CHAPTER XXIX.
1666-1675.
Plot discovered—Miscellaneous Matters—England at war with the Dutch—The Plague in London—Tobacco—Forts—Cessation of planting Tobacco for one year—Drummond's Petition rejected—Baptism of Slaves—Tributary Indians—Batt's Expedition—The Algonquin Tribes—The Powhatan Confederacy—Convicts sent to Virginia—Legislative Acts.
The Northern colonies appear at this time to have been styled the "Dutch Plantations."[263:A] The persecution of the dissenters, the restrictions imposed upon commerce by the navigation act, the low price of tobacco, and high price of imported goods, so inflamed the discontents of the poor people as to give rise to a plot, which was well-nigh resulting in tragical effects in 1663. The conspiracy was attributed to certain Cromwellian soldiers, who had been sent out to Virginia as servants; but the real grounds and true character of it can now hardly be ascertained. The plot was discovered only the night before that appointed for its execution, (the assembly being then in session,) by one of the conspirators named Birkenhead, a servant to Mr. Smith, of Purton, in Gloucester County. Poplar Spring, near that place, was the appointed rendezvous. As soon as the information reached Sir William Berkley, who was then at his residence, Green Spring, he issued secret orders to a party of militia, to meet at Poplar Spring, and anticipate the outbreak. Only a few were taken, of whom four were hanged. Birkenhead was rewarded[263:B] with his freedom and five thousand pounds of tobacco; Beverley[263:C] makes the reward two hundred pounds sterling. The thirteenth of September, the day fixed for the execution of the plot, was set apart by the assembly as an anniversary thanksgiving. The news of this affair being transmitted to the king, he sent orders for the building of a fort at Jamestown; but the Virginians thinking that the danger had blown over, only erected a battery of some small pieces of cannon.
The Indian chief of Potomac, and other northern werowances and mangais, were required to give hostages of their children and others, who were to be kindly treated and instructed in English, as far as practicable. Measures were taken to bring Indian murderers to justice, especially the hostile Doeggs. The chief of Potomac was inhibited from holding any matchacomico, or council, with any strange tribe, before the delivery of hostages.
John Bland, a London merchant, and brother of Theodoric Bland, a leading man in Virginia, received the thanks of the assembly for goods advanced for the use of the colony. In this year, 1663, a conference was held, by royal command, at Mr. Aleston's, at Wicocomico, in Virginia, in May, by commissioners appointed by Governor Berkley, and Charles Calvert, Governor of Maryland, for the purpose of devising means of improving the staple of tobacco. The Virginia commissioners were Thomas Ludwell, secretary, Richard Lee, John Carter, Robert Smith, and Henry Corbin. The Maryland commissioners were Philip Calvert, Henry Sewall, secretary, Edward Koydes, and Henry Coursey. They recommended that in the year 1664 no tobacco should be planted after the twentieth day of June.
In 1665 further acts were passed to prevent the depredations of Indians. If a white should be murdered, the nearest Indian town was held responsible; the Indian werowances to be in future appointed by the governor; colonists to go armed to church, court, and other public meetings; Indians south of the James River, not to cross a line extending from the head of Blackwater River to the Appomattox Indian town, (probably where Petersburg now stands,) and thence across to the Mannakin town.
In the year 1665 Charles the Second, instigated by France, engaged in an unprovoked war with Holland, the object being mainly to strike a blow at the Protestant interest.[264:A] During the same year the plague raged in London, the victims for some time perishing at the rate of ten thousand weekly. In this fatal year Secretary Bennet, a plausible man, of good address, but mediocre capacity, was made Lord Arlington. The English monopolizing laws now reduced the condition of the planters of Virginia so low, that they proposed to discontinue the planting of tobacco for one year, so as to enhance the price of it; and an act was passed preparatory to a "stint or cessation." To render this remedy effectual, it appeared necessary to obtain the co-operation of the colonies of Maryland and North Carolina. For some years it was found impracticable to effect this object, and in the mean time, in order to prevent Virginia from receiving any supplies, save those sent from England, and also for defence against the Dutch, the king sent directions that forts should be built on the rivers, and that ships should lie under them, and that those places alone should be ports of trade. These instructions were obeyed for a year; breast-works were erected at places appointed by the assembly, and the shipping lay at them for a time; but the great fire and plague occurring in London at this juncture, rendered their supplies very uncertain, and the fear of the plague being brought over with the goods imported, prevented the people from living at those ports, and thus all were again at liberty.[265:A]
The Virginia planters supposed that by lessening the quantity of tobacco, called a "stint," they would improve the quality and enhance the price of it. The merchants, to whom the planters were indebted, were favorable to a stint; but although they would certainly be benefited by its operation, yet they were apparently not willing to abate any part of their claims against their debtors. The nett proceeds derived from the sale of the staple were barely enough to furnish the planters with clothing. As some remedy for this state of things, the legislature ordered looms and work-houses to be set in operation at the charge of each county. Bounties were again offered for encouragement of the raising of silk, and measures were adopted to foster the culture of flax and hemp.
