he government was
largely in the hands of a few leading planters, and when pressure from
above could influence elections very decidedly. Had there been many
men of ability or rank to select from, these Plebeians would never
have found a place in the Assembly of the colony. The author of
Virginia's Cure stated that the burgesses were "usually such as went
over as servants thither," and although this is doubtless an
exaggeration, it shows that there must have been in the Assemblies
many men of humble extraction. In the case of some of the burgesses,
it has been shown definitely that they came to Virginia as servants.
Thus William Popleton was formerly the servant of John Davies; Richard
Townsend was in 1620 the servant of Dr. Potts; William Bentley arrived
in the colony in 1624 as a hired man. All three of these men were
burgesses.[10] The preacher, William Gatford, testified that persons
of mean extraction had filled places of importance and trust.[11]
Governor Berkeley, stated in 1651 while addressing the Assembly, that
hundreds of examples testified to the fact that no man in the colony
was denied the opportunity to acquire both honor and wealth. At times
men of humble origin became so influential that they obtained seats in
the Council, the most exclusive and powerful body in the colony. Thus
William Pearce, who came over in the days of the Company as a poor
settler, was a Councilor in 1632, and was before his death one of the
wealthiest and most powerful men in the colony.[12] In 1635 we find in
the Council John Brewer, formerly a grocer of London.[13] Malachy
Postlethwayt, a writer of several treaties on commerce, states that
even criminals often became leading men in Virginia. Although this is
obviously an exaggeration, Postlethwayt's testimony tends to add force
to the contention that many of humble rank did at times rise to
positions of honor. "Even your transported felons," he says, "sent to
Virginia instead of to Tyburn, thousands of them, if we are not
misinformed, have, by turning their hands to industry and improvement,
and (which is best of all) to honesty, become rich, substantial
planters and merchants, settled large families, and been famous in the
country; nay, we have seen many of them made magistrates, officers of
militia, captains of good ships, and masters of good estates."[14] In
England stories of the rapid advance of people of humble origin in
Virginia gave rise to the absurd belief that the most