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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33313-8.txt b/33313-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e6e4892 --- /dev/null +++ b/33313-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6621 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of British Committees, Commissions, and +Councils of Trade and Plantations, 1622-1675, by Charles M. Andrews + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: British Committees, Commissions, and Councils of Trade and Plantations, 1622-1675 + +Author: Charles M. Andrews + +Release Date: August 1, 2010 [EBook #33313] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH COMMITTEES *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: Portions of this text are written in an archaic +manner in which macrons over single or double letters stand in place +for an abbreviation. This has been represented in the text version +by enclosing the letter in square brackets and preceeding the letter +(or letters) with a tilde character. There are also copious single +and multiple superscripted abbreviations represented in the text version +by enclosing the superscripted characters with curly braces, preceded +by a caret.] + + + + + + + Series XXVI Nos. 1-2-3 + + JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES + IN + Historical and Political Science + + Under the Direction of the Departments + of History, Political Economy, and + Political Science + + * * * * * + + + + +BRITISH COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS, AND COUNCILS OF TRADE AND PLANTATIONS, +1622-1675 + + +BY CHARLES M. ANDREWS +Professor of History + + + + BALTIMORE + THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS + + PUBLISHED MONTHLY + January, February, March, 1908 + + + Copyright 1908 by + THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +CONTROL OF TRADE AND PLANTATIONS UNDER JAMES I AND CHARLES I. + + Before 1622, Privy Council the sole authority 10 + Commission of Trade, 1622-1623 11 + Commission of Trade, 1625-1626 12 + Privy Council Committee of Trade, 1630-1640 13 + Temporary Plantation Commissions, 1630-1633 14 + Laud Commission for Plantations, 1634-1641 14 + Subcommittees for Plantations, 1632-1639 17 + Privy Council in control, 1640-1642 21 + Parliamentary Commission for Plantations, 1643-1648 21 + + +CHAPTER II. + +CONTROL OF TRADE AND PLANTATIONS DURING THE INTERREGNUM. + + The Council of Trade, 1650-1653 24 + Plantation Affairs controlled by the Council of State, 1649-1651 30 + Standing Committee of the Council for Plantations, + 1651-April, 1653 33 + Plantation Affairs controlled by the Council of State, + April-Dec., 1653 35 + Trade controlled by Council of State and Parliamentary Committees, + Dec., 1653-June, 1655 36 + Importance of the years 1654-1655 36 + The great Trade Committee, 1655-1657 38 + Parliamentary Committees of Trade, 1656-1658 43 + Plantation Affairs controlled by Protector's Council and Council + of the State, 1653-1660 43 + Special Council Committees for Plantations, 1653-1659 44 + Council Committee for Jamaica and Foreign Plantations, 1655-1660 44 + Select Committee for Jamaica, known later as Committee + for America, 1655-1660 45 + Inadequacy of Control during the Interregnum 47 + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE PROPOSALS OF THE MERCHANTS: NOELL AND POVEY. + + Career of Martin Noell 49 + Career of Thomas Povey 51 + Enterprises of the Merchants, 1657-1659 53 + Proposals of Noell and Povey 55 + "Overtures" of 1654 55 + "Queries" of 1656 58 + Additional Proposals, 1656, 1657 58 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +COMMITTEES AND COUNCILS UNDER THE RESTORATION. + + Plantation Committee of Privy Council, June 4, 1660 61 + Work of Privy Council Committee 63 + Appointment of Select Councils of Trade and Plantations, 1660 64 + Membership of these Councils 67 + Comparison of Povey's "Overtures" with the Instructions for + Council for Foreign Plantations 68 + Comparison of Povey's "First Draft" with Instructions for + Council of Trade 71 + Work of Council for Foreign Plantations, 1660-1665 74 + Control of Plantation Affairs, 1665-1670 79 + Work of Council of Trade, 1660-1664 80 + Parliamentary Committee of Trade, 1664 85 + Commission for English-Scottish Trade, 1667-1668 86 + Reorganization of Committees of the Privy Council, 1668 87 + Work of Privy Council Committee for Foreign Plantations, 1668-1670 90 + New Select Council of Trade, 1668-1672 91 + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE PLANTATION COUNCILS OF 1670 AND 1672. + + Influence of Ashley and Locke 96 + Revival of Council for Foreign Plantations, 1670-1672 97 + Membership 97 + Commission and Instructions 99 + Meetings and Work 101 + Select Council of Trade and Foreign Plantations, 1672-1674 106 + Membership 106 + Commission and Instructions 107 + Meetings and Work 109 + Causes of the Revocation of the Commission of Select Council, 1674 111 + Later History of Plantation Control, 1675-1782 112 + + +APPENDICES. + + I. Instructions, Board of Trade, 1650 115 + II. Instructions, Council for Foreign Plantations, 1670-1672 117 + Additional Instructions for the Same 124 + III. Draft of Instructions, Council of Trade and Foreign + Plantations, 1672-1674 127 + IV. Heads of Business; Councils of 1670 and 1672 133 + + + + +BRITISH COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS, AND COUNCILS OF TRADE AND PLANTATIONS, +1622-1675. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Control of Trade and Plantations Under James I and Charles I. + + +In considering the subject which forms the chief topic of this paper, we +are not primarily concerned with the question of settlement, intimately +related though it be to the larger problem of colonial control. We are +interested rather in the early history of the various commissions, +councils, committees, and boards appointed at one time or another in the +middle of the seventeenth century for the supervision and management of +trade, domestic, foreign, and colonial, and for the general oversight of +the colonies whose increase was furthered, particularly after 1650, in +largest part for commercial purposes. The coupling of the terms "trade" +and "foreign plantations" was due to the prevailing economic theory +which viewed the colonies not so much as markets for British exports +or as territories for the receipt of a surplus British population--for +Great Britain had at that time no surplus population and manufactured +but few commodities for export--but rather as sources of such raw +materials as could not be produced at home, and of such tropical +products as could not be obtained otherwise than from the East and West +Indies. The two interests were not, however, finally consolidated in +the hands of a single board until 1672, after which date they were not +separated until the final abolition of the old Board of Trade in 1782. +It is, therefore, to the period before 1675 that we shall chiefly direct +our attention, in the hope of throwing some light upon a phase of +British colonial control that has hitherto remained somewhat obscure. +Familiar as are many of the facts connected with the early history of +Great Britain's management of trade and the colonies, it is nevertheless +true that no attempt has been made to trace in detail the various +experiments undertaken by the authorities in England in the interest +of trade and the plantations during the years before 1675. Many of +the details are, and will always remain, unknown, nevertheless it is +possible to make some additions to our knowledge of a subject which +is more or less intimately related to our early colonial history. + +At the beginning of colonization the control of all matters relating +to trade and the plantations lay in the hands of the king and his +council, forming the executive branch of the government. Parliament +had not yet begun to legislate for the colonies, and in matters +of trade and commerce the parliaments of James I accomplished much +less than had those of Elizabeth. "In the time of James I," says Dr. +Prothero, "it was more essential to assert constitutional principles +and to maintain parliamentary rights than to pass new laws or to create +new institutions." Thus the Privy Council became the controlling factor +in all matters that concerned the colonies and it acted in the main +without reference or delegation to others, since the practice of +appointing advisory boards or deliberative committees, though not +unknown, was at first employed only as an occasional expedient. The +councils of James I were called upon to deal with a wide variety of +colonial business--letters, petitions, complaints and reports from +private individuals, such as merchants, captains of ships voyaging +to the colonies, seamen, prisoners, and the like, from officials +in England, merchant companies, church organizations, and colonial +governments, notably the governor and council and assembly of Virginia. +To all these communications the Council replied either by issuing orders +which were always mandatory, or by sending letters which often contained +information and advice as well as instructions. It dealt with the +Virginia Company in London and sent letters, both before and after the +dissolution of the company, to the governor and council in Virginia, +and in all these letters trade played an important part. For example, +the order of October 24, 1621, which forbade the colony to export +tobacco and other commodities to foreign countries, declared that such +a privilege as an open trade on the part of the colony was desirable +"neither in policy nor for the honor of the state (that being but a +colony derived from hence)," and that it could not be suffered "for that +it may be a loss unto his Majesty in his customs, if not the hazarding +of the trade which in future times is well hoped may be of much profit, +use, and importance to the Commonalty."[1] Similarly the Council issued +a license to Lord Baltimore to export provisions for the relief of his +colony at Avalon,[2] ordered that the _Ark_ and the _Dove_, containing +Calvert and the settlers of Maryland, be held back at Tilbury until the +oaths of allegiance had been taken,[3] and instructed the governor and +company of Virginia to give friendly assistance to Baltimore's +undertaking.[4] + +Of the employment of committees or special commissions to inquire +into questions either commercial or colonial there is no evidence +before the year 1622. A few months after the dissolution of the third +Stuart parliament, James I issued a proclamation for the encouragement +of trade, and directed a special commission not composed of privy +councillors to inquire into the decay of the clothing trade and to +report to the Privy Council such remedial measures as seemed best +adapted to increase the wealth and prosperity of the realm.[5] At the +same time he caused a commission to be issued to the Lord Keeper, the +Lord Treasurer, the Lord President of the Council and others "to collect +and cause a true survey to be taken in writing of the names, qualities, +professions, and places of habitation of such strangers as do reside +within the realm of England and use any retailing trade or handicraft +trade and do reform the abuses therein according to the statutes now in +force."[6] The commissioners of trade duly met, during the years 1622 +and 1623, summoned persons to appear before them, and reported to the +Council. Their report was afterward presented to the King sitting with +the Council at Wansted, "was allowed and approved of, and commandment +was given to enter it in the Register of Counsell causes and to remain +as an act of Counsell by order of the Lord President."[7] There is +evidence also to show that the commission issued orders on its own +account, for in June, 1623, the Mayor and Aldermen of the city of London +wrote two letters to the commission expressing their approval of its +orders and sending petitions presented to them by citizens of London.[8] + +On April 15, 1625, less than three weeks after the death of James I, +a warrant was issued by his successor for a commission of trade, the +duties of which were of broader and more general character than were +those of the previous body.[9] The first record of its meeting is dated +January 18, 1626, but it is probable that then the commission had been +for some time in existence, though the exact date when its commission +was issued is not known. The text of both commission and instructions +are among the Domestic Papers.[10] The board was to advance the +exportations of home manufactures and to repress the "ungainful +importation of foreign commodities." Looked upon as a subcommittee of +the Privy Council, but having none of the privy councillors among its +members, it was required to sit every week and to consider all questions +that might be referred to it for examination and report. The fact that a +complaint against the patent of Sir Ferdinando Gorges was referred to it +shows that it was qualified to deal not only with questions of trade but +also with plantation affairs.[11] At about the same time a committee of +the Council was appointed to take into consideration a special question +of trade and to make report to the Council. Neither of these bodies +appears to have had more than a temporary existence, although the +commission sat for some time and accomplished no inconsiderable amount +of work. + +The first Privy Council committee of trade that had any claim to +permanency was that appointed in March, 1630, consisting at first of +thirteen members, the Lord Keeper, the Lord Treasurer, the Lord +President, the Lord Privy Seal, Earl Marshall, the Lord Steward, Earl +of Dorset, Earl of Holland, Earl of Carlisle, Lord Dorchester, the +Vice-Chamberlain, Sir Henry Cottington and Mr. Secretary Coke. This +committee was to meet on Friday mornings. The same committee, with the +omission of one member, was appointed the next year to meet on Tuesdays +in the afternoon. In 1634 the membership was reduced to nine, but in +1636, 1638 and 1639, by the addition of the Lord Treasurer, the number +was raised to ten, as follows: the Lord President, the Lord Treasurer, +the Lord Keeper, the Lord Privy Seal, Earl Marshall, Earl of Dorset, +Lord Cottington, Mr. Comptroller, Mr. Secretary Coke and Mr. Secretary +Windebank. The meetings were again held on Fridays, though on special +occasions the committee was warned to meet on other days by order of the +Council, and on one occasion at least assembled at Hampton Court.[12] +To this committee were referred all matters of trade which came to the +attention of the Council during the ten years, from 1630 to 1640. Notes +of its meetings between 1631 and 1637 were kept by Secretaries Coke and +Windebank and show the extent and variety of its activities. Except for +the garbling of tobacco it does not appear to have concerned itself +with plantation affairs.[13] As the King was generally present at its +meetings, it possessed executive as well as advisory powers, not only +making reports to the Council, but also drafting regulations and issuing +orders on its own account. Occasionally it appointed special committees +to examine into certain trade difficulties, and on September 21, 1638, +and again on February 3, 1639, we find notice of a separate board of +commissioners for trade constituted under the great seal to inquire into +the decay of the clothing industry. This board sat for two years and +made an elaborate report to the Privy Council on June 9, 1640.[14] + +Though committees for trade, ordnance, foreign affairs, and Ireland +had a more or less continuous existence during the period after 1630, +no similar committee for plantations was created during this decade. +Temporary commissions and committees of the Council had been, however, +frequently appointed. In 1623 and 1624 several sets of commissioners for +Virginia were named "to inquire into the true state of Virginia and the +Somers Islands plantations," "to resolve upon the well settling of the +colony of Virginia," "and to advise on a fit patent for the Virginia +Company." In 1631 a commission of twenty-three persons, of whom four +constituted a quorum, was created, partly from within and partly from +without the Privy Council, "to advise upon some course for establishing +the advancement of the plantations of Virginia."[15] Similar commissions +were appointed to meet special exigencies in the careers of other +plantations, Somers Islands, Caribbee Islands, etc. In 1632, we meet +with a committee forming the first committee of the Council appointed +for the plantations, quite distinct in functions and membership +from the committee for trade and somewhat broader in scope than the +commissions mentioned above. The circumstances of its appointment were +these: In the year 1632 complaints began to come in to the Privy Council +regarding the conduct of the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Thomas Morton +and Philip Ratcliffe had been banished from that colony and sent back +to England. Sir Christopher Gardiner, also, after a period of troubled +relations with the authorities there, had taken ship for England. These +men, acting in conjunction with Gorges and Mason, whose claims had +already been before the Council, presented petitions embodying their +grievances. On December 19, 1632, the Council listened to the reading +of these petitions and to the presentation of a "relation" drawn up by +Gardiner. After long debate "upon the whole carriage of the plantation +of that country," it appointed a committee of twelve members, called the +Committee on the New England Plantations, with the Archbishop of York at +its head, "to examine how the patents for the said plantations have been +granted." This committee had power to call "to their assistance such +other persons as they shall think fit," "to examine the truth of the +aforesaid information or any other information as shall be presented to +them and shall make report thereof to this board and of the true state +of the said plantations." The committee deliberated on the "New England +Case," summoned many of the "principal adventurers in that plantation" +before it, listened to the complainants, and reported favorably to the +colony. The essential features of its report were embodied in an order +in council, dated January 19, 1633.[16] This committee, still called the +Committee for New England, was reappointed in December, 1633, with a +slight change of membership, Laud, who had been made primate the August +before, taking the place of the Archbishop of York as chairman. But this +committee was soon overshadowed by the greater commission to come.[17] + +The first separate commission, though, in reality, a committee of the +Privy Council, appointed to concern itself with all the plantations, +was created by Charles I, April 28, 1634. It was officially styled +the Commission for Foreign Plantations; one petitioner called it +"the Lords Commissioners for Plantations in General," and another +"the learned Commissioners appointed by the King to examine and rectify +all complaints from the plantations." It is probable that the term +"Committee of Foreign Plantations" was occasionally applied to it, +as there is nothing to show that the committee of 1633 remained in +existence after April, 1634.[18] Recommissioned, April 10, 1636, it +continued to sit as an active body certainly as late as August, 1641, +and possibly longer,[19] though there is no formal record of its +discontinuance. Its original membership was as follows: William Laud, +Archbishop of Canterbury; Richard Neile, Archbishop of York; Sir Thomas +Coventry, the Lord Keeper; Earl of Portland, the Lord Treasurer, Earl +of Manchester, the Lord Privy Seal, Earl of Arundel, the Earl Marshall, +Earl of Dorset, Lord Cottington, Sir Thomas Edmondes, the Master +Treasurer, Sir Henry Vane, the Master Comptroller, and the secretaries, +Coke and Windebank. Later the Earl of Sterling was added.[20] Five +constituted a quorum. The powers granted to the commission were +extensive and almost royal in character: to make laws and orders for the +government of the English colonies in foreign parts; to impose penalties +and imprisonment for offenses in ecclesiastical matters; to remove +governors and require an account of their government; to appoint judges +and magistrates, and to establish courts, both civil and ecclesiastical; +to hear and determine all manner of complaints from the colonies; +to have power over all charters and patents, and to revoke those +surreptitiously or unduly obtained. Such powers clearly show that the +commission was designed as an instrument for enforcing the royal will +in the colonies, and furnishes no precedent for the later councils and +boards of trade and foreign plantations. Called into being probably +because of the continued emigration of Puritans to New England, the +complaints against the Massachusetts charter, and the growth of +Independency in that colony, it was in origin a coercive, not an +inquisitory, body, in the same class with the courts of Star Chamber and +High Commission, and the Councils of Wales and the North. Unlike these +bodies, it proved practically impotent, and there is nothing to show +that it took any active part in the attempt to repeal the Massachusetts +charter or in any important particular exercised the powers granted +to it. It did not remove or appoint a governor, establish a court, or +grant or revoke a charter. It received petitions either directly or +from the Privy Council and made recommendations, but it never attempted +to establish uniformity in New England or to bring the New England +colonies more directly under the authority of the Crown. Whether it was +the failure of the attempt to vacate the Massachusetts charter, or the +poverty of the King, or the approach of civil war that prevented the +enforcement of the royal policy, we cannot say, but the fact remains +that the Laud commission played a comparatively inconspicuous part +during the seven years of its existence and has gained a prominence in +the history of our subject out of all proportion to its importance. + +More directly connected with the commercial and colonial interests of +the realm were the subcommittees which the Privy Council used during +these years and earlier as advisory and inquisitory bodies. In addition +to committees of its own, the Privy Council called on various outside +persons known to be familiar with the circumstances of a particular +case or experts in the general subject involved, and entrusted to +them the consideration of important matters that had been called to its +attention. As we have already seen, such a subcommittee on trade had +been appointed in 1625, and after 1630 we meet with many references to +individuals or groups of experts. The attorney general was called upon +to examine complaints regarding New England and Maryland in 1632 and +1635; the Chancellor of London was requested to examine the parties in +a controversy over a living in St. Christopher in 1637; many commercial +questions were referred to special bodies of merchants or others holding +official positions. In 1631 a complaint regarding interlopers in Canada +was referred to a committee of three, Sir William Becher, clerk of the +Council; Serj. (Wm.) Berkeley, afterward governor of Virginia, and +Edward Nicholas, afterward clerk of the Council, and a new committee +in which Sir William Alexander and Robert Charlton took the place of +Becher and Nicholas was appointed in 1632.[21] Berkeley, Alexander, +and Charlton were known as the Commissioners for the Gulf and River of +Canada and parts adjacent, and were all directly interested in Canadian +trade.[22] These committees received references from the Council, +summoned witnesses and examined them, and made reports to the Council. +Similarly, the dispute between Vassall and Kingswell was referred on +March 10, 1635, to Edward Nicholas and Sir Abraham Dawes for examination +and report, and because it was an intricate matter, consumed +considerable time and required a second report.[23] Again a case +regarding the Virginia tobacco trade was referred to the body known +as the "Commissioners of Tobacco to the Lords of the Privy Council," +appointed as early as 1634 and itself a subcommittee having to do with +tobacco licenses, customs, and trade. The members were Lord Goring, +Sir Abraham Dawes, John Jacob, and Edmund Peisley. The first specific +references to "subcommittees," _eo nomine_, are of date May 23, May 25, +and June 27, 1638. The last named reference mentions the receipt by the +Privy Council of a "certificate" or report from Sir John Wolstenholme +and Sir Abraham Dawes "unto whom their lordships had formerly referred +the hearing and examining of complaints by John Michael in the Laconia +case."[24] As the earlier reference of May 23 had to do with the estate +of Sir Thomas Gates and that of May 25 to a Virginia matter, it is +evident that this particular subcommittee had been appointed some time +before May 23, 1638, and that the only thing new about it was the +term "subcommittee" as applied to such a body. This conjecture seems +reasonable when we note that Wolstenholme and Dawes had already served +on the commission for Virginia and were thoroughly conversant with +plantation affairs, while Dawes was also a member of the tobacco +commission and had served on the committee in the Kingswell-Vassall +case. An examination of later "subcommittees" shows that many of the +same men continued to be utilized by the Council in their capacity as +experts. Lord Goring, John Jacob, Sir Abraham Dawes, with Sir William +Becher and Edward Nicholas, clerks of the Council, and Edward Sandys, +brother of Sir Edwin Sandys, and a councillor of Virginia under Governor +Wyatt, formed the subcommittee to whom, on July 15, was referred the +complaint of Samuel Mathews against Governor Harvey. When the same +matter was referred again to a subcommittee on October 24, Sir Dudley +Carleton, formerly one of the commissioners for Virginia, and Thomas +Meautys, clerk of the Council, were substituted for Dawes and +Nicholas.[25] These committees were instructed "to call the parties +before them, to examine the matter, and find out the truth, and then +to make certificate to their lordships of the true state of things and +their opinion thereof."[26] Similar references continued to be made +during the year 1639, on January 4, February 22, March 8,[27] June 12, +16, July 17, 26, 28, August 28, and the evidence seems to show that the +committee, though frequently changing its membership, was considered +a body sitting regularly and continuously. The certificate of July 9, +1638, in answer to the reference of June 16, was signed by Sir William +Becher, Thomas Meautys, Sir Francis Wyatt, and Abraham Williams; that +of July 23 by Becher, Dawes, Jacob, and Williams. After August 28 we +hear no more of the subcommittee. Whether this is due to a failure of +the Register to enter further references and certificates or to the +actual cessation of its labors, we cannot say. The committee was always +appointed by the Council, and always reported to that body. Frequently +its certificates are entered at length in the Register.[28] The petition +upon which it acted was sometimes sent directly to itself, frequently +to the Privy Council, which referred it to the subcommittee, and but +rarely to the Commissioners for Foreign Plantations.[29] The committee +was limited in its scope to no one colony. It reported on matters in +England, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Somers Islands, and Virginia. +It dealt with secular business and ecclesiastical questions, and on one +occasion at least was required to examine and approve the instructions +issued to a colonial governor.[30] It does not appear ever to have acted +except by order of the Privy Council, and was never in any sense of +the word a subcommittee of the Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, +although in reporting to the Council it was reporting to those who +composed that commission.[31] + +From 1640 to 1642 plantation business was managed by the Privy Council +with the aid of occasional committees of its own appointed to consider +special questions. The term "subcommittee," as we have seen, does not +appear to have been used after 1639,[32] but commissions authorizing +experts to make inquiry and report are referred to, and committees +of the Council took into consideration questions of trade and the +plantations. During the year from July 5, 1642, to June, 1643, no +measures relating to the colonies appear to have been taken, for +civil war was in full swing. In 1643, Parliament assumed to itself +the functions of King and Council and became the executive head of the +kingdom. Among the earliest acts was the appointment of a parliamentary +commission of eighteen members, November 24, 1643, authorized to control +plantation affairs. At its head was Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, +and among its members were Philip, Earl of Pembroke, Edward, Earl of +Manchester, William, Viscount Say and Seale, Philip, Lord Wharton, and +such well known Puritan commoners as Sir Arthur Haslerigg, John Pym, Sir +Harry Vane, Junior, Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Vassall, and others. Four +members constituted a quorum. The powers granted to this commission were +extensive, though as far as phraseology goes, less complete than those +granted to the commission of 1634. The commissioners were to have "power +and authority to provide for, order, and dispose all things which they +shall from time to time find most fit and advantageous to the well +governing, securing, and strengthening, and preserving" of "all those +islands and other plantations, inhabited, planted, or belonging to any +of his Majesty's the King of England's subjects." They were authorized +to call to their assistance any inhabitants of the plantations or owners +of land in America who might be within twenty miles of their place of +meeting; to make use of all records, books, and papers which concerned +any of the colonies; to appoint governors and officers for governing +the plantations; to remove any of the officials so appointed and to put +others in their places; and, when they deemed fit, to assign as much of +their authority and power to such persons as they should deem suitable +for better governing and preserving of the plantations from open +violence and private disturbance and destruction. + +In the exercise of these powers the commissioners never embraced the +full opportunity offered to them by their charter. They did appoint +one governor, Sir Thomas Warner, governor of the Caribbee Islands. +They granted to the inhabitants of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport +a patent of incorporation and conferred upon the patentees authority +"to rule themselves by such form of civil government as by voluntary +consent of all or the greater part of them they should find most +suitable to their estate or condition.[33] They also endeavored to make +a grant of the Narragansett country to Massachusetts, at the special +request of Massachusetts' agents in 1643, but failed, partly because +they had no certain authority to grant land and partly because the +only clause of their commission which seemed to give such authority +required the consent of a majority, and the agents could obtain but nine +signatures to the grant. Even these activities on the part of the board +lasted but little over a year, and after 1644 the commissioners played a +more or less passive role. They continued to sit but their only recorded +interest in colonial affairs concerned New England. From 1645 to 1648 +they became involved in the controversy over the Narragansett country, +and in the attempt of Massachusetts to thwart her enemies, the +Gortonists and the Presbyterians.[34] Whether the commission continued +to sit after the execution of the King is uncertain; there are no +further references to its existence. That many of its members remained +influential in colonial affairs is evident from the fact that at least +seven of the commissioners became members of the Council of State, +appointed February 13, 1649: Philip, Earl of Pembroke (died 1650); Sir +Arthur Haslerigg, Sir Harry Vane, the younger; Oliver Cromwell, Dennis +Bond, Miles Corbet, and Cornelius Holland. Haslerigg was a conspicuous +leader in colonial as well as other matters during the entire period of +the Commonwealth and the Protectorate; Vane became president of the new +board of trade created in August, 1650, was at the head of the Committee +of the Admiralty, which often had colonial matters referred to it, and +served frequently on plantation committees from 1649 to 1659; while +Bond, Corbet, and Holland, though never very active, were members of +one general and a few special committees that concerned themselves with +trade and plantations. Thus the spirit of the Independent wing of the +old commission continued to influence the policy of the government +in the early years of the Commonwealth period. The Council of State, +appointed by act of the Rump Parliament, was given full authority to +provide for England's trade at home and abroad and to regulate the +affairs of the plantations. Though its membership underwent yearly +changes and its composition and members were altered many times before +1660, its policy and machinery of control remained constant except as +far as they were affected by the greater power which the Council gained +in the face of the growing weakness of Parliament. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: Privy Council Register, James I, Vol. V, p. 173; repeated +p. 618.] + +[Footnote 2: P.C.R., Charles I. Vol. V, p. 106.] + +[Footnote 3: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. IX, p. 291.] + +[Footnote 4: Cal. State Papers, Colonial, 1574-1660, p. 170, § 78.] + +[Footnote 5: Rymer, Foedera XVII. pp. 410-414.] + +[Footnote 6: Public Record Office, Chancery, Crown Dockets, 4, p. 280, +June 26, 1622.] + +[Footnote 7: P.C.R., James I, Vol. VI, pp. 333, 365-368, July, 1624.] + +[Footnote 8: Analytical Index to the Series of Records known as +Remembrancia preserved among the Archives of the City of London, +1579-1644, p. 526.] + +[Footnote 9: Cal. State Papers, Domestic, 1625-1649, pp. 4, 84.] + +[Footnote 10: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1625-1649, pp. 225, 522, §§ 19, +20, p. 495.] + +[Footnote 11: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. II, Pt. I, p. 68.] + +[Footnote 12: P.C.R., Charles I, Vols. V, p. 10; VI, p. 7; X., p. 3; +XII, p. 1; XV, p. 1.] + +[Footnote 13: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1629-1631, p. 526; 1634-1635, +pp. 453, 472, 513, 584; 1635, pp. 30, 515, 548, 598; 1635-1636, +pp. 44, 231; 1636-1637, p. 402; 1637, pp. 47; 1637-1638, p. 410. +The secretaries' notes will be found as follows: Coke, 1629-1631, pp. +526, 535; Windebank, 1634-1635, pp. 500, 513; 1635, pp. 11-12, 29, 502, +536; 1635-1636, pp. 291-292, 428-429, 551-552; 1636-1637, pp. 402; 1637, +p. 47.] + +[Footnote 14: Historical MSS. Commission, Report XV. Manuscripts of the +Duke of Portland, VIII, pp. 2-3.] + +[Footnote 15: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 44, 62, 63, 64, +130; Virginia Magazine, VIII, pp. 29, 33-46, 149.] + +[Footnote 16: Bradford, pp. 352-355; P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. VIII, pp. +346-347; Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, p. 158.] + +[Footnote 17: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. IX, p. 1. The order in Council +of July 3, 1633, regarding Virginia and Lord Baltimore, is headed "Lords +Commissioners for Foreign Plantations." It is evident, however, that +this body is not a separate board of commissioners but the Privy Council +sitting as a committee of the whole for plantations. The membership does +not agree with that of the committee of 1632, that committee did not sit +in the Star Chamber, and such a committee could not issue an order which +the Privy Council alone could send out. There was no separate commission +of this kind in July, 1633, as Tyler, England in America, pp. 122-123 +(Amer. Nation Series, IV) seems to think.] + +[Footnote 18: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 184, 200, 251, +259.] + +[Footnote 19: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1675-1676, § 193.] + +[Footnote 20: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. X, p. 1; XII, p. 1; XV, p. 1; Cal. +State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 177, 232.] + +[Footnote 21: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 9, 140, 151, 158, +211, 258.] + +[Footnote 22: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1600, p. 129.] + +[Footnote 23: Cal. State Papers, Col., pp. 197-198, 207.] + +[Footnote 24: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. XV, p. 300.] + +[Footnote 25: Virginia Magazine, X, p. 428; XI, p. 46.] + +[Footnote 26: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. XV, p. 508.] + +[Footnote 27: "Att Whitehall, 8th of March, 1638(9) + +Their Lordships do pray and require the subcommittee for foreign +plantations to consider of this petition at their next meeting and to +make report to their Lordships of their opinion concerning the same. + +Will. Becher."] + +[Footnote 28: P.C.R., Charles I, Vols. XV, p. 343; XVI, pp. 542-543.] + +[Footnote 29: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. XVI, p. 558; Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1574-1660, p. 301.] + +[Footnote 30: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1675-1676, § 190.] + +[Footnote 31: The commissioners frequently formed a majority of those +present at a Privy Council meeting. For example, in 1638, the Council +wrote a letter to the governor of Virgina. This letter was signed by +eleven councillors, of whom eight were members of the Commission. +It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the different capacities in +which Archbishop Laud acted. A series of minutes drawn up by him in 1638 +of the subjects upon which he had prepared reports to the King notes +the following: concerning the six plantations, grants of offices in +reversion, new patent offices and monopolies, the execution of the +King's former directions, and trade and commerce. In making these +reports Archbishop Laud acted as president of the Council, president +of the Commission for Foreign Plantations, president of the committee +for Foreign Affairs, High Commission Court, etc.] + +[Footnote 32: The term "subcommittee" is used by petitioners as late +as August, 1640 (Cal. Col., 1574-1660, p. 314), but no references and +reports of so late a date are to be found in the Calendar or the +Register.] + +[Footnote 33: This is, of course, the well-known Williams patent of +1644. Rhode Island, Colonial Records, I, pp. 143-146.] + +[Footnote 34: Osgood, The Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, III, +pp. 110-112.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Control of Trade and Plantations During the Interregnum. + + +The earliest separate council to be established during the period from +1650 to 1660 was that appointed by act of Parliament, August, 1650, +known as the Commission or Council of Trade, of which Sir Harry Vane +was president and Benjamin Worsley, a London merchant and "doctor of +physic," already becoming known as an expert on plantation affairs, +was secretary. This body was specially instructed by Parliament to +consider, not only domestic and foreign trade, the trading companies, +manufactures, free ports, customs, excise, statistics, coinage and +exchange, and fisheries, but also the plantations and the best means +of promoting their welfare and rendering them useful to England. +"They are to take into their consideration," so runs article 12 of the +instructions, "the English plantations in America or elsewhere, and +to advise how these plantations may best be managed and made most +useful for the Commonwealth, and how the commodities thereof may be so +multiplied and improved as (if it be possible) those plantations alone +may supply the Commonwealth of England with whatsoever it necessarily +wants." These statesmanlike and comprehensive instructions are notable +in the history of the development of England's commercial and colonial +program. Free from the limitations which characterize the instructions +given to the earlier commissions, they stand with the Parliamentary +ordinance of October, 1650, and the Navigation Act of 1651, as forming +the first definite expression of England's commercial policy. Inadequate +though the immediate results were to be, we cannot call that policy +"drifting" which could shape with so much intelligence the functions +of a board of trade and plantations. There is no trace here of the +coercive and politico-ecclesiastical purpose of the Laud Commission, or +of the partisan policy in the interests of the Puritans that the Warwick +Commission was instructed to carry out. Here we have the first attempt +to establish a legitimate control of commercial and colonial affairs, +and to these instructions may be traced the beginnings of a policy which +had the prosperity and wealth of England exclusively at heart. + +Of the history of this board but little has been hitherto known and +its importance has been singularly neglected. It was more than a merely +advisory body, like the later councils and boards of trade, for it had +the power to issue orders of its own. It sat in Whitehall, received +information, papers,[1] and orders from the Council of State, and +reported to that higher authority, which approved or disapproved of +its recommendations. To it the Council instructed traders and others +to refer their petitions, and itself referred numbers of similar papers +that came into its hands.[2] This board took into consideration the +various questions touched upon in its instructions, especially those +concerning fisheries (Greenland), manufactures, navigation, commerce, +trade (with Guinea, Spain, Canary Islands, etc.), the poor, the trading +companies (especially the East India and Guinea companies), the merchant +companies (chiefly of London), and freedom of trade. During the first +year of its existence it was an active body and could say on November +20, 1651, that it had made seven reports to the Council of State and +seven to Parliament, that it had its opinions on six subjects ready +to be reported, and eight other questions under debate.[3] In two +particulars a fuller consideration of its work is desirable. + +The Council of Trade devoted a considerable amount of time to regulating +the buying and selling of wool, and to settling the difficulties that +had arisen among the curriers, fellmongers, staplers, and clothiers +of London and elsewhere regarding their trade privileges. Late in the +spring of 1651 petitions and statements of grievance had been sent +both to the Council of Trade and to the Common Council of London by +the "freemen of the city trading in wool," for redress of grievances +practiced by the Society of Staplers. Shortly afterward, May 13, +apparently in answer to the complaint of the freemen of London, the +fellmongers of Coventry petitioned the Council of Trade, begging that +body not to interfere with its ancient privileges. Taking the matter +into consideration, the Council, on May 14, issued an order requiring +the companies to present their expedients and grievances, and appointed +a committee of two expert wool staplers, members of the Staplers +Company, to meet with the other companies and draft a certificate of +their proper and ancient rights. The Common Council, on the same day, +ordered its committee of trade, or any five of them, to attend the +Council of Trade and assist the "Company of Upholders," the committee +presenting the original complaint, in its attempt to obtain a redress +of grievances according to the plan already placed before the Common +Council. These efforts were not very successful, for the wool growers +refused to meet the committee of staplers appointed by the Council of +Trade, and the fellmongers and clothiers could not reach an agreement +with the staplers as to the latter's ancient privileges. Consequently, +the Council of Trade, on June 11, issued a second order requiring the +committee of trade of the Common Council to report on "the foundation +and nature of the Staple and the privileges pretended to by that +Society." This committee "heard certain of the principal staplers and +perused the acts and records produced by them in defence of the same," +and reported to the Council of Trade on June 26 that, in its opinion, +the Company of Staplers had become an unnecessary and useless Society, +and were the principal cause for the dearness of wool, the badness of +cloth, and the general decay of the woolen trade.[4] + +The trouble seems to have been that the fellmongers and staplers +were deemed useless middlemen between the growers and the clothiers, +and injurious to the clothing industry because of their abuses. The +controversy was carried before the Council of State and its committees, +and both fellmongers and staplers argued long and forcibly in defence +of their trade.[5] On November 3, 1652, the two societies presented an +answer to the particular order of the Council of Trade which declared +them unnecessary and disadvantageous, denied the charges, and prayed +that they might enjoy their trade as before. Even as late as April 16, +1653, the fellmongers petitioned for leave to produce wool-growers and +clothiers to certify the necessity of their trade.[6] But fellmongers +and staplers as factors in English trade and industry were beginning +to pass away by the middle of the seventeenth century. + +The second important question that came before the Council was no less +significant in its relation to the growth of British trade than was the +decay of the Societies of Fellmongers and Staplers. It concerned the +breaking down of the privileges of the merchant companies in general, +and the establishment of free ports and free trade in England--that is, +free trade controlled and ordered by the state. To this end, the Council +appointed a committee of eleven merchants to whom it gave elaborate +directions to report on the feasibility of setting apart four free ports +to which foreign commodities might be imported without paying customs +dues if again exported. These merchants met and drew up a report dated +April 26, 1651, and again on May 26 of the same year expressed further +opinions on the advisability of the "opening of free ports for trade." +"Trade being the basis and well-being of a Commonwealth, the way to +obtain it is to make it a free trade and not to bind up ingenious +spirits by exemptions and privileges which are granted to some +particular companies." In addition to the home merchants, the Council +of Trade presented its queries to the merchant strangers and to the +Committee for the Affairs of Trinity House, all of whom returned +answers. It also made public its desire to consider the appointment of +"convenient ports for the free trade in the Commonwealth," and as early +as May 22 a number of the out-ports, Dover, Plymouth, the Isle of Wight, +Barnstaple, Bideford, Appledore, and Southampton petitioned that they be +recognized as free landing places. The period was one of rivalry between +London and the out-ports, and the latter believed that the various acts +of 1650 and 1651 were in the interest of the London merchants only. +"Yet thus much that act seems to have on it only a London stamp and +a contentment to subject the whole nation to them, for most of the +out-ports are not capable of the foreign trade to Indies and Turkey. The +Londoners having the sole trade do set what price they please upon their +commodities, knowing the country cannot have them nowhere but by them, +whereby not only the out-ports are undone but the country brought to the +devotion of the city. But a great abuse is here, for the city are not +contented with this act but only so far as it serves their own turns, +for they procure (upon some pretexts or other) particular licenses for +many prohibited commodities contrary to that act, as namely for the +importation of French wines and free both of custom and excise tax, +and for the importation of whale oil and skins so as either directly or +indirectly they will have the whole trade themselves."[7] Evidently the +Council of Trade favored the establishment of a freer trade as against +the monopoly of the merchant companies, believing, it may be, that +London did monopolize trade and that it was "no good state of a body +to have a fat head and lean members." The city authorities, apparently +alarmed at the favorable action of the Council, took immediate action. +On June 19, 1651, the Court of Aldermen instructed Alderman Fowke, one +of its most influential members, in case the Council of Trade came to +an agreement favorable to free trade, to move for a reconsideration in +order that London might have a hearing before the matter was finally +settled.[8] But the hearing, if had, could not have been successful in +altering the determination of the Council, for a few months later, on +December 5, 1651, the Common Council of London, probably convinced that +the Council of Trade was in earnest in its policy and alarmed at the +prospect of losing its trading privileges, ordered its committee of +trade to prepare a petition to Parliament, the Council of State, or the +Council of Trade, asking that London be made a free port. The petition +was duly drawn up and approved by the Common Council, which ordered its +committee "to maintain" it before the Council of Trade.[9] Evidently the +matter went no further. The Council of Trade continued its sittings and +debated and reported on a number of petitions "complaining of abuses and +deceits" in trade, but after 1652 it plays but an inconspicuous part. +Even before that date many questions before it were taken over by the +Council of State and referred to its own committees. Fellmongers and +staplers defended their cause before the higher body and the free trade +difficulty continued to be agitated, at least as far as concerned the +Turkey trade and the Greenland fishing, by the Council committee after +it had passed out of the hands of the lesser body.[10] The period was +one of transition from a monopolized to an open trade, and consequently +to many trade everywhere appeared to be in decay. Remedies were sought +through the intervention of the state and the passing of laws, but the +early period of the Commonwealth was not favorable to a successful +carrying out of so promising an experiment. On October 3, 1653, trade +was reported from Holland as "somewhat dead" and the Council of Trade, +which the Dutch at first feared might be "very prejudicial" to their +state, was declared "only nominal," so that the Dutch hoped that in time +those of London would "forget that they ever were merchants." In fact, +however, the Council of Trade had come to an end more than four months +before this report was made. + +That the Council of Trade, notwithstanding its carefully worded +instructions, had no part in looking after the affairs of the colonies +is probably due to the activity of the Council of State, which itself +exercised the functions of a board of trade and plantations. According +to article 5 of the Act of February 13, 1649, appointing a Council +of State, it was to use all good ways and means for the securing, +advancement, and encouragement of the trade of England and Ireland +and the dominions to them belonging, and to promote the good of all +foreign plantations and factories belonging to the Commonwealth. +It was also empowered "to appoint committees of any person or persons +for examinations, receiving of informations, and preparing of business +for [its] debates or resolutions." The members chosen February 14, 1649, +were forty-one in number and were to hold office for one year.[11] +February 12, 1650, a second council was elected, of which twenty were +new members and the remaining twenty-one taken over from the former +body.[12] On November 24, 1651, a third council was chosen under the +same conditions.[13] The same was true of the fourth council of +November 24, 1652.[14] Many of the "new" members were generally old +members dropped for a year or more. On July 9 and 14, 1653, the number +of members was reduced to thirty-one, and this council was designed to +last only until the following November.[15] Two councils, the fifth +and sixth were, therefore, elected in the same year, each composed of +fifteen old and fifteen new members. The sixth council, elected November +1, 1653, was chosen for six months, but after six weeks was supplanted +by the body known as the Protector's Council, elected December 16, +1653, under the provisions of the _Instrument of Government_.[16] +This council was to consist of not more than twenty-one nor less than +thirteen members, and according to the method of election provided for +in that instrument, was practically controlled by Cromwell himself. The +membership varied from time to time, rarely numbering more than sixteen, +with an average attendance of about ten. Cromwell was frequently absent +from its meetings, but the council, though designed constitutionally to +be a check upon his powers, was in reality his ally and answerable to +him alone, particularly after the dissolution of Parliament in January, +1655. The council provided for in _The Humble Petition and Advice_ was +but a continuation of the Protector's Council, so that from December, +1653, until May, 1659, the Protector's Council, representing Cromwell +policy and interest, continued to exist. After the abdication of Richard +Cromwell and the restoration of the Rump Parliament, the Protector's +Council came to an end, and a new council, the eighth, was chosen on May +13, 14, 15, 1659.[17] This body contained ten members not of Parliament +and lasted until December 31, when a new Council of State was chosen +for three months; but on February 21 the council was suspended, and two +days afterward the tenth and last council was chosen.[18] On May 21, +1660, this council was declared "not in being," and formally came to +an end on May 27, when Charles II, who had had his Privy Council more +or less continuously since 1649, named at Canterbury Monck, Southampton, +Morrice, and Ashley as privy councillors. The first meeting at Whitehall +was held May 31.[19] + +The Council of State itself acted as a board of trade and plantations +and directly transacted a large amount of business in the interest of +manufactures, trade, commerce, and the colonies. It initiated important +measures, received petitions, remonstrances, and complaints, either at +first hand or through Parliament, from which it also received special +orders, entered into debate upon all questions arising therefrom, +summoned before it any one who might be able to furnish information +or to offer advice, and then drew up its reply, embodied in an order +despatched to government officials, private individuals, adventurers, +merchant and trading companies, colonial governments in particular +or in general. For example, it ordered letters to be written to the +plantations, giving them notice of the change of government in 1649, +sending them papers necessary for their information, and requiring them +to be obedient if they expected the protection which the Republic was +prepared to extend to them. Until March 2, 1650, it does not appear to +have organized itself especially for this purpose, but on that date it +authorized the whole council, or any five members, to sit as a special +committee for trade and plantations, and on February 18 and December 2, +1651, repeated the same order.[20] During the early part of this period +it depended to a considerable extent on committees, either of merchants +and others outside the council, men already engaged in trade with the +plantations, such as Worsley, Maurice Thompson (afterward governor of +the East India Company), Lenoyre, Allen, Martin Noell, and others, +or of councillors forming committees of trade (sitting in the Horse +Chamber in Whitehall), of plantations, of the admiralty, of the navy, +of examinations, of Scottish and Irish affairs, and of prisoners, to +whom many questions were referred and upon whose reports the Council +acted. It also appointed special committees to take into consideration +particular questions relating to individual plantations, Barbadoes, +Somers Islands, Bermudas, New England, Newfoundland, Virginia. Of all +these committees none appears to have been more active, as far as the +plantations were concerned, than the Committee of the Admiralty, before +whom came a large amount of colonial business, which was transacted +with the coöperation of Dr. Walker, of Doctors Commons, advocate for +the Republic, and David Budd, the proctor of the Court of Admiralty. + +An important departure was introduced on December 17, 1651, when a +standing committee of the Council was created, consisting of fifteen +members, to concern itself with trade and foreign affairs. This +committee took the place of that which had formerly sat in the Horse +Chamber in Whitehall, and renewed consideration of all questions which +had been referred to that body. It was organized, as were all the +Council committees, with its own clerk, doorkeeper, and messenger, and +as recommissioned on May 4, 1652, and again on December 2, 1652, when +the membership was raised to twenty-one and the plantations were brought +within the scope of its business, became a very independent and active +body until its demise in April, 1653. Its members were Cromwell, Lords +Whitelocke, Bradshaw, and Lisle, Sir Arthur Haslerigg, Sir Harry Vane, +Sir William Masham, Sir Gilbert Pickering, Colonels Walton, Purefoy, +Morley, Sidney, and Thomson, Major Lister, Messrs. Bond, Scott, Love, +Challoner, Strickland, Gurdon, and Alleyn.[21] This committee, to which +new members were frequently added, sat in the Horse Chamber at Whitehall +and took cognizance of a great variety of commercial and colonial +business. It considered the question of free trade versus monopolies +and during the summer of 1652, after the Council of Trade had fallen +into disfavor, debated at length the desirability of opening the Turkey +trade as freely to adventurers as was that of Portugal and Spain. It +listened to a number of forcible papers presented in the interest of +free trade in opposition to trade in the hands of companies; it dealt +with the operation of the Navigation Act of 1651 and rendered decisions +regarding penalties, exemptions, licenses, and the disposal of prizes +and prize goods; it devoted a large amount of time to plantation +business; and, for the time being, probably supplanted consideration +of these matters by the Council of State, and rendered unnecessary the +appointment of any other committee on colonial affairs. Except for the +Admiralty Committee and one or two other committees to which special +matters were referred, as concerning Newfoundland, there appears to +have been no other subordinate body actually in charge of affairs in +America between December 17, 1651, and April 15, 1653. The period was +an important and critical one, and the committee must have had before +it business connected with nearly every one of the colonies in America. +The Council of State referred to it petitions, etc., from and relating +to Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Haven, Rhode Island, Newfoundland, +Maryland and Virginia, Barbadoes, Nevis, Providence Island, and the +Caribbee Islands in general. It dealt with the proposed attack on +the Dutch at New Amsterdam, losses of merchant ships, privateer's +commissions and letters of marque; the Greenland and Newfoundland +fisheries, naval stores, and land disputes. It drafted bills and +governors' commissions, considered vacancies in the colonies, and +received applications for office, and, in one case, promoted the +founding of a plantation in South America.[22] This business was +performed to a considerable extent through subcommittees, many of +which met in the little Horse Chamber and acted in all particulars as +regular committees. On one occasion, the entire committee was appointed +a subcommittee, and very frequently the committee met for no other +purpose than to hear the report of a subcommittee. These subcommittees, +which were generally composed of councillors, referred matters to +outside persons, merchants, judges, and doctors of civil law, while +the committee itself called before it merchants, officials, members +of other committees, and indeed any one from whom information might +be extracted. The main work was performed by the subcommittees, their +reports were reviewed by the committee itself, and, if approved, were +sent to the Council of State, which based upon them recommendations to +Parliament.[23] After April 15, 1653, we hear no more of this committee. +There is some reason to think that the duties entrusted to it were +deemed too extensive and a division between trade, plantations, and +foreign affairs was planned, but no definite record of such a separation +of functions is to be found. A Council Committee of Foreign Affairs was +appointed, probably before June, 1653, reappointed on July 27, and again +reappointed August 16, but no committees of trade and of plantations +appear. Very likely the Council of State, with the assistance of the +committees on Scottish and Irish affairs, admiralty, navy, and customs, +and a few special committees and commissioners, assumed control of +plantation affairs. The interests of industry and trade may have been +looked after by the Committee on Trade and Corporations appointed by the +Barebones Parliament, July 20, 1653, "to meet at Whitehall in the place +where the Council of Trade did sit."[24] Several times during the year +this committee proposed the establishment of a separate council of trade +to take the place of the former Council, to which proposition Parliament +agreed, but nothing was done, and the Parliamentary Committee of Trade +and Corporations seems to have been the only official body that existed +during the year 1653 for the advancement of trade and industry.[25] + +On December 29, 1653, the Protector's Council made known its purpose +of taking "all care to protect and encourage navigation and trade," +and in March, 1654, we meet with a reference to a committee of the +Council appointed for trade and corporations. As this body was organized +for continuous sitting, with a clerk, doorkeeper, and messenger, and +as a second reference to it appears under date August 21, 1654, the +probabilities are in favor of its existence as a regular committee +during the year 1654.[26] That it was an important committee is +doubtful, for we meet with practically no references to its work, and +when in January, 1655, the project of a select trade committee was +brought forward it was referred for consideration and report, not to +this committee, but to Desborough of the Council and the Admiralty +Committee. + +The events of the years 1654 and 1655 mark something of an era in the +history of trade and commerce, not because the capture of Jamaica had +any very conspicuous effect upon Cromwell's own policy or upon the +commercial activities of the higher authorities, but because it opened +a larger world and larger opportunities to the merchants and traders of +London who were at this time seeking openings for trading ventures in +all parts of the world. To better their fortunes many men accompanied +the expedition under Penn and Venables, and the merchants at home were +seized with something of the spirit of the Elizabethans in planning, +not only to increase commerce and swell their own fortunes, but also +to drive the Spaniard from the southwestern waters of the Atlantic +and extend British control and British trade into regions heretofore +wholly in the hands of Spain. Barbadoes, Jamaica, Florida, Virginia, +New England, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland became a world of great +opportunities, and with plans for the expansion of trade went plans for +naval and military activity. If the merchants of the period had had +their way, a systematic and orderly policy of colonial control in the +interest of British power and profit would have been inaugurated during +the second period of the Interregnum, but circumstances do not appear +to have been propitious, and the disturbed political order during the +years 1658 and 1659 led not only to a cessation of activity as far +as the government was concerned but also to decay of trade, shrinking +of profits, decrease of fortunes, and widespread discouragement. +Furthermore, there is nothing to show that Cromwell himself ever rose +to a statesmanlike conception of colonial control and administration. +He was thoroughly interested in those matters, was personally influenced +by the London merchants, frequently called on the most conspicuous of +them for advice, placed them on committees and councils established for +purposes of trade, and was always open to their suggestions. But while +he was willing to act upon their opinions and recommendations in many +respects, he never seems to have grasped the essentials of a large +and comprehensive plan of colonial control, and it is not possible +to discover in what he actually accomplished any broadminded idea of +uniting the colonies under an efficient management for the purpose of +laying the foundations of an empire. His expedients, interesting and +practical as many of them were, do not seem to be a part of any large or +well-formed plan. Whether he would ever have risen to a higher level of +statesmanship in these respects we cannot say, but he never found time +to give proper attention to the suggestions of the merchants or to the +demands of trade and commerce. + +That he took a great interest in the industrial and commercial +development of England is evident from one of his earliest efforts to +provide for its proper control. Even while the fleet was on its way +to the West Indies, the Council of State instructed Desborough and +the Admiralty Committee, January 29, 1655, to consider "of some fit +merchants to be a trade committee." There is some reason to think +that this instruction was in response to a paper drawn up by certain +merchants of London in 1654, entitled, "An Essaie or Overture for the +regulating the Affairs of his Highness in the West Indies," drafted +after the expedition had sailed and with the confident expectation of +conquest in mind.[27] If the original suggestion did not come from the +merchants, we may not doubt that in the promotion of the plan they +exercised considerable influence. In 1655, Martin Noell and Thomas Povey +sent a petition to the Protector regarding trade, and suggested that +there be appointed "some able persons to consider what more may be done +in order to those affairs and a general satisfaction for the fixing the +whole trade of England." They wished that a competent number of persons, +of good reputation, prudent and well skilled in their professions and +qualifications should be "selected and set apart" for the "care of his +Highness Affairs in the West Indies." The number was to be not less than +seven, and these not to be "of the same but of a mixt qualification," +constituting a select council subordinate only to the Protector and the +Council. After careful attention to the fitness of a large number of +prominent individuals, a committee of twenty was named on July 12, 1655. +If the "Overture" was responsible for the decision to name a select +council, its influence went no further, for except that merchants were +placed as members, there is no likeness between the plan as finally +worked out and that formulated by the merchants. Indeed, Povey himself +later expressed his dissatisfaction in saying that "that committee which +[we] so earnestly prest should be settled will not tend in any degree +to what we proposed, the constitution of it being not proportionable +to what was desired."