that Berke All this would seem to be quite plain ley was invested with power as "Governor and Captain General of Virginia" by the Burgesses of Virginia, and held his office from them. It is true that it was nearly the same as holding it from the King. The Assembly was full Cavalier, and a single word in their assertion of authority revealed their thought. They assumed the government of Virginia in the absence of any The "resident" confessed power in England. non-resident confessed power was Charles II., then on the Continent, and they thus acknowledged him. When he came to his throne again in May following this March, he sent Berkeley a new commission; and in October of the same year (1660), the ruler of Virginia is again "the Right Honourable Sir William Berkeley, his Majesties Governor." So the exile of Greenspring, after all his ups and downs, comes back to his Jamestown ، State House," and will remain there in peace until Bacon marches to thrust him out, and put the torch to it. : XI. VIRGINIA ON THE EVE OF THE REBELLION. VIRGINIA had thus come back to the royal fold, not suspecting that she was about to be fleeced. As yet, however, there were no heart-burnings, and the only event which disturbed the harmony of the time was without significance. This was the "Oliverian Plot," as it was called at the time, in September, 1663. A number of indented servants conspired to "anticipate the period of their freedom," and made an appointment to assemble at Poplar Spring in Gloucester, with what precise designs it is now impossible to discover. They were betrayed by one of their number; and Berkeley promptly arrested all who had assembled, four of whom were duly hanged. No men of any consideration were engaged in the plot, and its only result was that the Burgesses ordered that thenceforth twenty guardsmen and an officer should attend upon the House and the Governor (1663). The stigma of the time was the merciless intolerance towards the Friends, or Quakers. Here as elsewhere in America they were treated with a harshness which disgraces the epoch. They were denounced as "turbulent people teaching lies, miracles, false visions and prophecies," as disorganizers and enemies of society. They were to be fined for non-attendance on the services of the Established Church. They were not to attend their own conventicles, and no ship-master was to bring them into the colony. No person was to receive them into his house; and Mr. John Porter, Burgess from Lower Norfolk, charged with being "loving to the Quakers,” was dismissed from the Assembly as one unworthy to sit in it. The poor Quakers were to go out of Virginia and no more were to come in. If they insisted on returning they were to be treated as felons. There were other classes of people, also, who were looked upon with the same evil eye; among them the new sect of Baptists, "schismatical persons so averse to the established religion, and so filled with the newfangled conceits of their heretical inventions as to refuse to have their children baptized." Their own ceremony was, of course, a mockery, and all refusing "in contempt of the divine sacrament of baptism to carry their child to a lawful minister to have them baptized, shall be amerced two thousand pounds of tobacco" (1662). It is scarce worth while to take up further space with these unhappy persecutions. The poor apology of the Virginians was that other people were no better. For about ten years now the Colony goes on its way in a humdrum fashion, passing laws for the regulation of its internal affairs. The King's pardon is not to extend to such persons as plant tobacco contrary to the Virginia statute (1661). In each county are to be built houses for "educating poor children in the knowledge of spinning, weaving, and other useful occupations" (1668). Rogues are to be held in awe, and " women causing scandalous suits" are to be "ducked." To accomplish these just ends "a pillory, a pair of stocks, a whipping-post, and a ducking-stool" shall be set up "neere the court house in every county." The ducking-stool is a pole with a seat upon one end so balanced on a pivot, near some convenient pond or stream, that the offender, placed on the seat, may be once, twice, or thrice dipped down and "ducked" for her offense. This dire punishment is not for the mere harmless circulators of interesting personal gossip, but for "brabling women who often slander and scandalize their neighbours, for which their poore husbands are often brought into chargeable and vexatious suits and cast in great damages." These are to be "punished by ducking”. melancholy proof that even in these Arcadian days the tongue required control. a A single event of political importance marks this period: the restriction of the elective franchise to “ffreeholders and housekeepers" (1670). This is attributed as usual to the perverse King's-men as an original invention of theirs to abridge human freedom; and yet a glance at the record might have shown the historians that the Commonwealth's-men first "cut down the sacred right of suffrage" in Virginia. The record is plain and brief. From the first years to 1655 all the settlers had a voice in public affairs: first in the daily matters of the hundreds, and after 1619 in electing Burgesses. No proposition was ever made to change this "ancient usage." But in 1655 it was changed by the men of the Commonwealth. In that year the Burgesses declared that none but "housekeepers, whether freeholders, leaseholders, or otherwise tenants," should be " capeable to elect Burgesses." One year afterwards (1656) the ancient usage was restored, and all “freemen" were allowed to vote, since it was 66 something hard and unagreeable to reason that any person shall pay equal taxes, and yet have no vote in elections;" but the freemen must not vote "in a tumultuous way." Such was the record of the Commonwealth. In 1670 the King'smen restored the first act, restricting the suffrage again. The reason is stated. The "usual way of choosing burgesses by the votes of all persons who, having served their time, are freemen of this country," produced "tumults at the election." Therefore it would be better to follow the English fashion and "grant a voyce in such election only to such as by their estates, real or personal, have interest enough to tye them to the endeavour of the publique good." So, after this time none but "ffreeholders and housekeepers" were to vote. The reason for this invasion of the "sacred right,” first by the Commonwealth's-men, then by the King'smen, lies on the surface. The persons who had "served their time” as indented servants, had "little interest in the country;" they were making disturbances at the elections. Voters ought to be men of good character, and have such a stake in the colony as would tie them to the endeavor of the public good. This was thenceforth the determinate sentiment, and the law remained settled, with the exception of one year (1676), when Bacon's Assembly changed it, and declared that "freemen" should again vote. This was swept away by the general repeal of all "Bacon's laws;" and the freehold restriction remained the law of Virginia nearly to the present time. Thus this enormous question, which convulses the modern world, already convulsed those old Virginians. First, all freemen vote; then only freeholders; then the freemen again; then the freeholders only, again; then freemen once more; and finally, only the freeholders. We have now reached the year 1670, and a great civil convulsion is at hand. Virginia is about to be shaken as by an earthquake; to writhe under intestine war; and it is interesting to know the condition of the country. This is ascertainable from Governor Berkeley's response to the inquiries of the Lords Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, a document which has fortunately been preserved. Virginia, he states, is ruled by a Governor and sixteen Councillors, commissioned by his Majesty; and a Grand Assembly, consisting of two Burgesses from each county, meets annually, which levies taxes, hears appeals, and passes laws of all descriptions, which are to be sent to the Lord Chancellor for his approval, as in accordance with the laws of the realm. There are forty thousand people in Vir |