1776.
Death of Richard Bland--Genealogy of the Blands--First Assembly
under new Government--Petitions against Church establishment--
Memorial of Hanover Presbytery--Rev. Caleb Wallace--Petitions
in favor of Established Church--Proceedings of Assembly--Alleged
scheme of Dictator--Hampden Sidney--Virginia Navy.
ON the 26th day of October, 1776, died Richard Bland, at Williamsburg,
aged sixty-six. He was in attendance as a member of the house of
delegates at its first session, and was struck with apoplexy while
walking in the streets. His intellectual calibre was capacious, his
education finished, his habits of application indefatigable. Thoroughly
versed in the charters, laws, and history of the colony, he was styled
the "Virginia Antiquary." He was a political character of the first
rank, a profound logician, and as a writer perhaps unsurpassed in the
colony.
His letter to the clergy, published in 1760, and his enquiry into the
rights of the colonies, are monuments of his patriotism, his learning,
and the vigor of his understanding. He was an ungraceful speaker. It is
said that he was pronounced by Mr. Jefferson to be "the wisest man south
of the James River." He resided at Jordan's Point, on the James, in
Prince George. His portrait and that of his wife were mutilated by the
bayonets of British soldiers during the revolutionary war.[670:A] His
wife had died in 1758, aged forty-six years.
The Blands of Virginia derive their name from Bland, a place in or near
Lonsdale, in Westmoreland, or Cumberland, England. William de Bland
flourished in the reign of Edward the Third, and did good service in the
wars which that king carried on in France, in company of John of Gaunt,
Earl of Richmond. Thomas de Bland obtained a pardon from Richard the
Second, for killing his antagonist in a duel, by the intercession of
his friend the Duke of Guyenne and Lancaster. The coat of arms of Bland
is quartered by the family of Wansford, of Kirklington, in the County of
York, afterwards Lord Viscount Castle-Comer, in the kingdom of Ireland;
and the family of Thistlewait, of Thistlewait, bear the arms of Bland
for their paternal coat as descended from the ancient family of Bland.
Edward Bland, of Burfield, died in the reign of Edward the Fourth; from
him was descended Adam Bland, who lived in the reign of Edward the
Sixth. John Bland was free of the "Grocers and Merchants Adventurers
Company." Thomas Bland, receiver of the rents for Yorkshire in the time
of Charles the First, married, secondly, Katherine, sister of Sir
Richard Sandys, of Northbourne, in Kent. Giles Bland, collector of the
customs for James River, owing to a quarrel with Sir William Berkley,
became a partisan of Bacon, and was executed during the rebellion.
Edward Bland, a merchant in Spain, (1643,) afterwards removed to
Virginia, where he lived at Kimages, in Charles City County. Robert
Bland was rector of Weyborough-magna, with the chapel of Sale appendant,
in the County of Essex. Richard Bland, of the company of "Framework
Knitters," was Lord of the manor of Preston Hall, and Lord Mayor of
Preston. Theodorick Bland was some time a merchant at Luars in Spain,
but came over to Virginia in the year 1654. He settled at Westover, on
James River, where he died April 23d, 1671, aged forty-one, and was
buried in the chancel of the church which he built, and gave, together
with ten acres of land, a court-house and prison, for the county and
parish. His tombstone is to be found in Westover churchyard, lying
between those of two of his friends; the church has disappeared long
ago. This Theodorick Bland was one of the king's council for Virginia,
and was both in fortune and understanding inferior to no person of his
time in the country. He married the daughter of Richard Bennet, Esq.,
sometime governor of the colony. Richard Bland, born at Berkley, son of
this Theodorick Bland, married, first, Mary, daughter of Colonel Thomas
Swan; secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel William Randolph, of
Turkey Island, on James River. Mary Bland, eldest daughter of Richard
Bland, gentleman, of Jordans, born 1704, married Colonel Henry Lee, of
Westmoreland. Elizabeth, second daughter of said Richard Bland, married
Colonel William Beverley, of Essex County. Theodorick Bland, Sr., of
Cawsons, in Prince George, was clerk of that county and member of the
house of burgesses. He married Frances Boiling. The children of that
union were Theodorick Bland, Jr., and four daughters, Elizabeth, Mary,
Anna, and Jenny. Theodorick Bland, Sr., married, secondly, a widow
Yates. Theodorick Bland, Jr., was a colonel of a regiment of horse
during the revolutionary war, a member of congress, and of the
convention of Virginia that ratified the Constitution of the United
States. Patsy, daughter of Theodorick Bland, Sr., married Colonel John
Banister, of Battersea, near Petersburg, member of the convention of
1776, lieutenant-colonel of cavalry during the war of Revolution, and
member of congress. Frances, another daughter of Theodorick Bland, Sr.,
married John Randolph, of Matoax, and these were the parents of John
Randolph, of Roanoke, the orator, who was born at Cawsons, in Prince
George County, the residence of Theodorick Bland, Sr. The mother of John
Randolph, of Roanoke, married, secondly, St. George Tucker, judge of the
court of appeals of Virginia, and subsequently district judge of the
federal court.