[28] The committee of twenty was soon expanded into +a much larger and more imposing body, possibly due to the receipt of the +news of the capture of Jamaica and the decision announced in Cromwell's +proclamation of August to hold the island. On November 11, 1655,[29] +a board, made up of officers of state, gentlemen, and merchants, was +commissioned a "Committee and Standing Council for the advancing and +regulating the Trade and Navigation of the Commonwealth," generally +shortened to "Trade and Navigation Committee," or simply "Trade +Committee." Its membership, instead of being seven, was over seventy, +and it was thus a dignified though unwieldy body. At its head was +Richard Cromwell and its members were as follows: Montague, Sydenham, +Wolseley, Pickering, and Jones of the Protector's Council; Lord Chief +Justice St. John and Justices Glynn, Steele, and Hale; Sir Henry Blount, +Sir John Hobart, Sir Gilbert Gerard, gentlemen of distinction; Sir +Bulstrode Whitelocke and Sir Thomas Widdrington, sergeants-at-law; Col. +John Fiennes and John Lisle, commissioners of the Great Seal; the four +Treasury Commissioners; Col. Richard Norton, governor of Portsmouth; +Capt. Hatsell, navy commissioner of Plymouth; Stone and Foxcroft, excise +commissioners; Martin Noell, London merchant and farmer of the customs; +Upton, customs commissioner; Bond, Wright, Thompson, Ashurst, Peirpont, +Crew, and Berry, London merchants; and Tichborne, Grove, Pack (Lord +Mayor), and Riccards, aldermen of London; Bonner, of Newcastle; Dunne, +of Yarmouth; Cullen, of Dover; Jackson, of Bristol; Toll, of Lyme; +Legay, of Southampton; Snow, of Exeter; and Drake, of Sussex. At various +times, and probably for various purposes, the following members were +added between December 12, 1655, and June 19,1656: Secretary Thurloe, +William Wheeler, Edmund Waller, Francis Dincke, of Hull; George Downing, +at that time major general and scoutmaster; Alderman Ireton, of London; +Col. William Purefoy; Godfrey Boseville; Edward Laurence; John St. +Barbe, of Hampshire, [Lord] John Claypoole, Master of the Horse, and +Cromwell's son-in-law; John Barnard; Sir John Reynolds; Col. Arthur +Hill; George Berkeley; Capt. Thomas Whitegreane; Thomas Ford, of Exeter; +Francis St. John; Henry Wright; Col. John Jones, Alderman Frederick, +sheriff of London; Richard Ford, the well-known merchant of London; +Mayor Nehemiah Bourne; Charles Howard; Robert Berwick; John Blaxton, +town clerk of Newcastle; Col. Richard Ingoldsby; Edmund Thomas; +Thomas Banks, and Christopher Lister. Thus the Trade Committee, composed +of members from all parts of England, represented a wide range of +interests. Furthermore, any member of the Protector's Council could come +to the meetings of the committee and vote.[30] Such a body would have +been very unmanageable but for the fact that seven constituted a quorum +and business was generally transacted by a small number of the members. +The instructions were prepared by Thurloe after a scrutiny of those +of the former Council of Trade, and bore little resemblance to the +recommendations of the "Overture," because they were designed to cover +a far wider range of interests than were considered by the merchants. +The "Overture" was planned only for a plantation council. The Trade +Committee was invested with power and authority to consider by what +means the traffic and navigation of the Republic might best be promoted +and regulated, to receive propositions for the benefit of these +interests, to send for the officers of the excise, the customs, and the +mint, or such other persons of experience as they should deem capable of +giving advice on these subjects, to examine the books and papers of the +Council of Trade of 1650, and all other public papers as might afford +the members information. When finally its reports were ready for the +Council of State, that body reserved to itself all power to reject or +accept such orders as it deemed proper and fitting. + +The Trade Committee met for the first time on December 27, 1655, in the +Painted Chamber at Westminster. Authorized to appoint officers, it chose +William Seaman secretary, two clerks, an usher, and two messengers at +a yearly salary of £280, with £50 for contingent expenses;[31] and from +the entries of the payments ordered to be made to these men for their +services, we infer that the board sat from December 27, 1655, until +May 27, 1657, exactly a year and a half. During this time it probably +accumulated a considerable number of books and papers, though such are +not now known to exist. Proposals, petitions, complaints, and pamphlets, +such, for example, as that entitled _Trading Governed by the State_, a +protest against the commercial dominance of London, were laid before it, +and it took into its own hands many of the problems that had agitated +the former board. It discussed foreign trade, particularly with Holland, +and the questions of Swedish copper,[32] Spanish wines, and Irish linen; +home manufactures, among which are mentioned swords and rapier blades, +madder-dyed silk, needle making, and knitting with frameworks; and +domestic concerns, such as the preservation of timber. It made a number +of recommendations regarding "the exportation of several commodities of +the breed, growth, and manufacture of the Commonwealth," "the limiting +and settling the prices of wines," "vagrants and wandering, idle, +dissolute persons," and the "giving license for transporting fish in +foreign bottoms." These recommendations were drafted by the Trade +Committee, or by one of its subcommittees, and after adoption were +reported to the Council of State and by it referred to its own committee +appointed to receive reports from the Trade Committee. When approved by +the Council of State, the recommendations were sent to Parliament and +there referred to the large Parliamentary committee of trade of fifty +members, appointed October 20, 1656. That committee drafted bills which +were based on these recommendations and which later were passed as acts +of Parliament and received the consent of the Protector. For example, +the recommendation regarding exports, noted above, became a law November +27, 1656.[33] + +Under the head of "navigation and trade" came the commercial interests +of the plantations, and though there existed during this year, 1656, +other machinery for regulating plantation affairs, a number of questions +were referred from the Council to the Trade Committee that were strictly +in the line of plantation development. These questions concerned customs +duties on goods exported to Barbadoes, the political quarrels in +Antigua which threatened to bring ruin on that plantation and the +remedies therefor, the pilchard fishery off Newfoundland, and finally +the controversy between Maryland and Virginia which had already been +referred to a special committee of the Council. Upon all these questions +the Trade Committee reported to the Council; its recommendations and +findings were debated in that body or further referred to one of its own +committees or to the outside committee for America, and finally embodied +in an order regulating the matter in question.[34] + +Of the activity of the Trade Committee during the few months of the year +1657, when it continued its sessions, scarcely any evidence appears. +There is a very slight reason to believe that it took up the question of +free ports, but there is nothing to show that it accomplished anything +in that direction. That it came to an end in May seems to be borne out +by the fact that the officers of the board were paid only to May 27, but +this statement is rendered uncertain by the further fact that on June 26 +Portsmouth petitioned the committee to be made a free port and that the +petition was brought in by one of the members of the committee for +America, Capt. Limbrey.[35] The question cannot be exactly settled. +Though the committee was by no means a nominal body, it accomplished +little, and certainly did not meet the situation that confronted the +trade and navigation of the kingdom. + +After the appointment of this select Trade Committee, no standing +committee of the Council was created. Questions of trade were looked +after either by the Council itself, that of May, 1659, being especially +instructed to "advance trade and promote the good of our foreign +plantations and to encourage fishing,"[36] by an occasional special +committee, by the Trade Committee until the summer of 1657, or by the +committees of Parliament. Of Parliamentary committees there were two: +one a select committee of fifty members, appointed October 20, 1656, to +which were added all the merchants of the House and all members that +served for the port towns;[37] and a grand committee of the whole House +for trade, appointed February 2, 1658, which sat weekly and was invested +with the same powers as the committee of 1656 had had.[38] But except +that the first committee adopted some of the recommendations of the +Trade Committee, there is nothing to show that these committees took any +prominent part in the advancement of the interest in behalf of which +they had been created. + +From 1654 to 1660 the welfare of the plantations lay chiefly in the +hands of the Protector's Council and the Council of State, and their +system of control was in many respects similar to that which had been +adopted during the earlier period of the Interregnum. At first all +plantation questions were referred to committees of the Council +appointed temporarily to consider some particular matter. From December +29, 1653, to the close of the year 1659 some fifty cases were referred +to about thirty committees, of which twenty were appointed for the +special purpose in hand. Many matters were referred to such standing +committees as the Admiralty Committee, Customs Committee, etc.; others +to the judges of admiralty, commissioners of customs, and the like, +while petitions and communications regarding affairs in Jamaica, New +England, Virginia, Antigua, Somers Islands, Newfoundland, and Nevis, +regarding the transporting of horses, mining of saltpeter, payments of +salaries, indemnities, and trade, and regarding personal claims, such as +those of Lord Baltimore, William Franklin, De La Tour, and others, were +referred to committees composed of from two to eight members of the +Council, whose services in this particular ended with the presentation +of their report. Sometimes a question would be referred to the whole +Council or to a "committee," with the names unspecified, or to "any +three of the Council." The burden of serving upon these occasional +committees fell upon a comparatively small number of councillors: +Ashley, Montague, Strickland, Wolseley, Fiennes, Jones, Sydenham, Lisle, +and Mulgrave. One or more of these names appear on the list of every +special committee appointed except that to which Lord Baltimore's case +was referred, consisting of the sergeants-at-law, Lords Whitelocke and +Widdrington. During 1654 the committees for Virginia and Barbadoes, to +which were referred other colonial matters, came to be known as the +"committee for plantations," but it is doubtful if this was deemed in +any sense a standing committee. + +When the affairs of Jamaica became exigent after the summer of 1655 +a committee of the Council was appointed to carry out the terms of +Cromwell's proclamation and to report the needs of the colony. Though +the membership was generally changed this committee continued to be +reappointed as one question after another arose which demanded the +attention of the Council. It reported on the equipment of tools, +clothing, medicaments and other necessaries, on the transporting of +persons from Ireland and colonies in America, on the distribution of +lands in the island, and on various matters presented to the Council +in letters and petitions from officers and others there or in England. +After 1656 this committee, which continued to exist certainly until +the middle of April, 1660, played a more or less secondary part, doing +little more than consider the various colonial matters, whether relating +to Jamaica or to other colonies, that were taken up by the select or +outside committee appointed by Cromwell in 1656. + +The employment of expert advisers in the Jamaica business was rendered +necessary by the financial questions involved, and in December Robert +Bowes, Francis Hodges and Richard Creed were called upon to assist a +committee of Council appointed May 10, 1655, in determining the amounts +due the wives and assignees of the officers and soldiers in Jamaica. +Creed was dropped and Sydenham and Fillingham were added in 1656.[39] +But a more important step was soon taken. On July 15,1656, Cromwell +appointed a standing committee of officers and London merchants to +take general cognizance of all matters that concerned "his Highness +in Jamaica and the West Indies." The following were the members: Col. +Edward Salmon, an admiralty commissioner and intimately interested in +the Jamaica expedition; Col. Tobias Bridges, one of Cromwell's major +generals, afterwards serving in Flanders, who was to play an important +part in proclaiming Richard Cromwell Protector; Lieutenant Colonel +Miller, of Col. Barkstead's regiment, and Lieutenant Colonel Mills; +Capt. Limbrey, London merchant and Jamaican planter, who had lived in +Jamaica and made a map of the island, and as commander of merchant +vessels had made many trips across the Atlantic; Capt. Thomas Aldherne, +also a London merchant and sea captain, the chief victualler of the +navy, and an enterprising adventurer in trade; Capt. John Thompson, sea +captain and London merchant; Capt. Stephen Winthrop, sea captain and +London merchant; Richard Sydenham, and Robert Bowes, already mentioned +as commissioners for Jamaica,[40] and lastly Martin Noell, London +merchant, and Thomas Povey, regarding whom a fuller account is given +below. Povey, who was not appointed a member until October, 1657, +apparently became chairman and secretary, while Francis Hodges was +clerical secretary. Except for Tobias Bridges, the military members had +little share in the business of the committee, the most prominent part +being taken by Noell, Bridges, Winthrop, Bowes, Sydenham, and Povey. +As far as the records show, Salmon, Miller, Aldherne, Thompson, and +White never signed a report, while Mills and Limbrey signed but one. +The committee seems to have sat at first in Grocer's Hall, afterward +in Treasury Chambers, where its members discussed and investigated +all questions that came before them with care and thoroughness. +Their instructions authorized them to maintain a correspondence +with the colonies, obtaining such infromation and advice as seemed +essential; to receive all addresses relating thereunto, whether from +persons in America or elsewhere; to consider and consult thereof and +prepare such advices and answers thereupon as should be judged meet +for the advantage of the community. Their earliest business concerned +itself with Jamaica, its revenues, finances, expenses of expeditions +thither, arrears due the officers and soldiers, their wives and +assignees, individual claims, want of ministers, and other similar +questions. But as addresses came in from other colonies the scope of +their activity was broadened until it included at one time or another +nearly all the American colonies. The committee reported on the +constitution, governing powers, fortifications, militia of Somers +Islands (Bermudas) and on the fitness of Sayle to be governor there; +on the controversy between Virginia and Maryland and on the organization +and government of the former colony; on the petition of the Long +Islanders and others in New England, and on complaints against +Massachusetts Bay; on the revenue, government, and admiralty system +of Barbadoes; on questions of governor and arrears of salary in +Nevis and Tortugas; on the desirability of continuing the plantation +in Newfoundland; and lastly on the important subject of ship insurance, +upon which Capt. Limbrey presented a very remarkable paper.[41] These +reports were sent sometimes to the Protector, sometimes to the Council +of State, and sometimes to the committee of the Council on the affairs +of America. While the latter committee, under the name of "Committee for +Foreign Plantations" continued until the return of the King, the select +committee for America does not appear to have lasted as a whole after +the final dissolution of the Rump Parliament, March 16, 1660. Thomas +Povey alone seems to have been the committee from March to May, and on +April 9 and May 11 made two reports on matters referred to him by the +Council committee regarding Jamaica and Newfoundland. As Charles II had +been recalled to his own in England before the last report was sent in, +the machinery created under Cromwell for the plantations remained in +existence after the government set up by him had passed away.[42] + +Any account of the system appointed for the control of trade and +plantations during the Interregnum is bound to be something of a tangle, +not because the system itself was a complicated one, but because its +simplicity is clouded by a bewildering mass of details. Occasional +committees of Parliament, the Council as a board of trade and +plantations, committees of the Council, and select councils and +committees do not form a very confusing body of material out of which +to fashion a system of colonial control. Yet, despite this fact, the +management of the colonies during the Interregnum was without unity or +simplicity. Control was exercised by no single or continuous organ and +according to no clearly defined or consistent plan. Colonial questions +seemed to lie in many different hands and to be met in as many different +ways. Delays were frequent and there can be little doubt that many +important matters were laid aside and pigeon-holed. When an important +colonial difficulty had to pass from subcommittee to committee, from +committee to Council, and sometimes from Council to Parliamentary +committee and thence to Parliament, we can easily believe that in the +excess of machinery there would be entailed a decrease of despatch and +efficiency. Indeed, during the Interregnum colonial business was not +well managed and there were many to whom colonial trade was of great +importance, who realized this fact. Merchants of London after 1655 +became dissatisfied with the way the plantations were managed and +desired a reorganization which should bring about order, improve +administration, economize expenditure, elevate justice, and effect +speedily and fairly a settlement of colonial disputes. They doubted +whether a Council, "busyed and filled with a multitude of affairs," +was able to accomplish these results and they refused to believe that +affairs of such a nature should be transacted "in diverse pieces and +by diverse councils." The remedy of these men was carefully thought +out and carefully expressed and though it was undoubtedly listened +to by Cromwell, it never received more than an imperfect application. +To these men and their proposals we must pay careful attention for +therein we shall find the connecting link between the Protectorate +and the Restoration as far as matters of trade and the plantations +are concerned. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: Among others, The Advancement of Merchandize or certain +propositions for the improvement of the trade of this Commonwealth, +humbly presented to the Right Honorable the Council of State by Thomas +Viollet, of London, Goldsmith, 1651. This rare pamphlet was drawn up +by Viollet when connected with the Mint in the Tower and sent to the +Council of State, evidently in manuscript form. Most of the papers +composing this pamphlet were transmitted by the Council of State to +the Council of Trade. For Viollet see Cal. State Papers, Domestic, +1650-1651, 1659-1660.] + +[Footnote 2: The Council of Trade accumulated in this and other ways a +considerable mass of books and papers, but this material for its history +has entirely disappeared.] + +[Footnote 3: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1650, p. 399; 1651, pp. 16, 29, +38, 107, 230; 1651-1652, pp. 87. The first suggestion of this committee +was as early as January 1650, Commons' Journal, VI, p. 347.] + +[Footnote 4: Guildhall, Journal of the Proceedings of the Common +Council, Vol. 41, ff. 45, 55; Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651, pp. 198, +247-249, 270-271; Inderwick, The Interregnum, ch. II.] + +[Footnote 5: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651-1652, pp. 470-472, 479-481.] + +[Footnote 6: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1652-1653, p. 282.] + +[Footnote 7: British Museum, Add. MSS., 5138, f. 145.] + +[Footnote 8: Guildhall, Repertories of the Court of Aldermen, 61, p. +152^{b}.] + +[Footnote 9: Guildhall, Journal of the Proceedings of the Common +Council, Vol. 41, pp. 67^{b}, 68.] + +[Footnote 10: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651-1652, pp. 232, 235. The +question was as to whether or not the Turkey trade could best be carried +on by a company "as now," or by free trade, as in the case of Portugal +and Spain. Able arguments in favor of free trade were brought forward, +and when later the question of a monopoly of the Greenland whale fishing +came up, the Council of State admitted free adventurers to a share in +the business. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1653-1654, p. 379; 1654, p. 16.] + +[Footnote 11: Commons' Journal, VI, p. 140.] + +[Footnote 12: Commons' Journal, VI, p. 361.] + +[Footnote 13: Commons' Journal, VII, p. 41.] + +[Footnote 14: Commons' Journal, VII, p. 220.] + +[Footnote 15: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 283, 284, 285.] + +[Footnote 16: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 343-344; Cal. State Papers, +Dom., 1653-1654, pp. 297-298.] + +[Footnote 17: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 652, 654, 655; Cal. State +Papers, Dom., 1658-1659, p. 349.] + +[Footnote 18: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 800, 849.] + +[Footnote 19: P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. I, May 3/13, 1649--September +28, 1660. Meetings of Privy Councils during the Interregnum were held at +Castle Elizabeth, St. Hillary, Breda (1649-1650), Bruges (1656, 1658), +Brussels (1659), Breda (1660), Canterbury (May 27, 1660), Whitehall (May +31, 1660).] + +[Footnote 20: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 335, 352, 366; +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651-1652, p. 43.] + +[Footnote 21: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, p. 394; Cal. State +Papers, Dom., 1651-1652, pp. 67, 232, 235, 426; 1652-1653, pp. 18-27.] + +[Footnote 22: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 373-402, +_passim_.] + +[Footnote 23: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651-1652, pp. 266, 350, 396, +472; 1652-1653, pp. 18, 27, 160, 171.] + +[Footnote 24: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 19, 287. On May 6, 1653, +a new commission of trade was proposed by the Council of State but +no appointments are given. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1653-1654, +pp. 310, 344.] + +[Footnote 25: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 308, 319, 341, 375.] + +[Footnote 26: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1654, pp. 61, 285, 316.] + +[Footnote 27: Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 11411, ff. 11^{b}-12^{b}.] + +[Footnote 28: That such an outcome was anticipated is evident from the +concluding words of the "Overture." "If his Highness shall think fit +to constitute a council for the general Trade of these Nations and the +several Interests relating thereunto, these seaven may properly be of +that number, the employment being of the same nature and therefore +will rather informe then divert them who ought indeed to be busyed or +conversant in no other Affaires than the matters of Trade."] + +[Footnote 29: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655, pp. 27, 133, 240.] + +[Footnote 30: Thurloe, State Papers, IV, p. 177; British Museum, Add. +MSS., 12438, iii; Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655, p. 240, 1655-1656, pp. +1, 2, 54, 73, 100, 114, 115, 141, 156, 162, 188, 252, 275, 297, 327, +382. "We might speak also of the famed 'Committee of Trade' which has +now begun its sessions 'in the old House of Lords.' An Assembly of +Dignitaries, Chief Merchants, Political Economists, convened by summons +of his Highness; consulting zealously how the Trade of this country +may be improved. A great concernment of this commonwealth 'which his +Highness is eagerly set upon.' They consulted of 'Swedish copperas' and +such like; doing faithfully what they could." Cromwell's Letters and +Speeches, II, p. 202.] + +[Footnote 31: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655-1656, p. 113; 1656-1657, +p. 556; 1657-1658, pp. 308, 589; 1657-1658, p. 69.] + +[Footnote 32: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655-1656, p. 318.] + +[Footnote 33: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 442, 452, 460.] + +[Footnote 34: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 436, 439, 440 (2), +441, 443, 447, 453.] + +[Footnote 35: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 12438, iii.] + +[Footnote 36: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1658-1659, p. 349.] + +[Footnote 37: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 442, 452.] + +[Footnote 38: Commons' Journal, VII, p. 596.] + +[Footnote 39: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655-1656, pp. 46, 65, 318, 351.] + +[Footnote 40: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1657-1658, pp. 51, 66.] + +[Footnote 41: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574, 1660, pp. 445, 447, 448, +449, 450, 452, 453, 455, 456, 458, 459, 460, 461, 464, 465, 468, 470, +477; Brit. Mus. Egerton, 2395, ff. 123, 136, 142, 148-151, 157; Add. +MSS., 18986, f. 258.] + +[Footnote 42: Note to the report of May 11, 1660, is as follows: "By +order of the Councill of State sitting and taking care of the government +in the interval between the suppression of the Rump of the Parliament +and the return of his Majesty which was not many days before the date of +this report." Egerton MSS., 2395, f. 263. Probably the recall not the +actual landing at Dover is meant.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The Proposals of the Merchants: Noell and Povey. + + +Between the colonial and commercial activities of the later years of +the Interregnum and the corresponding activities during the early years +of the Restoration no hard and fast line can be drawn. The policy of +control adopted by Charles II can be traced to the agitation of men, +chiefly merchants of London and others familiar with the colonies, who +since 1655 had become impressed with the possibilities of the New World +as a field for profitable ventures in trade and commerce, and desired, +whether under a republic or a monarchy, the coöperation and aid of the +government. Among the leaders of this movement were Martin Noell and +Thomas Povey. + +Martin Noell was probably the most conspicuous London merchant of his +time. Of his early life nothing seems to be known. He first appears as +a merchant in 1650 trading with Nevis and Montserrat, and in the next +few years he extended his operations to New England, Virginia, the other +West India islands, and the Mediterranean. His ships trafficked in a +great variety of commodities--iron, hemp, pitch, tar, flax, potashes, +cables, fish, cocoa, tobacco, etc., and he became a power in London, +his place of business in Old Jewry being the resort of merchants, +ship captains, and persons desiring to coöperate in his ventures. +He was an alderman as early as 1651, was placed a little later on the +commission for securing the peace of the city, and held other offices +by appointment of the city or of the Commonwealth. He was also +a member of the East India Company and influential in its councils. +In addition to his mercantile interests he became a farmer, first of +the inland and foreign post-office,--one writer speaking of him as +"the postmaster,"--and later, on a large scale, of customs and excise. +At one time or another he held the farm of the customs in general and +of the excise of salt, linen, silk mercery, and wines in particular. In +these capacities he acted as a banker of the government, paying salaries +and expenses of official appointees, advancing loans, and issuing bills +of exchange and letters of credit. His vessels carried letters of marque +during the Dutch war and the war with Spain, and he himself traded in +prizes and became one of the commissioners of prize goods. The Jamaican +expeditions of 1654 and afterward gave him an opportunity to become a +contractor and he organized a committee in London for the purpose of +financiering the expedition, himself advancing £16,000, and in company +with Capts. Alderne, Watts, and others contracted for the supplies of +the ships and soldiers, furnishing utensils, clothing, bedding, and +provisions for this and other expeditions, notably that to Flanders. +He was Gen. Venables' personal agent in London and agent for the army +in general in Jamaica. He also became a contractor for transporting +vagrants, prisoners, and others to various American plantations. These +accumulating ventures increased his interest in the colonies, and after +the capture of Jamaica in 1655 he obtained a grant of 20,000 acres in +that island, from which he created several plantations. In his new +capacity as planter he was constantly engaged in shipping servants, +supplies, and horses. The firm of Martin Noell & Company became +exceedingly prosperous, and Noell himself one of the mainstays of the +government. He became a member of the Trade Committee in 1655, of the +committee for Jamaica in 1656, and was frequently called in by the +Council of State to offer advice or to give information. He was on terms +of intimacy with Cromwell, and because of the Protector's friendship +for him and confidence in his judgment, his recommendations for office, +both in England and the colonies had great weight. Povey speaks of the +"extraordinary favor allowed him (Noell) by his Highness." He had a +brother, Thomas Noell, who was prominent in Barbadoes and Surinam and +in charge of his interests there. He was also represented in other +islands by agents and factors, of whom Edward Bradbourne was the most +conspicuous, while Major Richard Povey in Jamaica, and William Povey +in Barbadoes, brothers of Thomas Povey, had for a time charge of his +plantations in those islands. Noell indirectly played no small part in +politics, particularly of Barbadoes, where Governor Searle held office +largely through his influence. Besides his Jamaica holdings he had +estates at Wexford in Ireland, and in April, 1658, wrote to Henry +Cromwell that he had "transplanted much of his interest and affairs +and relations" to that country, seeming to indicate thereby that his +colonial ventures were not prospering satisfactorily. Noell was a +politic man, shrewd and diplomatic, asserting his loyalty to the house +of Cromwell, yet becoming a trusty subject of King Charles, from whom +he afterward received knighthood.[1] + +Thomas Povey was born probably about 1615, son of Justinian Povey, +auditor of the exchequer and one of the commissioners of the Caribbee +Islands in 1637. He was one of a large family of children, nine at +least, Justinian, John, Francis, William, Richard, Thomas, Mrs. +Blathwayt (afterward Mrs. Thomas Vivian), Mrs. Barrow, and Sarah Povey, +and he spent his early years at the family home in Hounslow. In 1633 he +entered Gray's Inn and in 1647 became a member of the Long Parliament. +"Purged" with the other Presbyterian members in 1648, he did not return +to Parliament until the restoration of those members in 1659. He was +evidently inclined at first to go into law and politics, but for reasons +unnamed, possibly the slenderness of his fortune, which he says was +hardly sufficient to support him, he turned, about 1654, to trade, +and was thus brought into close relations with Martin Noell. Of his +activities until 1657 we hear very little, though it is evident that +from 1654 to 1657 he lived in Gray's Inn, engaging in many trading +ventures in the West Indies and elsewhere, was on terms of intimacy +with Noell and frequently at his house, and showed himself fertile of +suggestions, as always, regarding the improvement of trade and the +care and supply of men, provisions, and intelligence. In 1657 he lost +by death his brothers John and Francis, and his mother, who died at +Hounslow. As two of his brothers had gone to the West Indies with the +expedition of 1654 and the remainer of the family was scattered, he +decided to marry, and settled down in a house in Lincoln's Inn Fields +next the Earl of Northampton, with a widow without children, but +possessed "of a fortune capable of giving a reasonable assistance to +mine." In October of that year, possibly through Noell's influence, he +became a member of the committee for America, and from that time was +a conspicuous leader among those interested in plantation affairs. +As chairman and secretary of the committee, he took a prominent part +in all correspondence, and was familiar with the chief men in all the +colonies. He exchanged letters with Searle, of Barbadoes, D'Oyley, +of Jamaica, Temple, of Nova Scotia, Digges, at one time governor of +Virginia, Russell, of Nevis, Major Byam, of Surinam, Col. Osborn, of +Montserrat, General Brayne, in command of one of the expeditions to +Jamaica, and particularly with Lord Willoughby of Parham, with whom he +stood on terms of intimate friendship and over whose policy he exercised +considerable control. He was proposed at this time as agent in London +for Virginia, but the suggestion does not appear to have been acted on. +His brother Richard was commissary of musters and major of militia in +Jamaica, and his brother William, the black sheep of the family, who +had married a wife far too good for him, as Povey once wrote her, was +provost marshal in Barbadoes and in charge of Noell's interests there, +bringing that merchant nothing but "discontent and damage," and causing +Thomas Povey a great deal of trouble and expense. The colonial +appointments of these brothers were obtained entirely through the +influence of Noell and Povey in England. The disordered and uncertain +political situation in England in 1659 and the unsettled state of +affairs in both Jamaica and Barbadoes at the same time cost Povey great +anxiety and a part of his own and his wife's fortune, and he echoed +the complaint, widespread at the time, of the decay of trade and the +insecurity of all commercial ventures. We may not doubt that Povey, +as well as Noell, was ready to welcome the return of the King.[2] + +Though Noell and Povey were intimate friends and had been engaged in +common trading enterprises for a number of years, we have no definite +knowledge of their earlier undertakings, beyond the fact that with Capt. +Watts and Capt. Aldherne, whom Povey met by accident at Noell's house, +they were particularly concerned in developing the Barbadoes and Jamaica +trade. In the years 1657 and 1658, when Noell was "swol'n into a much +greater person by being a farmer of the customs and excise," we meet +with two enterprises, one for a West India Company, promoted by Lord +Willoughby, Noell, Povey, and Watts, as partners and principals, with +Watts as sea captain in charge of the vessel; the other for a Nova +Scotia Company, composed of Lord William Fiennes, Sir Charles Wolseley, +Noell, Povey, and others, with Watts and Collier as managers and Capt. +Middleton as sailing master. The latter company was organized for +settling a trade in furs and skins in Nova Scotia, and to that end +engaged the coöperation of Wolseley's cousin, Col. Thomas Temple, +lieutenant general of Nova Scotia since 1655, and of Capt. Breedon, +a prominent merchant of New England. It sent out a ship freighted with +goods under Capt. Middleton, but despite an auspicious beginning, +does not appear to have prospered. The title to Nova Scotia was disputed +not only by the French, but also by the Kirkes, whom Cromwell had +dispossessed in 1655, when he appointed Temple as governor; hostilities +broke out in Nova Scotia, and the company was called upon for a larger +stock and incorporation at a time when its promoters seemed unwilling to +risk more money. Though Povey was encouraged by the specimens of copper +which Temple sent over, the enterprise made no progress until after the +Restoration. It is probable that both Noell and Povey lost money by the +venture. + +The project for a West India Company was more ambitious and must have +been formulated some time in 1656 or 1657. Various propositions were +drawn up with care, probably by Povey or by Noell and Povey together, +for the better serving the interests of the Commonwealth by the erection +of a company which had as its object the advancing of trade and the +prosecution of the war with Spain. The two ideas seem, however, to have +been kept separate. Trade was to be promoted by despatching a vessel to +"Florida" under Capt. Watts which, in case it was unable to open trade +there, was to take on a lading of pipe staves in New England, sail to +the West Indies, and return thence with a cargo of sugar and other West +Indian commodities. For the purpose of attacking Spanish towns, of +"interrupting the Spanish fleet in their going from Spain to the Indies +and in their return thence for Spain, and of ousting the Spaniards from +their control in the West Indies and South America"--a subject regarding +which Capt. Limbrey had drawn up a paper of information,--the company +proposed that the state should furnish and equip twenty frigates which +were to be fully provisioned, manned and officered by itself. The +company desired to be incorporated by act of Parliament,[3] rather +than by a patent under the great seal, because the former would confer +"diverse privileges and assistances, and an immunity and sole trade +in any place they shall conquer or beget a trade with the Spaniard's +dominion," all of which a patent could not convey. The proposals were +presented to the Council of State in 1659 and were referred to a special +committee. They were debated in Council on August 7, and on October 20 +Povey wrote to Governor Searle that they had received encouragement +and hoped to have a charter from Parliament, and because "they have so +much favor from the state they will have an influence upon most of the +English plantations."[4] Either Parliament refused to incorporate the +company or in the distractions of the winter of 1659-1660 the proposals +were lost sight of. + +The group of merchants, among whom Noell and Povey were so conspicuous, +seemed to desire, as far as possible, a monopoly of the trade in America +and the West Indies, and to that end controlled to no inconsiderable +extent political appointments there. Governor Searle, of Barbadoes, +was their appointee, and Governors Russell, of Nevis, and Osborn, +of Montserrat, were in close touch with them and looked to them for +support. In 1657, acting through the committee for America, they +recommended that Edward Digges be made governor of Virginia, and about +the same time Martin Noell and eighteen others petitioned that Capt. +Watts be made governor of Jamaica. Lord Willoughby was practically +one of them, and Gen. Brayne and Lieut. Gen. D'Oyley were on intimate +terms with them. It is not surprising, in view of the importance of the +colonial trade and the disturbed condition of the plantations, that such +a man as Povey, who was always ready with plans and proposals, should +have endeavored to solve the problem of colonial control. He was in +frequent consultation with Noell concerning matters relating to the West +Indies, and in consequence, many schemes were discussed and carefully +worked out by them. The various drafts touching the West India Company +are elaborated in minute detail, and Povey showed clearly that he +possessed admirable qualities as a committee-man and an organizer. + +The first "overture" or plan seems to have been written in 1654 at the +time when the expedition of Penn and Venables was on its way to the +West Indies, and does not refer specifically to Jamaica. Its authors +recommended that a competent number of persons, not less than seven, of +good repute and well skilled in their professions and qualifications, +be selected to form a council. A greater number would be undesirable, +they said, because "in such an affair where there are many, the chief +things are done and ofttimes huddled up by a few; and there is neither +that secrecy, steadiness, nor particular care, nor so good an account +given of the trust, where more are employed than are necessary and +proportionable to the business."[5] The qualifications of the seven are +interesting: "(1) One to be a Merchant that hath been in those Indias +and trading that waie. (2) One also to bee a Merchant but not related +to that trade, and who rather retires from than pursues in profession. +(3) One well experienced Seaman, not or but little trading att present. +(4) One Gentleman that hath travailed; that hath language and something +of the civill Lawe. (5) One Citizen of a general capacitie and +conversation. (6) One that understands well our municipall Lawes and +the general Constitutions of England. (7) One to be a Secretarie to his +Highness in all Affaires in the West Indias, and relating thereunto, who +is solely to give himself up to this Employm^{t}." This council was to be +subordinated only to Cromwell and the Council and its powers were to be +fairly extensive. It was + + "to have power to advise w^{th} all other Committees or Persons, + Officers, or others as occasion shall require; + + "to consider (by what they shall observe here and what shalbee + represented from the Commission^{rs} now in the expedition) how + and what forreigne Plantations may be improved, transplanted, + and ordered; + + "to reduce all Colonies and Plantations to a more certaine, + civill, and uniforme way of government and distribution of + publick justice; + + "to keep a constant correspondence with the Commission^{rs} now + in the expedition, and w^{th} all the Chiefe Ports both at home + and abroad; + + "to be able to give up once in a year unto his Highness a perfect + Intelligence and Account of the Government of every place, of their + complaints, their wants, their abundance of every ship trading + thither and its lading and whither consigned, and to know what the + proceeds of the place have been that yeare, whereby the intrinsick + value and the certaine condition of each port will be thoroughly + understood. And by this conduct and method those many rich places + and severall Governments and Adventures will have all due and + continuall care and Inspection taken of them, w^{th}out divertion + to the nearest Affairs of this Nation, w^{ch} being of so much of a + greater and a closer consequence, the Superior Council can seldome + bee at leisure to descend any further than to breife and imperfect + considerations and provisions, w^{ch} is the sad Estate of fforeigne + Dominions, and distant Colonies and Expeditions from whence usually + the most strict, or servile duty and obedience is exacted, but very + seldome any Indulgencie or paternall care is allowed to them. + + "These therefore are to indeavour and contrive all possible + Encouragem^{ts} and Advantages for the Adventurer, Planter, and + English Merchants, in order also to the shutting out all Straingers + from that Trade, by making them not necessary to it, and by drawing + it wholly and with satisfaction to all parties into our Ports here, + that it may bee afterward instead of Bullion to trade with other + Nations, it being the Traffick of our own proper and native + Commodities. That our Shipping may be increased, our poore here + employed, and our Manufactures encouraged: And by the generall + consequencies hereof, a considerable Revenue may be raised to + his Highness. + + "to debate among themselves, and satisfy themselves from others; + and to present their Results to his Highness in all matters + reserved and proper for his Highness Judgment and last + Impressions. + + "to bee a readie and perfect Register both to his Highness and + all other persons, as far as they may be concerned, of all + particulars relating to those Affaires. + + "The Secretarie may be the person to represent things from time + to time between his Highness and this Councill. To make and receive + dispatches. To make readie papers for his Highness signature. + And generally his Office wilbee to render the Supreame Management + & comp^{r}hension of this Affaire less cumbersome and difficult to + his Highness, hee being allwaies ready to give his Highness a full + and a digested consideration, if any particular relating to those + Affaires and w^{th}in the cognizance of that Council."[6] + + +That these recommendations had any influence in determining the +character of the Trade Committee of 1655 is doubtful, but the next +effort of the merchants was probably more successful. Some time in 1656 +Povey drew up a series of queries "concerning his Highness Interest in +the West Indias" in which occur the following suggesive paragraphs: + + "Whether a Councell busyed and filled with a multitude of + Affaires, w^{ch} concerne the imediat Safety and preservation + of the State at home, can bee thought capable of giving a proper + conduct to such various and distant Interests. + + "Whether an Affaire of such a nature and consequence may be + transacted in diverse peices and by diverse Councells, and how + a proper Result cann be instantly arise out of such a kind of + management. + + "Whether a Councill constituted of fitt Persons Solely sett apart + to the busyness of America be not the likeliest means of advancing + his Highness Interest there and of bringing them continually to + a certain account and readiness whensoever his Highness or his + Privie Councill shall have occasion to looke into any particular + thereof. + + "Whether it be not a prudentiall thing to draw all the Islands, + Colonies, and Dominions of America under one and the same + management here."[7] + + +That the men who drafted these queries were mainly responsible for the +creation of the select council of 1656, at first known as the Committee +for Jamaica and afterwards as the Committee for his Highness Affairs +in America, we can hardly doubt, for the constitution and work of that +committee represents very nearly the ideas that Povey and Noell had +expressed up to this time. It is not to be wondered at that Povey should +have been the chairman, secretary, and most active member of this +committee after his appointment in 1657. + +Two other propositions or overtures appear among Povey's papers that +belong to the period of the Protectorate, and were written probably +the one in 1656, known as the "Propositions concerning the West India +Councill," and the other, known as "Overtures touching the West Indies," +before August, 1657.[8] In the first of these the number of the +council was to be ten, in the second it was not to exceed six. The +"Propositions" repeat in the main the points already quoted, including +the recommendation that it should be the business of the council +"to consider of the reducing all Colonies and Plantations to a more +certaine, civill, and uniform waie of Governm^{t} and distribution +of publick justice." The "Overtures" are much more elaborate, though +frequently containing the identical phrases of the first "Overture," +with many new paragraphs which seem to show the same spirit of hostility +for Spain that is exhibited in the formation of the West India Company. +Indeed this document is an outcome of the same movement which led to the +formation of that company. Some of the more important sections are as +follows: + + "To render what we already possess, and all that depends upon it, + to be a foundation and Inducem^{t} for future undertakings; by + gathering reasonable assistances from thence, and by mingling and + interweaving of Interest, and letting it appear that such Persons + and Collonies shall have the more of the Indulgencie of the State + as shall merit most in what they shall in any way be readier to do, + or contribut to the service of the whole; for hereafter they may + be considered as one embodied Commonwealth whose head and centre + is here. + + "That every Governour shall have his Commission reviewed, and + that all be reviewed in one form, w^{th} such clauses and provisions + as shalbee held necessary for the promotion of his Highness other + public affairs, and that as soone as order can be conveniently taken + therein the several Governours to be paid their allowances from + hence (though upon their own accounts), that their dependencie bee + immediately and altogether from his Highness.... + + "That all prudentiall means be applyed to for the rendering these + Dominions useful to England, and England helpful to them; and that + the severall Peices and Colonies bee drawn and disposed into a more + certaine, civill, and uniforme waie of Government and distribution + of Publick Justice. And that such Collonies as are the Proprietie + of particular Persons or of Corporations may be reduced as neare as + cann bee to the same method and proportion w^{th} the rest w^{th} + as little dissatisfaction or injurie to the persons concerned as + may bee. + + "That a continual correspondence bee so settled and ordered ... + that so each place w^{th}in itself and all of them being as it + were made up into one Commonwealth may be regulated accordingly + upon comon and equal Principles." + + +These proposals are followed by a series of propositions designed to +further the enterprise of the merchants and to aid in the defeat of +the Spaniards, whereby "those oppressed People (who are w^{th}held +from Trade though to their extreme suffering and disadvantage)" may +be released "from the Tyranny [of Spain] now upon them." + +Taken as a whole, these documents form a remarkable series of unofficial +papers which formulate foundation principles of colonial empire that +England never applied. That these principles met the approval of those +who were to shape the colonial policy of the Restoration a further +examination will show. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660; Dom., vols. for years +1650-1660, Indexes; Brit. Mus. Egerton, 2395, Add. MSS., 11410, 11411, +15858, f. 97, 22920, f. 22; Lansdowne, 822, f. 164, 823, f. 33.] + +[Footnote 2: Cal. State Papers, Col. and Dom. Indexes; Egerton, 2395, +which contains Povey's collection of papers; Add. MSS., 11411, which +contains his correspondence. See also Dictionary of National Biography.] + +[Footnote 3: A draft of such an act is to be found in Egerton, 2395, f. +202.] + +[Footnote 4: Brit. Mus. Egerton, 2395, pp. 87-113, 176 (there is a +duplicate of Povey's letter in Add. MSS., 11410); Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1574-1660, pp. 475, 477.] + +[Footnote 5: That all these proposals were drafted by Povey is evident +from similar terms and phrases used in his letters.] + +[Footnote 6: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 11411, ff. 11^{b}-12^{b}.] + +[Footnote 7: Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2395, f. 86.] + +[Footnote 8: Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2395, f. 99; Add. MSS., 11411, ff. +3-3^{b}. In a letter of August, 1657, Povey refers to these "Overtures," +which he says were designed "for the better setting and carrying on of +the general affairs of the West Indies, enforcing the authority and +powers of the several governors there, and the establishment of a +certain course," etc.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Committees and Councils Under the Restoration. + + +Charles II landed at Dover on May 25, 1660 and on the twenty-seventh +named at Canterbury four men, General Monck, the Earl of Southampton, +William Morrice, and Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, who took oath as privy +councillors. Others who had been members of the Council on foreign soil +or were added during the month following the return of the King swelled +the number to more than twenty. The first meeting of the Privy Council +was held on May 31, and it was inevitable that during the ensuing weeks +many petitions concerning the various claims and controversies which +had been agitating merchants and planters during the previous years +and had been reported on by the Committee for America should have been +brought to the attention of the Council. Such matters as appointments to +governorships and other offices, the political disturbances in Antigua, +Barbadoes, and Jamaica, the titles to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and +Barbadoes, became at once living issues. Many of the petitions were from +the London merchants, and we may not doubt that the personal influence +of those whose names have been already mentioned was brought to bear +upon the members of the Council. It became necessary, therefore, +for the King and his advisers to make early provision for the proper +consideration of colonial business in order that the colonies might +be placed in a position of greater security and in order that the +West Indian and American trade, from which the King and his Chancellor +expected important additions to the royal revenue, might be encouraged +and extended. Among the petitions received in June, 1660, were two from +rival groups of merchants interested in the governorship and trade of +the island of Nevis. One of these petitions desired the confirmation +of the appointment of Col. Philip Ward as governor of Nevis; the other +the reappointment of the former governor, Russell. This was the first +difficult question that had yet arisen, for Berkeley's return to +Virginia was a foregone conclusion, while the condition and settlement +of Nova Scotia, Barbadoes and Jamaica were to be of importance later. +Acting on these petitions regarding Nevis, only the second of which is +entered in the Privy Council Register, the King in Council appointed +on July 4, 1660, a committee, known as "The Right Honorable the Lords +appointed a Committee of this Board for Trade and Plantations." The +members were Edward Montague, Earl of Manchester, the Lord Chamberlain; +Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, the Lord Treasurer; Robert +Sydney, Earl of Leicester; William Fiennes, Lord Say and Seale; John +Lord Robartes; Denzil Holles, Arthur Annesley, Sir Anthony Ashley +Cooper, and the Secretaries of State, Sir Edward Nicholas and Sir +William Morrice. The committee was instructed to meet on every Monday +and Thursday at three o'clock in the afternoon, "to review, heare, +examine, and deliberate upon any petitions, propositions, memorials, or +other addresses, which shall be presented or brought in by any person or +persons concerning the plantations, as well in the Continent as Islands +of America, and from time to time make their report to this board of +their proceedings."[1] + +It is evident from the wording of these instructions that the committee +was designed to be a continuous one and to carry on the work of the +former committee for foreign plantations of the Council of State. There +is no essential difference between these committees, except that one +represented a commonwealth and the other a monarchy. We pass from the +one arrangement to the other with very little jar, and with much less +sense of a break in the continuity than when we pass from the system +under the Republic to that under the Protectorate. The Privy Council +committee had all the essential features of a standing committee and, +after the experiment with separate and select councils had proved +unsatisfactory, it assumed entire control of trade and plantation +affairs in 1675, a control which it exercised until 1696. Though an +occasional change was made in its membership and some reorganization was +effected in 1668, the Lords of Trade of July 4, 1660, commissioned with +plenary powers by patent under the great seal, became the Lords of Trade +of February 9, 1675. + +From 1660 to 1675 this committee of the Privy Council played no +insignificant part although, after the creation of the councils, it was +bound to be limited in the actual work that it performed. During the +four months after its appointment it was the only body that had to do +with trade and plantations except the Privy Council, which occasionally +sat as a committee of the whole for plantation affairs. During the +summer the committee considered with care and a due regard for all +aspects of the case the claims of various persons to the government of +Barbadoes. Despite the opposition of Modyford, who had been commissioned +governor by the Council of State the April before, and John Colleton, +one of the Council of Barbadoes, and despite the efforts of Alderman +Riccard and other merchants of London, Francis Lord Willoughby was +restored to the government under the claims of the Earl of Carlisle. +At the same time the claims of the Kirks, Elliott, and Sterling to Nova +Scotia were examined and eventually decided in favor of Col. Temple, the +governor there. Willoughby immediately appointed Capt. Watts governor of +the Caribbee Islands, himself, through his deputy, took the governorship +of Barbadoes, Modyford became governor of Jamaica, Berkeley of Virginia, +and Russell of Nevis. It is at least worthy of recall that Willoughby, +Watts, Temple, and Russell were all within the circle of Povey's +friends, that Povey and Noell both petitioned the King for Russell's +reappointment, and that Temple wrote Povey begging him to exert his +influence in his (Temple's) behalf, lest he lose the governorship. Povey +was certainly in high favor with the monarchy; in 1660 he was appointed +treasurer to the Duke of York and Master of Requests to his Majesty +in Extraordinary June 22, 1660,[2] and during the years that followed +he held office after office and with all the skill of a politician +continued to find offices for his kinsmen. William Blathwayt, of later +fame, was his nephew. Noell was no less honored; he became a member of +the Royal Company of Merchants, the Royal African Company, the Society +for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, and was finally +knighted in 1663 and died in 1665.[3] As we shall see, both men became +very active in the affairs of the plantations, and it is more than +likely that the opinions of the King in Council were not infrequently +shaped by their suggestions and advice. + +How early the decision was reached to create separate councils of trade +and foreign plantations it is impossible to say. Some time between May +and August, 1660, Povey must have planned to recast his "Overtures" +and to present them for the consideration of the King. At first he +endeavored to adapt those of 1657 to the new situation by substituting +"Foreign Plantations" for the "West Indies," "Ma^{tie}" for "Highness," +and "his Ma^{ties} Privie Councill" for "the great Councill"; but +he finally decided to present a new draft, in which, however, he +retained many of the essential clauses of the former paper. Whether the +recommendations of Povey as presented in the "Overtures" influenced Lord +Clarendon to recommend such councils to the King we cannot say; it is +more likely that the practice adopted under the Protectorate had already +commended itself to the Chancellor, who was beginning to show that +interest in the plantations which characterizes the early years of his +administration. That he should have consulted Noell and Povey and other +London merchants is to be expected of the man who for at least five +years kept up a close correspondence with Maverick of New England, +Ludwell of Virginia, and D'Oyley, Littleton, and Modyford in the +West Indies,[4] and who was constantly urging upon the King the +importance of the plantations as sources of revenue and the great +financial possibilities that lay in the improvement of trade. On August +17, 1660, the King in Council drafted a letter to "Our very good Lord +the Lord Maior of the Citty of London & to the Court of Aldermen of the +said City," reading as follows: + + "After our hearty commendations these are to acquaint you, That + his Majesty having this day taken into his princely consideration + how necessary it is for the good of this kingdom, that Trade and + Commerce with foreign parts, be with all due care, incouraged + and maintayned, And for the better settling thereof declared his + gracious intention to appoint a Committee of understanding able + persons, to take into their particular consideration all things + conducible thereunto; We do by his Ma^{ts} special command and + in order to the better carrying on of this truly royal, profitable, + and advantageous designe, desire you to give notice hereof + unto the Turkey Merchants, the Merchant Adventurers, the East + India, Greenland, and Eastland Companys, and likewise to the + unincorporated Traders, for Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, and + the West India Plantations; Willing them out of their respective + societies to present unto his Majesty the names of fower of their + most knowing active men (of whom, when his Majesty shall have + chosen two and unto this number of merchants added some other + able and well experienced persons, dignified also with the + presence and assistance of some of his Majesty's Privy Council) + All those to be by his Ma^{tie} appointed constituted and authoried + by commission under the Great Seal as a Standing Committee, to + enquire into and rectify all things tending to the Advancement + of Trade and Commerce; That so by their prudent and faithful + council and advice, his Ma^{tie} may (now in this conjuncture, + whilst most Foraigne Princes and Potentates doe, upon his Ma^{ties} + most happy establishment upon his throne, seek to renew their + former Allyances with this Crowne), insert into the several + Treatyes, such Articles & Clauses as may render this Nation more + prosperous and flourishing in Trade and Commerce. Thus by prudence, + care, & industry improving those great advantages to the highest + point of felicity, which by its admirable situation Nature seems + to have indulged to this his Majesty's kingdom. So we bid you + heartily farewell."[5] + + +This letter was signed by Chancellor Hyde, Earl of Southampton, George +Monck, Earl of Albemarle, Lord Say and Seale, Earl of Manchester, Lord +Robartes, Arthur Annesley, and Secretary Morrice, who probably formed a +special committee appointed to draft it. Some time within the month the +answer of the Aldermen must have been received, for on September 19 the +Council ordered the attorney general "to make a draught of a commission +for establishing a Councell of Trade according to the grounds layed" +in the letter of the seventeenth of August, "upon the perusal whereof +at the Board his Ma^{tie} will insert the names of the said Counsell." +It is more than likely that the project for the second council, that of +plantations, went forward _pari passu_ with the Council for Trade and +that the letter to the Mayor and Aldermen served a double purpose. At +any rate that must have been the understanding among those interested at +the time, for on September 26, one Norwich, Captain of the Guards, who +had been in Clarendon's employ, sent in a memorial to the Chancellor +begging that the King employ him "in his customs and committees of trade +and forraign plantations."[6] The matter of drafting the commissions +must have taken some time, for they are not mentioned as ready for the +addition of names before the last week in October. The business of +making up the lists of members must have been a difficult and tedious +matter. Many lists exist among the Domestic Papers which contain +changes, erasures and additions, drafts and corrected drafts, which show +how much pains Clarendon and the others took to make the membership of +the Council of Trade satisfactory. A suggested list was first drawn up +containing the names of privy councillors, country gentlemen, customers, +merchants, traders, the navy officers, gentlemen versed in affairs, and +doctors of civil law. With this list was considered another containing +the names of the persons nominated by the different merchant companies. +Other lists seem also to have been presented.[7] Probably in much the +same way the list of the members of the Council for Foreign Plantations +was made up, but more slowly. + +The commissions were both ready by October 25 and on November 7 had +reached the Crown Office (Chancery), ready to pass the great seal. The +commission for the Council of Trade passed the great seal on that day +and is dated November 7, 1660; but the commission for the Council for +Foreign Plantations was held back that the names of other members might +be added and it became necessary to have a new bill passed and duly +engrossed three weeks later.