ROYALTY OVERTHROWN
It was in August, 1641, that Charles I appointed Sir William Berkeley
Governor of Virginia to succeed Sir Francis Wyatt. The King knew this
young man well, for he had been a gentleman usher of the Privy Chamber
under the Lord Chamberlain, and as such had attended various ceremonies
at Court. He was the fourth son of Maurice Berkeley, of the ancient
Berkeley family of Bruton, Somerset, had studied at Oxford and the
Middle Temple, and in 1630 had made the "grand tour" on the continent.
He seems to have had thoughts of following in the footsteps of the great
Shakespeare, for in 1638 he published a tragedy which he named _The Lost
Lady_. He was knighted in 1639.
No doubt Charles thought he was doing the Virginians a great favor in
sending them this accomplished young man. But he probably was actuated
also by less unselfish motives. Berkeley was warmly attached to him,
considered his person sacred, defended his claim to rule by divine
right, and considered the Parliamentary leaders who were defying him
enemies of their country. It would be good policy to place such a man in
a post of authority in Virginia, to hold the colony in line for the
royal cause. Sir William too must have had this in mind when he
consented to lay aside his pen and the pleasures of the Court, to face
the difficulties and perils of life in the forests of America.
But even as he was preparing to leave, the clouds were gathering for the
storm which broke over England. The long quarrel of King and Parliament
was nearing a crisis; high churchmen and Puritans were locked in bitter
battle. In December, 1640, a petition signed by 15,000 persons for the
abolition of Episcopacy "with all its roots and branches" was presented
to the Commons. A few months later a bill of attainder against the Earl
of Stafford was passed, and this able statesman and friend of the King
was led to the block. The Puritans demanded that the Book of Common
Prayer be cast aside. Charles threatened his foes in London by bringing
in soldiers, and men went about their daily tasks under the shadow of
an English Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre. In January, 1642, the King
fled from London and both sides made ready for war.
Berkeley arrived in Virginia early in 1642. When the Councillors
assembled and took the oath of allegiance and supremacy, they must have
viewed their polished and courtly new Governor with keen interest mixed
with apprehension. Would he follow the example of Harvey in trying to
rule like an Eastern despot? Would he try to set himself above the law?
Would he take sides in the quarrels which had divided the colony and
resume the persecution of one group or the other?
Berkeley soon made it evident that he wished to do justice to all men.
It mattered not whether they had been friends of Harvey or his enemies
so long as they were loyal to the King. So Kemp, Mathews, Menefie, West,
Pierce, and others who sat around him at the Council table, had to
stifle old resentments and unite in support of the new administration.
Harvey had assumed that since the King was absolute and so could do no
wrong, he, as his substitute, could trample on the rights of the people
at will. Berkeley, in contrast, acted on the theory that at a time when
the Throne itself was in peril, it was his duty to show that under the
royal authority there could be justice, security, and even freedom.
Virginia had had ten years of experience of his policies when he asked
what they could expect from a change of government. "Is it liberty? The
sun looks not on a people more free than we are from oppression. Is it
wealth? Hundreds of examples show us that industry and thrift in a short
time may bring us to as high of it as the country and our conditions are
capable of. Is it security to enjoy this wealth when gotten? Without
blushing I will speak it, I am confident there lives not that person can
accuse me of attempting the least act against any man's property."[1]
There is every reason to believe that this boast was justified. The
first Assembly that sat after Berkeley's arrival spoke of the "good and
wholesome laws" that they had passed under his leadership. They were
especially proud of "the near approach we have made to the laws and
customs of England in proceedings of the court and trials of causes."[2]
So we hear no more of the prosecution of men on trivial charges, of the
overawing of judges, and of ruinous confiscations. Thomas Ludwell,
after the surrender of the colony to the Commonwealth, when Berkeley's
enemies might easily have hounded him in the courts, declared that there
was not one man that either publicly or privately charged him with
injustice.[3]
It must have produced a general sense of security when Sir William
affixed his signature to a bill giving either the plaintiff or the
defendant in any court the right to demand trial by jury. No more could
a body of justices, appointed by the Governor, and perhaps looking to
him for further favors, deprive a man of his property without the
judgment of his peers.[4] And should one be brought before the General
Court to plead for life or limb, one need not submit to their decision
if unjust, for now, apparently for the first time, appeals were
permitted to the Assembly.[5]
One of the chief grievances of former times had been the conscripting of
men for public service or the service of the Governor. So now when
Berkeley "in preferring the public freedom before his particular profit"
gave up any claim to forced labor, he won the gratitude of the people.
He has restored to us the birthright of our mother nation, men said. No
longer need the poor planter fear that the sheriff would lead him off to
work in the Governor's garden while his tobacco field went to weeds, or
the carpenter curse the day when he was forced to give his time for the
construction of a fort.[6]
The Assembly admitted that before the arrival of the new Governor they
had not done their full duty in passing wholesome laws and redressing
grievances. But they now proudly submitted to the public judgment the
many benefits to the colony from "their late consultations." Among these
was the relief given the poor by the revising of the tax law, so as to
make the levy "in some measure" proportionate to "men's abilities and
estates."
