 | Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia |  |
ARTICLE VI.
The Parish of James City.—No. 4.
Having brought the history of James City parish, in its connection
with the few others then in existence, to the time of the
great massacre, with some thoughts on its effects, I briefly allude
to two events, occurring soon after, and calculated to concur with
it in having an injurious influence over the future welfare of the
Colony. While the Company and the Governors were endeavouring
to improve the condition of the Colony, by selecting a hundred
young females, of good character, to be wives to the labourers on
the farms in Virginia, King James had determined to make of the
Colony a Botany Bay for the wretched convicts in England, and
ordered one hundred to be sent over. The Company remonstrated,
but in vain. A large portion, if not all of them, were actually
sent. The influence of this must have been pernicious. Whether
it was continued by his successors, and how long, and to what extent,
I know not. Shortly after this, a Dutch vessel brought into
Jamestown the first cargo of negro slaves which was ever cast on
the shores of America. While we must acknowledge that "the
earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is;" that he has a right,
and will exercise it, to pull down one kingdom and raise up another,
to dispossess the Indians of their territories and give them to
the white men and the negroes for their possession; while we must
acknowledge that the advantage of the African trade, notwithstanding
the cruelties accompanying it, has been on the side of
that people, both temporally and spiritually; yet can we never be
brought to believe that the introduction into and the multiplication
of slaves in Virginia have advanced either her religious, political,
or agricultural interests. On the contrary, we are confident that
it has injured all. But if our loss has redounded to the benefit of
Africa, by affording religious advantages to numbers of her benighted
sons, who, in the providence of God, have come hither,
and especially if it should be the means, by colonization and missionary
enterprise, of establishing Christianity in that dark habitation
of cruelty, we must bow submissively to the will of Heaven,
and allow many of our sister States, with far less advantages of
political power.[26]
That an unfavourable turn had taken place in the affairs of the
Church of Virginia, by reason of the massacre and other circumstances,
numbers of Colonists soon began greatly to increase, is evident
from various acts of the Assembly, and from letters to and from
England, which show the difficulty of procuring such ministers as
those who first came into the Colony. Laws now seem to be required
to keep the ministers from cards, dice, drinking, and such
like things; and even to constrain them to preach and administer
the communion as often as was proper,—yea, even to visit the sick
and dying. It is true, the inducements as to earthly comforts,
which might help to bring over respectable ministers, were very
small. The Assembly, by various preambles and acts, declares
that without better provision for them it was not to be expected
that sufficient, learned, pious, and diligent ministers could be obtained,
and admits that some of a contrary character did come
over, while there were not enough of any kind to do the work
required. From that time, until the close of the Colonial establishment,
Governors, Commissaries, and private individuals, in
their communications with the Bishops of London and the Archbishops
of Canterbury, all declare that such was the scanty and
uncertain support of the clergy, the precarious tenure by which
livings were held, that but few of the clergy could support families,
and therefore respectable ladies would not marry them. Hence
the immense number of unmarried, ever-shifting clergymen in the
Colony.
With these general remarks, we proceed with the special history
of James City parish. It was not until the year 1634 that it could
fairly be considered a parish. The settlements were for some time
called Plantations, Hundreds, Congregations, &c.; but in 1634,
part of the State was divided into eight shires, as in England.
They were James City, Henrico, Charles City, Elizabeth City,
Warwick River, Warrosquijoake, Charles River, and Accawmac.
Of these, all lay between York and James Rivers, and east of
James City, except Henrico, Charles City, Accawmac, the latter
being then all of what is now the Eastern Shore of Virginia. But
in James City shire or county, a number of small parishes were at
an early period established, for the convenience of the people, as
Martin's Hundred, Chiskiake, Chippoax, Lane's Creek, and Harrop
parish, which in time were lost in James City parish, York
Hampton, and Bruton parishes. The first minister of James
City parish of whom we read, after Mr. Bucke, was the Rev.
Thomas Hampton, in 1644, of whom we know nothing but the
name, as no vestry-book or other document remains to tell who, if
long time after, any name of a minister of that parish; but an
event occurred in the year 1675 or '76, by which the church and
city, and probably all the church-records, were destroyed, which
deserves to be mentioned.[27]
BACON'S REBELLION.
Jamestown having been the most prominent theatre of Bacon's
rebellion, and the greatest sufferer thereby,—the place being destroyed
by fire,—it becomes us to take some brief notice of it.