In the year 1666, while London was desolated by fire and depopulated by the plague, war added her horrors. A government imbecile and corrupt, a court frivolous and debauched, darkened the shadows of the gloomy picture. The English colonies shared in the miseries of the mother country. It is remarkable that a book published in England many years before contained a prediction that the year 1666 would be the very climax of public disaster.[266:A] It was not unreasonable to conclude, that the wickedness of men had been directly avenged by a visitation of Heaven. Evelyn[266:B] says: "These judgments we highly deserved for our prodigious ingratitude, burning lusts, dissolute court, profane and abominable lives."
The assembly met in September, 1664, by prorogation from the preceding September—a compendious mode of dispensing with the popular election. However, in act vi., the assembly, declaring that the principal end of their coming together was to provide for the people's safety, and to redress their grievances, ordered that in future due notice of the convening of the burgesses should be given to the people by publication in the parish churches, so that they may then make known their grievances. The act for a "cessation" passed in June, 1666, commanded that no tobacco should be planted between the 1st of February, 1667, and the 1st of February, 1668.[266:C] The governor of Carolina at this time, and the first governor of that province, was William Drummond, a native of Scotland.
Similar acts were passed by Maryland and Carolina, but the latter province, owing to trouble with the Indians, not having given formal notice by the day agreed upon, Maryland availed herself of the informality to decline enforcing the cessation. Thus, as has been before mentioned, action was long delayed. Virginia, nevertheless, adhering to the scheme, again, at the session of October of the same year, confirmed her former act, and by dint of negotiation it was finally consummated.
The County of Stafford is mentioned in this year for the first time, and it was now represented by a burgess, Colonel Henry Mees.
The petition of William Drum, probably a misprint for Drummond, concerning a grant of land in what was commonly called "the governor's land," in the main reserve, was rejected, the house being of opinion that such grants appertained only to the governor and council. The assembly asserted their right to assess the levy without the interposition of the governor and council; and Sir William Berkley assented to this decision; the sincerity of the terms in which he expressed his willing acquiescence may well be doubted.
The Dutch about this time appear to have surprised several vessels, laden with tobacco, in the James River; and it was determined to erect several forts: one on James River, one on Nansemond River, one on York River at Tindall's Point, (now Gloucester Point,) one on the Rappahannock at Corotoman, and one on the Potomac at Yeohocomico.
It was declared that baptism did not exempt slaves from bondage. As the reducing of negroes to slavery was justified on the ground that they were heathens, so the opinion prevailed among some that when they ceased to be heathens they were, by the very fact, released from slavery.
In 1668, peace being restored, vessels were relieved from the necessity of anchoring under the forts. The war with the Dutch, unjustly commenced by the English, ended very disgracefully to them. A day of humiliation was appointed, and all persons were required to attend the parish churches, "with fasting and prayers, to implore God's mercy, and deprecate the evils justly impending over us."
It was ordered that work-houses should be built in each county, for the instruction of poor children in spinning, weaving, and other useful occupations and trades. An act was passed for the "suppressing and restraint of the exhorbitant number of ordinaries and tippling houses."
The Indians were required to bring in one hundred and forty-five wolves' heads annually, the reward for each head being one hundred pounds of tobacco and cask. To prevent fraud, the ears were cut off from the heads of the wolves.[268:A]
The elective franchise was restricted, in 1670, to freeholders and housekeepers.
Sir William Berkley sent out a company of fourteen English and as many Indians, under Captain Henry Batt, to explore the country to the west. Setting out from the Appomattox River, in seven days they reached the foot of the mountains. The first ridge was not found very high or steep, but after crossing that they encountered others that seemed to touch the clouds, and so steep that in a day's march they could not advance more than three miles. They came upon extensive valleys of luxuriant verdure, abounding with turkeys, deer, elk, and buffalo, gentle and, as yet, undisturbed by the fear of man. Grapes were seen of the size of plums. After crossing the mountains they discovered a charming level country, and a rivulet that flowed westward. Following this for some days, they reached old fields and cabins recently occupied by the natives; in these Batt left toys. Not far from the cabins, at some marshes, the Indian guides halted and refused to go any farther, saying that not far off dwelt a powerful tribe, that never suffered strangers, who discovered their towns, to escape. Batt was therefore reluctantly compelled to return. Upon receiving his report, Sir William Berkley resolved to make an exploration himself, but his intention was frustrated by the troubles that shortly after fell upon the country.[269:A] Beverley alone gives an account of Batt's explorations, leaving the date of it uncertain between 1666 and 1676. Burk dates it in 1667.
