s too late; rebellion had
already broken out.

The Indians having made some attacks on the upper plantations, one
Nathaniel Bacon, a spirited young gentleman of twenty-eight, recently
from England, applied to Sir William Berkeley for a commission against
them. The governor declined to give it, fearing, in the present excited
condition of the colony, to have a body of armed men abroad. Bacon,
enraged, extorts the commission by force. The result is civil war in the
colony. The rebels are for a time completely victorious. Berkeley is
driven to Accomac, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, but,
succeeding in capturing a fleet sent to oppose him, he returns with this
and captures Jamestown. Beaten by Bacon in a pitched battle, he again
retires to Accomac, and the colony comes fully under the power of his
antagonist, the colonists agreeing even to fight England should it
interpose on the governor's side, when a decisive change in affairs is
brought about by the rebel leader's death.

[Illustration: Reverend Dr. Blair, First President of William and Mary
College.]

[1690]

The rebellion was now easily subdued, but it had soured and hardened old
Governor Berkeley's spirit. Twenty-three in all were executed for
participation in the movement. Charles II. remarked: "That old fool has
hanged more men in that naked country than I for the murder of my
father."

After Bacon's Rebellion the colonial annals show but a dull succession
of royal governors, with few events specially interesting. Under the
governorship of Lord Howard of Effingham, which began in 1684, great
excitement prevailed in Virginia lest King James II. should subvert the
English Church there and make Catholicism dominant, which indeed might
possibly have occurred but for James's abdication in 1688.

Under Governor Nicholson, from 1690, the capital was removed from
Jamestown to Williamsburg, and the College of William and Mary founded,
its charter dating from 1693. The Attorney-General, Seymour, opposed
this project on the ground that the money was needed for "better
purposes" than educating clergymen. Rev. Dr. Blair, agent and advocate
of the endowment, pleading: "The people have souls to be saved," Seymour
retorted: "Damn your souls, make tobacco." But Blair persisted and
succeeded, himself becoming first president of the college. The initial
commencement exercises took place in 1700.

[Illustration: George Monk, Duke of Albemarle.]

[1710]

Governor