VIRGINIA AT THE TIME OF THE RESTORATION.
Richard Cromwell resigned the Protectorate in 1660. Virginia, too,
was without a head. The assembly at once convened and again elected
Berkeley governor, with the understanding that he should call the
assembly together at least once in two years, and that it should not be
dissolved save by its own consent. The old monarchist, now aware
that Charles, his beloved prince, would shortly be placed upon the
throne, accepted the office and acknowledged himself the people's
servant.
Virginia now had a population of thirty thousand. She had established
upon her soil the supremacy of the legislative branch of representative
government; had secured freedom of trade, security against
foreign taxation, and a universal elective franchise. Prosperity kept
pace with freedom. The social condition of the emigrants now coming
to her shores was vastly improved, and her hospitality was already proverbial.
Such was Virginia in the year 1660.
