USA > Virginia > The history of Virginia, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 12
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THE administration of Nicholson, though ex- tending from 1698 to 1705, was comparatively quiet and uneventful. The first object to which he turned his attention, was to obtain from the assembly the passage of an act to build a new city which should constitute in future the capital of the province, instead of the unfortunate and insalubrious Jamestown.
Middle Plantation, where the new college build- ings had already been erected, had been found by constant experience to be healthy and agree- able to the constitutions of the inhabitants of the colony, having the natural advantages of a serene and temperate air, and a fine open country, well watered with springs. It likewise possessed the
202
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1698.
additional convenience of two navigable creeks running out of James and York rivers. Two hundred and twenty acres of the tract were ac- cordingly purchased for the use of the colony, and laid out in half-acre lots. The streets of the new city, in evidence of the loyalty of the colonists, were arranged in the form of a cipher, made of the letters W and M, in honour of William and Mary, and the name given to the future capital was Williamsburg.
As a means of defraying the expenses of building the State House, the tax previously placed on liquor, and a new tax on servants and slaves-not English-imported into the colony, were appropriated to that purpose.
During the same session, a resolution was passed for a complete revisal of the colonial laws. In obedience to orders from England, the assembly also granted, by statute, the benefit of the English toleration acts to dissenters. This was the beginning of religious freedom in Vir- :inia.
But if the commands of the crown constrained the Virginians to recognise the rights of noncon- formists, the ancient political privileges of the province were still withheld. From the period of Bacon's rebellion the power of the governor had increased. " He was lieutenant-general and admiral, lord treasurer and chancellor, the chief judge in all courts, president of the council, and
203
POWER OF THE GOVERNOR.
1698.]
bishop, or ordinary ; so that the armed force, the revenue, the interpretation of law, the adminis- tration of justice, the church-all were under his control or guardianship."
Three restrictions upon the abuse of this authority existed, in the instructions from abroad, in the council, and in the vote of the general assembly ; but as the instructions were not di- vulged, as the council were dependent upon the chief magistrate for their seats and prospective advancement, and as the assembly not only occupied a subordinate position, but lay under the constant surveillance of the clerk-who held his office from the governor-had the latter been disposed to tyrannize, few would have been found bold enough to censure his acts.
Great, however, as the power of the governor really was, it was seldom exercised to the injury of the people. The latter had, indeed, by assent- ing to the establishment of a perpetual revenue, crippled their means of resistance, but, as the governor was often compelled to call upon the burgesses for additional supplies, they claimed the right of appointing a treasurer subject to themselves only, and when this privilege was de- nied them by the crown, Virginia declined to con- tribute its quota to the defence of the colonies against France.
Previous to 1692, the French governor of Montreal, the Count De Callier, viewing with alarm
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1695.
the rapid growth of the English colonies, formed the daring project of separating the eastern pro- vinces from those of the south, by the capture of New York. This plan having been adopted by the French government, a fleet was sent, in September, 1692, to take possession of the bay of New York, with orders to co-operate with a land force which was to have marched from Quebec by way of the Sorel river and Lake Champlain.
This bold and well planned scheme, was how- ever, rendered abortive by a sudden invasion of Canada. The fierce and warlike tribes constitut- ing the five nations, suddenly spread terror and desolation throughout the French possessions, and compelled the governor to employ the force des- tined to operate upon New York, in guarding weak points at home, or in waging ineffectual battle against the wary and sanguinary savages.
To prevent the project of De Callier from being carried into effect at some future day, the English government, in 1695, devised a plan of general defence, the charges of which were to be borne by the respective provinces according to the ratio of population.
To the great disappointment of Nicholson, with whom the plan was a favourite, and in direct opposition to orders from England, the Virginia assembly unanimously refused to appropriate any moneys for the purpose required, on the ground
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DIFFICULTIES OF NICHOLSON.
1704.]
that "no forts then in being, nor any others that might be built in the province of New York, could in the least avail in the defence or security of Virginia, since either the French or the north- ern Indians might invade the colony, and not come within a hundred miles of such forts."
