wander in the wilderness and woods until they were well-nigh reduced to starvation, when relieved by the arrival of the commissioners. At length the assembly, in an address to the governor, deprecated any further sanguinary punishments, and he was prevailed upon, reluctantly, to desist. All the acts of the assembly of June, 1676, called "Bacon's Laws," were repealed, as well by the order and proclamation of King Charles, as also by act of the assembly held at Greenspring, in February, 1677.* The assembly granted indemnity and pardon for all acts committed since the 1st of April, 1676, excepting Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., and about fifty others, including certain persons deceased, executed, escaped, and banished. The principal persons excepted were Cheesman, Hunt, Hansford, Wilford, Carver, Drummond, Crewes, Farloe, Hall, William and Henry West, Lawrence, Bland, Whaley, Arnold, Ingram, Wakelet, Scarburgh, and Sarah, wife of Thomas Grindon. Twenty were attainted of high treason, and their estates confiscated. The provisoes of the act virtually left the whole power of punishment still in the hands of the governor and council. Minor punishments were inflicted on others; some were compelled to sue for pardon on their knees, with a rope about the neck; others fined, disfranchised, or banished. These penalties did not meet with the approbation of the people, and were in several instances evaded by the connivance of the courts. John Bagwell and Thomas Gordon, adjudged to appear at Rappahannock Court with halters about their necks, were allowed to appear with "small tape;" in the same county William Potts wore "a Manchester binding," instead of a halter. The assembly, in accordance with one of Bacon's laws, declared Indian prisoners slaves, and their property lawful prize. An order was made for building a new state-house at Tindall's (Gloucester) Point, on the north side of York River, but it was never carried into effect. Many of the acts of this session are almost exact copies of "Bacon's Laws," the titles only being altered-a conclusive proof of the abuses and usurpations of those in power, and of the merits of acts passed by those stigmatized and punished as rebels and traitors. Such likewise was the conduct of * Hening, ii. 365. the British Parliament in relation to the legislation of the Commonwealth of England. The fourth of May was appointed a fast-day, and August the twenty-second a day of thanksgiving. Sir William Berkley, worn down with agitations which his age was unequal to, and in feeble health, being recalled by the king, ceased to be governor on the 27th of April, 1677, and returned in the fleet to London, leaving Colonel Herbert Jeffreys in his place, who was sworn into office on the same day. His commission was dated November the 11th, 1676-the twenty-eighth year of Charles the Second. In July, 1675, Lord Culpepper had been appointed governor-in-chief of Virginia, but he did not arrive till the beginning of 1680; had he come over when first appointed, it might have prevented Bacon's Rebellion. Sir William Berkley died on the thirteenth of July, 1677, of a broken heart, as some relate,* without ever seeing the king, having been confined to his chamber from the day of his arrival. According to others, King Charles expressed his approbation of his conduct, and the kindest regard for him, and made frequent inquiry respecting his health. Others again, on the contrary, report that the king said of him: "That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have done for the murder of my father." Sir William Berkley was a native of London, and educated at Merton College, Oxford, of which he was afterwards a fellow, and in 1629 was made Master of Arts. He made the tour of Europe in the year 1630. He held the place of governor of Virginia from 1639 to 1651, and from 1659 to 1677 -a period of thirty years, a term equalled by no other governor of the colony. He published a tragi-comedy, "The Lost Lady," in 1639, the year in which he came first to Virginia. Pepys, in his Diary, mentions seeing it acted. Sir William published also, in 1663, "A Discourse and View of Virginia." He was buried at Twickenham, since illustrated by the genius of Pope. Sir William Berkley left no children. By a will, dated May the 2d, 1676, he bequeathed his estate to his widow. He declares himself to have been under no obligation whatever to any of his * Chalmers' Introduction, i. 164. T. M.'s Account. † Beverley, B. i. 79. kindred except his sister, Mrs. Jane Davies, (of whom he appears to have been fond,) and his brother, Lord Berkley. Sir William married the widow of Samuel Stephens, of Warwick County, Virginia. She, after Sir William's death, was sued by William Drummond's widow for trespass, in taking from her land a quantity of corn, and in spite of a strenuous defence, a verdict was found against the defendant. In 1680 she intermarried with Colonel Philip Ludwell, of Rich Neck, but still retained the title of "Dame (or Lady) Frances Berkley." Samuel Stephens was the son of Dame Elizabeth Harvey (widow of Sir John Harvey) by a former marriage.