The Cherokees, instigated by the English, having made bloody incursions
on the Virginia frontier, Colonel Christian, with a body of troops,
burnt their towns, and compelled them to sue for peace.
On the 7th day of October, 1776, the general assembly of Virginia met
for the first time under the constitution adopted in the preceding July.
The house of delegates was composed of the same members as those who
constituted the convention which framed the constitution, and who held
over without an election, and thus became the house of delegates under
the constitution of their own making. The examples which probably guided
them were, that of the convention of 1660, which, after calling Charles
the Second to the throne, resolved itself into a house of commons; and
that of the convention of 1688, which, after settling the crown on
William and Mary, also resolved itself into a house of commons. The new
senate, however, was elected by the people.[673:A] Edmund Pendleton was
elected speaker of the house, and Archibald Cary speaker of the senate.
The new declaration of rights asserted that "all men are equally
entitled to the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of
conscience;" yet it appeared that the assembly intended to continue the
old church establishment. This and the circulation of petitions in
behalf of episcopacy, as established by law, alarmed the dissenters, and
they enquired what advantage then in this great point "shall we derive
from being independent of Great Britain? And is it not as bad for our
assembly to violate their own declaration of rights as for the British
parliament to break our charter?" The Baptists accordingly circulated a
counter-petition, which was signed by ten thousand persons, chiefly
freeholders. The presbytery of Hanover also presented a memorial to the
same effect, pledging themselves that nothing in their power should be
wanting to give success to the cause of the country. In the frontier
counties, containing one-fifth of the inhabitants of Virginia, the
dissenters, who constituted almost the entire population, were yet
obliged to contribute to the support of the church as established, and a
considerable portion of the inhabitants of the other parts of the colony
labored under the same disadvantages. "Certain it is," say the
memorialists, "that every argument for civil liberty gains additional
strength when applied to liberty in the concerns of religion; and there
is no argument in favor of establishing the Christian religion but what
may be pleaded with equal propriety for establishing the tenets of
Mohammed by those who believe the Alcoran; or, if this be not true, it
is at least impossible for the magistrate to adjudge the right of
preference among the various sects that profess the Christian faith,
without erecting a chair of infallibility which would lead us back to
the church of Rome." Religious establishments (they contended) are
injurious to the temporal interests of any community; and the more early
settlement of Virginia, and her natural advantages, would have
attracted hither multitudes of industrious and useful members of
society, but they had either remained in their place of nativity, or
preferred worse civil governments and a more barren soil, where they
might enjoy the rights of conscience more fully. Nor did religion need
the aid of an establishment; on the contrary, as her weapons are
spiritual, Christianity would flourish in the greatest purity when left
to her native excellence; and the duty which we owe our Creator can only
be directed by reason and conviction.
This memorial was composed, in behalf of the presbytery, by the Rev.
Caleb Wallace, of Charlotte County, a graduate of Princeton. He was in
attendance upon the assembly for six or eight weeks for the furthering
of this object.[674:A]
The clergy of the established church presented petitions in favor of
continuing the establishment, and they were re-enforced by the
Methodists as a society in communion with the Church of England. It was
urged that good faith to the clergy required that they should not be
deprived of their livings, which belonged to them for life, or during
good behaviour; that an ecclesiastical establishment was in itself a
desirable institution, it being for the benefit of the community that a
body of Christian ministers should be thus supported; and that if all
denominations were reduced to an equality, the contest for superiority
among them would involve confusion, and probably civil commotion; and
finally that a majority of the people of Virginia desired to have the
church establishment maintained.
