Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

The further Affidavit of James Blair
Clerk. concerning Govern.^r Nicholson's
Male Administrations, with relation
to the Clergy, the Colledge & Himself.

The Governour being by Her Majesties Instructions
intrusted with the power of giving Lycences of Marriages,
Probats of Wills and Inductions of Ministers (and the
rest of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction being left to my
Lord Bishop of London ^{And by the Lord B.p of London} (to his Commissary) which
the Gov.^r in his Instructions is Commanded to En-
courage & assist; He has so far broke through
the said Instructions, as to abuse that part of Ecclesi-
asticall Jurisdiction Committed to himself, and to
invade that which is left to the Bishop of London.

As to the first, he has abused it in all its parts.
First as to Lycences of Marriages contrary to an
express Law of that Country, as well as Natural—
Equitty; He gave a Lycence to            Snead an
Idle man of no Estate, nor bred to any Calling, to Marry
               a Young Orphan & Heiress of
York County, by the Means whereof that Young
Orphan was Marryed and ruined, contrary to the
Consent of Her Guardian. A Crime which in any
Magistrate by the Law of that Country is five
Hundred pounds Fyne & a Years Imprisonment.

Then as to Probats by refusing to sign them
Nine or Ten Months, a great many Widdows &
Orphans lost their Husbands and Fathers Debts,
not being enabled to sue; For by the Law of that
Country, if a Debt is not sued for in a certain short
time after the Parties death, it is lost.

Inductions of Ministers he has totally ne-
glected; Not having Inducted so much as one Mi-
nister during the whole time of His Governm.^t
By which means it comes to pass that the
Ministers are kept in miserable precarious
Circumstances, like Domestick Servants, ready to
be turn'd off at pleasure, which makes the bett.^r
sort leave the Country, and the rest so obse-
quious that they are ready to do what he
would have them.

As to the Second, he has invaded almost
all the other parts of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdict.ⁿ
such as Convocating the Clergy, without taking
notice of the Bishops Commissary; Appointing
who shall Preach at those Convocations; Appear-
ing himself in their Meetings, And proposing the
Subject Matter of their Consultations; holding
separate Meetings of the Clergy without the Bishops
Commissary; putting those separate Meetings upon
Acts of Censure and discipline, getting them to sign
Papers in the name of the Clergy, requiring of some
Ministers Canonical Obedience to himself as their Bish^p
taking upon himself to turn out Ministers; And
this without so much as Process or Tryal.

As he has broke through all his Instructions
with relation to the Church, so in other respects he
he has withheld from the Clergy that necessary Coun-
tenance and respect which is due to their function;
And by his bad Example, has contributed very much
to increase their Contempt among the people; I
have heard him say, that the Clergy were all a
Pack of Scandalous fellows And that he knew
not one Man in the Country that deserved to be
Inducted; And it is now proved by another Affi-
davit that he said they were all Hirelings. And
the Quakers were in the right, and that when
he was told of some of the Clergy that were Dead,
that he said he wish'd there were forty more of
them Dead: Which was as much as to wish that
there were never a Clergy Man in the Country.
Severall of them of the most Noted good Characters,
he affronted & abused with the most Opprobrious
& vilifying Names of Dog, Rogue, Raskall, Villain,
Jesuit, some of them he has made ride bare
headed by him in the bitter cold of the wind, and
the Scorching heat of the Sun, several Miles
together, some he has laid Violent hands on,
whilst they were on Horsback and pull'd off
their Hat himself, some he has threaten'd
publickly to tear their Gowns over their Ears,
has never spared in their presence to Curse
and swear abundance of the most dreadfull
Oaths; often at the very Church door, im-
mediately before or after Prayers; And if the
Minister Preach'd up any duty which y.^e Gov.^r
was known to Neglect, or against any Vice
he was known to be guilty of he seldome
escaped without rebukes or Threats. And till
of late that he had Occasion for Encomiums
from them to support his Interest in England,
never any Governour used the Clergy so bar-
barously as he has done.

These Addresses he not only barefacedly
asks, but uses the way of Threats & presents
and threats and insults to obtain and if their
Addresses do not come up to what he would
have, proposes new draughts, and Endeavours
by making and feeding differences in their Pa-
rishes to make the scrupulous Ministers uneasy or to gett them laid aside; By which means the
loosest of the Clergy, and the forwardest to flatter are
become his greatest favourites, and several of the best
Ministers have been so harrass'd, that they have
Chosen rather to quit the Country, than to endure
the Fatigues and extorted flatteries or Insults of his
Government.

