ined fortunes.[737]

In the midst of this confusion and lawlessness Berry and Moryson, with a
part of the fleet and seventy of the English soldiers, arrived in the
James River.[738] They had left Portsmouth November the nineteenth, but
it was January the twenty-ninth before they reached Virginia.[739]
Without waiting for Jeffreys and the main body of the fleet, they
notified the Governor of their arrival and requested an immediate
conference. Berkeley came aboard their flag-ship, the _Bristol_,
February the first, where he was notified of their mission and intrusted
with official letters.[740] He poured into the ears of the commissioners
the recital of the exciting events of the past months--the destruction
of Jamestown, Bacon's death, the surrender of Ingram and Walkelett, the
execution of the leading rebels, the return of "the poore Scattered
Loyal party to their ruined homes".[741] Although peace had been
restored not three weeks before, he pretended astonishment that the King
had thought it necessary to send soldiers to his aid.

Nor could he conceal his irritation at the mission of Berry and Moryson.
That Charles should think it necessary to make an investigation of
affairs in Virginia betokened a lack of confidence in the Governor.
Berkeley's friends claimed, no doubt truly, that he was the author of
every measure of importance adopted by the government of Virginia. An
inquiry into conditions in the colony could but be an inquiry into his
conduct. And the Governor, perhaps, knew himself to be guilty of much
that he did not wish to have exposed before his royal master.

Moreover, Berkeley was not in the humor to brook interference at this
juncture. He was inexorably resolved that the chief rebels should be
brought to the gallows and that his own followers should be rewarded for
their faithfulness. If the commissioners intended to block these
measures, or protest against his actions when in violation of law, they
might expect his bitter hostility.

Before the commissioners had been in Virginia two weeks their relations
with the Governor became strained. The disposing of the "delinquents
Estates", they announced, must be referred to the King. Loyal sufferers
should not secure restitution except by due process of law. Seizures of
tobacco and other goods must stop. Soon the meetings in the cabin of the
_Bristol_ became so stormy that the commissioners decided to hold all
future communication with Sir William in writ