The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-16
NJ.

There is scarcely any question connected with
our colonial history moro interesting than that
which is concerned with the extent to which q
Cavalier element entered into tho composition
OF old Virginia society. 1t Is examined by Mr..
Fiske on pages $50 of this volume. He reminds
us at the outset that the discussion hos too often
been conducted under the influence of personal
or sectional prejudices. Half q century ago, in
the days when tho people OF the slave States and
those of the free States found 1t diflcult to think
Justly or to speak kindly of one another. one
used often to hear sweeping generali-
cations. On the one hand, 1t was said
that Southerners were tho descendants Of
Cavaliers. and. therefore. presumably of gentle
blood, while Northerners wore descendants Of
Roundheads, and therefore presumably of ig-
noble origin. On the other hand, 1t was retorted
that the people Of the South were in great part
descendants of indentured white servants sent
over from the jails and slums OF England. This
latter assertion is considered at some length
by tho author on pages 177-1s9. Mean
while ho notes that descent from Cavaliers
has not always been q matter Of pride with
Southern speakers and writer's. There was a
time when tho fierce spirit of democracy was
inclined to regard such a connection as O stig.
ma; for instance, the father Of President Tyler
used to say that he cared nought for any
other ancestor than Wat Tyler. the blacksmith,
WIN u dobortou II rights u oppiCoocu III
manity, and that he would have no other device
on his shield than a sledge hammer raised in the
act Of striking" We are told. also. that on the
subject Of Cavaliers q well-known Virginia
writer, Hugh Blair Grigsoy, once grew very
warm. "The Cavalier" said he, was essen
TALLY a slave, q compound slave. a slave to the
King and q slave to the Church. I look with
contempt on the miserable Pigment which seeks
to trace the DISTINGUISHING points of the Vir-
ginia character to the influence of those butter
flies of the British aristocracy." Before pro-
ceedinR further, Mr.. Fiske deems it desirable
to dispel certain fallacies and misconceptions
which are or used to be current. He pronounces
1t impossible to make any generalization con-
corning the oririn of the white people of tho
South as q whole, or of the North as q whole.
further than to say that their ancestors came
from Europe and a large majority of them from
the British islands. The facts are too compli-
Gated to be embraced in any generalization
more definitely limited than this. 1t Is ono aim
Of the present book to make it clear that only in
connection with tidewater Virginia has the mi
grafton Of Cavaliers from England to America
any historical significance. Attention is further
directed to the mistake Of supposing that the
contrast between Cavaliers and Roundheads
was in any wise parallel with the contrast
between high.born people and low-born. 1t
is true that a majority of the landed gentry.
titled and untitled, supported Charles l., while
the chief strength of the Parliament lay in the
smaller landholders and in the merchants of
the cities. The leaders of the parliamentary
party. however. were Of gentle blood. and the
Roundheads included also a large and powerful
minority of the landed aristocracy. In short.
the distinction between q Cavalier and a Round
head no more involved q difference in
respect of lineage or social rank than did
the subsequent distinction between Tory
and Wing. In connection with this topic we
are reminded that in Great Britain there are
not now, and have not been for some centuries.
distinct orders of society such as existed in
France under the Ancien Regime. 1t Is true even
of the Angevin epoch. and more emphatically
true OF tho period succeeding the Wars Of the
Roses. that it was easy In England for ability
and character to raise their possessor in the
social scale, and hence the middle class has long
been recognized as the abiding element in Eng
lands strength.
Having made these points clear. Mr.. Fiske I'M
dertakes to demonstrate the precise significance
of the arrival OF the Cavaliers in Virginia. The
great Puritan exodus to NewEngland which real.
ly began in 1929 continued until about 1912; dur
ing those thirteen years more than 10000 came
to New England. The great Cavalier exodus to
the Old Dominion began with the execution OF
Charles l.. in 1919, and apparently slackened
after 1860; it is noteworthy that tho white pop
ulation of Virginia increased from Is, 900 in
1919 to $4,000 In 1870. This increase is the
more remarkable because the period Is coinci.
dent with that of an energetic persecution of
Puritans in Virginia and a consequent
exodus of them from that colony. Another
fact is not overlooked. namely, that between
1649 and 1870 there was n marked expansion
in the size of the land grants, which indicates
that the increase of population was Freedoms.
nantly an increase in the numbers of the upper
class, that is to say Of people who could afford
to have large estates. A fact of similar import
with the greater size Of tho land grants is the in
crease in the number of negro slaves after 1850.
These data supply cumulative testimony that
there was at tho period mentioned a large in
fiux of eminently well-to-do people. We know.
moreover, from the genealogies Of tidewater
Virginians, who these people were. Mr.. Fiske
accepts as proved tho descent of George Wash
ington from the Washingtons of Sulgrave
in Eorthamptonshire. who were Royalists
in the civil war. This senealogy he considers a
fair sample Of good English middle-class pedi-
gree. and typical as regards the ancestry of
leading Cavalier families in Virginia. 1t Is
equally typical, however, as regards tho ances-
try of leading Puritan families in New England.
The genea!oRies. for example. of Winthrop.
Dudley and Saltonstall give the Same general
impression as those of Randolf or Cary or Lee.
IL ihoto VI NIRlIilh
and of New England. though opposed to each
other in politics. belonged to one and the same
stratum OF society. and in their personal
characteristics they were of tho same ex-
cellent quality. Mr.. Fiske's conclusions.
then. arc thus summed up: Both in Vir-
ginia and in Now England the principal ele-
ment of the migration consisted of picked
men and women of the same station in life. and
differing only In their views of civil and coolest
astical politics. The difference that grew up
between the relatively aristocratic typo of So
ciety in Virginia and the relatively democratic
type In New England was duo not at all to diff
ferences in tho social quality OF tho settlers but
in some degree TO their differences as to church
politics, and in a far greater degree to the diff
ferent economic circumstances of Virginia and
Now England"
I'll.
1t Is on pages 176.1s9 that Mr.. Fiske shows
how the notion arose in England that vir,