1661-1663.
Settlements of Virginia--The Church--Laws for establishment of
Towns--Intelligence received of Restoration--Assembly sends
Address to the King--Demonstrations of Loyalty--Berkley visits
England--Morrison elected by the Council in his stead--
Assembly's tone altered--Act for ducking "Brabbling Women"--
Power of Taxation vested in Governor and Council for three
years--Miscellaneous Affairs--Act relating to Indians--Persons
trespassing on the Indians, punished--Sir William Berkley
returns from England--Instructions relative to the Church--
Acts against Schismatics and Separatists--Berkley superintends
establishment of a Colony on Albemarle Sound.
THE settlements of Virginia now included the territory lying between the
Potomac and the Chowan, and embraced, besides, the isolated Accomac.
There were fifty parishes. The plantations lay dispersed along the banks
of rivers and creeks, those on the James stretching westward, above a
hundred miles into the interior. Each parish extended many miles in
length along the river-side, but in breadth ran back only a mile. This
was the average breadth of the plantations, their length varying from
half a mile to three miles or more. The fifty parishes comprehending an
area supposed to be equal to one-half of England, it was inevitable that
many of the inhabitants lived very remote from the parish church. Many
parishes, indeed, were as yet destitute of churches and glebes; and not
more than ten parishes were supplied with ministers. Hammond[249:A]
says: "They then began to provide, and send home for gospel ministers,
and largely contributed for their maintenance; but Virginia savoring not
handsomely in England, very few of good conversation would adventure
thither, (as thinking it a place wherein surely the fear of God was
not,) yet many came, such as wore black coats, and could babble in a
pulpit, roar in a tavern, exact from their parishioners, and rather by
their dissoluteness destroy than feed their flocks." Hammond's
statements are not to be unreservedly received. Where there were
ministers, worship was usually held once on Sunday; but the remote
parishioners seldom attended. The planters, either from indifference or
from the want of means, were remiss in the building of churches and the
maintenance of ministers. Through the licentious lives of many of them,
the Christian religion was dishonored, and the name of God blasphemed
among the heathen natives, (who were near them and often among them,)
and thus their conversion hindered.[250:A]
In 1661 the Rev. Philip Mallory was sent over to England as Virginia's
agent to solicit the cause of the church. The general want of schools,
likewise owing to the sparseness of the population, was most of all
bewailed by parents. The children of Virginia, naturally of beautiful
persons, and generally of more genius than those in England, were doomed
to grow up unserviceable for any great employments in church or state.
As a principal remedy for these ills, the establishment of towns in each
county was recommended. It was further proposed to erect schools in the
colony, and for the supply of ministers to establish, by act of
parliament, Virginia fellowships at Oxford and Cambridge, with an
engagement to serve the church in Virginia for seven years. To raise the
funds necessary for this purpose, it was proposed to take up a
collection in the churches of Great Britain; and the assembly ordered a
petition to the king to that end, to be drawn up.[250:B] Another feature
of this plan was to send over a bishop, so soon as there should be a
city for his see. These recommendations, although urged upon the
attention of the bishop of London, seem, from whatever cause, to have
proved fruitless. The Virginia assembly, in no instance, expressed any
desire for the appointment of a bishop; they remembered with abhorrence
the cruelties that had been exercised by the prelates in England.
Mr. Jefferson remarked that the legislature of Virginia has frequently
declared that there should be towns in places where nature had declared
that they should not be. The scheme of compelling the planters to
abandon their plantations, and to congregate in towns, built by
legislation, was indeed chimerical. The failure of the schemes proposed
in the Virginia assembly for the establishment of towns, is attributed
by the author of "Virginia's Cure" to the majority of the house of
burgesses, who are said to have come over at first as servants, and who,
although they may have accumulated by their industry competent estates,
yet, owing to their mean education, were incompetent to judge of public
matters, either in church or state. Yet many of the early laws appear to
have been judicious, practical, and well adapted to the circumstances of
a newly settled country. The legislature, eventually finding the scheme
of establishing towns by legal enactments impracticable, declared it
expedient to leave trade to regulate itself.
The assembly of March, 1661, consisted in the main of new members. At
another session held in October of the same year, there appeared still
fewer of the members who had held seats during the Commonwealth; and it
may be reasonably inferred that the bulk of the retiring members were
well affected to the Commonwealth of England. Intelligence of the
restoration of Charles the Second had already reached Virginia, and was
joyfully received. The word "king," or "majesty," was used in the public
acts now for the first time, since the commencement of the Commonwealth
of England--an interval of twelve years.
An address was sent to the king, praying him to pardon the inhabitants
of Virginia for having yielded to a force--which they could not resist.