Writers on the subject trace the beginnings of this movement to
an enterprise against the Indians by Colonel Mason and Captain
Brent, of Stafford county, in 1675, who, on some cruel murder
committed by the former, collected troops and followed them
over into Maryland, putting great numbers to death, bringing
a young son of one of their kings or chiefs back a prisoner.[28]
These wars with the Indians continuing to harass those who lived
on the frontiers and in the interior, while the Governor and those
living at or around Jamestown were quite secure, the former began
to complain that they were not protected, and that they must follow
the example of Mason and Brent, and take care of themselves.
Among the dissatisfied was Bacon, a man of family, talents, courage,
and ambition. After applying in vain to Sir William Berkeley
for a commission to raise men for the purpose of assailing the
Indians, he, urged by his own genius and the wishes of others,
collected a considerable troop and spread terror around him,
destroying a number of the hostile natives. The Governor proclaimed
him a rebel, but the people sent him back to the House of
Burgesses, and the Governor thought it expedient even to admit
him into the Council, where he had been before. But it did not end
here. Bacon again raised a troop and sallied forth against the
an army to subdue him and his followers. But Bacon, with an
inferior force, besieged Jamestown, drove out the Governor and his
men, and, lest he should regain this stronghold, burnt city, church,
and all to the ground. The Governor had twice to seek refuge on
the Eastern Shore. Whether Bacon's rebellion was a lawful one
or not, I leave civilians to decide. Sir William Berkeley certainly
gained no credit to himself, either for his military talents, or his
truth, or humanity, for, in spite of all his assurances to the contrary,
and the express orders of the King, he did, after the sudden
decease of Bacon, put to death a number of his followers. For
this, and other high-handed acts, his memory is not dear to the
lovers of freedom.
Although a new and better church, whose tower still remains,
was built at Jamestown, yet the city never recovered from this
blow. The middle Plantation, or Williamsburg, was already beginning
to rival it, and by the beginning of the next century the
seat of government was removed to Williamsburg, where the College,
State-House, and Governor's palace quite eclipsed any thing
which had ever been seen at Jamestown. The Governor's house,
at Green Spring, which Sir William Berkeley built, a few miles off,
answered for a time in place of the State-House at Jamestown;
the Council and Burgh holding their meetings there.
Proceeding now with the succession of ministers in Jamestown,
we have been unable to ascertain any other until the Rev. James
Blair, the Commissary, who came to this country in 1685, and settled
in Henrico, whence, after remaining until 1694, he removed
to Jamestown, and remained until 1710, preaching there, and at a
church eight miles off, in the adjacent parish, and then moved to
Williamsburg. Who succeeded him, and who ministered there
until the year 1722, I know not. In that year the Rev. William
Le Neve took charge of it. He reports to the Bishop of London,
in the year 1724, that the parish is twenty miles long, twelve wide,
has seventy-eight families in it, and usually twenty or thirty communicants.
He also preached every third Sunday at Mulberry
Island parish church, lower down the river, where he had double
the number of communicants, and a larger congregation. The
congregation at Jamestown must have been small. There never
was but one church in it; and that was not a large one. The seventy-eight
families must have been the whole flock of James City parish
at this time. The salary of James City parish was only £60.
£20 for lecturing in Williamsburg on Sunday afternoons. In the
year 1758, we find the Rev. Mr. Berkeley the minister. In the
year 1772, the Rev. John Hyde Saunders was ordained for this
parish by the Bishop of London. In the year 1785, the Rev.
James Madison, afterward Bishop of Virginia, became its minister,
and continued so until his death in 1812, long before which the
congregation had dwindled into almost nothing,—the church on the
Island having sunk into ruins, and the little remnant of Episcopalians
meeting at a brick church a few miles from the island, on the
road from it to Williamsburg. That has also entirely disappeared.
A young friend of mine, who was in Williamsburg about the year
1810, informed me that, being desirous of hearing the oratory of
Bishop Madison, he had once or twice gone out on a Sabbath
morning to this church, but that the required number for a sermon
was not there, though it was a very small one, and so he was disappointed.
