1744-1747.
Treaty with the Six Nations--Death and Character of Rev. James
Blair--Colonel William Byrd--The Pretender's Rebellion--
Governor Gooch--Dissent in Virginia--Whitefield--Origin of
Presbyterianism in Hanover--Morris--Missionaries--Rev. Samuel
Davies--Gooch's Measures against Moravians, New Lights, and
Methodists.
IN 1742 an act was passed to prevent lawyers from exacting or receiving
exorbitant fees. In this year the town of Richmond was established by
law, and the County of Louisa formed from a part of Hanover.
Governor Spotswood had effected a treaty (1722) with the Six Nations, by
which they stipulated never to appear to the east of the Blue Ridge, nor
south of the Potomac. As the Anglo-Saxon race gradually extended itself,
like a vapor, beyond the western base of that range, collisions with the
native tribes began to ensue. A treaty was concluded (July, 1744,) at
Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, by which the Six Nations unwillingly
relinquished, for four hundred pounds paid, and a further sum promised,
the country lying westward of the frontier of Virginia to the River
Ohio. The tomahawk was again buried, and the wampum belts of peace again
delivered, to brighten the silver chain of friendship. The Virginia
commissioners were men of high character, but they negotiated with the
red men according to the custom of that day, and regaled them with
punch, wine, and bumbo--that is, rum and water. The consideration
apparently so inadequate, was yet perhaps equivalent to the value of
their title and the fidelity of their pledge. The expense of this treaty
was paid out of the royal quit-rents.
The Rev. Anthony Gavin, a zealous minister of St. James's Parish,
Goochland, (1738,) complains to the Bishop of London of difficulties
with Quakers, who were countenanced by men in high station, and of the
disregard of Episcopal control in Virginia, the cognizance of spiritual
affairs, by the laws of the colony, being in the hands of the governor
and council, and that the greatest part of the ministers "are taken up
in farming, and buying slaves." The ministers were compelled either to
hire or buy slaves to cultivate their glebes, on which they depended for
a livelihood.[434:A] The Rev. Mr. Gavin, besides his regular duties,
appears to have performed a sort of missionary service, making distant
journeys as far as to the country near the Blue Ridge.
Robert Dinwiddie having been appointed (1741) surveyor-general of the
customs, was named, as his predecessors had been, a member of the
several councils of the colonies. Gooch readily complied with the royal
order, but the council, prompted both by jealousy of Dinwiddie's
functions and by an aristocratic exclusiveness, refused to allow him to
act with them, and sent the king a remonstrance against it. The board of
trade decided the case in Dinwiddie's favor. We may see in this affair
the germ of that mutual jealousy which afterwards grew up between him
and some of the leading characters in Virginia.
In the year 1743 died Edward Barradall, Esq., an eminent lawyer; he held
the office of attorney-general, judge of the admiralty court, and other
high posts. He married Sarah, daughter of the Honorable William
Fitzhugh. He was buried in the churchyard in Williamsburg, where a Latin
epitaph records his worth.
In the same year died the Rev. James Blair, Commissary to the Bishop of
London. Finding his ministry in Scotland obstructed by popular
prejudice, he retired to London, whence he was sent over to Virginia as
a missionary, (1685.) He was minister for Henrico Parish nine years; in
1689 was appointed commissary. From Henrico he removed to Jamestown, in
order to be near the college, which he was raising up. He became (1710)
the minister of Bruton Parish, and resided at Williamsburg. He was a
minister in Virginia for about fifty-eight years, commissary for
fifty-four years, and president of the college fifty years. His sermons,
one hundred and seventeen in number, expository of the Sermon on the
Mount, were published in England, (1722,) and passed through two
editions. They are highly commended by Dr. Waterland and Dr. Doddridge.