Forty-four thousand pounds of tobacco, worth two thousand and two
hundred dollars, were appropriated to Major-General Hammond and Colonel
Guy Molesworth, for "being employed in the address." Sir Henry Moody was
dispatched on an embassy "to the Manados," or Manhattan. Colonel Carter
was required to declare what passed between him and Colonel William
Clayborne at the assembly of 1653 or 1654, relative to the making an act
of non-address to the Right Honorable Sir William Berkley; but the
particulars of this affair have not been handed down. The rent paid for
the use of the house where the assembly met, was three thousand five
hundred pounds of tobacco, equivalent to one hundred and seventy-five
dollars. Four thousand pounds of tobacco, worth two hundred dollars,
were paid for the rent of the room where the governor and council held
their meetings. The name of Monroe occurs at this early day in the
County of Westmoreland as one of the commissioners, or justices of the
peace.
The assembly strove to display its loyalty by bountiful appropriations
to the governor and the leading royalists; the restoration in England
was reflected by the restoration in Virginia. The necessity of the case
had made the government of the colony republican; she was as free and
almost as independent during the Commonwealth of England as after the
revolution of 1776. For a short time even Sir William Berkley appears to
have been identified with this system. He and the new assembly were now
eagerly running in an opposite tack, and were impatient to wipe out all
traces of their late forced disobedience and involuntary recognition of
the popular sovereignty.
Sir William continued as governor till the 30th of April, 1661, when
being about to visit England, Colonel Francis Morrison was elected by
the council in his place. Sir William, it is said, was dispatched to
England as agent to defend the colony against the monopoly of the
navigation act, which threatened to violate their "freedoms," as is
declared by the first act of the assembly held at James City, on the 23d
of March, 1661. Sir William was heartily opposed to the restrictions on
the commerce of Virginia; but any efforts that he may have used in
opposition to them were fruitless.
He embarked in May for England, and returned in the fall of the
following year, 1662. His pay on account of this mission was two hundred
thousand pounds of tobacco, or five hundred and seventy-one hogsheads,
the average weight of a hogshead at this period being three hundred and
fifty pounds.[252:A] This quantity of tobacco was worth two thousand
pounds sterling, or ten thousand dollars.[253:A] The ordinary salary of
the governor consisted of castle duties, license fees, tobacco, corn,
and customs, and probably amounted to not less than twelve thousand
dollars per annum.[253:B]
The assembly's tone was now altered; during the Commonwealth of England,
Oliver Cromwell had been addressed as "His Highness," and the burgesses
had subscribed themselves his "most humble, most devoted servants;" nor
had Richard Cromwell been treated with a less obsequious and respectful
submission. But now the following language was employed: "Whereas, our
late surrender and submission to that execrable power, that so bloodily
massacred the late King Charles the First of ever blessed and glorious
memory, hath made us, by acknowledging them, guilty of their crimes; to
show our serious and hearty repentance and detestation of that barbarous
act, be it enacted, That the thirtieth of January, the day the said king
was beheaded, be annually solemnized with fasting and prayers, that our
sorrows may expiate our crime, and our tears wash away our
guilt."[253:C] Their compulsory acknowledgment of the sovereign power of
the Commonwealth of England, if they all the while remained in their
hearts loyal, could not have implicated them in the execution of the
king.
Colonel Francis Morrison continued to fill the place of Sir William
Berkley until his return, which took place some time between September
and the 21st of November, 1662.
An act was passed, entitled "Women causing scandalous suits, to be
ducked:" "Whereas, oftentimes many brabbling women often slander and
scandalize their neighbors, for which their poor husbands are often
brought into chargeable and vexatious suits, and cast in great damages;
be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in actions of
slander occasioned by the wife, as aforesaid, after judgment passed for
the damages, the woman shall be punished by ducking; and if the slander
be so enormous as to be adjudged at a greater damage than five hundred
pounds of tobacco, then the woman to suffer a ducking for each five
hundred pounds of tobacco against the husband adjudged, if he refuse to
pay the tobacco." A ducking-stool had been already established in each
county.
The anniversary both of the birth and the restoration of Charles the
Second was established as a holiday. The navigation act was now enforced
in Virginia, and in consequence the price of tobacco fell very low,
while the cost of imported goods was also augmented. An act prohibiting
the importation of luxuries seems to have been negatived by the
governor. It was ordered that "no person shall trade with the Indians
for any beaver, otter, or any other furs, unless he first obtain a
commission from the governor." This act gave great offence to the
people; it was in effect conferring on the governor an indirect monopoly
of the fur-trade. By a still more high-handed measure the governor and
council were empowered to lay taxes for the ensuing three years, unless
in the mean time some urgent occasion should necessitate the calling
together of the assembly. Thus taxation was dissevered from
representation; the main safeguard of freedom was given to the
executive. Major John Bond, a magistrate in Isle of Wight County, was
disfranchised for "factious and schismatical demeanors." He had
repeatedly been returned as one of the burgesses of his county during
the Commonwealth of England. An act making provision for a college,
appears to have remained a dead letter; other acts equally futile,
passed at ensuing sessions, frequently recur. The assembly ventured to
declare that the king's pardon did not extend to a penalty incurred for
planting tobacco contrary to law.
