USA > Virginia > History of the colony and ancient dominion of Virginia > Part 28
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* Va. Hist. Reg., iii. 189.
CHAPTER XL.
1681-1683.
Statistics of Virginia-Colonial Revenue-Courts of Law-Ecclesiastical Affairs -Militia-Indians-Negroes-Riotous cutting up of Tobacco-plants-Culpep- per returns -Declaration of Assembly expunged-The Governor alters the Value of Coin by Proclamation.
FROM a statistical account of Virginia, as reported by Culpep- per to the committee of the colonies, in 1681, it appears that there were at that time forty-one burgesses, being two from each of twenty counties, and one from Jamestown. The colonial re- venue consisted-First, of parish levies, "commonly managed by sly cheating fellows, that combine to cheat the public." Secondly, public levies raised by act of assembly, both derived from tithables or working hands, of which there were about fourteen thousand. The cost of collecting this part of the revenue was estimated at not less than twenty per centum. Thirdly, two shillings per hogshead on tobacco exported, which, together with some tonnage duties, amounted to three thousand pounds a year. The county courts held three sessions in the year, an appeal lying to the governor and council, and from them, in actions of three hundred pounds sterling value, to his majesty; in causes of less conse- quence, to the assembly.
The ecclesiastical affairs of the colony were subject to the con- trol of the governor, who granted probates of wills, and had the right of presentation to all livings, the ordinary value of which was sixty pounds per annum; but at that particular time, owing to the impoverishment of the country and the low price of tobacco, not worth half that sum. The number of livings was seventy-six. Lord Culpepper adds: "And the parishes paying the ministers themselves, have used to claim the right of presen- tation, (or rather of not paying,) whether the governor will or not, which must not be allowed, and yet must be managed with great caution." There was no fort in Virginia defensible against
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a European enemy, nor any security for ships against a superior sea force. There were perhaps fifteen thousand fighting men in the country .*
His lordship describes the north part of Carolina as "the re- fuge of our renegades, and till in better order, dangerous to us." Yet it is certain that some of the early settlers of this part of North Carolina were of exemplary character, and were driven from Virginia by intolerance and persecution. According to his lordship, "Maryland is now in a ferment, and not only troubled with our disease, poverty, but in a great danger of falling to pieces." The colony of Virginia was at peace with the Indians; but long experience had taught, in regard to that treacherous race, that when there was the least suspicion then was there the greatest danger. But the most ruinous evil that afflicted the colony was the extreme low price of the sole commodity, tobacco. "For the market is overstocked, and every crop overstocks it more. Our thriving is our undoing, and our buying of blacks hath extremely contributed thereto by making more tobacco."t
Emancipated Indian or negro slaves were prohibited from buy- ing Christian servants, but were allowed to buy those of their own nation. Negro children imported had their ages recorded by the court, and became tithable at the age of twelve years. In June, 1680, an act was passed for preventing an insurrection of the negro slaves, and it was ordered that it should be published twice a year at the county courts of the parish churches.} Negroes were not allowed to remain on another plantation more than four hours without leave of the owner or overseer.
After "his excellency," Lord Culpepper, went away from Vir- ginia in August, 1680, leaving Sir Henry Chicheley deputy governor, tranquillity prevailed until the time for shipping to- bacco in the following year, when the trade was greatly obstructed by the act for establishing towns, which required vessels to be laden at certain specified places. The act being found impracti- cable, was disobeyed, and much disturbance ensued. In compli-
* The number of half-armed train-bands, in 1680, were 7268 foot and 1300 horse-total, 8568 .- Chalmers' Annals, 357.
į Hening, ii. 481, 492. ¡ Chalmers' Annals, 355.