Dr. Blair appears to have been a plain-spoken preacher, who had the
courage to speak the truth to an aristocratic congregation. Alluding in
one of these sermons to the custom of swearing, he says: "I know of no
vice that brings more scandal to our Church of England. The church may
be in danger from many enemies, but perhaps she is not so much in danger
from any as from the great number of profane persons that pretend to be
of her, enough to make all serious people afraid of our society, and to
bring down the judgments of God upon us: 'by reason of swearing the land
mourneth.' But be not deceived: our church has no principles that lead
to swearing more than the Dissenters; but whatever church is uppermost,
there are always a great many who, having no religion at all, crowd into
it, and bring it into disgrace and disreputation." Commissary Blair left
his library and five hundred pounds to the college of which he was the
founder, and ten thousand pounds to his nephew, John Blair, and his
children.[435:A] Commissary Blair was alike eminent for energy,
learning, talents, piety, and a catholic spirit; he was a sincere lover
of Virginia and her benefactor; his name is identified with her history,
and his memory deserves to be held in enduring respect and veneration.
In November, 1743, William Fairfax, son of Lord Fairfax, proprietor of
the Northern Neck, was appointed one of the council in the place of Dr.
Blair. The Rev. William Dawson succeeded him as president of the College
of William and Mary, and as commissary.
About this time also died Colonel William Byrd, of Westover, second of
the name, one of the council. A vast fortune enabled him to live in a
style of hospitable splendor before unknown in Virginia. His extensive
learning was improved by a keen observation, and refined by an
acquaintance and correspondence with the wits and noblemen of his day in
England. His writings display a thorough knowledge of the natural and
civil history of the colony, and abound in photographic sketches of
the manners of his age. His diffuse style is relieved by frequent
ebullitions of humor, which, according to the spirit of his times, is
often coarse and indelicate. His sarcasm is sometimes unjust, and his
ridicule frequently misplaced, yet his writings are among the most
valuable that have descended from his era, and to him is due the honor
of having contributed more perhaps to the preservation of the historical
materials of Virginia than any other of her sons, by the purchase of the
Records of the Virginia Company. He lies buried in the garden at
Westover, where a marble monument bears the following inscription: "Here
lieth the Honorable William Byrd, Esq. Being born to one of the amplest
fortunes in this country, he was sent early to England for his
education, where, under the care and direction of Sir Robert Southwell,
and ever favored with his particular instructions, he made a happy
proficiency in polite and various learning. By the means of the same
noble friend he was introduced to the acquaintance of many of the first
persons of that age for knowledge, wit, virtue, birth, or high station,
and particularly contracted a most intimate and bosom friendship with
the learned and illustrious Charles Boyle, Earl of Orrery. He was called
to the bar in the Middle Temple; studied for some time in the Low
Countries; visited the court of France, and was chosen Fellow of the
Royal Society. Thus eminently fitted for the service and ornament of his
country, he was made receiver-general of his majesty's revenues here;
was thrice appointed public agent to the court and ministry of England;
and being thirty-seven years a member, at last became president of the
council of this colony. To all this were added a great elegancy of taste
and life, the well-bred gentleman and polite companion, the splendid
economist, and prudent father of a family, withal the constant enemy of
all exorbitant power, and hearty friend to the liberties of his country.
Nat. Mar. 28, 1674. Mort. Aug. 26, 1744. An. AEtat. 70." His portrait, a
fine face, is preserved. Colonel Byrd amassed the finest private library
which had then been seen in the New World, a catalogue of which, in
quarto, is preserved in the Franklin Library, Philadelphia. Sir Robert
Southwell was envoy extraordinary to Portugal in 1665, and to Brussels
in 1671; was subsequently clerk of the privy council, and was repeatedly
chosen president of the Royal Society. He died in 1702.
France, endeavoring to impose a popish pretender of the house of Stuart
upon the people of England, the colonies were advised to put themselves
in readiness against the threatened blow. Accordingly in the following
year the assembly met, but still adhering to a rigid economy, the
burgesses refused to make any appropriation of money for that purpose.