Nicholson himself took this refusal by no means placidly. He even wrote to the king, suggesting that Virginia should be coerced into acquiescence. The reply of William was but little suited to the bustling and ardent character of his governor. The monarch merely recommended that the mat- ter should be again referred to the General As- sembly.
This imprudent act on the part of their once popular governor, brought Nicholson into colli- sion, both with his council and the assembly. Roused by the quarrel, the people were led to examine, somewhat narrowly, the manner in which they had lately been governed. They no sooner made the discovery that other provinces were in the enjoyment of greater privileges than them- selves, than they grew dissatisfied, and demanded to be placed on an equal political footing with the most favoured of the colonies.
The difficulties of Governor Nicholson now rapidly increased. His conduct in many instances having been of a character that would not bear close scrutiny, the council, which was composed of the wealthiest men in the province, were at
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1705.
length able to make such representations as led to his removal in 1705.
The office of Governor of Virginia was no sooner declared vacant, than Anne, who had ascended the English throne, bestowed it as a sinecure for life upon the Earl of Orkney. Subsequently, during a period of nearly fifty years, the office was held in this manner; the nominal governor receiving three-fifths of the salary, or twelve hun- dred pounds sterling annually ; the remaining two-fifths, or eight hundred pounds, being paid to a deputy-governor, by whom the duties were actually performed.
The first deputy-governor under the new arrangement was Edward Nott. During his brief administration, a new digest of the laws of Vir- ginia, which had been in preparation for several years by a committee of the council and burgesses, was reported to the assembly, and passed.
Many of the provisions of this code relate to indented servants and slaves. All children were declared to be bond or free according to the con- dition of their mothers. Negroes, mulattoes, and Indians, were not allowed to purchase Christian servants. Servants not indentured, if over nine- teen, were to serve for five years ; if under nine- teen, then until the age of twenty-four.
Every male servant completing his time of service, was entitled to receive, at his dismissal, ten bushels of Indian corn, thirty shillings in
207
COLONEL SPOTSWOOD.
1710.]
money or goods, and one well-fixed musket or fusee, of the value of twenty shillings at the least. Every woman servant, on acquiring her freedom, could claim fifteen bushels of Indian corn, and forty shillings in money, or goods.
Each county was allowed two burgesses, and Jamestown one, to be elected by the freeholders. All properly qualified persons neglecting to vote, were liable to a penalty of two hundred pounds of tobacco. The travelling expenses of the bur- gesses were graduated and defined. Those coming by land, receiving one hundred and thirty pounds of tobacco per day ; while such as came by wa- ter, received one hundred and twenty pounds.
The twelve members of the council were to re- ceive three hundred and fifty pounds sterling, above sixteen hundred dollars, annually, to be proportioned among them according to the time of their attendance. Such were the most impor- tant provisions of the revised code of 1705.
Governor Nott survived his appointment only one year ; in 1706 he died. The deputy-gover- norship was then given to Brigadier-general Hunter ; but he being captured by the French on his passage out, Edmund Jennings, president of the council, continued for four years to perform the duties of the office.
In 1710, Colonel Alexander Spotswood, an officer' of fine talents, urbane and conciliating in his manners, yet active and enterprising, arrived
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1711.
in Virginia, bearing the commission of deputy- governor.
He had been but a short time in the pro- vince before he organized an expedition to cross the Blue Ridge. This was successfully accom- plished. Spotswood, gallantly attended by a troop of horse, passed the mountains, which from the time of Berkeley had presented a barrier to the advance of the whites, and discovered the fine valley lying beyond. Although this exploration did not lead to any immediate result of import- ance, the service performed by Spotswood was considered of sufficient consequence to entitle him to the honour of knighthood.
The thirteen years during which the latter held office as deputy-governor of Virginia, glided away in almost unruffled political tranquillity.
In 1711 he wrote of his government, as being "in perfect peace and tranquillity, under a due obedience to the royal authority, and a gentle- manly conformity to the Church of England." Notwithstanding this hearty eulogy, Spotswood, in the course of his official career, several times found that councils could be stubborn, and assem- blies refractory. With one so desirous of pro- moting the best interests of the colony as the . gallant deputy governor, the differences which occasionally arose between himself and his col- leagues, were never either very important, or of long continuance. Explanations and concessions
209
GENERAL GOOCH.