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ance with the petitions of several dissatisfied counties, an assem- bly was called together in April, 1682, by Sir Henry Chicheley, without the consent of the council. The session being occupied in agitating debates, the body was dissolved, and another sum- moned, according to an order just received from the crown, to meet in November, 1682, by which time Culpepper was com- manded to return to Virginia. The disaffected in the petitioning counties, Gloucester, New Kent, and Middlesex, in May pro- ceeded riotously to cut up the tobacco-plants in the beds, espe- cially the sweet-scented, which was produced nowhere else. To put a stop to this outbreak, the deputy governor issued sundry proclamations .*
Lord Culpepper having arrived, the assembly met shortly after- wards. He demanded of the council an account of their adminis- tration during his absence, and it was rendered. In his address to the assembly, he enlarged upon the king's generous and unde- served concessions to the colony; he announced the king's high displeasure at the declaration made by them that the seizing of their records by the king's commissioners was an unwarrantable violation of their privileges, and, in the king's name, ordered the same to be expunged from the journal of the house, and proposed to them a bill asserting the right of the king and his officers to call for all their records and journals whenever they should think it necessary for the public service.
The governor claiming authority to raise the value of the coin, the assembly warmly opposed it, as a dangerous encroachment on their constitutional rights; and a bill was brought in for regu- lating the value of coins, which was interrupted by the governor, who claimed that power as belonging to the royal prerogative. He issued a proclamation, in 1683, raising the value of crowns, rix dollars, and pieces of eight, from five to six shillings, half pieces to three shillings, quarter pieces to eighteen pence, and the New England coin to one shilling, declaring money at this rate a lawful tender, except for the duty of two shillings a hogshead on tobacco, the quit-rents, and other duties payable to his majesty, and for debts contracted for bills of exchange. His own salary
* Hening, ii. 561.
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ANCIENT DOMINION OF VIRGINIA.
and the king's revenues were, in this way, in a period of distress, exempted from the operation of the act, a proceeding characteristic of the reign of Charles the Second, in which official energy was mainly exhibited in measures of injustice and extortion.
The ringleaders in the plant cutting were arrested, and some of them hanged upon a charge of treason; and this, together with the enactment of a riot act, and making the offence high treason, put a stop to the practice .*
* Chalmers' Annals, 340; Hening, iii. 10.
CHAPTER XLI.
1683-1688.
Persecution of Robert Beverley-Plots and Executions in England-Culpepper returns to England-Spencer, President-Culpepper is displaced-Succeeded by Effingham-Beverley, found guilty, asks Pardon, and is released-Miscel- laneous Affairs-Death of Charles the Second-Succeeded by James the Se- cond-Beverley again Clerk-Duke of Monmouth beheaded-Adherents of Monmouth sent Prisoners to Virginia-Instructions respecting them-Death of Robert Beverley -- Despotism of James the Second-Servile Insurrection prevented- Virginia refuses to contribute to the erection of Forts in New York-Commotions in Virginia-Effingham's Corruption and Tyranny-He embarks for England-Ludwell dispatched to lay Virginia's Grievances before the Government-Abdication of James the Second.
THE vengeance of the government fell heavily upon Major Robert Beverley, clerk of the house of burgesses, as the chief instigator of these disturbances. He had incurred the displea- sure of the governor and council by refusing to deliver up to them copies of the legislative journals, without permission of the house. Beverley had rendered important services in suppressing Bacon's rebellion, and had won the special favor of Sir William Berkley; but as circumstances change, men change with them, and now by a steady adherence to his duty to the assembly, he drew down upon his head unrelenting persecution. In the month of May, 1682, he was committed a close prisoner on board the ship Duke of York, lying in the Rappahannock .* Ralph Wormley, Matthew Kemp, and Christopher Wormley, were directed to seize the records in Beverley's possession, and to break open doors if necessary. He complained, in a note ad- dressed to the captain, and claimed the rights of a freeborn Eng- lishman. He was transferred from the Duke of York to Captain Jeffries, commander of the Concord, and a guard set over him. He was next sent on board of Colonel Custis's sloop, to be taken
* Hening, iii. 540.
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to Northampton. Escaping from the custody of the sheriff of York, the prisoner was retaken at his own house in Middlesex, and sent to Northampton, on the Eastern Shore. Some months after, he applied for a writ of habeas corpus, which was refused; and in a short time, being again found at large, he was remanded to Northampton. In January, 1683, new charges were brought against him: First, that he had broken open letters addressed to the secretary's office; Secondly, that he had made up the journal, and inserted his majesty's letter therein, notwithstand- ing it had first been presented at the time of the prorogation; Thirdly, that in 1682 he had refused copies of the journal to the governor and council, saying "he might not do it without leave of his masters."
