Claiborne's quarrel with Maryland.
Among the commissioners was William Claiborne, an able, resolute, and passionate Virginian, who was the leader of the Puritan party, and carried on a considerable trade with Nova Scotia, New England, and Manhattan. He had been much before the public of late years. The grant of Maryland to Lord Baltimore was regarded by Virginians as an invasion of their territory; and Claiborne, holding a royal license to trade in that region, had planted a settlement (1631) on Kent Island, in Chesapeake Bay, within the limits now claimed by Baltimore. Not acknowledging Baltimore's proprietorship there, he was summarily ejected. The following year (1635) he led a party of rangers against Maryland, compelled the Catholic governor, Calvert, to fly to Virginia, and seized the government himself; being soon expelled, however, by Calvert, who had now secured Berkeley's support. As one of the Roundhead commissioners to settle the affairs of the colonies, the turbulent Claiborne proceeded promptly to pay back some of his old debts against the Maryland Catholics. In 1654, Puritan invaders of Maryland, headed by Claiborne, who was now Secretary of the Province of Virginia, met the Catholics near the mouth of the Severn River and worsted them, thus again obtaining temporary control of the northern colony. Three years later a compromise was reached between Baltimore and the Puritans.
Governors under the Commonwealth.
Richard Bennett was the first governor of Virginia under the Commonwealth (1652), being elected by the burgesses and receiving his authority from them. He was succeeded by Edward Digges (1655) and Samuel Matthews (1656), both similarly chosen. They quarrelled with the burgesses, like the governors of old, but were worthy and sensible men, and when outvoted generally yielded with grace. Claiborne's affair with Maryland and an unimportant Indian panic (1656) were the only clouds upon the horizon during this tranquil period.
32. Development of Virginia (1660-1700).
Berkeley recalled.
When Oliver Cromwell died (1658), his successor, Richard, was accepted in Virginia without question; but when the following year the latter abdicated, Berkeley was quickly recalled, as "the servant of the people," from peaceful retirement on his country estate; |The Restoration.| and upon the Restoration (1660) the king's party was suffered again to take control of the government, and Claiborne was dismissed from the secretaryship. The return of the Royalists to power was accompanied in Virginia by harsh measures against Dissenters, by the enforcement of the Navigation Act under which the colonists were obliged to ship their tobacco to English ports alone, and to import no European goods except in vessels loaded in England, and by the gift of the entire province to Lords Arlington and Culpeper. The Puritans, angered by the harshness and profligacy of the church, by economic distress occasioned by the navigation laws, and by the ruthless invalidation of long-established land-titles, rose against the provincial government in 1663, and were not repressed until several of their leaders were hanged. The government became corrupt and despotic, and for many years the people were denied the privilege of electing a new house of burgesses,—the Royalist house chosen at the time of the Restoration holding over by prorogation.
The Bacon rebellion.
The Bacon rebellion (1676) was an outgrowth of the general discontent. The Indians were murdering settlers in the frontier counties; but Berkeley, accused of having fur-trade interests at stake, and perhaps fearing to have the people armed, dismissed the self-organized volunteers who proposed to go out against the savages. Nathaniel Bacon, a popular young member of the council, honest and courageous, but indiscreet, took it upon himself to raise a small force for the purpose. Berkeley refused Bacon a military commission, and declared him and his rangers rebels, and sought to crush them with the regular militia. Through the succeeding four months Virginia was thrown into confusion by a warfare which resembled the stormy military duels with which the South American republics have been so often harassed. The opposing forces had varying fortunes, and the fickle militiamen rallied under one standard or the other, according to the direction of the wind. Harrying Berkeley out of Jamestown, Bacon burned the capital to ashes, "that the rogues should harbor there no more." In October he died, either from poisoning or swamp-fever. His adherents, having no other cohesion than their sympathy for him, now scattered, and were caught by Berkeley, who executed twenty-three of them, and returned to Jamestown to renew his tyrannical policy for a time undisturbed. |Berkeley recalled by the king.| But even Charles tired of his governor's harsh and bloody doings, saying: "That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have done for the murder of my father." Berkeley was summoned to England, his departure being celebrated by the colonists with salutes, bonfires, and general rejoicings. The king refused him an audience upon his arrival in London, and Berkeley died (1677) "of a broken heart."
A sorry time under the Royalists.