whilst they were to suffer nothing for past conduct, readily acquiesced,
,since they gained all by such a surrender which .they could effect by- the
snost successful warfare. It appears that they never anticipated anything
more than the preservation of their own liberties from wanton violation
from the new and untried power which now held the reins of government
in England ; and could scarcely have been mad enough to hope to effect
anything favorable to the king by their resistance. ||
. — — — — — — ^-^— — — »■

* Herring, V. l,p. 359 - 60. Act 1,

+ Bancroft, V. I, 225 - 6.

3 Bancroft, V. I, p. 226 - 7.

II We have differed from Bancroft upon this subject, who safs, p. 240. "No sooner
had the Guinea frigate anchored in the waters of the Chesapeake, than 'all thoughts
of resistance were laid aside,' [Clarendon, B. XIII. p. 466, 467.] and the colonists
having no motive to contend for a monarch, whose fortunes seemed irretreivable,
were earnest only to assert the freedom of their own institutions." There can be no
doubt but Burke, vol. II. p. 82, drew largely upon his imagination for the brilliaift
colors in which he paints Berkeley's attitude of resistance, the outline of the picture



HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. 59t

The articles of surrender are concluded between the commissioners of
the commonwealth, and the council of state, and Grand Assembly of Vir-
ginia; as equal treating with equal. It secures: —

J st. That this should be considered a voluntary act, not forced or con-
strained by a conquest upon the country; and that the colonists should have
and enjoy such freedoms and privileges as belong to the freeborn people of
England.

2dly. That the Grand Assembly as formerly should convene and trans-
act the affairs of Virginia; doing nothing contrary to the government ol
the commonwealth or laws of England :

3dly. That there should be a full and total remission of all acts, words
or writings against the Parliament:

4lhly. That Virginia should have her ancient bounds and limits granted
by the charters of the former kings, and that a new charter was to be
sought from Parliament to that effect, against such as had trespassed upon
their ancient rights: — [This clause would seem to be aimed at some of the
neighboring colonies.]

Sfhly. That all patents of land under the seal of the colony, granted by
the governor, should remain in full force :

6thly. That the privilege of fifty acres of land for every person emi-
grating to the colony should remain in full force :

7thly. That the people of Virginia have free trade, as the people of Eng-
land enjoy with all places and nations, according to the laws of the com-
monwealth, and that Virginia should enjoy equal privileges in every respect
with any other colony in America :

8fhly. That Virginia should be free from all taxes, customs and imposi-
tions whatsoever, and that none should be imposed upon fhem without the
consent of their Grand Assembly. And no forts or castle be erected, or
garrisons maintained without their consent :

9thly. That no charge should be required from the country on account
of the expence incurred in the present fleet:

lOthly. That this agreement should be tendered to all persons, and that
such as should refuse to subscribe to it, should have a years time to remove
themselves and effects from Virginia, and in the meantime enjoy equal jus-
tice.

The remaining articles were of less importance. This was followed by
a supplemental treaty, for the benefit of the governor and council, and such
soldiers as had served against the commonwealth in England ; allowing
them the most favorable terms.

If this was a conquest, — happv would it be for most colonies to be con-
quered ; every privilege was secured which could possibly be asked, and
the liberties of the colony were established more thoroughly than they had

he probably found in his ancient records. The authority upon which we rest is the
act of indemnity itself (Hening, p. 367.) issued by the Parliamentary commissioners,
— that act recites that having brought a fleet and force before James Cittie in Vir-
ginia, to reduce that colony under the obedience of the commonwealth of England,
and finding force raised by the governor and country to make opposition against the
said fleet, whereby assured danger appearing of the ruin and destruction of the
plantation, for prevention whereof the Burgesses of all the several plantations being
called to advise and assist therein, upon long and serious debate, [during which we
must suppose the hostile attitude was continued,] and in sad contemplation of the
great miseries and certain destruction, which were so nearly hovering over this whole
country," &c. — "We suppose there might have been also some little danger to the
commonwealth's men and ships.



