e was too
ill to attend properly to his duties or to resist the machinations of
his enemies, and the government fell into the hands of the Council.[848]
And since this body, despite its pretended support of the
Lieutenant-Governor, was at heart in full sympathy with Beverley and
Ludwell and the other loyalists, the policy of the administration was
once more changed. The work of extortion was actively resumed and the
courts again busied themselves with suits against the former
rebels.[849]

But consternation seized the Green Spring faction, as the loyalists were
now called, upon the arrival of the King's order, annulling Berkeley's
proclamation of February 10, 1677, and reaffirming the general
pardon.[850] If this command were put into effect, most of the
confiscations secured since the Rebellion, would become illegal, and
restitution would have to be made. So desperately opposed to this were
the loyalists that they resolved to suppress the King's letter. They
believed that it had been obtained by the influence of the
commissioners, and this, they hoped, would soon be rendered nugatory by
the presence at court of Sir William Berkeley. If they could keep the
order secret for a few weeks, new instructions, dictated by the
Governor, might arrive to render its execution unnecessary. Colonel
Jeffreys protested against their disobedience, but he was too weak to
oppose the will of the Council.[851] So, for six weeks, his Majesty's
grace "was unknown to ye poore Inhabitants", while the innumerable suits
and prosecutions were pushed vigorously. Not until October the
twenty-sixth, when all hope of its revocation had been dispelled by
fresh information from England, did the Council consent to the
publication of the letter.[852]

In September, 1677, writs were issued for an election of Burgesses.[853]
Had Jeffreys not been ill, he would perhaps have refused to allow a new
session of the Assembly. The contest at the polls could but result in a
victory for the Green Spring faction, as the electoral machinery was in
their hands. The Lieutenant-Governor, although he had removed some of
the higher colonial officials, had made few changes in the personnel of
the county courts.[854] The sheriffs, by resorting to the old methods,
made sure of the election of most of the nominees of the loyal party.
Complaints came from James City county, New Kent county and other places
that intimidation and fraud had been used to deprive the people of a