The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1915-07-01

of the kings death, fatty declared it
an act of treason, the more inpudent
because brought about under the
forms of law, and resolved that it was
the right of Charles, the dead mon
arch's son, to be king in Virginia
land all other of his majesty's domin-
ions and countries" They were led
in their hot defiance by their gov
ernor, Sir William Berkeley, who had
come to them by the kings appoint
ment the very year Charles set up
his standard in Nottingham (1642.)
But it was not safe for Virginia,
for all she was so far away, to defy
the Puritan government at home. For,
the fighting in England over, and the |
intrigue that conferred about the king |
ended, the Puritan leaders were mas |
ters of the kingdom. Even Sir Viii |
liam Berkeley swallowed his mortifi- |
cation and submitted when an armed |
frigate came into the river (1652) |
with commissioners on board whose |
orders were to reduce Virginia to |
obedience to the commonwealth, and
WIZ ILbIu I1iG pIOIL4oC VI oil uCSCSSdIg
force to sustain them in what they
did.
The commissioners, fortunately,
were men who knew the colony, and
they came with instructions which
prescribed in very generous spirit
what they should do. They did not
oblige Virginia to receive governor
at the hands of the Parliament; they
simply ousted the kings men, and
put the government into the hands
of the Burgesses, the peoples repre-
sentatives. Until 1860 Virginia was
to rule herself, practically as she
pleased, herself a commonwealth,
subject to the greater commonwealth
over sea.
She was very well able to take care
of herself. She could fare very well
upon her own resources, whether in
church or state. The Parliament's
commissioners had made rules under
which any reasonable man could live.
Any who pleased might drink the
kings health within doors, at their
own boards, if they did nothing
against authority out of doors.
Speech was not to be throttled, mems
sentiments were not to be too curl
ously looked into. The exiled royal
lists who came steadily in, seeking
a refuge, need sacrifice nothing but
what they had already given up.
Their very fight was confession of
defeat; here in Virginia defeat might
seem less bitter, though the neces-
sity to obey Parliament and the Lord
Protector was not less imperative.
In Maryland, Virginia's neighbos
things wore much harder face be-
|. cause of the revolution. The Parlia-
, ment's commissioners were friends of
} Virginia, and had dealt very lightly
} with her, but they felt no kindness for
: Maryland. Before their coming the
/ little province had had its own taste
of war. Late in 1914 William Clay
borne, seeing his opportunity, had
) seized Kent island again, from which
Lord Baltimore had driven him at
the first setting up of his govern
ment; and in February, 1916, one
Richard Ingle, master of the armed
: ship Reformation, bearing letters of
{ marque from the Parliament, put
; men and arms ashore and seized St.
Mary's itself. "It pleased God" In
/ gle said, "to enable him to take divers
} places" from the papists and malig-
: nants, "and to make him a support
+ to the well affected" and it was close
: upon two years before Leonard Gal
] vert found himself strong enough to
r bring force out of Virginia and re-
: establish his brothers authority The
l government of the province had not
: been destroyed, the while, but there
e had been a sad time of disorder and
j reprisal; partisans of the proprietor
o and of the king had seen their affairs
: shamefully handled; and the men who
: ruled had governed as if upon an ext
r gency in a day of revolution. And
: then, six years later 1852, the par
n llamentary commissioners came, and
|. William Clayborne was one of them.
: They assisted (1654) to put the gov
), eminent of the colony into the hands
/, OF group of Puritans who had made
: settlement there, and for a time
n until Cromwell himself interviewed to
r give Lord Baltimore his rights again
e the distracted province was ruled
T very vigorously by masterful min
a ority.
o The new government in England
v meant to maintain its authority in
: the colonies and at home no less
steadily and effectively than the old
f government of the king had done
il and Cromwell, when he became lord
). protector, proved more watchful
Il master than Charles had ever been
n as we'll as more just. But Massa-
e chusetts took leave, because it was a
Y government of Puritans and her own
It friends, to practice little more open
y ly the independence in the manage
r ment of her own affairs which she
had all along meant and contrived to