The news of the invasion of Virginia by Cornwallis gave the Bedford Tories strong encouragement and a conspiracy was formed to overthrow the county organization and seize, for the use of Cornwallis on his arrival, the stores that Lynch had collected for Greene’s army in North Carolina. The conspirator’s plans, however, became known to Colonel Lynch, tradition says through one of their own number, and he had them all arrested. In the case of these conspirators, who were guilty of a treasonable offense, a more serious situation presented itself. Lynch himself was on the point of setting out with his regiment for the east to oppose the British under Benedict Arnold. It was not wise to inflict the usual punishment and then give the conspirators their freedom again; neither could he take them as prisoners along with him on the rapid march that he was forced to make. After careful deliberation, Colonel Lynch, as the presiding justice, sentenced them to terms of imprisonment varying from one to five years. Robert Cowan, who had formerly been a fellow justice on the county bench and who seems to have been the ringleader, was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment and a fine of £20,000.[43] This court, even though it be considered as still the regular county court, had clearly transcended its powers; the General Court alone had jurisdiction in cases of treason. After the war, therefore, the Tories who had suffered at his hands threatened to prosecute Colonel Lynch and his friends. To avoid lawsuits and as a means of finally settling the affair, Lynch brought the whole matter before the Virginia legislature. After a lengthy debate, which, according to Mr. Page, “aroused the interest of the whole country,” the following act was passed in October, 1782: “An act to indemnify certain persons in suppressing a conspiracy against this state. I. WHEREAS divers evil-disposed persons in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty, formed a conspiracy and did actually attempt to levy war against the commonwealth; and it is represented to the present general assembly, that William Preston, Robert Adams, junior, James Callaway, and Charles Lynch, and other faithful citizens, aided by detachments of volunteers from different parts of the state, did, by timely and effectual measures, suppress such conspiracy: And whereas the measures taken for that purpose may not be strictly warranted by law, although justifiable from the imminence of the danger;