This is so

accounted better than slaves, which, as all Englishmen abhor to see, so I am confident you detest to have them. clear that I shall not need to enforce it with argument."

Of the commissioners whom the republican rulers of Great Britain elected to settle the authority of the English commonwealth in the Chesapeake, two of them, Richard Bennett and Clayborne, were taken from among the planters themselves; their instructions constituted them the pacificators and benefactors of their country. Only in case of resistance was war threatened; if Virginia would adhere to the commonwealth, she might be mistress of her own destiny. What opposition needed to be made to a power which seemed voluntarily to propose a virtual independence? No sooner had the Guinea frigate, in March, 1652, anchored in the waters of the Chesapeake, than "all thoughts of resistance were laid aside," and the colonists yielded by a voluntary deed and a mutual compact. It was agreed, upon the surrender, that the "PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA" should have all the liberties of the free-born people of England, should intrust their business, as formerly, to their own grand assembly, should remain unquestioned for their past loyalty, and should have "as free trade as the people of England." All this was confirmed by the Long Parliament; but the article which was to restore to Virginia its ancient bounds, and that which covenanted that no taxes, no customs, might be levied, except by their own representatives, no forts erected, no garrisons maintained, but by their own consent, were referred to a committee, and were never definitively acted upon.

Till the restoration, the colony of Virginia practically enjoyed liberties as large as the favored New England, and displayed equal fondness for popular sovereignty. The executive officers became elective; and so evident were the designs of all parties to promote an amicable settlement of the government, that Richard Bennett, himself a commissioner of the parliament, a merchant, and a Roundhead, was, on the recommendation of the other commissioners, unanimously chosen governor. The oath required of the burgesses made it their paramount duty to provide for "the general good and prosperity" of Virginia and its inhabitants. Under Berkeley's

administration, Bennett had been oppressed in Virginia; and now there was not the slightest effort at revenge.

The acts of 1652, which constituted the government, claimed for the assembly the privilege of defining the powers which were to belong to the governor and council, and the public good was declared to require "that the right of electing all officers of this colony should appertain to the burgesses," as "the representatives of the people." It had been usual for the governor and council to sit in the assembly; the expediency of the custom was questioned, and a temporary compromise ensued; they retained their former right, but were required to take the oath which was administered to the burgesses. The house of burgesses acted as a convention of the people, distributing power as the public welfare required.

Cromwell never made any appointments for Virginia. When, in 1655, Bennett retired, the assembly elected his successor, and Edward Diggs, who had before been chosen of the council, and who "had given a signal testimony of his fidelity to Virginia and to the commonwealth of England," received the suffrages. Upon the report of a committee concerning the unsettled government of Virginia, the council of State in London nominated to the protector for the office of governor the very same man, as one who would satisfy all parties and interests among the colonists; but no evidence has been found that Cromwell acted upon the advice. The commissioners in the colony were chiefly engaged in settling the affairs and adjusting the boundaries of Maryland.

The right of electing the governor continued to be exercised by the representatives of the people, and, in 1658, Samuel Matthews, son of an old planter, was chosen to the office. But, from too exalted ideas of his station, he, with the council, became involved in an unequal contest with the assembly by which he had been elected. The burgesses had enlarged their power by excluding the governor and council from their sessions, and, having thus reserved to themselves the first free discussion of every law, had voted an adjournment from April till November. The governor and council, by message, declared the dissolution of the assembly. The legality of the dissolution was denied, and, after an oath of secrecy, every

burgess was enjoined not to betray his trust by submission. Matthews yielded, reserving a right of appeal to the protector. When the house unanimously voted the governor's answer unsatisfactory, he revoked the order of dissolution, but still referred the decision of the dispute to Cromwell. The members of the assembly, apprehensive of a limitation of colonial liberty by the reference of a political question to England, determined on the assertion of their independent powers. A committee was appointed, of which John Carter, of Lancaster, was the chief. The governor and council had ordered the dissolution of the assembly; the burgesses now annulled the former election of governor and council. Having thus exercised not merely the right of election, but the more extraordinary right of removal, they re-elected Matthews, "who by us," they added, "shall be invested with all the just rights and privileges belonging to the governor and captain-general of Virginia." The governor acknowledged the validity of his ejection by taking the oath which had just been prescribed, and the council was organized anew. The spirit of popular liberty established all its claims.