In the year 1680, England was agitated and alarmed with the "Popish plot;" and the Earl of Stafford and divers others were executed on the information of Oates and other witnesses. In July, 1683, Lord Russell was beheaded on a charge of treason, and others suffered the same fate as being implicated in what was styled the "Protestant plot."
Culpepper, after staying about a year in Virginia, returned to England, leaving his kinsman, secretary Nicholas Spencer, presi- dent. Thus, again, quitting the colony in violation of his orders, he was arrested immediately on his arrival; and having received presents from the assembly, contrary to his instructions, a jury of Middlesex found that he had forfeited his commission. This example having shown that he who acts under independent authority will seldom obey even reasonable commands, no more governors were appointed for life .* Beverleyt gives a different account: "The next year, being 1684, upon the Lord Culpepper refusing to return, Francis, Lord Howard of Effingham, was sent over governor." But Chalmers, having access to the records of the English government, appears to be the better authority.
Lord Culpepper having it in view, as was said, to purchase the propriety of the Northern Neck, lying between the Rappahan- nock and the Potomac, in order to further his design, had fo- mented a dispute between the house of burgesses and the coun-
* Chalmers' Annals, 345.
¡ Beverley, B. i. 89.
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cil; and the quarrel running high, his lordship procured from the king instructions to abolish appeals from the general court to the assembly, and transfer them to the crown. However, Culpepper being a man of strong judgment, introduced some salutary amendments to the laws. During his time, instead of fixed gar- risons, rangers were employed in guarding the frontier. In Oc- tober died Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Clayborne, (son of Colonel William Clayborne,) mortally wounded in an engagement with the Indians, which took place near West Point, at the head of York River; he lies buried on the same spot, in compliance with his dying request. The son appears to have inherited the spirit of his father.
Lord Culpepper was succeeded by Francis, Lord Howard of Effingham, whose appointment was the last act of Charles the Second in relation to the colony of Virginia. Lord Effingham was appointed in August, 1683, the thirty-fifth year of the king's reign, commissioned in September, and arriving in Virginia during February, 1684, entered upon the duties of the office in April. The assembly met on the following day. Acts were passed to prevent plant cutting, and preserve the peace; to sup- ply the inhabitants with arms and ammunition; to repeal the act for encouragement of domestic manufactures; to provide for the better defence of the colony; laying for the first time an impost on liquors imported from other English plantations; exempting such as were imported by Virginians for their own use, and in their own vessels. The burgesses, in behalf of the inhabitants of the Northern Neck, then called Potomac Neck, prayed the go- vernor to secure them by patent in their titles to their lands, which had been invaded by Culpepper's charter. The governor replied that he was expecting a favorable decision on the matter from the king.
About this time the name of Zach. Taylor, a surveyor, is men- tioned, an ancestor of General Zachary Taylor, some time Presi- dent of the United States .*
In May, 1684, Robert Beverley was found guilty of high mis-
* One of the James River merchant-vessels mentioned by the first William Byrd, was called the "Zach. Taylor."
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HISTORY OF THE COLONY AND
demeanors, but judgment being respited, and the prisoner asking pardon on his bended knees, was released, upon giving security for his good behavior. His counsel was William Fitzhugh, of Stafford County, a lawyer of reputation, and a planter. Bever- . ley was charged with having led the people to believe that there would be a "cessation" of the tobacco crop in 1680, and such appears to have been the general impression in the summer of that year .* The abject terms in which he now sued for pardon form a singular contrast to his former constancy; and it is curious to find the loyal Beverley, the strenuous partizan of Berkley, now the victim of the tyranny which he had formerly defended with so much energy and success.
On the twentieth day of May, of this year, Lord Baltimore was at Jamestown on a visit to the governor, with a view of em- barking there for England.
