The Auditor for Virginia was appointed by the Auditor of the Plantations, usually upon the recommendation of the Governor. This officer audited the accounts of the quit rents, the export duty, escheats, etc., certified their accuracy, and reported to England. He received 7-1/2 per cent of all the monies passing through his hands. There seems to have been great laxness at times in the handling of funds. When Auditor William Byrd died in December, 1704, it was found that the account was overdrawn by L7,698.9.10.[38] It is not surprising that Governor Nicholson, while waiting for William Blathwait, the Auditor of the Plantations, to appoint Byrd's successor, decided to "take that trouble" on himself.[39] Philip Ludwell, who was made Auditor in 1712, seems to have been just as careless as Byrd. In December, 1715, Governor Spotswood called the attention of the Council to the confusion in his office. "Only gross sums are entered in one general account," he said, "and the particular accounts of the receivers ... only kept in loose papers."[40] When he recommended several reforms, Ludwell told him in effect to mind his own business, and that he would take orders only from the Auditor General. Thereupon Spotswood suspended him from his office. Ludwell came back with a letter "stuffed with virulent invectives," denying the legality of this action. Prior to 1691 the Treasurer was appointed by the Governor, but that year the Burgesses claimed the right of naming him, and despite the opposition of the Governors, eventually had their way. The Treasurer received the funds from various taxes and made up the accounts. He received six per cent of the money collected. Outwardly the government of Virginia changed little during the century and a half from the fall of the London Company to the Declaration of Independence. Actually throughout the colonial period vital developments were taking place. Both the Council and the House of Burgesses were tireless in whittling away at the King's prerogative; the Council gradually took out of the Governor's hands the right of naming local officials; the control of the purse by the Burgesses was used to such good effect that by the middle of the eighteenth century their influence was greater than that of either Governor or Council. We gain glimpses of the changes which were taking place, not by changes in the laws, but by seemingly unimportant incidents, and by the spirit of the times. What would Charles II have thought had Sir William Berkeley written him, boasting of his influence with the Speaker of the House of Burgesses? Yet that is just what Governor Fauquier did in 1758.