XXXVI.
SIR HERBERT JEFFRIES.
XXXVI. Lieutenant-Governor.
XXXVI. April 27, 1677, to December 30, 1678.
Sir Herbert Jeffries was appointed Lieutenant-Governor
of Virginia, and one of the commissioners for inquiring into
the state of the Colony, in 1676. He assumed the administration
on the return of Sir William Berkeley to England,
and exerted himself wisely and well to restore peace to a distracted
country. He made a treaty with the Indians of the
West, by which each town agreed to pay three arrows for
their land and twenty beaver skins annually for protection.
But Jeffries did not live to see the accomplishment of his judicious
plans. He died in 1678, when the government devolved
upon Sir Henry Chicheley.
It is a matter of interest to note that the last Assembly
held by Governor Berkeley "Begunne at Green Spring,"
and that the Grand Assembly, held by Governor Jeffries,
Oct. 10, 1677, "Begunne at Middle Plantation, Att the
house of Capt. Otho Thorpe."
Green Spring was Governor Berkeley's residence, which
he had built himself only a few miles from James City, and
Middle Plantation was afterwards called Williamsburg. This
change of venue was of course the result of the burning of
James City.