Owing to the incursions of the Five Nations upon the frontiers of Virginia, it was deemed expedient to treat with them through the governor of New York; and for this purpose Lord Effing- ham, Governor of Virginia, leaving the administration in the hands of Colonel Bacon, of the council, and accompanied by two councillors, sailed, June the twenty-third, in the " Quaker Ketch," to New York, and thence repaired to Albany, in July. There he met Governor Dongan, of New York, the agent of Massachu- setts, the magistrates of Albany, and the chiefs of the warlike Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagos, and Cayugas. The tomahawk was buried, the chain of friendship brightened, and the tree of peace planted. It was during this year that the charter of Massachusetts was dissolved by a writ of quo warranto. In the same year Talbot, a kinsman of the Calverts, and a member of the Maryland Council, killed, in a private rencontre, Rousby, the collector of the customs for that province; he was tried in Vir- ginia, and convicted, but subsequently pardoned by James the Second.
Evelyn; says: "I can never forget the inexpressible luxury, and profaneness, gaming, and `all dissoluteness, and, as it were, total forgetfulness of God, (it being Sunday evening,) which this
* Va. Hist. Reg., i. 166.
+ Diary, ii. 211.
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ANCIENT DOMINION OF VIRGINIA.
day se'nnight I was witness of, the king sitting and toying with his concubines, Portsmouth, Cleveland, and Mazarine, etc., a French boy singing love-songs in that glorious gallery, while about twenty of the great courtiers, and other dissolute persons, were at basset round a large table, a bank of at least two thou- sand pounds in gold before them; upon which two gentlemen, who were with me, made reflections with astonishment. Six days after, all was in the dust."
Rochester, in his epigram, described Charles the Second as one Who never said a foolish thing, and never did a wise one.
But it is much easier to discover the foolish things that he did, than the wise things that he said. He was good-natured, free from vindictiveness, and had some appreciation of science.
The succession of James the Second to the throne was pro- claimed in the Ancient Dominion of Virginia "with extraor- dinary joy." The enthusiasm of their loyalty was soon lowered, for the assembly meeting on the 1st day of October, 1685, and warmly resisting the negative power claimed by the governor, was prorogued on the same day to the second of November fol- lowing. Robert Beverley was again clerk. Strong resolutions, complaining of the governor's veto, were passed. After sitting for some time this and other bills were presented to him for his signature, which he refused to give, and appearing suddenly in the house prorogued it again to the 20th of October, 1686.
The Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles the Second, failing in a rash insurrection, was beheaded, July the fourteenth of this year.
The first parliament of the new reign laid an impost on to- bacco; the planters, in abject terms, supplicated James to sus- pend the duty imposed on their staple; but he refused to comply. They also took measures to encourage domestic manufactures, which were disapproved of by the lords of the committee of colo- nies, as contrary to the acts of navigation. Nevertheless, on the reception of the news of the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth, the Virginians sent a congratulatory address to the king.
A number of the prisoners taken with Monmouth, and who had escaped the cruelty of Jeffreys, were sent to Virginia; and King
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James instructed Effingham on this occasion in the following letter :*
"RIGHT TRUSTY AND WELL-BELOVED,-We greet you well. As it has pleased God to deliver into our hands such of our rebellious subjects as have taken up arms against us, for which traitorous practices some of them have suffered death according to law; so we have been graciously pleased to extend our mercy to many others by ordering their transportation to several parts of our dominions in America, where they are to be kept as ser- vants to the inhabitants of the same; and to the end their punish- ment may in some measure answer their crimes, we do think fit hereby to signify our pleasure unto you, our governor and coun- cil of Virginia, that you take all necessary care that such con- victed persons as were guilty of the late rebellion, that shall arrive within that our colony, whose names are hereunto annexed, t be kept there, and continue to serve their masters for the space of ten years at least. And that they be not permitted in any manner to redeem themselves by money or otherwise until that term be fully expired. And for the better effecting hereof, you are to frame and propose a bill to the assembly of that our colony, with such provisions and clauses as shall be requisite for this purpose, to which you, our governor, are to give your assent, and to transmit the same unto us for our royal confirmation. Wherein expecting a ready compliance, we bid you heartily farewell. Given at our court at Whitehall, the 4th of October, 1685, in the first year of our reign.
"SUNDERLAND."
Virginia made no law conformable to the requisitions of the king.
James the Second, strongly resenting the too democratical pro- ceedings of the Virginia assembly, ordered their dissolution, and that Robert Beverley, as chief promoter of these disputes, should be disfranchised and prosecuted,¿ and directed that in future the appointment of the clerk of the house of burgesses should be
* Chalmers' Annals, 358
¡ The list is still preserved in the London state-paper office.
