ngland, having discharged a servant
belonging to William Drummond, an inhabitant of Virginia, the assembly
ordered reprisal to be made on the property belonging to inhabitants of
the Northern colony to the amount of forty pounds sterling.[257:A]

Sir William Berkley returned in the fall of 1662 from England, having
accomplished nothing for the colony, but having secured for himself an
interest in a part of the Virginia territory, now North Carolina,
granted to himself and other courtiers and court favorites. He brought
out with him instructions from the crown, comprising directions relative
to church matters; that the Book of Common Prayer should be read, and
the sacrament administered according to the rites of the Church of
England; that the churches should be well and orderly kept; that the
number of them should be increased as the means might justify; that a
competent maintenance should be assigned to each minister, and a house
built for him, and a glebe of one hundred acres attached. It was further
directed that no minister should be preferred by the governor to any
benefice, without a certificate from the Lord Bishop of London; and that
ministers should be admitted into their respective vestries; that the
oaths of obedience and supremacy should be administered to all persons
bearing any part of the government, and to all persons whatsoever of age
in the colony. The last of these instructions is in the following words:
"And because we are willing to give all possible encouragement to
persons of different persuasions in matters of religion, to transport
themselves thither with their stocks, you are not to suffer any man to
be molested or disquieted in the exercise of his religion, so he be
content with a quiet and peaceable enjoying it, not giving therein
offence or scandal to the government; but we oblige you in your own
house and family to the profession of the Protestant religion, according
as it is now established in our kingdom of England, and the recommending
it to all others under your government, as far as it may consist with
the peace and quiet of our said colony. You are to take care that
drunkenness and debauchery, swearing, and blasphemy, be discountenanced
and punished; and that none be admitted to publick trust and employment
whose ill fame and conversation may bring scandal thereupon."[258:A]

The spirit of toleration expressed in these instructions was insincere
and hypocritical, and dictated by the a