o reinstitute the old
Virginia Company's control over the colony. In a "Declaration against
the Company" Berkeley and the Assembly asserted that government under
the Company had been intolerable and if introduced again would destroy
all the democratic rights allowed by the King's instructions, such as
legal trial by jury, the right to petition the King, and yearly
Assemblies. The readmission of the Company would also, the declaration
asserted, impeach the "freedom of our trade (which is the blood and life
of a commonwealth)." The declaration went on to order that anyone who
promoted the restoration of the Company's power would, upon due
conviction, be held an enemy to the colony and forfeit his whole estate.

Berkeley's next action was to recommend the repeal of the tax of four
pounds of tobacco per poll which formerly had been levied for the
Governor's use. The Assembly acknowledged this as "a benefit descending
unto us and our posterity ... contributed to us by our present
Governor." Berkeley abolished certain other valuable emoluments due him
by virtue of his office "wherein," the Assembly declared, "we may not
likewise silence the bounty of our present Governor in preferring the
public freedom before his particular profit." Finally Berkeley
recommended that taxes be proportioned in some measure "according to
mens abilities and estates" rather than by the old poll tax system, and
the new scheme was, for a brief period, put into effect.

Governor Berkeley not only showed himself selfless in restraining his
own opportunities for profit, but fearless in restraining the colonists'
itch for land. A few months before his arrival, the Assembly had
authorized settlement both on the north side of the York and in the
Rappahannock area, if it could be done in great enough force.
Opechancanough was to be offered fifty barrels of corn a year for the
area between the York and the Piankatank, although the English proposed
to take the area whether Opechancanough accepted the offer or not.
Twenty-four years had elapsed before English settlement jumped from the
James to the York. Now, ten years after the first settlements on the
York, Virginians were settling on the next great river to the north, the
Rappahannock. By the time Berkeley arrived, some settlers had
established themselves in the area, and many more had claimed grants.
Indian hostility was great, however, and soon a number of the settlers
returned to more secure areas of t