BACON'S REBELLION.

47

cumstance had cut him off from all hope of promotion by the regular government of the colony, and his ambition took another direction. He inveighed, with much warmth and eloquence, against what he termed the inertness and neglect of the governor, in the conduct of the frontier war: and declaring that the whole Indian race might easily be exterminated, he exhorted the people to take up arms in their own defence, and, by one vigorous campaign, to terminate the war.

His harangue was successful. A great number of the people were soon embodied for an expedition against the Indians; and, having elected Bacon for their general, placed themselves entirely at his disposal. To sanction the authority he had acquired, or to create an open breach with the existing government, he applied to the governor for a confirmation of his election, and offered instantly to march against the common enemy. Berkeley temporised, and when pressed for a decision, issued a proclamation, commanding the multitude, in the king's name, to disperse immediately, under the penalties of rebellion.

Bacon, by no means disconcerted at this turn of affairs, marched directly to Jamestown, at the head of six hundred of his followers; and, surrounding the house where the governor and assembly were met, he demanded the commission in a tone not to be mistaken. Berkeley refused with firmness, and ́ presenting himself to the conspirators, who had charged him with cowardice, he undauntedly exposed his breast to their weapons, and awaited the result. The council, less courageous than their leader, hastily prepared a commission, appointing Bacon captain general of all the forces in Virginia, and by dint of earnest entreaty, prevailed on the governor to sign it.

The insurgents raised a shout of triumph and retired; and the assembly, feeling their courage suddenly revive with the departure of the danger, voted a resolution, annulling the commission they had just granted, as having been extorted by force, denouncing Bacon as a rebel, and commanding his followers to deliver him up. The governor readily confirmed this act of the assembly.

Bacon and his army could now charge their opponents with baseness and treachery; and give their own cause a colour of justice. They returned to Jamestown; and the governor was obliged to retire to Acomac on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. Some of the councillors accompanied him; the rest

48

CIVIL WAR IN VIRGINIA.

returned to their plantations; and the government of the colony remained in the hands of the popular leader.

Having acquired the actual power, Bacon now sought to give it a legitimate form. He therefore assembled the gentlemen of the country in convention and prevailed on a large number of them to pledge themselves by oath to support his authority, and resist his enemies.' A declaration was published in the name of the convention, charging the origin of the civil war upon Sir William Berkeley, setting forth that he had given information to the king that the general and his followers were rebels, and requiring the people to support the general by aid, and allegiance against all forces whatsoever, till the king should be informed of the true state of the case. This declaration united the great body of the people in Virginia, and even found some advocates in England.

Berkeley, in the meantime, retaining some adherents among the planters, induced them to take up arms, and having raised some recruits among the crews of the English shipping on the coast, with their united force, he commenced a series of attacks on the insurgents, with various success. The colony was now in a state of civil war. Jamestown was burnt by Bacon's party; the estates of the loyalists were plundered, their families seized as hostages, and the richest plantations in the province ravaged. The governor retaliated these outrages and executed some of the insurgents by martial law. A war of extermination was threatened.

Meantime intelligence of the rebellion had reached England. The king had issued a proclamation declaring Bacon a traitor, and the sole author of the insurrection, granting pardon to those of his followers who would forsake him; and offering freedom to all slaves who would aid in suppressing the revolt. An armament under Sir John Berry had sailed from England to assist the governor in his warfare.

Bacon heard the intelligence of these operations without dismay. He counted on the devotion of his adherents, and determined to resist to the last extremity. He had already proclaimed a general forfeiture of all the property of his opponents, and was preparing to take the field anew, when his career was suddenly arrested by an unforeseen contingency. When just ready to strike the blow which was to annihilate the opposition of his enemies, he suddenly sickened and died.

So completely had he been the soul of his party, that his death was the signal for its immediate dissolution. Without

VIRGINIA RETAINS HER FREEDOM.

49

any attempt at reorganization-without any choice of a new leader, they entered into terms with Sir William Berkeley and laid down their arms on condition of receiving a general pardon. (1676.)

This rebellion, which had placed the colony for seven months under the direction of a most reckless usurper, might have terminated in its complete ruin. It cost many valuable lives, and occasioned the loss of property to a very large amount. It failed, however, to convey to the mother country the lesson that it was unsafe and impolitic to oppress the colonies by restrictions on their commerce. Had the signs which it held forth been properly understood by the British government, the revolution of 1776 might have been delayed to a much later period.

The succeeding period in the history of Virginia is marked with few incidents of importance. The succession of the different governors and the continuance of the commercial restrictions are the only circumstances of note during the subsequent portion of the reign of Charles II. and that of James II.