[8] Therefore the commission for the Council +for Foreign Plantations is dated December 1, 1660. + +An analysis of the membership of these two councils and of the +membership of the Royal African Company, created soon after, shows many +points of interest. The Council of Trade consisted of sixty-two members, +that of Foreign Plantations of forty-eight,[9] and that of the African +Company of sixty-six. Twenty-eight members are common to the first two +bodies, eleven are common to the Council of Trade and the Royal African +Company, and eight are common to all three groups. These eight are John +Lord Berkeley of Stratton; Sir George Carteret, Sir Nicholas Crispe, +Sir Andrew Riccard, Sir John Shaw, Thomas Povey, Martin Noell, and +John Colleton. The other members common to the two councils are +Lord Clarendon, the Earl of Southampton, Earl of Manchester, Earl of +Marlborough, Earl of Portland, Lord Robartes, Francis Lord Willoughby, +Denzil Holles, Sir Edward Nicholas, Sir William Morrice, Arthur +Annesley, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, William Coventry, Daniel O'Neale, +Sir James Draxe, Edward Waller, Edward Digges, William Williams, Thomas +Kendall, and John Lewis; while among the other members of the Council +for Foreign Plantations are such well-known men as Sir William Berkeley, +Capt. John Limbrey, Col. Edward Waldrond, Capt. Thomas Middleton, +Capt. William Watts, and Capt. Alexander Howe. Thus the merchants, +sea-captains, and planters, men thoroughly familiar with the questions +of trade and plantations and intimately connected with the plantations +themselves are members of the Council of Plantations and sometimes +of that of Trade also. It is significant that among the four London +merchants common to all three groups should be found the names of Noell +and Povey. Their associates, Crispe and Riccard, were persons well +known in the history of London trade, and probably the four names +represent the four most influential men among the merchants of London +who supported the King. When we turn to the work of these councils we +shall see that Povey and Noell were active members also. + +However uncertain we may be regarding the influence of Povey and Noell +in shaping the policy of Clarendon and the King, that uncertainty +disappears as soon as we examine the instructions which were drafted +to accompany the commission for a Council for Foreign Plantations. +The instructions are little more than a verbal reproduction of the +"Overtures" which Povey drafted some time during the summer of 1660 +for presentation to the King. They are based on the earlier overtures +and proposals and certain passages can be traced back unchanged to the +first "Overture" of 1654. Seven of the eleven clauses are taken from +the Povey papers as follows: + + _Overtures._ _Instructions._ + + They may forthwith write letters 2. You shall forthwith write + to everie Governour ... requiring letters to evrie of our + an exact and perticular Account of Governo^{rs} ... to send unto + the State of their affairs; of the + nature and constitution of their 3. you ... perticular and exact + Lawes and Government, and in what accompt of the state of their + modell they move; what numbers of affaires; of the nature and + them, what Fortifications, and constitution of their lawes and + other Strengths, and Defences are governm^{t} and in what modell + upon the Places. and frame they move and are + disposed; what numbers of men; + what fortifications and other + strengths and defences are upon + the place. + + To apply to all prudentiall meanes 5. To applie your selves to + for the rendering these Dominions all prudentiall means for the + usefull to England, and England rendering those dominions usefull + helpfull to them; and that the to England, and England helpful + Severall Pieces, and Collonies bee to them, and for the bringing the + drawn and disposed into a more severall Colonies and Plantacons, + certaine, civill, and uniform waie within themselves, into a more + of Government; and distribution of certaine civill and uniforme + publick justice. [waie] of government and for the + better ordering and distributeing + of publicque justice among them. + + To settle such a continuall 4. To order and settle such a + correspondencie, that it may be able continuall correspondencie that + to give upp an account once a yeare you may be able, as often as you + to his Ma^{tie} of the Goverment of are required thereunto, to give + each Place; of their Complaints, up to us an accompt of the + their Wants, their Aboundance, of Governm'{t} of each Colonie; of + everie Shipp trading there, and its their complaints, their wants, + lading; and whither consign'd; and their abundance; of their severall + to know what the proceeds of that growths and comodities of every + Place have been that yeare; whereby Shipp Tradeing there and its + the instrinsick value, and the true ladeing and whither consigned and + condition of each part and of the what the proceeds of that place + whole may be thoroughly understood; have beene in the late years; that + and whereby a Ballance may be thereby the intrinsick value and + erected for the better ordering and the true condicon of each part of + disposing of Trade, and of the the whole may be thoroughly + growth of the Plantations, that soe, understood; whereby a more steady + each Place within itself and all of judgem^{t} and ballance may be + them being as it were made up into made for the better ordering and + one Comonwealth, may by his Ma^{tie} disposing of trade & of the + bee heere governd, and regulated proceede and improvem^{ts} of the + accordingly, upon common and equal Plantacons; that soe each place + principles. within it selfe, and all of them + being collected into one viewe and + managem^{t} here, may be regulated + and ordered upon commonand equall + ground & principles. + + To enquire diligently into the 6. To enquire diligently into + Severall Governments and Councells the severall governm^{ts} and + of Plantations belonging to Councells of Colonies Plantacons + forreigne Princes, or States; and distant Dominions, belonging + and examine by what Conduct and to other Princes or States, and + Pollicies they govern, or benefitt to examine by what conduct and + their own Collonies, and upon what pollicies they govern or benefit + Grounds. And is to consult and them; and you are to consult and + provide soe, that if such Councells provide that if such councells be + be good, wholesome, and practicable, good wholesome and practicable, + they may be applyed to our use; or they may be applied to the case + if they tend, or were designed to of our Plantacons; or if they + our prejudice or Disadvantage, they tend or were designed to the + may bee ballanced, or turned-back prejudice or disadvantage thereof + upon them. or of any of our subjects or of + trade or comerce, how then they + may be ballanced or turned back + upon them. + + To receive, debate, and favour 11. To advise, order, settle, and + all such Propositions as shall dispose of all matters relating to + be tendered to them, for the the good governm^{t} improvement + improvement of any of the forreigne and management of our Forraine + Plantations, or in order to any Plantacons or any of them, with + other laudable and advantageous your utmost skill direccon and + enterprize. prudence. + + To call to its Advice and 7. To call to your assistance + Consultation from time to time, as from time to time as often as the + often as the matter in debate and matter in consideration shall + under consideration shall require, require any well experienced + any well experienced Persons, persons, whether merchants, + whether Mechants, or Seamen, or planters, seamen, artificers, + Artificers. etc. + + +In the "Overtures" there are no clauses corresponding to those in the +Instructions relating to the enforcement of the Navigation Act or to the +spread of the Christian religion; these may well be deemed Restoration +additions, inserted at Clarendon's request. But the clause concerning +the transportation of servants, poor men, and vagrants may well have +been Povey's own, for both Povey and Noell were interested in the +question and Noell had been in the business since 1654. In the "Queries" +is the following paragraph: + + "Whither the weeding of this Comon Wealth of Vagabonds, condemned + Persons and such as are heere useless and hurtful in wars and + peace, and a settled course taken for the transporting them to + the Indias and thereby principally supplying Jamaica is not + necessary to be consulted." + + +Among the Povey papers is one entitled "Certain propositions for the +better accommodating the Forreigne Plantacons with Servants," which +Povey may have drawn up. Hence, there is no good reason to doubt but +that Povey wrote the entire draft of these instructions himself. Even +those portions that are not to be found in the "Overtures" are written +in Povey's peculiar and rather stilted style. + +That Povey and Noell were the authors of the instructions given to the +Council of Trade it is not so easy to demonstrate. A preliminary sketch +of "Instructions for a Councill of Trade" as well as a copy of the final +instructions are to be found among the Povey papers and both Povey and +Noell were sufficiently familiar with the requirements of trade at that +period to have drafted such a document. The fact that the second paper +is but an elaboration of the first leads to the conclusion that they +bear to each other much the same relation that the "Overtures" bear +to the Instructions for the Council of Plantations: + + + FIRST DRAFT. FINAL INSTRUCTIONS. + + 1. You shall in the first place 1. You shall take into your + consider, and propound how to consideration the inconveniences + remedy inconveniencys of the the w^{ch} the English Trade hath + English trade, in all the respective suffered in any Partes beyond the + dominions of those Princes and Seas, And are to inquire into such + States with whom his Mat^{ie} may Articles of former Treaties as + renew Alliance, and to that end have been made with any Princes or + make due enquiry into such former States in relation to Trade, And + treaties as relate to Trade. to draw out such Observations or + Resolutions from thence, as may be + necessary for us to advise or + insist upon in any forreigne + Leagues or Allyances. That such + evills as have befallen these our + Kingdomes through the want of + good information in these great + and publique concernm^{ts} may be + provided against in tyme to come. + + What Articles have bin provided 2. You are to consider how & by + in favour of the Trade of his whome any former Articles or + Ma^{ties} Subjects, How they have Treatyes have been neglected or + been neglected & Violated, What violated, what new Capitulations + new Capitulations may be necessary are necessary either to the + pro Ratione Rerum, et temporum. freedome of Sale of your + Commodities of all sorts, as to + And those, either in Relation: price & payment, Or to the best + expedition of Justice to the + 1. To the freedome of Sale of your recovery of Debts, or to the + Commodities of all sorts, as to Security of Estates of all factors + price & payment. & their Principalls in case of the + factor's Death, Or to the + 2. To the best expedition of prevention of those interruptions + Justice for recovery of your debts. w^{ch} the Trade & Navigations of + our Kingdomes have suffered by + 3. To the security of the Estates Imbargoes of forreigne Princes or + of all factors, and their States, Or Imprestinge the Shipps + Principalls in case of the factor's of any of our Subjects, for their + death. Service. + + 4. To the Prevention of the 3. You are to consider well the + Interruption of the Trade & Interest of all such trades as + Navigation, by Embargos of forraigne are or shall be Incorporated + Princes & States, or imprestinge by our Royall Charters, & what + your Shipps to their Service. Jurisdictions are necessary to + be obteyned from such as are, + 5. To the Interest of all Trades or shall be in Allyance with us, + that are or shall be incorporated for the more regular managem^{t} + by his Mat^{ies} Charters, what & governm^{t} of the Trade, + jurisdictyon is necessary to be & of the members of those our + obtained from our Allies, for Corporations & forreigne + the more regular government factories. + of the Trade & members of those + Corporations in forraigne 4. You are to consider of the + factoryes. several Manufactures of these our + Kingdomes how & by what occasions + 2^{ly}. And next you shall they are corrupted, debased & + consider, how the reputation disparaged, And by what probable + of all the manufactures of his meanes they may be restored & + Mat^{ies} Kingdome may be recovered maintained in their auncyent + by a just regulation and standard goodness & reputation, And how + of weight, length, and breadth, they may be farther improved to + that soe the more profitable and there utmost advantage by a just + ample Vent of them may be procured. Regulation & Standard of weight + Length & Breadth, that soe the + private profitt of the Tradesmen + or Merchants may not destroy + the Creditt of the Commodity, + & thereby render it neglected + & unvended abroad, to the great + loss & scandall of these our + Kingdomes. + + 5. You are also to take into + your Consideration all the + native Commodities of the growth + & production of these our + Kingdomes, and how they may be + ordered, nourished, increased & + manifactured to the ymployment + of our People and to the best + advantage of the Publique. + + 4^{ly}. How the fishinge Trades 6. You are especially to + of Newfound Land, the Coasts consider of the whole business + of England, Irland, & New of fishings of these our + England may be most improoved, Kingdomes or any other of our + and regulated to the greatest distant Dominions or Plantations + advantage of the Stocke and & to consult of some effectuall + navigation of the nation, by meanes for the reinforceing + excludinge the intrusion of our encouraging & encreasinge, and + neighbors into it. for the regulating & carryinge + on of the Trade in all the + Parts thereof. To the end That + the People and Stock, and + Navigation of these our Kingdomes + may be ymployed therein and + our Neighbors may not be + enricht with that which soe + properly & advantagiously may + be undertooke & carryed on by + our own Subjects. + + 3^{ly}. How the Trade of the 7. You are seriously to + Kingdome to forraigne parts consider & enquire whether the + may be soe menaged and Importation of forreigne + proportioned, that we may in Commodityes doe not over-ballance + every part be more Sellers than the Exportations of such as are + buyers, that thereby the Coyne Native, And how it may be soe + and present Stocke of money may Ordered remedied, & proportioned + be preserved and increased. that we may have more + Sellers than Buyers in every + parte abroad, And that the + Coyne & present Stock of these + our Kingdomes, may be preserved + & increased, We judging, + that such a Scale & Rule of + proportion is one of the highest + and most prudentiall points + of Trade by w^{ch} the riches + & strength of these our Kingdomes, + are best to be understood + & maintained. + + 8. You are to consider & examine + by what wayes & means other + Nations doe preferr their owne + growths & Manifactures, & + Importations, & doe discourage + & suppress those of these + our Kingdomes, & how the best + contrivances and managem^{t} + of Trade, exercysed by other + Nations may be rendred applicable + & practicable by these our + Kingdomes. + + 9. You are well to consider all + matters relatinge to Navigation, + & to the increase, & the Security + thereof. + + 10. You are thoroughly to consider + the severall matters relatinge + to Money, how Bullonge may be + best drawne in hither, & how any + Obstructions upon our Mynt may + be best removed. + + 5^{ly}. How the forraigne 11. You are to consider the + Plantations may be made most useful general State & Condition of our + to the Trade & Navigation of these forreigne Plantations & of the + Kingdomes. Navigation Trade & severall + Commodityes ariseinge thereupon, + & how farr theire future + Improvem^{t} & Prosperitie may + bee advanced by any discouragement + Imposition or Restraint, upon + the Importation of all goods or + Commodityes w^{th} which those + Plantations doe abound, and may + supply these our Kingdomes, And + you are alsoe in all matters + wherein our forreigne Plantations + are concerned to take advise or + information (as occasion shall + require) from the Councell + appointed & sett apart by us to + the more perticuler Inspection + Regulation and Care of our + forreigne plantations. + + 12. You are to consider how + the transportation of such + things may be best restreined + and prevented, as are either + forbiddenby the Lawe, + or may be inconvenient, + or of disadvantage by being + transported out of these our + Kingdomes and dominions.[10] + + +The councils thus commissioned and instructed soon met for organization +and business, the Council for Plantations holding its preliminary +session December 10, 1660, in the Star Chamber, and all remaining +meetings in the Inner Court of Wards; the Council for Trade meeting, +first, in Mercer's Hall, near Old Jewry, afterwards in certain rooms in +Whitehall, still later in a rented house which was consumed in the great +fire, and, after 1667, in Exeter House, Strand. Philip Frowde became the +clerical secretary of the Plantation Council and George Duke secretary +of the Council of Trade, a position that he seems to have lost in 1663 +but to have resumed again before 1667. The meetings were attended +chiefly by the non-conciliar members, for it was usually the rule that +privy councillors were to be present only when some special business +required their coöperation. Both councils were organized in much the +same manner, with a number, at least seven, of inferior officers, +clerks, messengers, and servants, and in both cases journals of +proceedings and entry books containing copies of documents, patents, +charters, petitions, and reports were kept.[11] Whether minutes were +taken of the meetings of the subcommittees is doubtful; no such papers +have anywhere been found. + +The Council for Plantations had a continuous existence from December 10, +1660, when the preliminary meeting was held, probably until the spring +of 1665, though August 24, 1664, is the date of its last recorded +sitting. During that time it shared in the extraordinary activity which +characterized the early years of the Restoration and represents, as far +as such activity can represent any one person, the enthusiasm of the +Earl of Clarendon. There was not an important phase of colonial life and +government, not a colonial claim or dispute, that was not considered +carefully, thoroughly, and, in the main, impartially by the Council.[12] +The business was nearly always handled, in the first instance, by +experts, for with few exceptions the working committees were made up +of men who had had intimate experience with colonial affairs or were +financially interested in their prosperity. The first committee, that of +January 7, 1661, for example, was composed of Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, +who had been on plantation committees during the Interregnum; Robert +Boyle, president of the Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel +in New England and one of the founders of the Royal Society; Sir Peter +Leere and Sir James Draxe, old Barbadian planters; Edmund Waller, +poet and parliamentarian, who had been interested in colonial affairs +for some years; General Venables, who knew Jamaica well; Thomas Povey, +Edward Digges, John Colleton (soon to be Sir John), Martin Noell (soon +to be Sir Martin), and Thomas Kendall, all merchants and experts on +colonial trade, and Middleton, Jefferies, Watts, and Howe, sea-captains +and merchants in frequent touch with the colonies. Other committees +were made up in much the same way, although the number of members was +usually smaller. When letters were to be written or reports drafted that +required skill in composition and embodiment in literary form, we find +the task entrusted to Povey alone or to Povey assisted by the poets +Waller and Sir John Denham. Povey was, indeed, the most active member +of the Council, serving as its secretary in much the same capacity +as on the Committee for America from 1657 to 1660.[13] On both these +boards he exemplified his own recommendation that there should be on +the Council "a Person who is to be more imediately concern'd and active +than the rest ... allwaies readie to give a full and digested account +and consideracon of any particular relating to those Affaires." Among +the Povey papers are many drafts of letters and reports in process of +construction, bearing erasures and additions which point to Povey as +their author.[14] + +The Council for Plantations and its committees sat and deliberated +apart, the latter in Grocer's Hall; but the subjects under examination +were considered by both bodies. The subcommittees were frequently +instructed to call in persons interested, to write to others from whom +information could be obtained, and to pursue their investigations with +due regard for both sides of the case. Sometimes questions would be +submitted to the attorney general, to Dr. Walter Walker and others +from Doctors Commons, to special members of the Council who were more +familiar than the rest with the facts in the case. On at least one +occasion all the members of the Council were requested to bring in what +information they could obtain regarding a particular matter. Question +after question was postponed from one meeting to another, because the +Council had not obtained all the details that it felt should be in +hand before the report was sent to the King in Council. On a few +occasions members of the Council accompanied the report to the Privy +Council apparently with the intention of explaining or emphasizing +their recommendations. The subjects under debate concerned the internal +or external affairs of all the colonies. They related to Jamaica, +Barbadoes, Maryland, Virginia, and New England, including Nova Scotia, +Massachusetts, Maine, and Long Island; they dealt with Quakers, Jews, +vagrants, and servants, supplies, provisions, naval stores, emigrant +registration, and abuses in colonial trade; they included that burning +question of the period, the Dutch at New Amsterdam and the complaints +that arose regarding Holland as an obstruction to English trade. The +amount of time taken and pains expended on controversial points can be +inferred from an examination of the New England case, which was taken +up at the first regular meeting in January and was under examination +from that time until April 30, when the Council sent in its report. +Even then it was taken up by the Privy Council, referred to its own +committee, called the Committee for New England, and in one or two +particulars was sent back to the Council for further consideration. +In the performance of its duties the Council for Plantations can never +be charged with indolence or neglect. In the year 1661 alone it held +forty meetings, or an average of one every nine days. + +After August, 1664, the records of the Council come to an end, but there +is reason to believe that the Council continued its sessions at least +until the spring of 1665. That the last meeting was not held on August +24 is certain, not only from the wording of the minute, which reads: +"ordered, being a matter of great moment and the day far spent, that the +further consideration be deferred for a week," but also from two further +references to the existence of the Council, of later date,--one dated +September 7, when the Council sent in a report regarding the proposed +establishment of a registry office, and the other in the form of an +endorsement upon a letter from Lord Willoughby which says: "Ref^{d} to +the Council, Feb. 24," that is February 24, 1665. It seems probable, +therefore, that the Council was sitting as late as February-March +of that year.[15] Probably its meetings were broken up by the plague +which started in London about that time, in the westernmost parish, +St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and lasted until the end of October. Whether +the Council resumed its sessions after the plague had subsided it is +almost impossible to say. No definite record exists of its meetings or +work. Some of its members had died, Sir Martin Noell in October, 1665, +and Sir Nicholas Crispe the next year; others had left England, Lord +Willoughby, Capts. Watts and Kendall, and possibly Sir James Draxe; +while others had accepted posts that took them away from London, as in +the case of Capt. Middleton, who became commissioner of the navy at +Portsmouth. Certainly Povey could have had very little to do with the +affairs of a council in London in 1664-1666, when as surveyor-general of +the victualling department he was required to be frequently at Plymouth +and to spend a considerable amount of time travelling about England.[16] +Yet there is nothing to show that its commission was revoked, and +an order of the Privy Council, September 23, 1667, to which further +reference will be made below, reads as if the Council were in existence +at that time. If so, it must have been merely a nominal body. + +After 1665, and until 1670, plantation affairs seem to have been +controlled entirely by the Privy Council and its committees, which +proved themselves capable and vigorous bodies. Before 1666, besides +the Committee for Foreign Plantations, which has already been noticed, +other committees were appointed as occasion arose,--committees for +Jamaica, for Jamaica and Algiers, for the Guinea trade, for the Royal +Company, for fishing in Newfoundland, for Jersey and Guernsey, and +for New England. Committees for Trade and for hearing appeals from +the Plantations also existed. On December 7, 1666, after the plague +had subsided and the great fire had spent itself, the Privy Council +reappointed its plantation committee, which now entered upon a career of +greatly increased activity.[17] At the same time the Council made use of +its other committees, particularly the "Committee for the Affaires of +New England and for the bounding of Acadia," October 2, 4, 1667, which +took into consideration the question of the restitution of Acadia to the +French;[18] and it referred important matters of business to committees +of selected experts. Under these conditions the affairs of the colonies +were managed until the appointment of a new Plantation Council in +August, 1670. + +The Council for Trade met in Mercer's Hall some time before November +13, 1660, and at its preliminary session considered that part of its +instructions which related to bullion and coin. On December 13, 1660, it +passed a resolution urging and inviting people and merchants to send in +petitions, and it requested the King to issue a proclamation defining +its powers in all matters relating to trade and manufactures and calling +on "any person, concerned in the matters therein to be debated or who +have any petition or invention to offer, to apply to them for redress +of evils brought on by the late times or for the improvement of trade +regulations."[19] In response to, this appeal a large number of +petitions, sent either to the Privy Council or directly to the Select +Council itself, were received, and the discussion of these petitions +and the preparing of reports upon them occupied the attention of the +Council during the first two years. These reports show that the Council +took its duties seriously and was thoroughly in earnest to improve, +if possible, the trade of the kingdom, and to carry out to the full +the commands which the King had laid upon it. There is not a clause +of the instructions to which it did not pay some attention, and upon +many matters it debated long and ardently, making reports that are as +valuable for the student of the trade policy of the seventeenth century +as are the familiar writings of well-known mercantilists. The Council +took up and discussed the export of bullion and coin, expressing its +opinion that the penalties should be withdrawn as injurious to trade, +because they prevented the English merchants from bringing their money +into the kingdom where it would be detained, and saying that money most +abounded in countries which enjoyed freedom from restraints on exports. +The trade in the Baltic, the East Indies, and the Levant to which trade +freedom to export bullion was preeminently important; the Merchant +Adventurers, regarding whose history and position the Council made +a valuable report, viewing the subject from the beginning; the East +India Company, whose petition,--largely reproduced in the report of the +Council,--contained a bitter arraignment of the Dutch, calling to mind +the "impudent affronts to the honor of this nation and the horrid +injuries done to the stock and commerce thereof," and demanding damages +and a definite regulation of trade in the forthcoming treaty with +Holland then under debate; treaties with foreign powers, clauses in +which concerning trade were taken up at the early meetings of the +Council; prohibition of imposts on foreign cloths and stuffs, regarding +which sundry shopkeepers, tradesmen, and artificers of London had +petitioned the Privy Council in November, 1660,[20]--all these matters +the Council took under consideration. It dealt with the granting of +patents, with the encouragement of home industries, particularly the +business of the framework knitters, silk-dyeing, and the manufacture of +tapestry, and with the establishment of an insurance company.[21] As far +as the plantations were concerned, its recommendations were few, and +were made chiefly in connection with reports on the ninth and eleventh +articles of its instructions, which touched upon convoys, imports, +and composition-ports. It drafted a carefully drawn list of necessary +convoys in which, of all the American plantations, only Newfoundland +is mentioned. It considered the importation of logwood and tobacco, +and upon the latter point made the suggestion "that all tobacco +of English Plantations do pay at importation 1/2d. a pound and at +exportation nothing." This recommendation was accompanied by a valuable +essay on trade in general. It dealt with the question of making Dover +a free port for composition trade and took the ground that the Acts +of Navigation should be inviolably kept. On this question the Earl of +Southampton, the Treasurer, and Lord Ashley (Cooper), Chancellor of the +Exchequer, took the opposite ground, favoring the freedom of the port, +"Dover having formerly been a port for free trade," and adding that +"a free trade thus settled we conceive might conduce to the advantage +of your Majesty's customs," trade being injured by the "tyes and +observances which the Act of Navigation places upon it." They reported +further that the farmers of the customs wished the Act to be dispensed +with in some cases.[22] + +Regarding the attitude of the Council toward the sixth article +of its instructions, the promotion of the fisheries, we have fuller +information. At the session of December 17, 1663, there were present the +Earl of Sandwich, William Coventry, Sir Nicholas Crispe, Henry Slingsby, +Christopher Boone, John Lord Berkeley, Sir Sackville Crowe, Thomas +Povey, John Jolliffe, and George Toriano. Acting on a special order +from the King, they debated how best the fishing trade might be +gained and promoted, and how encouraged and advanced when gained. +They considered the respective merits of a commission and a corporation, +and whether, if a corporation should be agreed upon, it ought to be +universal or exclusive, perpetual or limited, a joint stock or a divided +stock, and what immunities and powers should be granted, the character +of the persons to be admitted and the number. Taking up each point in +turn, the members of the Council first considered "How to gain the Trade +of Fishery" and laid down seven methods: 1, 2, by raising money either +through voluntary contributions or through lotteries; 3, 4, by restraint +of foreign importation or by impositions upon all foreign importation; +5, by letters to all countries urging them to contribute such especial +commodities as cordage, lumber, boards, and the like, in exchange for +fish; 6, by declaring a war against the Dutch, and at the same time, +7, by naturalizing or indenizing all Hollanders who would come into +the English fishery. For the support of the trade when gained the +Council proposed: 1, to impose a proportion of fish upon every vintner, +innkeeper, alehouse-keeper, victualler, and coffee house in England; +2, to refuse all licenses for fish, which were to be paid for to the +corporation; 3, to take the stock of the poor of every parish and +provide for the impotent and aged only out of the product, and employ +such as were able to work in the fishery--the impotent in the making +of nets, etc.; 4, to require the gentlemen of all maritime counties +to raise a stock of money in their counties to be employed toward the +advance of the fishery; 5, to raise busses, _i. e._, Dutch herring +boats, and to set them forth to their own use and to receive the profits +in fish or in the product of it; 6, to employ the imposition laid upon +fish by the last Parliament for the purpose of advancing the trade; to +accept the offer of fishmongers to raise busses and money; 8, to require +the master and wardens of the company, and, 9, to encourage private +persons to do the same; 10, to bring over Dutchmen to teach the English +the art of curing, salting, and marking fish, and of making casks. +It was then decided, "after a long and solemne debate of the whole +matter," _nemine contradicente_, "that there being no disadvantage in a +corporation But many great Advantages, powers and Immunities that cannot +be had by Commission That the best way of advancing & encouraging the +Fishing Trade is by way of [a] Corporation." To this corporation were to +be granted "the sole power of Lycensing the Eating and killing of flesh +in Lent," the power to make by-laws, to dispose of "guifts that are or +shalbee given for carrying on of this Trade," to administer oaths, to +constitute officers, to exercise coercion in case of contempt against +orders, to fine and in some cases to imprison, to send for papers, +persons, books, etc. The corporation was to be universal, perpetual, and +a joint stock company.[23] As a result of the report of the Council a +charter of incorporation was issued to the Duke of York and thirty-six +others, forming the Governor and Company of the Royal Fishery of Great +Britain and Ireland, and George Duke, "late Secretary to the Committee +of Trade," was recommended by the King as its secretary.[24] + +This account of the debate in the Council upon the fishery question +is important not only because it gives an interesting glimpse of the +Council at work, and the only glimpse that we have at any length of +its procedure, but because it illustrates a phase of mercantilism in +the making. It shows, also, the intensity of the rivalry that existed +between England and Holland, and furnishes an admirable example of one +of the causes of that rivalry, the Dutch predominance in the fishing +business.[25] The Council frequently appealed to the methods employed +by the Dutch as a sufficient argument to support its contention, and +when objections were raised against the universal corporation it +answered, "You destroy the essence of a Corporation by lymitting it, +And if you lymitt it, no man will venture their Stocke, and the mayne +reason why the Dutch employ not only their Stocke but their whole +families in the fisheries, is because their corporation is perpetual." + +How much longer the Council of Trade continued its sessions it is +impossible to say. Its last recorded action is a report, dated July, +1664, which contained its opinion upon the question of trade with +Scotland, a matter soon to be taken up by the higher authorities. +It is probable that, as in the case of the Council of Plantations, its +sessions were suspended because of the plague and the fire and were not +resumed. Its commission was not revoked and it certainly had a nominal +existence until 1667. That it had no actual existence in April, 1665, +seems likely from a letter sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury at that +time, begging that the King appoint a council of trade to find out the +cause of the decay in the coal trade.[26] By the summer of 1665 trade +was reported dead and money scarce and to the plague was ascribed "an +infinite interruption to the whole trade of the Nation." The fire and +the Dutch war completed the demoralization of commerce and in 1666 the +plantations were deemed in great want of necessaries on account of the +obstructions of trade by the war. Though in that year many questions +arose that might naturally have been referred to such a council had +it been in session, no such references appear among the records. The +advancement of trade was looked after by the Privy Council and its trade +committee, and particularly by the Committee of Trade appointed by +Parliament. The latter body had been named as early as March, 1664, +to investigate the export of wool, wool-fells, and fullers' earth. +A few weeks later it was entrusted with the duty of inquiring into the +reasons for the general decay of trade. As this function was conferred +on the Parliamentary Committee at a time when the Select Council was +still holding its sessions, it is reasonable to suppose that the work +of the latter body had not proved satisfactory. There is some slight +evidence to show that the meetings of the Council were at this time but +little attended and that its members were not working in harmony.[27] +The Parliamentary Committee, acting as a Council of Trade, ordered +representatives from all the merchant companies to prepare an account +of the causes of obstruction in their different branches, and when the +latter, among other obstacles, named the Dutch as the chief enemies of +English trade, resolved that the wrongs inflicted by the Dutch were the +greatest obstructions to foreign trade, and recommended that the King +should seek redress. Other causes were considered and debated.[28] + +An excellent idea of procedure can be obtained from studying the history +of trade relations with Scotland during this decade. Immediately after +the passage of the Navigation Act of 1660, the Scots petitioned that the +Act might be dispensed with for Scotland, and special deputies were sent +from the Scottish to the English Parliament to prevent, if possible, the +extension of the Act to their country. The matter was referred to the +Customs Commissioners and to the Privy Council, and the latter appointed +a special committee to investigate it. Both of these bodies reported +that the grant of such liberties to the Scots would frustrate the object +of the Act, and gave elaborate reasons for this opinion.[29] As an act +of retaliation the Scottish Parliament laid heavy impositions upon +English goods, and English merchants in 1664 petitioned Parliament for +relief. Parliament recommended the appointment of referees on both sides +and in July, 1664, the Privy Council placed the matter in the hands +of Southampton, Ashley, and Secretary Bennet. This committee laid the +question before the Council of Trade, which suggested a compromise, +whereby duties on both sides should be reduced to 5 per cent., the Scots +should have the benefits of the Act of Navigation but no intercourse +with foreign plantations, and should not buy any more foreign built +ships. As a result of these and further negotiations Parliament passed +an act in 1667,[30] "for settling freedom and intercourse of trade +between England and Scotland," and under the terms of that act +commissioners were appointed to meet with commissioners for Scotland +in the Inner Star Chamber to negotiate a freedom of trade between the +two countries. The commissioners duly met on January 13, 1668, and the +papers recording their negotiations are full and explicit. The whole +question of the relations between England and Scotland since the union, +both political and economic, was investigated with great care; papers +were searched for, records examined, memorials and petitions received, +and various conditions of trade inquired into. The commissioners +frequently disagreed and harmony was by no means always attained, +resulting in delays in drafting the treaty and the eventual failure +of the negotiations. In October the Scottish commissioners returned +to Edinburgh, and the conditions remained as before.[31] + +The fall of Clarendon, at the end of the year 1667, led to important +changes in the organization of the government, and the widespread +demoralization in trade demanded an improvement of the system of trade +and plantation control. The year 1668 is significant as the starting +point for a number of attempted remedies in matters of finance and +trade supervision. We have no opportunity here to examine the political +aspects of these changes or to determine how far they were effected +in the interest of mere political control. Suffice it to say that too +many conditions of the reign of Charles II have been attributed to +extravagance and political intrigue, and too few to an honest desire +on the part of those concerned to restore the realm to a condition of +solvency and prosperity. Heavily burdened with debt at the outset of the +reign, distracted by plague, fire, and foreign war during the years from +1665 to 1668, the kingdom needed the services of all its statesmen, +and even the most selfish politician must have realized the need of +reorganization. Acting upon a suggestion which Clarendon himself had +made to the King, the Privy Council in 1667 began by strengthening +its own committee system, and on January 31, 1668, established four +standing committees--for foreign affairs, military affairs, trade and +plantations, and petitions and grievances. These committees had almost +the character of state departments, though they had no final authority +of their own, all orders emanating from the Privy Council only. They +became, however, more independent than had been previous committees by +virtue of the fact that no order was to be issued by the Council until +it had been "first perused by the Reporter of each Committee +respectively," The following is a copy of the regulations: + + His Ma^{tie} among other the important parts of his Affairs + having taken into his princely consideration the way & method + of managing matters at the Council Board, And reflecting that + his Councills would have more reputation if they were put into + a more settled & established course, Hath thought it fit to + appoint certaine Standing Comitties of the Council for several + Businesses together with regular days & places for their + assembling in such sort as followeth: + + 1. The Committee of FORRAINE AFFAIRES is already settled to + consist of these Persons following (besides his Royall Highness, + who is understood to be of all comittees, where he pleases to be) + vizt. Prince Rupert, L^{d} Keeper [Sir Orlando Bridgeman], Lord + Privy Scale [Lord Robartes], Duke of Buckingham, Lord General + [Duke of Albemarle], L^{d} Arlington, & M^{r} Sec^{ry} Morice, + To which Committee His Ma^{tie} doth also hereby referr the + corresponding w^{th} Justices of peace & other officers & ministers + in the Severall Countys of the Kingdome, concerning the Temper of + the Kingdome &c. The constant day for this Committee to meete to be + every Monday besides such other dayes wherein any extraordinary + Action shall oblige them to assemble, And the place for their + meeting to be at the Lord Arlington's Lodgings in Whitehall. + + 2. Such matters as concerne the Admiralty & Navy as also all + Military matters, Fortifications &c, so far as they are fit to + be brought to the Councill Board, without intermedling in what + concernes the proper officers (unlesse it shall by them be + desired). If his Ma^{tie} is pleased to appoint that they be + und^{r} the consideracon of this following Committee, vizt, + Prince Rupert, L^{d} General [Duke of Albemarle], E. of Anglesy, + Ea. of Carlisle, Ea. of Craven, Lord Arlington, Lord Berkeley, + M^{r} Comptroller [Sir Thomas Clifford], M^{r} Sec^{ry} Morice, + S^{r} W^{m} Coventry & S^{r} John Duncombe. The usuall day of + meeting to be Wensdays, & oftner, as he that presides shall + direct, & the place to be the Councill Chamber, and hereof + Three or more of them to be a Quorum. + + 3. Another Committee his Ma^{tie} is pleased to constitute for + the Business of Trade under whose consideration is to come + whatsoever concernes his Ma^{ts}: FORRAINE PLANTATIONS, as also + what relates to his Kingdomes of Ireland or Scotland, the Isles + of Jersey & Guernsey, which is to consist of the Lord Privy + Scale [Lord Robartes], Duke of Buckingham, Earle of Ossory, + Ea. of Bridgewater, Ea: of Lauderdail, L^{d}: Arlington, + L^{d}: Holles, L^{d}: Ashley, M^{r}. Comptroller [Sir Thomas + Clifford], M^{r} Vice Chamberlain [Sir George Carteret], + M^{r} Sec^{ry}. Morice, & S^{r} W^{m} Coventry. The usuall day + of meeting to be every Thursday in the Councill Chamber, or + oftner as he that presides shall direct, and hereof 3 or more + of them to be a Quorum. + + 4. His Ma^{tie} is pleased to appoint one other Committee to + whom all PETITIONS of COMPLAINT & GREIVANCE are to be referred in + which His Ma^{tie} hath thought fit hereby particularly to + prescribe not to meddle w^{th} Property or what relates to + Meum & Tuum. And to this Committee his Ma^{tie} is pleased + that all matters which concerne Acts of State or of the + Councill be referred. The persons to be the Arch. B^{p}: of + Canterbury, Lord Keeper [Sir Orlando Bridgeman], L^{d}: Privy + Seale [Lord Robartes], L^{d}: Great Chamberlain [?], L^{d} + Chamberlain [Edward, Earl of Manchester], Ea: of Bridgewater, + Ea: of Anglesey, Ea: of Bathe, Ea: of Carbery, Viscount + Fitzharding, L^{d}: Arlington, L^{d}: Holles, L^{d}: Ashley, + M^{r} Sec^{ry}: Morice, M^{r}: Chancellor of the Dutchy + [of Lancaster, Sir Thomas Ingram], and S^{r}: John Duncombe. + The constant day of meeting to be Friday in the Councill + Chamber. And his Ma^{ts} further meaning is, that to these + two last committees, any of the Councill may have Liberty to + come & vote and that his two principall Sec^{ries}: of State + [at this time Lord Arlington and Sir William Morrice] be ever + understood to be of all Com^{tees}:, And hereof 3 or more of + them to be a Quorum. + + And for the better carrying on of Business at those severall + Comittees, his Ma^{tie}: thinks fit, and accordingly is pleased + to appoint, That each of these Committees be assigned to the + particular care of some one person, who is constantly to attend + it. In that of the Navy & Military matters his Royal Highness + may p^{r}side, if he so please, or else the Lord Generall [Duke + of Albemarle]. In Forraine matters the L^{d} Arlington. In Trade + & Plantations the L^{d}: Privy Seale [Lord Robartes]. In matters + of State & Greivances, the Lord Keeper [Sir Orlando Bridgeman]. + + Besides which fixt & established Committees, if there shall + happen anything extraordinary that requires Advice, whether in + matters relating to the Treasury, or of any other mixt nature + other than what is afore determined His Ma^{ties} meaning and + intention is, that particular Committees be in such Cases + appointed for them, as hath been accustomed. And that such + Committees do make their Report in Writing, to be offered to + his Ma^{tie}: the next Councill day following, in which, if any + Debate arise, the old Rule is ever strictly to be observed, that + the youngest Councell^{r}: do begin, and not to speake a second + time without Leave first obteyned. And that as on the one side + nothing is hereafter to be resolved in Councill, till the matter + hath been first examined, And have received the Opinion of + some Committee or other, So on the other hand, that nothing be + referred to any Committee, untill it have been first read at + the Board, except in Forraine Affaires. And his Ma^{ts} express + pleasure is, That no Order of Councill be henceforth any time + issued out by the Clerks of the Councill till the same have been + first perused by the Reporter of each Committee respectively.[32] + + +There is very little evidence to show that the Committee of the Council +for Trade and Plantations played any very conspicuous part in regulating +either trade or plantations during the years from 1668 to 1675, though +a number of petitions were referred to it. Its most important report +was that recommending the restoration of the province of Maine to the +grandson of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, but even that matter was taken out +of its hands by the further reference of the Gorges' petition to the +Committee for Foreign Affairs. In 1668, it dealt with the restitution +of Surinam to the Dutch and the settlement of Lord Willoughby's claims; +with relief for Barbadoes after the disastrous fire which destroyed +St. Michaels in April of that year; with the equipment of Sir Tobias +Bridges' regiment in the same island; and with the liberty granted to +certain Dutch ships of trading to New York despite the Navigation Act. +In 1669, it considered a few petitions and reported on Gorges' memorial. +After 1670 it did little, as far as actual evidence of its activity is +concerned, but it is entirely clear that it had to transact a great deal +more business than is recorded either in the Register or in the Colonial +Papers.[33] Many of the questions that were referred to the Select +Council of Trade and the Select Council of Trade and Plantations were +first passed upon by this committee or were referred to it after the +report from the separate body had come in. Furthermore, we know that +in the case of this committee, as of similar committees of the Privy +Council after 1696, many questions were never allowed to pass out of its +hands, except as they were reported to the Council itself. Though not +conspicuous, it was potentially active and quite ready in 1675 to take +up the burden of colonial control that the King placed upon it.[34] + +Even before it had begun the reorganization of its committee system, the +Privy Council made known its decision to revive the system of separate +and select councils which had probably been in abeyance since 1665. +On September 23, 1667, it ordered its Committee for Trade and Foreign +Plantations to take into consideration the advisability of revoking +the commissions of the two councils of 1660,--which councils must, +therefore, have been deemed still legally in existence--and of uniting +these bodies so as to form a single select council for trade and +plantations. To this end it instructed the secretaries of those +councils, Philip Frowde and George Duke, to appear before it. For +reasons that are nowhere found among the official papers this plan was +given up and the decision reached to revoke only the commission of the +Council of Trade and to issue a patent for a new body. Roger North, in +his _Examen_, published in 1740, a work little to be depended on as far +as historical accuracy is concerned, declares that this move was merely +a piece of political manoeuvering and never was designed to accomplish +anything of importance for the trade or revenue of the kingdom. He says: + + "The courtiers, for his Majesty's Ease, moved that there might + be a commission to several of the greatest Traders in _London_ + to examine all matters of that kind, and to report their Opinion + to the Council; upon which his Majesty might determine. This + plausible project was put in Execution and the Leaders of the + Fanatic party in the city [especially Alderman Love and Josiah + Child] were the Commissioners; for so it was plotted. The great + House in Queen Street was taken for the use of this Commission. + Mr. Henry Slingsby, sometime Master of the Mint was the Secretary; + and they had a formal Board with Green Cloth and Standishes, + Clerks good store, a tall Porter and Staff, and fitting Attendance + below, and a huge Luminary at the Door. And in Winter Time, when + the Board met, as was two or three Times a Week, or oftener, all + the Rooms were lighted, Coaches at the Door, and great passing in + and out, as if a Council of State in good Earnest had been sitting. + All Cases, Complaints, and Deliberations of Trade were referred + to this Commission, and they reported their opinion."[35] + + +North's implication that the Council was a contrivance of the enemies +of the King to effect a prohibition of trade with France which the +government wished to keep open seems deserving of little credence. +In the past, facts regarding this Council and its work have not been +complete, and even a full list of its members has been wanting. Even now +the commission and instructions, which, after considerable delay, were +issued on October 20, 1668, have eluded discovery, and we can present +little more than the terms of the docket as entered in the books of +the Crown Office. The docket reads: "A Commission with instructions +annexed establishing a Counsell of Trade, for Keeping a control and +super-inspection of his Majesty's Trade and Commerce." From another +source we learn that the Council was to take into consideration "the +Conditions of your Maj^{tyes} Plantations abroad, in order to the +improvement of Trade and increase of Navigation, and for the further +encouragement of yo^{r} Maj^{tyes} Subjects in their Trade and Commerce +both at home and abroad."[36] A second commission was issued on April +13, 1669, "directed to the same persons in the same form & with the +same powers and instructions ... with a confirmation of all Acts done +in pursuance of the said late commission in election of officers and +otherwise."[37] The clerical secretary was Peter du Moulin, though Dr. +Benjamin Worsley seems to have had some official position on the board. +The members of the Council were as follows: Duke of York, Prince Rupert, +Lord Keeper, Lord Privy Seal, Duke of Buckingham, Duke of Albemarle, +Duke of Ormond, Earl of Bridgewater, Earl of Ossory, Earl of Anglesey, +Earl of Carlisle, Earl of Craven, Earl of Lauderdale, Lord Arlington, +Lord Berkeley of Stratton, Lord Holles, Lord Ashley, Sir Thomas +Clifford, Sir George Carteret, Sir John Trevor, Sir William Morrice, Sir +William Coventry, Sir Thomas Osborne, Sir Thomas Littleton, Sir Henry +Blount, Sir George Downing, Sir Andrew Riccard, Sir William Thompson, +Silas Titus, William Garroway, Henry Slingsby, Thomas Grey, John Birch, +William Love, Esq., Benjamin Worsley, Doctor of Physic; John Buckworth, +Thomas Papillion, John Page, Josiah Child, Thomas Tyte, Benjamin Albyn, +and John Shorter. In 1669 were added the Earl of Devonshire, Earl of +Sandwich, Viscount Halifax, and George, Lord Berkeley, making forty-six +members in all.[38] This is an extraordinary body of men to be engaged +in pulling the wool over the eyes of the King, and though Professor +Ashley is inclined to view North's account with approval, we doubt if +it will stand the test of examination. Professor Ashley's further belief +that from this Council emanated the document called "A Scheme of Trade," +is capable of satisfactory disproof, since but few of the signers of +that document were members of the Council and the date when it was +issued, November 29, 1674, was after the Council as a separate body had +been abolished.[39] + +The Council lasted from 1668 to 1672 and during that time it did +nothing, so far as we can discover, either for or against the trade +with France. It considered the granting of patents, foreign trade with +Piedmont and elsewhere, the export of wool, disputes among the merchant +companies, dispensations from the operation of the Navigation Act, and +a few matters relating to home industry, particularly as regards abuses +in the baize trade. It took into consideration the order in Council +of October 23, 1667, permitting the Dutch to send three or more ships +yearly for seven years to trade from Holland to New York, and reported +so strongly against it that the Privy Council revoked the order.[40] +More important still, it took up the whole question of the operation of +the navigation acts in the colonies, called upon the merchants and the +farmers of the customs for information, and made a careful report to the +Privy Council, which the latter, on January 20,1669, embodied in the +following order: + + "His Ma^{tie} this day taking into consideration the great + importance the Trade of his severall plantations is to his + Ma^{tie} & his Kingdome, and being informed that severall + Governments of the s^{d} Plantations have been wanting to + their duty in the following particulars, viz: + + 1. That Governors have not taken the oath enjoined by law, + + 2. That shipps have been permitted to trade to and from the + Plantations not qualified according to law, + + 3. That there has been omission in taking Bond and Security + and returning those Bonds according as directed by the severall + Acts of Parliament. + + For redresse it is ordered, that the Farmers of the Customs do + and are hereby required (at their owne charge) to send over and + make choice of upon the place & from time to time commissionate + & maynteyne one or more persons in each Plantation (whom his + Ma^{tie} shall approve & authorize) to administer the usual oaths + to the severall Governors, that no vessels be admitted to trade + there till said officer has the perusal of the passes and + certificates and certifies that they may trade there, and that + no Bond or security be admitted without the allowance of said + officer, + + That letters be written to all said Governors to take said + oaths before said officer and also to give them countenance and + assistance, + + That Directions be given to the Commanders of his Ma^{ties} ships + and to any merchant shipps to arrest any ship trading to His + Ma^{ties} Plantations contrary to the law."[41] + + +Under this order Edward Digges, former governor of Virginia and a London +merchant well known to us, was appointed by the farmers of the customs +as a fit person to execute for the colony of Virginia the articles and +instructions contained in this order. No other appointments, however, +appear to have been made at this time.[42] + +After 1670 activities of the Council of Trade, as far as they are +recorded, are very few. It considered the trade of the Eastland Company, +provided for a supply of coal for London at reasonable rates, and +discussed a few minor petitions, but as compared with its contemporary, +the Council for Foreign Plantations, it accomplished little.[43] + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1514-1660, pp. 482, 483; P.C.R., +Charles II, Vol. II, p. 63; New York Colonial Docts., III, p. 30.] + +[Footnote 2: P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. II, p. 37; Bodleian, Rawlinson A., +117, No. 20.] + +[Footnote 3: Professor Osgood thinks that a part of Noell's fortune was +made in the slave trade. Beyond the fact that he was a member of the +Royal African Company, I cannot find any evidence whatever to prove this +statement. Noell certainly was not a slave trader before 1660.] + +[Footnote 4: Bodleian, Clarendon Papers, _passim_, New York Hist. +Soc. Collections, 1869; Brit. Museum, Add. MSS., 11410, ff. 18 et seq. +Clarendon had an agent in Jamaica, Major Ivy, who was considering the +setting up of plantations and planting cocoa walks in the interest of +the King's revenue. Clarendon's policy toward the continental colonies +overshadows somewhat his policy toward the West Indies and in +consequence this phase of the subject has been neglected by those who +have dealt with Clarendon's colonial relations.] + +[Footnote 5: P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. II, pp. 131-132; printed in part +in Analytical Index to the Series of Records known as the Remembrancia, +preserved among the Archives of the City of London, 1579-1664. +(Privately printed, 1878); and in very much abbreviated form in +Bannister, Writings of William Patterson, III, 251-252, from whom it has +been copied by both Egerton and Cunningham. It seems somewhat strange +that there should be no entry of the receipt of this letter in the +journal of the court of Aldermen nor any draft of an answer among the +Remembrancia or elsewhere. A careful search has failed to disclose any +reference to action taken upon this letter among the papers in the Town +Clerk's office at the Guildhall.] + +[Footnote 6: Bodleian, Clarendon Papers, 73, f. 232.] + +[Footnote 7: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1660-1661, p. 319.] + +[Footnote 8: Public Record Office, Chancery, Crown Dockets, 6, p. 50. +On the docket for the commission of the council of trade the names of +the members are inserted; but on that of the commission for the council +for foreign plantations the place is left blank. A marginal note on the +latter docket gives the explanation noted above.] + +[Footnote 9: There is a list of the members in 1661, containing but +forty-seven names with some omissions and additions.] + +[Footnote 10: Egerton, 2395, ff. 268, 269; Cal. State Papers, Dom., +1660-1661, pp. 353-354; P.R.O. State Papers, Domestic, XXI, No. 27; +Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, 4 ed., Appendix.] + +[Footnote 11: The journal of the Council of Plantations is among the +Colonial Papers in the Public Record Office, XIV, No. 59, ff. 1-57, +December 1, 1660-August 4, 1664, entitled "Orders and Proceedings at his +Ma^{ts} Counsell for Forraigne Plantacons." There is no journal of the +Council of Trade known to exist, but minutes of one or two meetings, +which have been preserved, show that a journal must have been kept. An +entry-book for patents is mentioned, Cal. State Papers, Col., 1661-1668, +§ 15, and an entry-book of petitions and reports, November 13, +1660-March 12, 1662, is in Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 25115. + +Regarding the history of the papers of the Council of Trade the +following information may be of interest. The records probably remained +in the possession of George Duke, secretary to the Council, and were +called for by Dr. Worsley, secretary of the Council of 1672 in a letter +dated November 28, 1672 (Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1672-1673, pp. +213-214). No answer was received from Duke and evidently the papers were +not handed over, for when in 1698 the Board of Trade applied for them to +Col. Duke's son-in-law, Henry Crispe, it was informed by Mr. Crispe that +he had never even seen any of the papers but had heard that some of them +were burnt in the Temple when in Col. Duke's possession (Journal of the +Board of Trade, XI, p. 55, May 10, 1698). In June and July, 1707, the +Board of Trade attempted again to get hold of the papers and wrote to +Crispe on June 30. Crispe's reply is worth printing: + +"If I am rightly informed there are divers original books and papers +relating to the Royal Fishery and the establishing thereof from the +year 1660 for divers successive years in which are contained several +projections concerning the promoting the same. And there are also books +and minutes of the proceedings of the Council of Trade from the year +1660 to 1668, which also contain several material things in relation to +Trade and the improvement thereof, which I understand are in the power +of a friend of mine. + +"These books and papers will be disposed of as the Hon^{ble} Board the +Council of Trade shall direct or order. + +"But it is humbly desired that consideration be allowed the party that +shall produce these Books and Papers. And that it may be ascertained +what that consideration shall be and by whom it shall be given. + +"I was desired to inform you of this to the end you may take such steps +therein as you in your great prudence shall judge most proper. + +"If any orders or commands shall be given about this affair that I can +be useful or serviceable therein & they be transmitted for me or be left +at Johns Coffee House in Bedford St. near the Church in Convent Garden +such orders will be faithfully observed by + + "S^{rs} Your faithfull humble Servant + "H. CRISPE." + + +Crispe sent a list of the books with his letter, but that list is +missing. The Board answered that it would not buy the books without +seeing them first, but as we find no further mention of the matter in +the Journal and as the books and papers are not to be found to-day the +probabilities are that the negotiations fell through. Journal, XIX, +p. 296; Board of Trade Papers, Trade, H Nos. 74, 76.] + +[Footnote 12: This may be inferred from the following note attached to +one of the reports: "The council conceiving themselves to be in noe +capacitie of giving any judgment therein having heard but one side." +Egerton, 2395, f. 299.] + +[Footnote 13: See Cal. State Papers, Col., 1675-1676, §§ 338, 339, where +he is called "Secretary for Foreign Plantations."] + +[Footnote 14: Egerton, 2395, ff. 286, 291, 299, 335, 336.] + +[Footnote 15: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1661-1668, §§ 790, 833; Dom., +1664-1665, p. 4.] + +[Footnote 16: In December, 1665, he wrote of "an uncomfortable journey +on unfrequented roads, with none to break the ice, in a hackney coach +which receives the wind in all parts." Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1665, +p. 105.] + +[Footnote 17: P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. VI, p. 231; Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1661-1668, § 1685.] + +[Footnote 18: Egerton, 2395, ff. 449, 451, 452, 453; Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1661-1668, §§ 1598-1600.] + +[Footnote 19: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 25115, f. 156; Cal. State Papers, +Dom., 1661-1662, pp. 411-412.] + +[Footnote 20: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 25115; Cal. State Papers, Dom., +1660-1661, pp. 356, 359, 363, 372, 412; 1661-1662 pp. 28, 80.] + +[Footnote 21: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1660-1661, pp. 383, 532; +1661-1662, pp. 111, 277, 529, 446; Bodleian, Rawlinson MSS., A. 478, f. +81.] + +[Footnote 22: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 25115, ff. 133-140; Cal. State +Papers, Treasury Books, 1660-1667, pp. 245-247, containing the list of +convoys, a duplicate of that in the British Museum volume; p. 250, the +Treasurer's report.] + +[Footnote 23: Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2543, ff. 137-139.] + +[Footnote 24: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1663-1664, pp. 515, 549. +The Fishing Commission, appointed in 1661, had proved a failure, but +the council borrowed from the patent of that commission many of the +suggestions which it recommended. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661-1662, +p. 83.] + +[Footnote 25: Cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661-1662, p. 83.] + +[Footnote 26: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1665-1666, p. 330. Yet Crispe's +letter (_ante_, p. 75, note) certainly speaks as if the Council had a +continuous existence from 1660 to 1668, and the mention of Exeter House +as its place of meeting after 1667 points in the same direction.] + +[Footnote 27: "Some considerations about the commission for trade," +P.R.O. Shaftesbury MSS., Div. X, 8(1).] + +[Footnote 28: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1663-1664, pp. 528, 531, 543, +572, 573, 588.] + +[Footnote 29: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661-1662, pp. 75, 135-136, 149.] + +[Footnote 30: 19 Charles II, c. 13.] + +[Footnote 31: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1667-1668, pp. 156, 158, 165, +173, 180, 187, 191, 247, 321, 433, 444, 452, 511, 593, 594; 1668-1669, +pp. 35, 40.] + +[Footnote 32: Brit. Mus., Egerton MSS., 2543, ff. 205-205^{b}. Endorsed +"Regulation of Committees of the Councill. Read & Ordered in Councill +the 31^{st} January, 1667^{b}." For reasons that cannot be explained +this regulation is not entered in the Privy Council Register. It is +referred to in a similar order of February 12, 1668, P.C.R., Charles II, +Vol. VII, pp. 176-177, but otherwise omitted. For this reason the +document is here printed in full. Cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom., +1667-1668, p. 261.] + +[Footnote 33: For instance, there are among the Colonial Papers memoranda +of proceedings at various sittings of this committee held between +April 7, 1668, and February 18, 1669, relative to domestic, colonial, +and foreign trade, that are not recorded elsewhere.] + +[Footnote 34: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1661-1668, §§ 1685, 1712, 1759, +1769, 1791, 1870, 1883; 1660-1674, §§ 30, 66, 150, 184-186, 751, 837, +1226, I, II, III; 1320, 1353, 1390. Dom., 1668-1669, pp. 62, 201.] + +[Footnote 35: Roger North, Examen, p. 461, quoted by Prof. Ashley in +Surveys, Historic and Economic, pp. 274-275.] + +[Footnote 36: New York Colonial Docts., III, p. 175.] + +[Footnote 37: P.R.O. Chancery, Crown Office, Docket Books, 7, pp. 335, +344; Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1668-1669, pp. 6, 18, 224-225.] + +[Footnote 38: Bodleian, Rawlinson MSS. A, 478, f. 77; Cal. State Papers, +Dom., 1668-1669, pp. 224-225, 651.] + +[Footnote 39: Ashley, Surveys, pp. 275-276.] + +[Footnote 40: New York Colonial Docts., III, pp. 175-178; Cal. State +Papers, Col., 1661-1668, §§ 1874, 1875.] + +[Footnote 41: P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. VIII, p. 169; Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1661-1668, § 1884, 1669-1674, §§ 6, 9.] + +[Footnote 42: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1669-1674, §§ 104, 696.] + +[Footnote 43: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1671, p. 210; 1671-1672, +pp. 450-451.