USA > Virginia > History of the colony and ancient dominion of Virginia > Part 27
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* Morrison's Letter, in Burk, ii. 268.
¡ Thomas H. Wynne, Esq., of Richmond, who is laudably curious in matters connected with Virginia history, has a copy of this play, and I have been in- debted to him for the use of that and several other rare books.
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at his house when search was made for him on the morning of his escape. The author of T. M.'s Account says: "But Mr. Bacon was too young, too much a stranger there, and of a dis- position too precipitate, to manage things to that length those were carried, had not thoughtful Mr. Lawrence been at the bottom."
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
1677.
Arrival of an English Regiment-The Royal Commissioners-Punishment of Re- bels-Execution of Giles Bland-Commissioners investigate the Causes of the Rebellion-Seize the Assembly's Journals-Number of Persons executed- Cruel Treatment of Prisoners-Bacon's Laws repealed-Act of Pardon-Ex- ceptions-Singular Penalties-Evaded by the Courts-Many of Bacon's Laws re-enacted-Berkley recalled-Succeeded by Jeffreys-Sir William Berkley's Death-Notice of his Life and Writings-His Widow.
ON the 29th day of January, 1677, a fleet arrived within the capes, from England, under command of Admiral Sir John Berry, or Barry, with a regiment of soldiers commanded by Colonel Herbert Jeffreys and Colonel Morrison. Sir William Berkley held an interview with them at Kiquotan, on board of the Bristol; and these three were associated in a commission to investigate the causes of the late commotions and to restore order. They were instructed to offer a reward of three hundred pounds to any one who should arrest Bacon, who was to be taken by "all ways of force, or design." And the other colonies were commanded by the king not to aid or conceal him; and it was ordered, in case of his capture, that he should be brought to trial here; or, if his popularity should render it expedient, be sent to England for trial and punishment. They were authorized to pardon all who would duly take the oath of obedience, and give security for their good behavior. Freedom was to be offered to servants and slaves who would aid in suppressing the revolt .* The same measure had been before adopted by the Long Parlia- ment, and was resorted to a century afterwards by Governor Dun- more. It is the phenomenon of historical pre-existence. The general court and the assembly having now met, several more of
* Chalmers' Annals, 336.
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Bacon's adherents were convicted by a civil tribunal held at Greenspring, and put to death-most of them men of competent fortune and respectable character. Among them was Giles Bland, whose friends in England, it was reported, had procured his pardon to be sent over with the fleet; but if so, it availed him nothing. It was indeed whispered that he was executed under private orders brought from England, the Duke of York having declared, with an oath, that "Bacon and Bland shall die." Bland was convicted March eighth, and executed on the fifteenth, at Bacon's Trench, near Jamestown, with another prisoner, Robert Jones. Three others were put to death on another day at the same place. Anthony Arnold was hung on the fifteenth of March, in chains, at West Point. Two others suffered capi- tally on the same day, but at what place does not appear, proba- bly in their own counties .*
In the month of April, Secretary Ludwell wrote to Coventry, the English secretary of state, "that the grounds of this rebel- lion have not proceeded from any real fault in the government, but rather from the lewd disposition of desperate fortunes lately sprung up among them, which easily seduced the willing minds of the people from their allegiance, in the vain hopes of taking the country wholly out of his majesty's hands into their own. Bacon never intended more by the prosecution of the Indian war than as a covert to his villanies."
The commissioners, who assisted in the trial of these prisoners, now proceeded to inquire into the causes of the late distractions; they sat at Swan's Point. The insurgents, who comprised the great body of the people of Virginia, had found powerful friends among the people of England, and in parliament; and the com- missioners discountenanced the excesses of Sir William Berkley, and the loyalists, and invited the planters in every quarter to bring in their grievances without fear. Jeffreys, one of the com- missioners, was about to succeed Governor Berkley. In their zeal for investigation the commissioners seized the journals of the assembly; and the burgesses in October, 1677, demanded satis- faction for this indignity, declaring that such a seizure could not
* Burk, ii. 255.