As to the Colledge.

For all the Interest he pretends to have in the Country
he has not in the least so much as endeavoured to gett
the Assembly to Assist the Colledge in their necessity,
thô he had the best Oppertunity by the Country's en-
joying the use of the Colledge, for their Assemblys Courts
and Councills while the Capitol was a building.

He himself has been the forwardest to threw
abuses on the Colledge particularly he railed against
the building thô extraordinary good for that Country,
and entred a publick Protest against it in the Colledge
Records. At a very publick time, the time of a General
Court, He reflected on the Colledge Accounts, threatning
the Govern.^rs of the Colledge with a Writt of Enquiry
from the King, and declaring solemnly that if they cou'd
give no better Account, he must be of the Peoples—
Opinion, and believe that the Colledge was only
a Trick to serve some Mens particular designs,
than which nothing could have been thrown
out more Malicious against the Colledge, and fitter
to do it disservice in the Country. He put such
an Affront upon them as to Order their Accounts
to be laid before the Grand Jury of the Country.
But all that business of the Accounts had been
so fairly Managed that to this Day no fault—
could be discovered.

I have heard him swear that he would seize
the Colledge for the Kings use, and he crouded into
it the Secretaryes Office, the Clerk of the Councills
Office, the Clerk of House of Burgesses Office,
and all their Lodgings, with himself and all
the Committees, & had all his publick Treats
in their Hall: to the great disturbance of the
Colledge business.

As to the finishing part of the Colledge, he did
so excessively Hurry it on for those severall
uses, that partly by the plank and Timber being
green and unseasoned, and partly by Employ-
ing a great Number of unskillfull Workmen
to comply with his haste, it was shamefully
spoilt. And at the same time by giving ex-
cessive Wages to those workmen, who knew
how to make advantage of his impatience, and by
severall unnecessary Additions of his own Invention,
without the direction of the Governors of the Colledge,
their mony was all spent, and they were brought
five hundred pounds in debt. Besides two hundred
pounds which at first he advanced towards the—
founding of a Schollrship, but spent in finishing
the Building; Yet afterwards made the Colledge
repay it every farthing; When he had had the
Applause of it both in England and Virginia.

In Order to the ruining of the Colledge Re-
venue; For about two Years they had none of the
penny P pound from Maryland, and there is too
good ground to beleive it was by his contrivance,
for indeed we had formerly been beholding to
his Acquaintance and Interest there, but now he
made his braggs publickly, that he would fain
know how we would manage the penny P pound
in Maryland without him; And bid us get it as we
could, for he would give us no more Assistance, And
in Virginia through his mighty threatnings to press
the Men out of the Vessells belonging to Virginia
Owners, there was little Tobacco exported to the
Plantations, so little penny per pound coming in,
and at the same scarce time he made the Colledge
repay him two hundred pounds he had given towards keeping of a Schollar; and had seventy
pound given to his friend Collonel Cary for Auditing
the Accounts, so that there was not enough left
to pay the Masters Salaries.

As to my own Circumstances.

He has made them as uneasy as possible
he could, that I might not be able to enjoy any
peace or quietness, but shou'd be obliged to live
worse than any slave, if I liv'd at all the
Country.

The Occasion he took to fly out into open
Enmity with me was a pretended Jealousy
of my Brother; As if he had been privately a
Courting his Mistress; All care was taken to
satisfy him that there was no such thing: My
Brother declaring to him that he had no such
intention, and that he had never made her a
visit, nor writt her a Letter. In short I assured
him too that my Brother at that time was a
Courting another Gentlewoman, to whom I
hoped in a little time afterwards he would see
him Marryed. As accordingly he did, But no-
thing could cure him of his Jealousy; He took
Occasion from it to send for me, and after some
little account of his suspicion, he flew out into
these strange Expressions. S.^r your Brother is a
villain, & you have betray'd me, then (with
hands and Eys lifted up to Heaven he added these
strange words, thundering them out as loud as he
could roar them on the High way) "And M.^r Blair,
"said he, take notice; I vow to the Eternal God that
"I will be revenge'd on you, and all your family.
though I used all ways I could think of to Unde-
ceive him, and pacify him; I found nothing would
do, he told me over and over again, even after
his passion was over; "that all the Odium he lay
"under from the Country was upon my Account,
"and by God he would turn the Scales, and that
"sooner than I expected. As to the Odium, I told
him I lay under a great deal of Odium upon his Acco.^t
because I was thought to have advised him to those
strange violent Methods he had followed; Whereas
he knew himself that I had advised him to the
quite contrary; And had no hand at all in the Courses
he followed, which had been distastfull to the Country,
or words to that effect.

