CHAPTER took tobacco on board at the very doors of the planters. XV. But even this facility was not without its disadvantages. 1660. It prevented the concentration of trade at particular spots, and long opposed an insuperable obstacle to the formation of towns-a want sensibly felt, and vainly attempted, as we shall see, to be supplied by legislation. The cultivation of tobacco, at the low prices to which it had sunk, afforded only a scanty resource to that great body of free planters obliged to rely on their own labor. Yet all schemes for the introduction of other staples had failed. The domestic manufacture of cloths, successfully introduced into New England, seems to have been almost unknown in Virginia. Nor were there any mechanical employments except of the rudest and most indispensable sorts. All kinds of manufactured goods were imported from England; but neither in this importation, nor in the exportation of their own produce, did the Virginians themselves take any part. The maritime character of New England was already well established. The fisheries and foreign trade formed an important part of her industry. Her ships might be seen on the Grand Bank, in the West Indies, in the ports of Britain, Spain, and Portugal, on the coast of Africa, in the Chesapeake itself; while hardly one or two small vessels were owned in Virginia, and that notwithstanding the efforts of the Assembly to encourage ship-building and navigation, for which the province afforded such abundant facilities. Competition between Dutch and English trading vessels had assisted hitherto to keep up the price of tobacco, and to secure a supply of imported goods at reasonable rates. But that competition was now to cease. The English commercial interest had obtained from the Convention Parliament, which welcomed back Charles II. to XV. March. the English throne, that famous navigation act, which, CHAPTER among other provisions for the special benefit of English shipping, strictly excluded all foreign vessels from the 1660. English colonies. The Virginians, alarmed at an act which threatened to place them at the mercy of the English traders, sent Governor Berkeley to England, at an 1661. expense to the colony of two hundred thousand pounds of tobacco, to remonstrate on their behalf. Berkeley failed in this public mission; but he improved the opportunity to secure for himself a share in the new province of Carolina, now erected by charter, and of which he became one of the eight proprietors. So far, indeed, from relaxing the restrictions complained of, the new Parliament passed a further act, requiring the Anglo- 1663. American colonists to ship exclusively to England all their most valuable staples, designated by name, and thence known as "enumerated articles," of which tobacco was one of the chief. By the same act the col onists were restricted to England for their supply of European commodities, being no longer allowed to import them direct from the countries where they were produced. Thus was the English merchant enabled to charge a double profit on the intercourse between Europe and the colonies, and the mother country, also, to impose a tax upon it, by means of duties levied upon all "enumerated articles" imported into England. At the same session at which Berkeley was sent to England, Clayborne was ordered by the Virginia Assembly to deliver up the colony records to Thomas Ludwell, appointed secretary by royal commission. Under the administration of Colonel Francis Moryson, 1662. captain of the fort at Point Comfort, a Royalist immigrant March. of 1649, appointed by the council to act as governor during Berkeley's mission to England, a third revision was CHAPTER made of the Virginia statutes. The preamble declares them to be but as brief memorials, for convenience' XV. 1662. sake, of those excellent and often refined laws of England, to which we profess and acknowledge all due obe. dience and reverence, sometimes, perhaps, from the difference of our and their condition, varying in small things, but far from the presumption of contradicting any thing therein contained."Compiled under an order of the previous Assembly by the joint skill of Móryson and Henry Randolph, the clerk, for which service they receiv ed fifteen thousand pounds of tobacco, this code was sent to England to be printed, under an exclusive privilege of printing granted to Randolph, and his heirs and assigns, for the ten years ensuing. The Church of England is re-established by this code, with the canons, the Liturgy, and the church catechism. The anniversary of the execution of Charles I. is made a fast, and of the restoration of Charles II. a holiday. Besides their glebes and parsonages, a maintenance is secured to the parish ministers in "valuable and current commodities of the country," to the annual amount each of not less than fourscore pounds, about $320. There were also fees and perquisites; for a funeral sermon, four hundred pounds of tobacco; for a marriage by license, two hundred pounds of tobacco, or fifty pounds when the bans are proclaimed. Philip Mallory, "eminently faithful in the ministry," had been sent already "to solicit church affairs in England," on a salary of eleven thousand pounds of tobacco. Nonconformist preachers are to be silenced and sent out of the country. The Quaker and Anabaptist heresies had spread into Virginia. Two years before, the Assembly had charged against the Quakers that, "contrary to the law, they do daily gather together unto them unlawful assemblies and congrega XV. tions of people, teaching and publishing lies, miracles, false CHAPTER visions, prophecies, and doctrines, endeavoring and attempting thereby to destroy religious laws, communities, 1662. and all bond of civil society." By the same assembly, shipmasters bringing Quakers into the colony were subjected to a penalty of £100. The Quakers themselves were to be imprisoned without trial till they gave security to leave the colony and not to return. Such as did return were to be proceeded against as contemners of the laws, and if, they returned a second time, as felons. No person, under penalty of £100, was to entertain a Quaker, or to permit any Quaker assembly in or near his house; nor was any person, at his peril, to distribute or purchase Quaker books. These harsh provisions, apparently copied from the legislation of New England, are not embodied in the present code. Penalties, however, are imposed upon Quakers and all others who refuse to attend the parish churches. The management of parish affairs is intrusted to a vestry of twelve persons, to be chosen, in the first place, by the parishioners; all vacancies to be filled by the vote of the minister and the remaining members. These vestries, thus converted into close corporations, independent of the parishioners, had the appointment of churchwardens from among themselves, and the right to levy taxes for parochial purposes. The project of a college, again revived, resulted in nothing. The counties are limited to two burgesses each, reserving, however, to James City, "the metropolis," the right to have a burgess of its own; the same privilege to be extended to every town of a hundred acres in extent settled by a hundred tithable persons. The late quarter courts, held by the governor and council, now reduced to three annually, receive the name CHAPTER of General Courts. Subsequently their sessions became XV. semi-annual. Commissioners for county courts, equiv1662. alent to justices of the peace, are limited to eight for each county, to be appointed by the governor. The county courts had the appointment of surveyors of highways, the levy of county rates, and the enactment of county by-laws. Thus was the management of county as well as of parish affairs taken from the body of the inhabitants, and vested in a few wealthy planters, who held their appointments for life, or at the pleasure of the governor. Trial by jury is established in all cases, and grand juries are now first introduced. There are to be provided by each county a prison, pillory, pair of stocks, whipping-post, and ducking-stool. Forms of proceeding are prescribed for the courts. No person is to be prosecuted on claims from England, except security for costs be first given. The prohibition of mercenary attorneys seems now to have been finally abandoned; but "avaricious and griping practitioners in physic and chirurgery" were still objects of legislation, and the courts are authorized to examine them under oath, and to cut down their bills. The two shilling duty per hogshead on exported tobacco, besides threepence fort money, is confirmed and continued. Out of it the governor was to receive annually £1000, $4000, a permanent salary quite sufficient to render him independent. The Assembly, however, increased it by an additional £200, voted from year to year out of the colony levy. In aid of that levy, and to discourage the "excessive abuse of rum," duties were imposed of sixpence a gallon and a penny a pound upon rum and sugar imported. But, on account of the difficulty of collection, and the obstruction to trade, these duties were soon repealed. None could retail strong drinks |