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have been authorized even by an order under the great seal, be- cause "they found that such a power had never been exercised by the king of England"-an explicit declaration of the legisla- tive independence of the colony. Their language was stigma- tized by Charles the Second as seditious .*
The number of persons executed was twenty-three, t of whom twelve were condemned by court-martial. The jails were crowded with prisoners, and in the general consternation many of the in- habitants were preparing to leave the country. During eight months Virginia had suffered civil war, devastation, executions, and the loss of one hundred thousand pounds,-so violent was the effort of nature to throw off the malady of despotism and misrule. Charles the Second, in October, issued two proclama- tions, authorizing Berkley to pardon all except Nathaniel Bacon, Jr .; and afterwards another, declaring Sir William's of February, 1677, not conformable to his instructions, in excepting others besides Bacon from pardon, and abrogating it. Yet the king's commissioners assisted in the condemnation of several of the pri- soners. An act of pardon, under the great seal, brought over by Lord Culpepper, was afterwards unanimously passed by the as- sembly in June, 1680, and several persons are excepted in it who were included in Sir William's "bloody bill" in February, 1677.}
The people complained to the commissioners of the illegal seizing of their estates by the governor and his royalist sup- porters; and of their being imprisoned after submitting them- selves upon the governor's proclamation of pardon and indem- nity; and of being compelled to pay heavy fines and compositions by threats of being brought to trial, which was in every instance tantamount to conviction. Berkley and some of the royalists that sat on the trial of the prisoners, were forward in impeach- ing, accusing, and reviling them-accusing and condemning, both at once. Sir William Berkley caused Drummond's small planta- tion to be seized upon and given to himself by his council, removing and embezzling the personal property, and thus com- pelling his widow, with her children, to fly from her home, and
* Chalmers' Revolt, i. 163, and Annals, 337.
+ Hening, ii. 370.
Hening, ii. 366, 428, 458.
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wander in the wilderness and woods until they were well-nigh re- duced to starvation, when relieved by the arrival of the commis- sioners. At length the assembly, in an address to the governor, deprecated any further sanguinary punishments, and he was pre- vailed upon, reluctantly, to desist. All the acts of the assembly of June, 1676, called "Bacon's Laws," were repealed, as well by the order and proclamation of King Charles, as also by act of the assembly held at Greenspring, in February, 1677 .*
The assembly granted indemnity and pardon for all acts com- mitted since the 1st of April, 1676, excepting Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., and about fifty others, including certain persons deceased, executed, escaped, and banished. The principal persons excepted were Cheesman, Hunt, Hansford, Wilford, Carver, Drummond, Crewes, Farloe, Hall, William and Henry West, Lawrence, Bland, Whaley, Arnold, Ingram, Wakelet, Scarburgh, and Sarah, wife of Thomas Grindon. Twenty were attainted of high trea- son, and their estates confiscated. The provisoes of the act vir- tually left the whole power of punishment still in the hands of the governor and council. Minor punishments were inflicted on others; some were compelled to sue for pardon on their knees, with a rope about the neck; others fined, disfranchised, or banished. These penalties did not meet with the approbation of the people, and were in several instances evaded by the conni- vance of the courts. John Bagwell and Thomas Gordon, adjudged to appear at Rappahannock Court with halters about their necks, were allowed to appear with "small tape;" in the same county William Potts wore "a Manchester binding," instead of a halter.
The assembly, in accordance with one of Bacon's laws, declared Indian prisoners slaves, and their property lawful prize. An order was made for building a new state-house at Tindall's (Glou- cester) Point, on the north side of York River, but it was never carried into effect. Many of the acts of this session are almost exact copies of "Bacon's Laws," the titles only being altered-a conclusive proof of the abuses and usurpations of those in power, and of the merits of acts passed by those stigmatized and pu- nished as rebels and traitors. Such likewise was the conduct of
* Hening, ii. 365.
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the British Parliament in relation to the legislation of the Com- monwealth of England. The fourth of May was appointed a fast-day, and August the twenty-second a day of thanksgiving.
Sir William Berkley, worn down with agitations which his age was unequal to, and in feeble health, being recalled by the king, ceased to be governor on the 27th of April, 1677, and returned in the fleet to London, leaving Colonel Herbert Jeffreys in his place, who was sworn into office on the same day. His commis- sion was dated November the 11th, 1676-the twenty-eighth year of Charles the Second. In July, 1675, Lord Culpepper had been appointed governor-in-chief of Virginia, but he did not arrive till the beginning of 1680; had he come over when first appointed, it might have prevented Bacon's Rebellion.
