Chapter XVII: ```Virginia, hail! Thou venerable state (3)

At the moment when the destitution was greatest, the commissioners and their wrecked companions arrived. Upon the uninhabited island where they stranded they had constructed two rude vessels, loaded them with the stores of their ship, which laid among the rocks, and sailed for the James River. They arrived in June; (a) but, instead of finding a large [[ a 1609]] and flourishing colony, they were greeted by a handful of emaciated men, on the point of dying. Death by famine awaited all, and Gates resolved to sail for Newfoundland, and disperse the company among the English fishing vessels there. Jamestown was utterly abandoned, and toward Hampton Roads the dejected settlers sailed in the four pinnaces which remained in the river. As they approached that broad harbor on the following morning, a vision of white sails cheered their hearts; and as the sun came up, the longboat of Lord Delaware was seen approaching. He came with emigrants and supplies; and that night, Jamestown, abandoned to the rude natives in the morning, was made vocal [[ b June 9]] with hymns and thanksgivings from truly grateful lips. (b) The next day solemn religious exercises were held; the commission of Lord Delaware was read, and the foundation stone of the Virginia Commonwealth was permanently laid. Delaware ad-

* I have noticed the efforts of Smith to establish a permanent settlement at Powhatan, near Richmond. While returning from that place down the James River, his powder-bag accidentally exploded and almost killed him. He was dreadfully lacerated, and so acute was the pain, that he threw himself into the river for alleviation. He was recovered when nearly drowned.

** Bancroft, i. 138.

[[[Arrival of new Emigrants and Supplies.--Prosperity of the Colony.--Implantation of Republicanism.--New Constitution.]]]

{457}ministered the government with equity until the failure of his health required him to return to England. (a) Percy was left in charge of affairs until Delaware's successor should [[ a 1611]]arrive. In the mean while, Sir Thomas Dale, an "experienced soldier of the Low Countries," arrived with supplies, (b) and assumed the government, which he [[ b May 10]] administered upon the basis of martial law. In less than four months afterward, Sir Thomas Gates arrived with supplies, and three hundred emigrants, in six ships, and assumed the functions of governor. Under Dale and Gates, the colony, now numbering nearly a thousand souls, thrived wonderfully. There were but few drones; industry and sobriety prevailed, and a bright future dawned upon Jamestown.

A new charter was granted to the London Company in 1612. The supreme council in England was abolished, and its powers were transferred to the whole Company, who were to meet as a democratic assembly, elect their own officers for the colony, and establish the laws therefor. This was the republican seed which found its way to Virginia, and took deep root there. Another important concession was made; the Bermudas, and all islands within three hundred leagues of the Virginia shore, were included in the grant, and opened a commercial field. The colony continued to flourish; and the marriage of John Rolfe with Pocahontas, with the consent of her father, and the concurrence of Opechancanough, her uncle (who "gave her away" at the marriage altar), cemented the friendship which had been gradually forming between the white men and natives.

In 1614, Gates went to England, and left affairs in the hands of Dale, who ruled with energy for five years, when he appointed George Yeardly deputy governor, and returned to England. Yeardly encouraged agriculture, and, during his administration, the tobacco plant began to be cultivated. It soon became not only the staple, but the _currency_ of the colony. He was succeeded in office (c) by Samuel Argali, an unprincipled man, and sort of [[ c 1617]] buccaneer, * who ruled with tyranny for two years, and was then displaced. Yeardly was made governor; the planters were released from further tribute-service to the colony; martial law was abolished; and on the 29th of June, 1619, the first colonial assembly ever held in America was convened at Jamestown. The domain of the English had been divided into eleven boroughs. Two representatives from each were present at the assembly, and were called burgesses. This was the kernel of the Virginia government which prevailed until the Revolution--a governor, his council, and a house of Burgesses. It was the beginning of the American constitutions.