The Assembly thought it wise to assert once more that the Governor and
Council had no authority to lay taxes.[7] There would seem to have been
no need for this since, though Harvey may have tried to levy taxes on
his own responsibility, there is no evidence that Berkeley made such an
attempt. It seems likely that the Assembly had no more in mind in
re-enacting this law than the emphasizing of a vital principle.
Berkeley's liberal policies won something more tangible than the
gratitude of the people, for the Assembly made him a present of two
houses and an orchard.[8] When the Civil War in England cut off the
Governor's pension and the allowance granted him by the King, they
levied a tax of two shillings a tithable to raise a fund for his
support. It is true that they did this with grave misgivings. To excuse
themselves to the people they pointed out that such a thing had never
occurred before from the infancy of the colony, and they prayed God it
would never happen again. The Assembly promised that when the present
crisis had passed they would never again consent to place the burden of
maintaining the Governor upon the people.
They seem not to have considered that to do so would be well worth the
cost, since it would make him less dependent on the King and more
amenable to their wishes. In the struggle for self-government in the
American colonies nothing tended more to bring victory than the fact the
Assemblies usually were paymasters for the Governors.
But now Berkeley had to decide whether it was his duty to remain at his
post in Virginia or whether he should hasten back to England to offer
his sword to his King. Every vessel which came in brought news of the
bitter conflict which was convulsing the mother country--the battle of
Edgehill, the victory of the Londoners at Turnham Green, the murderous
struggle in the lanes and ditches of Newbury. Though it seemed that
final victory for the royal forces was certain, Berkeley decided that he
was needed more in England than in Virginia. Turning the government over
to Richard Kemp, he set sail for England early in 1644. We next hear of
him in the following summer in Cornwall with the King when he was
bearing down on the Parliamentary forces under Essex.
It is eloquent of the work done by Berkeley in reconciling the bitter
factions left by Harvey, that Mathews, Pierce, Menefie, and West seem to
have accepted Kemp's appointment in good grace. But one wonders whether
Kemp, with this dignity, got a new ribbon for his hair lock, and whether
he patched up his quarrel with the Reverend Anthony Panton. But he was
left little time for personal matters, for a few weeks after Berkeley's
departure the Indians, under the leadership of the aged Opechancanough,
fell on the outer settlements and massacred no less than five hundred
persons.[9]
Even when this terrible news reached Berkeley he seems to have delayed
his return, for it was only on June 7, 1645, over a year after the
massacre, that he arrived at Jamestown.[10] In the meanwhile, the whites
had taken ample revenge on their treacherous enemies. Expeditions had
gone out to bring fire and destruction to the Indian villages, and to
cut down the ripening corn. No sooner had the Governor set foot on
Virginia soil than he took personal charge of the war, leading out the
forces, exposing himself to danger "night and day on the water and on
the land," "visiting the remoter parts and with his presence encouraging
the people." So indefatigable was he that "he scarce ate or slept to the
hazard of his health."[11] At last, when he had captured Opechancanough,
the disheartened savages sued for peace.[12]
Having removed the Indian menace, Sir William was faced with the task of
saving Virginia for the King. The news from England was
alarming--Parliament was everywhere victorious; the use of the Book of
Common Prayer was forbidden; hundreds of Anglican clergymen had been
expelled from their livings; the King had fled to the Isle of Wight.
The Governor knew that there was a powerful faction in the colony,
composed chiefly of merchants and Puritans, who favored Parliament. Some
of the merchants had bought plantations in Virginia, entered actively
into public life, and perhaps held high offices. Thomas Stegg, one of
the most prominent of them, in 1643 had been Speaker of the House of
Burgesses. Richard Lee, who traded to London, was "faithful and useful
to the interest of the Commonwealth." Richard Bennett adhered to
Parliament not only because of his mercantile interests, but because he
was an ardent Puritan.
But the people as a whole were linked by self-interest to whatever
government was in power in England. Virginia's prosperity depended upon
trade. It was vital to the planters to ship their tobacco abroad and to
get manufactured goods in exchange--cloth, clothing, household
utensils, tools, farm implements, etc. London, the great trading center
of England, was held by the enemies of the King. Even though the Dutch
took off part of the tobacco crop, if Parliament should prohibit trade
with the colony the effect might be disastrous. This helps to explain
why such a prominent man as Samuel Mathews, who made a good income by
selling beef to victual the English ships, became "a most deserving
Commonwealth man."
Fortunately, Parliament realized that an embargo was a sword that cut
both ways. At first they tried to bring pressure on the colony by
freezing their goods in England, but, no doubt at the solicitation of
the London merchants, in October, 1644, the Commons wrote the Virginia
Assembly that this action had been reversed. Traders hesitated even then
to load their vessels and sail for Virginia, fearing that Berkeley, in
his rage against Parliament, might have persuaded the Assembly to
exclude them. But they were soon reassured. In February, 1645, the
Assembly passed an act declaring that since "the great wants and
extremities of the colony" made it necessary to encourage commerce, free
trade would be allowed "to all his Majesty's subjects of England."[13]
They went still further the next year when they thanked the House of
Commons "for all its favors" to them.[14]
Yet the planters, not knowing what would come out of the clash of
religions, political forces, and armies which was convulsing England,
did all they could to encourage trade with the Dutch. The merchants of
Amsterdam paid well for their tobacco, and sold their wares at figures
well below those charged by the English. In January, 1649, whereas there
were only seven vessels from London and two from Bristol trading in the
James River, there were twelve from the Netherlands.
