xplicit pledge,
that he would resign in case that event should not occur.[244:A] This
speech was made March the nineteenth, and on the twenty-first the
council unanimously concurred in his election. The members were Richard
Bennet, (late Puritan Governor,) William Bernard, John Walker, George
Reade, Thomas Pettus, William Clayborne, Edward Hill, Thomas Dew, Edward
Carter, Thomas Swan, and Augustine Warner. Nearly all of these were
colonels. The title of colonel and member of the council appears to have
been a sort of order of nobility in Virginia. Sir William Berkley was
elected two months before the restoration of Charles the Second, which
took place on the 20th of May, 1660, that being his birth-day. Yet the
word "king" or "majesty" nowhere occurs in the legislative records, from
the commencement of the Commonwealth of England until the 11th day of
October, 1660, more than four months after the restoration.[244:B]
Virginia was indeed loyal, but she was too feeble to avow her loyalty.

An act was passed, entitled an act for the suppressing the Quakers; the
preamble of which describes them as an unreasonable and turbulent sort
of people, who daily gather together unlawful assemblies of people,
teaching lies, miracles, false visions, prophecies, and doctrines
tending to disturb the peace, disorganize society, and destroy all law,
and government, and religion. Masters of vessels were prohibited from
bringing in any of that sect, under the penalty of one hundred pounds of
tobacco; all of them to be apprehended and committed, until they should
give security that they would leave the colony; if they should return,
they should be punished, and returning the third time should be
proceeded against as felons. No person should entertain any Quakers that
had been questioned by the governor and council; nor permit any assembly
of them in or near his house, under the penalty of one hundred pounds
sterling; and no person to publish their books, pamphlets, and
libels.[245:A] This act was passed in March, 1660, shortly after the
election of Sir William Berkley.

Of late years, certain masters of vessels trading to Virginia, in
violation of the laws and of the articles of surrender granting the
privilege of free trade, had "molested, troubled, and seized divers
ships, sloops, and vessels, coming to trade with us." The assembly
therefore required every master to give bond not to molest any person
trading under the protection of the laws