The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-03-15


between the lower classes OF the Colonial
population and tho gontry and 70 en-
phasize the distinctlyely adstoOratlc char-
acter Of Virginia society. Az the country
was developed the grant Of land in large
tracts 10 gentlemen on condition that they
should settle bodies OF tenants on them
inevitably fostered class distinctions, and
the settlement OF plantations Isolated from
each other and surrounded by savage
enemies created conditions somewhat feudal
In their form. The planter employer on
hls-part engaged 10 take care Of his people.
and the latter In return bound themselves
TO work for him and march with him In any
EFFICIENCY demanding their services. Thus
when grants we're made like that 10 William
Byrd OF lands at the Falls Of the James the
condition would, be made that the grantee
should settle a specified number OF families
on them and should furnish In time Of danger
40 many fighting men. This, OF course, was
the essential structure Of ieudalism. The
subsequent introduction Of slaves and OF
indentured servants merely accumulated
class distinctions which already existed No
doubt the exactions Of life in a new country
offered opportunities 20 men Of push n
enterprise 10 rise and ultimately by their
courage and abilities enter a higher social
sphere, but the history Of the Colony shows
that, having risen, they promptly took TO
themselves titles. coats Of arms and all the
insignia Of the upper class.
In Colonial times the easiest an& most
secure means Of intercommunication would
naturally be along the rivers, where the
fertile bottom lands in the course OF a
generation or two after the cultivation OF
tobacco began enriched the land owners.
Thus il came TO pass that social life followed
the waterways, and the old Colonial houses
along the James, the York, the Potomac,
R~appahannock and their tributaries, which
are to-day interesting relics Of Tidewater
Virginia, marked the rise Of families that
for something like two hundred years made
marriage alliances among themselves
and built up a landed gentry that became
one of the most notable elements in the
civilization OF the country and the race
Although aristocrstic In outward form,
this body Of land owners represented the
essential principle OF republioanism, for
every freebooter had a vote. virginia
was r~oyalist, but only al Raleigh was a
r~oyalist. No Roundhead or Republican
was ever more jealous for his rights than
we're the royalist people OF the Old Domin-
ion. In 1924 the Virginia Assembly passed
a law providing that no taxes should be
levied or applied In the Colony but by and
with its consent; In other words, IL planted
itself on the very ground wherein q hundred
and fifty years later the American Revolu-
ton was to be based. In le42 the Assem-
bly boldly declared freedom Of trade to
be the blood and life Of a community
Not many years later, when one OF their
Governors, Sir John Harvey, failed to
espouse az warmly as they thought proper
the cause OF Sir William Claiborne, the
rebel in the latter's wal with the Lord
Proprietor Of Maryland, the Virginians
rose and Sthrust him out Of the govern
ment.'
They withstood Cromwell in 1852 TO the
point Of eXacting what was in effect q treaty
with his commissioners by which they
reserved the right 10 levy all taxes and
make local avs. They were not bitter
partisans, however. fer with e;ual readiness
they asslmilated the Royalist fugitives
after the battles Of Edgehill and Worcester
and the e1lled Republicans who sought
homes In the Old Dominion after the Resto-
ration. In 1875, when the Royal Governor
refused the planters on the frontier per
mission 10 raise an armed force 10 defend
themselves against the Indians, they rallied
behind young Nathaniel Bacon, seized
- l-..l gnaa. a. GnyarnnE
and his adherepts in the Council the laws
they demanded, and when later Sir Will
lam Berkeley withdrew his consent and
declared them rebels they stormed and
burned the capital and Berkeley wal forced
to take refuge for a tune on the Eastern
Shore. 1t is we'll known that Berkeley
soon regained ascendency and avenged
himself on the revolutionists, hut Charles
II. o o removed him on the ground that
he had hanged more men in that naked
country for rebellion than he, the King,
had hanged for the murder Of his father.
In l7ls the penny a letter postage on letters
from England was resisted on the ground
that Parliament could not levy a tax on
the o~olonists without the consent OF the
General Assembly. IL was indeed a pro-
phetic warning addressed to James |. by
the Spanish Ambassador when the latter
said his Virginia assemblies were but a
seminary for a sedi,,ous Parliament
Mr.. Page points out that whatever the
faults Of the Virginians Of the Colonial epoch
may have been they we're the faults OF a
virile and independent race. Their vir-
tues and their vices were those Of the cor
responding English Glasses from which
they c me, modified by the conditions
which surrounded them in the new country,
Every planter was to some extent a cap
tain-a ruler over things few or many,
but yet a ruler The qualities developed
were those OF a ruling class. Far below
this ruler class, however. there existed
another. which also possessed virile traits
and clean cut character. Their relation
was not one Of dependency; they were in
their poverty as independent as their wealth
Ter neighbors. Mr.. Page insists that slavery
had not. as has 10 often be n asserted,
destroyed the dignity Of white labor 80
much as II had furnished black laborers
TO perform most Of the agricultural work.
There was not therefore the call for white
laborers that existed In countries where
the laborers were all free. Those white
men who in other countries or other sec
tons Of our own O Moderation composed
the laboring class were known in the South
as poor whites; but however poor they
might be they retained their personal