History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia Part 35

[402:B] Spotsylvania, named from the first syllable of the governor's name, compounded with a Latinized termination answering to the other syllable--a sort of conceit.

[403:A] Hening, iv. 32, 91.

[404:A] Introduction, ii. 78.

[405:A] Westover MSS., 132.

[407:A] Bishop Meade's Old Churches, etc., 227.

[407:B] This MS., after remaining long in the Spotswood family of Virginia, was at length communicated to an English gentleman then in this country, and it is supposed to be still in his possession in Europe. It is much to be regretted that there is no copy of it in Virginia.

[407:C] Westover MSS., 36.

[408:A] Westover MSS., 135.

[408:B] Was.h.i.+ngton's Writings, ii. 239, 252.

[408:C] Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution, ii. 471. This work is a reservoir of valuable information.

[409:A] Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; Burke's Landed Gentry, ii., art.

SPOTTISWOOD.

[409:B] See Hist. of St. George's Parish, by Rev. Philip Slaughter, 55, and Bishop Meade's Old Churches, etc., ii. 77.

[409:C] 1852.

[409:D] Letter of Andrew Spottiswoode, Esq., written in 1852, to Rev.

John B. Spotswood, of New Castle, Delaware.

[409:E] Beattie's Scotland Ill.u.s.trated, i. 31.

[409:F] _Arms of Governor Spotswood._--Argent, a cheveron gules, between three oak-trees eradicate, vert. Supporters, two satyrs proper. Crest: an eagle displayed gules, looking to the sun in his splendor, proper.

Motto: "Patior ut potiar." Chief seat: at the old Castle of Spotswood, in Berwicks.h.i.+re.--(_Burke's Landed Gentry._)

CHAPTER LIV.

1722-1726.

Drysdale, Governor--Intemperance among the Clergy--The Rev.

Mr. Lang's Testimony--Acts of a.s.sembly--Death of Governor Drysdale--Colonel Robert Carter, President--Called King Carter--Notice of his Family.

IN the month of September, 1722, Hugh Drysdale a.s.sumed the administration of Virginia, amid the prosperity bequeathed him by his predecessor, and being a man of mediocre calibre, yielded to the current of the day, solicitous only to retain his place. Commissary Blair wished the governor, when a vacancy of more than six months occurred, to send and induct a minister as by law directed; but what Spotswood had not been bold enough to do, Drysdale feared to undertake without the authority of a royal order. Opinion is queen of the world.

There were frequent complaints of the scandalous lives of some of the clergy; but it was difficult to obtain positive proof, there being many who would cry out against such, and yet would not appear as witnesses to convict them. Intemperance appears to have been the predominant evil among the clergy, as it was also among the laity.

The Rev. Mr. Lang, who was highly recommended by the governor and commissary, wrote, in 1726, to the Bishop of London: "I observe the people here are very zealous for our holy church, as it is established in England, so that (except some few inconsiderable Quakers) there are scarce any dissenters from our communion; and yet, at the same time, the people are supinely ignorant in the very principles of religion, and very debauched in morals. This, I apprehend, is owing to the general neglect of the clergy in not taking pains to instruct youth in the fundamentals of religion, or to examine people come to years of discretion, before they are permitted to come to church privileges."

Referring to the prevailing evils he says: "The great cause of all which I humbly conceive to be in the clergy, the sober part being slothful and negligent, and others so debauched that they are the foremost and most bent on all manner of vices. Drunkenness is the common vice."

Mr. Lang was minister of the parish of St. Peters, in New Kent County.[412:A] The religious instruction of the negroes was for the most part neglected. There were no schools for the education of the children of the common people; no parish libraries.

The a.s.sembly was held from time to time, according to long established custom, by writ of prorogation; the people being thus deprived of the right of frequent elections. An act regulating the importation of convicts was rejected by the board of trade. To relieve the people from a poll-tax a duty was laid on the importation of liquors and slaves, but owing to the opposition of the African Company and interested traders, the measure was repealed as an encroachment on the trade of England.

