eferring the
dispute to the Lord Protector. The House rejected this answer as well,
asserting that the present power of Virginia resided in the Burgesses,
who were not dissolvable by any power extant in Virginia but themselves.
They directed the High Sheriff of James City County not to execute any
warrant but from the Speaker of the House. In addition, they ordered
Col. William Claiborne, the Secretary of the Council, to surrender the
records of the country into the hands of John Smith, the Speaker of the
Assembly, on the basis of the Burgesses' declaration to hold "supreame
power of this country."

That the House of Burgesses did not mean its actions to be in defiance
of the power that existed in England, however, is shown by its agreement
to proclaim Richard, son of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector when the
Governor sent down, at the March 1659 session, an official letter from
His Highness' Council requiring that it be done. Immediately after
agreeing to proclaim Richard, the Burgesses decided to address the new
Lord Protector for confirmation of the privilege granted to the
Assembly, perhaps under the terms of Bennett's secret instructions, to
elect its own officers. Although the Speaker of the House assured the
Burgesses that the Governor was willing to join them in such a request,
some of the Burgesses expressed a desire to hear the assurance from the
Governor's own lips. Accordingly, he was sent for and, to the
satisfaction of the Burgesses, "acknowledged the supream power of
electing officers to be by the present lawes resident in the Grand
Assembly." He promised to join them in requesting confirmation of these
privileges from His Highness.

The Assembly, at this same session, passed an act electing Mathews
Governor again for two years "and then the Grand Assembly to elect a
Governour as they shall think fitt." The act was to be in force "until
his Highness pleasure be further signified." William Claiborne was
appointed Secretary of State on his acknowledgment that he received the
place from the Assembly, and with the proviso that he should continue
Secretary until the next Assembly or until the Lord Protector's pleasure
should be further signified to the colony.

The Assembly of 1659 marks the high water point of local government in
Virginia. Not only were the Burgesses supreme in matters of general
legislation, compelling the Governor and Secretary to bow to their
sovereign power, but in their home counties a