Virginia."

This, however, was carrying matters too far, even for Bacon. He
remembered that Governor Harvey, who had been deposed in a similar
manner, was reinstated by the king. He issued a remonstrance against
Berkeley's proclamation denouncing him as a rebel, declaring that he and
his followers were good and loyal subjects of the king of England, who
were only in arms against the savages. Then followed a list of public
grievances. He declared that some in authority had come to the country
poor, and were now rolling in wealth, likening them to sponges, that
have sucked up and devoured the common treasury. He asked, "What arts,
sciences, schools of learning, or manufactures have been promoted by any
now in authority?"

The governor's beaver trade with Indians, in which he thought more of
his profits than the lives of his subjects on the frontier, was not
forgotten.

Bacon was declared a rebel, his life was forfeited to Berkeley if
captured, and while at the Middle Plantation, he required an oath of his
followers to even resist the king's troops if they should come to
Virginia. The people of Virginia had not yet learned the true principles
of liberty. They still supposed that liberty could be gained while they
retained their allegiance to the king of England. It required a hundred
years more to convince them that freedom was incompatible with royalty.
The paper signed at Middle Plantation on this third day of August, 1676,
was a notable document. It began by stating that certain persons had
raised forces against General Bacon, which had brought on civil war, and
if forces came from England they would oppose them.

The next step of the rebels was to organize a government. Bacon issued
writs for the representatives of the people to assemble early in
September. The writs were in the king's name, and were signed by four
of the council.

This done, Bacon set off on his Indian campaign, leaving behind him a
mighty tumult. The new world had defied the old. At midnight by
torchlight, the grim-faced pioneers of Virginia had sworn to be free.
Everywhere men and women hailed the oath with enthusiasm.

"Now we can build ships and, like New England, trade with any other part
of the world," they declared. Sarah Drummond, the wife of the Scottish
conspirator, exclaimed:

"The child that is unborn shall have cause to rejoice for the good that
will come by the rising of the country." And when a person by her side
said, "We mus