The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1 (of 5)
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The 22d of March was designated as the day on which all the English
settlements were to be attacked. The better to disguise their
intentions, and to ensure success, they brought, in the preceding
evening, deer, turkies, and fish, as presents; and, even on the
morning of the massacre, came freely among the whites, behaving in
their usual friendly manner, until the very instant which had been
appointed for the commencement of the scene of carnage. The fatal hour
being arrived, they fell at once on every settlement, and murdered
without distinction of age or sex. So sudden was the execution of
their plan, that few perceived the weapons, or the approach of the
blow, which terminated their existence. Thus, in one hour, and almost
in the same instant, fell three hundred and forty-seven men, women and
children; most of them by their own plantation tools.
The massacre would have been still more complete, had not information
been given, the preceding night, to a Mr. Pace, by an Indian
domesticated in his house, and treated as a son, who, being pressed to
murder his benefactor, disclosed the plot to him. He immediately
carried the intelligence to Jamestown, and the alarm was given to some
of the nearest settlements, which were thereby saved. At some other
places, too, where the circumstances of the attack enabled the English
to seize their arms, the assailants were repulsed.
[Sidenote: General war.]
This horrible massacre was succeeded by a vindictive and exterminating
war, in which the wiles of the Indians were successfully retaliated on
themselves. During this disastrous period, many public works were
abandoned; the college institution was deserted; the settlements were
reduced from eighty to eight; and famine superadded its afflicting
scourge to the accumulated distresses of the colony.[36]
[Footnote 36: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
As soon as intelligence of these calamitous events reached England, a
contribution was made by the adventurers for the relief of the
sufferers; arms from the tower were delivered to the treasurer and
company; and several vessels were dispatched with those articles which
might best alleviate such complicated distress.
[Sidenote: Dissension and dissolution of the company.]
But the dissolution of the company was rapidly approaching. That
corporation contained many men of the first rank and talents in the
nation, who in their assemblies, were in habits of discussing the
measures of the crown with the accustomed freedom of a popular body.
Two violent factions, which assumed the regular appearance of court
and country parties, divided the company, and struggled for the
ascendancy. James endeavoured to give the preponderance to the court
party, but his endeavours were unsuccessful; and his failure disposed
him to listen to complaints against a corporation, whose deliberations
he found himself unable to control. To their mismanagement he ascribed
the slow progress made by the colony, and the heavy losses that had
been sustained.[37]
[Footnote 37: _Ibid._]
{1623}
{1624}
[Sidenote: Colony taken into the hands of the King.]
After hearing both the corporation and their accusers, the privy
council determined to issue a commission, appointing persons to be
named by the crown, to inquire into the affairs of Virginia from the
earliest settlement of the province, and to report thereon to the
government. This commission seized the charters, books, and papers of
the company; and all letters and packets brought from the colony were
ordered to be laid unopened before the privy council. Their report
attributed the misfortunes of the colony to the corporation in
England; and James, at no time a friend to popular assemblies,
communicated to them his resolution to revoke the old charter and
grant a new one, which should respect private property, but place
power in fewer hands. The requisition that they should assent to this
proposition, and surrender their charter, was accompanied with the
information that the King was determined, in default of submission, to
take such proceedings for recalling their letters patent as might be
just. The company, however, resolutely determined to defend its
rights; whereupon a writ of _quo warranto_ was instituted in the court
of King's Bench, which was decided according to the wishes of the
monarch. The company was dissolved, and all its powers were revested
in the crown.
Above one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling had been expended
in planting the colony; and more than nine thousand persons had been
sent from England to people it. Yet, at the dissolution of the
company, the annual imports from Virginia did not exceed twenty
thousand pounds in value, and the population of the country was
reduced to about eighteen hundred persons.
While these things were transacting in England, the war against the
Indians was prosecuted in the colony, with vigour and success. The
neighbouring hostile tribes were nearly exterminated, and were driven
entirely from the rivers, so that the settlements were extended in
safety.