Acts prohibiting the importation of negro slaves were repeatedly pa.s.sed by New York, Maryland, and South Carolina, and were invariably rejected in England. Governor Drysdale congratulated the Duke of Newcastle "that the benign influence of his auspicious sovereign was conspicuous here in a general harmony and contentment among all ranks of persons." Hugh Drysdale dying in July, 1726, and Colonel Edmund Jennings, next in order of succession, being suspended, (for what cause does not appear,) Colonel Robert Carter succeeded as president of the council. This gentleman, owing to the extent of his landed possessions, and to his being agent of Lord Fairfax, proprietary of a vast territory in the Northern Neck, between the Potomac and the Rappahannock, acquired the sobriquet of "King Carter." He was speaker of the house of burgesses for six years, treasurer of the colony, and for many years member of the council, and as president of that body he was at the head of the government upwards of a year. He lived at Corotoman, on the Rappahannock, in Lancaster County. Here a church was completed in the year 1670, under the direction of John Carter, first of the family in Virginia, who came over from England, 1649. A fine old church was built about 1732 by Robert Carter, on the site of the former one, and is still in good preservation. He married first Judith Armistead, second a widow, whose maiden name was Betty Landon, of the ancient family of that name, of Grednal, in Hereford County, England, by whom he left many children. His portrait and that of one of his wives, are preserved at s.h.i.+rley, on James River, seat of Hill Carter, Esq.[413:A] The first John Carter was a member of the house of burgesses for Upper Norfolk County, now Nansemond, in 1649 and in 1654, and subsequently for Lancaster County. Colonel Edward Carter was, in 1658, burgess for Upper Norfolk, and in 1660 member of the council.

FOOTNOTES:

[412:A] Old Churches, i. 385.

[413:A] The Carter arms bear cart-wheels, vert.

CHAPTER LV.

1727-1740.

William Gooch, Governor--The Dividing Line--Miscellaneous-- Colonel Byrd's Opinion of New England--John Holloway--William Hopkins--Earl of Orkney--Expedition against Carthagena--Gooch commands the Virginia Regiment--Lawrence Was.h.i.+ngton--Failure of attack on Carthagena--Georgia recruits Soldiers in Virginia to resist the Spaniards--Acts of a.s.sembly--Printing in Virginia--In other Colonies--The Williamsburg Gazette-- Miscellaneous Items--Proceedings at opening of General a.s.sembly--Sir John Randolph, Speaker--Governor Gooch's Speech-- Richmond laid off--Captain William Byrd--Bacon Quarter--Colonel Byrd and others plan Richmond and Petersburg in 1733--Virginia Gazette--The Mails.

IN June, 1727, George the Second succeeded his father in the throne of England. About the middle of October, William Gooch, a native of Scotland, who had been an officer in the British army, became Governor of Virginia. The council, without authority, allowed him three hundred pounds out of the royal quit-rents, and he in return resigned, in a great measure, the helm of government to them. Owing partly to this coalition, partly to a well-established revenue and a rigid economy, Virginia enjoyed prosperous repose during his long administration. There was at this time one Presbyterian congregation in Virginia, and preachers from the Philadelphia Synod visited the colony.

During the year 1728 the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina was run by Colonel Byrd and Messrs. Fitzwilliam and Dandridge, commissioners in behalf of Virginia, and others in behalf of North Carolina. "A History of the Dividing Line," by Colonel Byrd, has been published in a work ent.i.tled the "Westover MSS.;"[414:A] it contains graphic descriptions of the country pa.s.sed through, its productions, and natural history. The author was a learned man and accurate observer.

There remained in their native seat two hundred Nottoway Indians, the only tribe of any consequence surviving in Virginia.

There were also still remains of the Pamunkey tribe, but reduced to a small number, and intermixed in blood. The rest of the native tribes had either removed beyond the limits of the colony, or dwindled to a mere handful by war, disease, and intemperance. An act of parliament prohibiting the exportation of stripped or stemmed tobacco was complained of by the planters as causing a decline of the trade. They undertook to enhance the value by improving its quality, and in July, 1732, sent John Randolph to lay their complaint before the crown.

With this accomplished and able man, afterwards knighted, and made attorney-general, Governor Spotswood was engaged in an angry personal controversy in the _Williamsburg Gazette_. The merits of the dispute cannot now be ascertained. Spotswood claims to have been Randolph's benefactor, and to have been the first to promote him in the world.

Virginia, notwithstanding some obstacles in the way of her trade, continued to prosper, and from the year 1700 her population doubled in twenty-five years. The New England Colonies improved still more. Colonel Byrd said of them: "Though these people may be ridiculed for some Pharisaical particularities in their wors.h.i.+p and behavior, yet they were very useful subjects, as being frugal and industrious, giving no scandal or bad example, at least by any open and public vices. By which excellent qualities they had much the advantage of the Southern Colony, who thought their being members of the established church sufficient to sanctify very loose and profligate morals. For this reason New England improved much faster than Virginia, and in seven or eight years New Plymouth, like Switzerland, seemed too narrow a territory for its inhabitants."[415:A]

Boston, the princ.i.p.al town in the Anglo-American Colonies, founded in 1630, contained, in 1733, eight thousand houses and forty thousand inhabitants; and its s.h.i.+pping and trade were already extensive.