From that time the Govern.^r has pursued me w.^th
all the instances of the most implacable Malice and
has left no stone unturned to ruine me, both in Engld
and Virginia.

To pass by many lesser things.

I have been very frequently sent for in the
King or Queens name, for no other business but
to hear my self threat'ned, scolded at and abused,
and often in the Audience of a great deal of Com-
pany treated with worse Names, than any Gen-
tleman would give the meanest footman y.^t
wears his Livery; And aspersed with the un-
justest imputations, as if I had been raising
Sedition or Rebellion in the Government.

In his Letters for England he has endeav.^rd
to ruin my Reputation by False & Malicious
Calumnies; Particularly to my Diocesan, he has
Accused me of the vile Crimes of Whoredome
Adultery and incest, Whereas I can appeal to
the worst enemies I have that I have a Repu-
tation where ever I am known both in that
Country and else where, clear from any the
least imputation of that nature. And now
he himself being writ to about it by others, &
publickly Tax'd with it by my self, is glad to let
it fall, & will not own that ever he writt any
such thing.

As he has endeavoured to take away my
reputation he has likewise taken away my Livlyhood,
for he has so ruined the Revenue of the Colledge,
as I shewed under that head that I have had no
Salary from it these two Years, nor am never
like to have more; if he can help it.

If Ministers came to see me or pay me the
Common Civility they thought due to my Office,
he has frequently Chidd and abused them for it,
and never did any good Man take more pains
to make peace and to cure divisions than he
has taken to make differences between me and
the Clergy of that Country endeavouring to make
them beleive that all the instances of his own
rudeness and abusiveness to them, had been by my
Instigation. At last for want of other Matter,
he wrought upon a great part of them to joyn
in a Complaint of me to my Lord Bishop of Lon-
don, for having past a Sentence of Suspension—
against a Minister for Notorious Drunkeness
and some other Crimes well proved against him,
thô at the same time, when this Minister, after
having been about four Months under suspention
came to Williamsburgh, with a design to submit &
Petition to have his suspension taken off, and up.ⁿ
such submission I was ready to have taken it Off
accordingly; the Governour meeting with him,
would by no means suffer him to come near
me, his design being not to releive the Minister,
but to make use of his Case to incense the
Clergy and my Lord Bishop of London.

There are Instances of his Tampering w.^th
my Servants, and when he had got one of them
to tell a false malicious Story he made him put
it in writing, and sent it Home for England,
to blacken me, without doing me The Comon
Justice to Call me to hear what I had to say
for my self; Though he could send for me up.ⁿ
many much more frivolous Occasions. There
are Instances too of his encouraging my debt.^rs
not to Clear Accounts with me, nor pay me,
that I might be put to the Charge and trouble
of a Law suit, one of them to whom I had
so far condescended, as to referr the business
in dispute to Arbitrators of his own Nomi-
nation, told me the Governor even after the
Signing of Arbitration Bonds, And after
the Day was appointed to meet with the
Arbitrators; perswaded him not to meet
nor submit to any Arbitration, but to go
to Law, advising him if he were cast in the
County Court, to appeal to the Generall Court,
where said he, I am the Cheif Judge, and will
do you right, And accordingly the Man was
overperswaded and went to Law, and the Gov.^r
Employed a Lawyer for him, as the Lawyer him-
self told me, when I came to retain him.