In February, the general assembly was once more convened. The several
orders which had been previously made by the governor and council,
were enacted into laws; and form the oldest legislative rules of
action now remaining on record. Among them are various regulations
respecting the church of England. But the act best representing the
condition of the colonists, is a solemn declaration, "that the
governor should not impose any taxes on the colony, otherwise than by
the authority of the general assembly; and that he should not withdraw
the inhabitants from their private labour to any service of his own."
At this session, too, the privilege of exemption from arrest, while
the assembly was sitting, was extended to the burgesses. Several other
measures were adopted for the correction of abuses; and the laws of
that session, generally, are marked with that good sense and
patriotism, which are to be expected from men perfectly understanding
their own situation, and legislating for themselves.
From this assembly, the royal commissioners endeavoured, in vain, to
procure an address to the King, professing "their willingness to
submit themselves to his princely pleasure, in revoking the ancient
patents;" but a petition was agreed to and transmitted, acknowledging
their satisfaction at his having taken the plantation into his more
especial care, beseeching him to continue the then form of government,
to confirm to Virginia and the Somers isles, the sole importation of
tobacco, and soliciting that, if the promised aid of soldiers should
be granted them, the governor and assembly might have a voice in
directing their operations.
Virginia having thus become a royal government, the King issued a
special commission, appointing a governor and twelve councillors, to
whom the entire direction of the affairs of the province was
committed. No assembly was mentioned, nor was it intended to permit
the continuance of that body, for, to the popular shape of the late
system, James attributed the disasters of the colony. But some
attention to their interests, was mingled with this subversion of
political liberty. Yielding to the petitions of the English parliament
and of the colonists, he issued a proclamation prohibiting the growth
of tobacco in the kingdom, and the importation of it into England or
Ireland, except from Virginia, or the Somers isles, and in vessels
belonging to his subjects. His death prevented the completion of a
legislative code for the colony, which he had commenced, and which he
flattered himself, would remedy all the ills that had been
experienced.
[Sidenote: Charles I.]
[Sidenote: Arbitrary measures of the crown.]
{1625}
Charles I. adopted, in its full extent, the colonial system of his
father. He committed to Sir George Yeardly, whom he appointed governor
of Virginia, and to his council, the whole legislative and executive
powers of the colony, with instructions to conform exactly to orders
which should be received from him. They were empowered to make laws
and to execute them; to impose taxes, and to enforce the payment of
them; to seize the property of the late company; and to apply it to
the public use; and to transport the colonists to England, to be
punished there for crimes committed in Virginia. To complete this
hateful system, the crown exacted a monopoly of the tobacco trade, and
appointed agents, to whose management that article was entirely
committed.[38]
[Footnote 38: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
{1629}
[Sidenote: Sir John Harvey.]
{1636}
The full pressure of these arbitrary regulations was not felt till Sir
John Harvey, on the Sir John death of Sir George Yeardly, was
appointed governor of Virginia. The mind of this gentleman is
represented by the historians of the day, as having been of a
structure to make even tyranny more odious. Rapacious, haughty, and
unfeeling, he exercised his powers in the most offensive manner.
Respect for his commission, suppressed opposition to his authority for
several years. Roused, at length, almost to madness by oppression, the
Virginians, in a fit of popular rage, seized their governor, and sent
him a prisoner to England, accompanied by two deputies charged with
the duty of representing their grievances, and his misconduct.
{1637}
Charles deemed it necessary to discountenance this summary and violent
proceeding, so entirely incompatible with that implicit obedience
which he had ever exacted from his subjects. The deputies of the
colony were sternly received; no inquiry appears to have been made
into the conduct of Harvey; and, early in the succeeding year, he was
sent back to Virginia, invested with all his former powers.[39]
[Footnote 39: Robertson. Chalmer. Stith.]
The time, however, approached, when a new system of administration was
to be adopted. The discontents of the nation, and his own wants,
obliged Charles to determine on convening a parliament. He was
probably unwilling to increase the ill temper resulting from his
maladministration at home, by bringing before the representatives of
the people, complaints of the despotism which had been exercised in
America.
[Sidenote: Sir William Berkeley.]
[Sidenote: Provincial assembly restored.]