592 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

ever been, and the conquest was only less favorable to Virginia than her
declaration of independence, by having her rights depending upon the
pledged faith of another nation, instead of having them entirely under her
own control. The correspondence between the rights now secured, and
the rights mentioned in the Declaration of Independence as violated by the
British king, is remarkable.

All matters were thus happily and amicably arranged, and as Sir Wil-
liam Berkeley was too loyal a subject to be willing to take office under
-Parliament, — ^Richard Bennett, one of the commissioners was elected gover-
nor. A council was also elected with powers to act in conformity to the
instructions they should receive from the Parliament, the known Jaw of
England, and. the Acts of Assembly, and suGh other powers as the Assem-
bly should think proper from time to time to give them. It was declared
at the same session that it was best that officers should be elected by the
Burgesses, "the representatives of the people;" and after discussion upon
the propriety of allowing the governor and council to be members of the
Assembly, it was determined that they might, by taking the same oath
which was taken by the Burgesses. The Assembly thus having no writ-
ten constitution as their guide, took upon themselves the office of a con-
vention of the people, and granted or resumed powers as it might seem best
for the good of the country.

The whites and the remnants of the neighboring Indian tribes continued
to be upon good terms, and the latter were kindly and humanely treated by
the guardian care of the Assembly. A slight irruption of the Rappahan-
noeks, seems to have been soon terminated. But a new scene in the his-
tory of the colony now presented itself. The Rechahecrians, a fierce and
warlike tribe came down from the mountains and took up a strong position
on the falls of James river, with six or seven hundred warriors. This ex-
cited no little uneasiness, as it had been very difficult to extirpate the In-
dians who had formerly possessed the spot. The first expedition against
them failed, a new one was prepared and the subject Indians being called
upon for aid furnished a hundred warriors, most of whom with their chief
Totopotomoi, fell fighting gallantly.*
- When Bennett retired from office, and the Assembly elected Edward Digges

tit uoi \r~r his successor. The commissioners of the commonwealth
March olj 16:3a. , , ,. , , ... ,. - , r 17 . • •

had little to do with controlmg the destinies ot \ irgima,

but were engaged in settling the affairs and adjusting the boundaries of
Maryland.

The Assembly reciting the articles of Agreement with the enmmis; Mou-
nt u 10 i,-r-o ei'S of Parliament, which/admitted that the election of all
March 13, 1658: ffi c t i , A , ,i D *u

officers 01 the colony appertained to the B-urge - the

representatives of the people proceeded to the election of a governor and
council until the next Assembly: and the choice fell up°n "worthy Samuel
Matthews, an old planter, of nearly forty years standing, a most deserving
commonwealth's man, who kept a good house, lived bravely, and was a
true lover of Virginia."! But this worthy old gentleman seems to have
conceived higher ideas of his powers than the Assembly \*?as willing to
allow. The Assembly had determined not to dissolve itself, but only to
adjourn until the first of November. J They then -proceeded with, their

*Burk, vol. 2. 104-106.

^Bancroft, v. I. p. 243— quoting II. M. Hist. Coll. v. IX p. 110.

JHening, v. I. 497.



