It was proposed by the loyalists to share among themselves the estates of all that had been executed for treason, had died in arms against the King, or had fled from the colony to escape the Governor's vengeance.[736] It did not matter to them that the wretched widows and orphans of these men would be left destitute. Nor did they stop to consider that these estates, if forfeited at all, could not be seized legally for private use, but should revert to the Crown. They thought only of repairing their own ruined fortunes.[737] In the midst of this confusion and lawlessness Berry and Moryson, with a part of the fleet and seventy of the English soldiers, arrived in the James River.[738] They had left Portsmouth November the nineteenth, but it was January the twenty-ninth before they reached Virginia.[739] Without waiting for Jeffreys and the main body of the fleet, they notified the Governor of their arrival and requested an immediate conference. Berkeley came aboard their flag-ship, the _Bristol_, February the first, where he was notified of their mission and intrusted with official letters.[740] He poured into the ears of the commissioners the recital of the exciting events of the past months--the destruction of Jamestown, Bacon's death, the surrender of Ingram and Walkelett, the execution of the leading rebels, the return of "the poore Scattered Loyal party to their ruined homes".[741] Although peace had been restored not three weeks before, he pretended astonishment that the King had thought it necessary to send soldiers to his aid. Nor could he conceal his irritation at the mission of Berry and Moryson. That Charles should think it necessary to make an investigation of affairs in Virginia betokened a lack of confidence in the Governor. Berkeley's friends claimed, no doubt truly, that he was the author of every measure of importance adopted by the government of Virginia. An inquiry into conditions in the colony could but be an inquiry into his conduct. And the Governor, perhaps, knew himself to be guilty of much that he did not wish to have exposed before his royal master. Moreover, Berkeley was not in the humor to brook interference at this juncture. He was inexorably resolved that the chief rebels should be brought to the gallows and that his own followers should be rewarded for their faithfulness. If the commissioners intended to block these measures, or protest against his actions when in violation of law, they might expect his bitter hostility.