Warrenton, Virginia

“ Warren is situated midway between Barrington and Bristol, on an arm of Narragansett Bay, and is bounded on the north and east by the State of Massachusetts. A glance at the map of Rhode Island will show the reader that, at Warren, which is farther inland than either of its sister towns, the Wampanoags were, in a great measure, protected from the danger of sudden attack by their enemies, the Narragansetts who dwelt upon the opposite shore of the bay, [2] and that, in case of hostile invasion, they were easily able to retire to less exposed portions of their domains. ”

“ Thinking Virginians of today cannot but be gratified that the old erroneous belief concerning the origin of the aristocracy is being swept away. Why it should ever have been a matter of pride with old families to point to the English nobility of the 17th century as the class from which they sprang is not easy to understand. The lords of that day were usually corrupt, unscrupulous and quite unfit to found vigorous families in the "wilderness of America." How much better it is to know that the aristocracy of the colony was a product of Virginia itself! ”

“ Moreover, in addition to the comparatively small class of Puritans, there must have been in the colony hundreds of men, loyal to the established church, who yet desired a more liberal government both in England and in Virginia. A strong middle class was developing which must have looked with sympathy upon the cause of the English Commons and with jealousy upon the power of the Virginia Governor and his Council. There is positive evidence that many poor men had been coming to Virginia from very early times, paying their own passage and establishing themselves as peasant proprietors. ”

“ In the midst of their suffering the people looked back on the Commonwealth period as a golden era. Then they had enjoyed self-government; now their representatives had be [Pg 82] trayed them. Then the trade with the Dutch had brought prosperity; now the Navigation Acts had made their tobacco almost worthless and reduced them to rags. Then men were advanced to places of trust and honor because of their ability; now the chief offices were reserved for those who toadied to the Governor. Then taxes had been moderate ”

“ In substance the first four declared that Virginians from the first settlement had possessed all the privileges of the people of Great Britain, that these privileges had been confirmed to them by two royal charters, that the taxation of the people by themselves was the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and that the people of the colony had never forfeited the right to be governed by their own Assembly in the articles of taxation and internal policy. ”

“ In his perplexity the Governor now made a radical suggestion to the Board of Trade. "I think it impossible to conduct any expedition in these parts with a dependence on the Assemblies for supplies, without a British act of Parliament to lay a poll tax on the whole subjects of these provinces, to bring them to a sense of their duty to the King, to awaken them from their insolence, to take care of their lives and fortunes." [21]
It is easy to imagine the storm of indignation this would have raised in Virginia had the people known of it. ”

“ Thus was self-government established in the colony. In England the clash of arms and the struggle of class and religious groups resulted, not in establishing a republic, but only in exchanging one despot for another. But though Virginia had played but an insignificant role in the great drama, she reaped [Pg 68] a full reward. For the next eight years it was the people who ruled through their representatives in the House of Burgesses.
And the people, most of them at heart still loyal to the monarchy, would tolerate no persecution of the King's friends. ”

“ In spite, therefore, of the rolling years, and of civil war, and emancipation, the Northern Neck of Virginia is in many respects much what it was when George Washington and Light Horse Harry Lee were born a month apart in the quaint and lovely old Westmoreland of the year 1732. The visitor to Mount Vernon comes away with a strong impression of Washington, the local magnate and world-wide hero. But Mount Vernon, in spite of its tomb and its relics, many of them actually used and handled by Washington himself, can hardly give one the eighteenth century atmosphere. ”

“ Despite their revolutionary activities, the members of the Assembly maintained cordial relations with the Governor. When Lady Dunmore joined her husband earlier in the spring, she was greeted with cheers by the people of Williamsburg. On May 26, the Burgesses gave a ball and entertainment in the Capitol in her honor. My lady seems to have been a most graceful dancer. When she and the Governor visited Norfolk where a ball was given them, the city authorities sent to Princess Anne [Pg 240] County for Colonel Moseley to come "with his famous wig and shining buckles" to dance the minuet with her. ”

“ Thus the Commonwealth period in Virginia came to an end. No longer was the Assembly to be the supreme power, selecting the Governor and Council, and controlling local government. The old struggle for self-government had to be resumed; the representatives of the people again had to steel themselves against the encroachments of arbitrary Kings and arbitrary Governors. More than a century was to elapse before the rights surrendered when Charles II was proclaimed were regained. ”

“ The Glorious Revolution was a victory for liberty even more important to Virginia than to England. It brought to an end those attacks of the English government upon the representative institutions of the colony that had marked the past ten years. It confirmed to the people the rights that had been guaranteed them, through a long series of patents dating back as far as 1606, and rendered impossible for all time the illegal oppressions of such men as Harvey, Berkeley, Cul [Pg 257] peper and Effingham. ”

“ Encouraged by the discovery in Virginia of so profitable a commodity, the Company became convinced that now at last success was at hand. "Broadsides" were sent out to the British people, depicting in glowing terms the advantages of the country, and asking for immigrants and for financial support. Once more a wave of enthusiasm for the enterprise swept over England. Money was contributed liberally. The clergy, interested in the spread of the Anglican Church, and in the conversion of the savages, worked ardently for the success of the colony. ”

“ There was great excitement in Williamsburg when the delegates arrived to take their seats in the Hall of Burgesses for the opening of the convention. The crowds which filled the gallery must have pointed out each distinguished member as he entered—the aged Richard Bland; George Mason, his black hair now showing a touch of gray; Patrick Henry, in the plain garb he always wore; Richard Henry Lee, who had been called from Congress by the illness of his wife; James Madison, a small delicate young man, widely known as a scholar and political thinker ”