1727.]
soon restored them to a mutually good under- standing, and the machinery of government again worked easily and harmoniously.
In 1723, Spotswood was superseded in his office by Hugh Drysdale. During the four following years a general harmony and contentment pre- vailed throughout the province. In 1727 Drys- dale died, sincerely lamented by the assembly as a just and disinterested man. He was succeeded by Brigadier-general Gooch, under whose pro- longed administration, Virginia continued for many years to enjoy profound peace and unin- terrupted prosperity.
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· HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. - [1723.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Eastern provinces-War of 1689-French territorial claims-Movements of Count Frontenac-Cocheco burned by Casteno-Pemaquid taken by the Penobscot Indians- Burning of Schenectady-Massacre at Salem Falls-Capture of the Casco Bay settlement-First American Congress- Unsuccessful attempt upon Quebec-Acadie invaded by Sir William Phipps-Expedition of Church-Villebon recaptures Port Royal-York destroyed by the French-Wells success- fully defended-Virginia votes five hundred pounds towards the defence of New York-Frontenac ravages the territory of the Five Nations-Success of D'Ibberville-Church rava- ges the French settlements-Burning of Haverhill and An- dover-Peace of Ryswick-Plan of co-operation for the colo- nies-French construct a line of posts from Canada to Louisiana-Alarm of the English-Renewal of the war- French and Indian excesses-Surprise of Deerfield-Expe- dition against Acadie-Haverhill burned-Port Royal taken -Inglorious expedition of Sir Hoveden Walker.
BUT, while Virginia, with some restrictions upon her political freedom, had been for many years in the enjoyment of profound peace, the colonies to the eastward were, during the same period, the victims of several sanguinary episodes, · originating from the revengeful character of the Northern Indians, and the jealousy of the Ca- nadian French.
The European war of 1689, necessarily in- volved in a contest those colonies of France and England which were contiguous to each other. The French population of America was compara-
211
GROUNDS OF CLAIM.
1676.]
tively small, being less than twelve thousand ; but the French claims upon the territory of the North American continent were large, and quite as just as claims founded upon discovery usually are. Over Canada, Hudson's Bay, and New- foundland, the dominion of France had been successfully asserted ; while from the heroic ex- plorations of La Salle, Marquette, and numerous devoted missionaries, a claim had been set up to one-half of Maine and Vermont, to more than half of New York, to the whole valley of the Mississippi, and to Texas as far as the Rio Bravo del Norte. The claims of England rested upon the original discovery of the continent by the elder Cabot. The French were not in possession of any sea-coast or harbours, properly so called : but had confined their plantations to the banks of the two great rivers, the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi; the one running south, and the other nearly north, their sources being at no great distance from each other, and forming a line almost parallel to the sea-coast inhabited by the English. Up to this period very few of the latter had made settlements more than a hundred miles distant from the coast, although in point of numbers they were already, in comparison with the French, as twenty to one.
No sooner did the existence of war between France and England become known in Canada, than Count Frontenac prepared for that memo-
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1690.
rable attempt upon New York, which was so signally frustrated by a sudden irruption of the Iroquois Indians, an irruption which carried terror and desolation to the very gates of Mon- treal.
But if New York was thus unexpectedly saved from the horrors of invasion, the eastern provinces were less fortunate. The Penacook warriors, under the French leader Castine, fell suddenly upon the defenceless village of Cocheco, during the night of the twenty-seventh of June, 1689, killed three and twenty persons, burned several houses, and bore away through the wilderness twenty-nine captives. Incited by the Jesuit Thury, the Penobscot Indians, to the number of a hundred warriors, paddled silently towards Pemaquid, another frontier English settlement, murdered such labourers as were found in the fields, assaulted the stockade fort, and, after an obstinate defence of two days, compelled the garrison to surrender themselves prisoners of war.