Twelve years had elapsed since planting Jamestown, and now the settlement first assumed the character of permanency. Ninety respectable young women were sent over in 1620, ** and the following year sixty more came to be wives for the planters. The settlers "fell to building houses and planting corn," with a determination to make Virginia their home. The gold mania had passed away, and the wealth of the rich mold was delved for with success. A written constitution was granted to the colony by the Company in 1621, (d) which ratified the form of government introduced by Yeardly. It was [[ d August, 1621]] brought over by Sir Francis Wyatt, who succeeded Yeardly, and was received with joy by the colonists. General prosperity prevailed, and glad dreams of happiness filled

* Argali, as we have noticed, obtained possession of Pocahontas, and made her his prisoner, in 1613. The same year he sailed with his fleet to the coast ol Maine, to protect the English fisheries. He broke up a French colony near the Penobscot, and sent some of the people to France and some to Virginia. He also broke up a French settlement at Port Royal, and made the conquest of Acadia. On his return voyage to Virginia, he entered the Bay of New York, and compelled the little Dutch trading settlement there to acknowledge the supremacy ol' England.

** On the 20th of August, in this year, a Dutch man-of-war entered the James River, and landed twenty negroes for sale. Almost simultaneously with the birth of civil liberty in Virginia, by the concession of the representative system, and the tacit acknowledgment of the universal right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," the system of human bondage, which has ever weighed upon our national energies, and tarnished our national character, was introduced. Englishmen have attempted to cast off the stain from themselves by alleging that the traffickers from a foreign country first brought the negroes here. Had not Englishmen become the willing purchasers, the slave-trade and its system would never have been known in this country.

[[[Massacre by the Indians.--Retaliation.--The Patents canceled.--Policy of Charles I.--Governor Harvey.]]]

{458}the minds of the settlers. They were now four thousand strong, and fast increasing; but a cloud was gathering.

Powhatan, the firm friend of the English since the marriage of his daughter, was now dead. * The restraints of his influence were lifted from his people, and they, apprehending their own annihilation by the white men, resolved to strike a blow of extermination. At [[ b March 22, 1622]] mid-day, (a) the hatchet fell upon the more remote settlements around Jamestown, and more than seventeen scores of men, women, and children perished in an hour. ** A friendly Indian, a Christian convert, warned his white friend (Pa Ca) in Jamestown of the plot the night before. The people prepared for defense, and were, with the nearest settlements, to whom they sent notice, saved. General alarm prevailed. The remote planters fled to Jamestown, and the number of plantations was reduced from eighty to eight. A terrible reaction ensued. The English arose, and, moved with a spirit of hatred and revenge, they smote the Indians with great slaughter, and drove them far back into the wilderness.

We have seen the government of Virginia gradually changed from a royal tenure, under the first charter, to a proprietary and representative government under the second and third charters. The king now began to look upon it with suspicion, as inimical to royalty, and a breeder of disloyal men. The holders of the stock of the London Company had become very numerous, and their election of officers assumed a political character, presenting two parties--the advocates of liberty, and the upholders of the royal prerogative. The king, disliking the freedom of debate which prevailed at their meetings, attempted to control their elections; but failing in this, he determined to recover, by a dissolution of their Company, the influence in the affairs of the New World of which he had deprived himself by his own charter. He appointed a çommission, composed of his own pliant instruments, to examine the affairs of the Company. They, of course, reported favorable to a dissolution of the association, and an equally pliant judiciary effected a consummation of the measure. A quo warranto was issued; it was feebly defended, and in June, 1624, a decision was given against the Company, and the patents were canceled. The enterprise had, thus far, been an unprofitable speculation for the Company, and there was not much opposition. The king took the political affairs of the colony into his own hands, and it became a royal government; yet no material changes were made in the domestic policy of the settlers, and they were allowed to retain their popular legislative assemblies as a branch of their government. [[ b April 6]] James died in 1625, (b) and his son, the unfortunate Charles I., succeeded him.

The policy of the new monarch toward the colonists was governed entirely by selfish motives, and he allowed them liberty under which to prosper, that gain to himself might accrue. He imposed some restrictions, and attempted, but in vain, to gain for himself a monopoly of the trade in tobacco, by becoming the sole factor of the planters. ** Governor Yeardly died in November, 1627, and the king appointed John Harvey, one of his warmest [[ c 1628]] supporters, and a member of the commission appointed by James, governor; (c) but his unpopularity in the colony lost to the king all the advantages his selfishness coveted. The Virginians deprived Harvey of his government in 1635; summoned an assembly to receive complaints against him, and appointed commissioners to proceed to England

* Powhatan died in 1618, and his younger brother, Opechancanough, heired his power, but not his friendly influence favorable to the English. He always harbored a secret aversion to the white men. Only a few days before the massacre, he declared "that sooner the skies would fall than his friendship with the English be dissolved."

