Berkley so, to see what could be answered to such barbarity; but he has answered it before this."*

Mrs. Afra Behn celebrated Bacon's Rebellion in a tragi-comedy, entitled "The Widow Ranter, or the History of Bacon in Virginia." Dryden honored it with a prologue. The play failed on the stage, and was published in 1690; there is a copy of it in the British Museum.† It sets historical truth at defiance, and is replete with coarse humor and indelicate wit. It is probable that Sarah Drummond may have been intended by "The Widow Ranter." It appears that one or two expressions in the Declaration of Independence occur in this old play.

On the 24th of January, 1677, six other insurgents were condemned to death at Greenspring, and executed. Henry West was banished for seven years, and his estate confiscated, save five pounds allowed him to pay his passage. William West and John Turner, sentenced to death at the same time, escaped from prison. William Rookings, likewise sentenced, died in prison. Richard Lawrence, with four companions, disappeared from the frontier, proceeding on horseback and armed, through a deep snow, preferring to perish in the wilderness rather than to share Drummond's fate. Lawrence was educated at Oxford, and for wit,learning, and sobriety, was equalled by few there. He had been one of the commissioners for adjusting the boundary line between Maryland and Virginia in 1663. He had been defrauded of a handsome estate by Berkley's corrupt partiality in behalf of a favorite. The rebellion, as it was called, was by most people mainly attributed to Lawrence; and it is said that he had before thrown out intimations that he hoped to find means by which he not only should be able to repair his own losses, but also see the country relieved from the governor's "avarice and French despotic modes." Lawrence had married a rich widow, who kept a large house of entertainment at Jamestown, which gave him an extensive influence. Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., probably had lodged

* Morrison's Letter, in Burk, ii. 268.

†Thomas H. Wynne, Esq., of Richmond, who is laudably curious in matters connected with Virginia history, has a copy of this play, and I have been indebted to him for the use of that and several other rare books.

at his house when search was made for him on the morning of his escape. The author of T. M.'s Account says: "But Mr. Bacon was too young, too much a stranger there, and of a disposition too precipitate, to manage things to that length those were carried, had not thoughtful Mr. Lawrence been at the bottom."

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

1677.

Arrival of an English Regiment-The Royal Commissioners-Punishment of Rebels-Execution of Giles Bland-Commissioners investigate the Causes of the Rebellion-Seize the Assembly's Journals-Number of Persons executedCruel Treatment of Prisoners-Bacon's Laws repealed-Act of Pardon-Exceptions-Singular Penalties-Evaded by the Courts-Many of Bacon's Laws re-enacted-Berkley recalled-Succeeded by Jeffreys-Sir William Berkley's Death-Notice of his Life and Writings-His Widow.

ON the 29th day of January, 1677, a fleet arrived within the capes, from England, under command of Admiral Sir John Berry, or Barry, with a regiment of soldiers commanded by Colonel Herbert Jeffreys and Colonel Morrison. Sir William Berkley held an interview with them at Kiquotan, on board of the Bristol; and these three were associated in a commission to investigate the causes of the late commotions and to restore order. They were instructed to offer a reward of three hundred pounds to any one who should arrest Bacon, who was to be taken by "all ways of force, or design." And the other colonies were commanded by the king not to aid or conceal him; and it was ordered, in case of his capture, that he should be brought to trial here; or, if his popularity should render it expedient, be sent to England for trial and punishment. They were authorized to pardon all who would duly take the oath of obedience, and give security for their good behavior. Freedom was to be offered to servants and slaves who would aid in suppressing the revolt.* The same measure had been before adopted by the Long Parliament, and was resorted to a century afterwards by Governor Dunmore. It is the phenomenon of historical pre-existence. The general court and the assembly having now met, several more of

*Chalmers' Annals, 336.

Bacon's adherents were convicted by a civil tribunal held at Greenspring, and put to death-most of them men of competent fortune and respectable character. Among them was Giles Bland, whose friends in England, it was reported, had procured his pardon to be sent over with the fleet; but if so, it availed him nothing. It was indeed whispered that he was executed under private orders brought from England, the Duke of York having declared, with an oath, that "Bacon and Bland shall die." Bland was convicted March eighth, and executed on the fifteenth, at Bacon's Trench, near Jamestown, with another prisoner, Robert Jones. Three others were put to death on another day at the same place. Anthony Arnold was hung on the fifteenth of March, in chains, at West Point. Two others suffered capitally on the same day, but at what place does not appear, probably in their own counties.*

In the month of April, Secretary Ludwell wrote to Coventry, the English secretary of state, "that the grounds of this rebellion have not proceeded from any real fault in the government, but rather from the lewd disposition of desperate fortunes lately sprung up among them, which easily seduced the willing minds of the people from their allegiance, in the vain hopes of taking the country wholly out of his majesty's hands into their own. Bacon never intended more by the prosecution of the Indian war than as a covert to his villanies."

The commissioners, who assisted in the trial of these prisoners, now proceeded to inquire into the causes of the late distractions; they sat at Swan's Point. The insurgents, who comprised the great body of the people of Virginia, had found powerful friends among the people of England, and in parliament; and the commissioners discountenanced the excesses of Sir William Berkley, and the loyalists, and invited the planters in every quarter to bring in their grievances without fear. Jeffreys, one of the commissioners, was about to succeed Governor Berkley. In their zeal for investigation the commissioners seized the journals of the assembly; and the burgesses in October, 1677, demanded satisfaction for this indignity, declaring that such a seizure could not

* Burk, ii. 255.

have been authorized even by an order under the great seal, because "they found that such a power had never been exercised by the king of England"-an explicit declaration of the legislative independence of the colony. Their language was stigmatized by Charles the Second as seditious.*

The number of persons executed was twenty-three, of whom twelve were condemned by court-martial. The jails were crowded with prisoners, and in the general consternation many of the inhabitants were preparing to leave the country. During eight months Virginia had suffered civil war, devastation, executions, and the loss of one hundred thousand pounds,-so violent was the effort of nature to throw off the malady of despotism and misrule. Charles the Second, in October, issued two proclamations, authorizing Berkley to pardon all except Nathaniel Bacon, Jr.; and afterwards another, declaring Sir William's of February, 1677, not conformable to his instructions, in excepting others besides Bacon from pardon, and abrogating it. Yet the king's commissioners assisted in the condemnation of several of the priAn act of pardon, under the great seal, brought over by Lord Culpepper, was afterwards unanimously passed by the assembly in June, 1680, and several persons are excepted in it who were included in Sir William's "bloody bill" in February, 1677.‡

soners.

The people complained to the commissioners of the illegal seizing of their estates by the governor and his royalist supporters; and of their being imprisoned after submitting themselves upon the governor's proclamation of pardon and indemnity; and of being compelled to pay heavy fines and compositions by threats of being brought to trial, which was in every instance tantamount to conviction. Berkley and some of the royalists that sat on the trial of the prisoners, were forward in impeaching, accusing, and reviling them-accusing and condemning, both at once. Sir William Berkley caused Drummond's small plantation to be seized upon and given to himself by his council, removing and embezzling the personal property, and thus compelling his widow, with her children, to fly from her home, and

* Chalmers' Revolt, i. 163, and Annals, 337.

Hening, ii. 366, 428, 458.

† Hening, ii. 370.