set sail from the lower reaches of the James to
Jamestown. A milder answer than expected was returned, setting forth
various demands and privileges desired by the Virginians.

The commissioners' reply to these proposals was favorable enough to
cause Berkeley to call an Assembly, and negotiations were entered into
between the Governor, Council, and Burgesses on the one hand, and the
Parliamentary commissioners on the other. Articles of submission were
agreed upon which were honorable to both sides, Virginia receiving
guarantees of the privileges of freeborn people of England, authority
for the Grand Assembly to continue to function, guarantees of immunity
for acts or words done or spoken in opposition to Parliament, guarantees
of the bounds of Virginia, of the fifty-acre headright privilege, and of
the right to "free trade as the people of England do enjoy to all places
and with all nations according to the lawes of that commonwealth."
Special provisions were made which allowed the Governor and Council to
refrain from taking any oath to the Commonwealth for one year and
guaranteed them for one year from censure for speaking well of the King
in their private houses. Berkeley and the Council were given leave to
sell their estates and quit Virginia, either for England or Holland. No
penalties were to be imposed on those who had served the King.

The commissioners of Parliament considered that they had been lucky to
reduce the colony without bloodshed, even though forced to agree to such
mild terms. At the same time the event suggests that the bitterness
which existed in England between Roundheads and Cavaliers was not quite
so extreme in the colonies, where little blood had been shed for the
cause of either. The colonies had interests of their own which ran
counter to those of the mother country, whether in the hands of King or
Parliament. Governor, Council, and Burgesses in Virginia were closer to
each other economically and politically than they were to their
respective counterparts in England. What held the colonies to the mother
country was not self-interest but ties of historical tradition and
racial patriotism. The execution of Charles I and seizure of the colony
by the Parliamentary fleet loosened these ties. The Crown, symbol of
continuity with past ages of English subjects and of unity among all the
King's realms, was now not only removed but denounced by those who had
done the deed.

Virginia never showed sympa