In 1734 died John Holloway, Esq., who for thirty years had practised the law with great reputation and success. He was for fourteen years speaker of the house of burgesses, and eleven years treasurer. A native of England, he had first served as a clerk, then went into the army in Ireland early in the reign of King William the Third; next came to be one of the attorneys of the Marshalsea Court; afterwards turned projector, and being unfortunate, came over to Maryland, and thence removed to Virginia. He is described by Sir John Randolph as more distinguished for industry than for learning, and as relying more upon the subtle artifice of an attorney, than the solid reasoning of a lawyer. His opinions, however, were looked upon as authoritative; and clients thought themselves fortunate if they could engage his services upon any terms, and his fees were often exorbitant. He is portrayed by Sir John as haughty, pa.s.sionate, and inhospitable; yet it seems difficult to reconcile this with his acknowledged popularity and predominant influence. In friends.h.i.+p he was sincere but inconstant. His management of the treasury contributed to the ruin of his fortune, and involved him in disgrace. But this account of him must be taken with allowance.

About the same time died, in London, William Hopkins, Esq., another lawyer, who had practised in Virginia about twelve years. He was well educated, understanding Latin and French well, and gifted with a retentive memory, quick penetration, sound judgment, and a handsome person. In spite of some defects of manner, he acquired a large practice, which he neglected, owing to the versatility of a mind fond of various knowledge. In fees he was moderate, in argument candid and fair, never disputing plain points. He is taxed by Sir John Randolph with an overweening vanity, which made him jealous of any other standing on a level with him; but as there had been a personal falling out between them, his testimony in regard to this particular is ent.i.tled to the less weight. Mr. Hopkins appears to have been a man of high order; and his premature death, in the flower of his age, was a loss to be deplored by Virginia.[416:A]

The Earl of Orkney died at his house in Albemarle Street, London, January, 1737, in the seventy-first year of his age. His t.i.tles were Earl of Orkney, one of the Sixteen Scottish Peers, Governor of Virginia, Constable, Governor and Captain of Edinburgh Castle, Knight of the most ancient and most honorable order of the Thistle, one of his Majesty's Field Marshals, and Colonel of a regiment of foot. By his death his t.i.tle became extinct. He left a very large fortune.

During the administration of Governor Gooch, troops for the first time were transported from the colonies to co-operate with the forces of the mother country in offensive war. An attack upon Carthagena being determined on, Gooch raised four hundred men as Virginia's quota, and the a.s.sembly appropriated five thousand pounds for their support.

Major-General Sir Alexander Spotswood, who had been appointed to the command of the troops raised in the colonies, consisting of a regiment of four battalions, dying at Annapolis, when on the eve of embarcation, Governor Gooch a.s.sumed command of the expedition. The colonial troops joined those sent out from England, at Jamaica. The amount of Virginia's appropriation on this occasion exceeding the sum in the treasury, the remainder was borrowed from wealthy men, with a view to avoid the frauds of depreciation, and to secure the benefits of circulation. Lawrence Was.h.i.+ngton, half-brother of George, and fourteen years older, obtained a captain's commission in the newly-raised regiment, and, being now twenty years of age, embarked with it for the West Indies in 1740.[417:A] An accomplished gentleman, educated in England, he acquired the esteem of General Wentworth and Admiral Vernon, the commanders of the British forces, and after the latter named his seat on the Potomac. The attack upon Carthagena was unsuccessful; the s.h.i.+ps not getting near enough to throw their sh.e.l.ls into the town, and the scaling-ladders of the soldiers proving to be too short. That part of the attack in which Lawrence Was.h.i.+ngton was present, sustained, unflinching, a destructive fire for several hours. The small land force engaged on this occasion lost no less than six hundred killed and wounded.

Shortly after the failure at Carthagena, an express from South Carolina brought tidings that the Spaniards had made a descent upon Georgia; and Captain Dandridge, commander of the South Sea Castle, together with the "snows" Hawk and Swift, was dispatched to the a.s.sistance of General Oglethorpe. The Spaniards were repulsed. Georgia being still threatened by a Spanish force concentrated at St. Augustine, in Florida, Oglethorpe sent Lieutenant-Colonel Heron to recruit a regiment in Virginia. Captain Lawrence Was.h.i.+ngton, with a number of officers and soldiers of Gooch's Carthagena Regiment, recently discharged, just now arriving at Hampton, and meeting with Heron, many of them enlisted again under him.