** Exaggerated reports went to England. Smith, in his Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters, stated the number of killed at 5000. Berkeley rated it at 2000. Edward Waterhouse transmitted to the Company a statement containing the names of every victim. The number was 347.--Declaration of the State of the Colony, &c., pages 14--21.

*** In his efforts to obtain the control of the tobacco trade, by becoming himself the sole purchaser of the crop, the king unconsciously recognized the legality of the Virginia Assembly. In a letter to the governor and council, written in June, 1628, he offered to contract for the whole crop of tobacco, and expressed a desire that an assembly might be convened to consider his proposal. "This is the first recognition," says Bancroft (i., 196), "on the part of a Stuart of a representative assembly in America." James permitted it, but did not expressly sanction it.

[[[Wyatt and Berkeley.--The Commonwealth.--Intolerance in Virginia.--Indian Wars.--Berkely and Loyalty.]]]

{459}with an impeachment. Harvey accompanied the commissioners. The king would not even admit the accusers to a hearing, and the accused was sent back, clothed with full authority from Charles to administer the government. He remained in office until 1639, when he was succeeded by Sir Francis Wyatt. (a) Sir William Berkeley succeeded Wyatt in [[ a Nov.]] 1641. (b) During his first administration of ten years, the civil condition of the [[ b Aug.]] Virginians was much improved. The rights of property, and the rewards of industry, were secured, and the people were prosperous and happy. *

The democratic revolution in England, which brought Charles to the block and placed Cromwell in power, now began, and religious sects in England and America assumed a political importance. Puritans had hitherto been tolerated in Virginia; and Puritan ministers were even invited by the council to come to that province from Massachusetts Bay. Now, as the monarch and the Church were united in interest, and the Virginians were loyal to Church and king, it was decided that no minister should preach or teach except in conformity to the constitution of the Church of England, and Non-conformists were banished from the colony. This was a cloud upon the otherwise clear skies of the settlement. But a darker cloud was gathering. The Indians prepared for another massacre of the white men. The war-whoop sounded along the frontier settlements, and a general border contest ensued. (c) The [[ c April, 1646]] Indians were generally defeated, and old Opechancanough, the chief instigator, was [[ d 1646]] made a prisoner, and died in captivity. (d) Peace was speedily effected by the Indians making large concessions to the white men. **

The Virginians remained loyal during the civil war in England; and when the king was beheaded, and the Republicans bore rule, they recognized Charles, the son of their murdered sovereign, though then a fugitive in a foreign country. The Parliament was incensed at the audacity of a colony resisting the will of the supreme government, and took measures to enforce submission. *** A powerful fleet, under Sir George Aysene, entered the Chesapeake, and east anchor at the mouth of the James River. Sir William Berkeley, **** with the cavaliers

* In 1648, the number of colonists was twenty thousand. '"The cottages were filled with children, as the ports were with ships and emigrants." Ten ships from London, two from Bristol, twelve from Holland, and seven from New England, were trading in Virginia at Christmas of that year.--Mass. Hist. Coll., ix., 118.

** Necotowance, the successor of Opechancanough, was forced to acknowledge that he held his kingdom of the crown of England. It was agreed that the Indians should remove to the north side of the York and Pamunkey Rivers; and they ceded to the white men all the lands from the Falls of the James River, at Richmond, between the two rivers, to the Bay forever. Thus were the natives driven from their beautiful land--the most beautiful in all Virginia--leaving few traces of their existence behind.

*** An ordinance was passed on the 3d of October, 1650, empowering the Council of State to reduce the rebellious colonies to obedience, and, at the same time, establish it as a law, that foreign ships should not trade in any of the ports in Barbadoes, Antiguas, Bermudas, and Virginia.