In the midst of the winter of 1690, a party of one hundred and ten French and Indians marched from Montreal, waded through snows and mo- rasses for twenty-two days, and entered just before midnight the unguarded village of Sche- nectady,a Dutch settlement on the Mohawk, set the houses on fire, and then roused the inhabi- tants from their slumbers with the shrill and fearful sound of the savage whoop. Sixty were
213
FRENCH EXPEDITIONS.
1690.]
massacred, of whom seventeen were children, and ten Africans.
Towards the close of March, another French war party, led by the inhuman Hertel, after crossing the mountains and threading the forests of New Hampshire, attacked by surprise the frontier village at Salmon Falls ; killed most of the male inhabitants, and carried off as prisoners fifty-four persons, nearly all of whom were women and children. These were burdened with the spoils taken from their own homes. One aged man the savages burned on the way by a slow fire. Mary Ferguson, a girl of fifteen, was scalped because she wept from fatigue ; and of two infants, one was dashed against a tree, and the other thrown into the river, that their wretched mothers, thus relieved of their precious burdens, might not delay the rapid movement of the victors.
While thus returning, laden with prisoners and spoils, Hertel met a third detachment sent out by Frontenac, and a junction of forces being agreed upon, they proceeded to attack the fort and settlement at Casco Bay. A part of the garrison was decoyed into an ambuscade, and cut off almost to a man. The remainder held out until their palisades were about to be fired, when they surrendered on terms as prisoners of war.
This new and terrible mode of warfare, wherein
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1690.
Indian ferocity was guided by French skill and enterprise, admonished the English colonies of the necessity of joining together and making common cause against the French Canadians, and their barbarous allies.
Out of this necessity originated the first American Congress, which met at New York on the first day of May, 1690. Massachusetts had taken the initiative by addressing circular letters to all the colonies as far south as Maryland ; inviting them to send commissioners to New York, to agree upon some concerted plan of ope- rations. Delegates from Massachusetts, Con- necticut, and New York met accordingly, and arrangements were entered into, by which, while Massachusetts despatched a fleet and army against Quebec by water, nine hundred men from Connecticut and New York were to march overland against Montreal. Owing to the inde- fatigable exertions of Count Frontenac, and the warlike alacrity of his savage allies, both these expeditions terminated disastrously. An enter- prise previously undertaken by Massachusetts had met with better success. A fleet of nine ·small vessels, containing between seven and eight hundred men, had been sent against Acadie, now known as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
The command of this fleet was entrusted to Sir William Phipps, who has made his name famous in the history of America for his success-
215
7
1691.]
FRONTIER WARFARE.
ful recovery of an immense treasure from a Spanish wreck, on the coast of St. Domingo. Phipps conquered with great ease the French settlements in Acadie, and brought away with him sufficient plunder to pay the whole expense of the expedition.
In the mean time, Colonel Church, a provin- cial officer of great ability, marched against the eastern Indians, destroyed their settlements on the Androscoggin, and, for the sake of example, put a number of his prisoners to death, not spar- ing even women or children.
The retaliation of the eastern tribes was im- mediate. A frontier warfare was kept up inces- santly during the whole of 1691. 91. Many of the towns in Maine were abandoned entirely, and all of them suffered more or less.
The French also were again in motion. Ville- bon, with one small vessel of war, retook Port Royal, where Phipps had left a garrison, and stimulated the fierce animosity of the eastern In- dians by timely presents and frequent supplies of arms and ammunition. The village of York, in Maine, was suddenly attacked by a party of French and Indians, and suffered a loss of seventy-five in killed, and an equal number car- ried off prisoners to Canada. The town of Wells was more fortunate; the inhabitants being ap- prised in time of the coming danger, successfully
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.
[1694.
encountered their enemies and beat them off with loss.
