VIRGINIA UNDER THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT.
There was but little change made in the government of the colony.
This was not the object of the king when he canceled the charter of the
company; his action was directed against the corporation, and not against
the State, and ere the few proposed changes could be made King James
died—March 27, 1625—and was succeeded by his son, who came to the
throne under the title of Charles I. He paid very little attention to
his American subjects. Governor Wyatt was continued in office until
1626, when he went to England to attend to the private affairs of his
father, who had recently died, and Sir George Yeardley was appointed
to fill the vacancy. His previous liberal administration was remembered
by the colonists, and Charles could not have performed an act
that would have met with greater approbation on their part. Yeardley's
career was closed by death, November 14, 1627, and in obedience to
instructions to the council, they elected Francis West, governor, the day
after the burial of Yeardley. He continued in office until March, 1628,
when John Pott was chosen in his stead, who in turn was, in a few
days, relieved by John Harvey, who arrived from England and assumed
the government early in the year 1630.