**** Sir William Berkeley was of an ancient family near London. He was educated at Oxford, and admitted Master of Arts in 1629. The next year he traveled extensively in Europe, and became a model of an elegant courtier and cavalier. He succeeded Sir Francis Wyatt as governor of Virginia in 1641, and held that post most of the time during the civil wars in England, and until the restoration of monarchy in 1660. He exhibited shrewdness as well as courage when the fleet of Parliament, sent to subdue the loyal colony of Virginia, appeared in the James River; and, by good management, both parties were satisfied. Cromwell appointed "worthy Samuel Mathews" governor, and, at his death, Berkeley was elected governor by the people. His obsequious deference to royalty offended the independent Virginians, and his popularity declined. His obstinacy in refusing compliance with the expressed wishes of the inhabitants that Nathaniel Bacon might lead an expedition against the Indians, further alienated the affections of his people. He became irritable and revengeful; and when juries refused to aid his projects of vengeance against those who followed Bacon, he resorted to martial law, and fines, confiscations, and executions ensued. In view of this conduct Charles II. remarked, "The old fool has taken more lives in that naked country than I have taken for the murder of my father."

**** Berkeley returned to England, after an administration of nearly forty years, and died soon after his arrival. He was buried at Twickenham, July 13, 1677. He was possessed of quite liberal views in respect to government, but these were often hidden or perverted by his cringing loyalty. In his reply to commissioners sent in 1671 to inquire into the state of the colony, he said, "Thank God there are no free schools nor printing-press, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has divulged these and libels against the best government." In this last sentence the old bigot courtier uttered one of the most glorious truths whieh the march of progress has practically developed. Tyranny always fears enlightenment. Napoleon said he was in more dread of one free printing-press than a hundred thousand Austrian bayonets.

[[[Opposition to parliamentary Commissions.--Concession to the Colonists.--Commercial Restrictions.--King of Virginia.]]]

{460}who had fled to Virginia, on the death of Charles, for safety, were prepared for their reception. Armed Dutch vessels, lying in the river, were pressed into service; and, although the Virginians had resolved to submit as soon as they perceived the arrival of the fleet, they, like Falstaff, declared they would not do it "on compulsion." This unexpected show of resistance made the commissioners of Parliament, who were sent out to negotiate, hesitate; and, instead of opening their cannon upon the colonists, they courteously proposed submission to the authority of the Protector, upon terms quite satisfactory to the Virginians. The liberties of the colonists were more fully secured than they had ever been; indeed, they were allowed nearly all those rights which the Declaration of Independence a century and a quarter later charged the King of Great Britain with violating. Until the restoration of monarchy in 1660, Virginia was virtually an independent state; for Cromwell made no appointments for the state, except a governor. On the death of Oliver Cromwell In 1658, the Virginians were not disposed to acknowledge the authority of Richard, his successor, and they _elected_ Matthews, and afterward Berkeley, to fill the office of governor. Universal suffrage prevailed; all freemen, without exception, were allowed to vote; and servants, when the terms of their bondage ended, became electors, and might be made burgesses.

When the news of the probable restoration of Charles the Second reached Virginia, Berkeley disclaimed the popular sovereignty, proclaimed the exiled monarch, issued writs for an assembly in the name of the king, and the friends of royalty came into power. * High hopes of great favor from the new king were entertained. They were speedily blasted. Commercial restrictions, grafted upon the existing colonial system of the commonwealth, were rigorously enforced. ** The people murmured, and finally remonstrated, but in vain. The profligate monarch, who seems never to have had a clear perception of right and wrong, but was always guided by the dictates of caprice and passion, gave away to special favorites large tracts of land, some of it cultivated and valuable. *** The Royalist party in Virginia soon began to have an evil influence. The Assembly abridged the liberties of the people; the members, elected for only two years, assumed to themselves the right of an indefinite continuance of power, and the representative system was virtually abolished. Intolerance began to grow again, and heavy fines were imposed upon Baptists and Quakers. Taxes were made unequal and oppressive. Loyalty waned; the people learned to despise the very name of king, and open discontent ensued. The common people formed a Republican party, opposed to the aristocracy and the Royalists.

The menaces of the hostile Susquehannas, a fierce tribe on the northern frontier, who had been driven southward by the Five Nations, and were then desolating the remote set-

* Berkeley proclaimed Charles the Second king of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Virginia. Charles was therefore made king in Virginia, by the supreme authorities of the colony, before he actually became so in England. Already, when they were informed that Cromwell was about to send a fleet to reduce them to submission, the Virginians sent, in a small ship, a messenger to Charles, at Breda, in Flanders, to invite him to come over and be King of Virginia. He was on the point of sailing, when he was called to the throne of his father. In gratitude to Virginia, he caused the arms of that province to be quartered with those of England, Scotland, and Ireland, as an independent member of the empire. From this circumstance Virginia received the name of The Old Dominion. Coins with these quarterings were made as late as 1773.

