Note 267 — Chapter V

It was fully three quarters of a century thereafter before Dissent became appreciable in the colony. Governor Spotswood wrote the Bishop of London, Oct. 24, 1710: “It is a peculiar blessing to this Country to have but few of any kind of Dissenters;” and adds the following, which may be taken in refutation of many gross misrepresentations of the moral and social condition of the colonists at the period: “I have observed here less Swearing and Prophaneness, less Drunkenness and Debauchery, less uncharitable feuds and animositys, and less Knaverys and Villanys than in any part of the world where my Lot has been.” He also wrote to the Council of Trade, Dec. 15, 1710: “That happy Establishment of the Church of England, which the Colony enjoys with less mixture of Dissenters than any other of her Majesty’s plantations;” and to the Earl of Rochester, July 30, 1711, in ample confirmation of his earlier judgment, he wrote: “This Government, I can joyfully assure your Lordship, is in perfect peace and tranquility under a due Obedience to the Royal Authority and a Genll. Conformity to the Established Church of England.” See The Official Letters of Governor Alexander Spotswood, 1710-1722, published by the Virginia Historical Society, with Introduction and Notes by R. A. Brock, vol. i. pp. 27 and 108.