appointed by the king to that office, and who arrived in Virginia in 1629, appears, by his system of favouritism, to have excited much discontent in the province, which, nevertheless, by its popular form of government, enjoyed a good share of prosperity and freedom. A remarkable order and steadiness seems to have characterized its carly legislation.

The cession to Lord Baltimore of a large tract, which the Virginians had always been accustomed to consider as lying within their own jurisdiction, created no little alarm and uneasiness. Harvey, however, who was a strong partisan of the crown, when Clayborne, defeated and outlawed in Maryland, took refuge in Virginia, so far from taking advantage of the opportunity to exert an influence over the sister province, sent the fugitive a prisoner to England. The people, and the majority of the council, indignant at this act, summarily deposed the governor, appointing Captain John West in his place, till the king's pleasure could be known. Supported by the royal favour, however, he reassumed his office, which he continued to hold until 1639, when he was replaced by Sir Francis Wyatt. Two years afterwards, (February, 1642,) Sir William Berkeley, in turn appointed to that office, arrived in Virginia, where, by his cordial agreement with the legislature, many improvements were made in the civil code, and important acts were passed for the benefit of the colony.

To a province like Virginia, alike prosperous and loyal, the triumph of the popular and Puritan party in England brought no satisfaction. On the contrary, to mark its attachment to the established church, the colonial government even went to the length of instituting a religious persecution (the first in Virginia) in its behalf -an especial order being issued in 1643, by the council, for the banishment of non-conformists, and the silencing of all except Episcopal preaching.

Hostility with the Indians, long confined to sudden forays and petty skirmishes, in the next year ripened to a general war. Remembering the sanguinary success of their former attempt, the savages, with profound secrecy, again concerted a simultaneous attack on the intruders. On the 18th of April, 1644, the frontier settlements were assaulted, and some three hundred of the colonists fell victims; but the assailants, losing heart, their design only commenced, returned to the forests, where their enemies were not long in pursuing them. In this war, Opechancanough, so long the terror

of the whites, was made prisoner. He was now in extreme old age, being unable to raise his eyelids, which, when he desired to see, were opened by his attendants. Being brought before the governor, a spectacle for the eager curiosity of the crowd, he said, haughtily, "Had Sir William Berkeley fallen into my hands, I would not have exposed him thus to the gaze of my people." A ruffianly soldier, to avenge, it is said, some former grievance, extinguished, by a cowardly murder, the feeble spark of life yet lingering in his frame. These successes were followed up with much vigour, repeated incursions being made against the Indians; and, in 1646, peace was concluded with Necotowance, their chief, (the successor of Opechancanough,) on terms of submission and cession of territory.

This difficulty, (the last with the natives in their immediate vicinity,) thus overcome, the Virginian settlements continued to increase and prosper. In the winter of 1648, more than thirty vessels, at one time, were trading in their ports. The number of colonists had risen to twenty thousand; and the triumph of the Puritans in England, compelling the opposite party to exile, brought about an emigration of numerous loyalists and cavaliers, some of them men of distinction. The loyalty of the province, confirmed by this means, stood firm for the House of Stuart. Immediately after the execution of Charles, the government of Virginia had recognized his son, and the latter, from his retreat in Berda, had sent to Berkeley a new commission; and that officer, in 1651, wrote to the king, with ardent expressions of attachment and fidelity, and even hinting the advisability of his taking refuge in his American colonies. It was deemed possible, by the over-sanguine cavaliers, that this little province, the last to submit to the commonwealth, might make a successful stand for royalty against the entire power of England.

CHAPTER II.

ACT FOR THE REDUCTION OF VIRGINIA. THE NAVIGATION ACT.-MODERATION OF THE PARLIAMENT.-SUBMISSION OF THE PROVINCE. BENNETT, GOVERNOR: DIGGS: MATHEWS. -JEALOUSY OF THE ASSEMBLY AGAINST FOREIGN INTERFERENCE. -FREEDOM AND PROSPERITY OF VIRGINIA UNDER THE COMMONWEALTH.-DEATH OF CROMWELL. -BERKELEY, GOVERNOR. - Ꭱ Ꭼ STORATION

OF CHARLES II.-ITS ILL
EFFECT ON THE PROVINCE.

