[259:B] This document, entitled "The Account of Proceedings in his Majt's Affairs at Anamessecks and Manokin, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia," is preserved in the records of Accomac County Court, and a copy, furnished by Thomas R. Joynes, Esq., the clerk, (himself a descendant of Colonel Edmund Scarburgh,) was published in 1833, by order of the legislature of Maryland. I am indebted to William T. Joynes, Esq., of Petersburg, for the use of this report, and for some other interesting particulars relating to the Eastern Shore. [262:A] "The foregoing are true transcripts from the Records of the Court of the County of Accomack, in the State of Virginia."--Test: _J. W. Gillett, C. A. C._ CHAPTER XXIX. 1666-1675. Plot discovered--Miscellaneous Matters--England at war with the Dutch--The Plague in London--Tobacco--Forts--Cessation of planting Tobacco for one year--Drummond's Petition rejected-- Baptism of Slaves--Tributary Indians--Batt's Expedition--The Algonquin Tribes--The Powhatan Confederacy--Convicts sent to Virginia--Legislative Acts. THE Northern colonies appear at this time to have been styled the "Dutch Plantations."[263:A] The persecution of the dissenters, the restrictions imposed upon commerce by the navigation act, the low price of tobacco, and high price of imported goods, so inflamed the discontents of the poor people as to give rise to a plot, which was well-nigh resulting in tragical effects in 1663. The conspiracy was attributed to certain Cromwellian soldiers, who had been sent out to Virginia as servants; but the real grounds and true character of it can now hardly be ascertained. The plot was discovered only the night before that appointed for its execution, (the assembly being then in session,) by one of the conspirators named Birkenhead, a servant to Mr. Smith, of Purton, in Gloucester County. Poplar Spring, near that place, was the appointed rendezvous. As soon as the information reached Sir William Berkley, who was then at his residence, Green Spring, he issued secret orders to a party of militia, to meet at Poplar Spring, and anticipate the outbreak. Only a few were taken, of whom four were hanged. Birkenhead was rewarded[263:B] with his freedom and five thousand pounds of tobacco; Beverley[263:C] makes the reward two hundred pounds sterling. The thirteenth of September, the day fixed for the execution of the plot, was set apart by the assembly as an anniversary thanksgiving. The news of this affair being transmitted to the king, he sent orders for the building of a fort at Jamestown; but the Virginians thinking that the danger had blown over, only erected a battery of some small pieces of cannon.