1.]

White Servants and Convicts.

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15

White servants and convicts.

A very considerable portion of the labour of the colonies was provided by the employment of white persons bound to service for a term of years. Some of these servants came to America of their own accord and sold their services to secure the means to provide for the expenses of the transfer from the old world to the new. These were called "Redemptioners" or Free Willers," and were a most respectable and desirable class of immigrants. They were to be found most largely in Pennsylvania. At the termination of their terms of service they were given a start in life by the colony and the master, the colony furnishing land, and the master agricultural implements. Another class of bondservants were not so desirable, namely the "indented" servants drawn from the criminal classes of Great Britain. The Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 provided, among other things, that no subject should be sent to foreign prisons, or to parts beyond the seas, except those who in open court should request to be transported. Early in the reign of George I, Parliament provided that persons sentenced to whipping and branding might have their sentences commuted to seven years' service in the colonies; those liable to capital punishment might satisfy the requirements of justice by fourteen years' service; in either case, return to Britain before the expiration of the term of service was punishable with death. The contractors, who paid the expenses of the transportation of the convicts, were entitled to the services of such persons for the required terms and might assign their rights to others. Two other acts were passed "for the more speedy and effectual transportation of criminals," and the practice was continued till 1770 at least. For reasons not now clearly ascertainable most of these convicts were sent to Maryland and Virginia —indeed, those colonies seem to have been regarded almost in the light of penal settlements. The people of Virginia and Maryland strenuously objected to this influx

of criminals; and sought to keep them out by laws imposing head money and long quarantines. But these laws, as well as those designed to prevent the importation of negro slaves, were annulled or vetoed by the king. The great mass of the immigrants who came over in the first half of the eighteenth century were either "Free Willers" or, more often, persons who paid their own expenses. It will be interesting to note some of the reasons which induced these immigrants to settle in one colony rather than in another.

Religion and Toleration.

The chief attractions seem to have been (1) the enjoyment of civil rights, (2) freedom to exercise one's own religion, and (3) the prospect of becoming an owner of land. By this time the best land near the sea-coast was already occupied. But there were still vast tracts in the interior, either on or near navigable streams, to be had for the asking. In Virginia, in order to secure fifty acres of land for himself and for each adult member of his family, the immigrant was only obliged to present himself at the proper office with the necessary papers. In some cases, grants of land were made to a prospective immigrant before his departure from Europe. Oftentimes, with a grant of land, there would be given a further inducement in the shape of an exemption from taxation for a certain number of years.

Religious considerations, however, had more weight than any other one thing in determining the direction of an immigrant's course. New England was still Puritan in religion and in the conduct of daily life, and, as a matter of fact, remained so for a half century longer. But as the Puritan movement had long ceased in England, there were no emigrants of that persuasion. Consequently the religious appearance of New England, during the eighteenth century, deterred foreigners from seeking its shores. There was, indeed, a smaller proportional emigration to the Eastern Colonies than to any other section. As has been said, the land was

1.]

Religious Disabilities.

17

already fully occupied. The New Englanders themselves became emigrants later on, exchanging the rocky and sandy soil of the interior and the coast for the fertile valleys of the Mohawk and the Ohio and the coasts of the Great Lakes.

The Roman Catholics.

The Roman Catholic, who desired to better his condition by emigration to the western world, found only one colony, Pennsylvania, where he was accorded full civil and religious liberty. Rhode Island, usually so liberal in religious matters, had on her statute book a law excluding the Roman Catholics from the exercise of the franchise. A law of New York, passed in 1700 and not repealed until after the Revolution, provided that, after the first day of November of that year, a Roman Catholic priest found within the limits of the colony should be “adjudged to suffer perpetual imprisonment; and if any person, being so sentenced, and actually imprisoned, shall break prison and make his escape, and be afterward retaken, he shall suffer such pains of death, penalties, and forfeitures as in cases of felony." It is, perhaps, needless to say, that in all the other colonies, excepting Pennsylvania, Roman Catholics were deprived of the right to vote until after the Revolution. Maryland, which had been settled under Roman Catholic auspices, was now in the hands of the Protestants. There were many Roman Catholics in Maryland, descendants of the early settlers. They were treated with a harshness likely to deter others of that faith from entering the colony. They were excluded from office, disfranchised, obliged to pay a double land tax, and to contribute toward the support of the Established Church. In Virginia, however, we find the severest laws against the Roman Catholic laymen, probably because the Virginians feared an incursion from Maryland. In the Old Dominion a Roman Catholic could not vote or bear witness in any case whatever in a court of law, not even against his own negro slave, nor possess fire-arms of any description. In view of these C. A.

2

facts, it is not surprising that nearly all the colonists were Protestants.

Protestant Dissenters.

To the Protestant Dissenter all the colonies were open. In Virginia and in Maryland the Church of England was by law already established; but in the latter colony, where the Dissenters were very numerous, this meant little more than the payment each year, towards the "Established" parson's salary, of a small amount of the poorest tobacco obtainable. In Virginia, on the contrary, the Church establishment was in the hands of the planting aristocracy. It was one of the bulwarks of the social fabric of the Old Dominion, and, therefore, was guarded with particular solicitude. Towards the middle of the century the Protestant Dissenters suddenly acquired increased strength and became very active. This aroused the fears and jealousy of the aristocracy to such an extent, that very stringent and harsh laws were passed, designed to check the progress of Dissent. Notwithstanding this discouragement, the Dissenters poured into the back regions of the colony, while Dissent gained rapidly in strength in the older settled portions. In 1763, Patrick Henry, whose mother was a Presbyterian, stated in a court of law, without arousing ill-feeling except among the clergy, that the only justification for the existence of the Established Church was its value as a police organization. Before dismissing the subject of religious qualifications and disqualifications, it will be well, perhaps, to describe more fully the position occupied by the Established Church. It had its representatives in nearly all, if not all the colonies, but it was established by law in only two Maryland and Virginia. Curiously enough, the Church in those colonies was in a worse condition than in many others. This was due to the fact that the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (according to the rites of the Church of England) in Foreign Parts, provided admirable

The Church of England.

I.]

The Established Church.

19

men for its mission stations in New England and in the South, where the religious competition was keen, but left Virginia and Maryland to the care of the metropolitan, the Bishop of London, who was charged with their supervision. The bishop was represented by an officer termed a Commissary. But the Commissaries had great difficulties to contend with. In Maryland there was constant friction between the Church and the State, and in Virginia the vestries, controlled by the planters, had obtained entire control of the patronage of the Church, and refused to hire a parson for more than a year at a time. They thus held the clergy in a state of subjection. Of course there were many admirable clergymen in both these colonies, but in general it may be stated that in Virginia the clergy condoned the vices of their patrons, and in Maryland some of them surpassed their parishioners in all that was bad, so that the phrase "a Maryland parson " became a term of reproach. In these circumstances, it seemed desirable to have an American bishop in direct charge of the clergy of the Church of England in the colonies. It happened, however, that in England the bishop enjoyed Bishop proconsiderable civil power. It was stated over and over again that any bishop who might be appointed for America would have only such civil power as the laws of each colony might give him. The Dissenters, forming the great mass of the people, felt that, although this might be the case in the beginning, in the end the bishop would surely gain a great deal of power. They enlisted the sympathies of their fellow Dissenters in England and in this way prevented any such appointment from being made. Nor was the case much better with the American clergy. They, with few exceptions, did not want a bishop. Some of them even refused to have the honour thrust upon them. A Maryland clergyman, who finally set out for England to obtain consecration, was met at the point of embarkation by a writ of ne exeat regno which prevented his

An American

posed.