Meantime great changes as regarded the relationships of the colony to the mother-country were taking place. The colony of Virginia had not been a lucrative enterprise for the London company; the shares at the present time were as unproductive stock of little value; the holders were numerous, and the meetings of the company in London had, instead of being mere meetings of business, become scenes of political debate, in which the supporters of liberty were arrayed against the supporters of royal prerogative. Liberal opinions here found free play. The king was displeased by this freedom of debate. Gondemar, the Spanish envoy, warned James that “these Virginian courts were only a seminary to a seditious parliament.” James, who abhorred freedom of opinion, determined to nip it in the bud, by putting an end to the hot-bed which fostered it. His first endeavour was to control the election of officers by overawing their assemblies; and failing of that, he determined to sequestrate their patent, and recover to himself the authority which he had conceded to the company. Commissioners in the interest of the king were appointed to examine into the affairs of the corporation, although former charges against them had been satisfactorily answered, the records were seized; the deputy-treasurer imprisoned, and private letters from Virginia intercepted and examined. Smith was examined, and his straightforward, honest answers exposed the bad management of the company, and showed that the withdrawal of the charter would be a boon to the colony. This surprised all; commissioners, who had been appointed to examine the affairs of the corporation and the colony itself, reported in favour of a change. The king did not hesitate; the London company was dissolved, and Virginia once more became a royal government, as under its first charter. Whilst these things were going on in England, the Virginians were not indifferent. When the commissioners arrived in the colony, the prayer of the colonists was that the governors might not have absolute power; that the liberty of popular assemblies might not be retrenched, “for nothing,” said they, “can conduce more to public satisfaction and public utility, than the free discussion of our own affairs.” That this subject might be efficiently urged, an agent was sent for that purpose to England, a tax of four pounds weight of the best tobacco being levied on each male above the age of sixteen, and who had been a twelvemonth in the colony, to defray the expenses. But this agent unfortunately died on his voyage.