It was the determined, unflagging, bitter battle for self-government which brought victory to the people. We see them putting Governor John Harvey aboard a vessel and sending him back to England, when he tried to play the despot; we see them rising in wild rebellion against the misgovernment of Sir William Berkeley; we see them defending their liberty against the assaults of Charles II and James II. The English government was warned repeatedly of what was going on. "I may truly say that now or never is the only time to maintain the Queen's just prerogative and put a stop to these wrong, pernicious notions which are improving daily, not only in Virginia, but in all her Majesty's other governments," wrote Colonel Robert Quary, in 1705. "A frown now from her Majesty will do more than perhaps an army hereafter."[41] In another report he said that the Assembly "conclude themselves entitled to all the rights and privileges of an English Parliament." Nicholson said that the Virginians wished to set up a commonwealth. But Nicholson was wrong. The Virginians of his day, and their sons and grandsons after them were loyal to the British Kings, wished to remain in the British Empire. But they were determined to govern themselves in all except imperial matters. What they wanted was liberty, not independence. And liberty they attained decades before the Stamp Act, decades before Patrick Henry said: "Give me liberty or give me death." FOOTNOTES: [1] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 531-533. [2] CO5-1359, p. 344. [3] CO5-1359, p. 255. [4] CO5-1314, Doc. 15G. [5] CO5-1356, pp. 125, 126. [6] CO5-1359, p. 320. [7] CO1-40, p. 104. [8] CO5-1359, pp. 95, 96. [9] _Ibid._, 97, 98. [10] H. J. Ford, _Rise and growth of American politics_, 267. [11] CO5-1314, Doc. 17. [12] _Ibid._, Doc. 10. [13] CO5-1314, Doc. 23. [14] P. 34. [15] P. 46. [16] CO5-1315, Sept. 1, 1706. [17] CO5-1314, Doc. 43. [18] CO5-1315, Sept. 1, 1706. [19] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693: 477. [20] CO5-1318. [21] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1695-1702: 133. [22] June 28, 1758. [23] _Journals of the House of Burgesses_, 1659-1693, 381. [24] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 2: 363, 369. [25] CO1-41, p. 118. [26] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1. [27] W. W. Hening, _Statutes at large_ 1: 363-365. [28] _Bath papers_, IIa, 44. [29] _Ibid._, 142. [30] _The complete works of Benjamin Franklin_, J. Bigelow, ed., 10: 369. [31] _The present state of Virginia_, 44, 45. [32] _Virginia Magazine_, 3: 142. [33] _Ibid._ 2: 172. [34] _The present state of Virginia_, 66, 67. [35] CO5-1359, 344. [36] _Executive journals of the Council_ 5: 299. [37] CO5-1361, p. 426. [38] _Executive journals of the Council_ 2: 406. [39] _Ibid._, 407. [40] _Ibid._ 3: 421. [41] CO5-1314, Doc. 63I. CHAPTER III WE PREFER ANOTHER GOVERNOR