About this time Edward Trelawney, governor of Jamaica, was authorized to
recruit a regiment in Virginia. In 1745 a rebellion burst forth in
Scotland in favor of the Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart, grandson of
James the Second. When intelligence of this event reached Virginia, the
assembly was again called together, and the college, the clergy, and the
assembly, unanimously pledged their private resources and those of the
colony to support the house of Hanover. A proclamation was also issued
against Romish priests, sent, it was alleged, as emissaries from
Maryland, to seduce the people of Virginia from their allegiance. The
tidings of the overthrow of the Pretender by the Duke of Cumberland, at
Culloden, on the 16th of April, 1746, were joyfully received in the
Ancient Dominion, and celebrated by burning the effigies of the
unfortunate prince, and by bonfires, processions, and illuminations.
About this time the Rev. William Stith was engaged in composing his
"History of Virginia," at Varina, on the James River. It is much to be
regretted that this accurate, judicious, and faithful writer did not
receive encouragement to complete the work down to his own times.
In May, 1746, the assembly appropriated four thousand pounds to the
raising of Virginia's quota of troops for the invasion of Canada. They
sailed from Hampton in June, under convoy of the Fowey man-of-war; the
expedition proved abortive. Governor Gooch, who had been appointed
commander, but had declined the appointment, was knighted during this
year. Not long afterwards the capitol at Williamsburg was burnt, and
the burgesses availed themselves of this conjuncture to propose the
establishment of the metropolis at a point more favorable to commerce;
but this scheme was rejected by the council. Governor Gooch, on
this occasion, appears to have exhibited some duplicity: in his
communications to the board of trade he extolled the enlarged views of
the burgesses, while he censured the selfishness of the council; yet in
public he blamed the burgesses, "as he thought this the best method to
stifle the flame of contention." In this case he would seem not to have
reckoned "honesty the best policy;" and it often is not, else there
would perhaps be more of it in the world; but it is certainly always
better than policy.
In the year 1748 Petersburg and Blandford were incorporated. In the same
year the town of Staunton, in Augusta County, was laid off, and it was
incorporated in the following year. This happened to be one of the
acts repealed by the crown under subsequent protest of the house of
burgesses; and another act of incorporation was not applied for until
about 1762-63. Hence originated a mistake in all the histories as to the
date of the charter.[438:A] Staunton thus appears to be the oldest town
in the valley.
The assembly appointed a committee to revise the laws of Virginia; it
consisted of Peyton Randolph, Philip Ludwell, Beverley Whiting, Carter
Burwell, and Benjamin Waller. During this year the vestries were
authorized to make presentation to benefices, an act which Bishop
Sherlock complained of as a serious encroachment on the rights of the
crown.
Dissent from the established church began to develope itself in
Virginia. In 1740 the celebrated Whitefield, then about twenty-six years
of age, preached at Williamsburg, by the invitation of Commissary Blair.
The extraordinary religious excitement which took place at this time in
America, and which was increased by the impassioned eloquence of
Whitefield, was styled "the New Light Stir." It produced a temporary
schism in the American Presbyterian Church, and the two parties were
known as Old Side and New Side. The Synod of Philadelphia was Old Side;
the Presbyteries of New Castle, New Brunswick, and New York, New Side.