The assembly exempted dissenters from contributions for the support of
the Church of England, and repealed all penal laws against any mode of
worship, leaving all denominations for the present to support their
clergy by voluntary contributions, and reserving the consideration "of a
general assessment for the support of religion" to a future session, so
that the sense of the people on that subject might be, in the mean time,
collected.[675:A] This matter was debated for a day or two in the house,
and gave rise to some newspaper controversy. Religious freedom was
gaining ground; but, although all penal statutes were repealed, the
restrictions and penalties sanctioned by the common law remained.
In the struggle that preceded the Revolution more than two-thirds of the
Virginia clergy of the established church and a portion of the lay
members were loyalists. Of those clergymen who adhered to the patriotic
side several were men of note, such as Jarratt, Madison, (afterwards the
first bishop of Virginia,) Bracken, Muhlenburg, of the Valley of the
Shenandoah, who accepted a colonel's commission, raised a regiment, and
served throughout the war; and Thruston, who also became a colonel.
Congress having ordered the army to be augmented to eighty-eight
battalions, to serve during the continuance of the war, a quota of
fifteen battalions was assigned to Virginia; and to complete them the
assembly took measures to raise seven battalions in addition to those
already embodied. Attention was bestowed upon the building up of a naval
force, and men were transferred from the army to the marine service.
Infantry and cavalry, speedily raised and well officered, were sent to
join General Washington, and measures were adopted for calling forth the
resources of Virginia, and to strengthen her for the exigencies of war.
Courts of admiralty were established; entails abolished, the bill for
this purpose being framed by Mr. Jefferson; treason was defined, and
penalties denounced against such as should maintain and defend the
authority of the king or parliament, or should excite sedition in the
State; importation from Great Britain was prohibited; loyalist British
factors were ordered to depart from the commonwealth under a statute of
twenty-seventh year of Edward the Third.
Governor Henry, owing to the state of his health, retired, with the
concurrence of the assembly, to the country. An effort made at this time
by David Rogers, a member of the senate, and some other malecontents in
West Augusta, to erect themselves into a separate state, proved
abortive. Robert C. Nicholas, resigning the office of treasurer,
received the thanks of the legislature for his faithful discharge of the
duties of his office. He was succeeded by George Webb. The estate of
Lord Dunmore was disposed of, and the proceeds appropriated to the
payment of his debts.[676:A] Jefferson, Pendleton, Wythe, Mason, and
Thomas Ludwell Lee were appointed a committee to revise the laws. By the
resignation of Mr. Mason, and the indisposition of Mr. Lee, the duty
eventually devolved upon the other three.
Congress, with a view of gaining the alliance of France, appointed three
commissioners to that court: Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Thomas
Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson declined the appointment, and it was then given
to Dr. Arthur Lee.
Toward the close of this session of the Virginia Assembly, when
Washington was retreating through the Jerseys, and when the cause of
independence seemed almost desperate, several of the members, it is
said, meditated, in imitation of the Roman Republic, the appointment of
a dictator. The tradition is, that such was the animosity engendered by
this scheme, that they who espoused, and they who opposed it, walked on
opposite sides of the street. Who they were that favored it, or where it
was concocted, or how developed, does not appear. It is reported,
indeed, that Patrick Henry was the person held in view as the dictator;
but that he suggested the plan, or favored it, or consented to it, or
was in any way privy to it, there is no evidence to prove, nor has it
even been alleged. The tradition (resting on no testimony) relates, that
Archibald Cary, a man of violent temper, and a life-long opponent of
Henry, sent a message to the governor, (by his brother-in-law, Colonel
Syme,) that on the day in which he should accept the dictatorship he
should fall by his dagger; and the Colonel has been compared to
Brutus--as if the example was worthy of imitation, or as if a dictator
appointed by a Virginia assembly can be justly compared to Julius Caesar
at the head of his legions, usurping the government by his sword.
South Carolina invested her governor, John Rutledge, a native of
Ireland, with dictatorial powers during the revolutionary war. The
Virginia assembly at this session invested Governor Henry with several
extraordinary powers, and recommended to congress "to invest the
commander-in-chief of the American forces with more ample and extensive
powers for conducting the operations of the war." Washington urged the
States to clothe their executives with extraordinary powers, and he
himself was invested by congress with such. The safety of the people,
the supreme law, may demand, in a crisis of extreme danger, the
appointment of an officer charged with extraordinary powers, (but who,
nevertheless, would be as much the creature of law as any ordinary judge
or deputy-sheriff,) "to take care that the Republic shall receive no
detriment."