To this change of circumstances may be ascribed the appointment of Sir
William Berkeley to succeed Harvey as governor of Virginia. In almost
every respect, this gentleman was unlike his predecessor. Highly
respectable for his rank and abilities, he was still more
distinguished by his integrity, by the mildness of his temper, and by
the gentleness of his manners. To complete the satisfaction of the
colonists, he was empowered and directed to summon the burgesses of
all the plantations, to meet the governor and council in the general
assembly, and thereby to restore to the people their share in the
government. These changes had such an effect in Virginia that, when
afterward informed of a petition presented in the name of the assembly
to parliament, "praying for the restoration of the ancient patents,
and corporation government," the general assembly not only transmitted
an explicit disavowal of it, but sent an address to the King,
expressing their high sense of his favour towards them, and earnestly
desiring to continue under his immediate protection. During the civil
war, as well as after the establishment of the commonwealth, they
continued firm in their attachment to the royal family.
{1650}
The House of Commons, however, having succeeded in the establishment
of its power over England, was not disposed to permit its authority to
be questioned in Virginia. An ordinance was passed, declaring that, as
the colonies were settled at the cost and by the people of England,
"they are and ought to be subordinate to, and dependent on, that
nation; and subject to such law and regulations as are or shall be
made by parliament. That in Virginia and other places, the powers of
government had been usurped by persons who had set themselves up in
opposition to the commonwealth, who were therefore denounced as rebels
and traitors; and all foreign vessels were forbidden to enter the
ports of any of the English settlements in America." As the men who
then governed were not in the habit of making empty declarations, the
council of state was empowered to send a fleet to enforce obedience to
parliament.[40]
[Footnote 40: Robertson. Chalmer.]
{1651}
Sir George Ayscue was accordingly detached with a powerful squadron,
and was instructed to endeavour, by gentle means, to bring the
colonists to obedience; but, if these failed, to use force, and to
give freedom to such servants and slaves of those who should resist,
as would serve in the troops under his command. After reducing
Barbadoes, and the other islands to submission, the squadron entered
the Chesapeak. Berkeley, having hired a few Dutch ships which were
then trading to Virginia, made a gallant resistance; but, unable long
to maintain so unequal a contest, he yielded to superior force, having
first stipulated for a general amnesty. He then withdrew to a retired
situation where, beloved and respected by the people, he resided as a
private man, until a counter revolution called him, once more, to
preside over the colony.[41]
[Footnote 41: Robertson. Chalmer.]
After the revocation of the charter, it became more easy to obtain
large grants of land. This circumstance, notwithstanding the tyranny
of the provincial government, promoted emigration, and considerably
increased the population of the colony. At the commencement of the
civil war, Virginia was supposed to contain about twenty thousand
souls.[42]
[Footnote 42: Idem.]
[Sidenote: Charles II. proclaimed in Virginia.]
While the ordinance of 1650, forbidding all trade between the colonies
and foreign nations, was dispensed with in favour of republican New
England, it was rigorously enforced against the loyal colony of
Virginia. These restrictions were the more burdensome, because England
did not then furnish a sufficient market for all the produce, nor a
supply for all the wants of the colonies. This severity was not
calculated to detach the affections of the people from the royal
family. Their discontents were cherished, too, by the great number of
cavaliers who had fled to Virginia after the total defeat of their
party in England. Taking advantage of an interregnum occasioned by the
sudden death of governor Matthews, the people resolved to throw off
their forced allegiance to the commonwealth, and called on Sir William
Berkeley to resume the government. He required only their solemn
promise to venture their lives and fortunes with him in support of
their King. This being readily given, Charles II. was proclaimed in
Virginia, before intelligence had been received of the death of
Cromwell. His restoration was soon afterwards effected in England; and
this rash measure not only escaped chastisement, but became a
meritorious service of which Virginia long boasted, and which was not
entirely forgotten by the Prince.[43]
[Footnote 43: Robertson. Chalmer.]
At the restoration, the colony contained about thirty thousand
persons.
One of the causes which, during the government of Harvey, had
disquieted Virginia, was the diminution of territory occasioned by
grants of great tracts of country lying within the limits of the
colony. The most remarkable of these was the grant of Maryland to Lord
Baltimore.
