As regarded the causes of this insurrection and the true character of its leaders, every possible means were taken to veil them in obscurity, or to throw disrepute and infamy upon them. No printing-press was allowed in Virginia. It was a crime punishable by fine and whipping to speak ill of Berkeley and his friends, or to write anything favourable to the rebels or the rebellion. Every accurate account remained in manuscript for more than a hundred years: so that the struggles and sufferings of these unfortunate patriots were for so long misunderstood and cruelly maligned.
“It was on the occasion of this rebellion,” says the historian, “that English troops were first introduced into America. In three years, however, they were disbanded, and became amalgamated with the people. Sir William Berkeley returned to England with the squadron which brought out these forces, it being necessary to justify his conduct there, where the report of his cruelties had excited a strong feeling against him; and, spite even of the strong faction which adhered to his principles in Virginia, and which had restored the old order of things, so great was the public joy at his departure, that guns were fired and bonfires made. Arrived in England, he found the public sentiments so violent against him that he died, it was said of a broken heart, and before he had had an opportunity of justifying himself with the monarch.”
Colonel Herbert Jeffreys was left by Berkeley as deputy in his absence, and on his death he assumed the office of governor. The results of Bacon’s rebellion were disastrous to Virginia. This insurrection was made a plea against granting a more liberal charter, and the restrictions and oppressions under which Virginia had groaned became only more stringent and heavy. All those liberal measures which were introduced by Bacon’s assembly, and which were known under the name of “Bacon’s Acts,” were annulled and the former abuses returned. In vain were commissioners sent over by the monarch to redress their grievances; reports of tyranny and rapine were received, but no amelioration of the system which permitted them was introduced; “every measure of effectual reform was considered void, and every aristocratic feature which had been introduced into the legislature was perpetuated.”
When Virginia was granted to the Lords Culpepper and Arlington, the former was appointed governor for life on the demise of Berkeley; and now, therefore, this event having taken place, it was expected that he should hasten to that country to assume his duties. Willing, however, to regard his appointment as a sinecure, he fingered still in England, until reproved by Charles himself for negligence, he embarked in 1680 for Virginia, where he arrived in May, and took the oath of office in Jamestown. Culpepper carried with him what was intended should introduce a spirit of peace and satisfaction through the colony—an act of general pardon and indemnity under the great seal, which remitted all forfeiture of estates in consequence of the rebellion, excepting in ten instances. Bacon, Bland and Lawrence being among them. So far was good; but other acts there were which at the same time caused general dissatisfaction and misery. The principal of these was, that the impost of two shillings on every hogshead of tabacco should be perpetual, and instead of being accounted for to the assembly as hitherto, should be applied as a royal revenue for the support of government. His own salary—as governor—of £1,000 he doubled, on the plea that, being a nobleman, such increase was necessary; besides house-rent and perquisites, amounting to nearly another thousand. Not satisfied with this, “he altered the currency, and then disbanding the soldiers, paid their arrears in the new coin, greatly to his own advantage. But shortly afterwards, finding that, by the same rule, his own perquisites would be deteriorated, he restored it to its former value.”
Lord Culpepper remained in Virginia from May to August, and having in these few months sown the seed of a plentiful harvest of sorrow and dissatisfaction for that unhappy country, returned to England.
Virginia was now quiet, but her miseries were not at an end. Large crops of tobacco were raised, and the price sank far below a remunerative scale. Attempts were made to plant towns, to prescribe new channels for commerce, and to introduce manufactures; but these were not the natural growth of the times or the soil, and trade was only impeded by any laws to direct it. Tobacco sank still lower, and again the scheme of the “stint,” or the cessation of planting, was entertained. During two sessions the assembly endeavoured to legislate for these difficult circumstances; but in May, 1682, the malcontents commenced to cut up the tobacco-plants, especially the sweet-scented, which was produced nowhere else, and to this futile procedure, Culpepper, who had now returned, put a stop by measures of great severity—hanging the ringleaders and enacting plant-cutting high treason. Lord Culpepper had in the interim of his absence purchased the share of Arlington, and he now returned to establish his own claim to the Northern Neck. It was vain, spite of the injustice of the case, for the holders of land in this fine district to attempt the maintenance of their prior claims; nothing remained for them but compromise.
A printing-press was at this time brought over into Virginia, by John Buckner, who printed the enactments of the session; but such publicity was dreaded. He was called to account by Culpepper, and forbidden to print anything until his Majesty’s pleasure should be known; and the following year any printing-press was forbidden in Virginia, under the royal authority.
The slave-code received some alterations during Culpepper’s government, which were worthy of the remorseless spirit of the man. Slaves were forbidden the use of arms, or to leave their masters’ plantations without a written pass, or to lift a hand against a Christian, even in self-defence. Runaways, who refused to give themselves up, might be lawfully killed.
“All accounts,” says Bancroft, “agree in describing the condition of Virginia at this time as one of extreme distress. Culpepper had no compassion for poverty; no sympathy for a province impoverished by perverse legislation; and the residence in Virginia was so irksome, that in a few months he again returned to England. The council reported the griefs and restlessness of the country, and renewed the request that the grant to Culpepper might be recalled. The poverty of the province rendered negotiation easy, and in the following year Virginia was once more a royal province.”
Lord Howard of Effingham succeeded Culpepper as governor, but the change was hardly beneficial to the unhappy province. Office was only desirable to him as a means of making money. Nothing could exceed the mean avarice of this man; it became almost a proverb. It is said that, with an eye to the fees, he established a Court of Chancery, claiming, by virtue of his office, to be sole judge.