It might be expected that I should in this place say
something about Bishop Madison, in addition to what may be found
in my first article of Reminiscences of Virginia; but, though I
have endeavoured to procure some of his papers for this purpose,
I have thus far been disappointed. I can only say that in the
year 1775 he was ordained deacon and priest by the Bishop of
London. In the year 1774 he became Professor in the College of
William and Mary, in the year 1777, President of the College,
and in the year 1790 was consecrated Bishop of Virginia. His
addresses to the Convention breathe a spirit of zealous piety, and
his recommendations are sensible and practical. Although agreeing
in political principles with those who were foremost in the
State for the sale of Church property and the withholding from
her and other Societies any corporate privileges, he steadily and
perseveringly, though ineffectually, resisted their efforts. I again
repeat my conviction that the reports as to his abandonment of
the Christian faith in his latter years are groundless; although it
is to be feared that the failure of the Church in his hands, and
which at that time might have failed in any hands, his secular and
philosophical pursuits, had much abated the spirit with which he
entered upon the ministry.
The old church at Jamestown is no longer to be seen, except
the base of its ruined tower. A few tombstones, with the names
of the Amblers and Jaquelines, the chief owners of the island for
a long time, and the Lees, of Green Spring, (the residence and property,
at one time, of Sir William Berkeley,) a few miles from
during the earlier years of the Colony. Some of the sacred vessels
are yet to be seen, either in private hands or public temples
of religion. The first I would mention are a large silver chalice
and paten, with the inscription on each,—
"Ex Dono Jacobi Morrison Armigeri, A.D. 1661."
Also a silver alms-basin, with the inscription, "For the use of
James City Parish Church." When the church at Jamestown
had fallen into ruin and the parish ceased to exist, probably at
the death of Bishop Madison, these vessels were taken under the
charge of the vestry in Williamsburg. During the presidency of
Dr. Wilmer over the College, and his pastorship of the church in
Williamsburg, in the year 1827, they were placed in the hands of
the Rev. John Grammer, to be used in the church or churches
under his care, on condition of their being restored to the parish
of James City, should it ever be revived. In the year 1854, Mr.
Grammer thought it best to surrender it into the hands of the
Episcopal Convention, with the request that it be deposited for
safe-keeping in the Library of the Theological Seminary of Virginia,
where it now is. The second is a silver plate, being part
of a communion-service presented to the church at Jamestown,
by Edmund Andros, in the year 1694, he being then Governor.
The history of this is singular. In one of our Southern towns,
about twelve years since, a gentleman, wishing something from a
jeweller's shop, was directed by the owners of it to look into a
drawer for the thing wanted, in which drawer was kept old silver
purchased for the purpose of being worked up again. This piece
of plate was noticed, being much bent and battered. It was purchased,
and, being restored to its original shape, was discovered to
be what we have stated; this appearing from the Latin inscription
upon it. This also has been presented to the Church of Virginia.
The third and last of the pieces of church furniture—which is
now in use in one of our congregations—is a silver vase, a font for
baptism, which was presented to the Jamestown Church, in 1733,
by Martha Jaqueline, widow of Edward Jaqueline, and their son
Edward. In the year 1785, when the act of Assembly ordered
the sale of Church property, it reserved that which was possessed
by right of private donation. Under this clause, it was given
into the hands of the late Mr. John Ambler, his grandson. The
following lines in relation to it are from the pen of Mr. Edward
Jaqueline's grand-daughter, the late Mrs. Edward Carrington, of
and I take pleasure in placing them on record:—
This holy relic of my church and sire,
Not basely barter'd, or profanely sold,
But pure and perfect, still preserved entire?
No impious tongue condemn a gift so rare,
While plate and chalice felt the dire abuse,
That echoes loud in heaven's offended ear.
Still waiting to perform the donor's will;
And, when to men thou giv'st the Christian's name,
Come thou, O God, and grace divine instil!"
I have also been permitted to make use of the papers of this
excellent lady in presenting some sketches of the members of her
family who were in connection with the old church at Jamestown.
Nor can I do this without first making a brief reference
to herself. Mrs. Carrington was a sincere and pious member of
our Church in Richmond, from the beginning of its resuscitation
in 1812,—how much longer I know not. Being infirm, from the
time of our first Conventions, she was unable to attend public
worship, but was not ashamed to convert her house into a place
of prayer and exhortation, inviting her neighbours and friends to
assemble there. Some pleasant and edifying meetings have I
been privileged to attend and participate in, under her roof,
during the last years of her pilgrimage on earth. The paper from
which I extract the following was drawn up in the year 1785, on a
visit to one of the Amblers, at a residence called the "Cottage,"
in Hanover county, Virginia, and where were the portraits of the
older members of the family:—
"The first was Edward Jaqueline, who was descended in a right line
from one of those unfortunate banished Huguenots whose zeal in the
good Protestant cause has made their history so remarkable. He was of
French extraction, and, from his buckram suit and antique periwig,
(alluding to his portrait on the wall,) must have arrived in this country
in its early settlement. The costume of the young ladies and gentlemen
bespoke more modern fashion; amongst whom (and she was the youngest)
stood my highly-respected aunt Martha, who, I well remember, told me
she was born in the year 1711. She died at the age of ninety-three.
