第 20 节
作者:疯狂热线      更新:2021-12-07 09:33      字数:9322
  continued through a rather prolonged period。 There came now to Virginia
  families whose names are often met in the later history of the land。 Now
  Washingtons appear; with Randolphs; Carys; Skipwiths; Brodnaxes; Tylers;
  Masons; Madisons; Monroes; and many more。 These persons are not without
  means; they bring with them servants; they are in high favor with Governor
  and Council; they acquire large tracts of virgin land; they bring in
  indentured labor; they purchase African slaves; they cultivate tobacco。
  》From being English country gentlemen they turn easily to become Virginia
  planters。
  But the Virginia Assembly had thrown a gauntlet before the victorious
  Commonwealth; and the Long Parliament now declared the colony to be in
  contumacy; assembled and dispatched ships against her; and laid an embargo
  upon trade with the rebellious daughter。 In January of 1652 English ships
  appeared off Point Comfort。 Four Commissioners of the Commonwealth were
  aboard; of whom that strong man Claiborne was one。 After issuing a
  proclamation to quiet the fears of the people; the Commissioners made their
  way to Jamestown。 Here was found the indomitable Berkeley and his Council
  in a state of active preparation; cannon trained。 But; when all was said;
  the Commissioners had brought wisely moderate terms: submit because submit
  they must; acknowledge the Commonwealth; and; that done; rest unmolested!
  If resistance continued; there were enough Parliament men in Virginia to
  make an army。 Indentured servants and slaves should receive freedom in
  exchange for support to the Commonwealth。 The ships would come up from
  Point Comfort; and a determined war would be on。 What Sir William Berkeley
  personally said has not survived。 But after consultation upon consultation
  Virginia surrendered to the commonwealth。
  Berkeley stepped from the Governor's chair; retiring in wrath and
  bitterness of heart to his house at Greenspring。; In his place sat Richard
  Bennett; one of the Commissioners。 Claiborne was made Secretary。 King's men
  went out of office; Parliament men came in。 But there was no persecution。
  In the bland and wide Virginia air minds failed to come into hard and
  frequent collision。 For all the ferocities of the statute books; acute
  suffering for difference of opinion; whether political or religious; did
  not bulk large in the life of early Virginia。
  The Commissioners; after the reduction of Virginia; had a like part to play
  with Maryland。 At St。 Mary's; as at Jamestown; they demanded and at length
  received submission to the Commonwealth。 There was here the less trouble
  owing to Baltimore's foresight in appointing to the office of Governor
  William Stone; whose opinions; political and religious; accorded with those
  of revolutionary England。 Yet the Governor could not bring himself to
  forget his oath to Lord Baltimore and agree to the demand of the
  Commissioners that he should administer the Government in the ame of 〃the
  Keepers of the Liberties of England。〃 After some hesitation the
  Commissioners decided to respect his scruples and allow him to govern in
  the name of the Lord Proprietary; as he had solemnly promised。
  In Virginia and in Maryland the Commonwealth and the Lord Protector stand
  where stood the Kingdom and the King。 Many are far better satisfied than
  they were before; and the confirmed royalist consumes his grumbling in his
  own circle。 The old; exhausting quarrel seems laid to rest。 But within this
  wider peace breaks out suddenly an interior strife。 Virginia would; if she
  could; have back all her old northward territory。 In 1652 Bennett's
  Government goes so far as to petition Parliament to unseat the Catholic
  Proprietary of Maryland and make whole again the ancient Virginia。 The hand
  of Claiborne; that remarkable and persistent man; may be seen in this。
  In Maryland; Puritans and Independents were settled chiefly about the
  rivers Severn and Patuxent and in a village called Providence; afterwards
  Annapolis。 These now saw their chance to throw off the Proprietary's rule
  and to come directly under that of the Commonwealth。 So thinking; they put
  themselves into communication with Bennett and Claiborne。 In 1654 Stone
  charged the Commissioners with having promoted 〃faction; sedition; and
  rebellion against the Lord Baltimore。〃 The charge was well founded。
  Claiborne and Bennett assumed that they were yet Parliament Commissioners;
  empowered to bring 〃all plantations within the Bay of Chesapeake to their
  due obedience to the Parliament and Commonwealth of England。〃 And they were
  indeed set against the Lord Baltimore。 Claiborne would head the Puritans of
  Providence; and a troop should be raised in Virginia and march northward。
  The Commissioners actually advanced upon St。 Mary's; and with so superior
  a; force that Stone surrendered; and a Puritan Government was inaugurated。
  A Puritan Assembly met; debarring any Catholics。 Presently it passed an act
  annulling the Proprietary's Act of Toleration。 Professors of the religion
  of Rome should 〃be restrained from the exercise thereof。〃 The hand of the
  law was to fall heavily upon 〃popery; prelacy; or licentiousness of
  opinion。 〃Thus was intolerance alive again in the only land where she had
  seemed to die!
