Patrician and Plebeian / Or The Origin and Development of the Social Classes of the Old Dominion

by Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker

Berkeley had gone to England in 1661, and while there exerted his influence for the repeal of the act, but had been able to accomplish nothing. The desire of the English to crush the Dutch trade was so strong that they could not be induced to consider at all the welfare of the colonies. The powerful and logical appeal of Bland also was unheeded. This remarkable man, who seems to have understood fully the operation of economic laws that were only established as truths many years later, explained clearly the harmful consequences of the act and demanded that justice be done the colonists. "Then let me," he says, "on behalf of the said colonies of Virginia and Maryland make the following proposals which I hope will appear but equitable:

"First, that the traders to Virginia and Maryland from England shall furnish and supply the planters and inhabitants of those colonies with all sorts of commodities and necessaries which they may want or desire, at as cheap rates and prices as the Hollanders used to have when the Hollander was admitted to trade thither.

"Secondly, that the said traders out of England to those colonies shall not only buy of the planter such tobacco in the colonies as is fit for England, but take off all that shall be yearly made by them, at as good rates and prices as the Hollanders used to give for the same....

"Thirdly, that if any of the inhabitants or planters of the said colonies shall desire to ship his tobacco or goods for England, that the traders from England to Virginia and Maryland shall let them have freight in their ships at as low and cheap rates, as they used to have when the Hollanders and other nations traded thither."

Bland, of course, did not expect these suggestions to be followed, but he did hope that the evils that he so clearly pointed out would be done away with by the repeal of the act. So far from heeding him, however, Parliament passed another bill, in 1673, taking away the last vestige of freedom of trade. The colonists, when the Navigation Acts began to be strictly enforced, in seeking an outlet for their commodities turned to each other, and a considerable traffic had sprung up between them. The New Englanders, tempted by the high price of manufactured goods in the south, were competing with Englishmen for the market of the tobacco raising colonies. The British merchants brought pressure to bear on Parliament, and a law was passed subjecting all goods that entered into competition with English commodities to a duty equivalent to that imposed on their consumption in England. This act crippled the new trade and deprived Virginia of even this slight amelioration of her pitiful condition.

The decline in the price of tobacco and the increased cost of manufactured goods bore with telling effect on the small farmers. It was customary for them to sow the greater part of their fields with tobacco, and the enormous decline in the price of that plant brought many to the verge of ruin. Whenever the overproduction was so great that the English traders left part of the crop in Virginia, it was the planter of the middle class that was apt to suffer most, for the merchants could not afford to affront the wealthy and influential men of the colony, by refusing to transport their crops. Had it not been for the ease with which the common people could obtain support from Indian corn and from their hogs and cattle, many might have perished during these years.

But, in addition to the causes of distress that were brought about by the unjust policy of England, there were forces at work within the colony, that were scarcely less potent for harm. Chief among these was the attempt of Governor William Berkeley to make his government independent of the people. Berkeley had, during the reign of Charles I, made a good governor, and had won the respect of the people, but as he became old there was a decided change for the worse in his nature. He is depicted in his declining years, as arbitrary, crabbed and avaricious.

He had for the populace the greatest contempt. To him they seemed a mere rabble, whose sole function in life was to toil and whose chief duty was to obey strictly the mandates of their rulers. He discouraged education because it bred a spirit of disobedience. "I thank God," he wrote, "there are no free schools and printing (in Virginia) and I hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best governments."[206] That the common people should have a share in the government seemed to him, even more than it had seemed to Charles I, a thing absurd and preposterous. After the Restoration, therefore, he resolved to free himself as far as practicable from all restraint, and to assume an arbitrary and almost absolute power.

Berkeley was far better qualified for this task than had been his royal masters the Stuarts. He possessed remarkable vigor and determination, and despite his quick temper was not lacking in tact and diplomacy. With a discrimination and care that marked him as a master in the art of corruption, he tried to make the Assembly dependent upon himself, by bribing the members of both houses. Selecting men that he thought he could most easily manage, he gave to them places of honor and emolument in the colony, some being made collectors, some sheriffs, some justices.[207] The House of Burgesses was entirely corrupted, and so far from seeking to defend the rights of the people they represented, they proved willing instruments to the governor in his attempt to establish absolute power.[208] Nor could the colony correct this evil by returning to the Assembly new burgesses, for Berkeley would not permit an election, and having once won over the House, continued to prorogue it from year to year.[209] For nine years before Bacon's Rebellion there had been no election of burgesses. "In this way," complained the commons of Charles City county, "Berkeley hath soe fortifyed his power over us, as himselfe without respect to our laws, to doe what soever he best pleased."[210]

His power over the Council became even more marked. The men composing this important body looked to the governors for appointment to lucrative offices and endeavored usually to keep their favor.[211] Berkeley, more than any other governor, made use of this power over the Council to make its members submissive to his will. When vacancies occurred he took pains to appoint none whom he thought would be at all refractory.[212] Moreover, "he very often discountenanced and placed his frowns on such as he observed in the least to thrust or cross his humor, soe that if by chance he had at any time choice of a person of honor, or conscience, that durst like a noble patriot speake his mind freely ... such person by some means or other was soone made weary of coming to councelle, and others overawed from the like boldness."[213] In making his selections for high offices, Berkeley had recourse at times to men that had recently settled in the colony, hoping, doubtless, to secure persons submissive to his will. "It has been the common practice," it was stated, "to putt persons that are mere strangers into places of great honor, profitt and trust who unduly officiating therein, do abuse and wrong the people." These men proved parasites upon the colony and many enriched themselves at the public expense. Bacon, in his proclamation, called attention to this evil. "Wee appeale," he said, "to the country itselfe what and of what nature their oppressions have bin or by what caball and mistery the designs of those whom we call great men in authority and favour to whose hands the dispensation of the countries wealth has been committed; let us observe the sudden rise of their estates compared with the quality in which they first entered this country, or the reputation they have held here amongst wise and discerning men, and lett us see wither their extraction and education have not bin vile, and by what pretence of learning and vertue they could soe soon come into employments of so great trust and consequence ... let us see what spounges have suckt up the publique treasures, and wither it hath not bin privately contrived away by unworthy favorites and juggling parasites whose tottering fortunes have been repaired and supported at the publique charge."