From her I learned that the old gentleman, Edward Jaqueline, her father,
settled in Jamestown, on his first arrival in this country, where his tombstone
still remains; that he married in the Carey family, in Warrick
county; that he had three sons and three daughters; that the daughters
grandfather, Richard Ambler, a respectable merchant in Yorktown; that
the second, Mary, married John Smith, of Westmoreland, from whom
have descended our kinsfolks John and Edward Smith, of Frederick
county. The third was our dear aunt, Martha Jaqueline, who choose to
take upon herself the title of Mrs. at the age of fifty, this being the custom
with spinsters in England at that day. Richard Ambler was an honest
Yorkshireman, who settled, as we have said, as a merchant in Yorktown,
and married Elizabeth Jaqueline, and thus inherited the ancient seat in
Jamestown, which was thus transmitted through several generations,
being enlarged in size until the whole island came into the possession of
the late John Ambler, of Richmond. Mr. Richard Ambler had a number
of children, only four of whom reached maturity,—Edward, John, Mary,
and Jaqueline, the latter of whom, after being educated in Philadelphia,
entered into business with his father in Yorktown, and married
Rebecca Burwell, daughter of Lewis Burwell, and niece of President
Nelson, who, having no daughter, took charge of her, she being
left an orphan at ten years of age. Jaqueline Ambler and Rebecca his
wife were the parents of Eliza, who married Mr. William Brent, of
Stafford, and, at his death, Colonel Edward Carrington, of Cumberland.[29]
Call.
From the papers of Mrs. Carrington I take the following concerning
the religious character of her mother:—
"Often, when a child, have I listened to my mother's account of her
early devotion to her Maker: heard her describe how, at the age of
thirteen, deprived of earthly parents, she, with pious resignation, turned
her heart to God, and, in the midst of a large family, sought a retired
spot in the garret, where she erected a little altar at which to worship.
There, with her collection of sacred books, she gave her earliest and latest
hours to God. Her character, in the opinion of her giddy companions,
was stamped with enthusiasm. But who would not wish to be such an
enthusiast? In after-years she made it her meat and drink to do the
will of God, and never, in one instance, do I recollect her to have shrunk
from it. Her whole life was a continued series of practical Christian
knew her."
Mrs. Carrington also speaks, in like manner, of her father, Mr.
Jaqueline Ambler:—
"His saintlike image is too deeply impressed to need any picture of
mine to recall him to our remembrance. I find a complete portrait of
him drawn by the inimitable Cowper:—
Shows somewhat of that happier life to come.' "
Speaking of the piety of both of her parents, she says,—
From loins enthroned, or rulers of the earth;
But higher far our high pretensions rise,—
Children of parents pass'd into the skies."
Her aged aunt Jaqueline had assured her that piety distinguished
her father from early youth. She herself had experienced the
fruits of it in his assiduous care of herself and sisters. Her mother
being in very bad health, her father, though much engaged in
the duties of his office, (collector of the King's customs at York,)
devoted all his spare hours to the education of herself and her
sister, (afterward Mrs. Marshall,) then only five or six years of age.
The copies for writing were always written by himself, in a fair
hand, containing some moral or religious sentiment, but defective
in grammar, that they might correct them; and so of other branches.