“ They remembered that it was he who had brought over the Virginia Magna Carta, and had called the first Assembly. We have lost "a main pillar of this our building and thereby a support to the whole body," wrote the Council. [1]
[Pg 37] Their concern must have been all the greater because Yeardley's commission of March 14, 1626, named John Harvey as his successor. The Virginians knew this man well. He had been one of the King's commissioners who came to the colony in 1624 to draw up a report on conditions there to be used in overthrowing the charter of the Company. ”

“ For the next fifteen years Washington's life at Mount Vernon, where he made his home after his marriage, was that of a typical Virginia planter of the more prosperous sort, a consistent member and vestryman of the Established (Episcopal) Church, a large slave-holder, a strict but considerate master, and a widely trusted man of affairs. ”

“ But that Lord De la Warr proved to be a mild and just Governor by no means obscures the evils inherent in absolutism. A good ruler may be succeeded by a bad one. In ancient Rome the people benefited by the establishing of law and order under the great Augustus, but they suffered from the cruelty of the insane Caligula and the dissolute Nero. So it boded no good for Virginia when De la Warr fell ill. ”

“ With many families becoming rich through the settlement of the West and the growth of the tobacco trade, with many hundreds of small farmers acquiring a degree of well-being by the purchase of a few slaves, with no immediate threat from the Indians on the frontier, with Governor and Council maintaining cordial relations, with the Governor cooperating with the Assembly and not trying to dominate it, with rapid strides being made toward the goal of self-government, the years of Gooch's administration may aptly be termed the golden era of Virginia colonial history. ”

“ This was the view taken six decades later by Francis Moryson and Thomas Ludwell, agents for the colony. If the King planted a colony of Englishmen, they and their heirs ought by law to enjoy the "same liberties and privileges as Englishmen in England." After all, the colony would be but "an extension or dilation of the realm of England." [1]
[Pg 2] The men who came to Virginia had, in the mother country, participated in the government through representatives of their own choosing, so they insisted upon this right in their new home. ”

“ It is highly probable that the bulk of the assortments suggested by these writers were brought over by every man who entered Virginia with the intention of acquiring an interest more or less extensive in its soil. The agent who was in correspondence with Sir Edward Verney in 1634, respecting the course to be pursued on the removal of Sir Edward’s son to the Colony, where he designed to establish himself as a planter, stated that the cost entailed in the purchase of goods and in the transportation of the required number of servants would come to fifty-six pounds sterling. ”

“ Not only was this constitution undemocratic, but it proved inefficient. Had the Council in England made better selections for the Council in Virginia, the colony would have been saved much disorder and suffering. But never was there a more quarrelsome set of men. The fleet had been at sea but a few days when Captain John Smith was accused of plotting to overthrow the government and murder his associates, and was kept in prison below decks. Only some weeks after the landing at Jamestown was he released and permitted to take his seat on the Council. ”

“ As a last hope the Company resolved to seek the assistance of Parliament. A petition was drawn up to be presented to the Commons, and the shareholders that were members of that body were requested to give it their strenuous support when it came up for consideration. The petition referred to Virginia as a "child of the Kingdom, exposed as in the wilderness to extreme danger and as it were fainting and labouring for life", and it prayed the House to hear "the grievances of the Colony and Company, and grant them redress". ”

“ Of the ability and justice of the Governor Virginia had had ample experience during the ten years of his first administration.
Never was a people doomed to more bitter disappointment. The years which followed the Restoration were crowded with misfortunes greater than any that had befallen the colony since the ghastly days of the Great Sickness. Charles II, far from showing gratitude to his Old Dominion, overwhelmed it with injustice and oppression. The Virginians were crushed with tremendous duties on their tobacco and with ruinous restrictions upon their trade. ”

“ The universal discontent was still further increased by the wasteful and lax use of public funds. The money which was wrung from the poor people by these unequal taxes, was seldom wisely or economically expended. Much was squandered upon foolish projects, costly in the extreme, and impossible of accomplishment. Such was the attempt to build a city at Jamestown. For many years it had been a matter of regret to the English government that Virginia should remain so entirely a rural country. ”

“ It would make the restoration in Virginia easy and peaceful, for the staunchest republican would not dare resist, with Charles II on his throne and Sir William Berkeley ruling at Jamestown. Moreover, it could but please [Pg 111] the King and recommend the colony to his favor. On the other hand, the Assembly was careful to reserve all real authority to itself. Sir William was to be its servant, not its master. If, out of the confusion in England, should emerge a real republic, they could force the Governor either to acknowledge the new power or to resign his commission. ”

“ One has only to glance down the list of Burgesses to find many of the proudest names in colonial Virginia—Page, Harrison, Fairfax, Randolph, Burwell, Carter, Ball, Wormeley, Digges, Spotswood, Lee, Byrd, Claiborne, etc. So the aristocrat as well as the small farmer, the wealthy easterner as well as the pioneer of Orange or Albemarle, or the German of Frederick looked to the House to protect their interests.
While the leadership of the House continued to be aristocratic, the rank and file grew more democratic. The open spaces of America fostered a spirit of independence. ”

“ Turning to Orme he remarked, "We shall better know how to deal with them another time;" and in a few moments expired, at eight o'clock, in the evening of Sunday, the 13th of July, 1755, at the Great Meadows. On the next morning he was buried in the road, near Fort Necessity, Washington, in the absence of the chaplain, who was wounded, reading the funeral service. Washington retired to Mount Vernon, oppressed with the sad retrospect of the recent disaster. But his reputation was greatly elevated by his signal gallantry on this occasion. Such dreary portals open the road of fame. ”