Though Berkeley had to yield to the Virginia merchants in their demand
that trade be kept open with the mother country, he was determined to
stamp out Puritanism in the colony. Most Virginians were attached to the
Church of England; the use of the Book of Common Prayer was almost
universal; the ministers adhered to Anglican canonical law. But here and
there, especially where there were many new arrivals who had been under
the influence of Calvinist ministers in England, there were pockets of
Puritans.
Most of the nonconformists were concentrated in southeastern Virginia in
the counties bordering on Hampton Roads. In May, 1640, the people of the
Lower Norfolk County parish elected the Reverend Thomas Harrison their
minister, "to instruct them concerning their souls' health." Apparently
Mr. Harrison did not think that the use of the Book of Common Prayer or
catechising on Sunday afternoons was necessary for the health of their
souls, for he neglected both.[15]
Two years later a group in Upper Norfolk, headed by Richard Bennett,
John Hill, and Daniel Gookin, wrote letters to the Elders of Boston,
Massachusetts, bewailing "their sad condition for the want of the means
of salvation." They would be grateful if the Elders would send them
several ministers to instruct them in the truth as it is in Jesus. These
letters they intrusted to Mr. Philip Bennett, brother of Richard
Bennett, and sent him in a small pinnace on the dangerous voyage to
Boston.[16]
The Elders listened with sympathy to this appeal, for they regarded it
as an opportunity "for enlarging the Kingdom of Christ." After much
deliberation, they selected John Knowles, of Watertown; William
Thompson, of Braintree; and Thomas James, of New Haven, and sent them
off. But they had a rough time even before they reached Virginia. No
doubt they thought it was Satan's effort to thwart them that threw their
pinnace on the rocks at the appropriately named Hell Gate. But the
ministers, accustomed as they were to getting the better of the Evil
One, secured another vessel and proceeded on their way.[17]
Upon their arrival in Virginia they were welcomed by the Puritans. Going
from house to house they preached "openly to the people," and "the
harvest they had was plentiful for the little space of time they were
there." "It fared with them as it had done before with the Apostles in
the primitive times that the people magnified them, and their hearts
seemed to be much inflamed with an earnest desire after the Gospel."[18]
But when Governor Berkeley heard of this invasion of New England
divines to woo the people from the established Church, his heart too was
inflamed. At the Assembly of March, 1643, he secured a law against
heresy prohibiting ministers to teach or preach publicly or privately
unless they conformed to the orders and constitutions of the Anglican
Church, and directing the Governor and Council to expel nonconformist
clergymen.[19]
The Puritan missionaries to Virginia were less determined than were the
Quakers who sought to convert the people of Massachusetts to their way
of belief and after being expelled returned to face whippings,
mutilation, and the gallows. Upon hearing the order of banishment, they
left Virginia and did not return.
But both Governor Winthrop and Edward Johnson were certain that the
Indian massacre of 1644 was God's punishment of the Virginians for
expelling his servants. "Oh! poor Virginia, dost thou send away the
ministers of Christ with threatening speeches?" wrote Johnson in his
_Wonder Working Providence_. "No sooner is this done but the barbarous,
inhuman, insolent, and bloody Indians are let loose upon them."
Certainly a terrible and indiscriminate revenge for a loving Heavenly
Father.
Though the New Englanders left, Harrison for the time being defied the
law by remaining in his parish. Knowing that Cromwell was winning
victories, he looked to Parliament to protect him. He was elated when he
received word that the Commissioners for Plantations had issued a
proclamation in November, 1645, granting freedom of worship in all the
colonies. "That golden apple, the ordinance of toleration is now fairly
fallen into the lap of the saints," he wrote Winthrop. "We have received
letters full of life and love from the Earl of Warwick."[20]
This seems to have given pause to Berkeley, and for two more years
Harrison continued to preach. But by the autumn of 1647 the Governor
seems to have decided to root out Puritanism in defiance of Parliament,
and at his urging the Assembly again ordered all ministers to conform to
the canons of the Church of England.[21] Under this act Harrison was
banished. After leaving Virginia he went to Massachusetts, where he
remained two years before going to England.
His congregation, which had now grown to 118 persons, appealed to the
Commons, and on October 11, 1649, the Commissioners wrote Governor
Berkeley, ordering him to permit Harrison to return. They had heard that
he had been banished because he would not use the Book of Common Prayer.
"You cannot be ignorant that the use of the Common Prayer book is
prohibited by the Parliament." By this time Berkeley was so embittered
against the Commons that if this letter ever reached him he treated it
with scorn. After the surrender of the colony to the Commonwealth in
1652, Harrison could have returned had he so desired, but he chose to
remain in England.
