Intimidated by the threats of the enraged multitude, the council hastily prepared a commission, and, by their entreaties, prevailed on the governor to sign it. Bacon and his troops then began their march against the Indians; but no sooner were the council relieved from their fears, than they declared the commission void, and proclaimed Bacon a rebel. Enraged at this conduct, he instantly returned, with all his forces, to Jamestown. The aged governor, unsupported, and almost abandoned, fled precipitately to Accomack, on the eastern shore of the colony; collecting those who were well affected towards his administration, he began to oppose the insurgents, and several skirmishes were fought, with various success. A party of the insurgents burned Jamestown, laid waste those districts of the colony which adhered to the old administration, and confiscated the property of the loyalists. The governor, in retaliation, seized the estates of many of the insurgents, and executed several of their leaders. In the midst of these calamities Bacon sickened and died. Destitute of a leader to conduct and animate them, their sanguine hopes of success subsided; all began to desire an accommodation; and after a brief negotiation with the governor they laid down their arms, on obtaining a promise of general pardon.
On hearing of the disturbances in Virginia, Charles despatched, though with no great haste, a fleet with some troops for its pacification. These did not arrive, however, till they might well have been dispensed with. With them came colonel Jeffreys, appointed to recall and replace Sir William Berkeley in the government of the colony. This brave and benevolent man did not long survive his dismissal, and may justly be said to have lived and died in the service of Virginia.
A succession of weak and tyrannical rulers followed the recall of Sir William Berkeley. Notwithstanding the unfavorable circumstances under which it labored, the colony continued to increase. Tobacco grew in demand in Europe, and its cultivation gave constant employment to the planters. The situation of the colony, removed alike from the French in Canada, and the Spaniards in Florida, saved it from their hostile incursions, and procured for it a comparative repose.
MASSACHUSETTS.
In the order of time, the settlement of the northern states followed next after that of Virginia. In the year 1614, captain Smith explored the coast with much care between Penobscot and cape Cod. He presented a chart and description of it to Charles, prince of Wales, who was so well pleased with the country that he called it New England; a name which has since been applied to the provinces east of the Hudson.
In 1620, that country began to be colonized by a body of Puritans; who had been first driven to Holland, by the mad intolerance of the English government, and afterwards determined to emigrate to America. They applied to the Virginia company for a patent, and it was not unwilling to favor their views. They solicited full freedom of conscience, but this the king declined granting under the great seal: he promised, however, not to molest them, so long as they behaved themselves peaceably.
The first band of these Puritans, consisting of one hundred and one persons, reached cape Cod at break of day on the 9th of November, 1620. Observing that they were beyond the limits of the company’s patent, they had no powers of government derived from authority; and, therefore, even before landing, they formed themselves into a ‘civil body politic, under the crown of England, for the purpose of framing just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices,’ to which they promised all due submission and obedience. Forty-one persons signed this contract. It contained the elements of those forms of government peculiar to the new world. Under this system, John Carver was, by general consent, chosen their first governor, ‘confiding,’ as the electors say, ‘in his prudence, that he would not adventure upon any matter of moment without the consent of the rest, or, at least, advice of such as were known to be the wisest among them.’
Government being thus established, sixteen men, well armed, with a few others, were sent on shore the same day, to fetch wood and make discoveries; but they returned at night without having found any person or habitation. The company, having rested during the Sabbath, disembarked on Monday, the 13th of November; and soon after proceeded to explore the interior of the country. In their researches they discovered heaps of earth, one of which they dug open, but, finding within implements of war, they concluded these were Indian graves; and therefore, replacing what they had taken out, they left them inviolate. In different heaps of sand they also found baskets of corn, a large quantity of which they carried away in a great kettle, found at the ruins of an Indian house. This providential discovery gave them seed for a future harvest, and preserved the infant colony from famine. On the 6th of December the shallop was sent out with several of the principal men, to sail round the bay in searchof a place for settlement. During their researches, part of the company travelled along the shore, where they were surprised by a flight of arrows from a party of Indians; but, on the discharge of the English muskets, the Indians instantly disappeared. The shallop, after imminent hazard from the loss of its rudder and mast in a storm, and from shoals, which it narrowly escaped, reached a small island on the night of the 8th; here the company reposed themselves, grateful for their preservation during the week; and on this island they kept the Sabbath. The day following they sounded the harbor, and found it fit for shipping; went on shore, and explored the adjacent land, where they saw various corn-fields and brooks; and, judging the situation to be convenient for a settlement, they returned with the welcome intelligence to the ship.
On the 23d, as many of the company as could, with convenience, went on shore, and felled, and carried timber to the spot appropriated for the erection of a building for common use. On the 25th, they commenced the erection of the first house. A platform for their ordnance demanding the earliest attention, they formed one upon a hill, which commanded an extensive prospect of the plain beneath, of the expanding bay, and of the distant ocean. They divided their whole company into nineteen families; measured out the ground; and assigned to every person by lot half a pole in breadth, and three poles in length, for houses and gardens. In grateful remembrance of the Christian friends whom they found at the last town they left in their native country, they called their settlement Plymouth. Thus was founded the first British town of New England.
The climate was found much more severe than the colonists had anticipated; and they had arrived when winter was nearly one-third advanced. They had every thing to do, and in this season could do very little, even of what was indispensable. Their shelter was wretched; their sufferings were intense; their dangers were not small, and were rendered painful by an absolute uncertainty of their extent. All these evils they encountered with resolution, and sustained with fortitude. To each other they were kind: to the savages they were just: they loved the truth of the gospel; embraced it in its purity; and obeyed it with an excellence of life, which added a new wreath to the character of man.