USA > Virginia > History of the colony and ancient dominion of Virginia > Part 34
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There was as yet no forge set up in Virginia for the manufac- ture of bar iron. The duty in England upon it was twenty-four shillings a ton, and it sold there for from ten to sixteen pounds per ton, which paid the cost of forging it abundantly; but Spots- wood "doubted; the parliament of England would soon forbid us that improvement, lest after that we should go farther, and manu- facture our bars into all sorts of ironware, as they already do in New England and Pennsylvania. Nay, he questioned whether
* Westover MSS., 132.
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we should be suffered to cast any iron which they can do them- selves at their furnaces."
The whole expense was computed at two pounds per ton of sow, (or pig iron,) and it sold for five or six pounds in Eng- land, leaving a nett profit of three pounds or more on a ton. It was estimated that a furnace would cost seven hundred pounds. One hundred negroes were requisite, but on good land these, be- sides the furnace-work, would raise corn and provisions sufficient for themselves and the cattle. The people to be hired were a founder, a mine-raiser, a collier, a stock-taker, a clerk, a smith, a carpenter, a wheelwright, and some carters, these altogether involving an annual charge of five hundred pounds.
At Massaponux, a plantation on the Rappahannock, belonging to Governor Spotswood, he had in operation an air-furnace for casting chimney-backs, andirons, fenders, plates for hearths, pots, mortars, rollers for gardeners, skillets, boxes for cart-wheels. These were sold at twenty shillings a ton and delivered at the purchaser's home, and being cast from the sow iron were much better than the English, which were made, for the most part, immediately from the ore.
In 1732, besides Colonel Willis, the principal person of the place, there were at Fredericksburg only one merchant, a tailor, a blacksmith, and an ordinary keeper.
The following advertisement is found in the "Virginia Gazette" for 1739: "Colonel Spotswood, intending next year to leave Vir- ginia with his family, hereby gives notice that he shall, in April next, dispose of a quantity of choice household furniture, to- gether with a coach, chariot, chaise, coach-horses, house-slaves, etc. And that the rich lands in Orange County, which he has hitherto reserved for his own seating, he now leases out for lives renewable till Christmas, 1775, admitting every tenant to the choice of his tenement, according to the priority of entry. He further gives notice that he is ready to treat with any person of good credit for farming out, for twenty-one years, Germanna and its contiguous lands, with the stock thereon, and some slaves. As also for farming out, for the like term of years, an extraordi- nary grist-mill and bolting-mill, lately built by one of the best millwrights in America, and both going by water taken by a long
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race out of the Rapidan, together with six hundred acres of seated land adjoining the said mill.
"N. B .- The chariot (which has been looked upon as one of the best made, handsomest, and easiest chariots in London,) is to be disposed of at any time, together with some other goods. No one will be received as a tenant who has not the character of an industrious man."
Major-General Sir Alexander Spotswood, when on the eve of embarking with the troops destined for Carthagena, died at Anna- polis, on the 7th day of June, 1740. There is reason to believe that he lies buried at Temple Farm, his country residence near Yorktown, and so called from. a sepulchral building erected by him in the garden there. It was in the dwelling-house at Temple Farm (called the Moore House) that Lord Cornwallis signed the capitulation. This spot, so associated with historical recollec- tions, is also highly picturesque in its situation .*
Governor Spotswood left a historical account of Virginia during the period of his administration, and Mr. Bancroft had access to this valuable document, and refers to it in his history.t
During the sanguinary war with the Indians in which North Carolina had been engaged, Governor Spotswood demanded of the tribes tributary to Virginia a number of the sons of their chiefs, to be sent to the College of William and Mary, where they served as hostages to preserve peace, and enjoyed the advantage of learning to read and write English, and were instructed in the Christian religion. But on returning to their own people they relapsed into idolatry and barbarism.}
Governor Spotswood's long residence in Virginia, and the identity of his interests with those of the people of the colony, appear to have greatly changed his views of governmental prero- gative and popular rights, for during this year he gave it as his opinion that "if the assembly in New England would stand bluff,
* Bishop Meade's Old Churches, etc., 227.
¡ This MS., after remaining long in the Spotswood family of Virginia, was at length communicated to an English gentleman then in this country, and it is supposed to be still in his possession in Europe. It is much to be regretted that there is no copy of it in Virginia.
į Westover MSS., 36.
