Bacon's Rebellion

left a day later. After a tedious voyage of ten weeks, the
Bristol arrived in James River, January 29, 1677, the Dart-
mouth, February 1, and the others between that date and
the 14th.

      Berry and Moryson at first issued their instructions from
the Bristol, but some time before February 11, after Berkeley
had refused to receive them into his house, they took up their
residence with Colonel Thomas Swann, at Swann’s Point,
nearly opposite the ruins of Jamestown. There was no other
house within four or five miles. They had already communi-
cated from the Bristol with Governor Berkeley, whom they
visited formally on the 12th, and had sent orders to the sher-
iffs to obtain from the localities statements of complaints and
grievances. Sessions were held on Mondays, Wednesdays,
and Fridays for receiving and examining these statements,
which were to be sent sealed and signed by such as had taken
oath and were prepared to prove their charges. On February
29 the commissioners sent a letter to the House of Burgesses,
which had assembled at Green Spring on the 20th, urging peace
with the Indians, curtailment of salaries and other public ex-
penses, and a lowering of charges by keepers of ordinaries. They
also interrogated many private individuals who came to
Swann’s Point, established a commission for inquiring into
delinquents’ estates, sat as a court of oyer and terminer for
the trial of the most notorious rebels, and in May met the
Indian chiefs at the soldiers’ camp in Middle Plantation (now
Williamsburg) and made treaties with them. They also pro-
vided for the soldiers, a dificult matter as the country was
desolate and ruined, the ground in February covered with
snow, and the people of the colony wholly averse to any
system of quartering.

      The relations of the commissioners with Berkeley, at first
moderately friendly, eventually became very strained. The old
governor, after many delays, sailed for England, probably