Article, relative to the question of boundary and the contest with Lord Baltimore. In the ensuing July the Long Parliament was dis- solved .*
The articles of surrender were subscribed by Richard Bennet, William Clayborne, and Edmund Curtis, commissioners in behalf of the Parliament. Bennet, a merchant and Roundhead, driven from Virginia by the persecution of Sir William Berkley's ad- ministration, had taken refuge in Maryland. Having gone thence to England, his Puritanical principles and his knowledge of the colonies of Virginia and Maryland, had recommended him for the place of commissioner. Clayborne, too, who had formerly been obliged to fly to England, and whose office of treasurer of Vir- ginia Sir William Berkley had held to be forfeited by delinquency, and which the fugitive Charles had bestowed on Colonel Nor- wood-this impetuous and indomitable Clayborne was another of
* "Virginia and Maryland," Force's Hist. Tracts, ii. 20, in note. Mr. Force, whose researches have brought to light such a magazine of curious and instruc- tive historical materials, appears to have been the first to mention the non-ratifi- cation of some of the articles of surrender. He says: "Three of the articles were not confirmed," and therefore did not receive the last formal and final and definitive ratification which Burk [Hist. of Va., ii. 92,] supposes they did. But it appears that Burk referred only to the ratification by the parties at James- town, and had no reference to the ulterior confirmation by the Parlia- ment.
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the commissioners sent to reduce the colonies within the Chesa- peake Bay.
A new era was now opening in these two colonies; and the prominent parts which Bennet and Clayborne were destined to perform in this novel scene, exhibit a signal example of the vicissitudes of human fortune. The drama that was enacted in the mother country was repeated on a miniature theatre in the colonies.
CHAPTER XXIV.
1652-1656.
Bennet and Clayborne reduce Maryland-Cromwell's Letter-Provisional Go- vernment organized in Virginia-Bennet made Governor-William Clayborne Secretary of State-The Assembly - Counties represented-Cromwell dis- solves the Long Parliament, and becomes Lord Protector-Sir William Berk- ley - Francis Yeardley's Letter to John Ferrar-Discovery in Carolina- Roanoke Indians visit Yeardley-He purchases a large Territory-William Hatcher-Stone, Deputy Governor of Maryland, defies the Authority of the Commissioners Bennet and Clay borne-They seize the Government and entrust it to Commissioners-Battle ensues-The Adherents of Baltimore defeated- Several prisoners executed-Cromwell's Letters-The Protestants attack the Papists on the Birth-day of St. Ignatius.
NOT long after the surrender of the Ancient Dominion of Vir- ginia, Bennet and Clayborne, commissioners, embarking in the Guinea frigate, proceeded to reduce Maryland. After effecting a reduction of the infant province, they, with singular moderation, agreed to a compromise with those who held the proprietary go- vernment under Lord Baltimore. Stone, the governor, and the council, part of them Papists, none well affected to the Common- wealth of England, were allowed, until further instructions should be received, to retain their places, on condition of issuing all writs in the name of the Keepers of the Liberty of England .* Sir William Berkley, upon the surrender of the colony, betook him- self into retirement in Virginia, where he remained free from molestation; and his house continued to be a hospitable place of resort for refugee cavaliers. There was, no doubt, before the sur- render, a considerable party in Virginia, who either secretly or openly sympathized with the parliamentary party in England; and upon the reduction of the colony these adherents of the Commonwealth found their influence much augmented.
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