E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
A CENTURY TOO SOON
To
MY WIFE,
WHO SHARES MY JOYS AND SORROWS, TOILS AND CARES,
THIS BOOK
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
BY
THE AUTHOR
"His tired child was at his side uncomplainingly"
PREFACE.
Historians have bestowed little attention to that important period inour great commonwealth, just after the restoration in England. Thoughone hundred years before liberty was actually obtained, the sleepinggoddess seemed to have opened her eyes on that occasion and yawned,though she closed them the next moment for a sleep of a century longer.Events produce such strange and lasting impressions on individuals aswell as on nations, that the historian may not be much out of the way,who fancies that he sees in the reign of Cromwell the outgrowth ofrepublicanism, which culminated in the establishment of a free andindependent English-speaking people on the American continent. The twoprincipal classes of English colonists were the cavaliers and thePuritans, though there were also Quakers, Catholics, and settlers ofother creeds. Generally the cavaliers were the "king's men," orroyalists, and the Puritans republicans. The different characteristicsof these two sects were quite marked. The Puritans were sober andindustrious, quiet, fanatically religious and strict, while thecavaliers were polite, gallant, brave, good livers and quite fond ofdisplay. They were nearly all of the Church of England, with ratherloose morals, fond of fox-hunting and gay society. During the time ofthe Commonwealth of England, the Puritans were in power, and the king'speople, cavaliers, or royalists were reinstated on the restoration ofmonarchy in 1660.
Sir William Berkeley, a bigoted churchman, a lover of royalty, and onewho despised, republicanism and personal liberty so heartily that hecould "thank God that there were neither printing-presses nor publicschools in Virginia," was appointed by Charles II. governor of Virginia.Berkeley, whose early career was bright with promise, seems in his oldage to have become filled with hatred and avarice. He was too stubbornto listen to the counsel even of friends. Being engaged in a profitabletraffic with the Indians, he preferred to let them slaughter the peopleon the frontier, rather than to allow his business to be interferedwith. Berkeley's tyranny was carried to such an extreme, that rebellionwas the natural consequence. Rebellion always follows some injury ormisplaced confidence in the powers of the government. This rebellioncame