The preachers of the New Side were often styled "New Lights." A hundred
years before, the Presbyterians of Ireland denounced the sectarian (or
Cromwell) party of England, as those who "vilify public ordinances,
speak evil of church government, and invent damnable errors, under the
specious pretence of a gospel-way and new light."[439:A]
Between the years 1740 and 1743 a few families of Hanover County, in
Lower Virginia, withdrawing themselves from attendance at the services
of the established church, were accustomed to meet for worship at the
house of Samuel Morris, the zealous leader of this little company of
dissenters. One of these, a planter, had been first aroused by a few
leaves of "Boston's Fourfold State," that fell into his hands. Morris,
an obscure man, a bricklayer, of singular simplicity of character,
sincere, devout, earnest, was in the habit of reading to his neighbors
from a few favorite religious works, particularly "Luther on the
Galatians," and his "Table-Talk," with the view of communicating to
others impressions that had been made on himself. Having (1743) come
into possession of a volume of Whitefield's Sermons, preached at
Glasgow, he commenced reading them to his audience, who met to hear them
on Sunday and on other days. The concern of some of the hearers on these
occasions was such that they cried out and wept bitterly. Morris's
dwelling-house being too small to contain his increasing congregation,
it was determined to build a meeting-house merely for reading, and it
came to be called "Morris's Reading-Room." None of them being in the
habit of extemporaneous prayer no one dared to undertake it. Morris was
soon invited to read these sermons in other parts of the country, and
thus other reading-houses were established. Those who frequented them
were fined for absenting themselves from church, and Morris himself
often incurred this penalty. When called on by the general court to
declare to what denomination they belonged, these unsophisticated
dissenters, knowing little of any such except the Quakers, and not
knowing what else to call themselves, assumed for the present the name
of Lutherans, (unaware that this appellation had been appropriated by
any others,) but shortly afterwards they relinquished that name.[439:B]
Partaking in the religious excitement which then pervaded the colonies,
limited in information and in the means of obtaining it, these
unorganized dissenters became bewildered by discordant opinions. Some of
them seemed to be verging toward antinomianism; and it came to be a
question among them whether it was right to pray, since prayer could not
alter the Divine purposes, and it might be impious to desire that it
should. At length, Morris and some of his associates were summoned to
appear before the governor and council at Williamsburg. Having discarded
the name of Lutherans, and not knowing what to call themselves, they
were filled with apprehensions in the prospect of the interview. One of
them making the journey to Williamsburg alone, met with, at a house on
the way, an old Scotch Presbyterian "Confession of Faith," which he
recognized as embodying his own creed. The book being given to him, upon
rejoining his friends at Williamsburg they examined it together, and
they determined to adopt it as their confession of faith. When called
before the governor and council and interrogated, they exhibited the
book as containing their creed. Gooch, being a Scotchman, and, as is
said, having been educated a Presbyterian, immediately remarked, on
seeing the book, "These men are Presbyterians," and recognized their
right to the privileges of the toleration act. The interview between the
governor and council and Morris and his friends, was interrupted by a
thunder-storm of extraordinary fury; the council was softened; and this
was one of a series of incidents which Morris and his companions looked
upon as providentially instrumental in bringing about the favorable
issue of this affair.
The Rev. William Robinson, a Presbyterian, was the first minister, not
of the Church of England, that preached in Hanover. The son of a Quaker
physician near Carlyle, in England, he emigrated to America, and (1743)
sent out by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, visited the frontier
settlements of Virginia and North Carolina. Near Winchester he was
apprehended by the sheriff, to be sent to the governor to answer for
preaching without license, but the sheriff soon released him. He
preached among the Scotch-Irish settlers of Charlotte, Prince Edward,
Campbell, and Albemarle, and in Charlotte established a congregation.
Overtaken at Rockfish Gap by a deputation from Hanover, he was induced
to return and visit that county, and he preached for some days to large
congregations, some of his hearers publicly giving utterance to their
emotions, and many being converted. Before his departure he corrected
some of the errors into which the dissenters had fallen, and taught them
to conduct public worship with better order, prayer and singing being
now introduced, so that "he brought them into some kind of church order
on the Presbyterian model."[441:A] He was followed shortly afterwards by
the Rev. John Blair, whose preaching was equally impressive. Another
missionary, the Rev. John Roan, from the New Castle Presbytery, preached
to crowded congregations there and in the neighboring counties. The
consequent excitement, and his speaking freely in public and in private
of the delinquency of the parish ministers, and his denouncing them with
unsparing invective, in spite of reproaches, ridicule, and threats, gave
alarm to them and their supporters, and measures were concerted to
arrest the inroads of these offensive innovations. To aggravate the
indignation of the government a witness swore "that he heard Mr. Roan
utter blasphemous expressions in his sermons," preached at the house of
Joshua Morris, in James City County.