Colonel William Clayborne, secretary of state, was displaced by Thomas
Ludwell, commissioned by the king. Colonel Francis Morrison and Henry
Randolph, clerk of the assembly, were appointed revisers of the laws.
Beverley[254:A] says that Morrison made an abridgement of the laws. In
this revised code the common law of England is, for the first time,
expressly adopted, being spoken of as "those excellent and oft-refined
laws of England."[254:B] But it has been seen that Magna Charta had been
previously recognized as of force in Virginia. In making a revision of
the laws it was ordered that all acts which "might keep in memory our
forced deviation from his majesty's obedience," should be repealed "and
expunged." In the absence of ministers it was enacted that readers
should be appointed, where they could be found, with the advice and
consent of the nearest ministers, to read the prayers and homilies, and
catechise children and servants, as had been practised in the time of
Queen Elizabeth. Although not more than one-fifth of the parishes were
supplied with ministers, yet the laws demanded a strict conformity, and
required all to contribute to the support of the established church. But
the right of presentation still remained in the people. The number of
the vestry was limited to twelve, elected by the people, but they were
now invested with the power of perpetuating their own body by filling
vacancies themselves.[255:A] Vestries were ordered to procure
subscriptions for the support of the ministry. The number of burgesses
to represent each county was limited to two; the number of magistrates
to twelve. The assembly confirmed an order of the quarter court
prohibiting "Roger Partridge and Elizabeth, his wife, from keeping any
maid-servant for the term of three years."
The assembly say, that "they have set down certain rules to be observed
in the government of the church, until God shall please to turn his
majesty's pious thoughts" toward them, and "provide a better supply of
ministers." "The pious thoughts" of Charles the Second were never turned
to this remote corner of his empire. Magistrates, heretofore called
commissioners, were now styled "justices of the peace," and their courts
"county courts."[255:B] A duty was laid on rum, because "it had, by
experience, been found to bring diseases and death to divers people." An
impost, first established during the Commonwealth of England, was still
levied on every hogshead of tobacco exported; this became a permanent
source of revenue, and rendered the executive independent of the
legislature.
The numerous acts relating to the Indians were reduced into one:
prohibiting the English from purchasing Indian lands; securing their
persons and property; preventing encroachments on their territory;
ordering the English seated near to assist them in fencing their
corn-fields; licensing them to oyster, fish, hunt, and gather the
natural fruits of the country; prohibiting trade with them without
license, or imprisonment of an Indian chief without special warrant;
bounds to be annually defined; badges of silver and copper plate to be
furnished to Indian chiefs; no Indian to enter the English confines
without a badge, under penalty of imprisonment, till ransomed by one
hundred arms'-length of roanoke; Indian chiefs tributary to the English,
to give alarm of approach of hostile Indians; Indians not to be sold as
slaves.[256:A]
It was ordered that a copy of the revised laws should be sent to Sir
William Berkley in England, that he might procure the king's
confirmation of them. Beverley mentions a tradition that the king, in
compliment to Virginia, wore, at his coronation, a robe made of Virginia
silk, and adds, that this was all the country received in return for
their loyalty, the parliament having re-enacted the navigation act,
(first enacted during the Commonwealth,) with still severer restrictions
and prohibitions. Even the traditional compliment of the king's wearing
a robe of Virginia silk appears to be unfounded.
Wahanganoche, chief of Potomac, charged with treason and murder by
Captain Charles Brent, before the assembly, was acquitted; and Brent,
together with Captain George Mason and others, were ordered to pay that
chief a certain sum in roanoke, or in matchcoats, (from matchkore, a
deerskin,) in satisfaction of the injuries. Brent, Mason, and others
were afterwards punished by fines, suspension from office, and
disfranchisement, for offences committed against the Indians, and for
showing contempt to the governor's warrant in relation to the chief of
Potomac. The counties of Westmoreland and Northumberland were especially
exposed to Indian disturbances at this time. Colonel Moore Fantleroy was
disfranchised for maltreating the Rappahannock Indians; Mrs. Mary Ludlow
was restrained from encroaching on the lands of the Chesquiack Indians
at Pyanketanke; Colonel Goodrich was charged with burning the English
house of the chief of the Matapony Indians. George Harwood was ordered
to ask forgiveness in open court on his knees, for speaking
disrespectfully of the right honorable governor, Francis Morrison; and,
at the next court held in Warwick County, to ask forgiveness of Captain
John Ashton for defaming him, and to pay two thousand pounds of tobacco.