HISTORY OF VIRGINIA 593

ordinary business; making however one important change in the consti-
tution, which was to require that all propositions and laws presented by a
committee should be first discussed by the House of Burgesses in private,
before the admission of the governor and council. The governor and
council on the first of April sent a message declaring that they thought fit
then to dissolve the Assembly, and requiring the speaker to dismiss the
Burgesses. To this the Assembly returned for answer that the act was
illegal, and without precedent, and requested a revocation of it, as they ex-
pected speedily to finish their business. The house then declared than any
member who should depart should be censured as betraying the trust re-
posed in him by his country; and that the remainder should act in all
things and to all intents and purposes as an entire house ; that the Speaker
should sign nothing without the consent of a majority of the House, and
that the members should take an oath not to disclose the acts or debates of
that body. The governor replied to the communication from the house,
that he was willing that the house would conclude its business speedily,
and refer the dispute as to the legality of his power to dissolve, to the de-
cision of the Lord Protector. The House unanimously decided this
-answer to be unsatisfactory ; expressed an earnest desire that public busi-
ness might be soon despatched, and requested the governor and council to
declare the house undissolved, in order that a speedy period might be put
to public affairs. In reply to this the governor and council revoked the
order of dissolution upon their promise of a speedy conclusion, and again
referred the matter of disputed right to the Lord Protector. The House
still unsatisfied with this answer appointed a committee to draw up a report
in vindication of the conduct of the Assembly and in support of its power.
In the report the Burgesses declare that they have in themselves full
power of election and appointment of all officers in the country, until they
should have an order to the contrary from the supreme power in England ;
that the house of Burgesses, the representatives of the people, were not
dissolvable by any power yet extant in Virginia, except their own; that
the. former election of governor and council was null, and that in future
no one should be admitted a councillor unless he was nominated, appointed
and confirmed by the house of Burgesses.

They then directed an order to the sheriff of James City county, who
was their sergeant at-arms, that he should execute no warrant, precept or
command directed to him by any other power or person than the Speaker
of the House. They then ordered that "as the supreme power of the
country of Virginia had been declared resident in the Burgesses," the
secretary of state should be required to deliver up the public records to the
Speaker. An oath was prescribed lor the governor and council to take,
and the same governor was elected and most of the same council. Thus
were all difficulties adjusted, and popular sovereignty fully established.

Upon the death of Cromwell, the House of Burgesses unanimously re-
cognized his son Richard and adopted an address praying a
Mar., lboJ. coll fi rma tion f tfoeit former privileges, in which address the
governor was required to join, after solemnly acknowleding in the presence
of the whole Assembly, that the supreme power of electing officers was by
the present laws resident in the Grand xAssembly ;* which was alleged to



* Ilcning, v. I. p. 512.
75



594 HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

be required for this reason, that what was their privilege now rni-ht belong
to their posterity hereafter.

Matthews died, leaving the colony of Virginia without a governor, about
the same time that the resignation of Richard Cromwell
March, looU ^ England without a head. In this emergency the As-
sembly reciting that the late frequent distractions in England preventing
any power from being generally confessed; that the supreme power of the
colony should be vested in the Assembly, and that all writs should issue in
its name, until such a command and commission should come from Eng-
land as should by the Assembly be adjudged lawful.* Sir William Berke-
ley was then elected governor, with the express stipulation that he should
call an Assembly once in two years at least, and should not dissolve the
Assembly without its own consent. This old royalist probably thinking
now that there w r as a prospect of the restoration, accepted the office under
the prescribed conditions, and acknowledged himself to be but the servant
of the Assembly.

Daring the suspension of the royal government in England, Virginia
attained unlimited liberty of commerce, which they regulated by indepen-
dent laws. The ordinance of 1650 was rendered void by the act of capitu-
lation ; the navigation act of Cromwell was not designed for her oppres-
sion, and was not enforced within her borders. Only one confiscation ap-
pears to have taken place, and that was entirely by the authority of the
Grand Assembly. The war between England and Holland necessarily
interrupted the intercourse of the Dutch with the English colonies ; but if
after the treaty of peace the trade was considered contraband, the English
restrictions were entirely disregarded. Commissioners were sent to Eng-
irt-* land to undeceive Cromwell with regard to the course Virginia had
taken with reference to the boundary of Maryland, with regard to
which he had been misinformed ; and to present a remonstrance demand-
ing unlimited freedom of trade; which it appears was not refused, for some
months before the Protector's death, the Virginians invited the "Dutch
and all foreigners" fo trade with them on payment of no higher duty, than
that which was levied on such English vessels, as were bound for a foreign
port. Proposals of peace and commerce between New-Netherlands and Vir-
ginia were discussed without scruple by the respective colonial governments;
and at last a special statute of Virginia extended to every christian nation,
in amity with England, a promise of liberty of trade and equal justice.!
I 660 At the restoration, Virginia enjoyed freedom of commerce with the
whole world.

