ed with
bitterness. So, with the restoration of Charles II to the throne, when
once more he was governor of Virginia, he was determined to permit no
more of representative government than his commission and instructions
made necessary.

This he did by corrupting the Burgesses and continuing them by
prorogations for many years. He took on himself "the sole nominating"
of all civil and military officers, picking out such persons as he
thought would further his designs. Collectors', sheriffs', justices'
places were handed out to the Burgesses with a lavish hand. The list
of Burgesses in the so-called Long Assembly sounds like a military
roll call, for of the thirty members in 1666, six were colonels of
militia, two lieutenant-colonels, one a major, and fourteen captains.
Philip Alexander Bruce states that "a large proportion of the justices
were also members of the House of Burgesses." In this way he "gained
upon and obliged" the "men of parts and estates" in the Burgesses, and
made them subservient to his will. "He has so fortified his power over
us as of himself without respect to our laws to do what so ever he
pleased," it was said.

Sir William further bound his favorites to him by granting them great
tracts of the best land. "Some take up 2,000 acres, some 3,000, and
others 10,000, and many more have taken up 30,000." They cultivated
only a fraction or perhaps not any of these great tracts, merely
putting up "a hog house to save the lapse." So when newcomers looked
around for land, they were faced with the alternative of becoming
tenants or of taking up "remote barren lands" on the frontiers.

The poor planters complained bitterly of the great sums voted by the
Assembly for their own salaries, those of certain officers, and for
various other expenses. In 1675 the Speaker of the House received
15,000 pounds of tobacco, the clerk 15,000. The total cost of this
session was 539,390 pounds of tobacco, that of the session of
February, 1676, 616,652 pounds. When the salary of collectors was
added the total was 1,601,046 pounds, or perhaps an average of 150
pounds for every family.

The people were convinced that the heavy taxes served no other purpose
than to enrich Berkeley's favorites. "Consider their sudden
advancement," said Bacon. "See what sponges have sucked up the public
wealth, and whether it hath not been privately contrived away by
unworthy favorites, by vile juggling parasites, whose tottering
fortunes have