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he did not see how they could be forced to raise money against their will, for if they should direct it to be done by act of parlia- ment, which they have threatened to do, (though it be against the right of Englishmen to be taxed but by their representatives,) yet they would find it no easy matter to put such an act in execu- tion."*
Governor Spotswood married, in 1724, Miss Butler Bryan, (pronounced Brain,) daughter of Richard Bryan, Esq., of West- minster, an English lady, whose Christian name was taken from James Butler, Duke of Ormond, her godfather. Their chil- dren were John and Robert, Anne Catherine and Dorothea. John Spotswood married, in 1745, Mary Dandridge, daughter of William Dandridge, of the British navy, Commander of the Lud- low Castle ship-of-war, and their children were two sons, General Alexander Spotswood and Captain John Spotswood of the army of the Revolution, and two daughters, Mary and Anne. Robert, the younger son of the governor, an officer under Washington in the French and Indian war, being detached with a scouting party from Fort Cumberland, (1756,) was supposed to have been killed by the Indians. He died without issue.} His remains were found near Fort Du Quesne; and in an elegiac poem published in "Martin's Miscellany," in London, the writer assumes that young Spotswood was slain by the savages.
"Courageous youth ! were now thine honored sire To breathe again, and rouse his wonted ire, Nor French nor Shawnee dare his rage provoke, From great Potomac's spring to Roanoke.
" May Forbes yet live the cruel debt to pay, And wash the blood of Braddock's field away; The fair Ohio's blushing waves may tell How Britons fought, and how each hero fell."}
Anne Catherine, the elder daughter of Governor Spotswood, married Bernard Moore, Esq., of Chelsea, in the County of
* Westover MSS., 135.
+ Washington's Writings, ii. 239, 252.
į Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution, ii. 471. This work is a reservoir of valuable information.
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King William. Dorothea, the other daughter, married Captain Nathaniel West Dandridge, of the British navy, son of Captain William Dandridge, of Elson Green .*
The governor's lady surviving him, and continuing to live at Germanna, November the 9th, 1742, married second the Rev. John Thompson, of Culpepper County, a minister of exemplary character. From this union was descended the late Commodore Thompson of the United States navy. Lady Spotswood's chil- dren objected to the match on the ground of his inferior rank, so that after an engagement she requested to be released; but he appears to have overcome her scruples by a curious letter ad- dressed to her on the subject.t
The present representative of the familyt is John Spottiswoode, Esq., M.P., Laird of Spottiswoode.§ His brothers are George Spottiswoode, of Gladswood, County Berwick, lieutenant-colonel in the army, and Andrew Spottiswoode, of Broom Hall, County Surrey. The representative of the family resides during the greater portion of the year at Spottiswoode, on his extensive hereditary estate, the modern mansion being one of the finest in Southern Scotland. The old mansion still remains. Thirty miles of underground drains have been made on this estate, re- claiming hundreds of acres of land lying between the Blackadder and the Leader.||
Governor SpotswoodI was half-brother to a General Elliott. The governor had a country-seat near Williamsburg, called Porto-Bello. Besides the portrait of him preserved at Chelsea,
* Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; Burke's Landed Gentry, ii., art. SPOTTIS- WOOD.
¡ See Hist. of St. George's Parish, by Rev. Philip Slaughter, 55, and Bishop Meade's Old Churches, etc., ii. 77.
į 1852.
2 Letter of Andrew Spottiswoode, Esq., written in 1852, to Rev. John B. Spotswood, of New Castle, Delaware.
| Beattie's Scotland Illustrated, i. 31.
T Arms of Governor Spotswood .- Argent, a cheveron gules, between three oak- trees eradicate, vert. Supporters, two satyrs proper. Crest: an eagle displayed gules, looking to the sun in his splendor, proper. Motto : "Patior ut potiar." Chief seat : at the old Castle of Spotswood, in Berwickshire .- (Burke's Landed Gentry.)
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in the County of King William, there is another at the residence of William Spotswood, Esq., in Orange County, where there is also a portrait of Lady Spotswood, and one of General Elliott, half-brother of the governor, in complete armor. The descendants of Governor Spotswood in Virginia are numerous, and his memory is held in great respect.
CHAPTER LIV.
1722-1726.
Drysdale, Governor-Intemperance among the Clergy-The Rev. Mr. Lang's Testimony-Acts of Assembly-Death of Governor Drysdale-Colonel Robert Carter, President-Called King Carter-Notice of his Family.