The advantages they possessed were superior to any enjoyed in
those days, when there were no boarding-schools and all that was
taught "was reading and writing, at twenty shillings a year and
a load of wood." Mrs. Carrington informs us that "the government
exercised by her father was by some thought to be too severe,
for the rod, at that time, was an instrument never to be dispensed
with, and our dear father used it most conscientiously. I have
since discovered that his superior knowledge of human nature led
him to pursue the right course, (as to discipline,) and in my own
subsequent experience, in the education of children, I have found
that the present prevailing opinion, that youth may be reared and
matured by indulgence, is erroneous. I will venture to say that,
with a very few exceptions, it will be always proper to observe a
well-regulated discipline. We often hear the observation that a
rigid parent never has an obedient child. Our experience certainly
contradicts it. Where the parent is found to unite the virtuous
to be loved and respected. Such a father was ours, and the love
and respect we bore him has seldom been equalled." His example,
also, added weight to his precept and government. "Never did
man live in the more constant practice of religious duties. Early
and late we knew him to be in the performance of them. It was
his daily habit to spend his first and latest hours in prayer and
meditation. Every Sunday that his church was open, he was the
first to enter it, and often would he be almost a solitary male at
the table of the Lord." This, she adds, was during the war, when
the men were engaged in it, and when infidelity was spreading
through the land. The last end of this good man was, as might
be expected, one of peace. On his death-bed, when speaking of
one of his neighbours, who had gone to some distant place in
search of a home, he said, with his eyes uplifted to heaven, "I am
going to a nearer, happier home" To a female friend, who was at
his bedside when he died, he exclaimed,—
See it open'd to my eyes!"
From such ancestors, as might well be expected according to the
covenant of grace, many pious children have descended, who have
faithfully adhered to the Church of their fathers.
P.S.—Since preparing the above, I have received a fuller account
of the descendants of the first of the Jaquelines. He came
to this country from Kent, in England, in the year 1697, and, marrying
Miss Carey, of Warwick, settled at Jamestown. His daughter
Mary married one of those Smiths in Middlesex of whom we
shall make mention in our article on that parish, and two of which
family were ministers of the Church in Gloucester and Matthews.
Colonel Edward and General John Smith, of Frederick, and many
others, were the children of Mary Jaqueline and John Smith. We
have seen, in the account taken from the papers of Mrs. Carrington,
the sketch of one branch of the Amblers, that descended from Jaqueline
Ambler, who married Miss Burwell. We have only to refer
to that descended from Edward Ambler, who inherited Jamestown,
or a large portion of it. Mr. Edward Ambler married Miss Mary
Carey, daughter of Wilson Carey, the lady of whom Washington
Irving, in his life of Washington, speaks, as the one to whom General
Washington was somewhat attached. One of his sons was Mr.
John Ambler, first of Jamestown, then of Hanover, and afterward of
Mr. Smith. His second wife was the sister of Judge Marshall, by
whom he had one child, Major Thomas Ambler, of Fauquier. His
third wife was the widow of Mr. Hatley Norton, of England, and
daughter of Philip Bush, of Winchester, by whom he had many
sons and daughters, who are married and settled in various parts
of the State,—warm friends or members of the Church. Two of
the descendants of this branch of the family are worthy ministers
of the Church,—the Revs. Charles and Thomas Ambler.
Of him a circumstance is related, showing that there was not only religion in
those days, but superstition also. The boy lying for ten days in bed, as one dead,
his eyes and mouth shut but his body warm, Captain Brent, who was a Papist,
said that he was bewitched, and that he had heard baptism was a remedy for it, and
proposed the trial. Colonel Mason answered that there was no minister in many
miles. Captain Brent replied, "Your clerk, Mr. Dobson, may do that office;"
which was accordingly done by the Church of England Liturgy. Colonel Mason and
Captain Brent stood godfathers, and Mrs. Mason godmother. The end of the
story is, that the child, being eight years old, soon recovered.
Colonel Carrington, the husband of her from whose papers I make these
extracts, entered early into the army of the Revolution, and afterwards served his
country in the American Congress. He was a great favourite of Washington, and
endeared himself to Generals Green, Marion, and Sumpter, while rendering important
services in the Southern campaign, as their letters amply show.
It will not be inopportune here to introduce a passage from one of Mrs. Carrington's
letters to her sister, Mrs. Fisher, written from Mount Vernon, where she
and Colonel Carrington were on a visit, not long before General Washington's
death. I have always determined to give, in some part of these sketches, a view
of the chamber of a Virginia lady, to show that, though abounding with servants,
she is not idle; nay, that the very number of her servants creates employment.
