Colonel Richard Lee.
Election of Berkeley by the assembly.
A name inseparably associated with Berkeley is that of Colonel Richard Lee, who is described as “a man of good stature, comely visage, an enterprising genius, a sound head, vigorous spirit, and generous nature,”[8] qualities that may be recognized in many of his famous descendants. This Richard Lee belonged to an ancient family, the Lees of Coton Hall, in Shropshire, whom we find from the beginning of the thirteenth century in positions of honour and trust. He came to Virginia about 1642, and obtained that year an estate which he called Paradise, near the head of Poropotank Creek, on the York River. He was from the first a man of much importance in the colony, serving as justice, burgess, councillor, and secretary of state. In 1654 we find him described as “faithful and useful to the interests of the Commonwealth,” but, as Dr. Edmund Lee says, “it is only fair to observe that this claim was made for him by a friend in his absence;”[9] or perhaps it only means that he was not one of the tribe of fanatics who love to kick against the pricks.[10] Certain it is that Colonel Lee was no Puritan, though doubtless he submitted loyally to the arrangement of 1652, as so many others did. There was nothing for the king’s men to do but possess their souls in quiet until 1659, when news came of the resignation of Richard Cromwell. “Worthy Captain Mathews,” whom the assembly had chosen governor, died about the same time. Accordingly, in March, 1660, the assembly resolved that, since there was then in England no resident sovereign generally recognized, the supreme power in Virginia must be regarded as lodged in the assembly, and that all writs should issue in the name of the Grand Assembly of Virginia until such a command should come from England as the assembly should judge to be lawful. Having passed this resolution, the assembly showed its political complexion by electing Sir William Berkeley for governor: and in the same breath it revealed its independent spirit by providing that he must call an assembly at least once in two years, and oftener if need be; and that he must not dissolve it without the consent of a majority of the members. On these terms Berkeley accepted office at the hands of the assembly.
Lee’s visit to Brussels.
Charles II. proclaimed king.
Before this transaction, perhaps in 1658, Colonel Lee seems to have visited Charles II. at Brussels, where he handed over to the still exiled prince the old commission of Berkeley, and may have obtained from him a new one for future use, reinstating him as governor.[11] There is a vague tradition that on this occasion he asked how soon Charles would be likely to be able to protect the colony in case it should declare its allegiance to him; and from this source may have arisen the wild statement, recorded by Beverley and promulgated by the eminent historian Robertson, that Virginia proclaimed Charles II. as sovereign a year or two before he was proclaimed in England.[12] The absurdity of this story was long ago pointed out;[13] but since error has as many lives as a cat, one may still hear it repeated. Charles II. was proclaimed king in England on the 8th of May, 1660, and in Virginia on the 20th of September following.[14] In October the royal commission for Berkeley arrived, and the governor may thus have felt that the conditions on which he accepted his office from the assembly were no longer binding. Our next chapter will show how lightly he held them.
If one may judge from the public accounts of York County in 1660, expressed in the arithmetic of a tobacco currency, the 20th of September must have been a joyful occasion:—
Att the proclaiming of his sacred Maisty:
| To ye Hoble Govnr p a barrell powdr, 112 lb. | .00996 |
| To Capt ffox six cases of drams | .00900 |
| To Capt ffox for his great gunnes | .00500 |
| To Mr Philip Malory | .00500 |
| To ye trumpeters | .00800 |
| To Mr Hansford 176 Gallons Sydr at 15 & 35 gall at 20, caske 264 | .03604 |
There can be no doubt that it was an occasion prolific in legend. The historian Robert Beverley, who was born about fifteen years afterward, tells us that Governor Berkeley’s proclamation named Charles II. as “King of England, Scotland, France, Ireland, and Virginia.” The document itself, however, calls him “our most gratious soveraigne, Charles the Second, King of England, Scotland, ffrance, & Ireland,” and makes no mention of Virginia.