5. In March of 1643, a law was enacted by the assembly declaring that no person who disbelieved the doctrines of the English Church should be allowed to teach, or to preach the gospel, within the limits of Virginia. This act was the source of much bitterness among the people. The few Puritans were excluded from places of trust, and some were driven from their homes. Governor Berkeley was a leader in these persecutions, by which all friendly relations with New England were broken off for many years.
6. Next came another war with the Indians. Early in 1644, the natives planned a general massacre. On the 18th of April the savages fell upon the frontier settlements, and murdered three hundred people before assistance could be brought. The warriors then fled, but were closely followed by the English. Opechancanough was captured, and died a prisoner. The tribes were punished without mercy, and were soon glad to buy a peace by the cession of large tracts of land.
The Election of Governors.
7. For a while the colonists conducted their government as they wished. The important matter of choosing a governor was submitted to the House of Burgesses; when so great a power had been once exercised, it was not likely to be relinquished. Three governors were chosen in this way, and the privilege of electing soon became a right. The assembly even declared that such a right existed, and that it should not be taken away.
8. In 1660 Samuel Matthews, the last of the three elected governors, died. The Burgesses were convened and an ordinance passed declaring that the supreme authority of Virginia was in the colony, and would continue there until a delegate should arrive from the British government. The house then elected as governor Sir William Berkeley, who acknowledged the right of the Burgesses to choose.
9. As soon as it was known in Virginia that Charles II. had become king, Governor Berkeley issued writs in the name of the king for the election of a new assembly. The adherents of the Commonwealth were thrust out of office, and royal favorites established in their places. The Virginians soon found that they had exchanged a republican tyrant with good principles for a monarchial tyrant with bad ones. The former commercial system was reenacted in a worse form than ever. The new law provided that all the colonial commerce should be carried on in English ships; the trade of the colonies was burdened with a heavy tax, and tobacco, the staple of Virginia, could be sold nowhere but in England.
Effects of the Restoration.
10. King Charles soon began to reward the profligates who thronged his court, by granting them large tracts of land in Virginia. It was no uncommon thing for an American planter to find that his farm had been given away to some flatterer of the royal household, and finally, in 1673, the king set a limit to his own recklessness by giving away the whole province. Lord Culpepper and the Earl of Arlington received a deed by which was granted to them for thirty-one years all the country called Virginia.
11. The colonial legislation of these times was selfish and narrow-minded. The aristocratic party had obtained control of the House of Burgesses. A statute was passed against the Baptists, and the peace-loving Quakers were fined and persecuted. Personal property was heavily taxed, while the large estates were exempt. The salaries of the officers were secured by a duty on tobacco, and the biennial election of Burgesses was abolished.
12. When the people were worn out with the governor's exactions, they availed themselves of a pretext to assert their rights by force of arms. A war with the Susquehanna Indians furnished the occasion for an insurrection. The tribes about the head of Chesapeake Bay fell upon the English settlers of Maryland, and the banks of the Potomac became the scene of a border war. Virginia and Maryland made common cause. John Washington, great-grandfather of the first President, led a company of militia against the Indians, and a devastating warfare raged along the whole frontier.
13. Governor Berkeley sided with the Indians; but the colonists remembered only the acts of treachery of which the Red men had been guilty, and thirsted for revenge. The aristocratic party took sides with the governor and favored a peace; while the popular party, led by young Nathaniel Bacon, clamored for war.
Bacon's Rebellion.
14. Five hundred men rushed to arms. Berkeley and the aristocratic faction proclaimed Bacon a traitor. Troops were levied to disperse the militia: but scarcely had Berkeley and his forces left Jamestown when another popular uprising compelled him to return. Bacon came home victorious. The old assembly was broken up, and a new one elected on the basis of universal suffrage. Bacon was chosen a member, and made commander of the Virginia army. A force was now stationed on the frontier, and peace returned to all the settlements. But Berkeley repaired to the county of Gloucester, where he summoned a convention of loyalists, and Bacon was again proclaimed a traitor.
15. The governor's forces were collected on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake; the crews of some English ships were joined to his command, and the fleet set sail for Jamestown. The place was taken without much resistance; but when Bacon and the patriots drew near, the loyal forces went over to his standard. Berkeley was again obliged to fly, and the capital was held by the people's party. It was now rumored that an English fleet was approaching for the subjugation of the colonies. The patriot leaders held a council, and it was decided that Jamestown should be burned. Accordingly, in the dusk of the evening the torch was applied, and the only town in Virginia was laid in ashes.
16. In this juncture of affairs Bacon fell sick and died, and the patriot party was easily dispersed. A few feeble efforts were made to revive the cause of the people, but the animating spirit was gone. The royalists found an able captain in Robert Beverly, and the authority of the governor was rapidly restored. Berkeley's vindictive passions were now let loose upon the defeated insurgents. Twenty-two of the leading patriots were seized and hanged with scarcely time to bid their friends farewell. Nor is it certain when the executions would have ended had not the assembly met and passed an act that no more blood should be spilled for past offenses.
17. The consequences of the rebellion were very disastrous. Berkeley and the aristocratic party had now a good excuse for suppressing all liberal principles. The printing-press was interdicted. Education was forbidden. To speak or to write any thing against the administration or in defense of the late insurrection, was made a crime to be punished by fine or whipping. If the offense should be three times repeated, it was declared to be treason punishable with death. The former methods of taxation were revived, and Virginia was left at the mercy of arbitrary rulers.
Proprietary Government.
18. In 1675 Lord Culpepper, to whom, with Arlington, the province had been granted, obtained the appointment of governor for life, and Virginia became a proprietary government. The new magistrate arrived in 1680 and assumed the duties of his office. His administration was characterized by avarice and dishonesty. Regarding Virginia as his personal estate, he treated the Virginians as his tenants and slaves.
19. In 1683, Arlington surrendered his claim to Culpepper, who thus became sole proprietor as well as governor. Charles II., however, soon found in Culpepper's vices and frauds a sufficient excuse to remove him from office and to revoke his patent. In 1684 Virginia again became a royal province, under the government of Lord Howard, of Effingham. The affairs of the colony during the next fifty years are not of sufficient interest and importance to require extended notice. When the French and Indian War shall come, Virginia will show to the world that the labors of Smith and Gosnold and Bacon were not in vain.
CHAPTER XII.
Massachusetts.—Settlement and Union.
Early Struggles.