It was during this year, 1662, that Charles the Second married
Catherine, the Portuguese Infanta.
The court of Boston, in New England, having discharged a servant
belonging to William Drummond, an inhabitant of Virginia, the assembly
ordered reprisal to be made on the property belonging to inhabitants of
the Northern colony to the amount of forty pounds sterling.[257:A]
Sir William Berkley returned in the fall of 1662 from England, having
accomplished nothing for the colony, but having secured for himself an
interest in a part of the Virginia territory, now North Carolina,
granted to himself and other courtiers and court favorites. He brought
out with him instructions from the crown, comprising directions relative
to church matters; that the Book of Common Prayer should be read, and
the sacrament administered according to the rites of the Church of
England; that the churches should be well and orderly kept; that the
number of them should be increased as the means might justify; that a
competent maintenance should be assigned to each minister, and a house
built for him, and a glebe of one hundred acres attached. It was further
directed that no minister should be preferred by the governor to any
benefice, without a certificate from the Lord Bishop of London; and that
ministers should be admitted into their respective vestries; that the
oaths of obedience and supremacy should be administered to all persons
bearing any part of the government, and to all persons whatsoever of age
in the colony. The last of these instructions is in the following words:
"And because we are willing to give all possible encouragement to
persons of different persuasions in matters of religion, to transport
themselves thither with their stocks, you are not to suffer any man to
be molested or disquieted in the exercise of his religion, so he be
content with a quiet and peaceable enjoying it, not giving therein
offence or scandal to the government; but we oblige you in your own
house and family to the profession of the Protestant religion, according
as it is now established in our kingdom of England, and the recommending
it to all others under your government, as far as it may consist with
the peace and quiet of our said colony. You are to take care that
drunkenness and debauchery, swearing, and blasphemy, be discountenanced
and punished; and that none be admitted to publick trust and employment
whose ill fame and conversation may bring scandal thereupon."[258:A]
The spirit of toleration expressed in these instructions was insincere
and hypocritical, and dictated by the apprehensions of a government yet
unstable, and by a temporizing policy. In December, 1662, the assembly
declared that "many schismatical persons, out of their averseness to the
orthodox established religion, or out of the new-fangled conceits of
their own heretical inventions, refuse to have their children baptized,"
and imposed on such offenders a fine of two thousand pounds of tobacco.
The act for the suppression of the sect of Quakers was now extended to
all separatists, and made still more rigorous. Persons attending their
meetings were fined, for the first offence, two hundred pounds of
tobacco; for the second, five hundred; and for the third, banished. In
case the party convicted should be too poor to pay the fine, it was to
be levied from such of his sect as might be possessed of ampler means.
A Mr. Durand, elder in a Puritan "very orthodox church," in Nansemond
County, had been banished from Virginia in 1648. In 1662, the Yeopim
Indians granted to "George Durant" the neck of land in North Carolina
which still bears his name. He was probably the exile. In April, 1663,
George Cathmaid claimed from Governor Berkley a large tract of land on
the borders of Albemarle Sound, in reward of having colonized a number
of settlers in that province. In the same year Sir William Berkley was
commissioned to organize a government over this newly settled region,
which, in honor of the perfidious General Monk, now made Duke of
Albemarle, received the name which time has transferred to the Sound.
FOOTNOTES:
[249:A] "Leah and Rachel," published at London in 1656, in Force's
Historical Tracts, iii.
[250:A] Virginia's Cure, (_Force's Hist. Tracts_, iii.,) printed at
London, 1662, and composed by a minister. The initials on the
title-page, R. G. He appears to have taken refuge in Virginia during the
Commonwealth of England; and it is evident that he had resided in the
colony for a considerable time. "Virginia's Cure" is addressed to the
Bishop of London: it is a clear and vigorous document, acrimonious
toward the late government, but earnest in behalf of the spiritual
welfare of Virginia.
[250:B] Hening, ii. 33.
[252:A] Hening, i. 435.
[253:A] Hening, i. 398, 418.
[253:B] Ibid., i. 545, and ii. 9.
[253:C] Ibid., ii. 24.
[254:A] Hist. of Virginia, second edition.
[254:B] Beverley, B. i. 43; Chalmers' Revolt, i. 101.
[255:A] Ibid., 44.
[255:B] Hening, ii. 69.
[256:A] Hening, ii. 138.
[257:A] Hening, ii. 158.
[258:A] MS. (Virginia) in State Paper office, (London,) cited in
Anderson's Hist. of Colonial Church, ii. 548-9.