â– Virginia was the first state in the world, composed of separate town-
ships, diffused over an extensive surface, where, the government was organ-

1655 ized on th ® Principle of universal suffrage. All freemen without
exception were entitled to vote. The right of suffrage was once

1656 restrictea "> but i fc was soon after determined to be i; hard and unagree-
able to reason, that any person shall pay equal taxes and yet °have

no vote in the election ;" and the electoral franchise^ was restored to all
freemen. Servants, when the time of their bondage was completed, at once
became electors ; and might be chosen burgesses. Thus Virginia estab-
lished upon her soil the supremacy of the popular branch, the freedom of



*Henning, v. I. p. 530.

t Ibid. v. I. p. 450. Act XVL



HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. 595

trade, the independence of religious societies, the security from foreign
taxation, and the universal elective franchise. If in the following years
she departed from either of these principles, and yielded a reluctant con-
sent to change, it was from the influence of foreign authority. Virginia had
herself established a nearly independent democracy. Prosperity advanced
with freedom; dreams of new staples and infinite wealth were indulged ;
while the population of Virginia at the epoch of the restoration may have
been about thirty thousand. Many of the recent emigrants had been royal-
ists in England, good officers in the war, men of education, of property,
and of condition. But the waters of the Atlantic divided them from the
political strifes of Europe ; their industry was employed in making the
best advantage of their plantations : the interests and liberties of Virginia,
the land which they adopted as their country, were dearer to them than the
monarchical principles, which they had espoused in England ; and there-
fore no bitterness could exist between the partizans of the Stuarts and the
friends of republican liberty. Virginia had long been the home of its in-
habitants — "Among many other blessings," said their statute book, "God
Almighty hath vouchsafed increase of children to this colony; who are
now multiplied to a considerable number;" and the huts in the wilderness
were as full as the bird's nests of the woods.

The genial climate and transparent atmosphere delighted those, who had
come from the denser air of England. .Every object iii nature was new
and wonderful.

The hospitality of the Virginians became proverbial. Labor was valu-
able; land was cheap; competence promptly followed industry. There
was no need of a scramble; abundance gushed from the earth for all. The
morasses were alive with water fowl; the forests were nimble with game,
the woods rustled with covies of quail and wild lurkies, while they sung
with the merry notes of the singing birds; and hogs swarming like vermin,
ran at large in troops. It was " the best poor man's country in the world "
" If a happy peace be settled in poor England," it had been said "then they
in Virginia, shall be as happy a people as any under heaven." But plenty
encouraged indolence. No domestic manufactures were established ; every
thing was imported from England. The chief branch of industry, for the
purpose of exchanges, was tobacco planting; and the spirit of invention was
enfeebled by the uniformity of pursuit.*



♦ Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. I. p. 246, 252. In taking leave of this
delightful author, whose work has not yet progressed beyond the first volume, we
must make an apology for borrowing in this chapter more perhaps than was iair. But
our extreme haste, writing against time, whilst the press is in operation and the
printer's devil taking his copy from under our pen before the ink is dry,— must be Our
apology for using his copious references, and even his language when we find it pre-
ciselyapplicable to our purpose, expressed as it is with more ease and beauty than we
could ever attain whatever time might be at our disposal. The use we make of his
work whilst it will be a great benefit to our readers, cannot be an injury to him, but
may be a service in making his work known to many who would not otherwise be
aware of its merit, or perhaps its existence. We have a very high authority for a
much more extensive system of quotation, in the use made by Judge Marshall ot Dr.
Robertson's posthumous chapters on Virginia. Our haste must be our apology also
for the use of a review of the early legislation of Virginia from the preface of Hen-
ine's Statutes at Large, which we give below. It presents a connected view of seve-
ral matters of legislation which we had not time to interweave into the text ; our com-
ments upon others, and our reasons for differing from the generally received opinion
of their impropriety are given in the text.



596



NOTE A.