On the death of Cromwell, the burgesses deliberated in private, and unanimously resolved that Richard Cromwell should be acknowledged. But it was a more interesting question whether the change of protector in England would endanger liberty in Virginia. The letter from the council had left the government to be administered according to former usage. The assembly declared itself satisfied with the language. But, that there might be no reason to question the existing usage, the governor was summoned to come to the house, where, in 1659, he appeared in person, acknowledged the supreme power of electing officers to be by the present laws resident in the assembly, and pledged himself to join in addressing the new protector for special confirmation of all existing privileges. The reason for this proceeding is assigned: "that what is their privilege now may be the privilege of their posterity."

On the death of Matthews, the Virginians were without a chief magistrate, at the time when the resignation of Richard left England without a government. The burgesses, who were

immediately convened, enacted" that the supreme power of the government of this country shall be resident in the assembly; and all writs shall issue in its name, until there shall arrive from England a commission, which the assembly itself shall adjudge to be lawful." This having been done, Sir William Berkeley was elected governor, and, acknowledging the validity of the acts of the burgesses, whom, it was agreed, he could in no event dissolve, he accepted the office, and recognised without a scruple the authority to which he owed his elevation. "I am," said he, "but a servant of the assembly." The dominion, awaiting the settlement of affairs in England, hoped for the restoration of the Stuarts.

Virginia at that day possessed not one considerable town, and her statutes favored the independence of the planter rather than the security of trade. The representatives of colonial landholders voted "the total ejection of mercenary attorneys." By a special act, emigrants were safe against suits designed to enforce engagements that had been made in Europe, and colonial obligations might be satisfied by a surrender of property. Tobacco was generally used instead of coin. Theft was hardly known, and the spirit of the criminal law was mild. The highest judicial tribunal was the assembly, which was convened once a year, or oftener. Already large landed proprietors were frequent, and plantations of two thousand acres were not unknown.

During the suspension of the royal government in England, Virginia regulated her commerce by independent laws. The ordinance of 1650 was rendered void by the act of capitulation; the navigation act of Cromwell was not designed for her oppression, and was not enforced within her borders. If an occasional confiscation took place, it was done by the authority of the colonial assembly. The war between England and the United Provinces did not wholly interrupt the intercourse of the Dutch with the English colonies, and though, after the treaty of peace, the trade was contraband, the English restrictions were disregarded. A remonstrance, addressed to Cromwell, in 1656, demanded an unlimited liberty, and we may suppose that it was not refused, for, some months before Cromwell's death, the Virginians "invited the Dutch and all

foreigners" to trade with them, on payment of no higher duty than that which was levied on such English vessels as were bound for a foreign port. Proposals of peace and commerce between New Netherland and Virginia were discussed. without scruple by the respective colonial governments, and, in 1660, a statute of Virginia extended to every Christian nation, in amity with England, a promise of liberty to trade and equal justice. At the restoration, Virginia enjoyed freedom of commerce.

Virginia was the first state in the world, with separate districts or boroughs, diffused over an extensive surface, where representation was organized on the principle of a suffrage embracing all payers of a tax. In 1655, an attempt was made to limit the right to housekeepers; but the very next year it was decided to be "hard, and unagreeable to reason, that any person shall pay equal taxes, and yet have no votes in elections;" and the electoral franchise was restored to all freemen. Servants, when the time of their bondage was completed, became electors, and might be chosen burgesses.

Religious liberty advanced under the influence of independent domestic legislation. No churches had been erected except in the heart of the colony; and there were so few ministers that a bounty was offered for their importation. In the reign of Charles, conformity had been enforced by measures of disfranchisement and exile; in 1658, under the commonwealth, all things respecting parishes and parishioners were referred to their own ordering; and religious liberty would have been perfect but for an act of intolerance, by which Quakers were banished, and their return proscribed as a felony.

Thus Virginia established the supremacy of the popular branch, freedom of trade, the independence of religious societies, security from foreign taxation, and the elective franchise for every one who paid so much as a poll-tax. Proud of her own sons, she already preferred them for places of authority. Emigrants never again desired to live in England. Prosperity advanced with freedom; dreams of new staples and infinite wealth were indulged; and the population, at the epoch of the restoration, may have been about