In the meanwhile Berkeley prosecuted the remaining Puritans. A certain
William Durand who took it upon himself to preach in the Elizabeth River
chapel was arrested, imprisoned, and fined, and severe action was taken
against the members of his congregation. Thereupon Durand, Richard
Bennett, and many others left the colony and settled in Anne Arundel
County, Maryland.[22]
When the news reached Virginia that King Charles had been tried before a
Commission of the Commons, that he had been condemned to death, and that
the sentence had been carried out at Whitehall and the bleeding head
held up for the awe-stricken crowds to view, Berkeley was horrified. He
at once proclaimed Charles II King, and so won for Virginia the title of
the Old Dominion. There was no thought on the Governor's part of
submitting to Parliament. The Assembly passed a law making it treason to
question the "undoubted and inherent right of his Majesty ... to the
Colony of Virginia." To defend the proceedings against the late King was
to become accessory after the act; to asperse his memory was punishable
at the discretion of the Governor and Council; to propose a change of
government was high treason.[23] You should be thankful above all else,
Berkeley said, "that God has separated you from the guilt of the crying
blood of our pious sovereign of ever blessed memory. But mistake not,
gentlemen, part of it will yet stain your garments if you willingly
submit to those murderers' hands that shed it."[24]
Parliament countered by declaring the Virginians rebels and by trying
to bring them to terms by economic pressure. In October, 1650, they
passed an act prohibiting all persons "foreigners and others" from
having commerce or traffic with them. English warships were to be used
to enforce the act, and all commanders were ordered to seize any foreign
vessels found trading with the colony. English ships were not to sail
for Virginia without a special license from the Council of State.[25]
The planters realized fully that if they were cut off from all overseas
commerce it meant ruin. Their loyalty to the monarchy would be dearly
purchased if their tobacco were left on their hands, and all supplies of
cloth, clothing, and other manufactured goods denied them. Yet under the
passionate urging of Governor Berkeley they remained firm.
Calling an Assembly for March, 1651, Sir William delivered an address
ringing with defiance. You see by the declaration of the men of
Westminster how they mean to deal with you, he said. Surely they could
have proposed something which might have strengthened us to bear the
heavy chains they are making ready for us, though it were no more than
the assurance that we shall eat the bread for which our own oxen plow,
and which we reap with our own sweat. "Surely, gentlemen, we are more
slaves by nature than their power can make us if we suffer ourselves to
be shaken with these paper bullets.... Gentlemen, by the grace of God we
will not so tamely part with our King and all those blessings we enjoy
under him; and if they oppose us do but follow me, I will either lead
you to victory or lose a life which I cannot more gloriously sacrifice
than for my loyalty and your security."[26]
We do not know to what extent the act of 1650 was effective in stopping
trade to Virginia. It is probable that Dutch merchants continued to come
in, eluding English warships, and taking off a part of the tobacco crop.
Had it not been for this it is probable that the colony would have been
forced to surrender, and it would have been unnecessary for Parliament
to send a force to subdue it.
During the turmoil of the early months of the Commonwealth there was
little opportunity for the Council of State to consider what should be
done about Virginia. But in October, 1649, they directed the Committee
of the Admiralty to recommend steps "to reduce them to the interest" of
Parliament. This committee called in several merchants interested in the
tobacco trade--Maurice Thompson, Benjamin Worsley, and others--to ask
their advice. These men were deeply concerned lest the defection of the
colonies might ruin them by diverting trade to the Dutch. After long
debate, it was decided that Parliament should be asked to name
commissioners "in whom the government be immediately placed, with power
to settle the same under the government of the Commonwealth."[27]
But this plan could not be put into effect so long as the Governor and
Assembly were holding out for the King. So when news reached England
that the blockade had not been successful in bringing them to terms, it
was decided to send over a naval and military expedition. Thomas Stegg,
who was in London, no doubt told the Council of State that there were
many in Virginia who favored the Commonwealth, and that by cooperating
with them they might take over the colony without firing a shot. So in
naming a commission to offer terms they included not only Stegg himself,
but Richard Bennett and William Claiborne, both of whom were in
Virginia. The commission was headed by Captain Robert Dennis. In the
event of his death, his place was to be filled by Captain Edmund Curtis.
They were ordered to "use their best endeavors" to bring the Virginians
"to their due obedience," and were authorized to grant pardon to all who
would submit. In case this did not prove effective they were to use "all
acts of hostility ... to enforce them." They were directed, also, to
augment their force by making recruits in the colony, appointing
captains and other officers, and promising freedom to all indentured
workers who would take up arms for the Commonwealth.[28]
So now a fleet of two warships, the _John_ and the _Guinea Frigate_, and
a number of armed merchant vessels was assembled, a force of six hundred
men embarked, and arms and stores brought aboard. Captain Dennis sailed
in the _John_, Captain Curtis in the _Guinea Frigate_. Arriving at
Barbados, and finding a large royalist force ready to resist them, they
landed their soldiers, and defeated them in a pitched battle. This
caused a delay of several weeks before they could proceed on their way
to the Chesapeake Bay. But now disaster struck, for off the coast of
Carolina they ran into a storm which sent the _John_ to the bottom,
taking Captain Dennis and Stegg with her. Unaware of this, the rest of
the fleet proceeded on their way and arrived safely in Hampton Roads.