After speaking of the hearty welcome given them by the general and his lady, and
the extension of the retiring-hour of the former from nine to twelve on one night,
when he and Colonel Carrington were lost in former days and scenes and in the
company of Pulaski and Kosciusko, she comes to Mrs. Washington, who spoke
of her days of public life, and levees, and company, as "her lost days." "Let
us repair to the old lady's room, which is precisely in the style of our good old
aunt's,—that is to say, nicely fixed for all sorts of work. On one side sits the
chambermaid, with her knitting; on the other, a little coloured pet, learning
to sew. An old, decent woman is there, with her table and shears, cutting out
the negroes' winter-clothes, while the good old lady directs them all, incessantly
knitting herself. She points out to me several pair of nice coloured stockings
and gloves she had just finished, and presents me with a pair half done, which she
begs I will finish and wear for her sake." "It is wonderful, after a life spent as
these good people have necessarily spent theirs, to see them, in retirement, assume
those domestic habits that prevail in our country." If the wife of General
Washington, having her own and his wealth at command, should thus choose to
live, how much more the wives and mothers of Virginia with moderate fortunes
and numerous children! How often have I seen, added to the above-mentioned
scenes of the chamber, the instruction of several sons and daughters going on, the
churn, the reel, and other domestic operations, all in progress at the same time,
and the mistress, too, lying on a sick-bed. There are still such to be found,
though I fear the march of refinement is carrying many beyond such good old
ways.
The papers from which I quote state that the first meeting of Captain
Marshall and his future wife was at York, where the Amblers at that time lived;
that the father of Captain Marshall—Colonel Thomas Marshall, from Fauquier—
was the commanding officer at York, and that his son, who was in the army,
came to visit him and the family there, during some months when his services
were not required in the army; that an attachment was formed, at first sight,
between him and the youngest daughter of Colonel Ambler, she being only fourteen
years of age; that Mr. Marshall endeared himself to them all, notwithstanding
his slouched hat and negligent and awkward dress, by his amiable manners,
fine talents, and especially his love for poetry, which he read to them with
deep pathos; that, during his absence from the army of a few months, he studied
law in Williamsburg, obtained a license, and returned to the army as captain; that
immediately after the war he and Miss Ambler were married, at the Cottage, in
Hanover, a seat of one of the Amblers; that after having paid the minister his fee
his fortune was only one guinea in pocket. In proof of the ardour of his character
and the tenderness of his attachment to his intended wife, Mrs. Carrington
remarks that he had often said to her "that he looked with astonishment on the
present race of lovers," so totally unlike what he had been himself. The proof
of this was seen in his persevering devotion to Mrs. Marshall during life.
That Judge Marshall should be a reader and lover of poetry may be somewhat
unexpected to many who have been accustomed to regard him only as the
able lawyer, the grave and dignified chief-justice, or the laborious historian; yet
it was nevertheless so, to a justifiable extent. His education was, from the first,
classical, under the Rev. Mr. Thompson, and was so continued, at William and
Mary College, when the first scholars presided over it. I remember once to have
heard him quote, with a playful aptitude, concerning some leading persons who
had changed their political relations, these words of old Homer,—
'Mong all your works!"
I have been for the last fifty years, and more especially for the last thirty, travelling
much through the length and breadth of Virginia, making observations for
myself, conversing with intelligent farmers, politicians, ministers of the Gospel, and
other Christians, on the subject referred to above. I have been not a little over
other parts of our land, observing and conversing on the same, and I have read
much of what has been written about it. Since the publication, in another form, of the
few brief sentences referred to in this note, I have not only reconsidered them myself,
but freely conversed with many sound-minded persons concerning the views
there presented; and the result has been an increased conviction that they are correct,
and have been in times past, and still are, held by the great body of our citizens,
Christians, and statesmen. There are some who seem to advocate slavery as
though it were the only institution which is exempt from any of the evils incident
to our fallen humanity, while others can see nothing but evil about it, ignoring the
hand of a permissive Providence for good. We cannot agree with either of these
classes, and are happy to think that but few belong to them. That the agriculture
of Virginia has suffered in times past from the use of slaves we think most evident
from our deserted fields, impoverished estates, and emigrating population, by comparison
with the condition of other parts of our land less highly favoured in natural
advantages. That a great improvement has already taken place, and is still
going on, in many parts of the State, notwithstanding this system, we rejoice to
know and declare; and, even if the future should show that agriculture may be as
well conducted by slave-labour as by free, our remark is true as to the past. That
we have fallen behind in our white population, and of course in the number of our
delegates to Congress, and thus in our political power, will not be questioned. That
