Francis Nicholson, who had been selected to serve as Lieutenant Governor during Effingham's absence, arrived in Virginia in May, 1690. The choice was unfortunate. This man was a strange mixture of contrasting characteristics. A devoted Church of England man and a friend of the clergy, he was at times shockingly profane. One of the patrons of the College of William and Mary, and the founder of the city of Williamsburg, he was unscrupulous in trampling on the rights of all who opposed him. Seeking the admiration of those with whom he was associated, he alienated his best friends by his fits of uncontrollable temper. Capable of acts of great generosity, he was accused of being parsimonious in his private life.
Nicholson's treatment of the Reverend Mr. Slaughter was typical. He and a certain Captain James Moodie had gone to York to a funeral. "The ceremony and sermon being over," Moodie relates, "he went out of church, where he saw and heard the Governor in the most outrageous passion that he ever saw, swearing the most horrid oaths and most bitter imprecations against Mr. Slaughter, the minister of that parish, calling the said Slaughter rogue, rascal, knave, and all the base billingsgate language that could be in the basest of men's mouths, shaking his horsewhip and threatening to beat the said minister therewith, and to pull his gown over his ears."[5] Apparently Mr. Slaughter had brought on this torrent of abuse by asking for a fee for the funeral sermon.
Nicholson's conduct as Deputy Governor of New York under Sir Edmund Andros at the time of the Glorious Revolution was not such as to inspire confidence that he would do well in Virginia. With no official orders to proclaim William and Mary, and with the people ready to rush to arms, what was needed was tact and conciliatory measures. Instead, Nicholson flew into a rage and talked about suppressing the "uproar and rebellion." It was rumored that he planned to burn the city, and that the people were to be betrayed and murdered. When some armed men, under the German merchant Jacob Leisler, seized the fort, Nicholson deserted his post and took ship for England.[6]
The first meeting of the Council after Nicholson arrived at Jamestown was held on January 3, 1690. After he had shown his commission, he and the Councillors went to the courthouse where it was read to the people assembled there. If the Virginians had been prejudiced against the new Lieutenant Governor by reports of his conduct in New York, they could not have been reassured by his personal appearance. It was said that when he made a bow to the ladies, he looked like a goose picking up straws.
Nicholson began his administration with a due regard to the influence of the Council. He had noticed that some of them held large tracts of land for which they paid no quit rents, and he pointed out, in a letter to the Earl of Nottingham, that it would strengthen the hands of the Governor if they were forced to pay up. "But the great men being concerned, I dare not venture to put any new method in execution without an instruction."[7]
He was equally cautious at first to defer to the Council in making appointments. When the sheriff of Middlesex died, he asked those Councillors who lived in that part of the country to nominate his successor. When they suggested Mr. Robert Dudley, Nicholson at once gave him a commission. At the same meeting he pointed out that the regular time for naming sheriffs and coroners was at hand, and asked that the Councillors be prepared to make nominations at their next meeting.[8]
But it was not long before he began to use the patronage to build up his own power under the guise of defending the royal prerogative. When the oath of supremacy was tendered the members of the Council, Richard Lee, Isaac Allerton, and John Armistead refused to take it because they were Roman Catholics. Nicholson filled one vacancy by naming Attorney General Edmund Jenings. He then sent a list of four other prominent men to the King and Queen, with the suggestion that they select the other two from it. Three of the four deserved well, he pointed out, because in the House of Burgesses they had been "for their Majesties' interest." Colonel Thomas Milner, the Speaker, behaved very well too, "but he hath not estate enough to be a Councillor. But he should have promise of some place of profit."[9]
We have no evidence that Nicholson tried to build up a party in the House of Burgesses by distributing sheriff's places to the members. But he did try to ingratiate himself by hobnobbing with them and "admitting" them daily to his table. This he did, he said, in order to keep a good agreement with them for their Majesties' service and advance the public affairs of the country, and not to propose or gain anything to be done in the Assembly. But the fact that he used the same technique to gain power during his second administration, makes his protestations seem rather hollow.
Nicholson claimed great success for his administration. He had befriended the clergy and bettered their condition, he pointed out, he had "looked after their Majesties' revenue," and left it in excellent condition, he had reorganized the militia. But he admitted, in fact boasted, that he had defended the royal prerogative on all occasions. He might have added that he had given Commissary Blair his wholehearted support in his efforts to found a college.
When Nicholson heard that Effingham had retired as Governor General of Virginia, and that he had been succeeded by Sir Edmund Andros, he was bitterly disappointed. As Lieutenant Governor under Effingham, he thought that when the government became vacant it was his due. He was especially disgruntled that Andros had been selected since he had against him a long standing pique. Yet he made the best of the situation, greeted Andros upon his arrival, and, at the head of the James City County militia, escorted him to Jamestown "through the several counties which were in his way."[10]