Even without the _John_ the fleet must have seemed formidable to the
planters who paused in their work to view it. It must have seemed
formidable, also, to Governor Berkeley. But he was determined to resist
to the end. For months he had done all in his power to create hatred of
the Commonwealth leaders, calling them bloody tyrants, and accusing them
of planning to restore the old London Company. The Anglican ministers,
hurling invectives from the pulpit, "stirred up the people in all
places." At the gatherings for the sessions of the county courts, in
taverns, in churchyards after services, everywhere when two or more men
came together "little else was spoken of."[29]
With the enemy in Virginia waters and with messengers riding through the
counties to summon men to the colors, the planter dropped the hoe to
fasten on the helmet and the breastplate, and take up the fusil, the
sword, the halberd, and the pistol. Embarking on shallops, or trudging
through the woods and fields the trained bands converged on Jamestown
until there were between a thousand and twelve hundred men there ready
to defend the little capital.[30]
But there was no battle. With the loss of Dennis and Stegg, Curtis,
Bennett, and Claiborne alone were left of the Parliamentary
commissioners. Since Curtis could be outvoted by the other two, the
final settlement was left to all intents and purposes in the hands of
the two Virginians. We do not know how Curtis got in touch with them,
but they seem to have come aboard the _Guinea Frigate_ to receive their
instructions. When they opened them and realized how great was their
responsibility, they made up their minds to use every effort to spare
the colony the horrors of civil war.[31]
Their first step was to distribute papers among the people refuting
Berkeley's charges that Parliament meant to enslave them, which they
substantiated by copies of private letters. Then, hearing that a
council of war was in session at Jamestown, they sent up a summons to
the Governor and Council to surrender. At the same time, although they
thought their force inadequate to defeat the Virginians, they set sail
up the James River.
In the meanwhile the Governor and Council had been considering their
summons. One wishes a record had been kept of that stormy debate, with
Berkeley pleading for resistance to the end, and others pointing out
that this meant ruin. In the end they sent a reply which reached the
fleet on its way up the river, promising to yield if the government were
left in their hands for one more year. The commissioners replied with a
conciliatory message, which though refusing this compromise, "produced
the calling of an Assembly."[32]
The Burgesses fully realized the folly of defying the might of England.
Should they succeed in driving off the forces facing them, other and
more powerful armies would follow. So they sat "in contemplation of the
great miseries and certain destruction which were so nearly hovering
over this whole country." When they heard the remarkably liberal terms
offered by the commissioners, they yielded.
It was agreed that Virginia should "be in due obedience and subjection
to the Commonwealth of England." But following this one vital provision
came a series of concessions to the colony. The surrender was to be
considered voluntary and not forced by conquest, the Assembly was to be
continued, pardon was granted for words and writings denouncing
Parliament, Virginia was to be "free from all taxes, customs, and
impositions whatsoever," a provision which Parliament might with profit
have remembered over a century later when they were debating the Stamp
Act. The recognized principle that within the colony the Assembly alone
had the right to tax was now for the first time guaranteed.[33]
Then followed two provisions in which the commissioners stretched their
instructions to the limit. There can be no doubt that it was Claiborne
who was largely responsible for the promise that "Virginia shall have
and enjoy the ancient bounds and limits granted by the charters of the
former Kings," for this meant that Maryland would once more become a
part of Virginia. But it remained to be seen whether Parliament would
ratify so drastic a measure. And when it was stipulated that the colony
should have "free trade as the people of England do to all places and
with all nations according to the laws of that Commonwealth," it was
obvious that there would be strenuous opposition from the merchants of
London and Bristol.
Having affixed their signatures to these articles, the commissioners
hastened on to Maryland to demand the surrender of that colony. But
before sailing they called for election for a new House of Burgesses.
With Berkeley no longer in power to urge the return of staunch
loyalists, and with Virginia submissive to the Commonwealth, the
personnel of the House was greatly changed. When they met at Jamestown
on April 30, 1652, one recognized only six familiar faces.[34] In the
meanwhile, Bennett and Claiborne, who had returned from Maryland, sat
with them in what was in reality a constitutional convention.
Their first act was to elect Bennett Governor for one year. Thus, by one
of those strange turns of the wheel of fortune, this ardent Puritan who
a few years before had been driven into exile because of his religious
beliefs, was placed at the head of the government. Had he been a man of
Sir John Harvey's disposition, he might now have taken his revenge. But
there is no evidence that he bore malice against Berkeley and the former
members of the Council.
The Burgesses next elected Claiborne Secretary of State "to be next in
place to the Governor." Then followed the election of a new Council. It
is proof of the spirit of reconciliation which prevailed that most of
the former members were chosen. But the Burgesses made it clear that the
Assembly was to be the ruling power in the colony. They were to appoint
the Governor and Council, who were to exercise only such powers as the
Assembly delegated to them. And they immediately took from them the
control of local government by themselves selecting the county
justices.[35]
Thus was self-government established in the colony. In England the clash
of arms and the struggle of class and religious groups resulted, not in
establishing a republic, but only in exchanging one despot for another.
But though Virginia had played but an insignificant role in the great
drama, she reaped a full reward. For the next eight years it was the
people who ruled through their representatives in the House of
Burgesses.
