The Washington herald., 1915-04-27
articles | fully protected the sHprsht Laws

SToHlNcI Noutu nave n
greater empire for England in America
had his hands been free at home: but
! death overlook him ere his plans had
| widened to that great work g Septem-
! Der. 1861.
Massachusetts used the time while the
Commonwealth stood not only to settle
"a little more carefully The forms of her
own government, but also to extend her
| Jurisdiction over the new settlements
which were springing UP about her to the
northward, and TO set up mint of her
! own to coin shlllings. sixpences. and
threepenCes to take the place Of the
money SO fast drawn off into England to
pay for the goods brought thence. And.
since her people were nearly all Of one
mind and creed in matters of religion. she
took occasion to regulate her church af-
fairs even more Stringently than the
Puri;ans at home Nentured TO regulate
the faith and worship of England.
Virginia, meanwhile. underwent a YER
table transformation. When the PaIIia-
mentary commissioners came to James
town in l6"e. in their frgate, to summon
the colony to make her submission to the
Commonwealth. they had had to deal.
as they knew. with no special class of
Enslishmen like the PUritans in New
England. but with average Englishmen,
mixed of gentle and common. too far
away from England TO be very hot party
men upon either side in respect of the sad
quarrel between the King and the Puri-
tans.
The BurScsses were the real governors
OF the colony all the while and the
House of Bursesses Was made up OF men
Iof all opinions. II cost good deal of
watChfulncss and steadinsss in govern
ing to keep such men quiet even under
., II.
themselves FASTENED to cali Sir William
Berkeley back to the governorship again
when they learned that Richard Crom-
well had declined to maintain his faith
''s place in the government at home.
England had not yet enthroned Charles
H.: things hung for many months in a
doubtful balance: and tn" BurecSses CON
Quoted NirCinia's government the while
in their own name. Sir William Berke-
ley was only their servant as. yet. and
they chose Captain Bennett also to he Of
the governors council: but Sir William
vas more to their mind. after all, than
commonwealth men, and they very
promptly acknowledged him the Kings
governor again when they knew that
Charles had been received and restored
in England. returning with a certain
sense of relief to their old allegiance and
their long accustomed ways of govern
ment.
The steady tide of immigration did not
stop ever at the fall of the Common
wealth and the restoration of Charles
the King. In 1913 there had been but
fifteen thousand English people in Vir-
Ginia: in 1910 there were thirty-eght
thousand. and nine new counties sent
Burgesses 10 her assembly. This great
immigration. though it brought to Vir-
ginia men who were all of one tradition
and way Of life. did not mean the intro
Gu"tion of 4 new class of gentle-folk.
There had been men of like extraC-
ton. manners. and PRINCIPLES in the col
ony from the first.-not a great many.
perhaps. but quite enough to keep all
men In remembrance Of the gentle middle
and upper classes at home; gentlemen
as well as Doors. noted blood and OBJ
scurc, good manners and bad. There
now came men great many like Colonel
Richard Lee. of the ancient family of
Cotton Hall in Shropshire. honored since
the thirteenth Century with places of
trust and distinction in the public serv-
ice: like Mr.. John Washington. grandson
Of Lawrence Washington. of Sulgrave
and Brington. and cousin of that gallant
Colonel Henry Washington who upon a
famous day had stormed Bristol with
Rupert.-who had told Fairfax he would
hold Worcester till lie should receive his
Majesty's command TO yield it up. even
though his Majesty were already a pris-
oner: men like the Randolphs. the PEN
dletons. the Madisons the LudwelIs.. the
Parkcs. the Marshalls. the cabells. the
Carys. who had time on. Of mind felt
the Compulsion of honor bred in them by
the duties th"y had performed the po-
sitions they had won, the Responsible
ties they had proved themselves able ("
carry.
Men bred Ike the Cavalier families Of
Virginia in every social matter, drawn
from sounn county stock and ancient lines
time out Of mind gentle and elevated to
the ranks of honor, had gone into New
England also at the first: Winthrops,
Dudleys. Winslows. SaItonstalls. Chaun-
ceys.-men bred. like Cromwell himeslf.
to influence and position. But they were
men whom new way OF thought had
Withdrawn from the traditions Of their
class and set apart to he singular and
unlike the rest of Englishmen. To the
Cavalier gentlemen OF Virginia the home
government now seemed healed and sound
again. and affairs settled to that old
familiar order which best suited Virgin
las taste and habit To the Puritan
gentlemen of New England on the con-
trary. all hopeful reform seemed at an
end and the government they had made
and cherished put in critical jeopardy
Their chief concern. now as always
was to be let alone; to be allowed to
conduct their affairs for themselves. af-
ter the Puritan model. unchecked and
unmolested Their passion was for indie
pendence. Their care was to cut off all
appeal from their authority to that of the
government at home. They meant to
maintain n commonwealth of their own:
and there was good reason to fear that
the King. whom the Puritans i'm England
had kept from his throne. and CromweITs
death had brought back. would look with
little favor upon their, pretensions.
AS a matter of fact. it was the Puritan
Parliament itself which had tfken the
first step towards bringing all the colo
MES alike into subsection to the govern
ment In England-at any rate in every
thing that affected commerce.
The very first Parliament that met
after the Restoration uScN forbade any
man not a subject of the realm to es-
tablish himself as a merchant or factor
In the colonies and it explicitly repeated
the prohibitions Of the act of 1851 with
regard to merchandise brought out of
America or Asia or Africa. Certain arti-
cles, moreover. produced in the colonies.
il reserved TO be handled exclusively by
English merchants in England. Chief
among these were the sugar OF the Bar
BADGES and the tobacco of Virginia.
An act OF 1863 made a very weighty
addition to the series of restrictions. 1t
forbade the Importation into the colo
production, on mG.:3facture OF Europe"
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