The awakened spirit of resistance bore rich fruit for the cause of liberty. The chief difficulty heretofore experienced by the commons in defending their rights was the lack of intelligent and forceful leaders. These they now secured through the frequent quarrels of the wealthy planters with the Governors. More than once Councillors, suspended from their seats for disobedience, came forward as leaders in the struggle to preserve the rights of the people. In this capacity they rendered services of the highest importance. Strangely enough some of the leading spirits of the old Berkeley party became, by their continued opposition to the executive, champions of representative government in the colony. Had it not been for the active leadership of Robert Beverley and Philip Ludwell the cause of liberty might well have perished under the assaults of Charles II and James II. The House of Burgesses was gradually becoming more representative of the people. The intimidation of voters practiced by the loyal party immediately after the Rebellion could not be continued indefinitely. As the terror inspired by Berkeley's revenge upon the rebels began to wane, the commons insisted more upon following their own inclinations at the polls. Moreover, the incessant quarrels of the Governors with the members of the aristocracy made it impossible for any clique to control again the electoral machinery. As the sheriffs and justices were no longer so closely allied with the executive as they had been in the Restoration period, false returns of Burgesses and other electoral frauds were apt to be of less frequent occurrence. Thus, during the years immediately following the Rebellion, forces were shaping themselves which were to make it possible for the colony to resist those encroachments of the Crown upon its liberties that marked the last decade of the rule of the Stuart kings, and to pass safely through what may well be called the Critical Period of Virginia history. FOOTNOTES: [720] P. R. O., CO389.6-177. [721] Ibid. [722] The commission had consisted at first of Sir John Berry, Colonel Francis Moryson and Thomas Fairfax. P. R. O., CO1-37-53. [723] P. R. O., CO389.6-113, 174. [724] P. R. O., CO389.6-113. [725] P. R. O., CO389.6-121, 174, 175. [726] P. R. O., CO389.6-113. [727] P. R. O., CO389.6-137, 139, 140, 144; CO1-38-7. [728] P. R. O., CO389.6-116. [729] P. R. O., CO5-1371-149, 154. [730] P. R. O., CO1-40-110; CO5-1371-27, 33, 62, 63, 64. [731] P. R. O., CO1-39-11, 17; CO5-1371-68, 69, 62, 63, 64, 78, 79, 81, 82, 132. [732] P. R. O., CO5-1371-152. [733] P. R. O., CO5-1371-132. [734] CO1-40-1 to 37; CO1-40-43; CO5-1371-81, 82. [735] P. R. O., CO1-40-23. [736] P. R. O., CO5-1371-27, 33. [737] P. R. O., CO1-39-38. [738] P. R. O., CO5-1371-17, 20. [739] Ibid. [740] P. R. O., CO5-1371-27, 33. [741] Ibid. [742] P. R. O., CO5-1371-55, 60. [743] P. R. O., CO5-1371-90, 94. [744] P. R. O., CO391.2-173, 178. [745] P. R. O., CO5-1371-90, 94.