The revolution of the British government which took place in 1688 was highly beneficial to Virginia, in common with the other American colonies. The new sovereigns, William and Mary, gave their patronage and their name to a college which had been projected in the preceding reign, and which is to this day one of the most respectable literary seminaries in the country.

The political freedom, which the revolution confirmed and established in England, extended many of its blessings to Virginia. The province became less dependent on the will of the sovereign, and although he had still the appointment of the governors, the influence of the colonial assemblies was sufficient to restrain those functionaries within such boundaries of authority as were requisite for the well being of the colony. Favouritism and religious intolerance disappeared; and a better understanding prevailed with the other provincial go

vernments.

The population had increased to upwards of 60,000 souls; and the increasing healthfulness of the settlements promised a still more rapid augmentation of their numbers. In 1688, the province contained forty-eight parishes, embracing upwards of 200,000 acres of appropriated land. Each parish contained a church, with a parsonage house and glebe attached; and each clergyman was by law assigned a salary of 16,000 pounds of

F

50

SETTLEMENT OF MARYLAND.

tobacco. Episcopacy continued to be the established religion, but dissenters were increasing so rapidly, that before the American revolution they amounted to two-thirds of the whole population. The statutes against them, though unrepealed, had become a dead letter.

CHAPTER IX.

SETTLEMENT OF MARYLAND.

By its second charter, Virginia included the whole territory which at present forms the state of Maryland. The country was explored by the Virginia settlers as early as 1621; a settlement was formed, and a trade with the Indians in furs established. An attempt was made. to monopolise this trade by William Clayborne, a man of active and turbulent disposition, who long exerted an extensive and injurious influence over the fortunes of the rising state.

He had come out from England as a surveyor in 1621, and had sustained important offices in Virginia till 1629, when he was employed to survey the Chesapeake bay. The information which he obtained in executing this undertaking, induced him to form a company in England for trading with the Indians; and he obtained a royal licence, giving him the direc- · tion of an expedition for this purpose in 1631. Under these auspices trading establishments were formed on Kent Island in Maryland, and also near the mouth of the Susquehannah. Clayborne's authority was confirmed by a commission from the government of Virginia, and that colony claimed the advantages which were expected to result from commercial speculation extending far to the north of the present limits of the state of Virginia.

But a distinct colony was now formed on her borders under the auspices of the Calvert family. Sir George Calvert, a Roman catholic nobleman of enlarged capacity and liberal views, had become interested in American colonisation. He had spent a large amount of time and money in unsuccessful attempts to form settlements on Newfoundland. In 1628, he visited Virginia; but was deterred from settling within its limits by the intolerance of the colonial government towards his religious opinions.

CHARTER OF MARYLAND.

51

He therefore turned his attention towards the country beyond the Potomac; and, finding it at the disposal of the king of England, he easily obtained from him a charter for colonising it. This charter was of a liberal character, affording ample guarantees for the freedom of the colonists, and the rights and privileges of the proprietary. The boundaries which it prescribed were the Atlantic Ocean, the fortieth parallel of north latitude, the meridian of the western fountain of the Potomac, the river itself from its mouth to its source, and a line drawn due east from Watkins's Point to the ocean. The name given to the new colony was Maryland, in honour of Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV. of France, and wife of Charles I. of England.

The charter assigned the country to Calvert, Lord Baltimore, his heirs and assigns, as absolute lord and proprietary, on payment of a feudal rent of two Indian arrows, and onefifth of all gold and silver ore which might be discovered. The right of legislation was given to the emigrants who should settle on the soil. They were also protected from injury by the proprietary, to their lives, liberty, or estates.

Although Sir George Calvert was a Roman Catholic, he allowed the most perfect religious liberty to the colonists under his charter; and Maryland was the first state in the world in which perfect religious freedom was enjoyed. All English subjects, without distinction, were allowed equal rights in respect to property and religious and civil franchises.

royal exemption from English taxation was another singular privilege obtained by Lord Baltimore for the people of his colony. All the extraordinary features of his charter owe their origin to the political foresight and sagacity of this remarkable man.

'Calvert,' says Mr. Bancroft, 'deserves to be ranked among the most wise and benevolent lawgivers of all ages. He was the first in the history of the Christian world to seek for religious security and peace by the practice of justice, and not by the exercise of power; to plan the establishment of popular institutions with the enjoyment of liberty of conscience; to advance the career of civilisation by recognising the rightful equality of all Christian sects. The asylum of papists was the spot where, in a remote corner of the world, on the banks of rivers, which as yet had hardly been explored, the mild forbearance of a proprietary adopted religious freedom as the basis of the state.'