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +The Plantation Councils of 1670 and 1672. + + +During the years 1668 and 1669 no member of the government was more +active in promoting the development of the plantations than Anthony +Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley. As one of the proprietaries of Carolina, +he had taken the lead in advancing that settlement, had called upon +John Locke to frame a new constitution, and had himself organized the +expedition of 1669 which gave to the new colony its most important +impetus. He became a proprietary of the Bahamas in 1670 and later +attempted to found a plantation on the Edisto River. He planned to +organize these colonies at Charles Town, Albemarle, Edisto, and New +Providence into a kind of cooperative trading group of settlements, +under the same laws and instructions, and from them he hoped to obtain +in time for himself and the other proprietaries ample returns on their +investments. It is of no concern to us here that his scheme failed, the +important fact remains that Ashley and Locke were at this juncture in +the very heyday of their interest in colonial affairs and were eager to +take advantage of every opportunity for encouraging colonial trade. The +revival of the Select Council for Foreign Plantations was due in largest +part to the influence and initiative of these two men, particularly of +Ashley, who in 1670 was at the height of his political power and on +terms of closest intimacy with the King.[1] That he was sincere in this +movement seems to me beyond question, and the charge that has been made +against him of recommending the creation of this Council as a means of +obtaining sinecures for his friends, does not appear capable of the +slightest proof.[2] If membership on the Council was deemed at the first +a position of ease, it must soon have lost that character, for few +committee men ever worked harder than those who looked after plantation +affairs in the years from 1670 to 1674. This fact will appear as we +examine the nature and extent of their activities. + +Experience with previous councils had shown that too numerous and +fluctuating a membership was not conducive either to harmony or to +despatch of business. Therefore, in reviving the Council for Plantations +it was decided, as the most important change to be effected, that the +number should be reduced to such terms as to enable the committee to +apply itself as a whole to the business in hand. The commission was +issued on July 30, 1670, to ten persons, of whom but three were members +of the nobility. The commissioners were Edward, Earl of Sandwich; +Richard, Lord Gorges, Baron of Dundalk in Ireland; William, Lord +Allington, Baron of Killar in Ireland; Thomas Grey, son of Lord Grey, +of Warke; Henry Brouncker, Sir Humphrey Winch, Sir John Finch, Edmund +Waller, Henry Slingsby, master and worker of the mint and one of the +gentlemen of the privy chamber, and Silas Titus, one of the grooms of +the bed chamber. To this number was added in 1671 James, Duke of York; +Prince Rupert, George, Duke of Buckingham, Master of the Horse; James, +Duke of Ormond, Lord Steward of the Royal Household; John, Earl of +Lauderdale, Secretary of State for Scotland; Thomas, Lord Culpeper; Sir +George Carteret, Vice-Chamberlain; and John Evelyn, but of these only +the last named stood on the same footing with those first appointed as +a regular and salaried member, the others being appointed to give weight +and dignity to the board and receiving no compensation. In August, 1671, +Sir Richard Temple was added to the board, also to serve without pay. +The only basis for the charge of self-seeking which has been brought +against the members of this Council is the fact that for the first time, +as far as we know, the working members received pay for their services. +The allowances and salaries were as follows: the Earl of Sandwich, as +president, received £700; Lord Gorges, Lord Allington, Thomas Grey, +Henry Brouncker, Sir Humphrey Winch, Sir John Finch, Edmund Waller, +Henry Slingsby, Silas Titus, and John Evelyn, each £500, paid quarterly. +Dr. Benjamin Worsley, who held the position of advisor and assistant +secretary under Slingsby, the secretary of the Council, was allowed +£300, while for contingent expenses £1,000, the same amount that had +been placed at the disposal of each of the secretaries, Sir Philip +Frowde and Col. Duke, of the former councils, was appropriated.[3] Five +members, always including the president or one of the officers of state +authorized to attend, constituted a quorum of the Council, which was +ordered to meet for the first time at Essex House, the residence of +the Lord Keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, near Temple Bar, at two in the +afternoon. After the addition of the new members, May 16, 1671, it +removed to the Earl of Bristol's house in Queen Street near Lincoln's +Inn Fields;[4] and after February 12, 1672, to Lord Arlington's lodgings +in Whitehall, in order, as Evelyn tells us, that the King might be +present and hear the debates. It was authorized to employ clerks, +messengers, solicitors, doorkeepers, and other inferior officers and +attendants as it should think fit and necessary for its service. + +By their commission the members of the Council were empowered "to inform +themselves by the best ways and meanes they can of the present State and +condition of our Plantations, together with the Increase, or Decay of +the Trade, and strength of each of them respectively, And the Causes and +Reasons of such Encrease or Decay, And to use all Industry and Diligence +for gaining the full knowledge of all things transacted within any part +of those our Dominions, either by the respective Governours themselves +or their respective Deputies or by them and the respective Councills, or +Assemblies, belonging to any of our said respective Plantations, and +thereof from time to time to give us a true faithfull and certaine +Accompt togeather with their best advice and opinion thereupon." The +range of colonial interest was a wide one, "all the affaires which doe +or may touch or concerne any of our Forreigne Plantations, Colonies, or +Dominions, situate, lying and being in any part of America or in the +Ocean lying betweene this and the maine Land of America, or in any part +of the Bay of Mexico, or upon the Coast of Guinea, or within any of that +circuit of the Globe, that is generally known or called by the name of +the West Indies, whether the said Plantations, Countries, and +Territories, be immediately held by us, or held by any others of us, by +vertue of any Charters, Graunts, or Letters Patents thereof already made +or graunted, or hereafter to be made or graunted, and of all other and +forreigne Plantations, Colonies, and Dominions (our Towne, Citty and +Garrison of Tangier only excepted)." The Council had power to send for +any person or persons whom it deemed able to furnish information or +advice; to call for any books, papers, or records that it judged likely +to be useful to it, and to require of every person called upon or +colonial official addressed prompt and ready response. + +By its instructions and additional instructions the Council was +ordered to make full inquiry into the state of the plantations and +to take every means of acquiring full and accurate information as to +the powers of the governors, the execution of the same, the number of +parishes, planters, servants, and slaves there, and the best means for +increasing the supply where needed. It was to instruct the governors +to live at peace with the Indians and not to suffer them to be injured +in their persons, goods, or possessions; and to keep on terms of amity +with their neighbors, whether Dutch, French, or Spanish; to take such +measures that all commodities of the growth or making of the Plantations +be duly manufactured and improved, and to inquire whether it were +possible to promote in any way the production of such tropical +commodities as cotton, ginger, cocoa, etc. It was to find out what +islands were best fitted for the breeding of cattle and to encourage +the same; to investigate the opportunities of obtaining masts and to +stimulate the production of hemp, flax, pitch, and tar in New England, +and the setting up of saw mills. It was instructed to study the question +of procuring servants and slaves, to settle all difficulties between the +Royal African Company and the colonies, and to do all in its power to +check "spiriting" or the enticing of children and young persons from +England to the plantations. It was to deal with colonial trade, both +oceanic and coastwise, to see that the acts of navigation were duly +enforced; to inquire into the conduct of colonial governments, to +examine colonial laws and to recommend for annulment such as were +contrary to honor, justice, or the law of England. It was to become +familiar with colonial geography, to procure maps and charts, and to +have them available for examination. It was to aid the spread of the +Gospel, the purification of morals, and the instruction of Indians and +slaves. By the additional instructions, issued August 1, 1670, it was to +consider the question of colonial defence, to recommend the production +of saltpetre, to consider how spices, gums, drugs, dyeing stuffs, etc., +might be procured for the plantations from the East Indies, and to +study the systems employed in other countries for the improvement of +trade and the plantations.[5] + +It is noteworthy that the sessions of the Council were held in secret, +no one being admitted except the members, and even those only after each +had taken an oath not to betray the proceedings. "You shall swear," so +runs this oath, "to be true and faithful to our Sovereign Lord the King, +his heirs and successors; you shall according to the best of your skill, +discretion, knowledge, and experience give unto his Maj^{tie} true and +faithful councell, in all things that shall be demanded of you touching +or concerning his Ma^{ties} forreigne Plantations. You shall keepe +secret and conceale his Ma^{ties} said Councells, without disclosing the +same to any person except he be of the same Councill, and if the matter +touch any of the same Councill you shall not disclose the same to him. +You shall not promote or further any matter in the said Councill, for +any reward, favour, affection, or displeasure, And in case you shall +perceive anything to be done contrary to his Ma^{ties} honour and +service you shall to the utmost of your Power with stand and Lett +the same." + +The Council had its first meeting on August 3, 1670, when the commission +and instructions were read; and from that time until September 20, 1672, +a period of nearly twenty-three months, it held one hundred meetings of +which we have record, and probably many more of which no record has been +found.[6] It is reasonable to infer that during the working months the +Council met twice a week. + +The Council began by taking over much of the business left unfinished +by the Committee of the Privy Council, but it soon increased its +activity. It early inaugurated a policy and system of control that was +more comprehensive than any which had been put into practice by the +previous boards. Efficient though some of the former councils and +committees had been, no one of them had endeavored to cover so wide a +range of colonial business or to inquire so minutely into the details +of colonial government as did this Council of 1670. It not only took +into consideration all petitions, memorials, statements of claim, and +subjects in dispute, but it also set up an elaborate system of inquiry +on its own part, following out the instructions which had been given to +it to require of every colonial governor frequent information regarding +the condition of his government. It drafted long series of queries which +were despatched to all the colonies, and to which elaborate replies +were received, notably from Berkeley, of Virginia, Wheeler, of St. +Christopher, and Lynch, of Jamaica. It supplemented the information +thus received by demanding letters from the governors, and received +in response long and frequent epistles, dealing with colonial affairs +in the most minute detail. Wheeler, Stapleton, Lynch, Willoughby, +Colleton, and others furnished the Council with all sorts of descriptive +and statistical matter, and were always ready to offer suggestion and +advice. Merchants, planters, agents, and others familiar with colonial +trade were also called upon for statements, either in person or in +writing, and at many a meeting outsiders were called in to make reports +to the board. The evidence thus obtained was generally discussed +in the Council itself, at which the King and officers of state were +occasionally present, and it was also referred to committees of two or +more, which made their report to the Council. Upon the information and +opinions thus obtained, the Council based its orders and reports to the +Privy Council.[7] + +In addition to these functions, the Council assumed an important and in +some ways a new rôle when it took upon itself the business of preparing +all the preliminary drafts of the various commissions and instructions +of the governors, often spending many days in the consideration of +these instruments, and often receiving from the appointees themselves +suggestions as to the wording of certain clauses. As far as the more +general powers and duties were concerned, these instructions were +modelled somewhat after those which the Council itself had received, +and lively debate arose not infrequently over the nature and extent of +the authority that ought to be conferred on the appointees. The drafts +of the commission and instructions, when completed, were sent to the +Secretary of State, by whom corrections might be made, then conveyed to +the Privy Council, where the documents were frequently referred to the +attorney general for his advice on legal points, and sometimes to the +Committee of the Council, which at this time, as well as afterward, felt +itself fully empowered to make any alterations it pleased. Thus many +hands may have had a share in shaping these important papers before they +were finally engrossed, although it is probable that in the majority of +instances the draft of the Council was accepted unchanged by the King. + +The Council was also beginning to exercise another important function +in receiving from the Privy Council copies of laws passed in the +colonies upon the character of which its opinion was desired, and in +being called upon by the Privy Council or the Secretary of State to +make recommendations as to fit persons to hold colonial offices. In +this particular, the most responsible task of the Council lay in the +selection and instruction of special commissioners, who in accordance +with many earlier precedents were vested with authority to go to the +colonies for the settlement of difficult questions there. Three such +commissions were set on foot by the Council of Plantations: that +appointed to bring to an end the dispute with the French at St. +Christopher; that appointed to treat with the Dutch regarding the +English subjects at Surinam; and that designed for New England, which +was to be openly commissioned to settle boundary disputes, but to be +secretly instructed to inform the Council of the condition of the New +England colonies, "and whether they were of such power as to be able +to resist his Majesty and declare for themselves as independent of the +Crown." No commissioners were, however, sent until the time of Edward +Randolph.[8] + +A large amount of time was consumed by the Council in considering the +petitions and memorials of private persons, who had some grounds of +complaint against one or other of the colonial governments. Among these +the charges of Mason and Gorges against Massachusetts hold prominent +place, but other complainants were none the less insistent; Capt. +Archibald Henderson, of Antigua, who had been imprisoned by Governor +Wheeler for alleged seditious practices; the owners of the ship _James_, +of Belfast, which had been seized by Wheeler as a "stranger-built" +trading contrary to the Navigation Acts; the owners of the logwood +ship _William and Nicholas_, also seized by Wheeler on suspicion that +it had obtained its lading in violation of the treaty of 1670 with +Spain; owners of the _Peter_, of London, seized by the Spaniards in +violation of the same treaty; Jamaica planters who claimed that Spain +had broken the clause of the treaty relating to logwood cutting at +Campeachy; one Mark Gabry, exporter of wool; merchants in Jamaica +complaining of the number of Jews there and their engrossment of trade; +inhabitants of Easthampton, Southampton, and Southold in Long Island in +regard to their whale fishery and their relations with the Dutch at New +Amsterdam; the government of Virginia against the Arlington and Culpeper +grant. The Council also discussed many other matters, all more or less +closely bound up with the welfare of the plantations and of plantation +trade, such as the despatch of their letters and orders; the proper time +for the sailing of merchant ships in order that advantage might be taken +of companies or convoys; the sugar question in the West Indies, notably +Barbadoes, that perennial cause of dispute from the point of view of +customs and impositions; the enticing or spiriting away of young people +from England to go as servants to the plantations, a grievance almost +as old as the plantations themselves and one which Ashley had made a +special subject of inquiry with the result that Parliament passed an +Act, March 18, 1670, making "spiriting" a capital offence; the fisheries +and the abuses in the Newfoundland trade; privateering, especially in +relation to the act of Governor Modyford in commissioning Capt. Morgan +to cruise against the Spaniards and to capture Panama; the slave trade +and the relations of the plantations with the Royal African Company; +and lastly, in obedience to the fourth article of its additional +instructions, the proper supplying of the West India colonies with such +commodities as silk, galls, spices, senna and other dyeing materials, +in order to see whether or not such things could be obtained from +the plantations, a subject upon which Dr. Worsley, who had already +experimented with senna, was deemed an authority. + +The efficiency of the Council of Foreign Plantations and the +inefficiency of the Council of Trade during the same period may +well have led to the belief that the work would be better done if the +functions of the latter were transferred to the former body. The death +of the Earl of Sandwich, who lost his life in the naval engagement of +Southwold Bay with De Ruyter, May 28, 1672, may have hastened this +conclusion, and the need of economy, especially manifest in this year, +1672, may have been a further influence. Whatever the causes, as early +as the summer of 1672 the decision was reached, undoubtedly through the +advice of Lord Ashley, now the Earl of Shaftesbury, to reconstitute +the Council, and to issue a new patent which should cover trade as +well as foreign plantations. Evelyn says that the old Council met at +Shaftesbury's house on September 1, 1672, to consider the draft of the +new commission. The form of the commission having been approved, the +warrant was issued to the attorney general on September 16 to prepare +the bill for the King's signature, and on the twenty-seventh the Council +was duly commissioned by writ of privy seal. The membership remained the +same as before, with the single exception that the Earl of Shaftesbury +took the place of the Earl of Sandwich as the president of the board, +with Lord Culpeper as vice-president. When in December of the same year +Sir John Finch was appointed ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, in place +of Sir Daniel Harvey, deceased, Sir William Hickman was constituted +a member of the Council in his stead. As in the case of the former +Council, the Duke of York, Prince Rupert, and the chief officers of +state were authorized to attend and vote but without pay. To their +number were now added the Duke of Ormond, George, Viscount Halifax; Sir +Thomas Osborne, and Sir Robert Long, all of whom, except Long, had been +members of the Council of Trade, while Halifax, who had just returned +from an important mission to France and was rapidly rising to power, +had been a member of the committee of the House of Lords, appointed +in October, 1669, to consider the improvement of trade. Sandwich and +Shaftesbury had both been on the same committee, and it is not unlikely +that the latter was responsible for the remarkable report made by this +committee to the Lords that "some relaxation in ecclesiastical matters +will be a means of improving the trade of this kingdom."[9] + +According to its commission, the Council of Trade and Plantations was +"to take care of the welfare of our said Colonies and Plantations and +of the Trade and Navigation of these our Kingdomes and of our said +colonies and plantations," and was to be a council of advice to the +King "in and for all the affairs which do or may any way concern the +navigation, commerce, or trade, as well domestic as foreign of these our +kingdoms and our said foreign colonies and plantations." Five were to +constitute a quorum of which the president or vice-president or one of +the unsalaried members should always be one. The salary of the president +was raised to £800, that of the vice-president was made £700, while that +of the other salaried members remained as before, £500. No treasurer or +secretary is named in the commission, but Dr. Worsley held these offices +until in September, 1673, he was discharged and John Locke took his +place. In all other respects the commission of 1672 reproduces that +of 1670. + +The most noteworthy difference between the two councils is to be +found in the instructions, which for the Council of 1672 form a very +comprehensive and intelligent statement of the essentials of plantation +control. The draft was undoubtedly written by Shaftesbury and Locke, for +a preliminary sketch is to be found among the Shaftesbury Papers; the +preliminary meeting for the consideration and approval of the articles +was held at Shaftesbury's residence, Exeter House; and the essential +portions of the document are all to be found embodied in one form or +another in the instructions and suggestions sent to the planters in +the Bahamas and Carolina, colonies which for two years had been a kind +of experimental station for Shaftesbury's and Locke's ideas. All the +later commissions and instructions were based in the main on the +principles laid down in these documents, and neither the Lords of Trade +from 1675 to 1696 nor the Board of Trade from 1696 to 1782 ever in any +important particular passed the limits herein defined. Probably the +instructions of 1672 became from this time forward the precedent and +guide for those who in later years were called upon to shape the powers +vested in the boards of trade and plantations. It frequently happened, +of course, that orders in Council directed the attention of the boards +to matters which needed special examination, but in the main it may be +said that Povey first and Shaftesbury afterward mapped out the lines +to be followed by future commissions in their control of plantation +affairs. This fact gives to the work of these men a peculiar interest +and value. + +By the terms of the instructions of 1672, the Council was to consider +first of all the trade of the kingdom and of the plantations in the +following particulars: the increase and improvement of raw commodities +for use at home, the promotion of manufactures, the betterment of +the fishing trade at home and abroad, the opening of rivers, ports, +and harbors, the proper distribution of trade and manufactures, the +obstacles that lay in the way of English trade as compared with those +confronting the trade of other nations, and all abuses of trade and +manufactures in the kingdom. It was to inquire into the best methods of +increasing the sale and export of native commodities and manufactures, +of encouraging the importation of foreign goods at the cheapest rates, +of building ships for the carrying of such bulky articles as masts and +timber, of extending correspondence with the great commercial centers +abroad, and of opening free ports where foreign commodities might be +landed and stored with small charge if designed for reëxportation. It +was also to take into special consideration the advantages of a more +open and free trade than that of companies and corporations, and to +encourage inventions and improvements designed to improve any art, +trade, or manufacture or to secure and promote trade and navigation. + +So far as the plantations were concerned, the Council was to inquire +into the general state of the colonies, and to obtain full information +regarding councils, assemblies, courts of judicature, courts of +admiralty, legislative and executive powers, statutes, laws and +ordinances, militia, fortifications, arms, and ammunition. It was to +learn all it could about boundaries, lands, mines, staple products, +and manufactures; to determine whether or not nutmegs, cinnamon, +cloves, pepper, and other spices would grow if planted; to inform itself +regarding rivers, harbors, and fishing banks; and to estimate how many +planters and parishes there were, how many whites and blacks yearly +arrived, and how many people died each year. It was to learn the number +of ships trading to the plantations, to discover the obstacles to trade +and how they could be removed, the advantages and how they could be +increased; it was to concern itself with export and import dues, public +revenues, measures taken for the instruction of the people and the +maintenance of the ministry. It was especially instructed to keep in +frequent correspondence with the governors, to urge upon them the +necessity of maintaining peace with their neighbors, the Indians and +others, of taking the Indians under their protection and of guarding +their persons, goods, and possessions according to law. Furthermore, +it was to procure copies of all necessary documents, to purchase maps, +plats, and charts when needed, to study those portions of treaties +made with other countries that related to peace and commerce, and to +determine how far those articles had been upheld and performed. And +lastly, it was to consider the practice of other countries in matters +of trade, commerce, and the colonies, and to see how far such practices +might be of value to England. + +The Council had its first meeting on October 13, at Essex House, and +there the commission was read and the oaths were taken. Soon after, it +took up its abode at Villier's House in King's Street near Whitehall, +which it rented of the Duchess of Cleveland for £200 a year. There it +had a council chamber, an office for the clerks, two messengers, a +porter, a maid, and a chamber keeper, all of whom were paid out of the +£1,000 allowed for contingent expenses. We have record of seventy-six +meetings held between October 13, 1672, and December 22, 1674, a period +of twenty-six months; but it is quite certain that more meetings than +this were held, inasmuch as the session-days were every Wednesday and +Friday at ten in the morning.[10] So far as the plantations were +concerned the Council did little more than continue the work of its +predecessor, the Council of 1670, but in addition it concerned itself +with a large number of questions that had to do with domestic and +foreign as well as with colonial trade. The most important of these +related to the petition of the English consul at Venice that his +consulage be levied on goods and not on ships, a matter that aroused +prolonged debate; to the petition of the Gambia adventurers against +the importation by the East India Company of the dyeing wood called +"sanders" which, because cheaper, was taking the place of their redwood +from Africa; to the ordinances issued in Sweden against the English +"privileges" concerning naval stores; to the exportation of wool from +England, a matter already dealt with in an Act of Parliament; and to +the treatment of merchants at the hands of the Spaniards, regarding +which a number of petitions had been received by the board. A few new +petitions were taken into consideration from traders and others in the +plantations, notably those of the Jew Rabba Couty, whose ship had been +seized at Jamaica on the ground that he was a foreigner; of William +Helyar, whose woodland in Jamaica had been seized by Governor Lynch; +of John Rodney and his wife Frances, whose plantation in Nevis had +been seized by Governor Russell, a case destined to drag on for nearly +two years. + +In recommending the appointment of governors and other officials, +passing upon colonial laws, scrutinizing nominations as of colonial +councillors, corresponding with the governors, organizing an efficient +system of communication and supervision in all matters touching trade +and commerce, and in making reports to the King in Council,--in short, +in the control and management of colonial affairs, the Council of 1672 +placed the British colonial policy on a broader and more comprehensive +foundation than had hitherto been laid and inaugurated a more thorough +system of colonial control than had been established by any of its +predecessors. It is doubtful if even the Lords of Trade or the Board of +Trade surpassed the Councils of 1670 and 1672 in enthusiasm, loyalty, +or dispatch of business. + +On December 21, 1674, Charles II revoked the commission of the Council, +and plantation affairs under their cognizance thus being "left loose and +at large" were "restored to their accustomed channel of a Committee of +the Privy Council," that is, to the Committee of the Board appointed for +matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations.[11] The reasons for +this step are of course to be found in the first instance in the fall +of Shaftesbury from power the summer before, but that event is not in +itself a sufficient explanation of the change. At least it is worthy of +remark that the dissolution of the Council took place many months after +Shaftesbury's dismissal. Probably a further cause is to be found in the +widespread demand for economy and retrenchment. The Council of 1672 +cost the King nearly £8,000 a year; the Committee of the Privy Council +cost the King nothing for the services of its members, although its +contingent expenses ran higher than had those of any previous board, +amounting to between £275 and £400 a quarter from 1676 to 1687 and £250 +and £300 from 1689 to 1696.[12] + +Probably a greater reason for the dissolution of the Council of 1672 +is to be found in the dissatisfaction which existed with the system of +advisory and independent bodies. Povey expressed the matter well when +he wrote: + + "His Ma^{tie} since his happy Restoraton, rightly considering + of how great Consequence his foreign Plantations are to this + Crowne, hath at several times Commissionated certain select + persons to be Councells for the Plantations, every one of + which Councels were variously framed, instructed and encouraged, + w^{ch} have all expired without any considerable advantage, or + satisfaction to his Ma^{tie} or the Plantations. Among the other + Reasons w^{ch} may be given, why they proved fruitless, it seems, + That it is found by experience that whatsoever Council is not + enabled as well to execute as advise, must needs produce very + imperfect and weak effects. It being, by its subordination and + impotency obliged to have a continual recourse to superior + Ministers, and Councels filled with other business, w^{ch} + ofttimes gives great and prejudicial delays and usually begets + new or slower deliberations and results, than the matter in + hand may stand in need of, by w^{ch} means the authority and + virtue of this little Council became faint and ineffectual. + Seeing therefore it hath been held at all times, that may + distant Colonies, and the manifold Concernments thereof do + require and deserve to be consider'd and provided for by some + select persons as a Councel for those affairs, And that the + wisdome of our Government admits not such a plenary Authority, + but solely in the highest Council, it remains only as the best + expedient, That Com^{rs} be appointed out of the Privy Council + under the Great Seal, who may sit on some appointed day in every + [blank] and sometimes an hour before the Councel shall sit, as + occasion may call for it, to take consideration of any of the + affairs of the Plantations, who may give direcions in ordinary + cases, and in cases extraordinary may report to the King and + Councel."[13] + + +We do not know when this paper was written nor do we know whether +it ever came to the attention of the King and his advisers. Its +recommendation was certainly carried out, when the King, taking into +his own hands again the full control of trade and the plantations, +issued a commission in February, 1675, placing the entire charge of +these matters in the hands of the committee of the Council, which +through all the changes of fifteen years had never ceased to exercise +its functions of supervision and control of colonial affairs. This +committee, known as the Lords of Trade, acted as a board of trade and +plantations for twenty years and conducted its business with eminent +success. Its membership was occasionally changed, though as a rule the +work fell upon a comparatively small number of men who were in frequent +attendance. After the fall of the Stuarts, King William continued the +same policy, appointing a new Council Committee and resisting all +attempts of Parliament to interfere. + +Parliament, however, determined to obtain control of the management of +colonial affairs, and as early as 1694 made an effort in that direction. +Acting evidently under the influence of the merchants of London, who +resented the fact that affairs of this character should be entrusted +to "courtiers without experience," it took into consideration the +appointment of a separate board, whose members should be chosen by +itself. The first bill was thrown out by Parliament, but the matter was +brought up at the next session in December, 1695. Strenuous efforts were +made by a few of the leading out-ports, such as Bristol, to obtain, +through their members in Parliament, a representation on the proposed +board, in order to overcome "the growing greatness of London." During +December and January the matter was debated with great heat in the +House, and Bristol went so far as to send up a special delegation to +lobby in its behalf. The proposal was defeated by the King's opposition +to this attempt to encroach upon his prerogative, and a compromise was +effected, in which the out-ports played no part. Influenced by the +determination of the majority in Parliament, William issued a commission +on May 15, 1696, to a separate Board of Trade and Plantations, the +membership of which was, however, to be controlled by the Crown. + +Of the history of the Board of Trade, thus established in 1696, little +need be said here. The board passed through many vicissitudes in its +life of nearly eighty-seven years. It enjoyed its greatest repute during +the first fifteen years of its existence, falling into the hands of +inferior officials and placemen during the era of Walpole and the first +years of the supremacy of Newcastle. Granted new powers in 1752, it rose +again to a position of prominence which it held for fourteen years, and +it reached a climax in 1765, when it was made a ministerial executive +office of government, as were the Secretary's office and the boards of +the Admiralty and the Treasury, possessing full authority and complete +jurisdiction in all matters relative to its own department. This +position of independence was, however, soon lost. On August 8, 1766, +an order in Council declared that all measures relative to commerce and +the colonies should originate either with the King in Council, the +Committee of the Council, or one of the principal Secretaries of State. +This order, which evidently originated with Shelburne, Secretary of the +Southern Department, that he might increase thereby his control over +all colonial affairs, reduced the board to the position of an advisory +and consulting body upon such matters as the Council might refer to +it. Henceforth all estimates for colonial services and the direction +and application of money granted thereupon, which had hitherto been +transacted by the board, were resumed by the higher authorities. From +this time the importance and influence of the board steadily declined +until it was finally abolished in 1782. The control of the colonies +during the period from 1768 to 1782 was assumed by the new Secretary +of State for the colonies and remained in his charge until his office +also was abolished in the same year. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: See various papers among the Shaftesbury MSS., Division X, +particularly 8, No. 4, "L^{d} Shaftesbury's Advice to his Majesty about +Trade, etc."] + +[Footnote 2: Edward Long, governor and historian of Jamaica, viewed +the appointment of the Council as a piece of jobbery and graft, an +undertaking espoused not for the national good, but in order to obtain +new and lucrative offices for Ashley and others "his Brethren in the +ministry." Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 12438, iii, f. 17.] + +[Footnote 3: Henry Slingsby is named secretary and treasurer in the +commission and his signature or initials are appended to all orders from +October 5, 1670, to July 23, 1672. During this time and until September +13, 1673, Dr. Worsley acted as assistant and is called "secretary" until +November 15, 1672, when he was made treasurer also. On October 15, 1673, +after the discharge of Worsley, John Locke, secretary, friend, and ally +of the Earl of Shaftesbury, president of the new Council of 1672, was +sworn in as secretary and as treasurer on December 16, 1673. He remained +in service until the abolition of the Council. Evelyn speaks of Worsley +as dead on October 15, but this statement cannot be true as Worsley was +still alive in March, 1675.] + +[Footnote 4: Evelyn in describing the room in which the Council sat +mentions atlases, maps, charts, globes, etc., but Locke when called upon +to hand over the papers in March, 1675, reported that he never had had +any globes and maps.] + +[Footnote 5: The commission, instructions, and additional instructions +of the Council for Foreign Plantations are to be found among the +Shaftesbury Papers in the Public Record Office, fair written in an entry +book bound in vellum. Div. X, 10. Another copy of the instructions is +contained in X, 8 (11).] + +[Footnote 6: The sources for the history of the councils of 1670 and +1672 are: The Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1669-1674, which +contains abstracts of the papers of the Councils now among the Colonial +Papers. Had it been possible to examine each original document before +writing this paper there is no doubt that the list of the meetings given +in the Appendix would have been considerably extended. The calendaring +is often far from clear and the indexing, as far as all the boards are +concerned from 1622 to 1675, is a muddle of confusion. Among the Board +of Trade Papers is an Index to the entry books of the councils, which +shows that the following books, "called in the stile of the office, the +'rough books,'" were kept: "A Journal," "Orders of Council of Foreign +Plantations," "Petitions, References, and Reports," "Addresses and +Advices," "Letters and Answers," "Miscellanies," "Barbadoes," "Leeward +Islands," "Jamaica," "Virginia," "Letters from the Council," "New +England," "Fishery," "West India, Surinam," and "Letters to the +Council." Most of these entry books have been found scattered among +the Colonial Office volumes. Unfortunately the most important book, +"A Journal," is missing and has been missing for two centuries. The +"Index," however, contains a series of entries entitled, "Heads of +Business," which is very incomplete as an index to the meetings, but +upon which I have drawn in making up my list. The "Virginia" volume +is also missing, but it apparently contained nothing except blank +leaves. Part one of the volume entitled "Letters and Answers" and the +whole of "Letters to the Council" are also missing. The "New England" +volume contains only a copy of the Massachusetts charter; that entitled +"Miscellaneous" three interesting papers "Concerning Spiriting," +"Consideration about Foreign Plantations," and "Other considerations +concerning Plantations." The complete minutes of two meetings are among +the Shaftesbury Papers and very interesting notes in Evelyn's Diary.] + +[Footnote 7: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1669-1674, §§ 327, I, 415, 565, +663, 680, 697, 704, 737, 804, 805, 891, 896, 1044, 1101.] + +[Footnote 8: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1669-1674, §§ 287, 365, 822, 834, +917, 1003, 1011-1013, 1100, 1186, 1197, 1212, 1251-1252, 1255, 1295, +1300, 1306, 1386.] + +[Footnote 9: Lord's Journal, XII, pp. 254, 257, 273-274, 284.] + +[Footnote 10: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1672-1673, pp. 213-214.] + +[Footnote 11: New York Col. Docts., III, pp. 228, 229-230; Cal. State +Papers, Col., 1675-1676, §§ 648, 649.] + +[Footnote 12: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 9767, 9768, containing an itemized +expense account of the Lords of Trade from 1676 to 1696.] + +[Footnote 13: Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2395, f. 276.] + + + + +APPENDIX I. + +Instructions, Board of Trade, 1650. + + +_First._--They are to take notice of all the Native commodities of this +Land, or what Time and Industry may hereafter make Native and advise how +they may not only be fully Manufactured, but well and truly wrought, to +the Honor and Profit of the Commonwealth. + +_Secondly._--They are to consider how the Trades and Manufactures of +this Nation may most fitly and equally be distributed to every part; to +the end that one part may not abound with Trade, and another remain poor +and desolate for the want of the same. + +_Thirdly._--They are to consult how the Trade may most conveniently be +driven from one part of this Land to another. To which purpose they are +to consider how the Rivers may be made more Navigable and the Ports more +capable of Shipping. + +_Fourthly._--They are to consider how the Commodities of this Land may +be vented, to the best advantage thereof, into Foraign Countreys, and +not undervalued by the evil management of Trade, And that they advise +how Obstructions of Trade into Foraign parts may be removed; and desire +by all means, how new ways and places may be found out, for the better +venting of the Native commodities of this Land. + +_Fifthly._--They are to advise how Free Ports or Landing-places +for Foreign Commodities imported (without paying of Custom if again +exported) may be appointed in several parts of this Land, and in what +manner the same is to be effected. + +_Sixthly._--They are to consider of some way, that a most exact account +be kept of all commodities imported and exported through the Land, +to the end that a perfect Balance of Trade may be taken, whereby the +Commonwealth may not be impoverished, by receiving of Commodities yearly +from Foraign parts of a greater value than what was carried out. + +_Seventhly._--They are duly to consider the value of the _English_ +Coyns, and the Par thereof, in relation to the intrinsic value which it +bears in weight and fineness with the Coyns of other Nations. Also to +consider of the state of the Exchange, and of the gain or loss that +comes to the Commonwealth by the Exchange now used by the Merchants. + +_Eighthly._--They are (in order to the Regulating and Benefit of Trade) +seriously to consider what Customs, Impositions, and Excise is fit to be +laid upon all Goods and Commodities, either Native or Imported, and how +the said Customs, Impositions, and Excise may be best ordered and +Regulated, and so equally laid and evenly managed, as neither Trade may +be thereby hindered, nor the State made incapable to defray the Publique +Charges of the Commonwealth. + +_Ninthly._--They are to take into their consideration whether it be +necessary to give way to a more open or free Trade than that of +Companies and Societies, and in what manner it is fittest to be done; +wherein, notwithstanding, they are to take care that Government and +Order in Trade may be preserved and Confusion avoided. + +_Tenthly._--They are to inform themselves of the particular Ordinances, +Orders, Grants, Patents, and Constitutions of the several Companies of +Merchants and Handicraftsmen, to the end that if any of them tend to +the hurt of the Publique, they may be laid down in such manner as the +Parliament shall think fit. + +_Eleventhly._--They are to consider the great Trade of Fishing, and +that not only upon the coasts of _England_ and _Ireland_ but likewise of +_Iceland_, _Greenland_, _Newfoundland_, and _New England_, or elsewhere, +and to take care that the Fishermen may be encouraged to go on in their +Labors, to the increase of Shipping and Mariners. + +_Twelfthly._--They are to take into their consideration the English +Plantations in America or elsewhere, and to advise how those Plantations +may be best managed, and made most useful for this Commonwealth, and how +the Commodities thereof may be so multiplied and improved, as (if it +be possible) those Plantations alone may supply the _Commonwealth_ of +_England_ with whatsoever it necessarily wants. (Inderwick, _The +Interregnum_, p. 74 note.) + + + + +APPENDIX II. + +Instructions for the Council for Foreign Plantations, 1670-1672. + + +Given at our Court at Whitehall the 30th day of July, 1670. + +[Sidenote: Preamble.] + +Forasmuch as our severall Colonies, and Plantations abroad, have by the +Prudence of our Predecessors, and not without the great hazard, Charge +and Expence of these Nations been respectively setled, and being so +setled are become the proper Right and Soveraigne Posessions of us: And +forasmuch as the said Colonies having upon severall Occasions readily +exprest their loyalty and faithfulnesse towards us, have thereby the +more engaged us, out of our Princely care, not only to take notice of +them, but by all Wayes and meanes to endeavour the promoting of their +Welfare and Increase, togeather with their flourishing Estate and +condition, and more especially their Protection and Defence. + +[Sidenote: To inquire of the State of the Plantations, of the Powers +and Instructions of the Governours how Executed.] + +1. You are therefore strictly to inquire and informe your selves, by +the best wayes and meanes you can of the State and condition of all and +every of our said respective Colonies, and Plantations, what it is, by +whome they are respectively governed, and what Commissions, Powers and +Instructions, have been graunted by us, or any way derived from us to +that End, how the same have been duly executed and observed. + +[Sidenote: Miscarriages to be represented.] + +And if upon Enquiry or Examination you shall find any neglect, or +miscarriage, to have been committed by any of the said Governours +respectively, or by any of their respective Deputies, or that any such +neglect or miscarriage shall hereafter appeare to you, that shall tend +to the abuse of our Authority, or to the prejudice of our Interest, Or +to the dammage and discouragement of any of our said Plantations, you +are forthwith and at all times from time to time carefully to represent +the same to us, that we may give such direction therein as the affaire +shall require and as to our Princely wisdome shall be thought fitt. + +[Sidenote: To send for Coppies of Commissions and Instructions, +and consider of them.] + +[Sidenote: To give Directions accordingly.] + +2. And to this End you are to demaund of the said Governours respectively, +or of their respective Deputies, the Coppies of all such Commissions and +Instructions, as have mediatly, or immediatly been derived from us, or +to procure and require the same from the Officers of Record, within this +our Kingdome. Which having you shall cause them to be fairly transcribed +and entred in a Booke provided for that purpose. That you may at all +times be the better enabled to judge of the Duties of the said +Governours respectively, and may Administer such directions to them, +as may be suitable thereunto, and most agreeable to our service. + +[Sidenote: What Number of Parishes, Planters, Servants and Slaves +are in the Severall Plantations.] + +3. And that you may the better provide for the Defence, Welfare, and +Security of the said Plantations, you are diligently to informe your +selves how all and every of the said Colonies and Plantations are +inhabited (viz) What number of Parishes there are in each respective +Goverment, and what number of Planters there be in each Parish and what +number of Servants doe belong to the said Planters respectively, and +whether the said Servants are Christians, or Slaves that are brought +from other parts. + +[Sidenote: If thinly stockt to consider how they may be supplyed +from other Plantations or from these Dominions.] + +And if you shall find any of the said Plantations to be so thinly and +weakly inhabited as that it may endanger the losse of them, you are to +consider how and which way they may most conveniently be supplyed either +from some other of our Plantations, where they are overstored, or from +any part of these our Dominions. + +[Sidenote: Not to give just Provocations to their Neighbours, Indians, +or others.] + +[Sidenote: To preserve Amity with them.] + +4. And forasmuch as most of our said Colonies doe border upon the +Indians of severall Countries, or doe lye neare the Plantations of +our Neighbours the French, Spanish, or Dutch, and that peace is not +to be expected either with the said Indians, or with such as are our +Neighbours, without the due observance and præservation of Justice to +each of them respecively. You are therefore strictly in our Name to +charge and Command all and every the Governours of our said Colonies +respectively, that they at no time give any just provocation to any of +the said Indians, nor to any of our said Neighbours, that are at peace +with us, or their Subjects, but that they doe by all just wayes and +meanes endeavour to preserve the Amity that is respectively setled +betweene them, and to begett also for the future a good and faire +Correspondency with them. + +[Sidenote: Governours to receive all Indians under their Protections.] + +5. And inasmuch as some of the Natives of the said Indians may be of +great use to give Intelligence to our Plantations, Or to discover the +Trade of other Countries to them, or to be Guides to places more remote +from them, or to informe our Governours of severall Advantages, and +Commodities that may be within or neare to our severall Plantations, +not otherwise capable to be known to them, And may be many other wayes +serviceable, either to defend or to succour and assist our Plantations. +It is therefore our pleasure, and we doe hereby require you, to give +strict order to our severall and respective Governours, that if any of +the said Indian Nations shall at any time desire to put themselves under +the protection of our Goverment, that they doe receive them, And that +they doe by all Wayes and Meanes seeke firmly to oblige them, And that +they doe direct or employ some persons purposely to learne the languages +respectively of them. + +And that they doe not only carefully protect and defend them from other +Indians, and from any that are the Adversaries of them. But that they +more especially take care that none of our owne Subjects, nor any of +their respective Servants, doe at any time any way harme them. + +[Sidenote: Not to suffer them to be injured in their persons Goods +or Possessions.] + +And that if any shall dare to offer any Violence to them in their +respective persons, Goods or possessions, the said Governours doe +severely punish the said Injuries agreeable to Justice and Right. + +6. And for the better Improovement of the Trade and Commerce of the said +Plantations, you are as much as in you lyeth to take care, and to give +such Rules and Directions therein, as you shall in your Judgement thinke +best. + +[Sidenote: That all Commodities of their Growth or making be duly +manufactured and Improoved.] + +That all the Commodities which are made and produce in every of our said +Plantations, may be duly cured, Manufactured, Improoved, and made as +Merchantable to the utmost as they may, to the end that they may not +only be of the greater perfection, but of the greater value, worth and +repute abroad among other Countries. + +[Sidenote: Whether other Commodities, then what grow at present, +may not be planted and thrive, as Cotton, Ginger, Cocoa &c.] + +7. To which End you are to inquire and informe your selves aright. +Whether there may not be some better Species even of those very +Commodities which we now plant, Than what we yet have, as of Cotton, +Ginger, Cocoa &c. Or whether there may not be some better and more +perfect skill used, in some other places, for the husbanding, managing, +and perfecting the said Commodities, than what we use at present. + +[Sidenote: To gaine the knowledge and skill of such, & impart them +to the People.] + +And if you find the same to be so, you are to use all Endeavour possible +to procure the said Species, or to gaine the Knowledge of the said +skill, and to impart the same to the people of our said Plantations. + +[Sidenote: What Islands are fittest and most conveniently seated +for breeding of Cattle.] + +8. And forasmuch as the Increase of Horses, and Cattle for Draught +or for Victuall, are of very great use for the settling of new, and for +the furnishing of old Plantations, And that there are severall Islands +which as we are informed, are not so fitt for the inhabiting, or for the +planting of any Commodity in, as for the breeding the said Cattle, and +which may yet be the more easily setled, by how much they require the +lesse people. + +You are therefore to informe your selves, what Islands are scituate +most convenient for that purpose, and to conferre with such Seamen and +Captaines of Shipps, as have viewed and coasted along the said places. + +[Sidenote: To give Encouragement towards the effecting of the same.] + +And to consider accordingly of such Conditions, and to publish such +encouragements, as that the same may be most probable to be effected. + +9. And in regard whatever conduceth to the Increase of Shipping, must +equally conduce to the Safety and strength of these Nations. + +[Sidenote: Whether Masts and other Materialls for Shipping may not +be furnished from the Plantations.] + +And that not only Masts, but all other Materialls, as well for the +building, as fitting out of Shipps of great burthen may as we are +informed be plentifully furnished from some of our Plantations, if +care hereunto were more especially used. + +[Sidenote: To encourage the producing of Hempe, Flax, Pitch and Tarre +in New England: and setting up of Sawing Mills.] + +You are therefore more particularly to advise about this matter, with +the severall Governours, and Colonies of New England, and to propound +to them or receive their Opinion, what methods and course might be +most fitt for the producing of Flax, Hempe, Pitch and Tarre in those +Countries in most plenty. As also where Mills might be most conveniently +placed and encreased for the sawing of Timber, and Planke, and how best +we may ease the charge and promote the building there of great Shipping. + +[Sidenote: How the Plantations may be supplyed with Servants +and Slaves.] + +10. You are to take into your Consideration, how all and every our said +Colonies, and Plantations, may be best supplyed both with servants and +Slaves. + +[Sidenote: To consider the differences betwixt the Guiny Company, +and the Plantations, and to find out expedients of agreement.] + +[Sidenote: That none of his Ma^{ties} Subjects of these kingdomes be +forced or Enticed away to the Plantations by any unlawfull Practises, +but that they may be duly accomodated.] + +And what just Objections the said Plantations have against the standing +and Priviledges of the Guiny Company, Or what complaints the Guiny +Company doth justly make against any of the said Colonies. And to find +out such Expedients if possible, that neither of them may lye under any +Discouragements, or that at least neither of them may be permitted to +injure or oppresse the other. You are also as farre as you may, to +provide that none of our Subjects in these Kingdomes, be either forced +or enticed away into any of our said Plantations, by any indirect and +unlawfull practises, But that all such persons neverthelesse, as are +willing, and that shall desire to be transported thither, to seeke a +better condition there than what they have at present at home, may by +all meanes be encouraged. + +And that some Course be duly considered by you also how far the future +Vagrants, and all such persons as are Noxious, and infamous for their +Lives here, may be Transported, as that the forreigne Plantations may +be accomodated with them, and these Kingdomes disburthened. + +[Sidenote: Correspondency with the Governours the better to understand +their Government, Plantations, Complaints, Trade and Shipping, and the +Increase or Decrease thereof.] + +11. You are likewise to order and settle such a continuall +correspondence with all and every our said Plentations, and with all and +every the respective Governements of them. That you may be able as often +as you are required thereunto to give us an Account, not only of the +Governement of each Colony, and of the severall Commodities which they +respectively plant, but of their severall Complaints and wants also, +and how you find their Trade respectively to increase or decrease. + +To which purpose you are to require an Account to be sent you +continually from time to time of all the Shipps that shall Trade into +any of the said Plantations. And of the substance of what lading they +import thither togeather with an account also what Shipps are freighted +from thence and with what sort of Goods, and what quantity there is of +each of the said sorts, and whether Consigned. That so the true state +and condition of each Colony in reference to the Trade and Increase and +Decrease of it, may be thoroughly and rightly understood. + +[Sidenote: To regulate the trade of the Plantations, so that they may +be serviceable to one another, as well as to these our kingdomes.] + +12. And being thus informed you are further to apply your selves by +all prudentiall wayes and Meanes so to Order, Governe, and Regulate the +Trade of our whole Plantations, that they may be most serviceable one +unto another, and as the whole unto these our Kingdomes so these our +kingdomes unto them. + +[Sidenote: To take care of the due execution of the Acts for +encouragement of Shipping and Navigation.] + +13. You are therefore to inquire into, and strictly to take care of the +due Execution of the severall Acts for the encouragement of Shipping, +and Navigation and that as much as in you lyeth, none of those good +Ends and purposes, so much tending to the strength and benefitt of this +Nation may be frustrated for which the said Acts were primarily intended +and designed. + +[Sidenote: To require Coppies of all Charters and Graunts concerning +any forreigne Plantations.] + +14. And to the End that nothing may be wanting to the said Regulation +and that Justice may be equally distributed throughout all our said +Plantations, You are likewise to take an Inspection into, and require +a Coppy of all Charters, and Graunts that have been passed by us or by +any of our Prædecessors, to any particular persons, or to any Societies, +and Corporations of Men with reference to any of the said Plantations. + +And more particularly to informe your selves what Goverments are held +by vertue of any of the said Charters at present, and by whome. + +[Sidenote: To examine how the Ends of them have been pursued or +neglected.] + +[Sidenote: In case of any differences to endeavour the composing of +them amicably.] + +You are likewise to examine what Causes, Covenants and Conditions, with +relation to our selfe and to the Crowne are inserted in any of the said +Charters or Graunts, and how the same have been performed, and how the +Ends of the said Graunts themselves have been respectively pursued. Or +how much on the contrary, you find they have been neglected, and our +selfe præjudiced, and to report the same to us. And in case there shall +any differences arise concerning the bounds, and Limits of any of the +said respective Charters, or concerning the Priviledges, Rights, or +Properties, which may be challenged by any by vertue of the said +Charters. + +[Sidenote: Otherwise to state and report them to his Ma^{tie}.] + +You are to endeavour by the best and justest meanes you may, amicably to +compose and determine the same. But if the difference arising about any +of the said Charters, shall have so much difficulty, as that the same +cannot be friendly and amicably ended as aforesaid. In that case you +are after Examination of it to state it to us. That we may give such +Resolution thereupon as may be agreeable to Justice. + +[Sidenote: To send for Coppies of the Lawes now in force that if upon +examination any of them be found contrary to honour, Justice, or the +Law of England, they may be nulled.] + +15. And as you are not to permitt any of our Loving Subjects to be +oppressed by any of the Governours of our said Colonies contrary to the +Lawes that are in force, within the said Colonies respectively, so you +are as carefully to examine, send for and require a Coppy of all such +Lawes, as have been at any time made, and doe stand yet unrepealed +within any of our said Plantations. That if any of the said Lawes be +found inconvenient or contrary to the Lawes of this Land, or to the +honour and Justice of our Governement, all such Lawes may be immediately +nulled. + +[Sidenote: To procure Mapps and Charts of the severall Plantations, +and to Register and keep them.] + +16. You are also by all Wayes and meanes you may to procure exact Mapps, +Platts or Charts of all and Every our said Plantations abroad, togeather +with the Mapps and Descriptions of their respective Ports, Harbours, +Forts, Bayes, Rivers with the Depth of their respective Channells +comming in or going up, and the Soundings all along upon the said +respective Coasts from place to place, and the same so had, you are +carefully to Register and Keepe. + +[Sidenote: To take effectuall care for the Propagating the Gospell in +the Plantations, and for the providing and maintaining of a pious and +learned Ministry.] + +[Sidenote: To reforme the Debaucheries of Planters and Servants.] + +You are above all especially required to take an effectual care for the +Propagation of the Gospell, in all our said Colonies and Plantations +respectively, by providing that there be good Encouragem^{t} setled for +the Invitation and maintenance of pious and learned Ministers, and by +sending strict Orders and Instructions for the regulating and reforming +the Debaucheries of Planters and Servants, whose evill Example doth +bring Scandall upon the Profession of Christianity, and doth deterre +such as are not yet admitted thereunto, from effecting and esteeming +the same. + +[Sidenote: To invite and Instruct the Indians and Slaves in the +Christian Religion.] + +And you are to consider how much of the Indians, or such as are +purchased from other parts for Slaves, may be best Instructed and +invited to the Christian Religion and Faith, it being both for the +Honour of our Crowne, and of the Protestant Religion it selfe. That all +persons within any of our Territories though never so remote should be +taught the Knowledge of God, and be accquainted with the Mysteries of +Salvation. + +[Sidenote: To write Letters to the severall Governours to informe them +of his Ma^{ties} great care of the Plantations in erecting this Councill +as also a generall Councill for trade.] + +18. You are therefore forthwith to write Letters and to send them +to the severall Governours of our said respective Plantations, or to +their respective Deputies in all parts, wherein you are to informe +them of our great care and signall grace towards our said Colonies, +and of our erecting not only a general Councill for Trade, that might +take cognizance of such things as may be their concerne, But of our +appointing this Councill in particular which is employed only for the +better care and conduct of them. + +[Sidenote: To require of them an Account of the state of their present +condition and of what they judge necessairie for their Securitie, +Encouragem^{t}, and accomodation.] + +You are therefore to require them, by themselves, or by the Assistance +of the respective Councills or Assemblies of the said Colonies to send +you an exact account of the State of their Condition at present, and of +such particulars within these your Instructions as you shall in the +first place thinke most necessary for them to answer or informe you of. + +And that they doe further propound to you what they judge to be +most immediately necessary either for their security, or for the +encouragement, and accomodation of them. + +[Sidenote: To observe such other Instructions as shall be sent under +his Ma^{ties} Signe Manuall, and if further Powers be found necessary, +the Councill to adresse to his Ma^{tie} therein.] + +19. Lastly you are to follow such other Instructions concerning the +Præmises, as shall be sent to you from time to time by us under our +Signe Manuall. + +And in all cases wherein you shall judge that further Powers and +Assistance shall be necessary for you, You are to addresse Your selves +to us, for our further pleasure Resolution and Direction therein. + + Given at our Court at Whitehall the 30^{th}. day of July 1670, + in the two and twentieth yeare of our Reigne. + + By his Ma^{ties} Command + + ARLINGTON. + + + + +Additional Instructions for the Council for Foreign Plantations, 1670-1672. + +Given at Our Court at Whitehall the First Day of August, 1670. + + +[Sidenote: To inquire concerning the Strength Fortifications and +Military discipline of the Plantations.] + +1. You are also particularly to inquire and informe your selves of the +strength of all and every of our Colonies, how they are respectively +fortifyed, what the said Fortifications are, and how conveniently +situated; as also to inquire how the Inhabitants of the said Colonies +are respectively trained or disciplined. + +And in what Posture they are to make a resistance upon occasion, against +any sudden attempt or Assault, if it should be offred them either by the +Indians, or by the forces of any other Prince or State that are their +Neighbours: + +[Sidenote: Concerning the Stores of their Ball, Powder, and other +Ammunition and the securing and præserving of them.] + +And what Stores they have of Armes, Ball, Powder or any other Ammunition +respectively, and what care is further necessary to be employed, for the +better Securing and præserving each of them, and to give an account from +time to time of the whole to us. + +[Sidenote: To recommend to the Governours, the