I will not say, he has had any design upon
my life, though I will give your Lordships an
Account of two strange passages; that have
an ill Aspect that way; One was this, about a
fortnight before Christmas 1702, while I lodged
in the Colledge; I heard the School Boys about
twelve a Clock at Night, a driving of great nails
to fasten and baracade the Doors of the Gramer
School; I was mightly surprized at it, for we
had banished this Custome, and it was quite left off, for
some Years. I made hast to get up, and with the Assis-
tance of two Servant Men I had in the Colledge, had al-
most forced open one of the Doors, before they suffici-
ently secured it. But while I was breaking in, they
presently fired off three or four Pistolls and hurt one
of my Servants in the Eye with the wadd as I suppose,
of one of the Pistolls, while I pressed forward some of
the Boys having a great kindness for me, called out
for Gods sake S.^r dont offer to come in, for we have
shott, and shall certainly fire at any one that first
enters. Upon the hearing of this I began to think
there was something more than Ordinary in the
matter, and desired a Parly with them, thinking to
find out upon what Account it was that they
had ^{provided fire Arms, Powder & Shott which they had} never used to do formerly, but that night
they would not discover it. Though I confess I
had some suspicion of the designes of my ma-
licious Neighbour; And resolv'd to let them
alone till Morning. And then getting all the other
Masters together, and calling for Workmen to
break open the Doors; Before we began wee
offered them a pardon if they would open of
their own Accord and tell us the Truth, who
it was that set them on, though by that time
wee had more than a suspicion of it, for I had
seen one of his Excellencys Servants that morning
a handing of them in some Powder. Upon
this the Boys sent out at a Window by a Ladder,
one of the Cheif Confederats that knew the whole
Plott with Orders to discover it. The short of his
Story was to the best of my remembrance, y.^t
while they had no thoughts of any such thing,
the Governour sent for him, and put him upon
it, gave them Money to buy Victualls and drink,
and Candles and Powder and Shott, and lent y.^m
six of his own Pistolls; Upon hearing that the
Governor was the Author and Contriver of ^this
business, we sent the Boys to him, leaving it
to his Excellency to determine the time when he wou'd
have them dismissed, for it was then about a Week
before the usual time. His Excellency being out of
Humour, to the great disappointment of the Boys,
Ordered that they should continue at their Books
till the usual time, and then be dismissed. This
decision made them very Angry, and they said
they wondered what he had made all that to do
for, when they were not to be dismissed one Day
sooner than Ordinary for their pains. When we
entred the School, wee found the Governours three
pair of Pistolls, with some Swords and other Weapons
they had provided. It was Gods great Mercy to
me, that the Boys gave me warning of the Shott,
And so saved me from the danger, which I have
too much reason to suspect was contrived on pur-
pose upon my Account; His Excellency being then
in too bad an Humour to do such a thing out of.
a frolick; besides that the fire Armes Powder and
Shott, my lying in the Colledge and the differences
between him and me, which at that time were—
come to some heighth, made the badness of the
design too too probable.

The other passage was about six Weeks after-
wards, as I was asleep in bed with my wife in my
Chamber in the Colledge, between one and two in
the Morning, a Maid who lay in a Closet just by
heard some Body a opening the door of the
outer room, and after he had turned the lock of
it; come quite through to our Chamber Door,
after he had endeavoured to turn that lock
likewise; but could not (for it was double lock^t.
and the Key within) then with all the force
he had, he shook that Door so violently, as if
he had designed to break it open, and this mak-
ing a very great noise (for it was a thin pair
of folding Doors) awaked my wife and me; and
wee both called out who's there! And I called
to the maid to light a Candle, for it was in Wint.^r
towards the end of January. At last when he
observed the door gave no way and that we
were all awake (without speaking a word) we
heard him march off through the outward room
again. Upon enquiry I found that the Governor
that night had appeared to be in so bad an
Humour; that every body was afraid to speak
to him: And a person of good Credit told me he
was seen between one and two of the Clock in y.^e
Morning to go directly from his own house to-
ward the Colledge without a light with some
other more particular Circumstances, which
I am afraid to give an Account of, least innocent persons as yet in his power shou'd come
to be suspected of this intelligence. But I do solemn-
ly take my Oath of it, that I beleive he himself
was the person that attempted to break into
my Chamber, for what reason at such an Un-
seasonable hour near two a Clock in the Morning,
in a dark winter night, when he could not be a
walking for pleasure and when he went away w.^thout
speaking a word, God and his own Conscience only
know. Nor can I imagine what good Construct.ⁿ
he could have put upon it, if either the lock or the
door had given way, so that he had Actually broken
in upon Us.

The second part to.
James Blair

Copy of the further Affidavit
of James Blair Clerk con-
cerning Col: Nicholsons Male
Administrations, with
relation to the Clergy &.
the College & himself. Sworn
the 1:^st May 1704.

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