favourable spots, and foster the growth of towns, as in most of the other colonies; and at the beginning of the revolution, Williamsburg, the seat of government, and the largest town in Virginia, itself the most populous of the colonies, did not contain 2000 inhabitants. But as the bees which form no hive collect no honey, the commerce which was thus dispersed accumulated no wealth. The disadvantages of this dispersion were eventually perceived by the colonists, and many efforts were made by the legislature to remedy the mischief by authorizing the establishment of towns on selected sites, and giving special privileges and immunities to those who built or those who resided on them. Their purpose was also favoured, and even stimulated by the government, from fiscal considerations. But most of these legislative efforts failed, and none were very successful. in 1680, as many as twenty towns were authorized by act of assembly, being one for each county; yet at not more than three or four of the designated spots is there even a village remaining to attest the propriety of the selection.

Thus

There were, indeed, wanting in the colony all the ordinary constituents of a large town. Here were no manufactories to bring together and employ the ingenious and industrious. The colonists, devoting themselves exclusively to agriculture, owned no shipping, which might have induced them to congregate for the sake of carrying on their foreign commerce to more advantage: here was no court which, by its splendour and amusements, might attract the gay, the voluptuous, and the rich: there was not even a class of opulent landlords to whom it is as easy to live on their rents in town as in the country, and far more agreeable. But the very richest planters all cultivated their own land with their own slaves, and while those lands furnished most of the materials of a generous, and even profuse hospitality, they could be consumed only where they were produced, and could neither be transported to a distance,

nor converted into money. The tobacco, which constituted the only article of export, served to pay for the foreign luxuries which the planter required; yet, with his social habits, it was barely sufficient for that purpose, and not a few of the largest estates were deeply in debt to the Scotch or English merchants, who carried on the whole commerce of the country. Nor was this system of credit more eagerly sought by the improvident planter than it was given by the thrifty and sagacious trader; for it afforded to him a sure pledge for the consignment of the debtor's crop, on the sales of which his fair perquisites amounted to a liberal profit, and if he was disposed to abuse his trust, his gains were enormous. The merchants were therefore ready to ship goods, and accept bills of exchange on the credit of future crops, while their factors in the colony took care in season to make the debt safe by a mortgage on the lands and slaves of the planter. Some idea of the pecuniary thraldom to which the Virginia planter was formerly subjected may be formed from the fact, that twice a year, at a general meeting of the merchants and factors in Williamsburg, they settled the price of tobacco, the advance on the sterling cost of goods, and the rate of exchange with England. It can scarcely be doubted that the regulations were framed as much to the advantage of the merchants as they believed it practicable to execute. Yet it affords evidence of the sagacious moderation with which this delicate duty was exercised, that it was not so abused as to destroy itself.

This state of things exerted a decided influence on the manners and character of the colonists, untrained to habits of business and possessed of the means of hospitality. They were open-handed and open-hearted; fond of society, indulging in all its pleasures, and practising all its courtesies. But these social virtues also occasionally ran into the kindred vices of love of show, haughtiness, sensuality-and many of

the wealthier class were to be seen seeking relief from the vacuity of idleness, not merely in the allowable pleasures of the chase and the turf, but in the debasing ones of cockfighting, gaming, and drinking. Literature was neglected, or cultivated, by the small number who had been educated in England, rather as an accomplishment and a mark of distinction than for the substantial benefits it confers.

Let us not, however, overrate the extent of these consequences of slavery. If the habitual exercise of authority, united to a want of steady occupation, deteriorated the character of some, it seemed to give a greater elevation of virtue to others. Domestic slavery, in fact, places the master in a state of moral discipline, and according to the use he makes of it, is he made better or worse. If he exercises his unrestricted power over the slave in giving ready indulgence to his humours or caprice-if he habitually yields to impulses of anger, and punishes whenever he is disobeyed, or obeyed imperfectly, he is certainly the worse for the institution which has thus afforded aliment to his evil propensities. But if, on the other hand, he has been taught to curb these sallies of passion or freaks of caprice, or has subjected himself to a course of salutary restraint, he is continually strengthening himself in the virtues of self-denial, forbearance, and moderation, and he is all the better for the institution which has afforded so much occasion for the practice of those virtues*. If, therefore, in a slave-holding country, we see some of the masters made irascible, cruel, and tyrannical, we see many others as remarkable for their mildness, moderation, and self-command; because, in truth, both the virtues of the one

The character of the Presidents which Virginia has furnished, may be appealed to for a confirmation of this view; and many living illustrations will readily present themselves to all who have a personal knowledge of the southern states.

and the vices of the other are carried to the greater extreme by the self-same process of habitual exercise.

The Church of England was the established religion of Virginia. The whole colony was divided into parishescommonly about two in a county-in each of which was a glebe and parsonage house for the minister, who also received 16,000 pounds of tobacco a year from the public treasury. Great jealousy seems to have been entertained by the carly settlers against other sects, particularly the Quakers. In 1660, all of this sect who came into the colony were to be imprisoned until they gave security to leave it, and masters of vessels were subjected to a penalty of 1001. sterling for every Quaker brought into the country. Dissenters from the Church of England, however, gradually increased, particularly Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists, and at the breaking out of the revolution, they, according to Mr. Jefferson, constituted one half* of those who professed themselves members of any church.

The colonial government was modelled after that of the mother country; the Governor, Council, and Burgesses of Virginia corresponding, in their respective functions, to the king, lords, and commons of England. There were, however, the following diversities: during the first year of the colony, when it was under the government of the Virginia Company, the Governor, Council, and Burgesses sat together in the same room, and formed a single body, called "the Grand Assembly." The same thing afterwards took place during the greater part of the time of the Commonwealth. The Governor and Council, too, in their judicial character, exercised original as well as appellate jurisdiction, and appeals from their decision lay to the General Assembly.

* Mr. Madison thinks that the proportion of Dissenters was considerably less.

These appeals were abolished in 1683, by an exercise of the royal prerogative; but the judicial functions of the Governor and Council, constituting the General Court, continued throughout the regal government. The number of Councillors was limited to sixteen, though their places were seldom all filled; and they were selected by the Crown from those of the inhabitants who were recommended by their wealth, station, and loyalty. The House of Burgesses, in the year 1743, consisted of eighty members: to wit, seventy-six from thirty-eight counties, three from the towns of Williamsburg, James Town, and Norfolk, and one from William and Mary College.

The political sentiments of the planters were manifested very differently in their relations with each other, and in the concerns of the whole province with the mother country. Whilst, in the latter relation, they, with few exceptions, showed themselves zealous asserters of their civil rights, in the colony itself there was exhibited a strong aristocratical spirit, which several circumstances had contributed to produce. The great number of indented servants, who for near a century constituted the largest portion of their agricultural labour, and who were subjected to a rigour of authority not known in England, had always divided the colonists into two distinct classes; and if many of the degraded caste, after their term of service was expired, had by thrift and good management acquired land and even wealth, yet their former condition was not forgotten; and it was only in the second. or third generation that the original line of distinction was effaced. The introduction of slaves tended to increase and confirm this inequality. The wealthy planter, living on a large estate, where he saw none but obliged guests or obsequious slaves-commonly invested, moreover, with powers legislative, judicial, or military, and sometimes with all united, was likely to have a high sense of personal dignity