IN the month of September, 1722, Hugh Drysdale assumed the administration of Virginia, amid the prosperity bequeathed him by his predecessor, and being a man of mediocre calibre, yielded to the current of the day, solicitous only to retain his place. Commissary Blair wished the governor, when a vacancy of more than six months occurred, to send and induct a minister as by law directed; but what Spotswood had not been bold enough to do, Drysdale feared to undertake without the authority of a royal order. Opinion is queen of the world.
There were frequent complaints of the scandalous lives of some of the clergy; but it was difficult to obtain positive proof, there being many who would cry out against such, and yet would not appear as witnesses to convict them. Intemperance appears to have been the predominant evil among the clergy, as it was also among the laity.
The Rev. Mr. Lang, who was highly recommended by the gover- nor and commissary, wrote, in 1726, to the Bishop of London: "I observe the people here are very zealous for our holy church, as it is established in England, so that (except some few inconsidera- ble Quakers) there are scarce any dissenters from our commu- nion; and yet, at the same time, the people are supinely ignorant in the very principles of religion, and very debauched in morals. This, I apprehend, is owing to the general neglect of the clergy in not taking pains to instruct youth in the fundamentals of reli- gion, or to examine people come to years of discretion, before they are permitted to come to church privileges." Referring to the prevailing evils he says: "The great cause of all which I humbly conceive to be in the clergy, the sober part being slothful
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and negligent, and others so debauched that they are the fore- most and most bent on all manner of vices. Drunkenness is the common vice." Mr. Lang was minister of the parish of St. Peters, in New Kent County .* The religious instruction of the negroes was for the most part neglected. There were no schools for the education of the children of the common people; no par- ish libraries.
The assembly was held from time to time, according to long established custom, by writ of prorogation; the people being thus deprived of the right of frequent elections. An act regulating the importation of convicts was rejected by the board of trade. To relieve the people from a poll-tax a duty was laid on the im- portation of liquors and slaves, but owing to the opposition of the African Company and interested traders, the measure was repealed as an encroachment on the trade of England.
Acts prohibiting the importation of negro slaves were repeat- edly passed by New York, Maryland, and South Carolina, and were invariably rejected in England. Governor Drysdale con- gratulated the Duke of Newcastle "that the benign influence of his auspicious sovereign was conspicuous here in a general har- mony and contentment among all ranks of persons." Hugh Drysdale dying in July, 1726, and Colonel Edmund Jennings, next in order of succession, being suspended, (for what cause does not appear,) Colonel Robert Carter succeeded as president of the council. This gentleman, owing to the extent of his landed pos- sessions, and to his being agent of Lord Fairfax, proprietary of a vast territory in the Northern Neck, between the Potomac and the Rappahannock, acquired the sobriquet of "King Carter." He was speaker of the house of burgesses for six years, treasurer of the colony, and for many years member of the council, and as president of that body he was at the head of the government upwards of a year. He lived at Corotoman, on the Rappahan- nock, in Lancaster County. Here a church was completed in the year 1670, under the direction of John Carter, first of the family in Virginia, who came over from England, 1649. A fine old church was built about 1732 by Robert Carter, on the site of the
* Old Churches, i. 385.
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former one, and is still in good preservation. He married first Judith Armistead, second a widow, whose maiden name was Betty Landon, of the ancient family of that name, of Grednal, in Here- ford County, England, by whom he left many children. His portrait and that of one of his wives, are preserved at Shirley, on James River, seat of Hill Carter, Esq .* The first John Car- ter was a member of the house of burgesses for Upper Norfolk County, now Nansemond, in 1649 and in 1654, and subsequently for Lancaster County. Colonel Edward Carter was, in 1658, burgess for Upper Norfolk, and in 1660 member of the council.
* The Carter arms bear cart-wheels, vert.
CHAPTER LV.
1727-1740.
William Gooch, Governor-The Dividing Line-Miscellaneous-Colonel Byrd's Opinion of New England-John Holloway-William Hopkins-Earl of Orkney -Expedition against Carthagena-Gooch commands the Virginia Regiment- Lawrence Washington-Failure of attack on Carthagena-Georgia recruits Soldiers in Virginia to resist the Spaniards-Acts of Assembly-Printing in Virginia-In other Colonies-The Williamsburg Gazette-Miscellaneous Items-Proceedings at opening of General Assembly-Sir John Randolph, Speaker-Governor Gooch's Speech-Richmond laid off-Captain William Byrd-Bacon Quarter-Colonel Byrd and others plan Richmond and Peters- burg in 1733-Virginia Gazette-The Mails.