breeding and producing +of Salt Petre.] + +2. And forasmuch as we are informed, that there are among severall of +our Plantations, Grounds very proper for the Breeding and producing of +Salt Petre. + +And those so rich also that if they were improoved to the utmost, great +quantities of that Commodity might be easily had from those parts, +without sending into the Indies for it: + +You are therefore very specially to Recommend this affaire to the +Governours of such Plantations, where you shall be informed the Grounds +are fittest for this purpose. And not only to require their care for the +Improovement of it; but to send your Advice to them, and to receive +their respective answer and opinion, how and in what manner they judge +the same, may be best, and most speedily put in Execution. + +[Sidenote: The Planting of such Commodities as are most for the benefit +of the Plantacons and to redresse all præjudiciall Courses of Planting.] + +3. And forasmuch as the greatest benefitt that can arise to any of our +said Colonies, must be when the Planters of any of the said Colonies +shall be able to improove their Labour or Ground to the utmost Profitt +respectively. + +Wherefore if the Sayle of any of the said Plantations shall be equally +fitt for the producing as well of severall other Commodities, as for the +producing of that which the said Colonie is accustomed unto. + +And that the said other Commodities are such also as are of more profitt +to be planted by farre then that which is usuall, And that doe not only +grow in the Countries adjacent to the said Plantations, but are found by +Experience to thrive well even in the very said Plantations themselves. + +In this Case you are to take care that a Custome be not nourished to the +præjudice of Trade, and of the said Plantations, But that you take order +for the Planting, Husbanding and Improoving of that Commodity that is +most profitable and most for the benefitt of the said Plantation. And to +this End that you by Letters conferre with the Governour, or with the +Assembly of the said respective Plantation, that some redresse may be +made and some stopp put to such a præjudiciall Course, or Custome of +planting as is aforesaid. + +[Sidenote: To consider how Spices, Gummes, Drugs, Dying Stuffes &c. may +best be obtained from the East Indies, and other places, for the storing +and enriching Plantations, and how to Reward the Undertakers thereof.] + +4. And forasmuch as the scituation of severall of our said Plantations +is such, as that it seemeth very probable to us, they might be stored +with many more Druggs, Gummes, and Dying Stuffes than what they now +have. Yea with severall Spices, and other Merchandises as well from the +East Indies, Turkie, and other places, as from severall of the Spanish +and Portugeeze Plantations. You are therefor required to consider and +advise what Commodities, in any of the Countries aforementioned or in +any other that shall be considered by you, may be (as you Judge) best +and fittest to transplant into any of our said Colonies (respect being +had to their said severall and respective Climates). And how the said +Commodities may easiest, best, and with least Observation, be obtained +from the said Countries: + +What methods are meetest to be used, or what Rewards fittest to be +given, to any that shall runne the hazards and Expence of it, to +undertake them. + +And which may therefore the same, may be most probably soe effected, as +that the Commerce mey be encreased, and the said Plantations enriched +through it. + +[Sidenote: What Councills are established in other Kingdomes, and what +Powers and instructions are given them for the improving of their Trade +and Plantations and to consider the Advantages and Disadvantages +thereof.] + +5. You are to informe your selves as farre as you may what Councills +are Established in any other Kingdome for the good Governement, and +Improoving of their respective Plantations. What Directions or +Instructions, also, are particularly given to the said respective +Councills, and what Policy, Method or Conduct is used by them with +relation to the Strength, Trade and Increase of the said respective +Colonies, or with relation to the people themselves that are sent +thither. + +And if you shall discerne such Methods and Directions to be good, or to +be well founded in Experience and Reason, You are to consider either how +the same may be aplyed to the Advantage of our owne Plantations, or how +any Inconveniences that may follow from them may be by you prudently +avoided. + + Given at our Court at Whitehall, the first day of August 1670, + in the two and twentieth yeare of our Reigne. + + By his Ma^{ties} Command + + ARLINGTON. + + + + +APPENDIX III. + +Draft of Instructions for the Council of Trade and Foreign Plantations, +1672-1674. + +The Commission and Instructions Were Issued on September 27, 1672. + + +[Sidenote: To consider the Improvem^{t} of the Commodityes of these +Kingdomes.] + +1. You are to consider how all Goods and Commodityes of the Production +or Growth of these Our Kingdomes may be best Improoved. What other +usefull Commodityes or Materialls for Manufactures there are which the +Nature of Our Sayle with good Husbandry will beare, or that tyme and +Industry can make Native. + +[Sidenote: To consider the Setting up of Manufactures.] + +2. You are likewise to consider the setting up and Improoving of +Manufactures within Our said Kingdomes, especially of shipping. And such +others as are most for the Employment of Our people of best use, and +greatest Proffit to our Kingdomes. The Establishing of Such Manufactures +in Townes and places most convenient for them. And to provide that all +such Manufactures (especially our Old and new Draperyas) be truely made +and fully manufactured at home. + +[Sidenote: The improoving of the Fishing Trade at home & abroad.] + +3. You are to consider how the Fishing Trade both at home and abroad may +be encouraged and improoved to the best advantage. + +[Sidenote: The opening of Rivers, Ports and Harbours.] + +4. How Our Rivers may be made Navigable and Our Ports and Harbours more +capable of receiving Shipping. + +[Sidenote: The Distributing of Trade and Manufactures.] + +5. And how Trade and Manufactures may be more fitly and equally +distributed through Our Kingdomes. + +[Sidenote: To examine the Burthens of Trade.] + +6. You are strictly to Examine what Burthens the Trade of Our sayd +Kingdomes doth at present Groane under both at home and abroad, more +then the Trade of Neighbouring Princes and States. + +[Sidenote: To enquire into abuses in Trade and Manufactures.] + +7. You are to make due Search and Inquiry into the abuses practised +among Merchants, Vintners, Wyne-Coopers, Brewers, Dyers, Apothecaryes, +Goldsmyths, Refyners, Wyre-Drawers, Penterers, Hatters, Clothiers and +other Trades and Manufactures within these Our Kingdomes, as also +concerning Weights and Measures. + +[Sidenote: To consider of the better venting of Native Commodity's.] + +8. You are to consider how Our Native Commodityes, and Manufactures may +be vented in greater Quantetyes, and with more Hono^{e} and profitt to +Our said Kingdomes. + +[Sidenote: How forreigne Commodityes may be brought in at cheaper +Rates.] + +9. And how forreigne Goods, and Commodityes may be brought from the +severall places of their Growth or making in fitt and reasonable tymes, +and at the Cheapest rates. + +[Sidenote: about building of Ships for the carriage of Bulky +Commodityes.] + +10. You are to consider about the Building of Pinkes, Flutes, and other +great Ships for the more convenient Carryage of Masts, Tymber and other +Bulky Commodityes. And about setting them out (according as the place to +which they are bound may allow) with fewer men and Gunns then usuall. + +[Sidenote: How Correspondencyes may be kept in places of great commerce +abroad.] + +11. You are to consider how Correspondencyes may be settled and kept +in all places of Great Commerce abroad for the better knowing with what +proffit or Losse Our Native Commodityes and Manufactures are vented. And +What Lawes are from tyme to tyme made or Trades new Erected in forreigne +parts to the advantage, or Disadvantage of Our Trade or Commerce. + +[Sidenote: How free Ports may be opened.] + +12. You are to consider how Free Ports may conveniently be opened +about Our Coasts for the Landing, and Storeing of Forreigne +Commodityes. Giving leave to retransport them paying only some small +acknowledgements. And of the severall Advantages that may arise unto +these Our Kingdomes by Giving way (according to the Example of other +Nations) to a more open, and free Trade then that of Companyes and +Corporations. + +[Sidenote: To receive Propositions concerning Trade and Navigation.] + +13. And you are to receive and Consider all Propositions or Overtures +concerning new Inventions or Improvements in any Art, Trade or +Manufacture, or concerning the regulating or Securing of Trade, and +Improoving of Navigation that shall be offered unto you by any person +whatsoever. + +[Sidenote: To enquire into the State of his Ma^{ts} forreigne +Plantacons.] + +14. You are strictly to enquire, and informe yourselves by the best +wayes and Meanes you can of the State and Condition of Our said +Forreigne Collonyes and Plantations. By whome they are Governed and what +Commissions, Powers and Instruccons have been granted by Us, or by any +of Our Royall Predecessors to that End, and how the same have been +Executed and observed. + +[Sidenote: To enquire What Councills Assemblies and Courts of Indicature +there are in them.] + +15. You are likewise to enquire and informe yourselves. What Councills, +Assemblyes and Courts of Indicature for Civill and Criminall Causes +there are within the said Collonyes and Plantations, and of what Nature +and Kind. + +[Sidenote: What Courts of Admiralty.] + +16. What Courts of Indicature they have relating to the Admiralty. + +[Sidenote: What their Legislative and Executive Powers are.] + +17. Where the Legislative and Executive Powers of their Governments are +seated. + +[Sidenote: What Statutes and Lawes they have.] + +18. What Statutes, Lawes, and Ordinances they have made, and are now in +force. + +[Sidenote: What number of Horse and Foot.] + +19. What number of Horse and Foot they have and whether Trayned Bands, +Bands, or Standing Forces. + +[Sidenote: What Castles and Forts and how provided.] + +20. What Castles or Forts they have, how situated and what Stores and +Provisions they are furnished with. + +[Sidenote: What strength their Neighbours have.] + +21. What strength their Bordering Neighbours have by Sea and Land. + +[Sidenote: What Correspondency they keep with them.] + +22. What Correspondency they keep with their Neighbours. + +[Sidenote: What Armes Ammunition &c. have been sent unto them.] + +23. What Armes, Ammunition, and Stores have been sent unto the said +Collonyes and Plantations upon our Accompt, when received, how Employed, +and what part of them is there remayning and where. + +[Sidenote: What Moneys have been paid for Armes &c. and Fortifications.] + +24. What Moneys have been paid or appointed to be paid by Us, or Leavyed +within the said severall Collonys, and Plantacons for and towards the +buying of Armes, or making and Mayntaining of any Fortifications, or +Castles, And how the said Moneys have been expended. + +[Sidenote: The Boundaryes and Contents of their Lands.] + +25. What the Boundaryes, and Contents of their Lands are. + +[Sidenote: What Mynes, Commodityes and Manufactures they have.] + +26. What Mynes they have of Gold, Silver, Copper, Tynne, Ledd, or Iron. +What Commodityes there are of their production, growth, or Manufacture. +What Materialls for Shipping and whether Salt-petre is or may be +produced in any of the said Collonyes or Plantations. And if so, At what +Rates it may be delivered in England. + +[Sidenote: Whether Spices, Gumms, Drugs if Planted will not thrive.] + +27. Whether Nutmegs, Cinnamon, Cloves, Pepper, and other Spices, and +Gumms, Druggs and Dying Stuffs which now grow in the East Indyes, and +are brought from thence may not be planted and come to perfection in +some of Our Collonyes, and Plantations in the West Indyes. + +[Sidenote: What Rivers, Harbours &c. they have.] + +28. What Rivers, Harbours, and Roads they have, and of What Depths, and +Soundings. + +[Sidenote: What Banks or Shoales for Fishing.] + +29. What Banks, or Shoales they have upon, or neare their Coasts for +Fishing. + +[Sidenote: What number of Planters and Parishes.] + +30. What number of Planters, Servants, and Slaves, and how many Parishes +they have. + +[Sidenote: What number of Whites and Blacks doe yearly come.] + +31. What Number of English, Scotch, or Irish doe yearely come, and what +Blacks, or Slaves, are brought unto them. + +[Sidenote: What number of People dye yearely.] + +32. What Number of People doe yearely dye within the said Collonyes and +Plantations both Whites, and Blacks. + +33. What Number of Shipps doe Yearely Trade to and from the said +Collonyes and Plantations, and of what Burthen they are. + +[Sidenote: What number of Ships Trade yearely.] + +[Sidenote: What obstructions they have and Advantages may be gained to +their Trade.] + +34. What Obstructions there are, and What advantages may be gained to +the Improovement of their Trade and Navigation. + +[Sidenote: What Dutyes are Charged upon Goods imported, or exported.] + +35. What Rates and Dutyes are charged and payable upon any Goods or +Commodityes exported out of the said Collonyes and Plantations, whether +of their owne Growth and Manufacture or otherwyse. As also upon Goods +imported. + +[Sidenote: What Publick Revenues doe arise among them.] + +36. What Revenues doe or may arise unto Us within the said Collynes and +Plantations, and of what nature they are. By whome Collected, and how +answered and Accompted unto Us. + +[Sidenote: How they instruct the People in Religion, and pay their +Ministry.] + +37. And what Course they take about Instructing of their People in the +Christian Religion. And what Provision is made for the Maintenance of +their Ministers. + +[Sidenote: To consider which of the said Collonyes are not fully +Planted.] + +38. You are to informe yourselves which of our said Collonyes and +Plantations are not fully Planted or Inhabited, and to consider how such +of them may most conveniently be supplyed from others that are +overstored with people. + +[Sidenote: How the s^{d} Collonyes may be serviceable to one another and +useful to these Kingdomes.] + +39. You are to consider how our said Collonyes, and Plantations may be +serviceable unto one another in relation to their mutuall Sustenance and +Defence, and how they may be Governed to be of use and advantage +likewise to these Our Kingdomes. + +[Sidenote: To Correspond by Letters with forreigne Governours.] + +40. You are to take care in Keeping frequent Correspondency by Letters +with the severall Governours of Our said Collonyes, and Plantations. + +[Sidenote: To Charge them to preserve peace with their Neighbo^{rs} and +to protect y^{e} Indians.] + +41. You are hereby required in Our Name strictly to charge all and every +the Governours of Our said Collonyes and Plantations respectively. That +they doe not Give any just Provocation unto any of their Neighbours +Indians or others that are at Peace & Amity with Us. But that they doe +by all just wayes and Meanes endeavours to preserve such Peace and Amity +and keep a good and fayre Correspondencye with them. + +And if any of the said Indians shall desire to putt themselves under +the Protection of the Governours, or Governments of our said Collonyes +or Plantations, That they doe receive them with respect and Kindnesse, +and Give them due Protection, and Defence in their Persons, Goods, and +Possessions according to Lawe. And in case any Persons shall contrary +thereunto offer any Affronts or Injuryes unto them, That the said +Governours doe severly punish such offenders according to Justice and +Right. + +[Sidenote: To procure Coppyes of all Grants concerning the said +Collonyes &c.] + +42. You are to endeavour the procuring Coppyes of all Letters Patents, +Charters, or Grants of any of Our said Collonyes or Plantations, or of +any Part of them, passed by Us or any of Our Predecessors under the +Great Seale of England, to any Person, Socyety, or Corporation of Men +Whatsoever. And to informe yourselves whether they have been duely putt +in Execution according to the Severall Grants, Clauses and Conditions, +conteyned in them respectively. + +[Sidenote: To procure Exact Mapps of the said Collonyes.] + +43. You are likewise to endeavour the procuring of Exact Mapps, +Platts, or Charts of all Our said Collonyes and Plantations with the +Descriptions of their respective Rivers, Forts, Harbours, Bayes, and +Roads. + +[Sidenote: To consider of the improoving of their Trade and Commerce.] + +44. And when you shall have received due Information concerning the +perticulars in the foregoing Instructions. You are to consider of the +best wayes, and Meanes for the encourageing settling, and Improoving +the Trade, and Commerce of Our sayd Collonyes, and Plantations. And +accordingly to offer unto Us your Opinions, and Advice thereupon. + +[Sidenote: To Examine if the Articles of Peace and Commerce with +forreigne Princes have been performed.] + +45. You are to consider the severall Articles of Peace and Commerce that +have been heretofore made between Us or any of our Royal Predecessors, +and all forreigne Princes, and States, and to Examine whether the +Priviledges and Immunityes by them Granted or agreed for the Benefitt +and advantage of Our Merchants, have from tyme to tyme been carefully +upheld and performed, And in case you shall find any Manifest Breach of +them, or any Injuryes done to Our Merchants, or any Obstructions to Our +Trade thereby, You are to represent the same to Us for Our +Consideration. + +[Sidenote: To enquire what Councills of Trade &c. are settled in +forreigne Parts and w^{t} Commiss^{ns} Instructions and Allowances +they have.] + +46. You are to informe yourselves the best that may be, What Councills, +or Courts of Indicature are Established in any forreigne Kingdomes +or States for the well Government of their Trade and Navigation, +and for the Improovement Settlement, and Defence of their Collonyes +and Plantations. As also What Commissions, Powers, Authorityes, +Instructions, and allowances they have Given and Granted unto them +for the better carrying on of those Services. + +[Sidenote: To observe such other Instructions &c as shall be sent +und^{r} his Ma^{ts} Signe Manuall and to addresse to his Ma^{ty} +for further Instructions &c. if need be.] + +47. And Lastly you are required and authorized to observe and putt in +Execution all such other Powers, Authorityes and Instructions (relating +unto Our said Collonyes or Plantations, or unto the Trade, Commerce or +Navigation of them, or of these our Kingdomes) as shall from tyme to +tyme be sent unto you by Us under Our Signe Manuall. + +And where you shall judge it necessary to have any further Powers, +Authorityes, or Instructions for the better Carrying on of Our Service +therein. You are to Addresse yourselves unto Us for Our further Pleasure +and Direction. + + + + +APPENDIX IV. + +Heads of Business of Councils, 1670-1674. + + +COUNCIL FOR FOREIGN PLANTATIONS, 1670-1672. + +_August 3, 1670._ + +Commission and instructions for a Council for Foreign Plantations read. +(From the Index mentioned on p. 101, note 6, here cited as _Journal_.) + +_August 9._ + +Letter to Trinity House. (_Journal._) + +_August 12._ + +Oath of Secrecy to the Officers. (_Journal._) + +_August 16._ + +Petition of St. Christopher read. (_Journal_; Cal. State Papers, Col. +1669-1674, § 232, here cited as _Cal._) + +_August 19._ + +Commissioners for St. Christopher agreed on. (_Journal_; _Cal._, § 232.) + +_August 22._ + +Report on St. Christopher's case. (_Cal._, §§ 232, 850.) + +_September 22._ + +Petition for a chief governor of the Leeward Is. (_Journal_; _Cal._, +§ 268.) + +_September 24._ + +Beginning of consideration of Surinam question. (_Journal_; _Cal._, +§§ 60, 291, 486, 524, and _passim._) + +_September 26._ + +Col. Lynch to be a committee at St. Christopher and afterwards to goe to +Jamaica as his Maj. Lieutenant. (_Journal_; _Cal._, § 287.) + +_September 27._ + +Leeward Is. petition again read. (_Cal._, § 269.) + +_September 29._ + +Drafting of queries to Gov. Berkeley of Virginia. (_Cal._, § 565.) + +_September 30._ + +Jamaica & the Isle of Providence. (_Journal_; _Cal._, § 276.) + +_October 5._ + +Surinam, Jamaica, St. Christopher; Conveyance of Letters to Foreign +Plantations. (_Journal_; _Cal._, _Dom._, 1672-1673, p. 295.) + +_October 10._ + +Surinam agreement with the two ships, 20,000^{11} damage at St. +Christopher. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 274, 292, 295.) + +_October 18._ + +St. Christopher order of summons to planters of Barbadoes and +petitioners from St. Christopher to appear. (_Cal._, § 297.) There must +have been a meeting on "Friday next." + +_October 25._ + +Draft instructions for Commissioners for St. Christopher for bringing +off from Surinam English subjects, their families, and estates. +(_Cal._, § 304.) + +_October 27._ + +Leeward Is. their Governor apart, Answer of Lord Willoughby read. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 309, 327.) + +_November 1._ + +Surinam, names of Commissioners. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 319, 320, 324.) + +_November 5._ + +Commission and instructions to Major Bannister for fetching off the +English from Surinam. (_Cal._, § 850.) + +_November 8._ + +Peace with Spain. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 334, 334 I.) + +_November 12._ + +Barbadoes imposition on Sugar. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 332, 519, 520, +p. 229, _passim._) + +_November 15._ + +Order regarding 16th article of the treaty with Spain. (_Cal._, § 334.) + +_November 17._ + +Report on petition of Leeward Is., favoring the petition, despite Lord +Willoughby's objections. (_Cal._, §§ 339, 850.) + +_November 26._ + +Sir Chas. Wheeler appointed governor of the Leeward Is. (_Journal_; +_Cal._, §§ 327, 392-397.) + +_December 16._ + +Commission and instructions to Sir Thomas Lynch, Lieut. Gov. of Jamaica. +(_Cal._, § 850.) + + +1671. + +_January 14._ + +Newfoundland, petition regarding the fishery. (_Journal_; _Cal._, +§§ 362, 368, 369, 385.) + +_January 21._ + +Governors of Plantations to take the Oaths [of Allegiance?]. (_Journal._) + +_January 28._ + +Continuation of Newfoundland Question. (_Journal._) + +_February 9._ + +Consideration of proposals of Sir Charles Wheeler. (_Journal_; _Cal._, +§§ 410, 412, 415, 420.) + +_February 14._ + +Wheeler's proposals regarding defence of St. Christopher. (_Journal_; +_Cal._, §§ 412, 850.) + +_February 18._ + +Spiriting, kidnapping of young persons for transport to the plantations. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, 1661-1668, Preface, p. xxvii _et seq._) + +_March 2._ + +Continuation of Newfoundland question. Report on the petition. (_Cal._, +§§ 362, 850.) + +_March 8._ + +Estimate sent (and probably received on same day) by officers of +ordnance regarding ammunition, etc. for Leeward Is. (_Cal._, § 445.) + +_March 10._ + +Report on Newfoundland petition, made on March 2, read. (_Cal._, _Dom._, +1671, under Mar. 10.) + +_April 27._ + +Petition of Ferdinando Gorges read. (_Cal._, § 512; See _Cal._, _Dom._, +1671, April 27, Slingsby to Williamson.) + +_May 22._ + +Robert Mason's first petition to the Council; divers relations +concerning New England, with observations of the commissioners lately +employed there, read. (_Cal._, § 512.) + +_May 26._ + +"The Earl of Bristol's house in Queen's Street (Lincoln's Inn Fields) +was taken for the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, and furnished +with rich hangings of the King's. It consisted of seven rooms on a +floor, with a long gallery, gardens, etc. This day we met the Duke of +Buckingham, Earl of Lauderdale, Lord Culpeper, Sir George Carteret, Vice +Chamberlain, and myself, had the oaths given us by the Earl of Sandwich, +our President. It was to advise and counsel his Majesty, to the best of +our abilities, for the well-governing of his Foreign Plantations, etc., +the form very little differing from that given to the Privy Council. We +then took our places at the Board in the Council Chamber, a very large +room furnished with atlases, maps, charts, globes, etc. Then came the +Lord Keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Earl of Arlington, Secretary of +State, Lord Ashley, Mr. Treasurer, Sir John Trevor, the other Secretary, +Sir John Duncomb, Lord Allington, Mr. Grey, son to the Lord Grey, Mr. +Henry Broncher, Sir Humphrey Winch, Sir John Finch, Mr. Waller and +Colonel Titus of the Bed chamber, with Mr. Slingsby, Secretary to the +Council, and two clerks of the Council, who had all been sworn some +days before. Being all set, our Patent was read, and then the additional +Patent, in which was recited this new establishment; then, was delivered +to each a copy of the Patent, and of instructions; after which we +proceeded to business. + +The first thing we did was to settle the form of a circular letter to +the Governors of all his Majesty's Plantations and Territories in the +West Indies and Islands thereof, to give them notice to whom they should +apply themselves on all occasions, and to render us an account of their +present state and government; but what we most insisted on was, to know +the condition of New England, which appearing to be very independent as +to their regard to Old England or his Majesty, rich and strong as they +now were, there were great debates in what style to write to them; for +the condition of that Colony was such that they were able to contest +with all other Plantations about them, and there was fear of their +breaking from all dependence on this nation; his Majesty, therefore +commended this affair more expressly. We, therefore, thought fit, in the +first place, to acquaint ourselves as well as we could of the state of +that place, by some whom we heard of that were newly come from thence; +and to be informed of their present posture and condition; some of our +Council were for sending them a menacing letter, which those who better +understood the peevish and touchy humour of that Colony, were utterly +against. + +A letter was then read from Sir Thomas Modiford, Governor of Jamaica; +and then the Council brake up." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, pp. 63-64.) + +_June 6._ + +"I went to Council where was produced a most exact and ample information +of the state of Jamaica and of the best expedients as to New England, +on which there was a long debate; but at length it was concluded that if +any it should be only a conciliating paper at first, or civil letter, +till we had better information of the present face of things, since we +understood they were a people almost on the very brink of renouncing any +dependence on the Crown." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 65.) + +_June 16._ + +Colonel Cartwright's papers concerning the New England Colonies read. +(_Cal._, § 512.) + +_June 19._ + +Patent of Massachusetts read. (_Cal._, § 572; The _Journal_ says, +"Cartwright's report"; but this seems to be wrong as both Evelyn and the +_Calendar_ place Cartwright's report on the 21st.) + +_June 20._ + +"To carry Colonel Middleton [Capt. Thomas Middleton of the former +Council for Foreign Plantations] to Whitehall, to Lord Sandwich, our +President, for some information which he was able to give of the Colony +in New England." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 65.) Probably no regular +meeting was held on this day. + +_June 21._ + +Commission and instructions of the New England Commissioners read; +Col. Cartwright heard (_Cal._, §§ 512, 566). "To Council again, when one +Colonel Cartwright a Nottinghamshire man (formerly in commission with +Colonel Nicholls) gave us a considerable relation of that country; on +which the Council concluded that in the first place a letter of amnesty +should be despatched." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 65.) + +_June 26._ + +Further consideration of the New England case. (_Cal._, §§ 512.) + +"To Council, where Lord Arlington acquainted us that it was his +Majesty's proposal we should, every one of us, contribute £20 toward +building a Council Chamber and conveniences somewhere in Whitehall, that +his Majesty might come and sit amongst us, and hear our debates; the +money we laid out to be reimbursed out of the contingent monies already +set apart for us, viz. £1000 yearly. To this we unanimously consented." +(Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 66.) + +_June 29._ + +Sir Thomas Modyford, Panama. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 209, 433, 504, 505, +577, 578.) + +"To Council, where were letters from Sir Thomas Modiford, of the +expedition and exploit of Colonel Morgan, and others of Jamaica, on the +Spanish Continent at Panama." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 66.) + +_July 4._ + +"To Council, where we agreed to and drew up a letter to be sent to New +England, and made some proposal to Mr. Gorges, for his interest in a +plantation there." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 66.) + +_July 12._ + +Report on Gorges petition, recommending the sending of commissioners to +New England. (_Cal._, § 439, I.) + +_July 17._ + +New England, Massachusetts. (_Journal._) + +_July 24._ + +Robert Mason's second petition to the Council read. (_Cal._, § 512.) + +"To Council. Mr. Surveyor brought us a plot for the building of our +Council Chamber, to be erected at the end of the Privy-garden, in +Whitehall." (Evelyn's _Diary_, p. 66.) + +_August 3._ + +Agreement about Commissioners to New England. (_Cal._, § 512.) + +Address regarding sending two ships to Surinam. (_Cal._, §§ 596, 850.) + +"A full appearance at the Council. The matter in debate was whether we +should send a deputy to New England, requiring them of the Massachusetts +to restore such to their limits and respective possessions, as had +petitioned the Council; this to be the open commission only; but in +truth, with secret instructions to inform us of the condition of those +Colonies, and whether they were of such power, as to be able to resist +his Majesty and declare for themselves as independent of the Crown, +which we were told and which of late years made them refractory. Colonel +Middleton being called in, assured us they might be curbed by a few of +his Majesty's first-rate frigates, to spoil their trade with the +islands; but, though my Lord President was not satisfied, the rest were, +and we did resolve to advise his Majesty to send Commissioners with a +formal Commission for adjusting boundaries, etc., with some other +instructions." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 66.) + +_August 12._ + +Report concerning New England, a representation of the present state of +New England and the sending over of Commissioners. (_Cal._, §§ 512, 598, +850.) + +_August 19._ + +"To Council. The letters of Sir Thomas Modiford were read, giving +relation of the exploit at Panama, which was very brave." (Evelyn's +_Diary_, II, pp. 66-67.) + +_September 9._ + +Commissioners (names of) to be sent to New England. (_Journal._) + +_September 15._ + +"In the afternoon at Council, where letters were read from Sir Charles +Wheeler, concerning his resigning his government at St. Christopher's." +(Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 67.) + +_September 19._ + +Council informed that the king had agreed to the sending commissioners +and desiring instructions to be prepared against spring. (_Cal._, § 512.) + +_November 13._ + +Further information to Council regarding commissioners; Council to treat +with Mason and Gorges regarding sale of their estates in New England, +but not without the king's leave. (_Journal_; _Cal._, § 512.) + +St. Christopher and Leeward Is. (_Journal._) + +Negroes, Leeward Is. (_Journal_; _Cal._, § 700.) + +_November 14._ + +"To Council, where Sir Charles Wheeler, late Governor of the Leeward +Islands, having been complained of for many indiscreet managements, +it was resolved, on scanning many of the particulars, to advise his +Majesty to remove him; and consult what was to be done to prevent these +inconveniences he had brought things to. This business stayed me in +London almost a week, being in Council or Committee every morning till +the 25th." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 72.) + +_November 16._ + +Mr. Gorges, New England. (_Journal._) + +_November 20._ + +St. Christopher; Publication by Sir Charles Wheeler and answer of the +Council. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 657, 658, 659.) + +_November 24._ + +Report to the king on the same subject. (_Cal._, §§ 659, 850.) + +_November 26 (7)._ + +St. Christopher: proclamation disowning Sir Charles Wheeler read. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, § 661.) + +Mr. Brouncker's conference with the French ambassador read. (_Journal._) + +"We ordered that a proclamation should be presented to his Majesty to +sign against what Sir Charles Wheeler had done in St. Christopher's +since the war, on the articles of peace at Breda. He was shortly +afterwards recalled." (Evelyn's _Diary_, p. 73.) + +_November 28._ + +The Answer of the Planters of the Leeward Is. read. (_Journal._) + +Account of Jamaica, probably taken from Gov. Lynch's answers to queries. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, § 663, p. 277.) + +Heads of king's proclamation regarding St. Christopher. (_Journal._) + +_December 7._ + +Report of the Council on the proclamation and the framing of something +fit to be offered to the French ambassador. (_Cal._, §§ 675, 677, 850.) + +_December 11._ + +New England Case, Mr. Mason's account of the commodities of New +Hampshire. (_Journal_; _Cal._, § 687.) + +_December 14._ + +Mr. Mason, the answer of the Council. (_Journal._) + +_December 18._ + +Instructions to Mr. Slingsby to speak to members of Privy Council +regarding patents to Massachusetts. (_Cal._, § 652.) + +_December 19._ + +Mr. Slingsby's report about a new governor for the Leeward Is. +(_Journal._) + +_December 20._ + +Draft of commission for governor of Leeward Is.; revocation of Wheeler's +commission; report to king concerning Col. Stapleton, the new governor. +(_Cal._, §§ 699, 707, 738, 740, 744, 804, 805, 850.) + + +1672. + +_January 22._ + +Commissioners for New England. (_Cal._, § 512.) + +_February 6._ + +Report of Mr. Gorges, "Commissioner for the province of Maine" read. +(_Cal._, § 753.) + +_February 12._ + +"At the Council, we entered on enquiries about improving the Plantations +by silks, galls, flax, senna, etc., and considered how nutmegs and +cinnamon might be obtained and brought to Jamaica, that soil and climate +promising success. Dr. Worsley being called in, spake many considerable +things to encourage it. We took order to send to the Plantations, +that none of their ships should venture homeward single, but stay for +company and convoys. We also deliberated on some fit person to go as +Commissioner to inspect their actions in New England, and, from time +to time, report how that people stood affected.--In future to meet at +Whitehall." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 74.) + +_February 13._ + +Instructions from Secretary of State to prepare commission, etc., for +New England Commissioners. (_Cal._, § 512.) + +_February 16._ + +Account of the militia in the Province of Maine read. (_Cal._, § 762.) + +_February 20._ + +Letter from Sir Thomas Lynch to the Council read. (_Cal._, § 640.) + +_March 1._ + +"A full Council of Plantations, on the danger of the Leeward Islands, +threatened by the French, who had taken some of our ships, and began +to interrupt our trade. Also in debate, whether the new governor of +St. Christopher's should be subordinate to the Governor of Barbadoes. +The debate was serious and long." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 75.) + +_April 2._ + +Report concerning the general state of the Leeward Is. and the +differences depending between the English and French at St. Christopher. +(_Cal._, § 850.) + +_April 9._ + +About Logwood (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 709, 742, 777, 825), and the +defence of Barbadoes and the Leeward Is. (_Cal._, § 799.) + +_April 15._ + +Commission and instructions for Lord Willoughby and a report on his +proposals. (_Cal._, § 850.) + +_April 16._ + +Letter from Sir Charles Wheeler read. (_Cal._, § 748.) + +"Sat in Council, preparing Lord Willoughby's commission and instructions +as governor of Barbadoes and the Caribbee Islands." (Evelyn's _Diary_, +II, p. 78.) + +_April 19._ + +"At Council, preparing instructions for Colonel Stapleton, now to go +Governor of St. Christopher's; and heard the complaints of the Jamaica +merchants against the Spaniards, for hindering them from cutting logwood +on the main land, where they have no pretence." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, +pp. 78-79.) + +_April 26._ + +Archibald Henderson's case. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 775, p. 339, 806.) + +_April 30._ + +Commissioners for New England named, etc. (_Journal_; _Cal._, § 512.) + +_May 7._ + +Case of Mark Gabry, exporter of wool. (_Cal._, _Dom._, 1671-1672, +pp. 155, 156, 481.) + +_May 10._ + +Case of the _James_ of Belfast (_Journal_; _Cal._, § 813), and Wheeler +letter (§ 775), containing a statement about Henderson. + +Draft commission for Willoughby (§ 822). + +Agreed that the commission for New England should be expedited (§ 512). + +Report to the king upon the case of the _William and Nicholas_ (§ 850). + +_May 14._ + +Proposals about the Leeward Is. formerly delivered by Lord Willoughby. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, § 828.) + +_May 17._ + +Case of the _William and Nicholas_, Logwood ship. (_Journal_; _Cal._, +§§ 823, 824.) + +_May 27._ + +Letter from Sir Thomas Lynch read. (_Cal._, § 777.) + +_June 4._ + +Consideration of the Logwood trade. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 825, 837.) + +_June 11._ + +Order regarding ship _William and Nicholas._ (_Cal._, § 823.) + +_June 13._ + +Surinam and Curaçao. (_Journal_ has "Quarasao"; _Cal._, § 879.) + +_June 15._ + +Continuation of the Logwood difficulty. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 825, II, +879, 880.) + +_June 21._ + +Case of the _Peter_ of London (_Journal_; _Cal._, § 820; _Cal._, _Dom._, +1673, pp. 198-199.) + +Petition from Montserrat. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 859, 879.) + +_June 25._ + +Jews in Jamaica. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 848, 879.) + +Heads of a letter to Sir Thomas Lynch from the Council. (_Journal_; +_Cal._, § 943.) + +Injuries from the French in the West Indies. (_Journal_; _Cal._, § 805.) + +About ship departure from Jamaica. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 683, 910.) + +_July 2._ + +Opinion and advice of the Council to the king upon a great variety of +matters already discussed. Jews, logwood, Surinam, Jamaica defence, +Curaçoa, Leeward Is. and Wheeler, and Stapleton, defense of Montserrat, +etc. (_Cal._, § 879.) In addition the merchants seem to have made a +report on the best time for ships to depart from Jamaica. (_Journal._) + +_July 3._ + +Petition from the Long Islanders regarding the whale fishery and their +relations with New Amsterdam read. (_Cal._, § 875.) + +_July 16._ + +Concerning Virginia--probably the question of the Arlington and Culpeper +grant. (_Journal._) + +_July 19._ + +Regarding the whale fishery. (_Journal_; _Cal._, § 875.) + +_July 26._ + +Petition of Sir Ernestus Biron, escheator in Barbadoes, read. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, 1661-1668, § 1622.) + +_July 29._ + +Report on the petition. (_Journal._) + +_September 1._ + +"Our Council of Plantations met at Lord Shaftesbury's (Chancellor of the +Exchequer) to read and reform the draught of our new Patent, joining the +Council of Trade to our political capacities." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, +p. 83.) + +_September 20._ + +Particulars of monies disbursed for the Council. (_Journal._) + +_October 1 (about)._ + +Letters written by Sir Thomas Lynch on June 20 and July 5 read to the +Council. (_Cal._, § 943.) + + +COUNCIL FOR TRADE AND FOREIGN PLANTATIONS, 1672-1674. + +_October 13._ + +Commission opened and read and oath administered. (_Journal._) + +Letters from Gov. Stapleton and his answer to inquiries read. (_Cal._, +§§ 842, 896.) + +"Went to my Lord Keeper, (Sir Orlando Bridgeman) at Essex House, where +our new patent was opened and read, constituting us that were of the +Council of Plantations, to be now of the Council of Trade also, both +united. After the patent was read, we all took our oaths, and departed." +(Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 85.) + +_October 24._ + +Oaths administered. (_Journal._) + +"Met in Council, the Earl of Shaftesbury, now our President, swearing +our Secretary and his clerks, which was Mr. Locke, an excellent learned +gentleman, and student of Christ Church, Mr. Lloyd, and Mr. Frowde [son +of Philip Frowde, clerk of the former Council of 1660]. We dispatched a +letter to Sir Thomas Linch Governor of Jamaica, giving him notice of a +design of the Dutch on that island." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 86.) + +_October 27._ + +Jamaica laws received and probably considered. (_Cal._, § 829.) + +_October 29._ + +Meeting held at 9. a. m. No statement as to business. (_Cal._, _Dom._, +1672-1673.) + +_November 3._ + +Logwood case; depositions and letters presented. (_Cal._, § 954.) + +_November 8._ + +New England case considered. (_Journal._) + +Letter from Sir Thomas Lynch read. (_Cal._, § 855.) + +Rodney petition received from the Privy Council and read. +(_Cal._, § 958.) + +The petition from the consul of Venice, asking that consulage be levied +on goods not on ships. (_Journal_; _Cal._, _Dom._, 1673, pp. 100, 303.) + +"At Council we debated the business of the consulate of Leghorn (?). I +was of the Committee with Sir Humphrey Winch, the Chairman, to examine +the laws of his Majesty's several plantations and colonies in the West +Indies, etc." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 86.) + +_November 13._ + +Letter from Dep. Gov. Coddrington of Barbadoes read. (_Cal._, §§ 872, +901, 902.) + +_November 15._ + +Petition of the consul at Venice considered further. (_Journal._) + +"Many merchants were summoned about the consulate of Venice; which +caused great disputes; the most considerable thought it useless." +(Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 86.) + +_November 20._ + +Petition of Rabba Couty, whose ship was seized at Port Royal, Jamaica, +on the ground that he was a foreigner. (_Cal._, § 968; _Cal._, _Dom._, +1672-1673, p. 295.) + +_November 29._ + +Order of Council appointing a committee to confer with Sir Charles +Wheeler. (_Cal._, § 974.) + +_December 7._ + +Report of the conferences. (_Cal._, § 977.) + +_December 10._ + +Report of the conferences. (_Cal._, § 977.) + +_December 20._ + +Report on the case of Rabba Couty, recommending the return of the +vessel. (_Cal._, § 968, IV; _Cal._, _Dom._, 1672-1673, p. 295.) + +Order issued for a more speedy and orderly despatch of reports to +the King and of letters and orders to the Governors of plantations. +(_Cal._, _Dom._, 1672-1673, p. 295.) + +_December 21._ + +"Settled the Consulate of Venice." (Evelyn's _Diary_. II, p. 86.) + +_December 29._ + +Report on petition of the Gambia merchants regarding the use of a wood +called "sanders" for dyeing purposes. (_Cal._, § 973, III; _Cal._, +_Dom._, 1673, pp. 190, 217.) + + +1673. + +_January 7._ + +Letter of Sir Thomas Lynch; complaint of Gambia Company; Russell's +answer to Rodney's petition; report on laws of Jamaica; articles +relating to the Venetian trade; Ordinance in Sweden against "our +privileges"; St. Christopher business; answer to Col. Stapleton; advice +to the King about planting St. Christopher; regarding the books and +papers of the former councils; Newfoundland trade; acts of Barbadoes. +(_Cal._, _Dom._, 1672-1673, p. 403. This series of subjects is the only +complete list of the heads of a single day's business that we find +anywhere, except in the minutes of two meetings noted below.) + +_January 9._ + +About Johnson "the Pyrat." (_Cal._, §§ 938, 1082, Index; _Journal_.) + +_January 11._ + +Order of the Council to the secretary to report on losses and injuries +lately sustained from the Spaniards. (_Cal._, § 1022.) + +_February 1._ + +Similar order regarding the differences with the French at St. +Christopher. (_Cal._, §§ 1028, 1033.) + +Heads of a letter to Gov. Stapleton of St. Christopher. (_Journal._) + +_February 6._ + +Gambia Adventurers. (_Journal._) + +_February 18._ + +Gambia Adventurers. (_Journal._) + +Secretary's report on St. Christopher. (_Cal._, § 1034.) Secretary +ordered to prepare another report for the 25^{th} on same subject. + +_February 25._ + +Secretary's report probably presented on this day. + +_March 6._ + +Letter to Gov. Stapleton written. (_Journal._) + +Letter from Lord Willoughby read. (_Cal._, § 1000.) + +_March 17._ + +Petition from Rodney asking that a certain Carpenter, "who has long +lived in Nevis," may be heard. (_Cal._, § 1049.) + +Reply of Capt Rodney to the answer of Gov. Russell read. (_Cal._, +§ 1050.) + +_April 10._ + +Heads of an address about St. Christopher. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 1038, +1069.) + +New England. (_Journal._) + +_April 14._ + +Representations on Gambia question drawn up. (_Cal._, _Dom._, 1773, +p. 142.) + +_April 22._ + +Rodney's petition. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 958, 1049-1050, 1071, 1074, +1110, 1194, 1225. See Index.) + +_June 9._ + +Address of Council to the king regarding differences between the English +and the French at St. Christopher. (_Cal._, §§ 903, 1105.) + +_June 23._ + +Representation and advice of the Council regarding the Rodney case. +(_Cal._, § 1110.) + +"To London, to accompany our Council, who went in a body to congratulate +the new Lord Treasurer [Sir Thomas Osborne], no friend to it, because +promoted by my Lord Arlington, whom he hated." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, +p. 90.) + +_July 21._ + +About the exportation of wool (_Journal_); report on this question +urging that present laws be put in execution and export of wool be +strictly forbidden. (_Cal._, _Dom._, 1673, pp. 382, 541.) + +_September 13._ + +Dr Worsley, his discharge. (_Journal_; _Cal._, § 1151.) + +_September 16._ + +To Council about chosing a new Secretary. (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 94.) + +_October 15._ + +Mr. Lock sworne. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 1162, 1163.) + +"To Council, and swore in Mr. Locke, secretary, Dr. Worsley being dead." +(Evelyn's _Diary_, II, 95. This statement regarding Dr. Worsley cannot +be true.) + +_October 21_ (committee). + +Charter parties for transporting to Barbadoes stores and provisions +read. (_Cal._, § 1058.) + +Letters from Sir Peter Colleton & others read. (_Cal._, §§ 1101, 1104, +1131, 1133.) + +Regarding capture of New York. (_Cal._, §§ 1138, 1157.) + +_October 27_ (committee). + +About Sir J. Atkins, Barbadoes. (_Journal._) + +Regarding New York; Mr. Dyer's project for reducing that town. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, § 1157.) + +"To Council about sending succours to recover New York; and then we read +the commission and instructions to Sir Jonathan Atkins, the new Governor +of Barbadoes." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, 95.) + +_November 3._ + +About New York, Albany, etc.; consideration of the retaking of these +places from the Dutch. (_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 1160, 1165.) + +_November 7_ (committee). + +William Dervell's statement regarding the loss of New York. +(_Cal._, § 1143.) + +_November 8._ + +Barbadoes and Sir J. Atkins. (_Journal._) Probably the question +of Atkins's commission as Governor of Barbadoes was here under +consideration. + +_November 19_ (committee). + +Letters from Gov. Lynch read. (_Cal._, § 1115.) + +_November 24._ + +Petitions of Steed, provost marshal of Barbadoes, read. +(_Cal._, § 1167.) + +_December 1._ + +Letter from Sir Jonathan Atkins received and (probably) read. +(_Cal._, § 1173.) + +_December 5._ + +Deposition of William Carpenter in favor of Steed. (_Cal._, § 1177.) + +_December 19._ + +Report to the King, presenting draft of commission and instructions for +Sir Jonathan Atkins, governor of Barbadoes. (_Cal._, §§ 1182, 1185.) + + +1674. + +_January 7._ + +Received order from Privy Council committee on grievances regarding the +Rodney petition. (_Cal._, § 1194.) + +_January 10_ (committee). + +Petition of William Dyer of New York to the King read. (_Cal._, § 1108.) + +_January 16._ + +Report of the Council on this petition. (_Cal._, § 1108.) + +_January 23._ + +Order from the Privy Council instructing the Council to transmit a true +state of the case between Rodney and others. (_Cal._, § 1207.) + +_February 10._ + +"Ordered, That a Copy of M^{r}. Rodneys Peti[~c]on and his Ma^{ties}. +Reference thereupon, and the Report of this Councill should bee +delivered by M^{r}. Lock to M^{r}. Secret^{ry}. Coventry to bee by him +p^{e}sented to his Ma^{ty}. + +The Earle of Arlingtons L[~re] to this Councill of the 23^{d}. of +January last signifying his Ma^{ties}. pleasure, That this Councill +should consider of a Com^{n}. & Instru[~cc]ons for the Earle of +Carlisle, appointed to bee Governo^{r}. of Jamaica, and Col: Morgan +appointed to bee Deputy Governo'{r}. was read. + +A Draught of Instru[~cc]ons for my Lord Carlisle was read and debated, +and the further debate thereof adjourned till next meeting. + +My Lord Culpeper having acquainted this Councill, that my Lord Carlisle +had something to offer to this Councill. The Councill desired my Lord +Culpeper to acquaint his Lord[~sp], That if hee pleased to come to the +Councill on Fryday next in the Afternoone, they shall bee ready to +receive what [~ev] his Lord[~sp] shall bee pleas'd to offer to them. + +Ordered that M^{r}. Lock gett some Presses made wherein the papers +belong to this Councill may bee conveniently layd up. + +Two Addiconall Instru[~cc]ons for S^{r}. Jonathan Atkins Ordered to bee +drawne, one to p^{e}vent his making of Judges & Justices by Com^{ns}. +limited in tyme, becaus some former Governo^{rs}. by co[~m]issionating +these Officers only for a yeare, kept them at their devo[~c]on for +feare they should bee left out of the next, thereby eluding their +Instru[~cc]ons, which forbid the turning out of any of these Officers, +but for good caus. Another to prevent the perpetuity of Laws in the +Planta[~c]ons w^{th}out his Ma^{ties} confirma[~c]on. Ordered also +that the Addres to his Ma^{ty} ab^{t}. Jonathan Atkins and others +Governo^{rs}. taking the Oath's here, to be drawne w^{th}out Preamble." +(_Shaftesbury Papers_, Div. X, 8 (8).) + +_February 17._ + +"M^{r}. Locke Reported to the Councill, That attending M^{r}. Secretary +Coventry w^{th} the papers concerning Rodney's Case ordered by this +Council the 10^{th} of this Instant February, M^{r}. Secretary Coventry +told him, That the Order of the Privy Councill being to transmitt the +said papers, to his Ma^{ty} in Councill, that itt was not proper to do +itt by his hands, Butt that they should bee sent to one of the Clerks of +the Councill to bee by him delivered. + +Ordered thereupon, That the said papers bee delivered to one of the +Clerks of the Councill, to bee by him p^{e}sented to his Ma^{ty} in +Councill. + +Ordered That the Address of this Councill to his Ma^{ty} concerning +S^{r}. Jonathan Atkins and other Governo^{rs}. and Deputy Governo^{rs}. +takeing the Oathes &c: here, bee delivered to the Earle of Arlington to +bee by him p^{e}sented to his Ma^{ty}. + +Two Addiconall Instru[~cc]ons for S^{r}. Jonathan Atkins, The one about +the Com^{ns}. of Justices of the Peace, and the other about Marshall Law +read & agreed. + +A Copy of an Order of the Presid^{ts}. & Councill of Barbados, +concerning the Provost Marshall's place, was brought in by my Lord +Culpeper, who assured the Councill hee had re[~c]ed itt in a Letter from +the Clerk of the Councill there, which letter hee had not now about him. +The considera[~c]on thereof adjourned till this Copy bee made appeare to +this Councill to bee more authentique. + +Upon Reading the Addiconall Instru[~cc]on to Sir Jonathan Atkins +concerning the reenacting of Laws. The Councill entred into a debate +about the best way for his Ma^{ty} to confirme the Laws made by the +Planta[~c]ons, which being often tymes ill worded by the Assembly there, +and some tymes faulty in some part though the maine deserves to bee +established. Which being found to bee a matter of great moment, The +farther debate thereof was adjourned till another opportunity, when the +Earle of Shaftesbury should bee present." (_Shaftesbury Papers_, Div. X, +8 (9); _Cal._, § 1221. These minutes are the only complete record that +we have of the proceedings at council meetings. They show how much has +been lost in the disappearance of the original journal.) + +_March 6._ + +Letter from Lord Willoughby read. (_Cal._, § 966.) + +Petition of William Helyar regarding woodland purchased by him in +Jamaica. (_Cal._, § 1236.) + +_March 8._ + +Report of the Council upon the petition of Edwin Steed. (_Cal._, +§ 1238.) + +_March 17._ + +Mr. Gorges paper regarding the sugar plantations. (_Cal._, § 1244.) + +_March 23._ + +Sends Helyar's petition to Gov. Lynch and wishes reply. (_Cal._, +§ 1250.) + +Draft Commission for the Earl of Carlisle, appointed governor of +Jamaica. (_Cal._, §§ 1251, 1252. Cf. § 1253.) + +Similar draft for Col. Morgan, deputy governor of Jamaica. (_Cal._, +§ 1254.) + +_April 3._ + +Petition from Representatives of Leeward Is. for convoys, etc. +(_Cal._, § 1257.) + +_April 13._ + +New England: petition of Earl of Sterling, Gorges, and Mason read. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, § 1247.) + +_May 8_ (committee). + +Letter from Gov. Stapleton read. (_Cal._, §§ 1201-1203, 1327.) + +_July 3._ + +Petition of Edmund Cooke, merchant, regarding the barbarous treatment +received from the Spaniards. (_Cal._, § 1320.) + +_July 17._ + +Similar petition from other merchants. (_Cal._, § 1327.) + +_September 15._ + +"To Council, about fetching away the English left at Surinam, etc., +since our reconciliation with Holland." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 99.) + +_September 22._ + +Regarding Surinam question--fetching the English away, etc. (_Cal._, +§ 1354.) + +_September 24._ + +Report on this question to the King. (_Cal._, § 1355.) + +_October 6_ (Committee). + +Letter from Gov. Lynch in answer to Col. Helyar's petition read. +(_Cal._, § 1301.) + +_October 13._ + +Letter from Gov. Stapleton on the wrongs suffered from the French in the +Leeward Is. (_Cal._, § 1333.) + +_October 15._ + +Proposal read of F. Gorges, agent of Gov. Stapleton, regarding the +action of the French. (_Cal._, § 1360.) + +_October 16._ + +St. Christopher and Sir William Lockhart's letter. (_Cal._, § 1365, I.) +Lockhart was "Resident with the French King." + +_October 27._ + +Discussion of the Surinam situation. (_Journal._) + +_October 30._ + +Continuation of the same. (_Journal._) + +_November 17._ + +Continuation of the same. (_Journal._) + +"To Council, on the business of Surinam, where the Dutch had detained +some English in prison, ever since the first war, 1665." (Evelyn's +_Diary_, II, 100.) + +_November 20._ + +About Negroes; probably regarding a clause in Lord Vaughan's commission. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, §§ 1386, 1392.) + +_November 21._ + +Jamaica and my Lord Vaughan. (_Journal._) + +_November 24._ + +Heads of Lord Vaughan's commission and instructions. (_Cal._, § 1392). +About Negroes. (_Journal._) + +_December 4._ + +About Surinam. Address of the Council to the King (_Journal_; _Cal._, +§ 1401.) + +_December 17._ + +Address of the Council regarding Indians brought by force from Guinea to +Barbadoes. (_Cal._, § 1409.) + +_December 18._ + +About Surinam. (_Journal._) Instruction for a vessel sailing to that +island. (_Cal._, §§ 1413, 1414, 1415.) + +_December 22._ + +Address from the Council to the King regarding the Surinam question. +(_Cal._, § 1416.) + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of British Committees, Commissions, and +Councils of Trade and Plantations, 1622-1675, by Charles M. 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Andrews. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + <!-- + body { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } + p { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { text-align: center; } + hr { width: 50%; } + .foot { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 85%; } + .foot2 { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0em; font-size: 85%; } + .quote { margin-left: 6%; margin-right: 6%; text-indent: 0em; font-size: 90%; } + span.pagenum { position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt; color: gray; background-color: inherit; } + table.parallel td { vertical-align: top; padding: 0em .5em 0em .5em; font-size: 90%; } + .side { float: right; + clear: right; + font-size: 75%; + width: 25%; + padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; + margin-left: 0.8em; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold; + font-style: italic;} + .center { text-align: center; text-indent: 0; } + .sc { font-variant: small-caps; } +/*]]>*/ + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of British Committees, Commissions, and +Councils of Trade and Plantations, 1622-1675, by Charles M. Andrews + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: British Committees, Commissions, and Councils of Trade and Plantations, 1622-1675 + +Author: Charles M. Andrews + +Release Date: August 1, 2010 [EBook #33313] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH COMMITTEES *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pagei" name="pagei"></a>[i]</span></p> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--> </p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pageii" name="pageii"></a>[ii]</span></p> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--> </p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pageiii" name="pageiii"></a>[iii]</span></p> + +<table border="0" align="center" width="50%" summary="Series XVII, Nos. 1–2–3"> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="sc">Series XXVI</span></td><td align="right"><span class="sc">Nos. 1–2–3</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="center"> +JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES +<br /> +<small>IN</small> +<br /> +<span class="sc">Historical and Political Science</span> +<br /> +<small>Under the Direction of the</small> +<br /> +Departments of History, Political Economy, and +Political Science +</p> + +<hr /> + +<a name="h2H_4_0002" id="h2H_4_0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> +BRITISH COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS, +<br /> +AND COUNCILS OF TRADE AND +<br /> +PLANTATIONS, 1622–1675 +</h2> + +<h2> +<small>BY</small> +<br /> +CHARLES M. ANDREWS +</h2> + +<p class="center"> +Professor of History +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +BALTIMORE +<br /> +THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS +</p> +<p class="center"> +<small><span style="font-family: sans-serif;">PUBLISHED MONTHLY</span></small> +<br /> +January, February, March, 1908 +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pageiv" name="pageiv"></a>[iv]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="sc">Copyright 1908 by</span> +<br /> +<small>THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS</small> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pagev" name="pagev"></a>[v]</span></p> + +<a name="h2H_TOC" id="h2H_TOC"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + TABLE OF CONTENTS. +</h2> + +<table border="0" align="center" summary="Table of Contents"> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><p class="center"><a href="#h2HCH0005">CHAPTER I.</a></p></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><p class="center"><span class="sc">Control of Trade and Plantations under James I and Charles I.</span></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td> Before 1622, Privy Council the sole authority </td><td align="right"><a href="#page10">10</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Commission of Trade, 1622–1623 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page11">11</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Commission of Trade, 1625–1626 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page12">12</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Privy Council Committee of Trade, 1630–1640 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page13">13</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Temporary Plantation Commissions, 1630–1633 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page14">14</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Laud Commission for Plantations, 1634–1641 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page14">14</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Subcommittees for Plantations, 1632–1639 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page17">17</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Privy Council in control, 1640–1642 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page21">21</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Parliamentary Commission for Plantations, 1643–1648 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page21">21</a> </td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><p class="center"><a href="#h2HCH0006">CHAPTER II.</a></p></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><p class="center"><span class="sc">Control of Trade and Plantations during the Interregnum.</span></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td> The Council of Trade, 1650–1653 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page24">24</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Plantation Affairs controlled by the Council of State, 1649–1651 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page30">30</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Standing Committee of the Council for Plantations, 1651–April, 1653 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page33">33</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Plantation Affairs controlled by the Council of State, April–Dec., 1653 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page35">35</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Trade controlled by Council of State and Parliamentary Committees, Dec., 1653–June, 1655 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page36">36</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Importance of the years 1654–1655 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page36">36</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> The great Trade Committee, 1655–1657 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page38">38</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Parliamentary Committees of Trade, 1656–1658 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page43">43</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Plantation Affairs controlled by Protector's Council and Council of the State, 1653–1660 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page43">43</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Special Council Committees for Plantations, 1653–1659 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page44">44</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Council Committee for Jamaica and Foreign Plantations, 1655–1660 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page44">44</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Select Committee for Jamaica, known later as Committee for America, 1655–1660 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page45">45</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Inadequacy of Control during the Interregnum </td><td align="right"><a href="#page47">47</a> </td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><p class="center"><a href="#h2HCH0007">CHAPTER III.</a></p></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><p class="center"><span class="sc">The Proposals of the Merchants: Noell and Povey.</span></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td> Career of Martin Noell </td><td align="right"><a href="#page49">49</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagevi" name="pagevi"></a>[vi]</span> + + Career of Thomas Povey </td><td align="right"><a href="#page51">51</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Enterprises of the Merchants, 1657–1659 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page53">53</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Proposals of Noell and Povey </td><td align="right"><a href="#page55">55</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> "Overtures" of 1654 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page55">55</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> "Queries" of 1656 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page58">58</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Additional Proposals, 1656, 1657 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page58">58</a> </td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><p class="center"><a href="#h2HCH0008">CHAPTER IV.</a></p></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><p class="center"><span class="sc">Committees and Councils under the Restoration.</span></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td> Plantation Committee of Privy Council, June 4, 1660 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page61">61</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Work of Privy Council Committee </td><td align="right"><a href="#page63">63</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Appointment of Select Councils of Trade and Plantations, 1660 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page64">64</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Membership of these Councils </td><td align="right"><a href="#page67">67</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Comparison of Povey's "Overtures" with the Instructions for Council for Foreign Plantations </td><td align="right"><a href="#page68">68</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Comparison of Povey's "First Draft" with Instructions for Council of Trade </td><td align="right"><a href="#page71">71</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Work of Council for Foreign Plantations, 1660–1665 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page74">74</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Control of Plantation Affairs, 1665–1670 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page79">79</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Work of Council of Trade, 1660–1664 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page80">80</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Parliamentary Committee of Trade, 1664 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page85">85</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Commission for English-Scottish Trade, 1667–1668 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page86">86</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Reorganization of Committees of the Privy Council, 1668 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page87">87</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Work of Privy Council Committee for Foreign Plantations, 1668–1670 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page90">90</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> New Select Council of Trade, 1668–1672 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page91">91</a> </td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><p class="center"><a href="#h2HCH0009">CHAPTER V.