r.
Yet he attempted to rule impartially and well. Writs were issued in the
spring of 1679 for an election of Burgesses, and the people were
protected from intimidation at the polls. The Assembly, as a result,
showed itself more sane, more sensitive to the wishes of the commons,
than had been either of the sessions of 1677.[878] Several laws were
enacted redressing some of the most flagrant evils of the old
governmental system of Berkeley. The voters of each parish were
empowered to elect two men "to sitt in the severall county courts and
have their equall votes with the severall justices for the makeing of by
lawes".[879] An act was passed putting a limit upon the excessive fees
charged by the collectors of the customs.[880] And the clamor of the
loyalists for the payment of their claims upon the treasury were
unheeded, and all public debts were referred for settlement to the next
session.[881]

Chicheley's administration came temporarily to an end with the arrival
of Lord Culpeper. The period from the close of the Rebellion to May,
1680, when the new Governor-General took the oath of office, seems, at
first sight, characterized only by confusion and disaster. The violent
animosities, the uncertainty of property rights, the lack of a firm and
settled government kept the people in constant uneasiness and
discontent. The numerous banishments and executions had deprived the
colony of some of its most intelligent and useful citizens, while the
plundering of both parties during the Rebellion, and the numberless
forfeitures that followed the establishment of peace, had reduced many
men to poverty. Nor had the most pressing of the grievances that had
caused the people to rise against the government been redressed. The
Navigation Acts were still in force, the commons were yet excluded from
their rightful share in the government, the taxes were more oppressive
than ever.

Yet amid the melancholy confusion of the times, important changes for
the better were taking place. Never again was an English Governor to
exercise the despotic power that had been Sir William Berkeley's. This
was not due to the greater leniency of the British government, or to
lack of ambition in the later Governors. But the Rebellion and the
events following it, had weakened the loyalty of the people and shown
them the possibility of resisting the King's commands. The commons,
angered at the severity of the punishment inflicted upon the rebel
leaders, and