THE Parliament, triumphant over its enemies at home, at last turned its attention to the refractory province of Virginia. The council of state was empowered to reduce it to obedience; and the "Navigation Act," passed in 1651, deprived it, nominally, at least, in common with the other English colonies, of foreign trade, except that carried on by English vessels. Considering the bold front of opposition which Virginia had exhibited to the popular government of England, the measures adopted were characterized by singular moderation and leniency. Two of the three commissioners, appointed for the reduction of the province, were Virginians; and they had charge to use all mild and persuasive means before resorting to force. The liberties of the colony were amply secured, in case of peace, and the Virginians, not feeling called on to contend for the claims of a dethroned monarch to the extreme of actual resistance, on learning the moderate nature of the parliamentary commission, laid aside all thought of resistance. Full power of self-government, and equal privileges with Englishmen at home, were provided for the colony; but the influence of the dominant party, and the submission or assent of the colonists, were sufficiently evinced in the election of Richard Bennett, a strong revolutionist, by the burgesses, to the office of governor. On his retirement, in 1655, Edward Diggs received the same office at the hands of the assembly-Cromwell, during his tenure of power, never interfering with the right exercised by the Virginians of choosing their own officers.

In 1658, an old planter, named Samuel Mathews, described as one who "kept a good house, lived bravely, and was a true lover of VOL. IV.-37

Virginia," was chosen to the same post. Becoming, ere long, involved in a dispute with the assembly, he announced his intention of referring the matters in issue to the decision of the Protector. Alarmed at the prospect of dependence on a foreign authority, that body proceeded to make a bold and startling declaration of the popular sovereignty, and actually deposed Mathews, whom they had lately elected. Having thus vindicated their dignity, they forthwith rëinstated him in office, while he submitted to their requirements with a readiness which sufficiently shows that, whatever the temporary disagreement, no serious ill-feeling had existed between the executive and legislative powers. The spirit of public liberty, by this bold demonstration, gained a great accession of strength and firmness.

On the death of the Protector, the assembly of burgesses, after private deliberation, resolved to acknowledge his son, Richard Cromwell, as the head of the English government; and when, by his resignation and the death of their governor, (1660,) the destinies of Virginia scemed fallen entirely in their hands, they resolved that the supreme power should be lodged in their own body, and that all writs should issue in its name, "until there shall arrive from England a commission, which the assembly itself shall judge to be lawful." The prospect of the Restoration was hailed with joy by Virginia, and the election of Sir William Berkeley to the office of governor, was an earnest of its renewed loyalty. That faithful adherent to the House of Stuart, in accepting the office, however, expressly acknowledged the authority of the assembly, of which, he said, he was but a servant, and waited eagerly for news of the rëerection of the monarchy.

During the civil wars, the parliamentary government, and the Protectorate, Virginia had been steadily gaining, by precedent, fortifications to her system of self-government. Commerce was free, (for the Navigation Act soon became a dead letter,) and religious toleration (except to the Quakers, a sect at that time almost universally proscribed) was fully established. Universal suffrage of freemen prevailed, and in consequence of the fertility of the soil, and the high price commanded by the staple production, tobacco, remarkable prosperity prevailed. These advantages, unalloyed by any act of oppression by the home government, had rendered the province one of the most desirable places of residence in America. The elevation of Charles II. to the throne of his fathers, marked by

the northern colonies with such gloomy forebodings, was received with exultation by Virginia. Berkeley at once reassumed his official functions, under the royal authority, and, in the king's name, summoned an assembly, which, from its loyalist composition, clearly indicated the prevalent sympathy of the colony. With strange indifference to the blessings the country had enjoyed under selfgovernment, the dominant party at once proceeded to pass acts of an arbitrary and intolerant nature. Suffrage was restricted to freeholders and householders, the English Church was exclusively rëestablished, and the persecution of dissenters, which had before compelled them to seek refuge in other colonies, was renewed. The assembly, like the Long Parliament, made its sitting, in a manner, perpetual, the members retaining their seats for more than ten years, and, finally, dissolving only when compelled by necessity The restoration of arbitrary power was systematically pursued.

The rëerection of the monarchy, to which Virginia had looked with such sanguine hope, was presently the means of inflicting great evil on the colony. The provisions of the Navigation Act, restricting all commerce to the parent-country, had been evaded or disregarded at an early day by the American provinces, and had latterly fallen into complete disuse. This obnoxious statute was now rëenacted with increased strictness, and enforced with practical rigour— the influence of the London merchants, who derived great profits from the monopoly, proving sufficient to outweigh all the complaints and remonstrances of the colonists. In vain did Berkeley, deputed by the Virginians, repair to court, and urge on the ear of the king, with all the influence which his ancient loyalty could command, the disastrous effects produced on the province by this arbitrary restriction of its growing intercourse with European nations, and complain that the disloyal colonies of New England were suffered to set the act in question at nought, while the faithful province of Virginia was forced to a strict compliance. His remonstrances availed nothing, and thus the first fruit which Virginia reaped from the Restoration, long cherished with such ardent expectation, was the infliction of a monopoly calculated greatly to retard her progress and impair her prosperity.