By 1688 Howard concluded that it would be pleasant and comfortable for him to live on his governor’s salary in England and send out a deputy-governor to deal with refractory burgesses. When he arrived in England he found William and Mary on the throne, but they showed no disposition to interfere with his plans. Just the right sort of man for deputy-governor appeared at the right moment. Francis Nicholson had held that position in New York under the viceroy of united New York and New England, Sir Edmund Andros. When that unpopular viceroy was deposed and cast into jail in Boston, Nicholson was deposed in New York by Jacob Leisler, and went to England with the tale of his woes, which King William sought to assuage by sending him to Virginia as deputy-governor.
His manners.
Nicholson was a man of integrity and fair ability, though highly eccentric and cantankerous. “Laws of Virginia,” he cried one day, seizing the attorney-general by the lapel of his silk robe, “I know no laws of Virginia! I know my commands are going to be obeyed here!” At another time he told the council that they were “mere brutes who understood not manners, ... that he would beat them into better manners and make them feel that he was governor of Virginia.”[85]
James Blair, founder of William and Mary College.
In spite of his queer peppery ways, the rule of Nicholson was a decided relief after such worthless creatures as Culpeper and Howard. It is chiefly memorable for the founding of the second American college, a work which encountered such obstacles on both sides of the ocean as only an iron will could vanquish. Such was found in the person of James Blair, a Scotch clergyman, who in 1689 was appointed commissioner of the Church in Virginia. The need for a bishop was felt, and a little later there was some talk of sending out the famous Jonathan Swift in that capacity, but no Episcopal bishopric was created in America until after the War of Independence. Dr. Blair had a seat in the colonial council, presided at ecclesiastical trials, and exercised many of the powers of a bishop. Since the old scheme of Nicholas Ferrar and his friends for a college in Virginia had been extinguished amid lurid scenes of Indian massacre, nearly seventy years had elapsed[86] when Blair in 1691 revived it. He began by collecting some £2,500 by subscription, and then went to England to get more money and obtain a charter. He was aided by two famous divines, Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, but from the treasury commissioner, Sir Edward Seymour, he received a coarse rebuff, which shows the frankly materialistic view at that time entertained by the British official mind regarding England’s colonies. When Blair urged that a college was needed for training up clergymen, Seymour thought it was no time to be sending money to America for such purposes; every penny was wanted in Europe for carrying on the necessary and righteous war against Louis XIV. Blair could not deny that it was an eminently righteous war, but he was not thus to be turned from his purpose. “You must not forget,” said he, “that people in Virginia have souls to save, as well as people in England.” “Souls!” cried Seymour, “damn your souls! Grow tobacco!” In spite of this discouraging view of the case, the good doctor persevered until he obtained from William and Mary the charter that founded the college ever since known by their names.
Nicholson succeeded by Sir Edmund Andros.
The college was established in 1693, with Blair for its president.[87] Governor Nicholson, with seventeen other persons appointed by the assembly, formed the board of trustees. From the outset Nicholson was warmly in sympathy with the enterprise, but now this friend was called away for a time. In the anti-Catholic fervour which attended the accession of King William and Queen Mary, the palatinate government in Maryland had been overturned, and the new royal governor, Sir Lionel Copley, died in 1693. Nicholson was then promoted from deputy-governor of Virginia to be governor of Maryland. About the same time Lord Howard of Effingham resigned or was removed, and Sir Edmund Andros was sent out to Virginia as governor. It may seem a strange appointment in view of the obloquy which Andros had incurred at the north. But in all these appointments William III. seems to have acted upon a consistent policy of not disturbing, except in cases of necessity, the state of things which he found. As a rule he retained in his service the old officials against whom no grave charges were brought; and while the personality of Andros was not prepossessing, there can be no doubt as to his integrity.
Andros quarrels with Blair.
Nicholson’s career as royal governor of Maryland lasted until 1698, while Andros was having a hard time in Virginia trying to enforce with rigour the Navigation Act and to make life miserable for Dr. Blair. His conduct was far more moderate than it had been in New England, but he had his full share of trouble in Virginia. The moving cause of his hostility to the college of William and Mary is not distinctly assigned, but he is not unlikely to have believed, like many a dullard of his stripe, that education is apt to encourage a seditious and froward spirit. He did everything he could think of to thwart and annoy President Blair. At the election of burgesses he predicted that the establishment of a college would be sure to result in a terrible increase of taxes. He tried to persuade subscribers to withhold the payment of their subscriptions. He sought to arouse an absurd prejudice against Scotchmen, for which it was rather late in the day. Finally he connived at gross insults to the president and friends of the college. Among the young men to whom Andros showed especial favour was Daniel Parke, whose grandson, Daniel Parke Custis, is now remembered as the first husband of Martha Washington. This young Daniel did some things to which posterity could hardly point with pride. He is described as a “sparkish gentleman,” or as some would say a slashing blade. He was an expert with the rapier and anxious to thrust it between the ribs of people who supported the college. His challenges were numerous, but clergymen could not be reached in such a way. So “he set up a claim to the pew in church in which Mrs. Blair sat, and one Sunday,” as we are told, “with fury and violence he pulled her out of it in the presence of the minister and congregation, who were greatly scandalized at this ruffian and profane action.”[88]
Removal of Andros.