A year or two before the rupture with the mother country, the Presbytery
of Hanover established a seminary in Augusta, beyond the Blue Ridge. The
Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, who had been a teacher of languages in the
College of New Jersey, was at this time a missionary in Virginia, and
the school was founded upon his recommendation. The superintendent was
John Brown, and the tutor William Graham. From this seminary Washington
College, at Lexington, arose. By the advice of Rev. S. S. Smith it was
determined to found another seminary east of the Blue Ridge, and the
funds were raised by subscription; and although it was a period of
apprehension and alarm, yet the enterprise was urged with energy and
success.[677:A] This work was accomplished in 1775, amid the throes of
revolution, and Prince Edward Academy, the original foundation of
Hampden Sidney College, was opened in January, 1776.[678:A]
Increased educational means were much needed, all communication with
Great Britain being cut off; and educated youth would be wanting to fill
the places of such as would soon fall victims of the war. The College of
William and Mary was indeed old and tolerably well endowed; but it was
near the scene of war and surrounded by noisy camps. In a short time
more than a hundred students flocked to the Prince Edward Academy, and
their number exceeded the means of accommodation. During the year a
military company of the students was organized, Mr. John Blair Smith,
Jr., a tutor, being captain. The uniform was a purple hunting-shirt.
This company, upon a requisition of the governor for militia from Prince
Edward during the following year, marched to Williamsburg, where,
however, their services were not required. Some of them became officers
in the army, and others enlisted as common soldiers.
In 1775 the convention of Virginia had directed the committee of safety
to procure armed vessels, for the better defence of the colony; and the
control and management were entrusted to them. The few small vessels and
barges in their service were useful in restraining the tories, in
protecting property, and in recapturing fugitive slaves. In May, 1776, a
board of naval commissioners was appointed, consisting of Thomas
Whiting, John Hutchins, Champion Travis, Thomas Newton, Jr., and George
Webb. They met for the first time on the eighth of July following, at
Williamsburg. About seventy vessels appear to have been in service at
some time or other during the war of Revolution--including thirty ships,
brigs, and brigantines, and thirty-eight smaller vessels.[678:B] Many of
the vessels were built at the Chickahominy navy-yard, South Quay,
Hampton, and near Norfolk. Early in April, 1776, George Mason, of the
committee of safety, had charge of the building of two galleys, and of
"the American Congress," this last to carry fourteen guns, four and
six-pounders, and her complement of marines and seamen being ninety-six
men. The look-outs were a sort of winged sentries, and were exposed to
hard service. But a small part of the vessels of the Virginia navy were
in actual service at any one time; and there was a deplorable want of
men, some having not more than one-twentieth of their full number. The
vessels usually served separately, but early in the contest Commodore
Boucher commanded fifteen sail in the Potomac; and at another time
Captain Richard Taylor was in command of a squadron in Hampton Roads.
The Virginia-built vessels, although plain and simple in their
construction, were very fast sailers. This, together with their lighter
draught and familiarity with the waters, often enabled them to escape
from the enemy. Of all the vessels of the Virginia navy not one remains.
James Maxwell, Esq., was superintendent of the navy-yard on the
Chickahominy, and he was assisted by Captain Christopher Calvert. The
former officer commanded the ship Cormorant in 1782. He was father of
the late William Maxwell, Esq., Secretary of the Virginia Historical
Society. The three commodores commissioned during the struggle were J.
Boucher, Walter Brooke, and James Barron. Richard Barron, brother of
James, was a captain during the whole war. The Barrons appear to have
had a natural proclivity for the water. Lieutenant William Barron, of
the continental navy, lost his life by the bursting of a gun on board of
the frigate Boston, in bringing to a vessel off the coast of France, in
1778. John Adams, and his son John Quincy, then a boy, were on board of
this ship on this occasion. Mr. Adams held the lieutenant in his arms
while his leg was amputated. This William Barron had been a lieutenant
in the Virginia naval service. Among the captains were Richard Barron,
Eleazer Callender, John Calvert, John Cowper, Thomas Lilly, John
Pasture, John Harris, James Markham, Richard Taylor, Edward Travis, Cely
Saunders, Isaac Younghusband, and John Catesby Cocke. Of the lieutenants
may be named Dale, Cunningham, Chamberlayne, Lewis, Pickett, Watkins,
and Jennings. Among the surgeons are found the names of Kemp, Lyon,
McClurg, Brockenbrough, Christie, Riddle, Reynolds, Sharpless, Swope,
and Pell. Among the seamen were many faithful blacks, who served through
the whole war. Most of the Virginia armed vessels were eventually
captured at sea or destroyed in the rivers. The vessels commanded by the
Barrons were the Liberty and the Patriot. The former was engaged in
twenty actions, and was probably the only one that escaped the enemy.