And the people, most of them at heart still loyal to the monarchy, would
tolerate no persecution of the King's friends. Berkeley and some of the
Councillors, thinking that life under the new government would be
unendurable, had stipulated in the articles that they be permitted to
leave the colony and take their property with them. In July, 1653,
Berkeley was still planning to leave. Yet neither he nor any of the
others seem to have done so, contenting themselves with sending Colonel
Francis Lovelace to Europe to attest to the exiled Prince Charles their
continued loyalty. Only when some ardent royalist could not bridle his
tongue were severe penalties inflicted. We have an example of this in
Northumberland County when a Mr. Calvert had to pay one thousand pounds
of tobacco to save his wife from thirty lashes on her shoulders for
stigmatizing "the keepers of the liberty of England as rogues, traitors,
and rebels."[36]
Nor was there any persecution of Church of England men in retaliation
for the expulsion of Puritans under Berkeley. There seems to have been
no thought of prohibiting the use of the Book of Common Prayer, no
thought of turning Anglican ministers out of their cures. In fact the
Burgesses were so deeply concerned at the many complaints of vacant
pulpits that they offered a reward of L20 to anyone bringing over a
clergyman.[37]
Though Puritans and Anglicans, Commonwealth men and royalists lived
together in peace, there was friction between the English merchants and
the planters. The former argued that the act of 1650, which prohibited
foreign ships from trading with the colonies, was still in force. The
latter claimed that the law had been temporary in character and was now
invalid. And they pointed out that the articles of surrender had
promised them free trade with all nations. So when a Dutch merchant
vessel came into the James or the York, they gladly loaded her with
tobacco and accepted the cheap goods of Amsterdam in exchange.
But the situation changed when England became involved in war with the
Netherlands. In the summer of 1653, when the _Leopolus_, a merchantman
of Dunkirk, came into the Elizabeth River, the captains of two English
ships came on board to demand her special license. Apparently the master
had no license, for the vessel was seized by the Virginia authorities
and sold for L400.[38]
After this there seem to have been no further seizures by the
Virginians. But the English masters took it upon themselves to try to
break up the Dutch trade, and the planters looked on helplessly as they
intercepted sloops taking their tobacco to the Dutch vessels, or seized
the vessels themselves and took them off as prizes. In 1660 the Assembly
plucked up courage to declare that "the Dutch and all strangers of what
Christian nation soever in amity with the people of England shall have
free liberty to trade with us." And they required the masters of all
incoming English ships to give bond not to molest any vessels whatsoever
in Virginia waters.[39]
It is obvious that during the entire Commonwealth period the trade with
Holland was kept open. In 1655 certain English shipowners complained
that "there are usually found intruding upon the plantation divers
ships, surreptitiously carrying away the growth thereof to foreign
parts."[40] It was this which widened the market for tobacco, kept up
the price, and brought a degree of prosperity to the colony.
With the articles of surrender stipulating that Virginia should have its
original bounds, it seemed a golden opportunity for the colony to regain
the territory granted to Lord Baltimore. Surely the Puritan government
of England would be eager to root out the group of Roman Catholics in
Maryland. So when the Assembly sent Samuel Mathews to have the articles
ratified they instructed him to plead for the annulling of Baltimore's
patent. But Baltimore had cut the ground from under their feet by
recognizing the Commonwealth as early as 1648, appointing a Puritan
Governor of Maryland, and proclaiming religious freedom. Though Richard
Bennett came over to join Mathews in defending Virginia's claim, the
final settlement left Maryland a separate colony.[41]
The people of Virginia watched with intense interest the dramatic events
in England in the years from 1652 to the restoration of the monarchy in
1660--the dissolution of the Rump Parliament, the election of the
Praise-God Barebone Parliament, the naming of Cromwell Protector, the
foreign wars, the death of Cromwell, the brief rule of Richard Cromwell.
But they were less affected by them than by happenings in the mother
country at any other time during the colonial period. Virginia was left
to her own devices because the men in power in London were too greatly
occupied with other matters to bother with her. One wonders whether they
knew what was going on, for the correspondence with persons in the
colony dwindled to a trickle.
On August 31, 1658, a group of merchants trading to Virginia wrote the
Council of State complaining of "the loose and distracted condition of
that colony." It seems that Cromwell had already been considering
certain proposals "for supplying that defect," but before he could come
to any decision he died.
Thus the people of Virginia were left to make a most interesting
experiment in self-government. The House of Burgesses were elected on a
broad franchise. Under the law of 1655 all housekeepers were given the
right to vote.[42] Since it would seem that everyone must have a place
in which to live, this was a near approach to manhood suffrage. Yet
three years later these liberty loving people made certain that no one
should be excluded, when the Assembly enacted that "all persons
inhabiting in this colony that are freemen" were "to have their votes in
the election of Burgesses."[43] One wonders whether Edmund Pendleton,
George Mason, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and other members of the
Virginia Convention of 1776, who voted that only freeholders should
vote, realized that they were less advanced on the road to democracy
than their ancestors over a century before.
The convention of 1652 gave the right to elect "all the officers of this
colony" to "the Burgesses, the representatives of the people." However,
it seems to have been Cromwell's intention to assume the power of
appointing the Governor, for in December, 1653, his Highness "thought
fit to continue Colonel Bennett" in that office until he should "further
signify his pleasure."[44] But when he did nothing more about it, in
March, 1655, the Burgesses elected Edward Digges Governor. Three years
later, they chose Samuel Mathews, who continued in office until his
death in January, 1660.
The Governor and Council for some years accepted with good grace the
subordinate position accorded them. But in 1658 they made an effort to
regain some of the powers they had held prior to the surrender to the
Commonwealth. When the Assembly of that year were concluding their
proceedings, they voted not to be dissolved, but merely to adjourn. But
the Governor and Council "for many important causes" took it on
themselves to override this decision and declare the Assembly dissolved.