</a></p></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><p class="center"><span class="sc">The Plantation Councils of 1670 and 1672.</span></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td> Influence of Ashley and Locke </td><td align="right"><a href="#page96">96</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Revival of Council for Foreign Plantations, 1670–1672 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page97">97</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Membership </td><td align="right"><a href="#page97">97</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Commission and Instructions </td><td align="right"><a href="#page99">99</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Meetings and Work </td><td align="right"><a href="#page101">101</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Select Council of Trade and Foreign Plantations, 1672–1674 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page106">106</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Membership </td><td align="right"><a href="#page106">106</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Commission and Instructions </td><td align="right"><a href="#page107">107</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Meetings and Work </td><td align="right"><a href="#page109">109</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Causes of the Revocation of the Commission of Select Council, 1674 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page111">111</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> Later History of Plantation Control, 1675–1782 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page112">112</a> </td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><p class="center"> + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagevii" name="pagevii"></a>[vii]</span> + + <a href="#h2H_APPE">APPENDICES.</a></p></td></tr> + +<tr><td> I. <span class="sc">Instructions, Board of Trade</span>, 1650 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page115">115</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> II. <span class="sc">Instructions, Council for Foreign Plantations</span>, 1670–1672 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page117">117</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> <span class="sc">Additional Instructions for the Same</span> </td><td align="right"><a href="#page124">124</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> III. <span class="sc">Draft of Instructions, Council of Trade and Foreign Plantations</span>, 1672–1674 </td><td align="right"><a href="#page127">127</a> </td></tr> +<tr><td> IV. <span class="sc">Heads of Business; Councils of 1670 and 1672</span> </td><td align="right"><a href="#page133">133</a> </td></tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="pageviii" name="pageviii"></a>[viii]</span></p> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--> </p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page9" name="page9"></a>[9]</span></p> + +<a name="h2H_4_0009" id="h2H_4_0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h1> + BRITISH COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS, AND COUNCILS OF TRADE AND PLANTATIONS, + 1622–1675. +</h1> + +<a name="h2HCH0005" id="h2HCH0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER I. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">Control of Trade and Plantations Under James I and Charles I.</span> +</h3> + +<p> +In considering the subject which forms the chief topic of this paper, we +are not primarily concerned with the question of settlement, intimately +related though it be to the larger problem of colonial control. We are +interested rather in the early history of the various commissions, +councils, committees, and boards appointed at one time or another in the +middle of the seventeenth century for the supervision and management of +trade, domestic, foreign, and colonial, and for the general oversight of +the colonies whose increase was furthered, particularly after 1650, in +largest part for commercial purposes. The coupling of the terms "trade" +and "foreign plantations" was due to the prevailing economic theory +which viewed the colonies not so much as markets for British exports +or as territories for the receipt of a surplus British population—for +Great Britain had at that time no surplus population and manufactured +but few commodities for export—but rather as sources of such raw +materials as could not be produced at home, and of such tropical +products as could not be obtained otherwise than from the East and West +Indies. The two interests were not, however, finally consolidated in +the hands of a single board until 1672, after which date they were not +separated until the final abolition of the old Board of Trade in 1782. +It is, therefore, to the period before 1675 that we shall + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page10" name="page10"></a>[10]</span> + + chiefly direct +our attention, in the hope of throwing some light upon a phase of +British colonial control that has hitherto remained somewhat obscure. +Familiar as are many of the facts connected with the early history of +Great Britain's management of trade and the colonies, it is nevertheless +true that no attempt has been made to trace in detail the various +experiments undertaken by the authorities in England in the interest +of trade and the plantations during the years before 1675. Many of +the details are, and will always remain, unknown, nevertheless it is +possible to make some additions to our knowledge of a subject which +is more or less intimately related to our early colonial history. +</p> +<p> +At the beginning of colonization the control of all matters relating +to trade and the plantations lay in the hands of the king and his +council, forming the executive branch of the government. Parliament +had not yet begun to legislate for the colonies, and in matters +of trade and commerce the parliaments of James I accomplished much +less than had those of Elizabeth. "In the time of James I," says Dr. +Prothero, "it was more essential to assert constitutional principles +and to maintain parliamentary rights than to pass new laws or to create +new institutions." Thus the Privy Council became the controlling factor +in all matters that concerned the colonies and it acted in the main +without reference or delegation to others, since the practice of +appointing advisory boards or deliberative committees, though not +unknown, was at first employed only as an occasional expedient. The +councils of James I were called upon to deal with a wide variety of +colonial business—letters, petitions, complaints and reports from +private individuals, such as merchants, captains of ships voyaging +to the colonies, seamen, prisoners, and the like, from officials +in England, merchant companies, church organizations, and colonial +governments, notably the governor and council and assembly of Virginia. +To all these communications the Council replied either by issuing orders +which were always mandatory, or by sending letters which often contained +information and advice as well as + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page11" name="page11"></a>[11]</span> + + instructions. It dealt with the +Virginia Company in London and sent letters, both before and after the +dissolution of the company, to the governor and council in Virginia, +and in all these letters trade played an important part. For example, +the order of October 24, 1621, which forbade the colony to export +tobacco and other commodities to foreign countries, declared that such +a privilege as an open trade on the part of the colony was desirable +"neither in policy nor for the honor of the state (that being but a +colony derived from hence)," and that it could not be suffered "for that +it may be a loss unto his Majesty in his customs, if not the hazarding +of the trade which in future times is well hoped may be of much profit, +use, and importance to the Commonalty."<a href="#note-1-1" name="noteref-1-1"><small>1</small></a> Similarly the Council issued +a license to Lord Baltimore to export provisions for the relief of his +colony at Avalon,<a href="#note-2-1" name="noteref-2-1"><small>2</small></a> ordered that the <i>Ark</i> and the <i>Dove</i>, containing +Calvert and the settlers of Maryland, be held back at Tilbury until the +oaths of allegiance had been taken,<a href="#note-3-1" name="noteref-3-1"><small>3</small></a> and instructed the governor and +company of Virginia to give friendly assistance to Baltimore's +undertaking.<a href="#note-4-1" name="noteref-4-1"><small>4</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Of the employment of committees or special commissions to inquire +into questions either commercial or colonial there is no evidence +before the year 1622. A few months after the dissolution of the third +Stuart parliament, James I issued a proclamation for the encouragement +of trade, and directed a special commission not composed of privy +councillors to inquire into the decay of the clothing trade and to +report to the Privy Council such remedial measures as seemed best +adapted to increase the wealth and prosperity of the realm.<a href="#note-5-1" name="noteref-5-1"><small>5</small></a> At the +same time he caused a commission to be issued to the Lord Keeper, the +Lord Treasurer, the Lord President of the Council and others "to collect +and cause a true survey to be taken in writing of the names, qualities, +professions, and places of habitation of such strangers as do + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page12" name="page12"></a>[12]</span> + + reside +within the realm of England and use any retailing trade or handicraft +trade and do reform the abuses therein according to the statutes now in +force."<a href="#note-6-1" name="noteref-6-1"><small>6</small></a> The commissioners of trade duly met, during the years 1622 +and 1623, summoned persons to appear before them, and reported to the +Council. Their report was afterward presented to the King sitting with +the Council at Wansted, "was allowed and approved of, and commandment +was given to enter it in the Register of Counsell causes and to remain +as an act of Counsell by order of the Lord President."<a href="#note-7-1" name="noteref-7-1"><small>7</small></a> There is +evidence also to show that the commission issued orders on its own +account, for in June, 1623, the Mayor and Aldermen of the city of London +wrote two letters to the commission expressing their approval of its +orders and sending petitions presented to them by citizens of London.<a href="#note-8-1" name="noteref-8-1"><small>8</small></a> +</p> +<p> +On April 15, 1625, less than three weeks after the death of James I, +a warrant was issued by his successor for a commission of trade, the +duties of which were of broader and more general character than were +those of the previous body.<a href="#note-9-1" name="noteref-9-1"><small>9</small></a> The first record of its meeting is dated +January 18, 1626, but it is probable that then the commission had been +for some time in existence, though the exact date when its commission +was issued is not known. The text of both commission and instructions +are among the Domestic Papers.<a href="#note-10-1" name="noteref-10-1"><small>10</small></a> The board was to advance the +exportations of home manufactures and to repress the "ungainful +importation of foreign commodities." Looked upon as a subcommittee of +the Privy Council, but having none of the privy councillors among its +members, it was required to sit every week and to consider all questions +that might be referred to it for examination and report. The fact that a +complaint against the patent of Sir Ferdinando Gorges was referred to it +shows + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page13" name="page13"></a>[13]</span> + + that it was qualified to deal not only with questions of trade but +also with plantation affairs.<a href="#note-11-1" name="noteref-11-1"><small>11</small></a> At about the same time a committee of +the Council was appointed to take into consideration a special question +of trade and to make report to the Council. Neither of these bodies +appears to have had more than a temporary existence, although the +commission sat for some time and accomplished no inconsiderable amount +of work. +</p> +<p> +The first Privy Council committee of trade that had any claim to +permanency was that appointed in March, 1630, consisting at first of +thirteen members, the Lord Keeper, the Lord Treasurer, the Lord +President, the Lord Privy Seal, Earl Marshall, the Lord Steward, Earl +of Dorset, Earl of Holland, Earl of Carlisle, Lord Dorchester, the +Vice-Chamberlain, Sir Henry Cottington and Mr. Secretary Coke. This +committee was to meet on Friday mornings. The same committee, with the +omission of one member, was appointed the next year to meet on Tuesdays +in the afternoon. In 1634 the membership was reduced to nine, but in +1636, 1638 and 1639, by the addition of the Lord Treasurer, the number +was raised to ten, as follows: the Lord President, the Lord Treasurer, +the Lord Keeper, the Lord Privy Seal, Earl Marshall, Earl of Dorset, +Lord Cottington, Mr. Comptroller, Mr. Secretary Coke and Mr. Secretary +Windebank. The meetings were again held on Fridays, though on special +occasions the committee was warned to meet on other days by order of the +Council, and on one occasion at least assembled at Hampton Court.<a href="#note-12-1" name="noteref-12-1"><small>12</small></a> +To this committee were referred all matters of trade which came to the +attention of the Council during the ten years, from 1630 to 1640. Notes +of its meetings between 1631 and 1637 were kept by Secretaries Coke and +Windebank and show the extent and variety of its activities. Except for +the garbling of tobacco it does not appear to have concerned itself with +plantation + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page14" name="page14"></a>[14]</span> + + affairs.<a href="#note-13-1" name="noteref-13-1"><small>13</small></a> As the King was generally present at its +meetings, it possessed executive as well as advisory powers, not only +making reports to the Council, but also drafting regulations and issuing +orders on its own account. Occasionally it appointed special committees +to examine into certain trade difficulties, and on September 21, 1638, +and again on February 3, 1639, we find notice of a separate board of +commissioners for trade constituted under the great seal to inquire into +the decay of the clothing industry. This board sat for two years and +made an elaborate report to the Privy Council on June 9, 1640.<a href="#note-14-1" name="noteref-14-1"><small>14</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Though committees for trade, ordnance, foreign affairs, and Ireland +had a more or less continuous existence during the period after 1630, +no similar committee for plantations was created during this decade. +Temporary commissions and committees of the Council had been, however, +frequently appointed. In 1623 and 1624 several sets of commissioners for +Virginia were named "to inquire into the true state of Virginia and the +Somers Islands plantations," "to resolve upon the well settling of the +colony of Virginia," "and to advise on a fit patent for the Virginia +Company." In 1631 a commission of twenty-three persons, of whom four +constituted a quorum, was created, partly from within and partly from +without the Privy Council, "to advise upon some course for establishing +the advancement of the plantations of Virginia."<a href="#note-15-1" name="noteref-15-1"><small>15</small></a> Similar commissions +were appointed to meet special exigencies in the careers of other +plantations, Somers Islands, Caribbee Islands, etc. In 1632, we meet +with a committee forming the first committee of the Council appointed +for the plantations, quite distinct in functions and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page15" name="page15"></a>[15]</span> + + membership from +the committee for trade and somewhat broader in scope than the +commissions mentioned above. The circumstances of its appointment were +these: In the year 1632 complaints began to come in to the Privy Council +regarding the conduct of the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Thomas Morton +and Philip Ratcliffe had been banished from that colony and sent back +to England. Sir Christopher Gardiner, also, after a period of troubled +relations with the authorities there, had taken ship for England. These +men, acting in conjunction with Gorges and Mason, whose claims had +already been before the Council, presented petitions embodying their +grievances. On December 19, 1632, the Council listened to the reading +of these petitions and to the presentation of a "relation" drawn up by +Gardiner. After long debate "upon the whole carriage of the plantation +of that country," it appointed a committee of twelve members, called the +Committee on the New England Plantations, with the Archbishop of York at +its head, "to examine how the patents for the said plantations have been +granted." This committee had power to call "to their assistance such +other persons as they shall think fit," "to examine the truth of the +aforesaid information or any other information as shall be presented to +them and shall make report thereof to this board and of the true state +of the said plantations." The committee deliberated on the "New England +Case," summoned many of the "principal adventurers in that plantation" +before it, listened to the complainants, and reported favorably to the +colony. The essential features of its report were embodied in an order +in council, dated January 19, 1633.<a href="#note-16-1" name="noteref-16-1"><small>16</small></a> This committee, still called the +Committee for New England, was reappointed in December, 1633, with a +slight change of membership, Laud, who had been made primate the August +before, taking the place of the Archbishop of York as chairman. But this +committee was soon overshadowed by the greater commission to come.<a href="#note-17-1" name="noteref-17-1"><small>17</small></a> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page16" name="page16"></a>[16]</span></p> + +<p> +The first separate commission, though, in reality, a committee of the +Privy Council, appointed to concern itself with all the plantations, +was created by Charles I, April 28, 1634. It was officially styled +the Commission for Foreign Plantations; one petitioner called it +"the Lords Commissioners for Plantations in General," and another +"the learned Commissioners appointed by the King to examine and rectify +all complaints from the plantations." It is probable that the term +"Committee of Foreign Plantations" was occasionally applied to it, +as there is nothing to show that the committee of 1633 remained in +existence after April, 1634.<a href="#note-18-1" name="noteref-18-1"><small>18</small></a> Recommissioned, April 10, 1636, it +continued to sit as an active body certainly as late as August, 1641, +and possibly longer,<a href="#note-19-1" name="noteref-19-1"><small>19</small></a> though there is no formal record of its +discontinuance. Its original membership was as follows: William Laud, +Archbishop of Canterbury; Richard Neile, Archbishop of York; Sir Thomas +Coventry, the Lord Keeper; Earl of Portland, the Lord Treasurer, Earl +of Manchester, the Lord Privy Seal, Earl of Arundel, the Earl Marshall, +Earl of Dorset, Lord Cottington, Sir Thomas Edmondes, the Master +Treasurer, Sir Henry Vane, the Master Comptroller, and the secretaries, +Coke and Windebank. Later the Earl of Sterling was added.<a href="#note-20-1" name="noteref-20-1"><small>20</small></a> Five +constituted a quorum. The powers granted to the commission were +extensive and almost royal in character: to make laws and orders for the +government of the English colonies in foreign parts; to impose penalties +and imprisonment for offenses in ecclesiastical matters; to remove +governors and require an account of their government; + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page17" name="page17"></a>[17]</span> + + to appoint judges +and magistrates, and to establish courts, both civil and ecclesiastical; +to hear and determine all manner of complaints from the colonies; +to have power over all charters and patents, and to revoke those +surreptitiously or unduly obtained. Such powers clearly show that the +commission was designed as an instrument for enforcing the royal will +in the colonies, and furnishes no precedent for the later councils and +boards of trade and foreign plantations. Called into being probably +because of the continued emigration of Puritans to New England, the +complaints against the Massachusetts charter, and the growth of +Independency in that colony, it was in origin a coercive, not an +inquisitory, body, in the same class with the courts of Star Chamber and +High Commission, and the Councils of Wales and the North. Unlike these +bodies, it proved practically impotent, and there is nothing to show +that it took any active part in the attempt to repeal the Massachusetts +charter or in any important particular exercised the powers granted +to it. It did not remove or appoint a governor, establish a court, or +grant or revoke a charter. It received petitions either directly or +from the Privy Council and made recommendations, but it never attempted +to establish uniformity in New England or to bring the New England +colonies more directly under the authority of the Crown. Whether it was +the failure of the attempt to vacate the Massachusetts charter, or the +poverty of the King, or the approach of civil war that prevented the +enforcement of the royal policy, we cannot say, but the fact remains +that the Laud commission played a comparatively inconspicuous part +during the seven years of its existence and has gained a prominence in +the history of our subject out of all proportion to its importance. +</p> +<p> +More directly connected with the commercial and colonial interests of +the realm were the subcommittees which the Privy Council used during +these years and earlier as advisory and inquisitory bodies. In addition +to committees of its own, the Privy Council called on various outside +persons + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page18" name="page18"></a>[18]</span> + + known to be familiar with the circumstances of a particular +case or experts in the general subject involved, and entrusted to +them the consideration of important matters that had been called to its +attention. As we have already seen, such a subcommittee on trade had +been appointed in 1625, and after 1630 we meet with many references to +individuals or groups of experts. The attorney general was called upon +to examine complaints regarding New England and Maryland in 1632 and +1635; the Chancellor of London was requested to examine the parties in +a controversy over a living in St. Christopher in 1637; many commercial +questions were referred to special bodies of merchants or others holding +official positions. In 1631 a complaint regarding interlopers in Canada +was referred to a committee of three, Sir William Becher, clerk of the +Council; Serj. (Wm.) Berkeley, afterward governor of Virginia, and +Edward Nicholas, afterward clerk of the Council, and a new committee +in which Sir William Alexander and Robert Charlton took the place of +Becher and Nicholas was appointed in 1632.<a href="#note-21-1" name="noteref-21-1"><small>21</small></a> Berkeley, Alexander, +and Charlton were known as the Commissioners for the Gulf and River of +Canada and parts adjacent, and were all directly interested in Canadian +trade.<a href="#note-22-1" name="noteref-22-1"><small>22</small></a> These committees received references from the Council, +summoned witnesses and examined them, and made reports to the Council. +Similarly, the dispute between Vassall and Kingswell was referred on +March 10, 1635, to Edward Nicholas and Sir Abraham Dawes for examination +and report, and because it was an intricate matter, consumed +considerable time and required a second report.<a href="#note-23-1" name="noteref-23-1"><small>23</small></a> Again a case +regarding the Virginia tobacco trade was referred to the body known +as the "Commissioners of Tobacco to the Lords of the Privy Council," +appointed as early as 1634 and itself a subcommittee having to do with +tobacco licenses, customs, and trade. The members were Lord Goring, +Sir Abraham Dawes, John Jacob, and Edmund + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page19" name="page19"></a>[19]</span> + + Peisley. The first specific +references to "subcommittees," <i>eo nomine</i>, are of date May 23, May 25, +and June 27, 1638. The last named reference mentions the receipt by the +Privy Council of a "certificate" or report from Sir John Wolstenholme +and Sir Abraham Dawes "unto whom their lordships had formerly referred +the hearing and examining of complaints by John Michael in the Laconia +case."<a href="#note-24-1" name="noteref-24-1"><small>24</small></a> As the earlier reference of May 23 had to do with the estate +of Sir Thomas Gates and that of May 25 to a Virginia matter, it is +evident that this particular subcommittee had been appointed some time +before May 23, 1638, and that the only thing new about it was the +term "subcommittee" as applied to such a body. This conjecture seems +reasonable when we note that Wolstenholme and Dawes had already served +on the commission for Virginia and were thoroughly conversant with +plantation affairs, while Dawes was also a member of the tobacco +commission and had served on the committee in the Kingswell-Vassall +case. An examination of later "subcommittees" shows that many of the +same men continued to be utilized by the Council in their capacity as +experts. Lord Goring, John Jacob, Sir Abraham Dawes, with Sir William +Becher and Edward Nicholas, clerks of the Council, and Edward Sandys, +brother of Sir Edwin Sandys, and a councillor of Virginia under Governor +Wyatt, formed the subcommittee to whom, on July 15, was referred the +complaint of Samuel Mathews against Governor Harvey. When the same +matter was referred again to a subcommittee on October 24, Sir Dudley +Carleton, formerly one of the commissioners for Virginia, and Thomas +Meautys, clerk of the Council, were substituted for Dawes and +Nicholas.<a href="#note-25-1" name="noteref-25-1"><small>25</small></a> These committees were instructed "to call the parties +before them, to examine the matter, and find out the truth, and then +to make certificate to their lordships of the true state of things and +their opinion thereof."<a href="#note-26-1" name="noteref-26-1"><small>26</small></a> Similar references continued to be made +during the year 1639, on + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page20" name="page20"></a>[20]</span> + + January 4, February 22, March 8,<a href="#note-27-1" name="noteref-27-1"><small>27</small></a> June 12, +16, July 17, 26, 28, August 28, and the evidence seems to show that the +committee, though frequently changing its membership, was considered +a body sitting regularly and continuously. The certificate of July 9, +1638, in answer to the reference of June 16, was signed by Sir William +Becher, Thomas Meautys, Sir Francis Wyatt, and Abraham Williams; that +of July 23 by Becher, Dawes, Jacob, and Williams. After August 28 we +hear no more of the subcommittee. Whether this is due to a failure of +the Register to enter further references and certificates or to the +actual cessation of its labors, we cannot say. The committee was always +appointed by the Council, and always reported to that body. Frequently +its certificates are entered at length in the Register.<a href="#note-28-1" name="noteref-28-1"><small>28</small></a> The petition +upon which it acted was sometimes sent directly to itself, frequently +to the Privy Council, which referred it to the subcommittee, and but +rarely to the Commissioners for Foreign Plantations.<a href="#note-29-1" name="noteref-29-1"><small>29</small></a> The committee +was limited in its scope to no one colony. It reported on matters in +England, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Somers Islands, and Virginia. +It dealt with secular business and ecclesiastical questions, and on one +occasion at least was required to examine and approve the instructions +issued to a colonial governor.<a href="#note-30-1" name="noteref-30-1"><small>30</small></a> It does not appear ever to have acted +except by order of the Privy Council, and was never in any sense of +the word a subcommittee of the Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, +although in reporting to the Council it was reporting to those who +composed that commission.<a href="#note-31-1" name="noteref-31-1"><small>31</small></a> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page21" name="page21"></a>[21]</span></p> + +<p> +From 1640 to 1642 plantation business was managed by the Privy Council +with the aid of occasional committees of its own appointed to consider +special questions. The term "subcommittee," as we have seen, does not +appear to have been used after 1639,<a href="#note-32-1" name="noteref-32-1"><small>32</small></a> but commissions authorizing +experts to make inquiry and report are referred to, and committees +of the Council took into consideration questions of trade and the +plantations. During the year from July 5, 1642, to June, 1643, no +measures relating to the colonies appear to have been taken, for +civil war was in full swing. In 1643, Parliament assumed to itself +the functions of King and Council and became the executive head of the +kingdom. Among the earliest acts was the appointment of a parliamentary +commission of eighteen members, November 24, 1643, authorized to control +plantation affairs. At its head was Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, +and among its members were Philip, Earl of Pembroke, Edward, Earl of +Manchester, William, Viscount Say and Seale, Philip, Lord Wharton, and +such well known Puritan commoners as Sir Arthur Haslerigg, John Pym, Sir +Harry Vane, Junior, Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Vassall, and others. Four +members constituted a quorum. The powers granted to this commission were +extensive, though as far as phraseology goes, less complete than those +granted to the commission of 1634. The commissioners were to have "power +and authority to provide for, order, and dispose all things which they +shall from time to time find most fit and advantageous to the well + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page22" name="page22"></a>[22]</span> + + governing, securing, and strengthening, and preserving" of "all those +islands and other plantations, inhabited, planted, or belonging to any +of his Majesty's the King of England's subjects." They were authorized +to call to their assistance any inhabitants of the plantations or owners +of land in America who might be within twenty miles of their place of +meeting; to make use of all records, books, and papers which concerned +any of the colonies; to appoint governors and officers for governing +the plantations; to remove any of the officials so appointed and to put +others in their places; and, when they deemed fit, to assign as much of +their authority and power to such persons as they should deem suitable +for better governing and preserving of the plantations from open +violence and private disturbance and destruction. +</p> +<p> +In the exercise of these powers the commissioners never embraced the +full opportunity offered to them by their charter. They did appoint +one governor, Sir Thomas Warner, governor of the Caribbee Islands. +They granted to the inhabitants of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport +a patent of incorporation and conferred upon the patentees authority +"to rule themselves by such form of civil government as by voluntary +consent of all or the greater part of them they should find most +suitable to their estate or condition.<a href="#note-33-1" name="noteref-33-1"><small>33</small></a> They also endeavored to make +a grant of the Narragansett country to Massachusetts, at the special +request of Massachusetts' agents in 1643, but failed, partly because +they had no certain authority to grant land and partly because the +only clause of their commission which seemed to give such authority +required the consent of a majority, and the agents could obtain but nine +signatures to the grant. Even these activities on the part of the board +lasted but little over a year, and after 1644 the commissioners played a +more or less passive role. They continued to sit but their only recorded +interest in colonial affairs concerned New England. From 1645 to 1648 +they became involved in the controversy + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page23" name="page23"></a>[23]</span> + + over the Narragansett country, +and in the attempt of Massachusetts to thwart her enemies, the +Gortonists and the Presbyterians.<a href="#note-34-1" name="noteref-34-1"><small>34</small></a> Whether the commission continued +to sit after the execution of the King is uncertain; there are no +further references to its existence. That many of its members remained +influential in colonial affairs is evident from the fact that at least +seven of the commissioners became members of the Council of State, +appointed February 13, 1649: Philip, Earl of Pembroke (died 1650); Sir +Arthur Haslerigg, Sir Harry Vane, the younger; Oliver Cromwell, Dennis +Bond, Miles Corbet, and Cornelius Holland. Haslerigg was a conspicuous +leader in colonial as well as other matters during the entire period of +the Commonwealth and the Protectorate; Vane became president of the new +board of trade created in August, 1650, was at the head of the Committee +of the Admiralty, which often had colonial matters referred to it, and +served frequently on plantation committees from 1649 to 1659; while +Bond, Corbet, and Holland, though never very active, were members of +one general and a few special committees that concerned themselves with +trade and plantations. Thus the spirit of the Independent wing of the +old commission continued to influence the policy of the government +in the early years of the Commonwealth period. The Council of State, +appointed by act of the Rump Parliament, was given full authority to +provide for England's trade at home and abroad and to regulate the +affairs of the plantations. Though its membership underwent yearly +changes and its composition and members were altered many times before +1660, its policy and machinery of control remained constant except as +far as they were affected by the greater power which the Council gained +in the face of the growing weakness of Parliament. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<a name="note-1-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-1-1">1</a>) +Privy Council Register, James I, Vol. V, p. 173; repeated +p. 618. +</p> + +<a name="note-2-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-2-1">2</a>) +P.C.R., Charles I. Vol. V, p. 106. +</p> + +<a name="note-3-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-3-1">3</a>) +P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. IX, p. 291. +</p> + +<a name="note-4-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-4-1">4</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Colonial, 1574–1660, p. 170, § 78. +</p> + +<a name="note-5-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-5-1">5</a>) +Rymer, Fœdera XVII. pp. 410–414. +</p> + +<a name="note-6-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-6-1">6</a>) +Public Record Office, Chancery, Crown Dockets, 4, p. 280, +June 26, 1622. +</p> + +<a name="note-7-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-7-1">7</a>) +P.C.R., James I, Vol. VI, pp. 333, 365–368, July, 1624. +</p> + +<a name="note-8-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-8-1">8</a>) +Analytical Index to the Series of Records known as +Remembrancia preserved among the Archives of the City of London, +1579–1644, p. 526. +</p> + +<a name="note-9-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-9-1">9</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Domestic, 1625–1649, pp. 4, 84. +</p> + +<a name="note-10-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-10-1">10</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1625–1649, pp. 225, 522, §§ 19, +20, p. 495. +</p> + +<a name="note-11-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-11-1">11</a>) +P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. II, Pt. I, p. 68. +</p> + +<a name="note-12-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-12-1">12</a>) +P.C.R., Charles I, Vols. V, p. 10; VI, p. 7; X., p. 3; +XII, p. 1; XV, p. 1. +</p> + +<a name="note-13-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-13-1">13</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1629–1631, p. 526; 1634–1635, +pp. 453, 472, 513, 584; 1635, pp. 30, 515, 548, 598; 1635–1636, +pp. 44, 231; 1636–1637, p. 402; 1637, pp. 47; 1637–1638, p. 410. +The secretaries' notes will be found as follows: Coke, 1629–1631, pp. +526, 535; Windebank, 1634–1635, pp. 500, 513; 1635, pp. 11–12, 29, 502, +536; 1635–1636, pp. 291–292, 428–429, 551–552; 1636–1637, pp. 402; 1637, +p. 47. +</p> + +<a name="note-14-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-14-1">14</a>) +Historical MSS. Commission, Report XV. Manuscripts of the +Duke of Portland, VIII, pp. 2–3. +</p> + +<a name="note-15-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-15-1">15</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574–1660, pp. 44, 62, 63, 64, +130; Virginia Magazine, VIII, pp. 29, 33–46, 149. +</p> + +<a name="note-16-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-16-1">16</a>) +Bradford, pp. 352–355; P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. VIII, pp. +346–347; Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574–1660, p. 158. +</p> + +<a name="note-17-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-17-1">17</a>) +P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. IX, p. 1. The order in Council +of July 3, 1633, regarding Virginia and Lord Baltimore, is headed "Lords +Commissioners for Foreign Plantations." It is evident, however, that +this body is not a separate board of commissioners but the Privy Council +sitting as a committee of the whole for plantations. The membership does +not agree with that of the committee of 1632, that committee did not sit +in the Star Chamber, and such a committee could not issue an order which +the Privy Council alone could send out. There was no separate commission +of this kind in July, 1633, as Tyler, England in America, pp. 122–123 +(Amer. Nation Series, IV) seems to think. +</p> + +<a name="note-18-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-18-1">18</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574–1660, pp. 184, 200, 251, +259. +</p> + +<a name="note-19-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-19-1">19</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1675–1676, § 193. +</p> + +<a name="note-20-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-20-1">20</a>) +P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. X, p. 1; XII, p. 1; XV, p. 1; Cal. +State Papers, Col., 1574–1660, pp. 177, 232. +</p> + +<a name="note-21-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-21-1">21</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574–1660, pp. 9, 140, 151, 158, +211, 258. +</p> + +<a name="note-22-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-22-1">22</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574–1600, p. 129. +</p> + +<a name="note-23-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-23-1">23</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., pp. 197–198, 207. +</p> + +<a name="note-24-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-24-1">24</a>) +P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. XV, p. 300. +</p> + +<a name="note-25-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-25-1">25</a>) +Virginia Magazine, X, p. 428; XI, p. 46. +</p> + +<a name="note-26-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-26-1">26</a>) +P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. XV, p. 508. +</p> + +<a name="note-27-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-27-1">27</a>) +"Att Whitehall, 8th of March, 1638(9) +</p> +<p class="foot2"> +Their Lordships do pray and require the subcommittee for foreign +plantations to consider of this petition at their next meeting and to +make report to their Lordships of their opinion concerning the same. +</p> +<p class="foot2"> +Will. Becher." +</p> + +<a name="note-28-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-28-1">28</a>) +P.C.R., Charles I, Vols. XV, p. 343; XVI, pp. 542–543. +</p> + +<a name="note-29-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-29-1">29</a>) +P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. XVI, p. 558; Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1574–1660, p. 301. +</p> + +<a name="note-30-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-30-1">30</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1675–1676, § 190. +</p> + +<a name="note-31-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-31-1">31</a>) +The commissioners frequently formed a majority of those +present at a Privy Council meeting. For example, in 1638, the Council +wrote a letter to the governor of Virgina. This letter was signed by +eleven councillors, of whom eight were members of the Commission. +It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the different capacities in +which Archbishop Laud acted. A series of minutes drawn up by him in 1638 +of the subjects upon which he had prepared reports to the King notes +the following: concerning the six plantations, grants of offices in +reversion, new patent offices and monopolies, the execution of the +King's former directions, and trade and commerce. In making these +reports Archbishop Laud acted as president of the Council, president +of the Commission for Foreign Plantations, president of the committee +for Foreign Affairs, High Commission Court, etc. +</p> + +<a name="note-32-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-32-1">32</a>) +The term "subcommittee" is used by petitioners as late +as August, 1640 (Cal. Col., 1574–1660, p. 314), but no references and +reports of so late a date are to be found in the Calendar or the +Register. +</p> + +<a name="note-33-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-33-1">33</a>) +This is, of course, the well-known Williams patent of +1644. Rhode Island, Colonial Records, I, pp. 143–146. +</p> + +<a name="note-34-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-34-1">34</a>) +Osgood, The Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, III, +pp. 110–112. +</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page24" name="page24"></a>[24]</span></p> + +<a name="h2HCH0006" id="h2HCH0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER II. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">Control of Trade and Plantations During the Interregnum.</span> +</h3> + +<p> +The earliest separate council to be established during the period from +1650 to 1660 was that appointed by act of Parliament, August, 1650, +known as the Commission or Council of Trade, of which Sir Harry Vane +was president and Benjamin Worsley, a London merchant and "doctor of +physic," already becoming known as an expert on plantation affairs, +was secretary. This body was specially instructed by Parliament to +consider, not only domestic and foreign trade, the trading companies, +manufactures, free ports, customs, excise, statistics, coinage and +exchange, and fisheries, but also the plantations and the best means +of promoting their welfare and rendering them useful to England. +"They are to take into their consideration," so runs article 12 of the +instructions, "the English plantations in America or elsewhere, and +to advise how these plantations may best be managed and made most +useful for the Commonwealth, and how the commodities thereof may be so +multiplied and improved as (if it be possible) those plantations alone +may supply the Commonwealth of England with whatsoever it necessarily +wants." These statesmanlike and comprehensive instructions are notable +in the history of the development of England's commercial and colonial +program. Free from the limitations which characterize the instructions +given to the earlier commissions, they stand with the Parliamentary +ordinance of October, 1650, and the Navigation Act of 1651, as forming +the first definite expression of England's commercial policy. Inadequate +though the immediate results were to be, we cannot call that policy +"drifting" which could shape with so much intelligence the functions +of a board of trade and plantations. There is no trace + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page25" name="page25"></a>[25]</span> + + here of the +coercive and politico-ecclesiastical purpose of the Laud Commission, or +of the partisan policy in the interests of the Puritans that the Warwick +Commission was instructed to carry out. Here we have the first attempt +to establish a legitimate control of commercial and colonial affairs, +and to these instructions may be traced the beginnings of a policy which +had the prosperity and wealth of England exclusively at heart. +</p> +<p> +Of the history of this board but little has been hitherto known and +its importance has been singularly neglected. It was more than a merely +advisory body, like the later councils and boards of trade, for it had +the power to issue orders of its own. It sat in Whitehall, received +information, papers,<a href="#note-1-2" name="noteref-1-2"><small>1</small></a> and orders from the Council of State, and +reported to that higher authority, which approved or disapproved of +its recommendations. To it the Council instructed traders and others +to refer their petitions, and itself referred numbers of similar papers +that came into its hands.<a href="#note-2-2" name="noteref-2-2"><small>2</small></a> This board took into consideration the +various questions touched upon in its instructions, especially those +concerning fisheries (Greenland), manufactures, navigation, commerce, +trade (with Guinea, Spain, Canary Islands, etc.), the poor, the trading +companies (especially the East India and Guinea companies), the merchant +companies (chiefly of London), and freedom of trade. During the first +year of its existence it was an active body and could say on November +20, 1651, that it had made seven reports to the Council of State and +seven to Parliament, that it had its opinions on six subjects ready to +be reported, and eight other questions + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page26" name="page26"></a>[26]</span> + + under debate.<a href="#note-3-2" name="noteref-3-2"><small>3</small></a> In two +particulars a fuller consideration of its work is desirable. +</p> +<p> +The Council of Trade devoted a considerable amount of time to regulating +the buying and selling of wool, and to settling the difficulties that +had arisen among the curriers, fellmongers, staplers, and clothiers +of London and elsewhere regarding their trade privileges. Late in the +spring of 1651 petitions and statements of grievance had been sent +both to the Council of Trade and to the Common Council of London by +the "freemen of the city trading in wool," for redress of grievances +practiced by the Society of Staplers. Shortly afterward, May 13, +apparently in answer to the complaint of the freemen of London, the +fellmongers of Coventry petitioned the Council of Trade, begging that +body not to interfere with its ancient privileges. Taking the matter +into consideration, the Council, on May 14, issued an order requiring +the companies to present their expedients and grievances, and appointed +a committee of two expert wool staplers, members of the Staplers +Company, to meet with the other companies and draft a certificate of +their proper and ancient rights. The Common Council, on the same day, +ordered its committee of trade, or any five of them, to attend the +Council of Trade and assist the "Company of Upholders," the committee +presenting the original complaint, in its attempt to obtain a redress +of grievances according to the plan already placed before the Common +Council. These efforts were not very successful, for the wool growers +refused to meet the committee of staplers appointed by the Council of +Trade, and the fellmongers and clothiers could not reach an agreement +with the staplers as to the latter's ancient privileges. Consequently, +the Council of Trade, on June 11, issued a second order requiring the +committee of trade of the Common Council to report on "the foundation +and nature of the Staple and the privileges pretended to by that +Society." This committee "heard + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page27" name="page27"></a>[27]</span> + + certain of the principal staplers and +perused the acts and records produced by them in defence of the same," +and reported to the Council of Trade on June 26 that, in its opinion, +the Company of Staplers had become an unnecessary and useless Society, +and were the principal cause for the dearness of wool, the badness of +cloth, and the general decay of the woolen trade.<a href="#note-4-2" name="noteref-4-2"><small>4</small></a> +</p> +<p> +The trouble seems to have been that the fellmongers and staplers +were deemed useless middlemen between the growers and the clothiers, +and injurious to the clothing industry because of their abuses. The +controversy was carried before the Council of State and its committees, +and both fellmongers and staplers argued long and forcibly in defence +of their trade.<a href="#note-5-2" name="noteref-5-2"><small>5</small></a> On November 3, 1652, the two societies presented an +answer to the particular order of the Council of Trade which declared +them unnecessary and disadvantageous, denied the charges, and prayed +that they might enjoy their trade as before. Even as late as April 16, +1653, the fellmongers petitioned for leave to produce wool-growers and +clothiers to certify the necessity of their trade.<a href="#note-6-2" name="noteref-6-2"><small>6</small></a> But fellmongers +and staplers as factors in English trade and industry were beginning +to pass away by the middle of the seventeenth century. +</p> +<p> +The second important question that came before the Council was no less +significant in its relation to the growth of British trade than was the +decay of the Societies of Fellmongers and Staplers. It concerned the +breaking down of the privileges of the merchant companies in general, +and the establishment of free ports and free trade in England—that is, +free trade controlled and ordered by the state. To this end, the Council +appointed a committee of eleven merchants to whom it gave elaborate +directions to report on the feasibility of setting apart four free ports +to which foreign commodities might be imported without paying customs + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page28" name="page28"></a>[28]</span> + + dues if again exported. These merchants met and drew up a report dated +April 26, 1651, and again on May 26 of the same year expressed further +opinions on the advisability of the "opening of free ports for trade." +"Trade being the basis and well-being of a Commonwealth, the way to +obtain it is to make it a free trade and not to bind up ingenious +spirits by exemptions and privileges which are granted to some +particular companies." In addition to the home merchants, the Council +of Trade presented its queries to the merchant strangers and to the +Committee for the Affairs of Trinity House, all of whom returned +answers. It also made public its desire to consider the appointment of +"convenient ports for the free trade in the Commonwealth," and as early +as May 22 a number of the out-ports, Dover, Plymouth, the Isle of Wight, +Barnstaple, Bideford, Appledore, and Southampton petitioned that they be +recognized as free landing places. The period was one of rivalry between +London and the out-ports, and the latter believed that the various acts +of 1650 and 1651 were in the interest of the London merchants only. +"Yet thus much that act seems to have on it only a London stamp and +a contentment to subject the whole nation to them, for most of the +out-ports are not capable of the foreign trade to Indies and Turkey. The +Londoners having the sole trade do set what price they please upon their +commodities, knowing the country cannot have them nowhere but by them, +whereby not only the out-ports are undone but the country brought to the +devotion of the city. But a great abuse is here, for the city are not +contented with this act but only so far as it serves their own turns, +for they procure (upon some pretexts or other) particular licenses for +many prohibited commodities contrary to that act, as namely for the +importation of French wines and free both of custom and excise tax, +and for the importation of whale oil and skins so as either directly or +indirectly they will have the whole trade themselves."<a href="#note-7-2" name="noteref-7-2"><small>7</small></a> Evidently the +Council of Trade favored the establishment + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page29" name="page29"></a>[29]</span> + + of a freer trade as against +the monopoly of the merchant companies, believing, it may be, that +London did monopolize trade and that it was "no good state of a body +to have a fat head and lean members." The city authorities, apparently +alarmed at the favorable action of the Council, took immediate action. +On June 19, 1651, the Court of Aldermen instructed Alderman Fowke, one +of its most influential members, in case the Council of Trade came to +an agreement favorable to free trade, to move for a reconsideration in +order that London might have a hearing before the matter was finally +settled.<a href="#note-8-2" name="noteref-8-2"><small>8</small></a> But the hearing, if had, could not have been successful in +altering the determination of the Council, for a few months later, on +December 5, 1651, the Common Council of London, probably convinced that +the Council of Trade was in earnest in its policy and alarmed at the +prospect of losing its trading privileges, ordered its committee of +trade to prepare a petition to Parliament, the Council of State, or the +Council of Trade, asking that London be made a free port. The petition +was duly drawn up and approved by the Common Council, which ordered its +committee "to maintain" it before the Council of Trade.<a href="#note-9-2" name="noteref-9-2"><small>9</small></a> Evidently the +matter went no further. The Council of Trade continued its sittings and +debated and reported on a number of petitions "complaining of abuses and +deceits" in trade, but after 1652 it plays but an inconspicuous part. +Even before that date many questions before it were taken over by the +Council of State and referred to its own committees. Fellmongers and +staplers defended their cause before the higher body and the free trade +difficulty continued to be agitated, at least as far as concerned the +Turkey trade and the Greenland fishing, by the Council committee after +it had passed out of the hands of the lesser body.<a href="#note-10-2" name="noteref-10-2"><small>10</small></a> The period was +one of transition from a monopolized + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page30" name="page30"></a>[30]</span> + + to an open trade, and consequently +to many trade everywhere appeared to be in decay. Remedies were sought +through the intervention of the state and the passing of laws, but the +early period of the Commonwealth was not favorable to a successful +carrying out of so promising an experiment. On October 3, 1653, trade +was reported from Holland as "somewhat dead" and the Council of Trade, +which the Dutch at first feared might be "very prejudicial" to their +state, was declared "only nominal," so that the Dutch hoped that in time +those of London would "forget that they ever were merchants." In fact, +however, the Council of Trade had come to an end more than four months +before this report was made. +</p> +<p> +That the Council of Trade, notwithstanding its carefully worded +instructions, had no part in looking after the affairs of the colonies +is probably due to the activity of the Council of State, which itself +exercised the functions of a board of trade and plantations. According +to article 5 of the Act of February 13, 1649, appointing a Council +of State, it was to use all good ways and means for the securing, +advancement, and encouragement of the trade of England and Ireland +and the dominions to them belonging, and to promote the good of all +foreign plantations and factories belonging to the Commonwealth. +It was also empowered "to appoint committees of any person or persons +for examinations, receiving of informations, and preparing of business +for [its] debates or resolutions." The members chosen February 14, 1649, +were forty-one in number and were to hold office for one year.<a href="#note-11-2" name="noteref-11-2"><small>11</small></a> +February 12, 1650, a second council was elected, of which twenty were +new members and the remaining twenty-one taken over from the former +body.<a href="#note-12-2" name="noteref-12-2"><small>12</small></a> On November 24, 1651, a third council was chosen under the +same + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page31" name="page31"></a>[31]</span> + + conditions.<a href="#note-13-2" name="noteref-13-2"><small>13</small></a> The same was true of the fourth council of +November 24, 1652.<a href="#note-14-2" name="noteref-14-2"><small>14</small></a> Many of the "new" members were generally old +members dropped for a year or more. On July 9 and 14, 1653, the number +of members was reduced to thirty-one, and this council was designed to +last only until the following November.<a href="#note-15-2" name="noteref-15-2"><small>15</small></a> Two councils, the fifth +and sixth were, therefore, elected in the same year, each composed of +fifteen old and fifteen new members. The sixth council, elected November +1, 1653, was chosen for six months, but after six weeks was supplanted +by the body known as the Protector's Council, elected December 16, +1653, under the provisions of the <i>Instrument of Government</i>.<a href="#note-16-2" name="noteref-16-2"><small>16</small></a> +This council was to consist of not more than twenty-one nor less than +thirteen members, and according to the method of election provided for +in that instrument, was practically controlled by Cromwell himself. The +membership varied from time to time, rarely numbering more than sixteen, +with an average attendance of about ten. Cromwell was frequently absent +from its meetings, but the council, though designed constitutionally to +be a check upon his powers, was in reality his ally and answerable to +him alone, particularly after the dissolution of Parliament in January, +1655. The council provided for in <i>The Humble Petition and Advice</i> was +but a continuation of the Protector's Council, so that from December, +1653, until May, 1659, the Protector's Council, representing Cromwell +policy and interest, continued to exist. After the abdication of Richard +Cromwell and the restoration of the Rump Parliament, the Protector's +Council came to an end, and a new council, the eighth, was chosen on May +13, 14, 15, 1659.<a href="#note-17-2" name="noteref-17-2"><small>17</small></a> This body contained ten members not of Parliament +and lasted until December 31, when a new Council of State was + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page32" name="page32"></a>[32]</span> + + chosen +for three months; but on February 21 the council was suspended, and two +days afterward the tenth and last council was chosen.<a href="#note-18-2" name="noteref-18-2"><small>18</small></a> On May 21, +1660, this council was declared "not in being," and formally came to +an end on May 27, when Charles II, who had had his Privy Council more +or less continuously since 1649, named at Canterbury Monck, Southampton, +Morrice, and Ashley as privy councillors. The first meeting at Whitehall +was held May 31.<a href="#note-19-2" name="noteref-19-2"><small>19</small></a> +</p> +<p> +The Council of State itself acted as a board of trade and plantations +and directly transacted a large amount of business in the interest of +manufactures, trade, commerce, and the colonies. It initiated important +measures, received petitions, remonstrances, and complaints, either at +first hand or through Parliament, from which it also received special +orders, entered into debate upon all questions arising therefrom, +summoned before it any one who might be able to furnish information +or to offer advice, and then drew up its reply, embodied in an order +despatched to government officials, private individuals, adventurers, +merchant and trading companies, colonial governments in particular +or in general. For example, it ordered letters to be written to the +plantations, giving them notice of the change of government in 1649, +sending them papers necessary for their information, and requiring them +to be obedient if they expected the protection which the Republic was +prepared to extend to them. Until March 2, 1650, it does not appear to +have organized itself especially for this purpose, but on that date it +authorized the whole council, or any five members, to sit as a special +committee for trade and plantations, and on February 18 and December 2, +1651, repeated the same order.<a href="#note-20-2" name="noteref-20-2"><small>20</small></a> During the early part of this period +it depended to a considerable extent on committees, either of merchants +and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page33" name="page33"></a>[33]</span> + + others outside the council, men already engaged in trade with the +plantations, such as Worsley, Maurice Thompson (afterward governor of +the East India Company), Lenoyre, Allen, Martin Noell, and others, +or of councillors forming committees of trade (sitting in the Horse +Chamber in Whitehall), of plantations, of the admiralty, of the navy, +of examinations, of Scottish and Irish affairs, and of prisoners, to +whom many questions were referred and upon whose reports the Council +acted. It also appointed special committees to take into consideration +particular questions relating to individual plantations, Barbadoes, +Somers Islands, Bermudas, New England, Newfoundland, Virginia. Of all +these committees none appears to have been more active, as far as the +plantations were concerned, than the Committee of the Admiralty, before +whom came a large amount of colonial business, which was transacted +with the coöperation of Dr. Walker, of Doctors Commons, advocate for +the Republic, and David Budd, the proctor of the Court of Admiralty. +</p> +<p> +An important departure was introduced on December 17, 1651, when a +standing committee of the Council was created, consisting of fifteen +members, to concern itself with trade and foreign affairs. This +committee took the place of that which had formerly sat in the Horse +Chamber in Whitehall, and renewed consideration of all questions which +had been referred to that body. It was organized, as were all the +Council committees, with its own clerk, doorkeeper, and messenger, and +as recommissioned on May 4, 1652, and again on December 2, 1652, when +the membership was raised to twenty-one and the plantations were brought +within the scope of its business, became a very independent and active +body until its demise in April, 1653. Its members were Cromwell, Lords +Whitelocke, Bradshaw, and Lisle, Sir Arthur Haslerigg, Sir Harry Vane, +Sir William Masham, Sir Gilbert Pickering, Colonels Walton, Purefoy, +Morley, Sidney, and Thomson, Major Lister, Messrs. Bond, Scott, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page34" name="page34"></a>[34]</span> + + Love, +Challoner, Strickland, Gurdon, and Alleyn.<a href="#note-21-2" name="noteref-21-2"><small>21</small></a> This committee, to which +new members were frequently added, sat in the Horse Chamber at Whitehall +and took cognizance of a great variety of commercial and colonial +business. It considered the question of free trade versus monopolies +and during the summer of 1652, after the Council of Trade had fallen +into disfavor, debated at length the desirability of opening the Turkey +trade as freely to adventurers as was that of Portugal and Spain. It +listened to a number of forcible papers presented in the interest of +free trade in opposition to trade in the hands of companies; it dealt +with the operation of the Navigation Act of 1651 and rendered decisions +regarding penalties, exemptions, licenses, and the disposal of prizes +and prize goods; it devoted a large amount of time to plantation +business; and, for the time being, probably supplanted consideration +of these matters by the Council of State, and rendered unnecessary the +appointment of any other committee on colonial affairs. Except for the +Admiralty Committee and one or two other committees to which special +matters were referred, as concerning Newfoundland, there appears to +have been no other subordinate body actually in charge of affairs in +America between December 17, 1651, and April 15, 1653. The period was +an important and critical one, and the committee must have had before +it business connected with nearly every one of the colonies in America. +The Council of State referred to it petitions, etc., from and relating +to Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Haven, Rhode Island, Newfoundland, +Maryland and Virginia, Barbadoes, Nevis, Providence Island, and the +Caribbee Islands in general. It dealt with the proposed attack on +the Dutch at New Amsterdam, losses of merchant ships, privateer's +commissions and letters of marque; the Greenland and Newfoundland +fisheries, naval stores, and land disputes. It drafted bills and +governors' commissions, considered vacancies in the colonies, and +received applications for office, and, in one case, promoted the +founding of a + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page35" name="page35"></a>[35]</span> + + plantation in South America.