men that had so antagonized them and hindered their investigation.
Robert Beverley they represented to the Privy Council as a man of low
education and mean parts, bred a vulgar seaman and utterly unfit for
high office.[839] Colonel Edward Hill was the most hated man in Charles
City county.[840] Ballard, Bray and some of the other Councillors were
rash and fiery, active in opposing the King's orders and unjust to the
poor people.[841] The Privy Council was so greatly influenced by these
representations that they determined to reconstruct the Virginia
Council, upon lines suggested by Berry and Moryson. Colonel Philip
Ludwell, Colonel Ballard and Colonel Bray were expressly excluded from
the Council, while Colonel Hill and Major Beverley as "men of evil fame
and behavior" were deprived of all governmental employment whatsoever,
and "declared unfit to serve His Majesty".[842] On the other hand,
Colonel Thomas Swann, who had been excluded from the Council by Governor
Berkeley, was now, for his kindness to the commissioners, restored to
his seat.[843]

The departure of Sir William Berkeley by no means ended the opposition
to Colonel Jeffreys. A part of the Council, realizing that continued
hostility could result only in harm to themselves, made their peace with
the new administration, and were received into favor, but the more
violent of the loyal party remained defiant and abusive. Philip Ludwell,
Beverley, Hill, Ballard and others openly denounced Jeffreys as a
weakling, entirely unsuited for the important office he now occupied,
and did their best to render him unpopular with the people.[844] The
Lieutenant-Governor retaliated with considerable spirit, depriving some
of their lucrative offices, and suspending others from the Council.
Ludwell, whose conduct had been especially obnoxious, was ousted from
the collectorship of York River.[845] Ballard was expelled from a
similar office.[846] And many months before the changes in the Council
ordered by the English government became known in Virginia, no less than
six of the most active loyalists had been suspended by the
Lieutenant-Governor.[847]

But events soon took a more favorable turn for the Berkeley party. The
departure of Berry and Moryson deprived Jeffreys of his staunchest
friends and advisors. And, before the end of the summer, he was
prostrated by the Virginia sickness, which was still deadly to those
unaccustomed to the climate of the colony. For several months h