į Hening, iii. 40.
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made by the governor. Several persons were punished about this time for seditious and treasonable conduct. In May, 1687, the assembly was dissolved. In the spring of this year Robert Beverley died-the victim of tyranny and martyr of constitu- tional liberty : long a distinguished loyalist, he lived to become still more distinguished as a patriot. It is thus in human incon- sistency that extremes meet.
The English merchants engaged in the tobacco trade, in August, 1687, complained to the committee of the colonies of the mis- chiefs consequent upon the exportation of tobacco in bulk; and the committee advised the assembly to prohibit this practice. The assembly refused compliance; but the regulation was subse- quently established by parliament. A meditated insurrection of the blacks was discovered in the Northern Neck just in time to prevent its explosion. In November a message had been received from the Governor of New York, communicating the king's in- structions to him to build forts for the defence of that colony, and the king's desire that Virginia should contribute to that ob- ject, as being for the common defence of the colonies. This project of James, it was suspected, had its origin in his own pro- prietary interest in New York. The Virginians replied, that the Indians might invade Virginia without passing within a hundred miles of those forts, and the contribution was refused. In De- cember, William Byrd succeeded Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., as auditor of the accounts of his majesty's revenue in Virginia ; he continued to hold that place for seventeen years. His MS. accounts are still preserved.
James the Second, influenced by the counsels and the gold of France, and in violation of the most solemn pledges made to the parliament when he ascended the throne, showed himself incor- rigibly bent upon introducing absolute government and establish- ing the Roman Catholic religion in England. In Virginia the council displayed, as usual, servility to power. Upon the dissolu- tion of the assembly, the colony was agitated with apprehensions and alarm. Rumors were circulated of terrible plots, now of the Papists, then of the Indians. The County of Stafford was in- flamed by the bold harangues of John Waugh, a preacher of the established church, and three councillors were dispatched to allay
·
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the commotions. Part of Rappahannock County was in arms. Colonel John Scarburgh, of the Eastern Shore, was prosecuted for saying to the governor that "his majesty King James would wear out the Church of England, for that when there were any vacant offices he supplied them with men of a different persua- sion." Scarburgh was discharged by the council. Others were prosecuted and imprisoned; and James Collins was put in irons for treasonable words uttered against the king.
Effingham, no less avaricious and unscrupulous than his prede- cessor Culpepper, by his extortions and usurpations aroused a general spirit of indignation. He prorogued and dissolved the assembly; he erected a new court of chancery, making himself a petty lord chancellor; he multiplied fees, and stooped to share them with the clerks, and silenced the victims of his extortions by arbitrary imprisonment. The house of burgesses, preparing to petition the king against the new invention of a seal, by which his lordship extracted from the country one hundred thousand pounds of tobacco per annum of extraordinary fees and perquisites, and the governor getting wind of it, sent for them, and they, knowing that his object was to dissolve them, completed the peti- tion, signed it, and ordered their clerk and one of their members to transmit it to Whitehall for the king. But instead of being delivered to his majesty, the original petition was sent back from England to the governor, with an account of the manner in which it had been transmitted. In consequence whereof, Colonel Thomas Milner, being a surveyor and clerk of the house, was removed from those offices, and the burgess being a lawyer, was prohibited from practising at the bar .*
At length, the complaints of the Virginians having reached England, Effingham embarked, in 1688, for that country, and the assembly dispatched Colonel Ludwell to lay their grievances before the government; but before they reached the mother country, the revolution had taken place, and James the Secondt had closed a short and inglorious reign, spent in preposterous invasions of civil and religious liberty, by abdicating the crown.
* Account of Virginia, in Mass. Hist. Coll., first series.
+ Chalmers' Annals, 347.
.
CHAPTER XLII.
1688-1696.
Accession of William and Mary-Proclaimed in Virginia-The House of Stuart- President Bacon-Colonel Francis Nicholson, Lieutenant-Governor-The Rev. James Blair, Commissary-College of William and Mary chartered-Its En- dowment, Objects, Professorships-Death of John Page-Nicholson succeeded by Andros-Post-office-Death of Queen Mary-William the Third-Board of Trade.
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