** The colonial system of all kingdoms has uniformly been to make the industry of colonists tributary to the aggrandizement of the parent country. The Navigation Act, which, down to the time of our Revolution, was a fruitful source of complaint, was now rigorously applied, and new and more stringent provisions added to it. Under it, no commodities could be imported into any British settlement, nor exported from them, except in English vessels; and tobacco, turpentine, and other principal commodities of the colonies, could be shipped to no country except England. The trade between the colonies was also taxed for the benefit of the imperial treasury, and in various other ways the colonies were made dependent on the mother country.

*** He gave away to Lord Culpepper and the Earl of Arlington, two of his favorites, "all the dominion of land and water called Virginia," for the space of thirty-one years. Culpepper became governor in 1680.

[[[Indian Hostilities.--"Bacon's Rebellion."--Republican Triumphs.--English Troops.--Burning of Jamestown.]]]

{461}tlements of Maryland, offered the people an excuse for arming. The Indians hovered nearer and nearer, and committed murders on Virginia soil. The planters, with Nathaniel Bacon, a popular, bold, and talented man, for their leader, demanded of Governor Berkeley the privilege of protecting themselves. Berkeley refused; for he doubtless had sagacity to perceive how the people would thus discover their strength. At length, some people on Bacon's plantation having been killed by the Indians, that gentleman yielded to popular clamor, placed himself at the head of five hundred men, and marched against the invaders. Berkeley, who was jealous of Bacon's popularity, immediately proclaimed him a traitor, (a) and [[ a May, 1676]] ordered a body of troops to pursue and arrest him. * Bacon was successful against the Indians, while Berkeley was obliged to recall his troops to put down a rising rebellion in the lower counties. The people generally sympathized with the "traitor." They arose in open insurrection; Berkeley was compelled to yield; the Long Assembly was dissolved, and a new one elected; new laws were granted; universal suffrage was restored; arbitrary taxation was abolished, and Bacon was appointed commander-in-chief. Berkeley, compelled by the popular will, promised to sign Bacon's commission, but this promise was never fulfilled. Fearing treachery, the latter withdrew to Williamsburg, then called the Middle Plantation, where he assembled five hundred men, and marched to Jamestown, to demand his commission from the governor. It was reluctantly granted; and Berkeley and the Assembly, overawed, attested the bravery and loyalty of Bacon, and on the 4th of July, 1676, just one hundred years before the birth-day of our republic, a more liberal and enlightened legislation commenced in Virginia. "The eighteenth century in Virginia was the child of the seventeenth; and Bacon's rebellion, with the corresponding scenes in Maryland, Carolina, and New England, was the earlier harbinger of American independence and American nationality." **

The moment Bacon left Jamestown to confront the invading Indians, Berkeley treacherously and rashly published a proclamation, reversing all the proceedings of the burgesses; again declaring Bacon a traitor, and calling upon the loyal aristocracy to join him. The indignation of Bacon was fiercely kindled, and, marching back to the capital, he lighted up a civil war. The property of Berkeley's adherents was confiscated; their wives were seized as hostages; and a general destruction of the plantations of the Royalists ensued. Berkeley and his followers were driven from Jamestown, and sought shelter on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. Bacon became supreme ruler, and, having proclaimed the abdication of Berkeley, he summoned an Assembly in his own name, and prepared to cast off all allegiance to the English crown. When troops came from England to support Berkeley, Bacon and his followers resolved to oppose them. *** A rumor reached the capital that a strong party of Royalists, with the imperial troops, were approaching, and, in a council of war, Bacon and his followers resolved to burn Jamestown. The torch was applied just as the night shadows came over the village, and the sun rose the next morning upon the smoking ruins of the first English town built in America. Naught remained standing but a few chimneys and the church tower, that solitary monument which now attracts the eye and heart of the traveler.

