Part 31 (1/2)
[864] Va. Mag., Vol. XVIII, p. 23.
[865] P. R. O., CO1-42-103.
[866] Va. Mag., Vol. IX, p. 307.
[867] P. R. O., CO1-42-103.
[868] P. R. O., CO1-42-107.
[869] P. R. O., CO1-42-117.
[870] Va. Mag., Vol. IX, p. 307.
[871] P. R. O., CO5-1355-304, 305, 309.
[872] P. R. O., CO5-1355-305.
[873] P. R. O., CO5-1355-370.
[874] Va. Mag., Vol. IX, p. 307.
[875] P. R. O., CO1-41-121.
[876] Sains., Vol. XVII, p. 230.
[877] Sains., Vol. XVII, p. 230.
[878] Hen., Vol. II, p. 433.
[879] Hen., Vol. II, p. 441.
[880] Hen., Vol. II, p. 443.
[881] Hen., Vol. II, p. 456.
CHAPTER VIII
THE CRITICAL PERIOD
For some years after the Restoration the administration of English colonial affairs had been very lax. The Council of Plantations, which had served as a Colonial Office during the period from 1660 to 1672, had done little to control the Governors or to supervise and direct their policies. With the exception of one list of questions sent to Virginia in 1670, they had left Sir William Berkeley almost entirely to his own devices. September 27, 1672, the Council of Plantations was united with the Board of Domestic Trade to form the Council of Trade and Plantations. This new arrangement seems not to have been productive of good results, for in December, 1674, after the fall of the Cabal ministry, it was discontinued and the direction of colonial affairs entrusted to the King's Privy Council. This important body, finding its new duties very onerous, created a committee of twenty-one members, to whom the supervision of trade and plantations was a.s.signed. In this way the King's most trusted ministers were brought into close touch with colonial affairs. We find now such prominent statesmen as Secretary Coventry, Secretary Williamson and Sir Lionel Jenkins carrying on extensive correspondence with the Governors, becoming interested in all their problems and needs, and demanding copies of all journals of a.s.sembly and other state papers.[882]
This closer intimacy with the colonial governments led inevitably to a feeling of intolerance for local autonomy and for representative inst.i.tutions, and to a determination to force upon the colonists a conformity with the policies and desires of the English government.
Charles II and James II, inst.i.tuted, in the decade preceding the English Revolution, a series of measures designed to curb the independence of the colonists. Some of the a.s.sembly's long-established and most important rights were attacked. Many of its statutes were annulled by proclamation; its judicial powers were forever abolished; its control over taxation and expenditure was threatened; the privilege of selecting the a.s.sembly clerk was taken from it; while even the right to initiate legislation was a.s.sailed.
The intolerant mood of the King and Privy Council is reflected in the instructions given Lord Culpeper upon his departure for Virginia. They included orders depriving him of the power, exercised freely by all former Governors, of calling sessions of the a.s.sembly. ”It is Our Will and pleasure,” Charles declared, ”that for the future noe General a.s.sembly be called without Our special directions, but that, upon occasion, you doe acquaint us by letter, with the necessity of calling such an a.s.sembly, and pray Our consent, and directions for their meeting.”[883]
Even more dangerous to the liberties of the people was the attempt to deprive the a.s.sembly of the right to initiate legislation. ”You shall transmit unto us,” Culpeper was commanded, ”with the advice and consent of the Council, a draught of such Acts, as you shall think fit and necessary to bee pa.s.sed, that wee may take the same into Our consideration, and return them in the forme wee shall think fit they bee enacted in. And, upon receipt of Our commands, you shall then summon an a.s.sembly, and propose the said Laws for their consent.”[884]
Most fortunately neither of these instructions could be enforced. The great distance of England from Virginia, and the time required to communicate with the King, made the summoning of the a.s.sembly and the initiation of legislation without the royal a.s.sent a matter of absolute necessity. Lord Culpeper, with his Majesty's especial permission, disregarded these orders during his first visit to the colony, and later, to his great satisfaction, the Committee of Trade and Plantations ”altered their measures therein”.[885]
Culpeper was directed to secure in the colony a permanent revenue for the King. It was rightly judged that the representatives of royal authority could never be entirely masters of the government while they were dependent for their salaries upon the votes of the a.s.sembly. Sir William Berkeley, it is true, had rendered his position secure by obliging all ”the men of parts and estates”, but similar methods might be impossible for other Governors. The King and Privy Council did not, however, attempt to raise the desired revenue by imposing a tax upon the people without their own consent. An act levying a duty of two s.h.i.+llings a hogshead upon all tobacco exported from Virginia was drawn up by the Attorney-General for ratification by the a.s.sembly.[886] The consent of the King in Council was duly received and the bill, with an act concerning naturalization and another for a general pardon, were sent to Virginia by Lord Culpeper. ”These bills,” the King told him, ”we have caused to be under the Greate Seale of England, and our will is that the same ... you shall cause to be considered and treated upon in our a.s.sembly of Virginia.”[887]