IN June, 1727, George the Second succeeded his father in the throne of England. About the middle of October, William Gooch, a native of Scotland, who had been an officer in the Brit- ish army, became Governor of Virginia. The council, without authority, allowed him three hundred pounds out of the royal quit-rents, and he in return resigned, in a great measure, the helm of government to them. Owing partly to this coalition, partly to a well-established revenue and a rigid economy, Virginia enjoyed prosperous repose during his long administration. There was at this time one Presbyterian congregation in Virginia, and preachers from the Philadelphia Synod visited the colony.
During the year 1728 the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina was run by Colonel Byrd and Messrs. Fitz- william and Dandridge, commissioners in behalf of Virginia, and others in behalf of North Carolina. "A History of the Divid- ing Line," by Colonel Byrd, has been published in a work enti- tled the "Westover MSS .; "* it contains graphic descriptions of the country passed through, its productions, and natural history. The author was a learned man and accurate observer.
There remained in their native seat two hundred Nottoway Indians, the only tribe of any consequence surviving in Virginia.
* By Edmund and Julian C. Ruffin, at Petersburg, 1841.
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There were also still remains of the Pamunkey tribe, but reduced to a small number, and intermixed in blood. The rest of the native tribes had either removed beyond the limits of the colony, or dwindled to a mere handful by war, disease, and intemperance. An act of parliament prohibiting the exportation of stripped or stemmed tobacco was complained of by the planters as causing a decline of the trade. They undertook to enhance the value by improving its quality, and in July, 1732, sent John Randolph to lay their complaint before the crown.
With this accomplished and able man, afterwards knighted, and made attorney-general, Governor Spotswood was engaged in an angry personal controversy in the Williamsburg Gazette. The merits of the dispute cannot now be ascertained. Spots- 'wood claims to have been Randolph's benefactor, and to have been the first to promote him in the world.
Virginia, notwithstanding some obstacles in the way of her trade, continued to prosper, and from the year 1700 her popula- tion doubled in twenty-five years. The New England Colonies improved still more. Colonel Byrd said of them: "Though these people may be ridiculed for some Pharisaical particularities in their worship and behavior, yet they were very useful subjects, as being frugal and industrious, giving no scandal or bad exam- ple, at least by any open and public vices. By which excellent qualities they had much the advantage of the Southern Colony, who thought their being members of the established church suffi- cient to sanctify very loose and profligate morals. For this reason New England improved much faster than Virginia, and in seven or eight years New Plymouth, like Switzerland, seemed too narrow a territory for its inhabitants."*
Boston, the principal town in the Anglo-American Colonies, founded in 1630, contained, in 1733, eight thousand houses and forty thousand inhabitants; and its shipping and trade were already extensive.
In 1734 died John Holloway, Esq., who for thirty years had practised the law with great reputation and success. He was for fourteen years speaker of the house of burgesses, and eleven
* Westover MSS., 4.
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years treasurer. A native of England, he had first served as a clerk, then went into the army in Ireland early in the reign of King William the Third; next came to be one of the attorneys of the Marshalsea Court; afterwards turned projector, and being unfortunate, came over to Maryland, and thence removed to Vir- ginia. He is described by Sir John Randolph as more distin- guished for industry than for learning, and as relying more upon the subtle artifice of an attorney, than the solid reasoning of a law- yer. His opinions, however, were looked upon as authoritative; and clients thought themselves fortunate if they could engage his services upon any terms, and his fees were often exorbitant. He is portrayed by Sir John as haughty, passionate, and inhospitable; yet it seems difficult to reconcile this with his acknowledged popularity and predominant influence. In friendship he was sincere but inconstant. His management of the treasury con- tributed to the ruin of his fortune, and involved him in disgrace. But this account of him must be taken with allowance.