* It does not appear when Colonel William Clayborne, first of the name in Virginia, died, or where he was buried, but probably in the County of New Kent. There is a novel entitled "Clayborne the Rebel."+ Colonel William Clayborne, Jr., eldest son of the above mentioned, was probably the one appointed (1676) to command a fort at Indiantown Landing, in New Kent, together with Major Lyddal, as the father was probably then too old for that post. Some suppose also that it was the son that sat on the trial of the rebels. A certificate of the valor of William Clayborne, Jr., is recorded in King William County Court-house, signed by Sir William Berkley, dated in March, 1677, attested by Nathaniel Bacon, Sir Philip Ludwell, Ralph Wormley, and Richard Lee. Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Clayborne, only brother of William Clayborne, Jr., lies buried not far from West Point, in King William County. He was killed by an Indian arrow which wounded him in the foot. It appears that each of the sons of Secretary Clayborne had a son named Thomas. Colonel Thomas Clayborne, son of Captain Thomas Clayborne, is said to have married three times, and to have been father of twenty-seven children. One of his daughters married a General Phillips of the British army, and is said to have been the mother of Colonel Ralph Phillips, of the British army, who fell at Waterloo, and of the * Mass. Gen. and Antiq. Register for 1847, p. 348. † By William H. Carpenter, Esq., of Maryland. Published in 1846. distinguished Irish orator who died recently. Another son, William Clayborne, married a Miss Leigh, of Virginia, and was father of William Charles Cole Clayborne, Governor of Louisiana, and of General Ferdinand Leigh Clayborne, late of Mississippi. He assisted General Jackson in planning the battle of New Orleans. The widow of this Governor Clayborne married John R. Grymes, Esq., the eminent New Orleans lawyer. And a daughter of the governor married John H. B. Latrobe, Esq., of Baltimore. Colonel Augustine Clayborne, son of Colonel Thomas Clayborne, was appointed clerk of Sussex County Court in the year 1754, by William Adair, secretary of the colony. His son, Buller Clayborne, was aid-de-camp to General Lincoln, and is said to have received a wound while interposing himself between the general and a party of British soldiers. Mary Herbert, a sister of Buller Clayborne, married an uncle of General William Henry Harrison. Herbert Clayborne, eldest son of Colonel Augustine Clayborne, married Mary, daughter of Buller Herbert, of Puddledock, near Petersburg. Puddledock is the name of a street in London. Herbert Augustine Clayborne was second son of Herbert Clayborne, of Elson Green, King William County, and Mary Burnet, eldest daughter of William Burnet Browne, of Elson Green, and before of Salem, Massachusetts. The Honorable William Browne, of Massachusetts, married Mary Burnet, daughter of William Burnet, (Governor of New York and of Massachusetts,) and Mary, daughter of Dean Stanhope, of Canterbury. William Burnet was eldest son of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, and Mrs. Mary Scott, his second wife. Thus it appears that Herbert Clayborne married a descendant of Bishop Burnet. CHAPTER XXXIX. 1677-1681. Failure of the Charter-Sir William Berkley's Proclamation revoked-Ludwell's Quarrel with Jeffreys-Jeffreys dying is succeeded by Sir Henry Chicheley— Culpepper, Governor-in-Chief, arrives-His Administration-He returns to England by way of Boston. THE agents of Virginia, in 1675, had strenuously solicited the grant of a new charter, and their efforts, though long fruitless, seemed at length about to be crowned with success, when the news of Bacon's rebellion furnished the government with a new pretext for violating its engagements. By the report of the committee for plantations, adopted by the king in council, and twice ordered to be passed into a new charter under the great seal, it was provided, "that no imposition or taxes shall be laid or imposed upon the inhabitants and proprietors there, but by the common consent of the governor, council, and burgesses, as hath been heretofore used," reserving, however, to parliament the right to lay duties upon commodities shipped from the colony. The news of the rebellion frustrated this scheme; the promised charter slept in the Hamper* office; and the one actually sent afterwards was meagre and unsatisfactory. Colonel Jeffreys, successor to Berkley, effected a treaty of peace with the Indians, each town agreeing to pay three arrows for their land, and twenty beaver skins for protection, every year. He convened an assembly at the house of Captain Otho Thorpe, at Middle Plantation, in October, 1677, being the twenty-ninth year of Charles the Second. William Traverse was speaker, and Robert Beverley clerk. The session lasted for one month. According to instructions given to Sir William Berkley, dated in November, 1676, the governor was no longer obliged to call an assembly yearly, but only once in two years, and the session was limited * Hening, ii. 531; Hamper, i.e. Hanaper. |