From this time the people were aroused, and not many
years later when one of their Governors, Sir John Harvey,
failed to espouse as warmly as they thought proper the cause
of William Claiborne, "The Rebel," in his war with the Lord
Proprietor of the new colony of Maryland, they "Thrust him
out of the Government." This was the first revolution that
actually took place on American soil.
    They withstood Cromwell to the point of exacting what
was a treaty with his Commissioners; but they readily assimi-
lated the defeated Royalists who came over after Edge Hill and
Naseby and Worcester, and the exiled Republicans who sought
homes among the planters after the Restoration. The deposed
Governor appealed to Charles I. who reinstated him as Gov-
ernor, but the Virginians, though they received him loyally, as
they later did his successor, Sir William Berkeley, were now
well aware of the strength of their position. They were loyal
subjects of the Stuarts, as they were a hundred years later
loyal subjects of George III.; but they were more loyal yet
to their idea of popular Government.  Their petitions were
filled with expressions of loyalty. They viewed the death of
Charles I. with horror, and offered a realm to his son when in
exile. But with it all went enthusiastic devotion to the cause
of self-government, and whenever it was assailed they flamed
into revolution.
    "The Rebellion" led by Nathaniel Bacon in 1676, was at
bottom for the same cause with that which a hundred years
later was led by George Washington. The immediate occasion
was different, but the basic cause was the same in both. The
inalienable right of British subjects to have self-government.
Both of them were based on the original Charters under which
Virginia was planted.
    As the years progressed and the settlements extended
further to the Westward, other elements came in. Stout
Scotch-Irish settlers poured into the Western Districts from
North Ireland, particularly after the various revolutions. A
strong infusion of Huguenot blood followed, and gave the Old
Dominion some of her most noted sons.
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