When the news reached Virginia that King Charles had been tried before a Commission of the Commons, that he had been condemned to death, and that the sentence had been carried out at Whitehall and the bleeding head held up for the awe-stricken crowds to view, Berkeley was horrified. He at once proclaimed Charles II King, and so won for Virginia the title of the Old Dominion. There was no thought on the Governor's part of submitting to Parliament. The Assembly passed a law making it treason to question the "undoubted and inherent right of his Majesty ... to the Colony of Virginia." To defend the proceedings against the late King was to become accessory after the act; to asperse his memory was punishable at the discretion of the Governor and Council; to propose a change of government was high treason.[23] You should be thankful above all else, Berkeley said, "that God has separated you from the guilt of the crying blood of our pious sovereign of ever blessed memory. But mistake not, gentlemen, part of it will yet stain your garments if you willingly submit to those murderers' hands that shed it."[24]
Parliament countered by declaring the Virginians rebels and by trying to bring them to terms by economic pressure. In October, 1650, they passed an act prohibiting all persons "foreigners and others" from having commerce or traffic with them. English warships were to be used to enforce the act, and all commanders were ordered to seize any foreign vessels found trading with the colony. English ships were not to sail for Virginia without a special license from the Council of State.[25]
The planters realized fully that if they were cut off from all overseas commerce it meant ruin. Their loyalty to the monarchy would be dearly purchased if their tobacco were left on their hands, and all supplies of cloth, clothing, and other manufactured goods denied them. Yet under the passionate urging of Governor Berkeley they remained firm.
Calling an Assembly for March, 1651, Sir William delivered an address ringing with defiance. You see by the declaration of the men of Westminster how they mean to deal with you, he said. Surely they could have proposed something which might have strengthened us to bear the heavy chains they are making ready for us, though it were no more than the assurance that we shall eat the bread for which our own oxen plow, and which we reap with our own sweat. "Surely, gentlemen, we are more slaves by nature than their power can make us if we suffer ourselves to be shaken with these paper bullets.... Gentlemen, by the grace of God we will not so tamely part with our King and all those blessings we enjoy under him; and if they oppose us do but follow me, I will either lead you to victory or lose a life which I cannot more gloriously sacrifice than for my loyalty and your security."[26]
We do not know to what extent the act of 1650 was effective in stopping trade to Virginia. It is probable that Dutch merchants continued to come in, eluding English warships, and taking off a part of the tobacco crop. Had it not been for this it is probable that the colony would have been forced to surrender, and it would have been unnecessary for Parliament to send a force to subdue it.
During the turmoil of the early months of the Commonwealth there was little opportunity for the Council of State to consider what should be done about Virginia. But in October, 1649, they directed the Committee of the Admiralty to recommend steps "to reduce them to the interest" of Parliament. This committee called in several merchants interested in the tobacco trade—Maurice Thompson, Benjamin Worsley, and others—to ask their advice. These men were deeply concerned lest the defection of the colonies might ruin them by diverting trade to the Dutch. After long debate, it was decided that Parliament should be asked to name commissioners "in whom the government be immediately placed, with power to settle the same under the government of the Commonwealth."[27]
But this plan could not be put into effect so long as the Governor and Assembly were holding out for the King. So when news reached England that the blockade had not been successful in bringing them to terms, it was decided to send over a naval and military expedition. Thomas Stegg, who was in London, no doubt told the Council of State that there were many in Virginia who favored the Commonwealth, and that by cooperating with them they might take over the colony without firing a shot. So in naming a commission to offer terms they included not only Stegg himself, but Richard Bennett and William Claiborne, both of whom were in Virginia. The commission was headed by Captain Robert Dennis. In the event of his death, his place was to be filled by Captain Edmund Curtis.
They were ordered to "use their best endeavors" to bring the Virginians "to their due obedience," and were authorized to grant pardon to all who would submit. In case this did not prove effective they were to use "all acts of hostility ... to enforce them." They were directed, also, to augment their force by making recruits in the colony, appointing captains and other officers, and promising freedom to all indentured workers who would take up arms for the Commonwealth.[28]
So now a fleet of two warships, the John and the Guinea Frigate, and a number of armed merchant vessels was assembled, a force of six hundred men embarked, and arms and stores brought aboard. Captain Dennis sailed in the John, Captain Curtis in the Guinea Frigate. Arriving at Barbados, and finding a large royalist force ready to resist them, they landed their soldiers, and defeated them in a pitched battle. This caused a delay of several weeks before they could proceed on their way to the Chesapeake Bay. But now disaster struck, for off the coast of Carolina they ran into a storm which sent the John to the bottom, taking Captain Dennis and Stegg with her. Unaware of this, the rest of the fleet proceeded on their way and arrived safely in Hampton Roads.
Even without the John the fleet must have seemed formidable to the planters who paused in their work to view it. It must have seemed formidable, also, to Governor Berkeley. But he was determined to resist to the end. For months he had done all in his power to create hatred of the Commonwealth leaders, calling them bloody tyrants, and accusing them of planning to restore the old London Company. The Anglican ministers, hurling invectives from the pulpit, "stirred up the people in all places." At the gatherings for the sessions of the county courts, in taverns, in churchyards after services, everywhere when two or more men came together "little else was spoken of."[29]