Early in 1776 an armed tender, commanded by the tory Goodrich, was
captured off Bowler's wharf, in the Rappahannock. Shortly afterwards the
Barrons captured, near the capes, the British transport-ship Oxford,
from Glasgow, having on board two hundred and seventeen Scotch
Highlanders, who were shaping their course to join Governor Dunmore,
whom they supposed to be in Virginia. This ship was destroyed by Arnold
in 1781.
Early in July, 1776, Captain Richard Barron captured a sloop, from the
West Indies, laden with pine apples, limes, etc., and shortly after the
Fanny, an English vessel, laden with supplies for Boston. She had on
board numerous presents to the officers in that city. Captain Richard
Taylor captured several merchantmen in the Rappahannock. One of them,
the Speedwell, was armed, and sent to the West Indies for powder and
supplies. In September several large vessels, laden with tobacco, were
despatched to the same islands for the like purpose.[680:A]
FOOTNOTES:
[670:A] The name of Bland ought to be given to a county.
[673:A] I am indebted to Mr. Grigsby for this statement. His opinions on
this point are given fully in a review of Randall's Life of Jefferson,
in the _Richmond Enquirer_ of January 15th, 1858.
[674:A] In a letter addressed to Rev. James Caldwell, of Elizabethtown,
New Jersey, April 8th, 1777, he wrote: "I do not know that we have
sinned against the King of England, but we have sinned against the King
of Heaven; and he is now using Great Britain as the rod of his anger: by
them he is executing just judgment against us, and calling us to
repentance and humiliation. I also hope He is bringing about great
things for His church." He also adds: "An American ought to seek an
emancipation from the British King, ministry, and parliament, at the
risk of all his earthly possessions of whatever name; nor is it the fear
of danger that has prevented my preaching this doctrine in the army at
headquarters." "I meddle very little with matters of civil concern, only
to countenance the recruiting business, as far as I have it in my power,
and sometimes I have a fight with the prejudices--I would rather say the
perverseness--of such as are inclining to toryism among us; but we have
reason to rejoice that we have few such cattle with us." (_Hist. Mag._,
i. 354.)
[675:A] Burk's Hist. of Va., iv. 182.
[676:A] A number of his books came into Mr. Madison's possession. I
remember seeing in Southampton County a Shakespeare with Dunmore's arms.
A gentleman in Petersburg has a black-letter Coke, which once belonged
to Dunmore, and afterwards to Patrick Henry; it has his lordship's arms,
and the orator's autograph.
[677:A] The site selected for it was at the head of Hudson's Branch, in
Prince Edward County, on a hundred acres of land given for that use by
Mr. Peter Johnston. The trustees appointed were Rev. Messrs. Richard
Sankey, of Buffaloe, John Todd, of Louisa, Samuel Leake, of Albemarle,
and Caleb Wallace, of Cub Creek, together with Messrs. Peter Johnston,
Colonel Paul Carrington, Colonel John Nash, Jr., Rev. David Rice, and
Colonel James Madison, Jr.
[678:A] Foote's Sketches of Va., 393.
[678:B] Among the ships and brigs are found the names of Oxford,
Virginia, Loyalist, Pocahontas, Washington, Oliver Cromwell, Marquis La
Fayette, Raleigh, Jefferson, Gloucester, Northampton, Sally Norton,
Hampton, Liberty, Wilkes, American Fabius. Among the smaller were the
Speedwell, Lewis, Nicholson, Harrison, Mayflower, Patriot, Congress,
Accomac, Henry, Norfolk, Revenge, Manly, Caswell, Protector, Washington,
Page, Lewis, York, and Richmond.
[680:A] Va. Navy of the Revolution, by Dr. Wm. P. Palmer, Secretary of
Va. Hist. Society. (_S. Lit. Messenger_, 1857.)