Virginia has been the fruitful nursery of patriots and orators and statesmen,
whether representing their own State or those to which they have emigrated, I rejoice
to believe, and I acknowledge that the institution of slavery, by affording
more leisure and opportunity to some for the attainment of the most thorough education,
has contributed to this; but that our political power as a State has been
reduced is a fact not to be denied; and that this has resulted from the preceding facts
—viz. . the wasteful agriculture and consequent emigration—must be admitted. The
effect of slavery upon our religious institutions has been a matter of remark and
lamentation by some of the earliest writers on Virginia, beginning with the first
century of her existence. They speak of the large estates cultivated by slaves,
especially along the rivers, as preventing the establishment of villages, churches,
and schools. To this day the ministers of religion deeply feel this in the distant
abodes of their members. That slavery and its attendant—a supposed disgrace
belonging to labour—has produced in many of the sons of Virginia gentlemen idleness
and dissipation, who will deny? On account of all the foregoing accompaniments
of slavery, how long did our statesmen protest against the continuance of the slave-trade,
making the "inhuman use of the royal veto" on an act prohibiting it one of
the justifying causes of the Revolution! And we all know that one of the first exercises
of our independence was the entire abolition of it. But while thus satisfied,
so far as Virginia is concerned, that slavery was attended by the above-mentioned
evils, it is our privilege, as Christians, to view the whole subject in a higher and
holier light and on a larger scale, and to be willing to suffer some loss for the sake
of the greater good which Providence, through that loss, may bestow on a benighted
portion of mankind. "The whole earth is the Lord's," and not ours. He who
drove out the Canaanites and gave their land to Israel for a possession has been
pleased to drive out the Indians from Virginia and give it to white men and to the
most amiable race of savages which I believe exists upon earth, and which is far
more ready to receive the Gospel than the ferocious Indian. Though Virginia suffered
some loss by the introduction of the Negro race, yet her advantages were, and
still are, so great that she could and can afford to lose what God chooses to take
in his own way. I trust that God will still be gracious to this race, and, when it
shall overflow the first bounds which were set for it, will provide, in sufficient abundance,
other and goodlier portions for her in our widely-extended territory. I
trust that he will give wisdom and largeness of heart, even as the sea-shore, to our
people and rulers in providing for this race, whether in bondage or in freedom. I
am no politician to discuss the question of metes and boundaries in relation to their
settlement. I do not plead for the extension of territory with any regard to the
increase of wealth or political power to their owners; but I do trust that the Lord
has a goodly and large heritage for them, in such parts of this continent as shall be
most suitable, and that our Senators and delegates may ever deliberate on this subject
in a spirit of enlarged Christian philanthropy. If there was any plan by which
their own character and condition could, by emancipation, be improved without
greater injury to their owners than good to themselves, I am sure that God in his own
time will reveal it unto us; but, all such attempts having hitherto failed, we should
legislate for their good, as people in bondage and who may long continue so. Many of
them will, I trust, go back, with something better than civil liberty, to the land of
their fathers; but many must long remain in America,—probably to the end of
time; and cruel would be the policy which should seek to restrict them to limits too
narrow for their comfort or that of their owners. Already the abundance of the
South and West is attracting them, as it does their owners, and they leave many
parts of Virginia with joy, in the hope of a milder climate, a richer soil, and ampler
provision for their bodily sustenance. While we admit and maintain that
slavery has its evils, we must also affirm that some of the finest traits in the character
of man are to be found in active exercise in connection with it. The very
dependence of the slave upon his master is a continual and effective appeal to his
justice and humanity, and the relation between them is generally a very different
thing from what it is believed to be by many who have no opportunity of forming a
correct estimate of the same. If the evil passions are sometimes called into exercise,
the milder virtues are much more frequently drawn forth. If there be less of
bodily labour, there is more of mental culture, among those who are not obliged to
"hold the plough;" and thus it is that among the upper classes there is far more
of academical and collegiate education in Virginia than in any other State of the
Union, and the whole South and West have felt and do feel the effect of it. Nor
as to religion are we, as some have supposed, so destitute, though we might have
abounded more under different circumstances. Irreligion, false doctrines, Unitarianism,
belong neither to slavery nor freedom. At a time when all Christendom
was covered with slavery of every degree, the Unitarian heresy prevailed for a period
in its greatest extension, and so did a swarm of other false doctrines. That
the slave-holding States are now most happily free from this and other pestilential
errors, and have much of true piety in them, must be acknowledged; and it were
to be wished that, for the sake of peace and union, criminations and recriminations
would cease.
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