wed, until further instructions
should be received, to retain their places, on condition of issuing all
writs in the name of the Keepers of the Liberty of England.[222:A] Sir
William Berkley, upon the surrender of the colony, betook himself into
retirement in Virginia, where he remained free from molestation; and his
house continued to be a hospitable place of resort for refugee
cavaliers. There was, no doubt, before the surrender, a considerable
party in Virginia, who either secretly or openly sympathized with the
parliamentary party in England; and upon the reduction of the colony
these adherents of the Commonwealth found their influence much
augmented.

On the 30th of April, 1652, Bennet and Clayborne, commissioners,
together with the burgesses of Virginia, organized a provisional
government, subject to the control of the Commonwealth of England.
Richard Bennet, who had been member of the council in 1646, nephew of an
eminent London merchant largely engaged in the Virginia trade,[223:A]
was made governor, April 30, 1652; and William Clayborne, secretary of
state for the colony. The council appointed consisted of Captain John
West, Colonel Samuel Matthews, Colonel Nathaniel Littleton, Colonel
Argal Yeardley, Colonel Thomas Pettus, Colonel Humphrey Higginson,
Colonel George Ludlow, Colonel William Barnett,[223:B] Captain Bridges
Freeman, Captain Thomas Harwood, Major William Taylor, Captain Francis
Eppes, and Lieutenant-Colonel John Cheesman. The governor, secretary,
and council were to have such power and authorities to act from time to
time as should be appointed and granted by the grand assembly.[223:C]
The government of the mother country was entitled "the States," as the
United States are now styled in Canada. The act organizing the
provisional government concludes with: "God save the Commonwealth of
England, and this country of Virginia." The governor and councillors
were allowed to be, ex-officio, members of the assembly. On the fifth
day of May, this body, while claiming the right to appoint all officers
for the colony, yet for the present, in token of their implicit
confidence in the commissioners, referred all the appointments not
already made to the governor and them. The administration of Virginia
was now, for the first time, Puritan and Republican. The act authorizing
the governor and council to appoint the colonial officers was renewed in
the following year. The oath administered to the burgesses was: "Yo