The Algonquin tribes are said to have been included within lines extending from Cape Hatteras to the head of the Mississippi, and thence eastward to the coast north of Newfoundland, and thence along the Atlantic shore to the cape first mentioned.[269:B] The bulk of the Indians within this triangle spoke various dialects of the same generic language.
The thirty tribes of Indians comprised within the Powhatan confederacy, south of the Potomac, at the time of the landing at Jamestown, are conjecturally estimated at about eight thousand souls, being one to the square mile.[269:C] The population of the mountain country was probably sparser than that of the country east of the mountains. The number of square miles in Virginia at the present day is upwards of sixty-five thousand. The number of warriors belonging to the tribes tributary to Virginia in 1669, as has been before mentioned, was seven hundred and twenty-five, and their proportion to the entire population being reckoned as three to ten, their aggregate number was about twenty-four hundred. Thus in about sixty years the diminution of their numbers amounted to about five thousand six hundred; of these, part had perished from disease, exposure, famine, and war; the rest were driven back into the wilderness.
In the year 1670 complaints were made to the general court by members of the council and others, being gentlemen, of the counties of York, Gloucester, and Middlesex, representing their apprehensions of danger from the great number of felons, and other desperate villains, sent hither from the prisons of England. Masters of vessels were prohibited from landing any such convicts or jail-birds. In 1671 Captain Bristow and Captain Walker were required to give security in the sum of one million pounds of tobacco and cask, that Mr. Nevett should send out the Newgate-birds within two months. Mr. Jefferson[270:A] has made the following remark: "The malefactors sent to America were not sufficient in number to merit enumeration as one class out of three which peopled America. It was at a late period of their history that the practice began. I have no book by me which enables me to point out the date of its commencement; but I do not think the whole number sent would amount to two thousand." And he supposed that they and their descendants did not, in 1786, exceed four thousand, "which is little more than one-thousandth part of the whole inhabitants." Mr. Jefferson appears to have been mistaken in his opinion, that malefactors were not sent over until a late period in the annals of Virginia; and he probably underrated the number of their descendants.
The acts prohibiting the exportation of wool, hides, and iron, were repealed, and every one was "permitted to make the best he can of his own commodity." The preamble to the act for the naturalization of foreigners declares, that "nothing can tend more to the advancement of a new plantation, either to its defence or prosperity, nor nothing more add to the glory of a prince, than being a gracious master of many subjects; nor any better way to produce those effects than the inviting of people of other nations to reside among us by communication of privileges."[270:B]
In 1672 the assembly provided for the defence of the country by rebuilding and repairing of forts. Repeated and vigorous laws were enacted providing for the apprehension of runaways; rewards were offered the Indians for apprehending them. A negro slave was valued at four thousand five hundred pounds of tobacco; an Indian slave at three thousand pounds of tobacco.
FOOTNOTES:
[263:A] Hening, ii. 188.
[263:B] Ibid., ii. 204.
[263:C] Beverley, B. i. 61.
[264:A] Evelyn's Diary, i. 391.
[265:A] Beverley, B. i. 63.
[266:A] Pepys' Diary, ii.
[266:B] Diary, ii. 17.
[266:C] The commissioners appointed to treat with Maryland and Carolina on this subject were, of the council, Thomas Ludwell, Esq., secretary of Virginia, Major-General Robert Smith, and Major-General Richard Bennet; and of the burgesses, Robert Wynne, speaker, Colonel Nich. Spencer, Captain Daniel Parke, Captain Joseph Bridger, Captain Peter Jennings, and Mr. Thomas Ballard.
[268:A] The tributary Indians of Virginia at this period were, in
| Bowmen, or Hunters. | |||||||
| Nansemond County | 45 | ||||||
| Surrey County |
| Powchay-icks Weyenoakes Men Heyricks | 30 15 50 | ||||
| Charles City County |
| Nottoways, two towns Appamattox | 90 50 | ||||
| Henrico County |
| Manachees Powhites | 30 10 | ||||
| New Kent County |
| Pamunkeys Chickahominies Mattaponeys Rappahannocks Totas-Chees | 50 60 20 30 40 | ||||
| Gloucester | Chiskoyackes | 15 | |||||
| Rappahanock |
| Portobaccoes Nanzcattico Mattehatique |
| 60
| |||
| Northumberland Co. | Wickacomico | 70 | |||||
| Westmoreland County | Appomattox | 10 | |||||
| Total | 725 | ||||||
[269:A] Beverley, B. i. 64.
[269:B] P. W. Leland, in Hist. Mag., iii. 41.
[269:C] Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, 97; Hening, ii. 274.
[270:A] Writings of Jefferson, i. 405.
[270:B] Hening, ii. 289.