Sir William Berkley died on the thirteenth of July, 1677, of a broken heart, as some relate,* without ever seeing the king, having been confined to his chamber from the day of his arrival. According to others, King Charles expressed his approbation of his conduct, and the kindest regard for him, and made frequent inquiry respecting his health .; Others again, on the contrary, report that the king said of him: "That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have done for the murder of my father."# Sir William Berkley was a native of London, and educated at Merton College, Oxford, of which he was after- wards a fellow, and in 1629 was made Master of Arts. He made the tour of Europe in the year 1630. He held the place of governor of Virginia from 1639 to 1651, and from 1659 to 1677 -a period of thirty years, a term equalled by no other governor of the colony. He published a tragi-comedy, "The Lost Lady," in 1639, the year in which he came first to Virginia. Pepys, in his Diary, mentions seeing it acted. Sir William published also, in 1663, "A Discourse and View of Virginia." He was buried at Twickenham, since illustrated by the genius of Pope. Sir William Berkley left no children. By a will, dated May the 2d, 1676, he bequeathed his estate to his widow. He declares him- self to have been under no obligation whatever to any of his
* Chalmers' Introduction, i. 164.
¿ T. M.'s Account.
+ Beverley, B. i. 79.
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kindred except his sister, Mrs. Jane Davies, (of whom he appears to have been fond,) and his brother, Lord Berkley. Sir William married the widow of Samuel Stephens, of Warwick County, Vir- ginia. She, after Sir William's death, was sued by William Drummond's widow for trespass, in taking from her land a quan- tity of corn, and in spite of a strenuous defence, a verdict was found against the defendant. In 1680 she intermarried with Colonel Philip Ludwell, of Rich Neck, but still retained the title of "Dame (or Lady) Frances Berkley."
Samuel Stephens was the son of Dame Elizabeth Harvey (widow of Sir John Harvey) by a former marriage .*
It does not appear when Colonel William Clayborne, first of the name in Virginia, died, or where he was buried, but probably in the County of New Kent. There is a novel entitled "Clay- borne the Rebel."t
Colonel William Clayborne, Jr., eldest son of the above mentioned, was probably the one appointed (1676) to command a fort at Indiantown Landing, in New Kent, together with Major Lyddal,¿ as the father was probably then too old for that post. Some suppose also that it was the son that sat on the trial of the rebels. A certificate of the valor of William Clayborne, Jr., is recorded in King William County Court-house, signed by Sir William Berkley, dated in March, 1677, attested by Nathaniel Bacon, Sir Philip Ludwell, Ralph Wormley, and Richard Lee.
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Clayborne, only brother of William Clayborne, Jr., lies buried not far from West Point, in King Wil- liam County. He was killed by an Indian arrow which wounded him in the foot. It appears that each of the sons of Secretary Clayborne had a son named Thomas. Colonel Thomas Clay- borne, son of Captain Thomas Clayborne, is said to have married three times, and to have been father of twenty-seven children. One of his daughters married a General Phillips of the British army, and is said to have been the mother of Colonel Ralph Phillips, of the British army, who fell at Waterloo, and of the
* Mass. Gen. and Antiq. Register for 1847, p. 348.
¡ By William H. Carpenter, Esq., of Maryland. Published in 1846. į Hening, ii. 526.
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distinguished Irish orator who died recently. Another son, Wil- liam Clayborne, married a Miss Leigh, of Virginia, and was father of William Charles Cole Clayborne, Governor of Louisiana, and of General Ferdinand Leigh Clayborne, late of Mississippi. He assisted General Jackson in planning the battle of New Or- leans. The widow of this Governor Clayborne married John R. Grymes, Esq., the eminent New Orleans lawyer. And a daughter of the governor married John H. B. Latrobe, Esq., of Baltimore.
Colonel Augustine Clayborne, son of Colonel Thomas Clay- borne, was appointed clerk of Sussex County Court in the year 1754, by William Adair, secretary of the colony. His son, Bul- ler Clayborne, was aid-de-camp to General Lincoln, and is said to have received a wound while interposing himself between the general and a party of British soldiers. Mary Herbert, a sister of Buller Clayborne, married an uncle of General William Henry Harrison. Herbert Clayborne, eldest son of Colonel Augustine Clayborne, married Mary, daughter of Buller Herbert, of Puddle- dock, near Petersburg. Puddledock is the name of a street in London. Herbert Augustine Clayborne was second son of Her- bert Clayborne, of Elson Green, King William County, and Mary Burnet, eldest daughter of William Burnet Browne, of Elson Green, and before of Salem, Massachusetts.