About the same time died, in London, William Hopkins, Esq., another lawyer, who had practised in Virginia about twelve years. He was well educated, understanding Latin and French well, and gifted with a retentive memory, quick penetration, sound judgment, and a handsome person. In spite of some de- fects of manner, he acquired a large practice, which he neglected, owing to the versatility of a mind fond of various knowledge. In fees he was moderate, in argument candid and fair, never dis- puting plain points. He is taxed by Sir John Randolph with an overweening vanity, which made him jealous of any other stand- ing on a level with him; but as there had been a personal falling out between them, his testimony in regard to this particular is entitled to the less weight. Mr. Hopkins appears to have been a man of high order; and his premature death, in the flower of his age, was a loss to be deplored by Virginia .*
The Earl of Orkney died at his house in Albemarle Street, London, January, 1737, in the seventy-first year of his age. His titles were Earl of Orkney, one of the Sixteen Scottish Peers, Governor of Virginia, Constable, Governor and Captain of
* Va. Hist. Reg., i. 119.
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Edinburgh Castle, Knight of the most ancient and most honora- ble order of the Thistle, one of his Majesty's Field Marshals, and Colonel of a regiment of foot. By his death his title be- came extinct. He left a very large fortune.
During the administration of Governor Gooch, troops for the first time were transported from the colonies to co-operate with the forces of the mother country in offensive war. An attack upon Carthagena being determined on, Gooch raised four hundred men as Virginia's quota, and the assembly appro- priated five thousand pounds for their support. Major-General Sir Alexander Spotswood, who had been appointed to the com- mand of the troops raised in the colonies, consisting of a regi- ment of four battalions, dying at Annapolis, when on the eve of embarcation, Governor Gooch assumed command of the expedi- tion. The colonial troops joined those sent out from England, at Jamaica. The amount of Virginia's appropriation on this occa- sion exceeding the sum in the treasury, the remainder was bor- rowed from wealthy men, with a view to avoid the frauds of depreciation, and to secure the benefits of circulation. Lawrence Washington, half-brother of George, and fourteen years older, obtained a captain's commission in the newly-raised regiment, and, being now twenty years of age, embarked with it for the West Indies in 1740 .* An accomplished gentleman, educated in England, he acquired the esteem of General Wentworth and Admiral Vernon, the commanders of the British forces, and X after the latter named his seat on the Potomac. The attack upon Carthagena was unsuccessful; the ships not getting near enough to throw their shells into the town, and the scaling-ladders of the soldiers proving to be too short. That part of the attack in which Lawrence Washington was present, sustained, unflinching, a destructive fire for several hours. The small land force engaged on this occasion lost no less than six hundred killed and wounded. Shortly after the failure at Carthagena, an express from South
* He took with him a number of his neighbors, who had thus an opportunity of seeing something of war. Some of these men, on their return, soon emi- grated to the Valley of Virginia, and afterwards were engaged in the Revolu- tion. Among them was John Grigsby, of Stafford, progenitor of the family of that name in Western Virginia.
Irigsby con the head 27 of the attent Som, da
7 the aldoand cand anderson
The John Gergely overturned in the belt for
.
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Carolina brought tidings that the Spaniards had made a descent upon Georgia; and Captain Dandridge, commander of the South Sea Castle, together with the "snows" Hawk and Swift, was dis- patched to the assistance of General Oglethorpe. The Spaniards were repulsed. Georgia being still threatened by a Spanish force concentrated at St. Augustine, in Florida, Oglethorpe sent Lieu- tenant-Colonel Heron to recruit a regiment in Virginia. Cap- tain Lawrence Washington, with a number of officers and soldiers of Gooch's Carthagena Regiment, recently discharged, just now arriving at Hampton, and meeting with Heron, many of them enlisted again under him.
About this time apprehensions were felt of foreign invasion by sea, of Indian incursions, and of servile insurrections. An act was passed to prevent excessive and deceitful gaming, making all gaming obligations void, imposing heavy penalties upon persons cheating at games, and declaring them infamous, authorizing jus- tices of the peace to bind common gamblers over to their good behavior. Means were adopted for encouraging adventurers in iron works. The towns of Fredericksburg and Falmouth were established at the head of tide-water, on the Rappahannock. Caroline County was formed, and Goochland carved out from Henrico. Long and elaborate acts were passed for amend- ing the staple of tobacco. The tending of seconds was pro- hibited; all tobacco exported to be inspected; to be exported from warehouses only; the planter to receive from the inspectors a promissory note specifying the quantity of tobacco deposited, and the quality, whether sweet-scented or Oronoko, stemmed or leaf; these tobacco-notes were made current within the county or other adjacent county. This salutary measure of making tobacco the basis of a currency was devised by Governor Spots- wood .* Tobacco-notes were still in use in Virginia at the be- ginning of the present century. In the year 1730 Prince Wil- liam County was established.
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