[Sidenote: Maryland.]
In June 1632, Charles I. granted to that nobleman for ever, "that
region bounded by a line drawn from Watkin's Point on Chesapeak bay,
to the ocean on the east; thence, to that part of the estuary of
Delaware on the north, which lieth under the 40th degree, where New
England is terminated; thence, in a right line, by the degree
aforesaid, to the meridian of the fountain of the Potowmac; thence,
following its course, by the farther bank to its confluence." The
territory described in this grant was denominated Maryland, and was
separated entirely from Virginia. The proprietor was empowered, with
the assent of the freemen, or their delegates, whom he was required to
assemble for that purpose, to make all laws for the government of the
new colony, not inconsistent with the laws of England. Privileges, in
other respects analogous to those given to the other colonies, were
comprised in this charter; and it is remarkable that it contains no
clause obliging the proprietary to submit the laws which might be
enacted to the King, for his approbation or dissent; nor any
reservation of the right of the crown to interfere in the government
of the province.[44]
[Footnote 44: Chalmer. Robertson.]
This is the first example of the dismemberment of a colony, and the
creation of another within its original limits, by the mere act of the
crown.
{1633}
The first migration into the new colony consisted of about two hundred
gentlemen with their adherents, chiefly Roman Catholics, who sailed
from England under Calvert, the brother of the proprietor, in
November, and, early in the following year, landed in Maryland, near
the mouth of the Potowmac. Their first effort was to conciliate the
good will of the natives, whose town they purchased, and called St.
Mary's. This measure was as wise as it was just. By obtaining the
peaceable possession of land already prepared for cultivation, the
Marylanders were enabled to raise their food immediately; and this
circumstance, together with their neighbourhood to Virginia, where the
necessaries of life were then raised in abundance, secured them from
famine and its concomitant diseases;--afflictions which had swept away
such numbers of the first settlers of North America.
The inhabitants of Virginia presented a petition against the grant to
Lord Baltimore, which was heard before the privy council in July,
1633. The decision was in favour of the continuance of the patent;
leaving to the petitioners their remedy at law. To prevent farther
differences, free commerce was permitted between the colonies; and
they were enjoined to receive no fugitives from each other; to do no
act which might bring on a war with the natives; and on all occasions
to assist each other as became fellow subjects of the same state.
{1635}
[Sidenote: Assembly of all the freemen.]
{1638}
[Sidenote: William Clayborne.]
In February 1635, the first assembly of Maryland was convened. It
appears to have been composed of the whole body of the freemen. Their
acts were, most probably, not approved by the proprietor, who
transmitted, in turn, for their consideration, a code of laws prepared
by himself. This code was laid before the assembly who rejected it
without hesitation, and prepared a body of regulations adapted to
their situation. Among these was an act of attainder against William
Clayborne, who was charged with felony and sedition, with having
exercised the powers of government within the province without
authority, and with having excited the Indians to make war on the
colony.[45]
[Footnote 45: Chalmer.]
As early as the year 1631, Charles had granted a license to William
Clayborne, one of the council and secretary of state of Virginia, "to
traffic in those parts of America for which there is already no patent
granted for sole trade." To enforce this license, Harvey, then
governor of Virginia, had granted his commission also, containing the
same powers. Under this license and commission, Clayborne made a small
settlement in the isle of Kent, near Annapolis, which he continued to
claim; and refused to submit to the jurisdiction of Maryland. Not
content with infusing his own turbulent spirit into the inhabitants of
Kent island, he scattered jealousies among the natives, and persuaded
them that "the new comers" were Spaniards, and enemies of the
Virginians. Having been indicted, and found guilty of murder, piracy,
and sedition, he fled from justice; whereupon his estate was seized
and confiscated. Clayborne loudly denounced these proceedings as
oppressive, and complained of them to his sovereign. At the same time,
he prayed for a confirmation of his former license to trade, and for a
grant of other lands adjoining the isle of Kent, with power to govern
them. The lords commissioners of the colonies, to whom this subject
was referred, determined that the lands in question belonged to Lord
Baltimore; and that no plantation, or trade with the Indians, within
the limits of his patent, ought to be allowed, without his permission.
