CHAPTER LIV.
1722-1726.
Drysdale, Governor—Intemperance among the Clergy—The Rev. Mr. Lang's Testimony—Acts of Assembly—Death of Governor Drysdale—Colonel Robert Carter, President—Called King Carter—Notice of his Family.
In the month of September, 1722, Hugh Drysdale assumed the administration of Virginia, amid the prosperity bequeathed him by his predecessor, and being a man of mediocre calibre, yielded to the current of the day, solicitous only to retain his place. Commissary Blair wished the governor, when a vacancy of more than six months occurred, to send and induct a minister as by law directed; but what Spotswood had not been bold enough to do, Drysdale feared to undertake without the authority of a royal order. Opinion is queen of the world.
There were frequent complaints of the scandalous lives of some of the clergy; but it was difficult to obtain positive proof, there being many who would cry out against such, and yet would not appear as witnesses to convict them. Intemperance appears to have been the predominant evil among the clergy, as it was also among the laity.
The Rev. Mr. Lang, who was highly recommended by the governor and commissary, wrote, in 1726, to the Bishop of London: "I observe the people here are very zealous for our holy church, as it is established in England, so that (except some few inconsiderable Quakers) there are scarce any dissenters from our communion; and yet, at the same time, the people are supinely ignorant in the very principles of religion, and very debauched in morals. This, I apprehend, is owing to the general neglect of the clergy in not taking pains to instruct youth in the fundamentals of religion, or to examine people come to years of discretion, before they are permitted to come to church privileges." Referring to the prevailing evils he says: "The great cause of all which I humbly conceive to be in the clergy, the sober part being slothful and negligent, and others so debauched that they are the foremost and most bent on all manner of vices. Drunkenness is the common vice." Mr. Lang was minister of the parish of St. Peters, in New Kent County.[412:A] The religious instruction of the negroes was for the most part neglected. There were no schools for the education of the children of the common people; no parish libraries.
The assembly was held from time to time, according to long established custom, by writ of prorogation; the people being thus deprived of the right of frequent elections. An act regulating the importation of convicts was rejected by the board of trade. To relieve the people from a poll-tax a duty was laid on the importation of liquors and slaves, but owing to the opposition of the African Company and interested traders, the measure was repealed as an encroachment on the trade of England.
Acts prohibiting the importation of negro slaves were repeatedly passed by New York, Maryland, and South Carolina, and were invariably rejected in England. Governor Drysdale congratulated the Duke of Newcastle "that the benign influence of his auspicious sovereign was conspicuous here in a general harmony and contentment among all ranks of persons." Hugh Drysdale dying in July, 1726, and Colonel Edmund Jennings, next in order of succession, being suspended, (for what cause does not appear,) Colonel Robert Carter succeeded as president of the council. This gentleman, owing to the extent of his landed possessions, and to his being agent of Lord Fairfax, proprietary of a vast territory in the Northern Neck, between the Potomac and the Rappahannock, acquired the sobriquet of "King Carter." He was speaker of the house of burgesses for six years, treasurer of the colony, and for many years member of the council, and as president of that body he was at the head of the government upwards of a year. He lived at Corotoman, on the Rappahannock, in Lancaster County. Here a church was completed in the year 1670, under the direction of John Carter, first of the family in Virginia, who came over from England, 1649. A fine old church was built about 1732 by Robert Carter, on the site of the former one, and is still in good preservation. He married first Judith Armistead, second a widow, whose maiden name was Betty Landon, of the ancient family of that name, of Grednal, in Hereford County, England, by whom he left many children. His portrait and that of one of his wives, are preserved at Shirley, on James River, seat of Hill Carter, Esq.[413:A] The first John Carter was a member of the house of burgesses for Upper Norfolk County, now Nansemond, in 1649 and in 1654, and subsequently for Lancaster County. Colonel Edward Carter was, in 1658, burgess for Upper Norfolk, and in 1660 member of the council.
FOOTNOTES:
[412:A] Old Churches, i. 385.
[413:A] The Carter arms bear cart-wheels, vert.