When this message was received by the House, some of the members started
for the door. But they probably sat down hastily when a resolution was
passed that if any Burgess showed his acceptance of the dissolution by
leaving, he was to be censured "as a person betraying the trust reposed
in him by the country." They then sent a message to the Governor and
Council declaring their action illegal and demanding that they revoke
the dissolution. To this the Governor and Council replied that they were
willing for the Assembly to continue provided they bring their work to a
speedy conclusion. As for the "dispute of the power of dissolving and
the legality thereof" they suggested that it be referred to the Lord
Protector.[45]
But the House was now thoroughly aroused, and was determined to bring
the matter to an issue. So they appointed a committee to draw up a
report for the "manifestation and vindication of the Assembly's power."
This committee proposed resolutions declaring the "power of government
to reside in such persons as shall be impowered by the Burgesses (the
representatives of the people) who are not dissolvable by any power now
extant in Virginia but the House of Burgesses." They also recommended
the immediate dismissal of the Councillors. Accordingly the House
preceded to recall both Governor and Council. Apparently the Burgesses
did not blame Governor Mathews for the crisis for they at once
re-elected him, and then asked him to make recommendations for the new
Council. It is probable that they thought Nathaniel Bacon and Francis
Willis responsible for the attempted dissolution, for they were the
only Councillors who had signed the offensive order who were not
re-elected.[46]
When the Assembly met again, in March, 1659, a letter was laid before
them from Henry Lawrence, President of the Council of State in England,
announcing the death of Cromwell and the accession of Richard Cromwell
as Lord Protector. The government of Virginia was being studied by the
Council, he reported, and they soon would have some positive orders. In
the meanwhile, they directed the Governor and Council to apply
themselves to the "management of the affairs of that colony."[47]
When this letter was read to the Burgesses, they must have looked at
each other in dismay. Did this mean that the Governor and Council
thereafter were to derive their powers, not from the House, but from
England? They at once acknowledged the new Lord Protector, but they
requested the Governor to join with them in petitioning him to confirm
their privileges.
While waiting to hear from England they decided to make important
concessions. Mathews was to be Governor for two years, at the expiration
of which time the Assembly would choose one of the Councillors to
succeed him. Members of the Council were to serve for life, "except in
case of high misdemeanors." The Governor was to nominate Councillors,
but the Burgesses were to have the privilege of confirming or rejecting.
The Council at first assented to these changes until further directions
from England, but later "they expressly declined the said act," and
declared the Assembly dissolved.[48] It would seem that from March,
1659, to March, 1660, the Governor and Council claimed that they derived
their authority, not from the Burgesses, but from the Council of State.
In the meanwhile, the people waited anxiously for news from England.
Would the weak Richard Cromwell, Thumbledown Dick as he was called in
contempt, gain a firm grasp on the reins of state? Or would there be
anarchy? Or would Prince Charles be summoned from exile and placed on
the throne of his fathers? When the tobacco fleet drifted in, the word
they brought was alarming. Richard Cromwell had been forced to resign;
England was subjected to the weak but violent rule of soldiers; a new
civil war threatened. "Swordsmen bear the rule of the nation," a London
merchant wrote his father in Virginia in December, 1659. "The soldiers
they are divided one against another, and the people they are divided,
some for one government some for another, and how long thus a kingdom
divided against itself can stand, I know not."[49]
To make matters still more uncertain for the Virginians, in January,
1660, Governor Mathews died. When the summons was sent out for the
Assembly to meet, the Burgesses straggled in to the little capital, some
on horseback, some by boat. Little knots must have gathered on the green
to discuss the distractions in the mother country, and their meaning for
the future of Virginia.
When they had crowded into the house where they were to meet, and had
taken seats, their first step was to reassert their authority "as the
supreme power in this country."[50] Then they took a step which for
three centuries has puzzled historians--they elected Sir William
Berkeley Governor. That this decision was made at the opening of the
session would lead us to believe that it reflected the general sentiment
of the people. They had had experience of Berkeley's energy, concern for
the welfare of the colony, refusal to use the courts for personal gain.
Certainly this is the view he himself took of his election. "In
consideration of the service I had done the country in defending them
and destroying great numbers of Indians ... and in view of the equal
justice I had distributed to all men, not only the Assembly but the
unanimous votes of all the country made me Governor."[51]
It is possible, also, that the Assembly had in mind the possibility that
the monarchy might be restored. Their action came just nine weeks before
Charles II set foot on English soil at Dover amid the cheers of the
crowds on the beach. The word may have gone from plantation to
plantation that it would please Charles and recommend the colony to his
favor to know that they had made choice of the former royal Governor, a
man noted for his devotion to his father and himself.
Yet the Assembly made it clear that Sir William would hold office from
them as the supreme power in the colony. They stipulated that he must
call an Assembly at least once in every two years, that he should not
dissolve the Assembly without permission from the House, and that in
appointing members of the Council he must have their approbation.
