ed against the despotic rule of the crown and the hierarchy; and
Scotland was not less offended against the king, who undertook to
obtrude the Episcopal liturgy upon the Presbyterian land of his birth.
In the year 1640 Charles the First found himself compelled to call
together the Long Parliament. Virginia meantime remained loyal; the
decrees of the courts of high commission were the rule of conduct, and
the authority of Archbishop Laud was as absolute in the colony as in the
fatherland. Stephen Reekes was pilloried for two hours, with a label on
his back signifying his offence, fined fifty pounds, and imprisoned
during pleasure, for saying "that his majesty was at confession with the
Lord of Canterbury," that is, Archbishop Laud.

In May, 1641, the Earl of Strafford was executed, and Archbishop Laud
sent to the Tower, where he was destined to remain until he suffered
the same fate. The massacre of the Protestants in Ireland occurring in
the latter part of this year, rendered still more portentous the
threatening storm. January tenth, the king left London, to which he was
not destined to return till brought back a prisoner.

In February, 1642, Sir Francis Wyat gave way to Sir William Berkley,
whose destiny it was to hold the office of governor for a period longer
than any other governor, and to undergo extraordinary vicissitudes of
fortune. His commission and instructions declared that it was intended
to give due encouragement to the plantation of Virginia, and that
ecclesiastical as well as temporal matters should be regulated according
to the laws of England; provision was also made for securing to England
a monopoly of the trade of the colony. By some salutary measures which
Sir William Berkley introduced shortly after his arrival, and by his
prepossessing manners, he soon rendered himself very acceptable to the
Virginians.

In April, 1642, the assembly made a declaration against the restoration
of the Virginia Company then proposed, denouncing the company as having
been the source of intolerable calamities to the colony by its illegal
proceedings, barbarous punishments, and monopolizing policy. They
insisted that its restoration would cause them to degenerate from the
condition of their birthright, and convert them from subjects of a
monarchy to the creatures of a popular and tumultuary government, to
which they would be obliged to resign their lands held from the crown;
which they intimate, if necessary, would be