n the army from his childhood, and
uniting genius with energy, served with distinction under the Duke of
Marlborough.

He was dangerously wounded in the breast by the first fire which the
French made on the Confederates at the battle of Blenheim. He served
during the heat of that sanguinary war as deputy quartermaster-general.
In after-life, while governor of Virginia, he sometimes showed to his
guests a four-pound ball that struck his coat. Blenheim Castle is
represented in the background of a portrait of him, preserved at
Chelsea, in the County of King William.

The arrival of Governor Spotswood in Virginia was hailed with joy,
because he brought with him the right of Habeas Corpus--a right
guaranteed to every Englishman by Magna Charta, but hitherto denied to
Virginians. He entered upon the duties of his office in June, 1710. The
two houses of the assembly severally returned thanks for an act
affording them "relief from long imprisonments," and appropriated
upwards of two thousand pounds for completing the governor's palace. In
the following year Spotswood wrote back to England: "This government is
in perfect peace and tranquillity, under a due obedience to the royal
authority and a gentlemanly conformity to the Church of England." The
assembly was continued by several prorogations to November, 1711. During
the summer of this year, upon an alarm of an intended French invasion of
Virginia, the governor exerted himself to put the colony in the best
posture of defence. Upon the convening of the assembly their jealousy of
prerogative power revived, and they refused to pay the expense of
collecting the militia, or to discharge the colonial debt, because, as
Spotswood informed the ministry, "they hoped by their frugality to
recommend themselves to the populace." The assembly would only consent
to levy twenty thousand pounds, by duties laid chiefly on British
manufactures; and notwithstanding the governor's message, they insisted
on giving discriminating privileges to Virginia owners of vessels in
preference to British subjects proper, saying that the same exemption
had always existed. The governor declined the proffered levy, and
finding that nothing further could be obtained, dissolved the assembly,
and in anticipation of an Indian war was obliged to solicit supplies
from England.

About this time, the feuds that raged in the adjoining province of
North Carolina, threatening to subvert all regular government there,
Hy