The Honorable William Browne, of Massachusetts, married Mary Burnet, daughter of William Burnet, (Governor of New York and of Massachusetts,) and Mary, daughter of Dean Stan- hope, of Canterbury. William Burnet was eldest son of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, and Mrs. Mary Scott, his second wife. Thus it appears that Herbert Clayborne married a de- scendant of Bishop Burnet.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
1677-1681.
Failure of the Charter-Sir William Berkley's Proclamation revoked-Ludwell's Quarrel with Jeffreys -- Jeffreys dying is succeeded by Sir Henry Chicheley- Culpepper, Governor-in-Chief, arrives-His Administration-He returns to England by way of Boston.
THE agents of Virginia, in 1675, had strenuously solicited the grant of a new charter, and their efforts, though long fruitless, seemed at length about to be crowned with success, when the news of Bacon's rebellion furnished the government with a new pretext for violating its engagements. By the report of the committee for plantations, adopted by the king in council, and twice ordered to be passed into a new charter under the great seal, it was provided, "that no imposition or taxes shall be laid or imposed upon the inhabitants and proprietors there, but by the common consent of the governor, council, and burgesses, as hath been heretofore used," reserving, however, to parliament the right to lay duties upon commodities shipped from the colony. The news of the rebellion frustrated this scheme; the promised charter slept in the Hamper* office; and the one actually sent afterwards was meagre and unsatisfactory. Colonel Jeffreys, successor to Berkley, effected a treaty of peace with the Indians, each town agreeing to pay three arrows for their land, and twenty beaver skins for protection, every year. He convened an assembly at the house of Captain Otho Thorpe, at Middle Plan- tation, in October, 1677, being the twenty-ninth year of Charles the Second. William Traverse was speaker, and Robert Bever- ley clerk. The session lasted for one month. According to instructions given to Sir William Berkley, dated in November, 1676, the governor was no longer obliged to call an assembly yearly, but only once in two years, and the session was limited
* Hening, ii. 531; Hamper, i.e. Hanaper.
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to fourteen days, unless the governor should see good cause to continue it beyond that time; and the members of the assembly were to be elected only by freeholders. During this session re- gulations were adopted for the Indian trade, and fairs appointed for the sale of Indian commodities; but the natives being suspi- cious of innovations, these provisions soon became obsolete.
In 1677 Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., by a warrant from the treasury in England, was appointed auditor of the public accounts. At this time Colonel Norwood was treasurer, but the governor and council, from motives of economy, united his office with that of auditor.
It has before been mentioned that the king, by proclamation in 1677, revoked and abrogated Sir William Berkley's proclama- tion of February of the same year, as containing "an exception and exclusion from pardon of divers and sundry persons in his said proclamation named, for which he hath no ground or authority from our foresaid proclamation, the same being free and without exception of any person besides the said Nathaniel Bacon, who should submit themselves according to the tenor of our said proclamation."*
This appears to be unjust to the governor; for the words of the king's proclamation of October are: "And we do by these presents give and grant full power and authority to you, our said governor, for us and in our name to pardon, release, and forgive unto all such our subjects (other than the said Nathaniel Bacon) as you shall think fit and convenient for our service, all treasons, felonies," etc., evidently investing the governor with discretionary powers. The capitulation agreed upon with Ingram and Walklet, at West Point, appears to have been violated by Governor Berk- ley and the assembly. Colonel Philip Ludwell, alleging that he had suffered loss by Walklet's incursions, sued him in New Kent for damages. The defendant appealing to Jeffreys, he granted him a protection. Whereupon, Ludwell declared that "the go- vernor, Jeffreys, was a worse rebel than Bacon, for he had broke
* The direction of this proclamation is as follows : "To our trusty and well- beloved Herbert Jeffreys, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor, and the council of our colony and plantation of Virginia in the West Indies."