See p. 585.— From the settlement of the colony to the death of Charles I. and the com-
mencement of the commonwealth thereupon, an uniformity to the doctrines and dis-
cipline of the church of England was strictly enjoined; all non-conformists were com-
pelled to leave the colony, with all convenience ; popish recusants were disabled from
holding any office, and their priests not suffered to remain more than five days in the
country. During the commonwealth, the affairs of the church were left to the discre-
tion of the parishioners, but no sooner did the (Quakers, who had fled from the perse-
cutions in England, arrive on our shores than they were met by the terrors of an act
" for suppressing them;* masters of vessels were subjected to a penalty of one hundred
pounds sterling for each Quaker brought into the colony; all Quakers were imprison-
ed without bail or mainprize, till they found sufficient security to depart the colony:
for returning they were directed to be proceeded against as contemners of the laws
and magistracy, and punished accordingly; and if they should come in a third time
they were to be prosecuted as felons. All persons were prohibited, under the penalty
of one hundred pounds sterling, from entertaining them, or permitting their assem-
blies in or near their houses ; and no person was permitted to dispose of, or publish,
any books or pamphlets containing the tenets of their religion.

It is worthy of observation that a similar principle to that which has obtained in
Kentucky with respect to compensation for improvements made upon lands by one
man., the title of which appeared, from investigation, to be in another, existed in a law
of Virginia, so long ago as the year 1643. And as this law has never before been
published, we can only account for the coincidence, by supposing that mankind, in
every age, placed in similar situations, will generally pursue the same course. The
act^ after reciting that many suits had been commenced, founded on controversies re-
lating to land, " to the great trouble and molestation of the whole colony," goes on to
declare, that if any man should settle on a tract of land, which, on a just survey,
should prove to be the property of another^ a valuable consideration should be allowed
by the judgment of twelve men upon oath, to the first who seated it, for clearing and
improving it; but if the charge should amount to more than the real owner was wil-
ling to give, the person in possession was bound to keep the land, and pay the owner
what it should be judged by twelve men to be worth, " before the seating thereof ; " and,
of course, without regard to the improvements. An exception was made infavor of
orphans ; and afterwards a further proviso, that an allowance for " building and clear-
ing" should not be made to those who had " lawful warning" of a prior right. About
the same period (1643) the assembly passed an act directing that all process against
debtors lately arrived from England (except where the debts were contracted for
goods purchased in England, or for the accommodation of planters returning to this
country,) should be suspended. This act is introduced by a lengthy preamble, assign-
ing reasons which fully satisfied the minds of the legislature as to the policy and even
justice of the measure. These laws had an obvious tendency to increase the popula-
tion, and promote the improvement of the country; by rendering the persons of many
of the inhabitants free from restraint, and by securing to every man the fruits of his
labor.

The culture of tobacco seems to have been a favorite object with the first settlers,
and was the only staple commodity to which they could be induced to turn their at-
tention. In order to improve its quality various laws were passed limiting the num-
ber of plants to be cultivated by each hand, and the leaves to be gathered from a
plant. Other details in the process of making it, were also prescribed by the legisla-
ture; and to insure a just compensation for the labor of the planter, the price at which
it was to be sold was fixed by the assembly, at different times. The first idea of in-
specting tobacco is contained in an act passed in 1630, before any warehouses were
established. The process was very simple, and the penalty for offering unmerchant-



*It will be seen by reference to the preamble of this act/that these people were not
persecuted for religious opinion, but improper conduct "Whereas there is an treason-
able and turbulent sort of people, commonlv called Quakers, who contrary to the law
do dayly gather together vnto them vnlaVll Assemblies and congregations of people
teaching and publishing, lies, miracles, false visions, prophecies and doctrines, which
have influence vponthe comunities of men both ecclesiasticall and civil endeavouring
and attempting thereby to destroy religion, lawes, comunities and all bonds of civil
societie leavemg it arbitrarie to everie vaine and vitious person whether men shall
?k sate ' 1 1 . awes established, offenders punished, and Governours rule, hereby disturbing
«ie publique peace and just interest, to prevent and restraine which mischiefe, His