The extensive frontier of New York offering at all times great facilities to invasion from Canada, five companies of regular troops were sent from England, in 1694, to assist in its defence, and a definite quota of men and money required by the English government to be con- tributed by each province in case of urgent ne- cessity. The Indian war still continuing, a council was held at Albany, in August 1694, with the chiefs of the Five Nations, for the pur- pose of securing the latter from the insidious in- fluence of the French. Deputies from Massachu- setts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, were present at this council. In 1695, the assem- bly of Virginia reluctantly voted five hundred pounds sterling toward the defence of New York ; but requested of the crown to be excused from making any further grants. The aversion of the middle and southern provinces to advance their quotas for the conduct of the war, caused it to languish on the part of the English, who thereby gave the energetic French governor an opportu- nity to ravage the territory of the Onondagos and Oneidas, always the faithful allies of the English, by which they were compelled to sue for peace.
D'Ibberville, who had previously distinguished himself by a descent upon the English settle-
1697.]
PEACE. 217
ments at Hudson's Bay, captured the Massachu- setts fort at Pemaquid, and broke up entirely the plantations at that neighbourhood. He next proceeded to Newfoundland, where he took the fort of St. John's, and captured several inferior posts scattered over that Island. From thence he proceeded to Hudson's Bay, where he recap- tured a fort previously taken by the English, and made prizes of two English vessels.
The veteran Church retaliated by leading an expedition against the French settlements on the bay of Fundy. He succeeded in driving the in- habitants from Beau Bassin, in burning their houses, and in destroying their cattle; but he failed in his attempt to recapture the fort of St. John's, Newfoundland.
Flushed with the successes of the French, their savage allies, during the winter of 1697, pene- trated to within twenty-five miles of Boston, and made successful assaults upon the towns of Ha- verhill and Andover, murdering many of the inhabitants, and leading others prisoners into Canada.
The treaty of peace between England and France, which was signed at Ryswick, in Septem- ber, 1697, at length put an end to the war that had so long desolated the colonial frontiers, while it gave to each nation, possession of all the places respectively held at the commencement of hostilities.
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218
HISTORY. OF VIRGINIA.
[1697.
The terrible struggle through which the more exposed colonies had passed, naturally urged the adoption for the future of some system of co-ope- ration by which all the colonies should contribute proportionately toward the common defence. The Board of Trade-which had recently been organized in London for the purpose of supervi- sing colonial affairs-suggested the propriety of commissioning a captain-general for the colonies, who should receive his appointment from the king, and be vested with full powers to call out and command, the colonial militia. A counter- project, proposed by William Penn, though laid aside soon after, with the less popular plan of the Board of Trade, is peculiarly interesting as being in substance similar to the one adopted by the colonies, when, at a subsequent period, they de- termined to resist taxation by the English go- vernment. Penn proposed a Colonial Congress of twenty members, to be chosen annually by the assemblies, with a president to be named by the king, the Congress to be empowered during war to provide for the common defence, and in peace, to regulate commerce and adjust colonial disputes.
No sooner was the peace of Ryswick proclaim- ed, than the French turned their attention to securing, by garrisons, their claims to that vast territory which had been so hardily explored by La Salle and the adventurous missionaries; and in a short time a line of fortified posts was ex-
219
WAR.
1705.]
tended between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico. These territorial preten- sions were not viewed, either in England or the colonies, without jealousy and alarm. The esta- blishment of a fort by D'Ibberville, at the head of the Bay of Biloxi, in Louisiana, led to a me- morial from Coxe, one of the proprietors of New Jersey, to the English king, praying that the set- tlement on the banks of the Mississippi might be encouraged.
So acceptable was the substance of this peti- tion, that on its presentation William of Orange declared to his council, he «would leap over twenty stumbling-blocks rather than not effect it."
In 1701, war again broke out. It originated with the accession of a member of the Bourbon family to the throne of Spain. England had, therefore, on this occasion two nations opposed to her, and the southern provinces were now to be assailed' by the Spaniards in Florida, while the French, of Canada and Acadie, continued their depredations on the eastern frontiers. An unsuccessful attempt made by Moore, the gover- nor of South Carolina, against the Spanish town of St. Augustine, was the commencement of hos- tilities in that quarter. A new expedition took place in 1705, against the Spanish Indian set- tlements of the Apalachees. The villages were plundered, the churches robbed and burned, and
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1707.
the Indians, to the number of two thousand, removed to the banks of the Alatamaha.
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