University of Virginia Library

XXXVIII.

THOMAS, LORD CULPEPER.
(BARON OF THORSWAY.)

XXXVIII. Governor and Captain-General.

XXXVIII. May 10, 1680, to September 17, 1683.

All accounts agree in describing the situation of Virginia
during Lord Culpeper's administration as one of extreme
suffering. Charles II. had in 1673, with lavish prodigality,
given to two of his favorite courtiers, Lord Culpeper and the
Earl of Arlington, "all the dominion of land and water called
Virginia, for the term of thirty-one years." This grant gave
rise to the 1st Act of September, 1674, for an address to the
King on the subject. Three agents were appointed, and the
zeal and ability with which they prosecuted their mission deserved
a better result. The King consented to a new charter
confirming all the essential stipulations insisted on, and
twice ordered the instrument to be prepared, but, after empty
promises, he eventually gave a "miserable skeleton" containing
little more than a declaration of the dependence of the
Colony on the Crown of England.

Thus did Charles II. sow the seeds of discontent which
finally resulted in the separation of the Colonies from the
mother country. This grant to Culpeper was unjust and oppressive,
as it included lands which had been long cultivated
by others; and, about two years after the patent was issued,
he, the better to "put in his thumb, and take out a plum,"
obtained the appointment of Governor of Virginia for life.
As such, he was proclaimed soon after Berkeley's departure.
But he remained in England, and not until reproved by the
King did he set sail for Virginia; here he arrived early in
1680. Having taken the oath of office at Jamestown, he
commenced a course of personal aggrandizement; the Governor's

salary was doubled; a further grant was made for
house rent; perquisites of every kind were sought for and increased;
nay, the soldiers of the Colony were defrauded of a
part of their pay by an arbitrary change in the value of current
coin. He procured an Act of Assembly which "authorized
a perpetual export duty of two shillings a hogshead on
tobacco, and granted the proceeds for the support of government,
to be accounted for, not to the Assembly, but to the
King." Besides all this, Lord Culpeper had received an immense
grant of land from the King in what is known as the
Northern Neck of Virginia, which embraced the territory lying
between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers back as far as
the Blue Ridge Mountains. Having employed his time profitably
for himself, and balefully for Virginia, from May until
August, he then returned to England to enjoy the fruits of
his labors, and left Sir Henry Chicheley as Deputy-Governor
of the Colony. After Culpeper's departure, discontent grew
widespread among the planters at a law that had been passed,
compelling them to load their tobacco at certain specified
places along the river banks. For many years Jamestown
was the only town in the Colony, and after it was burned
there was a great necessity for some fixed places of trade. In
order to secure the building of towns this Act was passed.
But the planters, accustomed now to load the vessels at their
own plantations, resisted the measure, and in Gloucester
County some of them actually destroyed their entire crop,
rather than be pressed to dispose of it in a way that was
contrary to their wishes. Others followed their example and
open rebellion to the law was threatened. The King compelled
Lord Culpeper to return to Virginia, and he, vexed at
leaving the pleasures of London, determined to make short
work of the difficulty. He soon filled the jails with prisoners,
hung six men for this trifling offence, proclaimed the penalty
of death against all "plant cutters," and, by this cruel
course, ended the Tobacco Rebellion. Culpeper returned to
England, September 17, 1683, and left Nicholas Spencer as
the executive of the Colony.

For this second breach of faith in quitting his government,

in violation of orders, he was arrested immediately on his arrival
in England. His patent was for life, but it was rendered
void by a process of law, not so much from regard to colonial
liberties as to recover a prerogative for the Crown. On July
25, 1684, Virginia became again a royal province.

As an evidence of Lord Culpeper's hostility to the introduction
of printing into the Colony, the following extract is
made from a MS. of unquestionable authority:

This step rivals Sir William Berkeley's views, who
thought that the more profoundly ignorant the colonists were
kept, the better subjects they were for slavery.

Lord Culpeper died in 1719, and left not a very fragrant
memory in the Ancient Dominion.