* Nathaniel Bacon was a native of Suffolk. He was educated for the legal profession in London. He went to Virginia, where his high character for virtue and integrity soon procured him a seat in the council. He purchased a plantation not far from the present city of Richmond. Handsome in person, eloquent in speech, and thoroughly accomplished, he acquired great popularity; and when he proposed to lead the young men of the settlement against the murderous Indians, he had many adherents. In defiance of the wrath of the jealous Berkeley, he headed an expedition. The governor proclaimed him a traitor, and his followers rebels. Bacon was successfully beating back the Indians on one side, and the governor s adherents on the other, when death, from a severe disease, closed his career. Had he lived to complete what he had begun, his memory would have been cherished as a patriot, instead of being clouded with the stigma of the insurgent. He died at the house of Dr. Green, in Gloucester county, October 1, 1676.

** Bancroft., ii., 222.

*** This was the first time that English troops were sent to America to suppress republicanism. The same determined spirit prevailed which, a century later, made all the Anglo-American colonies lift the arm of defiance against the armies and navies of Great Britain, when sent here to burn our towns, ravage our coasts, and eat out the substance of the people."

[[[Death of Bacon.--Vengeance of Berkeley.--His Recall and Death.--Jamestown and its Associations.]]]

{462}Leaving the smoking ruins behind, Bacon pushed forward with his little army to drive the Royalists from Virginia; but the malaria from the low lands infused its poison into his [[ a October, 1676]] veins, and on the north bank of the York River that brave patriot died. (a) His death was a blow of unutterable evil to his followers, for no other man could wear the mantle of his influence. The fugitive governor returned to the Middle Plantation In triumph, and began to wreak his vengeance upon the principal insurgents. Twenty were hanged, ** and others were on their way to the gallows, when the Assembly implored that "he would spill no more blood." Berkeley yielded; but the fines, confiscations, and other punishments continued. He ruled with an iron hand, which rule begot him many enemies at home. ** He was soon recalled, and went to England, but died before he obtained an audience with his king. ***

As briefly as perspicuity would allow, I have sketched the early history of Virginia, in order to illustrate the gradual development of that spirit of liberty which spoke out so boldly, and acted with so much decision and power there, in the incipient and progressive stages of the War for Independence. We have seen the republican tree spring up and flourish on the banks of the James River, until its branches overspread a wide region, and sheltered thousands of freemen who, a hundred years before our Declaration of Independence was proclaimed, were ready to forswear allegiance to the British monarch, unless he should virtually recognize their sovereignty as a people. In the struggle between monarchy and republicanism, represented by Berkeley and Bacon, we have seen the capital of the new state, after an existence of seventy years, reduced to ashes, never to be restored. For a century and three quarters it has been a desolation. The green grass, the waving corn, and the golden wheat now cover the earth where streets and lanes were trodden by Smith and Gosnold, Newport, Gates and Berkeley, Powhatan and Pocahontas, and a host of Englishmen, whose spirits seem to have taken root in the soil, and multiplied a thousand-fold--whose scattered bones, like dragons teeth sown upon the land, seem to have germinated and sent up full-armed heroes. Nothing remains of the past but this old tower and these broken tombs, among which we have sat while pondering the antecedents of the present. We will close the chronicle for a while, and, taking a glance at later Revolutionary events here, hasten away to Williamsburg--the "Middle Plantation"--the second capital of Virginia.

* Among those who suffered were Colonel Hansford; Captains Carver, Farlow, and Wilford; Major Cheeseman; William Drummond (former governor of Carolina), and Colonel Richard Lawrence. Colonel Hansford was the first native of Virginia who died on the gallows, and he has been justly termed the first martyr to American liberty. This civil war cost the colony a quarter of a million of dollars.

** Afraid of popular enlightenment, Berkeley would not allow a printing-press in Virginia. To speak ill of him, or any of his friends, was punished as a crime by whipping, or a fine; to speak, write, or publish any thing in mitigation or favor of the rebellion or rebels, was made a misdemeanor, and, if thrice repeated, was evidence of treason.--Henning's Statutes of Virginia, ii., 385.

*** Berkeley was much censured in England, and those censures affected him greatly. His brother, Lord Berkeley, declared that the unfavorable report of the commissioners caused the death of Sir William.

[[[Departure from Jamestown.--Remains of Fortifications.--"Spencer's Ordinary."--Retreat of Cornwallis.]]]

{463}