e from him or them.

In these orders it is expressly stated that the king's intention was
not to disturb the interest of either planter or adventurer; while
their context makes it clear that he proposed to avoid "the
popularness" of the former government and to revive the charter of
1606 with some amendments. King James died March 27, 1625, and by his
death this commission for Virginia affairs expired.[29]

Charles I. had all the arbitrary notions of his father, but
fortunately he was under personal obligations to Sir Edwin Sandys and
Nicholas Ferrar, Jr., and for their sake was willing to be liberal in
his dealing with the colonists.[30] Hence, soon after his father's
death, he dismissed the former royal commissioners and intrusted
affairs relating to Virginia to a committee of the Privy Council, who
ignored the Smith party and called the Sandys party into
consultation.[31] These last presented a paper in April, 1625, called
_The Discourse of the Old Company_, in which they reviewed fully the
history of the charter and petitioned to be reincorporated. Charles
was not unwilling to grant the request, and in a proclamation dated
May 13, 1625, he avowed that he had come to the same opinion as his
father, and intended to have a "royal council in England and another
in Virginia, but not to impeach the interest of any adventurer or
planter in Virginia."

Still ignorant of the death of King James, Governor Sir Francis Wyatt
and his council, together with representatives from the plantations
informally called, sent George Yardley to England with a petition,
dated June 15, 1625, that they be permitted the right of a general
assembly, that worthy emigrants be encouraged, and that none of the
old faction of Sir Thomas Smith and Alderman Johnson have a part in
the administration; "for rather than endure the government of these
men they were resolved to seek the farthest part of the world."

Yardley reached England in October; and the king, when informed of
Wyatt's desire to resign the government of Virginia on account of his
private affairs, issued a commission, dated April 16, 1626, renewing
the authority of the council in Virginia and appointing Yardley
governor.[32] The latter returned to Virginia, but died in 1627. After
his death the king sent directions to Acting Governor Francis West to
summon a general assembly; and March 26, 1628, after an interval of
four years, the regular law-making body again assembled at Jamestown