<a href="#note-22-2" name="noteref-22-2"><small>22</small></a> This business was +performed to a considerable extent through subcommittees, many of +which met in the little Horse Chamber and acted in all particulars as +regular committees. On one occasion, the entire committee was appointed +a subcommittee, and very frequently the committee met for no other +purpose than to hear the report of a subcommittee. These subcommittees, +which were generally composed of councillors, referred matters to +outside persons, merchants, judges, and doctors of civil law, while +the committee itself called before it merchants, officials, members +of other committees, and indeed any one from whom information might +be extracted. The main work was performed by the subcommittees, their +reports were reviewed by the committee itself, and, if approved, were +sent to the Council of State, which based upon them recommendations to +Parliament.<a href="#note-23-2" name="noteref-23-2"><small>23</small></a> After April 15, 1653, we hear no more of this committee. +There is some reason to think that the duties entrusted to it were +deemed too extensive and a division between trade, plantations, and +foreign affairs was planned, but no definite record of such a separation +of functions is to be found. A Council Committee of Foreign Affairs was +appointed, probably before June, 1653, reappointed on July 27, and again +reappointed August 16, but no committees of trade and of plantations +appear. Very likely the Council of State, with the assistance of the +committees on Scottish and Irish affairs, admiralty, navy, and customs, +and a few special committees and commissioners, assumed control of +plantation affairs. The interests of industry and trade may have been +looked after by the Committee on Trade and Corporations appointed by the +Barebones Parliament, July 20, 1653, "to meet at Whitehall in the place +where the Council of Trade did sit."<a href="#note-24-2" name="noteref-24-2"><small>24</small></a> + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page36" name="page36"></a>[36]</span> + + Several times during the year +this committee proposed the establishment of a separate council of trade +to take the place of the former Council, to which proposition Parliament +agreed, but nothing was done, and the Parliamentary Committee of Trade +and Corporations seems to have been the only official body that existed +during the year 1653 for the advancement of trade and industry.<a href="#note-25-2" name="noteref-25-2"><small>25</small></a> +</p> +<p> +On December 29, 1653, the Protector's Council made known its purpose +of taking "all care to protect and encourage navigation and trade," +and in March, 1654, we meet with a reference to a committee of the +Council appointed for trade and corporations. As this body was organized +for continuous sitting, with a clerk, doorkeeper, and messenger, and +as a second reference to it appears under date August 21, 1654, the +probabilities are in favor of its existence as a regular committee +during the year 1654.<a href="#note-26-2" name="noteref-26-2"><small>26</small></a> That it was an important committee is +doubtful, for we meet with practically no references to its work, and +when in January, 1655, the project of a select trade committee was +brought forward it was referred for consideration and report, not to +this committee, but to Desborough of the Council and the Admiralty +Committee. +</p> +<p> +The events of the years 1654 and 1655 mark something of an era in the +history of trade and commerce, not because the capture of Jamaica had +any very conspicuous effect upon Cromwell's own policy or upon the +commercial activities of the higher authorities, but because it opened +a larger world and larger opportunities to the merchants and traders of +London who were at this time seeking openings for trading ventures in +all parts of the world. To better their fortunes many men accompanied +the expedition under Penn and Venables, and the merchants at home were +seized with something of the spirit of the Elizabethans in planning, +not only to increase commerce and swell their own fortunes, but also +to drive the Spaniard from the southwestern waters of the Atlantic and +extend British control and British trade + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page37" name="page37"></a>[37]</span> + + into regions heretofore +wholly in the hands of Spain. Barbadoes, Jamaica, Florida, Virginia, +New England, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland became a world of great +opportunities, and with plans for the expansion of trade went plans for +naval and military activity. If the merchants of the period had had +their way, a systematic and orderly policy of colonial control in the +interest of British power and profit would have been inaugurated during +the second period of the Interregnum, but circumstances do not appear +to have been propitious, and the disturbed political order during the +years 1658 and 1659 led not only to a cessation of activity as far +as the government was concerned but also to decay of trade, shrinking +of profits, decrease of fortunes, and widespread discouragement. +Furthermore, there is nothing to show that Cromwell himself ever rose +to a statesmanlike conception of colonial control and administration. +He was thoroughly interested in those matters, was personally influenced +by the London merchants, frequently called on the most conspicuous of +them for advice, placed them on committees and councils established for +purposes of trade, and was always open to their suggestions. But while +he was willing to act upon their opinions and recommendations in many +respects, he never seems to have grasped the essentials of a large +and comprehensive plan of colonial control, and it is not possible +to discover in what he actually accomplished any broadminded idea of +uniting the colonies under an efficient management for the purpose of +laying the foundations of an empire. His expedients, interesting and +practical as many of them were, do not seem to be a part of any large or +well-formed plan. Whether he would ever have risen to a higher level of +statesmanship in these respects we cannot say, but he never found time +to give proper attention to the suggestions of the merchants or to the +demands of trade and commerce. +</p> +<p> +That he took a great interest in the industrial and commercial +development of England is evident from one of his earliest efforts to +provide for its proper control. Even + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page38" name="page38"></a>[38]</span> + + while the fleet was on its way +to the West Indies, the Council of State instructed Desborough and +the Admiralty Committee, January 29, 1655, to consider "of some fit +merchants to be a trade committee." There is some reason to think +that this instruction was in response to a paper drawn up by certain +merchants of London in 1654, entitled, "An Essaie or Overture for the +regulating the Affairs of his Highness in the West Indies," drafted +after the expedition had sailed and with the confident expectation of +conquest in mind.<a href="#note-27-2" name="noteref-27-2"><small>27</small></a> If the original suggestion did not come from the +merchants, we may not doubt that in the promotion of the plan they +exercised considerable influence. In 1655, Martin Noell and Thomas Povey +sent a petition to the Protector regarding trade, and suggested that +there be appointed "some able persons to consider what more may be done +in order to those affairs and a general satisfaction for the fixing the +whole trade of England." They wished that a competent number of persons, +of good reputation, prudent and well skilled in their professions and +qualifications should be "selected and set apart" for the "care of his +Highness Affairs in the West Indies." The number was to be not less than +seven, and these not to be "of the same but of a mixt qualification," +constituting a select council subordinate only to the Protector and the +Council. After careful attention to the fitness of a large number of +prominent individuals, a committee of twenty was named on July 12, 1655. +If the "Overture" was responsible for the decision to name a select +council, its influence went no further, for except that merchants were +placed as members, there is no likeness between the plan as finally +worked out and that formulated by the merchants. Indeed, Povey himself +later expressed his dissatisfaction in saying that "that committee which +[we] so earnestly prest should be settled will not tend in any degree +to what we proposed, the constitution of it being not proportionable +to what was desired."<a href="#note-28-2" name="noteref-28-2"><small>28</small></a> The + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page39" name="page39"></a>[39]</span> + + committee of twenty was soon expanded into +a much larger and more imposing body, possibly due to the receipt of the +news of the capture of Jamaica and the decision announced in Cromwell's +proclamation of August to hold the island. On November 11, 1655,<a href="#note-29-2" name="noteref-29-2"><small>29</small></a> +a board, made up of officers of state, gentlemen, and merchants, was +commissioned a "Committee and Standing Council for the advancing and +regulating the Trade and Navigation of the Commonwealth," generally +shortened to "Trade and Navigation Committee," or simply "Trade +Committee." Its membership, instead of being seven, was over seventy, +and it was thus a dignified though unwieldy body. At its head was +Richard Cromwell and its members were as follows: Montague, Sydenham, +Wolseley, Pickering, and Jones of the Protector's Council; Lord Chief +Justice St. John and Justices Glynn, Steele, and Hale; Sir Henry Blount, +Sir John Hobart, Sir Gilbert Gerard, gentlemen of distinction; Sir +Bulstrode Whitelocke and Sir Thomas Widdrington, sergeants-at-law; Col. +John Fiennes and John Lisle, commissioners of the Great Seal; the four +Treasury Commissioners; Col. Richard Norton, governor of Portsmouth; +Capt. Hatsell, navy commissioner of Plymouth; Stone and Foxcroft, excise +commissioners; Martin Noell, London merchant and farmer of the customs; +Upton, customs commissioner; Bond, Wright, Thompson, Ashurst, Peirpont, +Crew, and Berry, London merchants; and Tichborne, Grove, Pack (Lord +Mayor), and Riccards, aldermen of London; Bonner, of Newcastle; Dunne, +of Yarmouth; Cullen, of Dover; Jackson, of Bristol; Toll, of Lyme; +Legay, of Southampton; Snow, of Exeter; and Drake, of Sussex. At various +times, and probably for various purposes, the following members were +added between December 12, 1655, and June 19,1656: Secretary Thurloe, +William + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page40" name="page40"></a>[40]</span> + + Wheeler, Edmund Waller, Francis Dincke, of Hull; George Downing, +at that time major general and scoutmaster; Alderman Ireton, of London; +Col. William Purefoy; Godfrey Boseville; Edward Laurence; John St. +Barbe, of Hampshire, [Lord] John Claypoole, Master of the Horse, and +Cromwell's son-in-law; John Barnard; Sir John Reynolds; Col. Arthur +Hill; George Berkeley; Capt. Thomas Whitegreane; Thomas Ford, of Exeter; +Francis St. John; Henry Wright; Col. John Jones, Alderman Frederick, +sheriff of London; Richard Ford, the well-known merchant of London; +Mayor Nehemiah Bourne; Charles Howard; Robert Berwick; John Blaxton, +town clerk of Newcastle; Col. Richard Ingoldsby; Edmund Thomas; +Thomas Banks, and Christopher Lister. Thus the Trade Committee, composed +of members from all parts of England, represented a wide range of +interests. Furthermore, any member of the Protector's Council could come +to the meetings of the committee and vote.<a href="#note-30-2" name="noteref-30-2"><small>30</small></a> Such a body would have +been very unmanageable but for the fact that seven constituted a quorum +and business was generally transacted by a small number of the members. +The instructions were prepared by Thurloe after a scrutiny of those +of the former Council of Trade, and bore little resemblance to the +recommendations of the "Overture," because they were designed to cover +a far wider range of interests than were considered by the merchants. +The "Overture" was planned only for a plantation council. The Trade +Committee was invested with power and authority to consider by what +means the traffic and navigation of the Republic might best be promoted +and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page41" name="page41"></a>[41]</span> + + regulated, to receive propositions for the benefit of these +interests, to send for the officers of the excise, the customs, and the +mint, or such other persons of experience as they should deem capable of +giving advice on these subjects, to examine the books and papers of the +Council of Trade of 1650, and all other public papers as might afford +the members information. When finally its reports were ready for the +Council of State, that body reserved to itself all power to reject or +accept such orders as it deemed proper and fitting. +</p> +<p> +The Trade Committee met for the first time on December 27, 1655, in the +Painted Chamber at Westminster. Authorized to appoint officers, it chose +William Seaman secretary, two clerks, an usher, and two messengers at +a yearly salary of £280, with £50 for contingent expenses;<a href="#note-31-2" name="noteref-31-2"><small>31</small></a> and from +the entries of the payments ordered to be made to these men for their +services, we infer that the board sat from December 27, 1655, until +May 27, 1657, exactly a year and a half. During this time it probably +accumulated a considerable number of books and papers, though such are +not now known to exist. Proposals, petitions, complaints, and pamphlets, +such, for example, as that entitled <i>Trading Governed by the State</i>, a +protest against the commercial dominance of London, were laid before it, +and it took into its own hands many of the problems that had agitated +the former board. It discussed foreign trade, particularly with Holland, +and the questions of Swedish copper,<a href="#note-32-2" name="noteref-32-2"><small>32</small></a> Spanish wines, and Irish linen; +home manufactures, among which are mentioned swords and rapier blades, +madder-dyed silk, needle making, and knitting with frameworks; and +domestic concerns, such as the preservation of timber. It made a number +of recommendations regarding "the exportation of several commodities of +the breed, growth, and manufacture of the Commonwealth," "the limiting +and settling the prices of wines," "vagrants and wandering, idle, +dissolute + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page42" name="page42"></a>[42]</span> + + persons," and the "giving license for transporting fish in +foreign bottoms." These recommendations were drafted by the Trade +Committee, or by one of its subcommittees, and after adoption were +reported to the Council of State and by it referred to its own committee +appointed to receive reports from the Trade Committee. When approved by +the Council of State, the recommendations were sent to Parliament and +there referred to the large Parliamentary committee of trade of fifty +members, appointed October 20, 1656. That committee drafted bills which +were based on these recommendations and which later were passed as acts +of Parliament and received the consent of the Protector. For example, +the recommendation regarding exports, noted above, became a law November +27, 1656.<a href="#note-33-2" name="noteref-33-2"><small>33</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Under the head of "navigation and trade" came the commercial interests +of the plantations, and though there existed during this year, 1656, +other machinery for regulating plantation affairs, a number of questions +were referred from the Council to the Trade Committee that were strictly +in the line of plantation development. These questions concerned customs +duties on goods exported to Barbadoes, the political quarrels in +Antigua which threatened to bring ruin on that plantation and the +remedies therefor, the pilchard fishery off Newfoundland, and finally +the controversy between Maryland and Virginia which had already been +referred to a special committee of the Council. Upon all these questions +the Trade Committee reported to the Council; its recommendations and +findings were debated in that body or further referred to one of its own +committees or to the outside committee for America, and finally embodied +in an order regulating the matter in question.<a href="#note-34-2" name="noteref-34-2"><small>34</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Of the activity of the Trade Committee during the few months of the year +1657, when it continued its sessions, scarcely any evidence appears. +There is a very slight reason to believe that it took up the question of +free ports, but + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page43" name="page43"></a>[43]</span> + + there is nothing to show that it accomplished anything +in that direction. That it came to an end in May seems to be borne out +by the fact that the officers of the board were paid only to May 27, but +this statement is rendered uncertain by the further fact that on June 26 +Portsmouth petitioned the committee to be made a free port and that the +petition was brought in by one of the members of the committee for +America, Capt. Limbrey.<a href="#note-35-2" name="noteref-35-2"><small>35</small></a> The question cannot be exactly settled. +Though the committee was by no means a nominal body, it accomplished +little, and certainly did not meet the situation that confronted the +trade and navigation of the kingdom. +</p> +<p> +After the appointment of this select Trade Committee, no standing +committee of the Council was created. Questions of trade were looked +after either by the Council itself, that of May, 1659, being especially +instructed to "advance trade and promote the good of our foreign +plantations and to encourage fishing,"<a href="#note-36-2" name="noteref-36-2"><small>36</small></a> by an occasional special +committee, by the Trade Committee until the summer of 1657, or by the +committees of Parliament. Of Parliamentary committees there were two: +one a select committee of fifty members, appointed October 20, 1656, to +which were added all the merchants of the House and all members that +served for the port towns;<a href="#note-37-2" name="noteref-37-2"><small>37</small></a> and a grand committee of the whole House +for trade, appointed February 2, 1658, which sat weekly and was invested +with the same powers as the committee of 1656 had had.<a href="#note-38-2" name="noteref-38-2"><small>38</small></a> But except +that the first committee adopted some of the recommendations of the +Trade Committee, there is nothing to show that these committees took any +prominent part in the advancement of the interest in behalf of which +they had been created. +</p> +<p> +From 1654 to 1660 the welfare of the plantations lay chiefly in the +hands of the Protector's Council and the Council of State, and their +system of control was in many respects + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page44" name="page44"></a>[44]</span> + + similar to that which had been +adopted during the earlier period of the Interregnum. At first all +plantation questions were referred to committees of the Council +appointed temporarily to consider some particular matter. From December +29, 1653, to the close of the year 1659 some fifty cases were referred +to about thirty committees, of which twenty were appointed for the +special purpose in hand. Many matters were referred to such standing +committees as the Admiralty Committee, Customs Committee, etc.; others +to the judges of admiralty, commissioners of customs, and the like, +while petitions and communications regarding affairs in Jamaica, New +England, Virginia, Antigua, Somers Islands, Newfoundland, and Nevis, +regarding the transporting of horses, mining of saltpeter, payments of +salaries, indemnities, and trade, and regarding personal claims, such as +those of Lord Baltimore, William Franklin, De La Tour, and others, were +referred to committees composed of from two to eight members of the +Council, whose services in this particular ended with the presentation +of their report. Sometimes a question would be referred to the whole +Council or to a "committee," with the names unspecified, or to "any +three of the Council." The burden of serving upon these occasional +committees fell upon a comparatively small number of councillors: +Ashley, Montague, Strickland, Wolseley, Fiennes, Jones, Sydenham, Lisle, +and Mulgrave. One or more of these names appear on the list of every +special committee appointed except that to which Lord Baltimore's case +was referred, consisting of the sergeants-at-law, Lords Whitelocke and +Widdrington. During 1654 the committees for Virginia and Barbadoes, to +which were referred other colonial matters, came to be known as the +"committee for plantations," but it is doubtful if this was deemed in +any sense a standing committee. +</p> +<p> +When the affairs of Jamaica became exigent after the summer of 1655 +a committee of the Council was appointed to carry out the terms of +Cromwell's proclamation and to report the needs of the colony. Though +the membership + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page45" name="page45"></a>[45]</span> + + was generally changed this committee continued to be +reappointed as one question after another arose which demanded the +attention of the Council. It reported on the equipment of tools, +clothing, medicaments and other necessaries, on the transporting of +persons from Ireland and colonies in America, on the distribution of +lands in the island, and on various matters presented to the Council +in letters and petitions from officers and others there or in England. +After 1656 this committee, which continued to exist certainly until +the middle of April, 1660, played a more or less secondary part, doing +little more than consider the various colonial matters, whether relating +to Jamaica or to other colonies, that were taken up by the select or +outside committee appointed by Cromwell in 1656. +</p> +<p> +The employment of expert advisers in the Jamaica business was rendered +necessary by the financial questions involved, and in December Robert +Bowes, Francis Hodges and Richard Creed were called upon to assist a +committee of Council appointed May 10, 1655, in determining the amounts +due the wives and assignees of the officers and soldiers in Jamaica. +Creed was dropped and Sydenham and Fillingham were added in 1656.<a href="#note-39-2" name="noteref-39-2"><small>39</small></a> +But a more important step was soon taken. On July 15,1656, Cromwell +appointed a standing committee of officers and London merchants to +take general cognizance of all matters that concerned "his Highness +in Jamaica and the West Indies." The following were the members: Col. +Edward Salmon, an admiralty commissioner and intimately interested in +the Jamaica expedition; Col. Tobias Bridges, one of Cromwell's major +generals, afterwards serving in Flanders, who was to play an important +part in proclaiming Richard Cromwell Protector; Lieutenant Colonel +Miller, of Col. Barkstead's regiment, and Lieutenant Colonel Mills; +Capt. Limbrey, London merchant and Jamaican planter, who had lived in +Jamaica and made a map of the island, and as commander of merchant +vessels had made many trips across the Atlantic; + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page46" name="page46"></a>[46]</span> + + Capt. Thomas Aldherne, +also a London merchant and sea captain, the chief victualler of the +navy, and an enterprising adventurer in trade; Capt. John Thompson, sea +captain and London merchant; Capt. Stephen Winthrop, sea captain and +London merchant; Richard Sydenham, and Robert Bowes, already mentioned +as commissioners for Jamaica,<a href="#note-40-2" name="noteref-40-2"><small>40</small></a> and lastly Martin Noell, London +merchant, and Thomas Povey, regarding whom a fuller account is given +below. Povey, who was not appointed a member until October, 1657, +apparently became chairman and secretary, while Francis Hodges was +clerical secretary. Except for Tobias Bridges, the military members had +little share in the business of the committee, the most prominent part +being taken by Noell, Bridges, Winthrop, Bowes, Sydenham, and Povey. +As far as the records show, Salmon, Miller, Aldherne, Thompson, and +White never signed a report, while Mills and Limbrey signed but one. +The committee seems to have sat at first in Grocer's Hall, afterward +in Treasury Chambers, where its members discussed and investigated +all questions that came before them with care and thoroughness. Their +instructions authorized them to maintain a correspondence with the +colonies, obtaining such information and advice as seemed +essential; to receive all addresses relating thereunto, whether from +persons in America or elsewhere; to consider and consult thereof and +prepare such advices and answers thereupon as should be judged meet +for the advantage of the community. Their earliest business concerned +itself with Jamaica, its revenues, finances, expenses of expeditions +thither, arrears due the officers and soldiers, their wives and +assignees, individual claims, want of ministers, and other similar +questions. But as addresses came in from other colonies the scope of +their activity was broadened until it included at one time or another +nearly all the American colonies. The committee reported on the +constitution, governing powers, fortifications, militia of Somers +Islands (Bermudas) and on the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page47" name="page47"></a>[47]</span> + + fitness of Sayle to be governor there; +on the controversy between Virginia and Maryland and on the organization +and government of the former colony; on the petition of the Long +Islanders and others in New England, and on complaints against +Massachusetts Bay; on the revenue, government, and admiralty system +of Barbadoes; on questions of governor and arrears of salary in +Nevis and Tortugas; on the desirability of continuing the plantation +in Newfoundland; and lastly on the important subject of ship insurance, +upon which Capt. Limbrey presented a very remarkable paper.<a href="#note-41-2" name="noteref-41-2"><small>41</small></a> These +reports were sent sometimes to the Protector, sometimes to the Council +of State, and sometimes to the committee of the Council on the affairs +of America. While the latter committee, under the name of "Committee for +Foreign Plantations" continued until the return of the King, the select +committee for America does not appear to have lasted as a whole after +the final dissolution of the Rump Parliament, March 16, 1660. Thomas +Povey alone seems to have been the committee from March to May, and on +April 9 and May 11 made two reports on matters referred to him by the +Council committee regarding Jamaica and Newfoundland. As Charles II had +been recalled to his own in England before the last report was sent in, +the machinery created under Cromwell for the plantations remained in +existence after the government set up by him had passed away.<a href="#note-42-2" name="noteref-42-2"><small>42</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Any account of the system appointed for the control of trade and +plantations during the Interregnum is bound to be something of a tangle, +not because the system itself was a complicated one, but because its +simplicity is clouded by + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page48" name="page48"></a>[48]</span> + + a bewildering mass of details. Occasional +committees of Parliament, the Council as a board of trade and +plantations, committees of the Council, and select councils and +committees do not form a very confusing body of material out of which +to fashion a system of colonial control. Yet, despite this fact, the +management of the colonies during the Interregnum was without unity or +simplicity. Control was exercised by no single or continuous organ and +according to no clearly defined or consistent plan. Colonial questions +seemed to lie in many different hands and to be met in as many different +ways. Delays were frequent and there can be little doubt that many +important matters were laid aside and pigeon-holed. When an important +colonial difficulty had to pass from subcommittee to committee, from +committee to Council, and sometimes from Council to Parliamentary +committee and thence to Parliament, we can easily believe that in the +excess of machinery there would be entailed a decrease of despatch and +efficiency. Indeed, during the Interregnum colonial business was not +well managed and there were many to whom colonial trade was of great +importance, who realized this fact. Merchants of London after 1655 +became dissatisfied with the way the plantations were managed and +desired a reorganization which should bring about order, improve +administration, economize expenditure, elevate justice, and effect +speedily and fairly a settlement of colonial disputes. They doubted +whether a Council, "busyed and filled with a multitude of affairs," +was able to accomplish these results and they refused to believe that +affairs of such a nature should be transacted "in diverse pieces and +by diverse councils." The remedy of these men was carefully thought +out and carefully expressed and though it was undoubtedly listened +to by Cromwell, it never received more than an imperfect application. +To these men and their proposals we must pay careful attention for +therein we shall find the connecting link between the Protectorate +and the Restoration as far as matters of trade and the plantations +are concerned. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<a name="note-1-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-1-2">1</a>) +Among others, The Advancement of Merchandize or certain +propositions for the improvement of the trade of this Commonwealth, +humbly presented to the Right Honorable the Council of State by Thomas +Viollet, of London, Goldsmith, 1651. This rare pamphlet was drawn up +by Viollet when connected with the Mint in the Tower and sent to the +Council of State, evidently in manuscript form. Most of the papers +composing this pamphlet were transmitted by the Council of State to +the Council of Trade. For Viollet see Cal. State Papers, Domestic, +1650–1651, 1659–1660. +</p> + +<a name="note-2-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-2-2">2</a>) +The Council of Trade accumulated in this and other ways a +considerable mass of books and papers, but this material for its history +has entirely disappeared. +</p> + +<a name="note-3-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-3-2">3</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1650, p. 399; 1651, pp. 16, 29, +38, 107, 230; 1651–1652, pp. 87. The first suggestion of this committee +was as early as January 1650, Commons' Journal, VI, p. 347. +</p> + +<a name="note-4-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-4-2">4</a>) +Guildhall, Journal of the Proceedings of the Common +Council, Vol. 41, ff. 45, 55; Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651, pp. 198, +247–249, 270–271; Inderwick, The Interregnum, ch. II. +</p> + +<a name="note-5-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-5-2">5</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651–1652, pp. 470–472, 479–481. +</p> + +<a name="note-6-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-6-2">6</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1652–1653, p. 282. +</p> + +<a name="note-7-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-7-2">7</a>) +British Museum, Add. MSS., 5138, f. 145. +</p> + +<a name="note-8-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-8-2">8</a>) +Guildhall, Repertories of the Court of Aldermen, 61, p. +152<sup>b</sup>. +</p> + +<a name="note-9-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-9-2">9</a>) +Guildhall, Journal of the Proceedings of the Common +Council, Vol. 41, pp. 67<sup>b</sup>, 68. +</p> + +<a name="note-10-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-10-2">10</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651–1652, pp. 232, 235. The +question was as to whether or not the Turkey trade could best be carried +on by a company "as now," or by free trade, as in the case of Portugal +and Spain. Able arguments in favor of free trade were brought forward, +and when later the question of a monopoly of the Greenland whale fishing +came up, the Council of State admitted free adventurers to a share in +the business. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1653–1654, p. 379; 1654, p. 16. +</p> + +<a name="note-11-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-11-2">11</a>) +Commons' Journal, VI, p. 140. +</p> + +<a name="note-12-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-12-2">12</a>) +Commons' Journal, VI, p. 361. +</p> + +<a name="note-13-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-13-2">13</a>) +Commons' Journal, VII, p. 41. +</p> + +<a name="note-14-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-14-2">14</a>) +Commons' Journal, VII, p. 220. +</p> + +<a name="note-15-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-15-2">15</a>) +Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 283, 284, 285. +</p> + +<a name="note-16-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-16-2">16</a>) +Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 343–344; Cal. State Papers, +Dom., 1653–1654, pp. 297–298. +</p> + +<a name="note-17-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-17-2">17</a>) +Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 652, 654, 655; Cal. State +Papers, Dom., 1658–1659, p. 349. +</p> + +<a name="note-18-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-18-2">18</a>) +Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 800, 849. +</p> + +<a name="note-19-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-19-2">19</a>) +P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. I, May 3/13, 1649—September +28, 1660. Meetings of Privy Councils during the Interregnum were held at +Castle Elizabeth, St. Hillary, Breda (1649–1650), Bruges (1656, 1658), +Brussels (1659), Breda (1660), Canterbury (May 27, 1660), Whitehall (May +31, 1660). +</p> + +<a name="note-20-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-20-2">20</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574–1660, pp. 335, 352, 366; +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651–1652, p. 43. +</p> + +<a name="note-21-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-21-2">21</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574–1660, p. 394; Cal. State +Papers, Dom., 1651–1652, pp. 67, 232, 235, 426; 1652–1653, pp. 18–27. +</p> + +<a name="note-22-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-22-2">22</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574–1660, pp. 373–402, +<i>passim</i>. +</p> + +<a name="note-23-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-23-2">23</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651–1652, pp. 266, 350, 396, +472; 1652–1653, pp. 18, 27, 160, 171. +</p> + +<a name="note-24-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-24-2">24</a>) +Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 19, 287. On May 6, 1653, +a new commission of trade was proposed by the Council of State but +no appointments are given. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1653–1654, +pp. 310, 344. +</p> + +<a name="note-25-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-25-2">25</a>) +Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 308, 319, 341, 375. +</p> + +<a name="note-26-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-26-2">26</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1654, pp. 61, 285, 316. +</p> + +<a name="note-27-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-27-2">27</a>) +Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 11411, ff. 11<sup>b</sup>–12<sup>b</sup>. +</p> + +<a name="note-28-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-28-2">28</a>) +That such an outcome was anticipated is evident from the +concluding words of the "Overture." "If his Highness shall think fit +to constitute a council for the general Trade of these Nations and the +several Interests relating thereunto, these seaven may properly be of +that number, the employment being of the same nature and therefore +will rather informe then divert them who ought indeed to be busyed or +conversant in no other Affaires than the matters of Trade." +</p> + +<a name="note-29-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-29-2">29</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655, pp. 27, 133, 240. +</p> + +<a name="note-30-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-30-2">30</a>) +Thurloe, State Papers, IV, p. 177; British Museum, Add. +MSS., 12438, iii; Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655, p. 240, 1655–1656, pp. +1, 2, 54, 73, 100, 114, 115, 141, 156, 162, 188, 252, 275, 297, 327, +382. "We might speak also of the famed 'Committee of Trade' which has +now begun its sessions 'in the old House of Lords.' An Assembly of +Dignitaries, Chief Merchants, Political Economists, convened by summons +of his Highness; consulting zealously how the Trade of this country +may be improved. A great concernment of this commonwealth 'which his +Highness is eagerly set upon.' They consulted of 'Swedish copperas' and +such like; doing faithfully what they could." Cromwell's Letters and +Speeches, II, p. 202. +</p> + +<a name="note-31-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-31-2">31</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655–1656, p. 113; 1656–1657, +p. 556; 1657–1658, pp. 308, 589; 1657–1658, p. 69. +</p> + +<a name="note-32-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-32-2">32</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655–1656, p. 318. +</p> + +<a name="note-33-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-33-2">33</a>) +Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 442, 452, 460. +</p> + +<a name="note-34-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-34-2">34</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574–1660, pp. 436, 439, 440 (2), +441, 443, 447, 453. +</p> + +<a name="note-35-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-35-2">35</a>) +Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 12438, iii. +</p> + +<a name="note-36-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-36-2">36</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1658–1659, p. 349. +</p> + +<a name="note-37-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-37-2">37</a>) +Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 442, 452. +</p> + +<a name="note-38-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-38-2">38</a>) +Commons' Journal, VII, p. 596. +</p> + +<a name="note-39-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-39-2">39</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655–1656, pp. 46, 65, 318, 351. +</p> + +<a name="note-40-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-40-2">40</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1657–1658, pp. 51, 66. +</p> + +<a name="note-41-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-41-2">41</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574, 1660, pp. 445, 447, 448, +449, 450, 452, 453, 455, 456, 458, 459, 460, 461, 464, 465, 468, 470, +477; Brit. Mus. Egerton, 2395, ff. 123, 136, 142, 148–151, 157; Add. +MSS., 18986, f. 258. +</p> + +<a name="note-42-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-42-2">42</a>) +Note to the report of May 11, 1660, is as follows: "By +order of the Councill of State sitting and taking care of the government +in the interval between the suppression of the Rump of the Parliament +and the return of his Majesty which was not many days before the date of +this report." Egerton MSS., 2395, f. 263. Probably the recall not the +actual landing at Dover is meant. +</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page49" name="page49"></a>[49]</span></p> + +<a name="h2HCH0007" id="h2HCH0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER III. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">The Proposals of the Merchants: Noell and Povey.</span> +</h3> + +<p> +Between the colonial and commercial activities of the later years of +the Interregnum and the corresponding activities during the early years +of the Restoration no hard and fast line can be drawn. The policy of +control adopted by Charles II can be traced to the agitation of men, +chiefly merchants of London and others familiar with the colonies, who +since 1655 had become impressed with the possibilities of the New World +as a field for profitable ventures in trade and commerce, and desired, +whether under a republic or a monarchy, the coöperation and aid of the +government. Among the leaders of this movement were Martin Noell and +Thomas Povey. +</p> +<p> +Martin Noell was probably the most conspicuous London merchant of his +time. Of his early life nothing seems to be known. He first appears as +a merchant in 1650 trading with Nevis and Montserrat, and in the next +few years he extended his operations to New England, Virginia, the other +West India islands, and the Mediterranean. His ships trafficked in a +great variety of commodities—iron, hemp, pitch, tar, flax, potashes, +cables, fish, cocoa, tobacco, etc., and he became a power in London, +his place of business in Old Jewry being the resort of merchants, +ship captains, and persons desiring to coöperate in his ventures. +He was an alderman as early as 1651, was placed a little later on the +commission for securing the peace of the city, and held other offices +by appointment of the city or of the Commonwealth. He was also +a member of the East India Company and influential in its councils. +In addition to his mercantile interests he became a farmer, first of +the inland and foreign post-office,—one writer speaking of him as +"the postmaster,"—and later, on a large scale, of customs and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page50" name="page50"></a>[50]</span> + + excise. +At one time or another he held the farm of the customs in general and +of the excise of salt, linen, silk mercery, and wines in particular. In +these capacities he acted as a banker of the government, paying salaries +and expenses of official appointees, advancing loans, and issuing bills +of exchange and letters of credit. His vessels carried letters of marque +during the Dutch war and the war with Spain, and he himself traded in +prizes and became one of the commissioners of prize goods. The Jamaican +expeditions of 1654 and afterward gave him an opportunity to become a +contractor and he organized a committee in London for the purpose of +financiering the expedition, himself advancing £16,000, and in company +with Capts. Alderne, Watts, and others contracted for the supplies of +the ships and soldiers, furnishing utensils, clothing, bedding, and +provisions for this and other expeditions, notably that to Flanders. +He was Gen. Venables' personal agent in London and agent for the army +in general in Jamaica. He also became a contractor for transporting +vagrants, prisoners, and others to various American plantations. These +accumulating ventures increased his interest in the colonies, and after +the capture of Jamaica in 1655 he obtained a grant of 20,000 acres in +that island, from which he created several plantations. In his new +capacity as planter he was constantly engaged in shipping servants, +supplies, and horses. The firm of Martin Noell & Company became +exceedingly prosperous, and Noell himself one of the mainstays of the +government. He became a member of the Trade Committee in 1655, of the +committee for Jamaica in 1656, and was frequently called in by the +Council of State to offer advice or to give information. He was on terms +of intimacy with Cromwell, and because of the Protector's friendship +for him and confidence in his judgment, his recommendations for office, +both in England and the colonies had great weight. Povey speaks of the +"extraordinary favor allowed him (Noell) by his Highness." He had a +brother, Thomas Noell, who was prominent in Barbadoes and Surinam and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page51" name="page51"></a>[51]</span> + + in charge of his interests there. He was also represented in other +islands by agents and factors, of whom Edward Bradbourne was the most +conspicuous, while Major Richard Povey in Jamaica, and William Povey +in Barbadoes, brothers of Thomas Povey, had for a time charge of his +plantations in those islands. Noell indirectly played no small part in +politics, particularly of Barbadoes, where Governor Searle held office +largely through his influence. Besides his Jamaica holdings he had +estates at Wexford in Ireland, and in April, 1658, wrote to Henry +Cromwell that he had "transplanted much of his interest and affairs +and relations" to that country, seeming to indicate thereby that his +colonial ventures were not prospering satisfactorily. Noell was a +politic man, shrewd and diplomatic, asserting his loyalty to the house +of Cromwell, yet becoming a trusty subject of King Charles, from whom +he afterward received knighthood.<a href="#note-1-3" name="noteref-1-3"><small>1</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Thomas Povey was born probably about 1615, son of Justinian Povey, +auditor of the exchequer and one of the commissioners of the Caribbee +Islands in 1637. He was one of a large family of children, nine at +least, Justinian, John, Francis, William, Richard, Thomas, Mrs. +Blathwayt (afterward Mrs. Thomas Vivian), Mrs. Barrow, and Sarah Povey, +and he spent his early years at the family home in Hounslow. In 1633 he +entered Gray's Inn and in 1647 became a member of the Long Parliament. +"Purged" with the other Presbyterian members in 1648, he did not return +to Parliament until the restoration of those members in 1659. He was +evidently inclined at first to go into law and politics, but for reasons +unnamed, possibly the slenderness of his fortune, which he says was +hardly sufficient to support him, he turned, about 1654, to trade, +and was thus brought into close relations with Martin Noell. Of his +activities until 1657 we hear very little, though it is evident that +from 1654 to 1657 he lived in Gray's Inn, engaging in + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page52" name="page52"></a>[52]</span> + + many trading +ventures in the West Indies and elsewhere, was on terms of intimacy +with Noell and frequently at his house, and showed himself fertile of +suggestions, as always, regarding the improvement of trade and the +care and supply of men, provisions, and intelligence. In 1657 he lost +by death his brothers John and Francis, and his mother, who died at +Hounslow. As two of his brothers had gone to the West Indies with the +expedition of 1654 and the remainer of the family was scattered, he +decided to marry, and settled down in a house in Lincoln's Inn Fields +next the Earl of Northampton, with a widow without children, but +possessed "of a fortune capable of giving a reasonable assistance to +mine." In October of that year, possibly through Noell's influence, he +became a member of the committee for America, and from that time was +a conspicuous leader among those interested in plantation affairs. +As chairman and secretary of the committee, he took a prominent part +in all correspondence, and was familiar with the chief men in all the +colonies. He exchanged letters with Searle, of Barbadoes, D'Oyley, +of Jamaica, Temple, of Nova Scotia, Digges, at one time governor of +Virginia, Russell, of Nevis, Major Byam, of Surinam, Col. Osborn, of +Montserrat, General Brayne, in command of one of the expeditions to +Jamaica, and particularly with Lord Willoughby of Parham, with whom he +stood on terms of intimate friendship and over whose policy he exercised +considerable control. He was proposed at this time as agent in London +for Virginia, but the suggestion does not appear to have been acted on. +His brother Richard was commissary of musters and major of militia in +Jamaica, and his brother William, the black sheep of the family, who +had married a wife far too good for him, as Povey once wrote her, was +provost marshal in Barbadoes and in charge of Noell's interests there, +bringing that merchant nothing but "discontent and damage," and causing +Thomas Povey a great deal of trouble and expense. The colonial +appointments of these brothers were obtained entirely through the +influence of Noell and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page53" name="page53"></a>[53]</span> + + Povey in England. The disordered and uncertain +political situation in England in 1659 and the unsettled state of +affairs in both Jamaica and Barbadoes at the same time cost Povey great +anxiety and a part of his own and his wife's fortune, and he echoed +the complaint, widespread at the time, of the decay of trade and the +insecurity of all commercial ventures. We may not doubt that Povey, +as well as Noell, was ready to welcome the return of the King.<a href="#note-2-3" name="noteref-2-3"><small>2</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Though Noell and Povey were intimate friends and had been engaged in +common trading enterprises for a number of years, we have no definite +knowledge of their earlier undertakings, beyond the fact that with Capt. +Watts and Capt. Aldherne, whom Povey met by accident at Noell's house, +they were particularly concerned in developing the Barbadoes and Jamaica +trade. In the years 1657 and 1658, when Noell was "swol'n into a much +greater person by being a farmer of the customs and excise," we meet +with two enterprises, one for a West India Company, promoted by Lord +Willoughby, Noell, Povey, and Watts, as partners and principals, with +Watts as sea captain in charge of the vessel; the other for a Nova +Scotia Company, composed of Lord William Fiennes, Sir Charles Wolseley, +Noell, Povey, and others, with Watts and Collier as managers and Capt. +Middleton as sailing master. The latter company was organized for +settling a trade in furs and skins in Nova Scotia, and to that end +engaged the coöperation of Wolseley's cousin, Col. Thomas Temple, +lieutenant general of Nova Scotia since 1655, and of Capt. Breedon, +a prominent merchant of New England. It sent out a ship freighted with +goods under Capt. Middleton, but despite an auspicious beginning, +does not appear to have prospered. The title to Nova Scotia was disputed +not only by the French, but also by the Kirkes, whom Cromwell had +dispossessed in 1655, when he appointed Temple as governor; hostilities + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page54" name="page54"></a>[54]</span> + + broke out in Nova Scotia, and the company was called upon for a larger +stock and incorporation at a time when its promoters seemed unwilling to +risk more money. Though Povey was encouraged by the specimens of copper +which Temple sent over, the enterprise made no progress until after the +Restoration. It is probable that both Noell and Povey lost money by the +venture. +</p> +<p> +The project for a West India Company was more ambitious and must have +been formulated some time in 1656 or 1657. Various propositions were +drawn up with care, probably by Povey or by Noell and Povey together, +for the better serving the interests of the Commonwealth by the erection +of a company which had as its object the advancing of trade and the +prosecution of the war with Spain. The two ideas seem, however, to have +been kept separate. Trade was to be promoted by despatching a vessel to +"Florida" under Capt. Watts which, in case it was unable to open trade +there, was to take on a lading of pipe staves in New England, sail to +the West Indies, and return thence with a cargo of sugar and other West +Indian commodities. For the purpose of attacking Spanish towns, of +"interrupting the Spanish fleet in their going from Spain to the Indies +and in their return thence for Spain, and of ousting the Spaniards from +their control in the West Indies and South America"—a subject regarding +which Capt. Limbrey had drawn up a paper of information,—the company +proposed that the state should furnish and equip twenty frigates which +were to be fully provisioned, manned and officered by itself. The +company desired to be incorporated by act of Parliament,<a href="#note-3-3" name="noteref-3-3"><small>3</small></a> rather +than by a patent under the great seal, because the former would confer +"diverse privileges and assistances, and an immunity and sole trade +in any place they shall conquer or beget a trade with the Spaniard's +dominion," all of which a patent could not convey. The proposals were +presented to the Council of State in 1659 and were referred to a special +committee. They + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page55" name="page55"></a>[55]</span> + + were debated in Council on August 7, and on October 20 +Povey wrote to Governor Searle that they had received encouragement +and hoped to have a charter from Parliament, and because "they have so +much favor from the state they will have an influence upon most of the +English plantations."<a href="#note-4-3" name="noteref-4-3"><small>4</small></a> Either Parliament refused to incorporate the +company or in the distractions of the winter of 1659–1660 the proposals +were lost sight of. +</p> +<p> +The group of merchants, among whom Noell and Povey were so conspicuous, +seemed to desire, as far as possible, a monopoly of the trade in America +and the West Indies, and to that end controlled to no inconsiderable +extent political appointments there. Governor Searle, of Barbadoes, +was their appointee, and Governors Russell, of Nevis, and Osborn, +of Montserrat, were in close touch with them and looked to them for +support. In 1657, acting through the committee for America, they +recommended that Edward Digges be made governor of Virginia, and about +the same time Martin Noell and eighteen others petitioned that Capt. +Watts be made governor of Jamaica. Lord Willoughby was practically +one of them, and Gen. Brayne and Lieut. Gen. D'Oyley were on intimate +terms with them. It is not surprising, in view of the importance of the +colonial trade and the disturbed condition of the plantations, that such +a man as Povey, who was always ready with plans and proposals, should +have endeavored to solve the problem of colonial control. He was in +frequent consultation with Noell concerning matters relating to the West +Indies, and in consequence, many schemes were discussed and carefully +worked out by them. The various drafts touching the West India Company +are elaborated in minute detail, and Povey showed clearly that he +possessed admirable qualities as a committee-man and an organizer. +</p> +<p> +The first "overture" or plan seems to have been written in 1654 at the +time when the expedition of Penn and Venables + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page56" name="page56"></a>[56]</span> + + was on its way to the +West Indies, and does not refer specifically to Jamaica. Its authors +recommended that a competent number of persons, not less than seven, of +good repute and well skilled in their professions and qualifications, +be selected to form a council. A greater number would be undesirable, +they said, because "in such an affair where there are many, the chief +things are done and ofttimes huddled up by a few; and there is neither +that secrecy, steadiness, nor particular care, nor so good an account +given of the trust, where more are employed than are necessary and +proportionable to the business."<a href="#note-5-3" name="noteref-5-3"><small>5</small></a> The qualifications of the seven are +interesting: "(1) One to be a Merchant that hath been in those Indias +and trading that waie. (2) One also to bee a Merchant but not related +to that trade, and who rather retires from than pursues in profession. +(3) One well experienced Seaman, not or but little trading att present. +(4) One Gentleman that hath travailed; that hath language and something +of the civill Lawe. (5) One Citizen of a general capacitie and +conversation. (6) One that understands well our municipall Lawes and +the general Constitutions of England. (7) One to be a Secretarie to his +Highness in all Affaires in the West Indias, and relating thereunto, who +is solely to give himself up to this Employm<sup>t</sup>." This council was to be +subordinated only to Cromwell and the Council and its powers were to be +fairly extensive. It was +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "to have power to advise w<sup>th</sup> all other Committees or Persons, + Officers, or others as occasion shall require; +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "to consider (by what they shall observe here and what shalbee + represented from the Commission<sup>rs</sup> now in the expedition) how + and what forreigne Plantations may be improved, transplanted, + and ordered; +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "to reduce all Colonies and Plantations to a more certaine, + civill, and uniforme way of government and distribution of + publick justice; +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "to keep a constant correspondence with the Commission<sup>rs</sup> now + in the expedition, and w<sup>th</sup> all the Chiefe Ports both at home + and abroad; +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page57" name="page57"></a>[57]</span></p> + +<p class="quote"> + "to be able to give up once in a year unto his Highness a perfect + Intelligence and Account of the Government of every place, of their + complaints, their wants, their abundance of every ship trading + thither and its lading and whither consigned, and to know what the + proceeds of the place have been that yeare, whereby the intrinsick + value and the certaine condition of each port will be thoroughly + understood. And by this conduct and method those many rich places + and severall Governments and Adventures will have all due and + continuall care and Inspection taken of them, w<sup>th</sup>out divertion + to the nearest Affairs of this Nation, w<sup>ch</sup> being of so much of a + greater and a closer consequence, the Superior Council can seldome + bee at leisure to descend any further than to breife and imperfect + considerations and provisions, w<sup>ch</sup> is the sad Estate of fforeigne + Dominions, and distant Colonies and Expeditions from whence usually + the most strict, or servile duty and obedience is exacted, but very + seldome any Indulgencie or paternall care is allowed to them. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "These therefore are to indeavour and contrive all possible + Encouragem<sup>ts</sup> and Advantages for the Adventurer, Planter, and + English Merchants, in order also to the shutting out all Straingers + from that Trade, by making them not necessary to it, and by drawing + it wholly and with satisfaction to all parties into our Ports here, + that it may bee afterward instead of Bullion to trade with other + Nations, it being the Traffick of our own proper and native + Commodities. That our Shipping may be increased, our poore here + employed, and our Manufactures encouraged: And by the generall + consequencies hereof, a considerable Revenue may be raised to + his Highness. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "to debate among themselves, and satisfy themselves from others; + and to present their Results to his Highness in all matters + reserved and proper for his Highness Judgment and last + Impressions. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "to bee a readie and perfect Register both to his Highness and + all other persons, as far as they may be concerned, of all + particulars relating to those Affaires. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "The Secretarie may be the person to represent things from time + to time between his Highness and this Councill. To make and receive + dispatches. To make readie papers for his Highness signature. + And generally his Office wilbee to render the Supreame Management + & comp<sup>r</sup>hension of this Affaire less cumbersome and difficult to + his Highness, hee being allwaies ready to give his Highness a full + and a digested consideration, if any particular relating to those + Affaires and w<sup>th</sup>in the cognizance of that Council."<a href="#note-6-3" name="noteref-6-3"><small>6</small></a> +</p> +<p> +That these recommendations had any influence in determining the +character of the Trade Committee of 1655 is + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page58" name="page58"></a>[58]</span> + + doubtful, but the next +effort of the merchants was probably more successful. Some time in 1656 +Povey drew up a series of queries "concerning his Highness Interest in +the West Indias" in which occur the following suggesive paragraphs: +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "Whether a Councell busyed and filled with a multitude of + Affaires, w<sup>ch</sup> concerne the imediat Safety and preservation + of the State at home, can bee thought capable of giving a proper + conduct to such various and distant Interests. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "Whether an Affaire of such a nature and consequence may be + transacted in diverse peices and by diverse Councells, and how + a proper Result cann be instantly arise out of such a kind of + management. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "Whether a Councill constituted of fitt Persons Solely sett apart + to the busyness of America be not the likeliest means of advancing + his Highness Interest there and of bringing them continually to + a certain account and readiness whensoever his Highness or his + Privie Councill shall have occasion to looke into any particular + thereof. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "Whether it be not a prudentiall thing to draw all the Islands, + Colonies, and Dominions of America under one and the same + management here."<a href="#note-7-3" name="noteref-7-3"><small>7</small></a> +</p> +<p> +That the men who drafted these queries were mainly responsible for the +creation of the select council of 1656, at first known as the Committee +for Jamaica and afterwards as the Committee for his Highness Affairs +in America, we can hardly doubt, for the constitution and work of that +committee represents very nearly the ideas that Povey and Noell had +expressed up to this time. It is not to be wondered at that Povey should +have been the chairman, secretary, and most active member of this +committee after his appointment in 1657. +</p> +<p> +Two other propositions or overtures appear among Povey's papers that +belong to the period of the Protectorate, and were written probably +the one in 1656, known as the "Propositions concerning the West India +Councill," and the other, known as "Overtures touching the West Indies," +before August, 1657.<a href="#note-8-3" name="noteref-8-3"><small>8</small></a> In the first of these the number of the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page59" name="page59"></a>[59]</span> + + council +was to be ten, in the second it was not to exceed six. The "Propositions" +repeat in the main the points already quoted, including the +recommendation that it should be the business of the council "to +consider of the reducing all Colonies and Plantations to a more +certaine, civill, and uniform waie of Governm<sup>t</sup> and distribution +of publick justice." The "Overtures" are much more elaborate, though +frequently containing the identical phrases of the first "Overture," +with many new paragraphs which seem to show the same spirit of hostility +for Spain that is exhibited in the formation of the West India Company. +Indeed this document is an outcome of the same movement which led to the +formation of that company. Some of the more important sections are as +follows: +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "To render what we already possess, and all that depends upon it, + to be a foundation and Inducem<sup>t</sup> for future undertakings; by + gathering reasonable assistances from thence, and by mingling and + interweaving of Interest, and letting it appear that such Persons + and Collonies shall have the more of the Indulgencie of the State + as shall merit most in what they shall in any way be readier to do, + or contribut to the service of the whole; for hereafter they may + be considered as one embodied Commonwealth whose head and centre + is here. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "That every Governour shall have his Commission reviewed, and + that all be reviewed in one form, w<sup>th</sup> such clauses and provisions + as shalbee held necessary for the promotion of his Highness other + public affairs, and that as soone as order can be conveniently taken + therein the several Governours to be paid their allowances from + hence (though upon their own accounts), that their dependencie bee + immediately and altogether from his Highness.... +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "That all prudentiall means be applyed to for the rendering these + Dominions useful to England, and England helpful to them; and that + the severall Peices and Colonies bee drawn and disposed into a more + certaine, civill, and uniforme waie of Government and distribution + of Publick Justice. And that such Collonies as are the Proprietie + of particular Persons or of Corporations may be reduced as neare as + cann bee to the same method and proportion w<sup>th</sup> the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page60" name="page60"></a>[60]</span> + + rest w<sup>th</sup> + as little dissatisfaction or injurie to the persons concerned as + may bee. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "That a continual correspondence bee so settled and ordered ... + that so each place w<sup>th</sup>in itself and all of them being as it were + made up into one Commonwealth may be regulated accordingly upon + comon and equal Principles." +</p> +<p> +These proposals are followed by a series of propositions designed to +further the enterprise of the merchants and to aid in the defeat of +the Spaniards, whereby "those oppressed People (who are w<sup>th</sup>held +from Trade though to their extreme suffering and disadvantage)" may +be released "from the Tyranny [of Spain] now upon them." +</p> +<p> +Taken as a whole, these documents form a remarkable series of unofficial +papers which formulate foundation principles of colonial empire that +England never applied. That these principles met the approval of those +who were to shape the colonial policy of the Restoration a further +examination will show. