rs to have enjoyed the confidence of the
Virginians. He was too generous to retaliate upon Sir William Berkley
and the royalists who had formerly persecuted him. Some malecontents
were punished for speaking disrespectfully of him, and refusing to pay
the castle duties. From the charges brought against one of these, it
appears that the Virginians considered themselves, under the articles of
surrender, entitled to free trade with all the world, the navigation act
to the contrary notwithstanding; and that act does not appear to have
been enforced against Virginia during the Commonwealth of
England.[225:A] By the articles of surrender the use of the prayer-book
was permitted, with the consent of a majority of the people of the
parish, for one year; so that it would seem that its use was prohibited
after March 12th, 1653; but the prohibition was not enforced, and public
worship continued as before without interruption.[225:B] In April, 1653,
Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Long Parliament, and in December, in the
same year, assumed the office of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of
England, Scotland, and Ireland. Owing to the war with Holland, Sir
William Berkley's departure from Virginia was delayed, and, in
conformity with the articles of convention of 1651, he now became
subject to arrest. But the assembly passed an act, stating that as the
war between England and Holland had prevented the confirmation of the
convention of 1651, in England, or the coming of a ship out of Holland,
and Sir William Berkley desiring a longer time, namely, eight months
further, to procure a ship out of Flanders, in respect of the war with
Holland, and that he should be exempted from impost duty on such tobacco
as he should lade in her; "it is condescended that his request shall be
granted." Some seditious disturbances having taken place in Northampton
County, on the Eastern Shore, in which Edmund Scarburgh was a
ringleader, it was found necessary for Governor Bennet, Secretary
Clayborne, and a party of gentlemen, to repair thither for the purpose
of restoring order. Roger Green, and others, living on the Nansemond
River, received a grant of land on condition of their settling the
country bordering on the Moratuck or Roanoke River,[226:A] and on the
south side of the Chowan. Divers gentlemen requesting permission, were
authorized, in 1653, to explore the mountains. The ship Leopoldus, of
Dunkirk, was confiscated for the use of the Commonwealth of