The other complaints made by Clayborne were not deemed proper for the
interference of government.
{1639}
Hitherto, the legislature had been composed of the whole body of the
freemen. But the increase of population, and the extension of
settlements, having rendered the exercise of the sovereign power by
the people themselves intolerably burdensome, an act was passed, in
1639, "for establishing the House of Assembly." This act declared that
those elected should be called burgesses, and should supply the place
of the freemen who chose them, as do the representatives in the
Parliament of England. These burgesses, with others called by special
writ, together with the governor and secretary, were to constitute the
General Assembly; but the two branches of the legislature were to sit
in the same chamber. In 1650, this last regulation was changed; and an
act was passed declaring that those called by special writ should form
the upper house, while those chosen by the hundreds should compose the
lower house; and that bills assented to by both branches of the
legislature and by the governor, should be deemed the laws of the
province.
{1641}
Perfect harmony prevailed between the proprietor and the people; and
Maryland, attentive to its own affairs, remained in a state of
increasing prosperity until the civil war broke out in England. This
government, like that of Virginia, was attached to the royal cause;
but Clayborne, who took part with the Parliament, found means to
intrigue among the people, and to raise an insurrection in the
province. Calvert, the governor, was obliged to fly to Virginia for
protection; and the insurgents seized the reins of government. After
the suppression of this revolt, and the restoration of tranquillity,
an act of general pardon and oblivion was passed, from the benefits of
which only a few leading individuals were excepted; but this, like
most other insurrections, produced additional burdens on the people
which did not so soon pass away. A duty, for seven years, of ten
shillings on every hundred weight of tobacco exported in Dutch
bottoms, was granted to the proprietor; the one-half of which was
appropriated to satisfy claims produced by the recovery and defence of
the province.[46]
[Footnote 46: Chalmer.]
{1651}
This state of repose was disturbed by the superintending care of
Parliament. In September 1651, commissioners were appointed "for
reducing and governing the colonies within the bay of Chesapeak."
Among them was Clayborne, the evil genius of Maryland. As the
proprietor had acknowledged and submitted to the authority of
Parliament, he was permitted to govern the colony in the name of "the
keepers of the liberties of England;" but could not long retain the
possession of actual authority. The distractions of England, having
found their way into Maryland, divided the colonists; and the
commissioners supported with their countenance, the faction opposed to
the established government. The contentions generated by this state of
things, at length broke out in a civil war, which terminated in the
defeat of the governor and the Roman Catholics. A new assembly was
convened, which, being entirely under the influence of the victorious
party, passed an act declaring that none who professed the popish
religion could be protected in the province by the laws; that such as
profess faith in God by Jesus Christ, although dissenting from the
doctrine and discipline publicly held forth, should not be restrained
from the exercise of their religion, provided such liberty was not
extended to popery, or prelacy, or to such as, under the profession of
Christ, practise licentiousness. Other laws in the same spirit were
enacted; and a persecution was commenced against the Quakers, as well
as against those guilty of popery, and prelacy.
A scene of revolutionary turbulence ensued, in the course of which a
resolution was passed declaring the upper house to be useless, which
continued in force until the restoration. Philip Calvert was then
appointed governor by Lord Baltimore, and the ancient order of things
was restored. The colony, notwithstanding these commotions, continued
to flourish; and, at the restoration, its population was estimated at
twelve thousand souls.
CHAPTER III.
First ineffectual attempts of the Plymouth company to settle
the country.... Settlement at New Plymouth.... Sir Henry
Rosewell and company.... New charter.... Settlements
prosecuted vigorously.... Government transferred to the
colonists.... Boston founded.... Religious intolerance....
General court established.... Royal commission for the
government of the plantations.... Contest with the French
colony of Acadie.... Hugh Peters.... Henry Vane.... Mrs.
Hutchinson.... Maine granted to Gorges.... Quo warranto
against the patent of the colony.... Religious
dissensions.... Providence settled.... Rhode Island
settled.... Connecticut settled.... War with the Piquods....
New Haven settled.