  In England now there was hardly a Parliament; but only the Lord Protector;
  Oliver Cromwell。 Content with Baltimore's recognition of the Protectorate;
  Cromwell was not prepared to back; in their independent action; the
  Commissioners of that now dissolved Parliament。 Baltimore made sure of
  this; and then dispatched messengers overseas to Stone; bidding him do all
  that lay in him to retake Maryland。 Stone thereupon gathered several
  hundred men and a fleet of small sailing craft; with which he pushed up the
  bay to the Severn。 In the meantime the Puritans had not been idle; but had
  themselves raised a body of men and had taken over the Golden Lyon; an
  armed merchantman lying before their town。 On the 24th of March; 1655; the
  two forces met in the Battle of the Severn。 〃In the name of God; fall on!〃
  cried the men of Providence; and 〃Hey for St。 Mary's!〃 cried the others。
  The battle was won by the Providence men。 They slew or wounded fifty of the
  St。 Mary's men and desperately wounded Stone himself and took many
  prisoners; ten of whom were afterwards condemned to death and four were
  actually executed。
  Now followed a period of up and down; the Commissioners and the Proprietary
  alike appealing to the Lord Protector for some expression of his
  〃determinate will。〃 Both sides received encouragement inasmuch as he
  decided for neither。 His own authority being denied by neither; Cromwell
  may have preferred to hold these distant factions in a canceling;
  neutralizing posture。 But far weightier matters; in fact; were occupying
  his mind。 In 1657; weary of her 〃very sad; distracted; and unsettled
  condition;〃 Maryland herself proceededPuritan; Prelatist; and Catholic
  togetherto agree henceforth to disagree。 Toleration viewed in retrospect
  appears dimly to have been seen for the angel that it was。 Maryland would
  return to the Proprietary's rule; provided there should be complete
  indemnity for political offenses and a solemn promise that the Toleration
  Act of 1649 should never be repealed。 This without a smile Baltimore
  promised。 Articles were signed; a new Assembly composed of all manner of
  Christians was called; and Maryland returned for a time to her first
  allegiance。
  Quiet years; on the whole; follow in Virginia under the Commonwealth。 The
  three Governors of this period…Bennett; Digges; and Mathews are all chosen
  by the Assembly; which; but for the Navigation Laws;* might almost forget
  the Home Government。 Then Oliver Cromwell dies; and; after an interval;
  back to England come the Stuarts。 Charles II is proclaimed King。 And back
  into office in Virginia is brought that staunch old monarchist; Sir
  William Berkeleyfirst by a royalist Assembly and presently by commission
  from the new King。
  * See Editor's Note on the Navigation Laws at the end of this volume。
  Then Virginia had her Long Parliament or Assembly。 In 1661; in the first
  gush of the Restoration; there was elected a House of Burgesses so
  congenial to Berkeley's mind that he wished to see it perpetuated。 For
  fifteen years therefore he held it in being; with adjournments from one
  year into another and with sharp refusals to listen to any demand for new
  elections。 Yet this demand grew; and still the Governor shut the door in
  the face of the people and looked imperiously forth from the window。 His
  temper; always fiery; now burned vindictive; his zeal for King and Church
  and the high prerogatives of the Governor of Virginia became a consuming
  passion。
  When Berkeley first came to Virginia; and again for a moment in the flare
  of the Restoration; his popularity had been real; but for long now it had
  dwindled。 He belonged to an earlier time; and he held fast to old ideas
  that were decaying at the heart。 A bigot for the royal power; a man of
  class with a contempt for the generality and its clumsily expressed needs;
  he grew in narrowness as he grew in years。 Berkeley could in these later
  times write home; though with some exaggeration: 〃I thank God there are no
  fre