At the meeting of the general court in April, Governor Gooch, in his
charge to the grand jury, denounced, in strong terms, "certain false
teachers lately crept into this government, who, without order or
license, or producing any testimonial of their education or sect,
professing themselves ministers under the pretended influence of new
light, extraordinary impulse, and such like satirical [sic] and
enthusiastic knowledge, lead the innocent and ignorant people into all
kinds of delusion." He even suspected them to be Romish emissaries,
saying, "their religious professions are very justly suspected to be the
result of jesuitical policy, which also is an iniquity to be punished
by the judges." He calls upon the jury to present and indict these
offenders. On the next day the jury presented John Roan for "reflecting
upon and vilifying the established religion," and Thomas Watkins, of
Henrico County, for saying "your churches and chapels are no better than
the synagogues of Satan," and Joshua Morris, "for permitting John Roan,
the aforementioned preacher, and very many people, to assemble in an
unlawful manner at his house on the seventh, eighth, and ninth of
January last past."
The intolerant spirit of the government continuing unabated, the
Conjunct Presbyteries of New Castle and New Brunswick, at the instance
of Morris and some of his friends, who were apprehensive of severe
measures being adopted against them, sent an address in their behalf to
Governor Gooch, by two clergymen, Gilbert Tennent and Samuel Finley.
They were respectfully received, and allowed to preach in Hanover, where
they remained for a week.
The Synod of Philadelphia being now apprehensive that their
congregations in the valley of Virginia might also be involved in the
penalties threatened by the governor, in May, 1745, in an address to
him, disclaimed all connection with the Presbytery of New Castle, which
had commissioned Mr. Roan, and expressed their deep regret that any who
assume the name of Presbyterians should be guilty of conduct so
uncharitable and so unchristian as that mentioned in his honor's charge
to the grand jury; and they assure him that these persons never belonged
to their body, but were missionaries sent out by some who, in May, 1741,
had been excluded from the Synod of Philadelphia by reason of their
divisive and uncharitable doctrines and practices, and whose object was,
in a spirit of rivalry, "to divide and trouble the churches." To this
address Gooch made a very kind and respectful reply.
In the summer of the ensuing year he issued a proclamation against the
Moravians, New Lights, and Methodists, prohibiting their meetings under
severe penalties. There would seem to be some inconsistency in bringing
such harsh and sweeping charges against those ministers whom he had
recently received so courteously, and had permitted to preach. Perhaps
when he at first reckoned the visits of these missionaries transient,
and their influence inconsiderable, he was willing to indulge his
courtesy and obliging disposition toward them; but when dissent was
found spreading with such unexpected rapidity, Gooch, together with the
clergy and other friends of the establishment, became alarmed, and had
recourse to measures of intolerance, which they would rather have
avoided. Besides this, the address of the Synod of Philadelphia could
not but confirm the unfavorable opinion at first formed of the
missionaries.
FOOTNOTES:
[434:A] Bishop Meade's Old Churches, etc., i. 456.
[435:A] Old Churches, i. 154, 165; Evang. and Lit. Mag., ii. 341.
[438:A] Letter from Bolivar Christian, Esq., of Staunton, referring to
the records of Augusta.
[439:A] Milton's Prose Works, i. 423.
[439:B] Memoir of Samuel Davies, in Evang. and Lit. Mag., (edited by
Rev. Dr. John H. Rice,) ii. 113, 186, 201, 330, 353, 474. "Origin of
Presbyterianism," ib., 346. "Sketch of Hist. of the Church in Va." (by
Rev. Moses Hoge, President of Hampden Sidney College,) appended to J. W.
Campbell's Hist. of Va., 290; Hawks, chap. 6: Burk, iii. 119: Hodge's
Hist. of Presbyterian Church, part ii. 42, 284; Foote's Sketches of Va.,
119.
[441:A] Evang. and Lit. Mag., ii. 351.