It was taken for granted that Jenings' administration would be brief, and that a new Governor would come over as soon as one could be appointed. Word had come that a commission had been drawn up for Colonel Robert Hunter, and that he had sailed from Portsmouth in June, 1707. But month after month passed and he failed to appear. As late as March, 1708, the Council was wondering what had become of him. At last they heard that the vessel in which he had shipped had been taken by the French, and that he was held captive in France. So they had to wait two more years before a Governor arrived.[20]
This suited President Jenings and the Council, for it left them in undisputed control of the government. They even refused to hold an Assembly for fear it might question their proceedings. It is true that six times they set the date for a meeting of the Assembly, but six times they postponed it. At last, when people began to question whether these frequent postponements did not put an end to the Assembly, the Council settled all doubts by dissolving them by proclamation.
This was a dangerous thing to do, for it was in the midst of the War of the Spanish Succession, and an Assembly was needed to provide funds for the defense of the colony. But the Council gambled that no French fleet would appear in the Chesapeake Bay. The normal expenses of the government--their own salaries and those of the President, Auditor, Attorney General, and other officials--they paid out of the export duty on tobacco and the quit rent fund. In September, 1708, Jenings wrote that privateers had come in between the capes and had chased a merchant vessel up the York River, that the Indians were threatening the frontier, that the Governor's house was unfinished, and that the quit rent fund was "much drained," but that despite all, the Council would not call an Assembly.[21]
In December, 1709, Lord George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney, was appointed Governor General of Virginia. Orkney had been trained as a soldier, and had distinguished himself at Namur, Blenheim, Malplaquet, and elsewhere. It is probable that it was intended from the first that the office should be a sinecure, and though Orkney held it for years he never set foot on Virginia soil. But Virginia had to pay his salary, for his £1,000 a year was taken out of the export duty on tobacco. To carry on the administration in the colony Colonel Alexander Spotswood was made Lieutenant Governor.