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the laws of the country, which Bacon never did; that he was perjured in delaying or preventing the execution of the laws, contrary to his oath of governor; that he was not worth a groat in England; and that if every pitiful little fellow with a periwig that came in governor to this country had liberty to make the laws, as this had done, his children, nor no man's else, could be safe in the title or estate left them." Jeffreys having laid these charges and criminations before the council, they submitted the case to a jury who found Ludwell guilty. The matter was referred to the king in council; and in the mean while the accused was compelled to give security in the penalty of a thousand pounds, to abide the determination of the case, and five hundred for his good behavior to the governor.
Westmoreland was the only county that declared that it had no grievances to complain of, and the sincerity of this declara- tion may well be doubted. Accomac claimed as a reward for her loyalty an exemption from taxation for a period of twenty years. A letter, bearing date December the 27th, 1677, addressed by the king to Jeffreys, informed him that Lord Culpepper had been ap- pointed governor, but that while he (Jeffreys) continued to per- form the duties of the office, he should be no loser, and stating the arrangement which had been made as to the payment of their salaries. Jeffreys dying in December, 1678, was succeeded by the aged Sir Henry Chicheley, deputy governor, who entered upon the duties on the thirteenth of that month, his commission being dated February 28th, 1674.
Thomas, Lord Culpepper, Baron of Thorsway, had been ap- pointed in July, 1675, governor of Virginia for life-an able, but artful and covetous man .* He had been one of the commission- ers for plantations some years before. He was disposed to look upon his office as a sinecure, but being reproved in December, 1679, by the king for remaining so long in England, he came over to the colony in 1680, and was sworn into office on the tenth of May. He found Virginia tranquil. He brought over several bills ready draughted in England to be passed by the assembly,
* Account of Va. in Mass. Hist. Coll., first series, v. 142.
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it being "intended to introduce here the modes of Ireland."* His lordship being invested with full powers of pardon, found it the more easy to obtain from the people whatever he asked. After procuring the enactment of several popular acts, including one of indemnity and oblivion, he managed to have the impost of two shillings on every hogshead of tobacco made perpetual, and instead of being accounted for to the assembly, as formerly, to be disposed of as his majesty might think fit. Culpepper, notwith- standing the impoverished condition of the colony, contrived to enlarge his salary from one thousand pounds to upwards of two thousand, besides perquisites amounting to eight hundred more. After the rebellion, the governor was empowered to suspend a councillor from his place. It was also ordered, that in case of the death or removal of the governor, the president, or oldest member of the council, with the assistance of five members of that body, should administer the government until another ap- pointment should be made by the crown. t
In the year 1680 Charles the Second granted to William Blathwayt the place of surveyor and auditor-general of all his revenues in America, with a salary of five hundred pounds to be paid out of the same, Virginia's share of the salary being one hundred pounds.
In August of this year, Lord Culpepper returned to England, by way of Boston, in the ship "Betty," belonging to Jervis, who married the widow of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., (a cousin of Culpep- per,) Jervis being also a passenger. Elizabeth, or Betty, was the Christian name of Bacon's widow. The vessel having run aground in the night, his lordship landed on the wild New Eng- land shore, one hundred and thirty miles from Boston, with two servants, each carrying a gun, and made his way twenty miles to Sandwich, where he was furnished with horses and a guide, and so reached Boston, where the Betty arrived ten days thereafter. In a letter, dated September the twentieth, addressed to his sister, he mentions that he has with him, "John Polyn, the cook, the
* Chalmers' Introduction, i. 164.
¡ In 1678 the vestry at Middle Plantation determined to erect a brick church, the former onc being of wood.
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page, the great footman, and the little one that embroiders." The Betty conveyed soldiers, servants, plate, goods, and furni- ture. Culpepper was received at Boston by twelve companies of militia; and was well pleased with the place, "finding no differ- ence between it and Old England, but only want of company."*
Virginia now enjoyed repose, and large crops of tobacco were raised, and the price again fell to a low ebb. The discontents of the planters were aggravated by the act "for cohabitation and encouragement of trade and manufacture," restricting vessels to certain prescribed ports where the government desired to esta- blish towns.
In the year 1680 Charleston was founded, the metropolis of the infant colony of South Carolina. By the grant of Pennsylvania, made by Charles the Second to William Penn, dated in March, 1681, Virginia lost another large portion of her territory.
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