declared the colony to be
in contumacy, assembled and dispatched ships against her, and laid an
embargo upon trade with the rebellious daughter. In January of 1652
English ships appeared off Point Comfort. Four Commissioners of the
Commonwealth were aboard, of whom that strong man Claiborne was one.
After issuing a proclamation to quiet the fears of the people,
the Commissioners made their way to Jamestown. Here was found the
indomitable Berkeley and his Council in a state of active preparation,
cannon trained. But, when all was said, the Commissioners had brought
wisely moderate terms: submit because submit they must, acknowledge the
Commonwealth, and, that done, rest unmolested! If resistance continued,
there were enough Parliament men in Virginia to make an army. Indentured
servants and slaves should receive freedom in exchange for support to
the Commonwealth. The ships would come up from Point Comfort, and a
determined war would be on. What Sir William Berkeley personally said
has not survived. But after consultation upon consultation Virginia
surrendered to the commonwealth.

Berkeley stepped from the Governor's chair, retiring in wrath and
bitterness of heart to his house at Greenspring. In his place sat
Richard Bennett, one of the Commissioners. Claiborne was made Secretary.
King's men went out of office; Parliament men came in. But there was
no persecution. In the bland and wide Virginia air minds failed to come
into hard and frequent collision. For all the ferocities of the statute
books, acute suffering for difference of opinion, whether political or
religious, did not bulk large in the life of early Virginia.

The Commissioners, after the reduction of Virginia, had a like part to
play with Maryland. At St. Mary's, as at Jamestown, they demanded and at
length received submission to the Commonwealth. There was here the less
trouble owing to Baltimore's foresight in appointing to the office
of Governor William Stone, whose opinions, political and religious,
accorded with those of revolutionary England. Yet the Governor could
not bring himself to forget his oath to Lord Baltimore and agree to the
demand of the Commissioners that he should administer the Government
in the name of "the Keepers of the Liberties of England." After some
hesitation the Commissioners decided to respect his scruples and allow
him to govern in the name of the Lord Proprietary, as he had solemnly
promised.

In Virginia and in Maryland t