n the commerce between one colony and another, and the revenue
thence derived was absorbed by the collecting officers. The planters, it
is said,[281:A] had been driven to seek a remedy by destroying the crop
in the fields, called "plant cutting." The endeavors of the agents in
England to obtain a release from the grants to the lords and a new
charter, appeared abortive. The Indian incursions occurring at this
conjuncture, filled the measure of panic and exasperation. Groaning
under exactions and grievances, and tortured by apprehensions, the
Virginians began to meditate violent measures of relief. Many of the
feudal institutions of England, the hoary buttresses of mediaeval power,
could have no existence in America; a new position gradually moulded a
new system; and men transplanted to another hemisphere changed opinions
as well as clime. Thus, in Virginia, the most Anglican, oldest, and most
loyal of the colonies, a spirit of freedom and independence infused
itself into the minds of the planters. The ocean that separated them
from England lessened the terror of a distant sceptre. The supremacy of
law being less firmly established, especially in the frontier, a wild
spirit of justice had arisen which was apt to decline into contempt of
authority. Added to this, the colony contained malecontent Cromwellian
soldiers reduced to bondage, perhaps some of them men of heroic soul,
victims of civil war, ripe for revolt. The Indian massacres of former
years made the colonists sensitive to alarms, and impatient of
indifference to their cruel apprehensions, which can hardly be realized
by those who have never been subjected to such dangers. The fatigues,
privations, hardships, perils of a pioneer life, imparted energy; the
wild magnificence of nature, the fresh luxuriance of a virgin soil,
unpruned forests, great rivers and hoary mountains, these contributed to
kindle a love of liberty and independence. Moreover, the disaffection of
the colonists was somewhat emboldened by the civil dissensions of
England, which appeared now again to threaten the stability of the
throne.

FOOTNOTES:

[281:A] Account of Bacon's Rebellion, in Va. Gazette, 1766.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

1675-1676.

Three Ominous Presages--Siege of Piscataway--Colonel John
Washington--Indian Chiefs put to death--Fort evacuated--
Indians murder Inhabitants of Frontier--Servant and Overseer
of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., slain--The People take up Arm