Berkeley hesitated. Appearing before the Assembly he expressed his
gratitude for the honor done him, and protested that there were many
among them who were "more sufficient for it" than he. When he first came
to Virginia, he said, he had a commission from his "most gracious master
King Charles of ever blessed memory." When the King was put to death,
his son sent him another commission to govern Virginia, but Parliament
sent a force against him, and finding him defenceless, took over the
colony. But Parliament continued not long, and now his intelligence was
not enough to tell him who or what ruled England. "But, Mr. Speaker, it
is one duty to live obedient to a government, and another of a very
different nature to command under it." Yet when he had asked the Council
for their advice, and they had concurred unanimously in his election, he
consented.[52]
Thus this professed enemy of republican principles became the head of a
semi-independent little republic. To Governor Stuyvesant, of New
Netherlands, he wrote: "I am but a servant of the Assembly, neither do
they arrogate any power to themselves further than the miserable
distractions of England force them to. For when God shall be pleased in
his mercy to take away and dissipate the unnatural division of their
native country, they will immediately return to their own professed
obedience."[53]
Though Charles was proclaimed King in England on May 8, 1660, it was
only in September that the slow moving vessels of the day brought the
news to Virginia. It was with elation that Berkeley wrote to the
sheriffs in every county that God had invested "our most gracious
sovereign, Charles II," with the "just rights of his royal father," and
charged them to proclaim him King forthwith. In Jamestown there was
rejoicing, marked by the firing of cannon, and the blare of trumpets.
The country people for miles around must have flocked in to aid in
making way with six cases of drams and a hundred and seventy-six gallons
of cider.[54]
Berkeley's joy was tempered with the fear that the King might be angry
with him for having accepted office from the "rebel" Assembly. But
Charles reassured him, and sent him a new commission. Overjoyed,
Berkeley replied: "I ... do most humbly throw myself at your Majesty's
feet ... that you yet think me worthy of your royal commands. It is true
... I did something, which if misrepresented to your Majesty, may cause
your Majesty to think me guilty of a weakness I should ever abhor myself
for. But it was no more ... than to leap over the fold to save your
Majesty's flock, when your Majesty's enemies of that fold had barred up
the lawful entrance to it, and enclosed the wolves of schism and
rebellion ready to devour all within."[55]
Thus the Commonwealth period in Virginia came to an end. No longer was
the Assembly to be the supreme power, selecting the Governor and
Council, and controlling local government. The old struggle for
self-government had to be resumed; the representatives of the people
again had to steel themselves against the encroachments of arbitrary
Kings and arbitrary Governors. More than a century was to elapse before
the rights surrendered when Charles II was proclaimed were regained.
But the training in self-government received during the eight years that
the people were their own masters stood them in good stead in the
conflicts ahead. Having tasted the sweets of freedom, they were ready to
resist when Governors vetoed their bills, or corrupted the Burgesses, or
swayed the courts, or bullied the Council. The Commonwealth period
foreshadowed Bacon's Rebellion and the American Revolution; the
constitutional Assembly of 1652 foreshadowed Bacon's Assembly of June,
1676, and the Virginia Convention of 1776.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 77.
[2] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 237.
[3] CO1-20.
[4] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 273.
[5] _Ibid._, 272.
[6] _Ibid._, 237.
[7] _Ibid._, 244.
[8] _Ibid._, 267.
[9] Robert Beverley, _History and present state of Virginia_, ed. L. B.
Wright, 60.
[10] _Virginia Magazine_ 8: 73.
[11] CO1-30, p. 71.
[12] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 323.
[13] _Ibid._, 296.
[14] Report of Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Part 1: 158.
[15] _Lower Norfolk County Antiquary_ 1: 83, 84.
[16] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 166.
[17] _Ibid._, 167.
[18] _Ibid._, 172.
[19] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 277.
[20] E. D. Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 200.
[21] _Ibid._, 206.
[22] _Lower Norfolk County Antiquary_ 2: 14, 61.
[23] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 361.
[24] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 77.
[25] Scobell, _Collection of acts_ 2: 132.
[26] _Virginia Magazine_ 1: 77.
[27] _Calendar of state papers, Colonial_ 1: 332.
[28] CO1-11.
[29] _Virginia Magazine_ 11: 33.
[30] _Virginia Magazine_ 11: 24.
[31] _Ibid._, 33.
[32] _Ibid._, 23.
[33] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 363-365.
[34] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1619-1659, xx.
[35] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 371, 372.
[36] _William and Mary Quarterly_ 1: 154.
[37] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 418.
[38] _Virginia Magazine_ 3: 310, 311; W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_
1: 382.
[39] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 535, 536.
[40] G. L. Beer, _Origins of the British colonial system_, 396.
[41] N. C. Hale, _Virginia venturer_, 282-285.
[42] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 412.
[43] _Ibid._, 475.
[44] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 408.
[45] _Ibid._, 499.
[46] _Ibid._, 499, 505.
[47] _Ibid._, 509, 510.
[48] _Ibid._, 537.
[49] _Tyler's Magazine_ 1: 244, 245.
[50] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 530.
[51] _Bath papers_ I, "The Declaration and Remonstrance of William
Berkeley."
[52] _Southern Literary Messenger_, Jan. 1845.
[53] Charles Campbell, _History of Virginia_, 246.
[54] _William and Mary Quarterly_ 1: 158.
[55] _Southern Literary Messenger_, Jan. 1845.