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<a name="note-1-3"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-1-3">1</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574–1660; Dom., vols. for years +1650–1660, Indexes; Brit. Mus. Egerton, 2395, Add. MSS., 11410, 11411, +15858, f. 97, 22920, f. 22; Lansdowne, 822, f. 164, 823, f. 33. +</p> + +<a name="note-2-3"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-2-3">2</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col. and Dom. Indexes; Egerton, 2395, +which contains Povey's collection of papers; Add. MSS., 11411, which +contains his correspondence. See also Dictionary of National Biography. +</p> + +<a name="note-3-3"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-3-3">3</a>) +A draft of such an act is to be found in Egerton, 2395, f. +202. +</p> + +<a name="note-4-3"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-4-3">4</a>) +Brit. Mus. Egerton, 2395, pp. 87–113, 176 (there is a +duplicate of Povey's letter in Add. MSS., 11410); Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1574–1660, pp. 475, 477. +</p> + +<a name="note-5-3"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-5-3">5</a>) +That all these proposals were drafted by Povey is evident +from similar terms and phrases used in his letters. +</p> + +<a name="note-6-3"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-6-3">6</a>) +Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 11411, ff. 11<sup>b</sup>–12<sup>b</sup>. +</p> + +<a name="note-7-3"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-7-3">7</a>) +Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2395, f. 86. +</p> + +<a name="note-8-3"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-8-3">8</a>) +Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2395, f. 99; Add. MSS., 11411, ff. +3–3<sup>b</sup>. In a letter of August, 1657, Povey refers to these "Overtures," +which he says were designed "for the better setting and carrying on of +the general affairs of the West Indies, enforcing the authority and +powers of the several governors there, and the establishment of a +certain course," etc. +</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page61" name="page61"></a>[61]</span></p> + +<a name="h2HCH0008" id="h2HCH0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER IV. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">Committees and Councils Under the Restoration.</span> +</h3> + +<p> +Charles II landed at Dover on May 25, 1660 and on the twenty-seventh +named at Canterbury four men, General Monck, the Earl of Southampton, +William Morrice, and Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, who took oath as privy +councillors. Others who had been members of the Council on foreign soil +or were added during the month following the return of the King swelled +the number to more than twenty. The first meeting of the Privy Council +was held on May 31, and it was inevitable that during the ensuing weeks +many petitions concerning the various claims and controversies which +had been agitating merchants and planters during the previous years +and had been reported on by the Committee for America should have been +brought to the attention of the Council. Such matters as appointments to +governorships and other offices, the political disturbances in Antigua, +Barbadoes, and Jamaica, the titles to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and +Barbadoes, became at once living issues. Many of the petitions were from +the London merchants, and we may not doubt that the personal influence +of those whose names have been already mentioned was brought to bear +upon the members of the Council. It became necessary, therefore, +for the King and his advisers to make early provision for the proper +consideration of colonial business in order that the colonies might +be placed in a position of greater security and in order that the +West Indian and American trade, from which the King and his Chancellor +expected important additions to the royal revenue, might be encouraged +and extended. Among the petitions received in June, 1660, were two from +rival groups of merchants interested in the governorship and trade of +the island of Nevis. One of these petitions desired the confirmation of +the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page62" name="page62"></a>[62]</span> + + appointment of Col. Philip Ward as governor of Nevis; the other +the reappointment of the former governor, Russell. This was the first +difficult question that had yet arisen, for Berkeley's return to +Virginia was a foregone conclusion, while the condition and settlement +of Nova Scotia, Barbadoes and Jamaica were to be of importance later. +Acting on these petitions regarding Nevis, only the second of which is +entered in the Privy Council Register, the King in Council appointed +on July 4, 1660, a committee, known as "The Right Honorable the Lords +appointed a Committee of this Board for Trade and Plantations." The +members were Edward Montague, Earl of Manchester, the Lord Chamberlain; +Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, the Lord Treasurer; Robert +Sydney, Earl of Leicester; William Fiennes, Lord Say and Seale; John +Lord Robartes; Denzil Holles, Arthur Annesley, Sir Anthony Ashley +Cooper, and the Secretaries of State, Sir Edward Nicholas and Sir +William Morrice. The committee was instructed to meet on every Monday +and Thursday at three o'clock in the afternoon, "to review, heare, +examine, and deliberate upon any petitions, propositions, memorials, or +other addresses, which shall be presented or brought in by any person or +persons concerning the plantations, as well in the Continent as Islands +of America, and from time to time make their report to this board of +their proceedings."<a href="#note-1-4" name="noteref-1-4"><small>1</small></a> +</p> +<p> +It is evident from the wording of these instructions that the committee +was designed to be a continuous one and to carry on the work of the +former committee for foreign plantations of the Council of State. There +is no essential difference between these committees, except that one +represented a commonwealth and the other a monarchy. We pass from the +one arrangement to the other with very little jar, and with much less +sense of a break in the continuity than when we pass from the system +under the Republic to that under the Protectorate. The Privy Council +committee had all the essential features of a standing committee and, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page63" name="page63"></a>[63]</span> + + after the experiment with separate and select councils had proved +unsatisfactory, it assumed entire control of trade and plantation +affairs in 1675, a control which it exercised until 1696. Though an +occasional change was made in its membership and some reorganization was +effected in 1668, the Lords of Trade of July 4, 1660, commissioned with +plenary powers by patent under the great seal, became the Lords of Trade +of February 9, 1675. +</p> +<p> +From 1660 to 1675 this committee of the Privy Council played no +insignificant part although, after the creation of the councils, it was +bound to be limited in the actual work that it performed. During the +four months after its appointment it was the only body that had to do +with trade and plantations except the Privy Council, which occasionally +sat as a committee of the whole for plantation affairs. During the +summer the committee considered with care and a due regard for all +aspects of the case the claims of various persons to the government of +Barbadoes. Despite the opposition of Modyford, who had been commissioned +governor by the Council of State the April before, and John Colleton, +one of the Council of Barbadoes, and despite the efforts of Alderman +Riccard and other merchants of London, Francis Lord Willoughby was +restored to the government under the claims of the Earl of Carlisle. +At the same time the claims of the Kirks, Elliott, and Sterling to Nova +Scotia were examined and eventually decided in favor of Col. Temple, the +governor there. Willoughby immediately appointed Capt. Watts governor of +the Caribbee Islands, himself, through his deputy, took the governorship +of Barbadoes, Modyford became governor of Jamaica, Berkeley of Virginia, +and Russell of Nevis. It is at least worthy of recall that Willoughby, +Watts, Temple, and Russell were all within the circle of Povey's +friends, that Povey and Noell both petitioned the King for Russell's +reappointment, and that Temple wrote Povey begging him to exert his +influence in his (Temple's) behalf, lest he lose the governorship. Povey +was certainly in high favor with the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page64" name="page64"></a>[64]</span> + + monarchy; in 1660 he was appointed +treasurer to the Duke of York and Master of Requests to his Majesty +in Extraordinary June 22, 1660,<a href="#note-2-4" name="noteref-2-4"><small>2</small></a> and during the years that followed +he held office after office and with all the skill of a politician +continued to find offices for his kinsmen. William Blathwayt, of later +fame, was his nephew. Noell was no less honored; he became a member of +the Royal Company of Merchants, the Royal African Company, the Society +for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, and was finally +knighted in 1663 and died in 1665.<a href="#note-3-4" name="noteref-3-4"><small>3</small></a> As we shall see, both men became +very active in the affairs of the plantations, and it is more than +likely that the opinions of the King in Council were not infrequently +shaped by their suggestions and advice. +</p> +<p> +How early the decision was reached to create separate councils of trade +and foreign plantations it is impossible to say. Some time between May +and August, 1660, Povey must have planned to recast his "Overtures" +and to present them for the consideration of the King. At first he +endeavored to adapt those of 1657 to the new situation by substituting +"Foreign Plantations" for the "West Indies," "Ma<sup>tie</sup>" for "Highness," +and "his Ma<sup>ties</sup> Privie Councill" for "the great Councill"; but +he finally decided to present a new draft, in which, however, he +retained many of the essential clauses of the former paper. Whether the +recommendations of Povey as presented in the "Overtures" influenced Lord +Clarendon to recommend such councils to the King we cannot say; it is +more likely that the practice adopted under the Protectorate had already +commended itself to the Chancellor, who was beginning to show that +interest in the plantations which characterizes the early years of his +administration. That he should have consulted + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page65" name="page65"></a>[65]</span> + + Noell and Povey and other +London merchants is to be expected of the man who for at least five +years kept up a close correspondence with Maverick of New England, +Ludwell of Virginia, and D'Oyley, Littleton, and Modyford in the +West Indies,<a href="#note-4-4" name="noteref-4-4"><small>4</small></a> and who was constantly urging upon the King the +importance of the plantations as sources of revenue and the great +financial possibilities that lay in the improvement of trade. On August +17, 1660, the King in Council drafted a letter to "Our very good Lord +the Lord Maior of the Citty of London & to the Court of Aldermen of the +said City," reading as follows: +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "After our hearty commendations these are to acquaint you, That + his Majesty having this day taken into his princely consideration + how necessary it is for the good of this kingdom, that Trade and + Commerce with foreign parts, be with all due care, incouraged + and maintayned, And for the better settling thereof declared his + gracious intention to appoint a Committee of understanding able + persons, to take into their particular consideration all things + conducible thereunto; We do by his Ma<sup>ts</sup> special command and + in order to the better carrying on of this truly royal, profitable, + and advantageous designe, desire you to give notice hereof + unto the Turkey Merchants, the Merchant Adventurers, the East + India, Greenland, and Eastland Companys, and likewise to the + unincorporated Traders, for Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, and + the West India Plantations; Willing them out of their respective + societies to present unto his Majesty the names of fower of their + most knowing active men (of whom, when his Majesty shall have + chosen two and unto this number of merchants added some other + able and well experienced persons, dignified also with the + presence and assistance of some of his Majesty's Privy Council) + All those to be by his Ma<sup>tie</sup> appointed constituted and authoried + by commission under the Great Seal as a Standing Committee, to + enquire into and rectify all things tending to the Advancement + of Trade and Commerce; That so by their prudent and faithful + council and advice, his Ma<sup>tie</sup> may (now in this conjuncture, + whilst most Foraigne Princes and Potentates doe, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page66" name="page66"></a>[66]</span> + + upon his Ma<sup>ties</sup> + most happy establishment upon his throne, seek to renew their + former Allyances with this Crowne), insert into the several + Treatyes, such Articles & Clauses as may render this Nation more + prosperous and flourishing in Trade and Commerce. Thus by prudence, + care, & industry improving those great advantages to the highest + point of felicity, which by its admirable situation Nature seems + to have indulged to this his Majesty's kingdom. So we bid you + heartily farewell."<a href="#note-5-4" name="noteref-5-4"><small>5</small></a> +</p> +<p> +This letter was signed by Chancellor Hyde, Earl of Southampton, George +Monck, Earl of Albemarle, Lord Say and Seale, Earl of Manchester, Lord +Robartes, Arthur Annesley, and Secretary Morrice, who probably formed a +special committee appointed to draft it. Some time within the month the +answer of the Aldermen must have been received, for on September 19 the +Council ordered the attorney general "to make a draught of a commission +for establishing a Councell of Trade according to the grounds layed" +in the letter of the seventeenth of August, "upon the perusal whereof +at the Board his Ma<sup>tie</sup> will insert the names of the said Counsell." +It is more than likely that the project for the second council, that of +plantations, went forward <i>pari passu</i> with the Council for Trade and +that the letter to the Mayor and Aldermen served a double purpose. At +any rate that must have been the understanding among those interested at +the time, for on September 26, one Norwich, Captain of the Guards, who +had been in Clarendon's employ, sent in a memorial to the Chancellor +begging that the King employ him "in his customs and committees of trade +and forraign plantations."<a href="#note-6-4" name="noteref-6-4"><small>6</small></a> The matter of drafting the commissions +must have taken some time, for they are not mentioned as + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page67" name="page67"></a>[67]</span> + + ready for the +addition of names before the last week in October. The business of +making up the lists of members must have been a difficult and tedious +matter. Many lists exist among the Domestic Papers which contain +changes, erasures and additions, drafts and corrected drafts, which show +how much pains Clarendon and the others took to make the membership of +the Council of Trade satisfactory. A suggested list was first drawn up +containing the names of privy councillors, country gentlemen, customers, +merchants, traders, the navy officers, gentlemen versed in affairs, and +doctors of civil law. With this list was considered another containing +the names of the persons nominated by the different merchant companies. +Other lists seem also to have been presented.<a href="#note-7-4" name="noteref-7-4"><small>7</small></a> Probably in much the +same way the list of the members of the Council for Foreign Plantations +was made up, but more slowly. +</p> +<p> +The commissions were both ready by October 25 and on November 7 had +reached the Crown Office (Chancery), ready to pass the great seal. The +commission for the Council of Trade passed the great seal on that day +and is dated November 7, 1660; but the commission for the Council for +Foreign Plantations was held back that the names of other members might +be added and it became necessary to have a new bill passed and duly +engrossed three weeks later.<a href="#note-8-4" name="noteref-8-4"><small>8</small></a> Therefore the commission for the Council +for Foreign Plantations is dated December 1, 1660. +</p> +<p> +An analysis of the membership of these two councils and of the +membership of the Royal African Company, created soon after, shows many +points of interest. The Council of Trade consisted of sixty-two members, +that of Foreign Plantations of forty-eight,<a href="#note-9-4" name="noteref-9-4"><small>9</small></a> and that of the African +Company of sixty-six. Twenty-eight members are common to + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page68" name="page68"></a>[68]</span> + + the first two +bodies, eleven are common to the Council of Trade and the Royal African +Company, and eight are common to all three groups. These eight are John +Lord Berkeley of Stratton; Sir George Carteret, Sir Nicholas Crispe, +Sir Andrew Riccard, Sir John Shaw, Thomas Povey, Martin Noell, and +John Colleton. The other members common to the two councils are +Lord Clarendon, the Earl of Southampton, Earl of Manchester, Earl of +Marlborough, Earl of Portland, Lord Robartes, Francis Lord Willoughby, +Denzil Holles, Sir Edward Nicholas, Sir William Morrice, Arthur +Annesley, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, William Coventry, Daniel O'Neale, +Sir James Draxe, Edward Waller, Edward Digges, William Williams, Thomas +Kendall, and John Lewis; while among the other members of the Council +for Foreign Plantations are such well-known men as Sir William Berkeley, +Capt. John Limbrey, Col. Edward Waldrond, Capt. Thomas Middleton, +Capt. William Watts, and Capt. Alexander Howe. Thus the merchants, +sea-captains, and planters, men thoroughly familiar with the questions +of trade and plantations and intimately connected with the plantations +themselves are members of the Council of Plantations and sometimes +of that of Trade also. It is significant that among the four London +merchants common to all three groups should be found the names of Noell +and Povey. Their associates, Crispe and Riccard, were persons well +known in the history of London trade, and probably the four names +represent the four most influential men among the merchants of London +who supported the King. When we turn to the work of these councils we +shall see that Povey and Noell were active members also. +</p> +<p> +However uncertain we may be regarding the influence of Povey and Noell +in shaping the policy of Clarendon and the King, that uncertainty +disappears as soon as we examine the instructions which were drafted +to accompany the commission for a Council for Foreign Plantations. +The instructions are little more than a verbal reproduction of the +"Overtures" which Povey drafted some time during the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page69" name="page69"></a>[69]</span> + + summer of 1660 +for presentation to the King. They are based on the earlier overtures +and proposals and certain passages can be traced back unchanged to the +first "Overture" of 1654. Seven of the eleven clauses are taken from the +Povey papers as follows: +</p> + +<table class="parallel" border="0" align="center" summary="Parallel comparison of documents"> + +<tr><td width="49%" align="center"><i>Overtures.</i></td><td width="49%" align="center"><i>Instructions.</i></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +They may forthwith write letters +to everie Governour ... requiring +an exact and perticular +Account of the State of their +affairs; of the nature and constitution +of their Lawes and Government, +and in what modell +they move; what numbers of +them, what Fortifications, and +other Strengths, and Defences +are upon the Places. +</p> +</td> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +2. You shall forthwith write +letters to evrie of our Governo<sup>rs</sup> ... to +send unto +</p> +<p> +3. you ... perticular and exact +accompt of the state of their +affaires; of the nature and constitution +of their lawes and governm<sup>t</sup> +and in what modell and +frame they move and are disposed; +what numbers of men; +what fortifications and other +strengths and defences are upon +the place. +</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +To apply to all prudentiall +meanes for the rendering these +Dominions usefull to England, +and England helpfull to them; +and that the Severall Pieces, and +Collonies bee drawn and disposed +into a more certaine, civill, +and uniform waie of Government; +and distribution of publick +justice. +</p> +</td> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +5. To applie your selves to all +prudentiall means for the rendering +those dominions usefull +to England, and England helpful +to them, and for the bringing +the severall Colonies and +Plantacons, within themselves, +into a more certaine civill and +uniforme [waie] of government +and for the better ordering and +distributeing of publicque justice +among them. +</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +To settle such a continuall +correspondencie, that it may be +able to give upp an account once +a yeare to his Ma<sup>tie</sup> of the Goverment +of each Place; of their +Complaints, their Wants, their +Aboundance, of everie Shipp +trading there, and its lading; +and whither consign'd; and to +know what the proceeds of that +Place have been that yeare; +whereby the instrinsick value, +and the true condition of each +part and of the whole may be +thoroughly understood; and +whereby a Ballance may be +erected for the better ordering +and disposing of Trade, and of +the growth of the Plantations, +that soe, each Place within itself +and all of them being as it were + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page70" name="page70"></a>[70]</span> + +made up into one Comonwealth, +may by his Ma<sup>tie</sup> bee heere governd, +and regulated accordingly, +upon common and equal principles. +</p> + +</td> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +4. To order and settle such a +continuall correspondencie that +you may be able, as often as you +are required thereunto, to give +up to us an accompt of the Governm<sup>t</sup> +of each Colonie; of their +complaints, their wants, their +abundance; of their severall +growths and comodities of every +Shipp Tradeing there and its +ladeing and whither consigned +and what the proceeds of that +place have beene in the late years; +that thereby the intrinsick value +and the true condicon of each +part of the whole may be thoroughly +understood; whereby a +more steady judgem<sup>t</sup> and ballance +may be made for the better +ordering and disposing of trade +& of the proceede and +improvem<sup>ts</sup> of the Plantacons; +that soe each place within it +selfe, and all of them being collected +into one viewe and managem<sup>t</sup> +here, may be regulated +and ordered upon common and +equall ground & principles. +</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +To enquire diligently into the +Severall Governments and Councells +of Plantations belonging to +forreigne Princes, or States; +and examine by what Conduct +and Pollicies they govern, or +benefitt their own Collonies, and +upon what Grounds. And is to +consult and provide soe, that if +such Councells be good, wholesome, +and practicable, they may +be applyed to our use; or if they +tend, or were designed to our +prejudice or Disadvantage, they +may bee ballanced, or turned-back +upon them. +</p> +</td> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +6. To enquire diligently into +the severall governm<sup>ts</sup> and +Councells of Colonies Plantacons +and distant Dominions, belonging +to other Princes or States, +and to examine by what conduct +and pollicies they govern or +benefit them; and you are to +consult and provide that if such +councells be good wholesome +and practicable, they may be applied +to the case of our Plantacons; +or if they tend or were +designed to the prejudice or disadvantage +thereof or of any of +our subjects or of trade or comerce, +how then they may be ballanced +or turned back upon +them. +</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +To receive, debate, and favour +all such Propositions as shall be +tendered to them, for the improvement +of any of the forreigne +Plantations, or in order +to any other laudable and advantageous +enterprize. +</p> +<p> +To call to its Advice and Consultation +from time to time, as +often as the matter in debate +and under consideration shall require, +any well experienced Persons, +whether Mechants, or Seamen, +or Artificers. +</p> +</td> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +11. To advise, order, settle, +and dispose of all matters relating +to the good governm<sup>t</sup> improvement +and management of +our Forraine Plantacons or any +of them, with your utmost skill +direccon and prudence. +</p> +<p> +7. To call to your assistance +from time to time as often as +the matter in consideration shall +require any well experienced +persons, whether merchants, +planters, seamen, artificers, etc. +</p> +</td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<p> +In the "Overtures" there are no clauses corresponding to those in the +Instructions relating to the enforcement of the Navigation Act or to the +spread of the Christian religion; these may well be deemed Restoration +additions, inserted at Clarendon's request. But the clause concerning +the transportation of servants, poor men, and vagrants may well have +been Povey's own, for both Povey and Noell were interested in the +question and Noell had been in the business since 1654. In the "Queries" +is the following paragraph: +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page71" name="page71"></a>[71]</span></p> + +<p class="quote"> + "Whither the weeding of this Comon Wealth of Vagabonds, condemned + Persons and such as are heere useless and hurtful in wars and + peace, and a settled course taken for the transporting them to + the Indias and thereby principally supplying Jamaica is not + necessary to be consulted." +</p> +<p> +Among the Povey papers is one entitled "Certain propositions for the +better accommodating the Forreigne Plantacons with Servants," which +Povey may have drawn up. Hence, there is no good reason to doubt but +that Povey wrote the entire draft of these instructions himself. Even +those portions that are not to be found in the "Overtures" are written +in Povey's peculiar and rather stilted style. +</p> +<p> +That Povey and Noell were the authors of the instructions given to the +Council of Trade it is not so easy to demonstrate. A preliminary sketch +of "Instructions for a Councill of Trade" as well as a copy of the final +instructions are to be found among the Povey papers and both Povey and +Noell were sufficiently familiar with the requirements of trade at that +period to have drafted such a document. The fact that the second paper +is but an elaboration of the first leads to the conclusion that they +bear to each other much the same relation that the "Overtures" bear +to the Instructions for the Council of Plantations: +</p> + + +<table class="parallel" border="0" align="center" summary="Parallel comparison of documents"> + +<tr><td width="49%" align="center"><span class="sc">First Draft.</span></td><td width="49%" align="center"><span class="sc">Final Instructions.</span></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +1. You shall in the first place +consider, and propound how to +remedy inconveniencys of the +the English trade, in all the respective +dominions of those Princes +and States with whom his Mat<sup>ie</sup> +may renew Alliance, and to that +end make due enquiry into such +former treaties as relate to +Trade. +</p> +</td> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +1. You shall take into your +consideration the inconveniences +w<sup>ch</sup> the English Trade hath suffered +in any Partes beyond the +Seas, And are to inquire into +such Articles of former Treaties +as have been made with any +Princes or States in relation to +Trade, And to draw out such +Observations or Resolutions +from thence, as may be necessary +for us to advise or insist +upon in any forreigne Leagues +or Allyances. That such evills +as have befallen these our Kingdomes +through the want of good +information in these great and +publique concernm<sup>ts</sup> may be +provided against in tyme to +come. +</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td valign="top"> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page72" name="page72"></a>[72]</span> + +<p> +What Articles have bin provided +in favour of the Trade of +his Ma<sup>ties</sup> Subjects, How they +have been neglected & Violated, +What new Capitulations may be +necessary pro Ratione Rerum, +et temporum. +</p> +<p> +And those, either in Relation: +</p> +<p> +1. To the freedome of Sale of +your Commodities of all sorts, +as to price & payment. +</p> +<p> +2. To the best expedition of +Justice for recovery of your +debts. +</p> +<p> +3. To the security of the Estates +of all factors, and their +Principalls in case of the factor's +death. +</p> +<p> +4. To the Prevention of the +Interruption of the Trade & +Navigation, by Embargos of forraigne +Princes & States, or imprestinge +your Shipps to their +Service. +</p> +<p> +5. To the Interest of all +Trades that are or shall be incorporated +by his Mat<sup>ies</sup> Charters, +what jurisdictyon is necessary +to be obtained from our +Allies, for the more regular government +of the Trade & members +of those Corporations in +forraigne factoryes. +</p> +<p> +2<sup>ly</sup>. And next you shall consider, +how the reputation of all +the manufactures of his Mat<sup>ies</sup> +Kingdome may be recovered by +a just regulation and standard +of weight, length, and breadth, +that soe the more profitable and +ample Vent of them may be procured. +</p> +</td> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +2. You are to consider how +& by whome any former Articles +or Treatyes have been neglected +or violated, what new Capitulations +are necessary either to the +freedome of Sale of your Commodities +of all sorts, as to price +& payment, Or to the best expedition +of Justice to the recovery +of Debts, or to the Security of +Estates of all factors & their +Principalls in case of the factor's +Death, Or to the prevention of +those interruptions w<sup>ch</sup> the Trade +& Navigations of our Kingdomes +have suffered by Imbargoes +of forreigne Princes or +States, Or Imprestinge the +Shipps of any of our Subjects, +for their Service. +</p> +<p> +3. You are to consider well +the Interest of all such trades as +are or shall be Incorporated by +our Royall Charters, & what +Jurisdictions are necessary to be +obteyned from such as are, or +shall be in Allyance with us, +for the more regular managem<sup>t</sup> +& governm<sup>t</sup> of the Trade, & of +the members of those our Corporations +& forreigne factories. +</p> +<p> +4. You are to consider of the +several Manufactures of these +our Kingdomes how & by what +occasions they are corrupted, debased +& disparaged, And by +what probable meanes they may +be restored & maintained in their +auncyent goodness & reputation, +And how they may be farther +improved to there utmost advantage +by a just Regulation & +Standard of weight Length & +Breadth, that soe the private +profitt of the Tradesmen or +Merchants may not destroy the +Creditt of the Commodity, & +thereby render it neglected & +unvended abroad, to the great +loss & scandall of these our +Kingdomes. +</p> +<p> +5. You are also to take into +your Consideration all the native +Commodities of the growth & +production of these our Kingdomes, +and how they may be +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page73" name="page73"></a>[73]</span> +ordered, nourished, increased & +manifactured to the ymployment +of our People and to the best +advantage of the Publique. +</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +4<sup>ly</sup>. How the fishinge Trades +of Newfound Land, the Coasts +of England, Irland, & New England +may be most improoved, +and regulated to the greatest advantage +of the Stocke and navigation +of the nation, by excludinge +the intrusion of our neighbors +into it. +</p> +</td> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +6. You are especially to consider +of the whole business of +fishings of these our Kingdomes +or any other of our distant +Dominions or Plantations & to +consult of some effectuall +meanes for the reinforceing encouraging +& encreasinge, and +for the regulating & carryinge +on of the Trade in all the Parts +thereof. To the end That the +People and Stock, and Navigation +of these our Kingdomes +may be ymployed therein and +our Neighbors may not be enricht +with that which soe properly +& advantagiously may be +undertooke & carryed on by our +own Subjects. +</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +3<sup>ly</sup>. How the Trade of the +Kingdome to forraigne parts +may be soe menaged and proportioned, +that we may in every +part be more Sellers than buyers, +that thereby the Coyne and +present Stocke of money may be +preserved and increased. +</p> +</td> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +7. You are seriously to consider +& enquire whether the Importation +of forreigne Commodityes +doe not over-ballance +the Exportations of such as are +Native, And how it may be soe +Ordered remedied, & proportioned +that we may have more +Sellers than Buyers in every +parte abroad, And that the +Coyne & present Stock of these +our Kingdomes, may be preserved +& increased, We judging, +that such a Scale & Rule of proportion +is one of the highest and +most prudentiall points of Trade +by w<sup>ch</sup> the riches & strength of +these our Kingdomes, are best +to be understood & maintained. +</p> +<p> +8. You are to consider & examine +by what wayes & means +other Nations doe preferr their +owne growths & Manifactures, +& Importations, & doe discourage +& suppress those of these +our Kingdomes, & how the best +contrivances and managem<sup>t</sup> of +Trade, exercysed by other Nations +may be rendred applicable +& practicable by these our Kingdomes. +</p> +<p> +9. You are well to consider +all matters relatinge to Navigation, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page74" name="page74"></a>[74]</span> +& to the increase, & the +Security thereof. +</p> +<p> +10. You are thoroughly to consider +the severall matters relatinge +to Money, how Bullonge +may be best drawne in hither, +& how any Obstructions upon +our Mynt may be best removed. +</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +5<sup>ly</sup>. How the forraigne Plantations +may be made most useful +to the Trade & Navigation of +these Kingdomes. +</p> +</td> +<td valign="top"> +<p> +11. You are to consider the +general State & Condition of our +forreigne Plantations & of the +Navigation Trade & severall +Commodityes ariseinge thereupon, +& how farr theire future +Improvem<sup>t</sup> & Prosperitie may +bee advanced by any discouragement +Imposition or Restraint, +upon the Importation of all +goods or Commodityes w<sup>th</sup> +which those Plantations doe +abound, and may supply these +our Kingdomes, And you are +alsoe in all matters wherein our +forreigne Plantations are concerned +to take advise or information +(as occasion shall require) +from the Councell appointed +& sett apart by us to the +more perticuler Inspection Regulation +and Care of our forreigne +plantations. +</p> +<p> +12. You are to consider how +the transportation of such things +may be best restreined and prevented, +as are either forbidden +by the Lawe, or may be inconvenient, +or of disadvantage by +being transported out of these +our Kingdomes and dominions.<a href="#note-10-4" name="noteref-10-4"><small>10</small></a> +</p> +</td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<p> +The councils thus commissioned and instructed soon met for organization +and business, the Council for Plantations holding its preliminary +session December 10, 1660, in the Star Chamber, and all remaining +meetings in the Inner Court of Wards; the Council for Trade meeting, +first, in Mercer's Hall, near Old Jewry, afterwards in certain rooms in +Whitehall, still later in a rented house which was consumed + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page75" name="page75"></a>[75]</span> + + in the great +fire, and, after 1667, in Exeter House, Strand. Philip Frowde became the +clerical secretary of the Plantation Council and George Duke secretary +of the Council of Trade, a position that he seems to have lost in 1663 +but to have resumed again before 1667. The meetings were attended +chiefly by the non-conciliar members, for it was usually the rule that +privy councillors were to be present only when some special business +required their coöperation. Both councils were organized in much the +same manner, with a number, at least seven, of inferior officers, +clerks, messengers, and servants, and in both cases journals of +proceedings and entry books containing copies of documents, patents, +charters, petitions, and reports were kept.<a href="#note-11-4" name="noteref-11-4"><small>11</small></a> Whether + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page76" name="page76"></a>[76]</span> + + minutes were +taken of the meetings of the subcommittees is doubtful; no such papers +have anywhere been found. +</p> +<p> +The Council for Plantations had a continuous existence from December 10, +1660, when the preliminary meeting was held, probably until the spring +of 1665, though August 24, 1664, is the date of its last recorded +sitting. During that time it shared in the extraordinary activity which +characterized the early years of the Restoration and represents, as far +as such activity can represent any one person, the enthusiasm of the +Earl of Clarendon. There was not an important phase of colonial life and +government, not a colonial claim or dispute, that was not considered +carefully, thoroughly, and, in the main, impartially by the Council.<a href="#note-12-4" name="noteref-12-4"><small>12</small></a> +The business was nearly always handled, in the first instance, by +experts, for with few exceptions the working committees were made up +of men who had had intimate experience with colonial affairs or were +financially interested in their prosperity. The first committee, that of +January 7, 1661, for example, was composed of Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, +who had been on plantation committees during the Interregnum; Robert +Boyle, president of the Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel +in New England and one of the founders of the Royal Society; Sir Peter +Leere and Sir + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page77" name="page77"></a>[77]</span> + + James Draxe, old Barbadian planters; Edmund Waller, +poet and parliamentarian, who had been interested in colonial affairs +for some years; General Venables, who knew Jamaica well; Thomas Povey, +Edward Digges, John Colleton (soon to be Sir John), Martin Noell (soon +to be Sir Martin), and Thomas Kendall, all merchants and experts on +colonial trade, and Middleton, Jefferies, Watts, and Howe, sea-captains +and merchants in frequent touch with the colonies. Other committees +were made up in much the same way, although the number of members was +usually smaller. When letters were to be written or reports drafted that +required skill in composition and embodiment in literary form, we find +the task entrusted to Povey alone or to Povey assisted by the poets +Waller and Sir John Denham. Povey was, indeed, the most active member +of the Council, serving as its secretary in much the same capacity +as on the Committee for America from 1657 to 1660.<a href="#note-13-4" name="noteref-13-4"><small>13</small></a> On both these +boards he exemplified his own recommendation that there should be on +the Council "a Person who is to be more imediately concern'd and active +than the rest ... allwaies readie to give a full and digested account +and consideracon of any particular relating to those Affaires." Among +the Povey papers are many drafts of letters and reports in process of +construction, bearing erasures and additions which point to Povey as +their author.<a href="#note-14-4" name="noteref-14-4"><small>14</small></a> +</p> +<p> +The Council for Plantations and its committees sat and deliberated +apart, the latter in Grocer's Hall; but the subjects under examination +were considered by both bodies. The subcommittees were frequently +instructed to call in persons interested, to write to others from whom +information could be obtained, and to pursue their investigations with +due regard for both sides of the case. Sometimes questions would be +submitted to the attorney general, to Dr. Walter Walker and others +from Doctors Commons, to special members of the Council who were more +familiar than the rest with the facts + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page78" name="page78"></a>[78]</span> + + in the case. On at least one +occasion all the members of the Council were requested to bring in what +information they could obtain regarding a particular matter. Question +after question was postponed from one meeting to another, because the +Council had not obtained all the details that it felt should be in +hand before the report was sent to the King in Council. On a few +occasions members of the Council accompanied the report to the Privy +Council apparently with the intention of explaining or emphasizing +their recommendations. The subjects under debate concerned the internal +or external affairs of all the colonies. They related to Jamaica, +Barbadoes, Maryland, Virginia, and New England, including Nova Scotia, +Massachusetts, Maine, and Long Island; they dealt with Quakers, Jews, +vagrants, and servants, supplies, provisions, naval stores, emigrant +registration, and abuses in colonial trade; they included that burning +question of the period, the Dutch at New Amsterdam and the complaints +that arose regarding Holland as an obstruction to English trade. The +amount of time taken and pains expended on controversial points can be +inferred from an examination of the New England case, which was taken +up at the first regular meeting in January and was under examination +from that time until April 30, when the Council sent in its report. +Even then it was taken up by the Privy Council, referred to its own +committee, called the Committee for New England, and in one or two +particulars was sent back to the Council for further consideration. +In the performance of its duties the Council for Plantations can never +be charged with indolence or neglect. In the year 1661 alone it held +forty meetings, or an average of one every nine days. +</p> +<p> +After August, 1664, the records of the Council come to an end, but there +is reason to believe that the Council continued its sessions at least +until the spring of 1665. That the last meeting was not held on August +24 is certain, not only from the wording of the minute, which reads: +"ordered, being a matter of great moment and the day far + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page79" name="page79"></a>[79]</span> + + spent, that the +further consideration be deferred for a week," but also from two further +references to the existence of the Council, of later date,—one dated +September 7, when the Council sent in a report regarding the proposed +establishment of a registry office, and the other in the form of an +endorsement upon a letter from Lord Willoughby which says: "Ref<sup>d</sup> to +the Council, Feb. 24," that is February 24, 1665. It seems probable, +therefore, that the Council was sitting as late as February-March +of that year.<a href="#note-15-4" name="noteref-15-4"><small>15</small></a> Probably its meetings were broken up by the plague +which started in London about that time, in the westernmost parish, +St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and lasted until the end of October. Whether +the Council resumed its sessions after the plague had subsided it is +almost impossible to say. No definite record exists of its meetings or +work. Some of its members had died, Sir Martin Noell in October, 1665, +and Sir Nicholas Crispe the next year; others had left England, Lord +Willoughby, Capts. Watts and Kendall, and possibly Sir James Draxe; +while others had accepted posts that took them away from London, as in +the case of Capt. Middleton, who became commissioner of the navy at +Portsmouth. Certainly Povey could have had very little to do with the +affairs of a council in London in 1664–1666, when as surveyor-general of +the victualling department he was required to be frequently at Plymouth +and to spend a considerable amount of time travelling about England.<a href="#note-16-4" name="noteref-16-4"><small>16</small></a> +Yet there is nothing to show that its commission was revoked, and +an order of the Privy Council, September 23, 1667, to which further +reference will be made below, reads as if the Council were in existence +at that time. If so, it must have been merely a nominal body. +</p> +<p> +After 1665, and until 1670, plantation affairs seem to have been +controlled entirely by the Privy Council and its + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page80" name="page80"></a>[80]</span> + + committees, which +proved themselves capable and vigorous bodies. Before 1666, besides +the Committee for Foreign Plantations, which has already been noticed, +other committees were appointed as occasion arose,—committees for +Jamaica, for Jamaica and Algiers, for the Guinea trade, for the Royal +Company, for fishing in Newfoundland, for Jersey and Guernsey, and +for New England. Committees for Trade and for hearing appeals from +the Plantations also existed. On December 7, 1666, after the plague +had subsided and the great fire had spent itself, the Privy Council +reappointed its plantation committee, which now entered upon a career of +greatly increased activity.<a href="#note-17-4" name="noteref-17-4"><small>17</small></a> At the same time the Council made use of +its other committees, particularly the "Committee for the Affaires of +New England and for the bounding of Acadia," October 2, 4, 1667, which +took into consideration the question of the restitution of Acadia to the +French;<a href="#note-18-4" name="noteref-18-4"><small>18</small></a> and it referred important matters of business to committees +of selected experts. Under these conditions the affairs of the colonies +were managed until the appointment of a new Plantation Council in +August, 1670. +</p> +<p> +The Council for Trade met in Mercer's Hall some time before November +13, 1660, and at its preliminary session considered that part of its +instructions which related to bullion and coin. On December 13, 1660, it +passed a resolution urging and inviting people and merchants to send in +petitions, and it requested the King to issue a proclamation defining +its powers in all matters relating to trade and manufactures and calling +on "any person, concerned in the matters therein to be debated or who +have any petition or invention to offer, to apply to them for redress +of evils brought on by the late times or for the improvement of trade +regulations."<a href="#note-19-4" name="noteref-19-4"><small>19</small></a> In response to, this appeal a large number of +petitions, sent either to the Privy Council or directly to + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page81" name="page81"></a>[81]</span> + + the Select +Council itself, were received, and the discussion of these petitions +and the preparing of reports upon them occupied the attention of the +Council during the first two years. These reports show that the Council +took its duties seriously and was thoroughly in earnest to improve, +if possible, the trade of the kingdom, and to carry out to the full +the commands which the King had laid upon it. There is not a clause +of the instructions to which it did not pay some attention, and upon +many matters it debated long and ardently, making reports that are as +valuable for the student of the trade policy of the seventeenth century +as are the familiar writings of well-known mercantilists. The Council +took up and discussed the export of bullion and coin, expressing its +opinion that the penalties should be withdrawn as injurious to trade, +because they prevented the English merchants from bringing their money +into the kingdom where it would be detained, and saying that money most +abounded in countries which enjoyed freedom from restraints on exports. +The trade in the Baltic, the East Indies, and the Levant to which trade +freedom to export bullion was preeminently important; the Merchant +Adventurers, regarding whose history and position the Council made +a valuable report, viewing the subject from the beginning; the East +India Company, whose petition,—largely reproduced in the report of the +Council,—contained a bitter arraignment of the Dutch, calling to mind +the "impudent affronts to the honor of this nation and the horrid +injuries done to the stock and commerce thereof," and demanding damages +and a definite regulation of trade in the forthcoming treaty with +Holland then under debate; treaties with foreign powers, clauses in +which concerning trade were taken up at the early meetings of the +Council; prohibition of imposts on foreign cloths and stuffs, regarding +which sundry shopkeepers, tradesmen, and artificers of London had +petitioned the Privy Council in November, 1660,<a href="#note-20-4" name="noteref-20-4"><small>20</small></a>—all these matters +the Council took under consideration. It dealt with the granting of +patents, with + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page82" name="page82"></a>[82]</span> + + the encouragement of home industries, particularly the +business of the framework knitters, silk-dyeing, and the manufacture of +tapestry, and with the establishment of an insurance company.<a href="#note-21-4" name="noteref-21-4"><small>21</small></a> As far +as the plantations were concerned, its recommendations were few, and +were made chiefly in connection with reports on the ninth and eleventh +articles of its instructions, which touched upon convoys, imports, +and composition-ports. It drafted a carefully drawn list of necessary +convoys in which, of all the American plantations, only Newfoundland +is mentioned. It considered the importation of logwood and tobacco, +and upon the latter point made the suggestion "that all tobacco +of English Plantations do pay at importation 1/2d. a pound and at +exportation nothing." This recommendation was accompanied by a valuable +essay on trade in general. It dealt with the question of making Dover +a free port for composition trade and took the ground that the Acts +of Navigation should be inviolably kept. On this question the Earl of +Southampton, the Treasurer, and Lord Ashley (Cooper), Chancellor of the +Exchequer, took the opposite ground, favoring the freedom of the port, +"Dover having formerly been a port for free trade," and adding that +"a free trade thus settled we conceive might conduce to the advantage +of your Majesty's customs," trade being injured by the "tyes and +observances which the Act of Navigation places upon it." They reported +further that the farmers of the customs wished the Act to be dispensed +with in some cases.<a href="#note-22-4" name="noteref-22-4"><small>22</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Regarding the attitude of the Council toward the sixth article +of its instructions, the promotion of the fisheries, we have fuller +information. At the session of December 17, 1663, there were present the +Earl of Sandwich, William Coventry, Sir Nicholas Crispe, Henry Slingsby, +Christopher Boone, John Lord Berkeley, Sir Sackville Crowe, Thomas + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page83" name="page83"></a>[83]</span> + + Povey, John Jolliffe, and George Toriano. Acting on a special order +from the King, they debated how best the fishing trade might be +gained and promoted, and how encouraged and advanced when gained. +They considered the respective merits of a commission and a corporation, +and whether, if a corporation should be agreed upon, it ought to be +universal or exclusive, perpetual or limited, a joint stock or a divided +stock, and what immunities and powers should be granted, the character +of the persons to be admitted and the number. Taking up each point in +turn, the members of the Council first considered "How to gain the Trade +of Fishery" and laid down seven methods: 1, 2, by raising money either +through voluntary contributions or through lotteries; 3, 4, by restraint +of foreign importation or by impositions upon all foreign importation; +5, by letters to all countries urging them to contribute such especial +commodities as cordage, lumber, boards, and the like, in exchange for +fish; 6, by declaring a war against the Dutch, and at the same time, +7, by naturalizing or indenizing all Hollanders who would come into +the English fishery. For the support of the trade when gained the +Council proposed: 1, to impose a proportion of fish upon every vintner, +innkeeper, alehouse-keeper, victualler, and coffee house in England; +2, to refuse all licenses for fish, which were to be paid for to the +corporation; 3, to take the stock of the poor of every parish and +provide for the impotent and aged only out of the product, and employ +such as were able to work in the fishery—the impotent in the making +of nets, etc.; 4, to require the gentlemen of all maritime counties +to raise a stock of money in their counties to be employed toward the +advance of the fishery; 5, to raise busses, <i>i. e.</i>, Dutch herring +boats, and to set them forth to their own use and to receive the profits +in fish or in the product of it; 6, to employ the imposition laid upon +fish by the last Parliament for the purpose of advancing the trade; to +accept the offer of fishmongers to raise busses and money; 8, to require +the master and wardens of the company, and, 9, to encourage + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page84" name="page84"></a>[84]</span> + + private +persons to do the same; 10, to bring over Dutchmen to teach the English +the art of curing, salting, and marking fish, and of making casks. +It was then decided, "after a long and solemne debate of the whole +matter," <i>nemine contradicente</i>, "that there being no disadvantage in a +corporation But many great Advantages, powers and Immunities that cannot +be had by Commission That the best way of advancing & encouraging the +Fishing Trade is by way of [a] Corporation." To this corporation were to +be granted "the sole power of Lycensing the Eating and killing of flesh +in Lent," the power to make by-laws, to dispose of "guifts that are or +shalbee given for carrying on of this Trade," to administer oaths, to +constitute officers, to exercise coercion in case of contempt against +orders, to fine and in some cases to imprison, to send for papers, +persons, books, etc. The corporation was to be universal, perpetual, and +a joint stock company.<a href="#note-23-4" name="noteref-23-4"><small>23</small></a> As a result of the report of the Council a +charter of incorporation was issued to the Duke of York and thirty-six +others, forming the Governor and Company of the Royal Fishery of Great +Britain and Ireland, and George Duke, "late Secretary to the Committee +of Trade," was recommended by the King as its secretary.<a href="#note-24-4" name="noteref-24-4"><small>24</small></a> +</p> +<p> +This account of the debate in the Council upon the fishery question +is important not only because it gives an interesting glimpse of the +Council at work, and the only glimpse that we have at any length of +its procedure, but because it illustrates a phase of mercantilism in +the making. It shows, also, the intensity of the rivalry that existed +between England and Holland, and furnishes an admirable example of one +of the causes of that rivalry, the Dutch predominance in the fishing +business.<a href="#note-25-4" name="noteref-25-4"><small>25</small></a> The Council frequently appealed to + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page85" name="page85"></a>[85]</span> + + the methods employed +by the Dutch as a sufficient argument to support its contention, and +when objections were raised against the universal corporation it +answered, "You destroy the essence of a Corporation by lymitting it, +And if you lymitt it, no man will venture their Stocke, and the mayne +reason why the Dutch employ not only their Stocke but their whole +families in the fisheries, is because their corporation is perpetual." +</p> +<p> +How much longer the Council of Trade continued its sessions it is +impossible to say. Its last recorded action is a report, dated July, +1664, which contained its opinion upon the question of trade with +Scotland, a matter soon to be taken up by the higher authorities. +It is probable that, as in the case of the Council of Plantations, its +sessions were suspended because of the plague and the fire and were not +resumed. Its commission was not revoked and it certainly had a nominal +existence until 1667. That it had no actual existence in April, 1665, +seems likely from a letter sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury at that +time, begging that the King appoint a council of trade to find out the +cause of the decay in the coal trade.<a href="#note-26-4" name="noteref-26-4"><small>26</small></a> By the summer of 1665 trade +was reported dead and money scarce and to the plague was ascribed "an +infinite interruption to the whole trade of the Nation." The fire and +the Dutch war completed the demoralization of commerce and in 1666 the +plantations were deemed in great want of necessaries on account of the +obstructions of trade by the war. Though in that year many questions +arose that might naturally have been referred to such a council had +it been in session, no such references appear among the records. The +advancement of trade was looked after by the Privy Council and its trade +committee, and particularly by the Committee of Trade appointed by +Parliament. The latter body had been named as early as March, 1664, +to investigate the export of wool, wool-fells, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page86" name="page86"></a>[86]</span> + + and fullers' earth. +A few weeks later it was entrusted with the duty of inquiring into the +reasons for the general decay of trade. As this function was conferred +on the Parliamentary Committee at a time when the Select Council was +still holding its sessions, it is reasonable to suppose that the work +of the latter body had not proved satisfactory. There is some slight +evidence to show that the meetings of the Council were at this time but +little attended and that its members were not working in harmony.<a href="#note-27-4" name="noteref-27-4"><small>27</small></a> +The Parliamentary Committee, acting as a Council of Trade, ordered +representatives from all the merchant companies to prepare an account +of the causes of obstruction in their different branches, and when the +latter, among other obstacles, named the Dutch as the chief enemies of +English trade, resolved that the wrongs inflicted by the Dutch were the +greatest obstructions to foreign trade, and recommended that the King +should seek redress. Other causes were considered and debated.<a href="#note-28-4" name="noteref-28-4"><small>28</small></a> +</p> +<p> +An excellent idea of procedure can be obtained from studying the history +of trade relations with Scotland during this decade. Immediately after +the passage of the Navigation Act of 1660, the Scots petitioned that the +Act might be dispensed with for Scotland, and special deputies were sent +from the Scottish to the English Parliament to prevent, if possible, the +extension of the Act to their country. The matter was referred to the +Customs Commissioners and to the Privy Council, and the latter appointed +a special committee to investigate it. Both of these bodies reported +that the grant of such liberties to the Scots would frustrate the object +of the Act, and gave elaborate reasons for this opinion.<a href="#note-29-4" name="noteref-29-4"><small>29</small></a> As an act +of retaliation the Scottish Parliament laid heavy impositions upon +English goods, and English merchants in 1664 petitioned Parliament for +relief. Parliament recommended the appointment of referees on both sides +and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page87" name="page87"></a>[87]</span> + + in July, 1664, the Privy Council placed the matter in the hands +of Southampton, Ashley, and Secretary Bennet. This committee laid the +question before the Council of Trade, which suggested a compromise, +whereby duties on both sides should be reduced to 5 per cent., the Scots +should have the benefits of the Act of Navigation but no intercourse +with foreign plantations, and should not buy any more foreign built +ships. As a result of these and further negotiations Parliament passed +an act in 1667,<a href="#note-30-4" name="noteref-30-4"><small>30</small></a> "for settling freedom and intercourse of trade +between England and Scotland," and under the terms of that act +commissioners were appointed to meet with commissioners for Scotland +in the Inner Star Chamber to negotiate a freedom of trade between the +two countries. The commissioners duly met on January 13, 1668, and the +papers recording their negotiations are full and explicit. The whole +question of the relations between England and Scotland since the union, +both political and economic, was investigated with great care; papers +were searched for, records examined, memorials and petitions received, +and various conditions of trade inquired into. The commissioners +frequently disagreed and harmony was by no means always attained, +resulting in delays in drafting the treaty and the eventual failure +of the negotiations. In October the Scottish commissioners returned +to Edinburgh, and the conditions remained as before.<a href="#note-31-4" name="noteref-31-4"><small>31</small></a> +</p> +<p> +The fall of Clarendon, at the end of the year 1667, led to important +changes in the organization of the government, and the widespread +demoralization in trade demanded an improvement of the system of trade +and plantation control. The year 1668 is significant as the starting +point for a number of attempted remedies in matters of finance and +trade supervision. We have no opportunity here to examine the political +aspects of these changes or to determine how far they were effected in +the interest of mere political control. Suffice it to say that too many +conditions of the reign of + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page88" name="page88"></a>[88]</span> + + Charles II have been attributed to +extravagance and political intrigue, and too few to an honest desire +on the part of those concerned to restore the realm to a condition of +solvency and prosperity. Heavily burdened with debt at the outset of the +reign, distracted by plague, fire, and foreign war during the years from +1665 to 1668, the kingdom needed the services of all its statesmen, +and even the most selfish politician must have realized the need of +reorganization. Acting upon a suggestion which Clarendon himself had +made to the King, the Privy Council in 1667 began by strengthening +its own committee system, and on January 31, 1668, established four +standing committees—for foreign affairs, military affairs, trade and +plantations, and petitions and grievances. These committees had almost +the character of state departments, though they had no final authority +of their own, all orders emanating from the Privy Council only. They +became, however, more independent than had been previous committees by +virtue of the fact that no order was to be issued by the Council until +it had been "first perused by the Reporter of each Committee +respectively," The following is a copy of the regulations: +</p> +<p class="quote"> + His Ma<sup>tie</sup> among other the important parts of his Affairs + having taken into his princely consideration the way & method + of managing matters at the Council Board, And reflecting that + his Councills would have more reputation if they were put into + a more settled & established course, Hath thought it fit to + appoint certaine Standing Comitties of the Council for several + Businesses together with regular days & places for their + assembling in such sort as followeth: +</p> +<p class="quote"> + 1. The Committee of <span class="sc">Forraine Affaires</span> is already settled to + consist of these Persons following (besides his Royall Highness, + who is understood to be of all comittees, where he pleases to be) + vizt. Prince Rupert, L<sup>d</sup> Keeper [Sir Orlando Bridgeman], Lord + Privy Scale [Lord Robartes], Duke of Buckingham, Lord General + [Duke of Albemarle], L<sup>d</sup> Arlington, & M<sup>r</sup> Sec<sup>ry</sup> Morice, + To which Committee His Ma<sup>tie</sup> doth also hereby referr the + corresponding w<sup>th</sup> Justices of peace & other officers & ministers + in the Severall Countys of the Kingdome, concerning the Temper of + the Kingdome &c. The constant day for this Committee to meete to be + every Monday besides such other dayes wherein any extraordinary + Action shall oblige them to assemble, And the place for their + meeting to be at the Lord Arlington's Lodgings in Whitehall. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page89" name="page89"></a>[89]</span></p> + +<p class="quote"> + 2. Such matters as concerne the Admiralty & Navy as also all + Military matters, Fortifications &c, so far as they are fit to + be brought to the Councill Board, without intermedling in what + concernes the proper officers (unlesse it shall by them be + desired). If his Ma<sup>tie</sup> is pleased to appoint that they be + und<sup>r</sup> the consideracon of this following Committee, vizt, + Prince Rupert, L<sup>d</sup> General [Duke of Albemarle], E. of Anglesy, + Ea. of Carlisle, Ea. of Craven, Lord Arlington, Lord Berkeley, + M<sup>r</sup> Comptroller [Sir Thomas Clifford], M<sup>r</sup> Sec<sup>ry</sup> Morice, + S<sup>r</sup> W<sup>m</sup> Coventry & S<sup>r</sup> John Duncombe. The usuall day of + meeting to be Wensdays, & oftner, as he that presides shall + direct, & the place to be the Councill Chamber, and hereof + Three or more of them to be a Quorum. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + 3. Another Committee his Ma<sup>tie</sup> is pleased to constitute for + the Business of Trade under whose consideration is to come + whatsoever concernes his Ma<sup>ts</sup>: <span class="sc">Forraine Plantations</span>, as also + what relates to his Kingdomes of Ireland or Scotland, the Isles + of Jersey & Guernsey, which is to consist of the Lord Privy + Scale [Lord Robartes], Duke of Buckingham, Earle of Ossory, + Ea. of Bridgewater, Ea: of Lauderdail, L<sup>d</sup>: Arlington, + L<sup>d</sup>: Holles, L<sup>d</sup>: Ashley, M<sup>r</sup>. Comptroller [Sir Thomas + Clifford], M<sup>r</sup> Vice Chamberlain [Sir George Carteret], + M<sup>r</sup> Sec<sup>ry</sup>. Morice, & S<sup>r</sup> W<sup>m</sup> Coventry. The usuall day + of meeting to be every Thursday in the Councill Chamber, or + oftner as he that presides shall direct, and hereof 3 or more + of them to be a Quorum. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + 4. His Ma<sup>tie</sup> is pleased to appoint one other Committee to + whom all <span class="sc">Petitions</span> of <span class="sc">Complaint & Greivance</span> are to be referred in + which His Ma<sup>tie</sup> hath thought fit hereby particularly to + prescribe not to meddle w<sup>th</sup> Property or what relates to + Meum & Tuum. And to this Committee his Ma<sup>tie</sup> is pleased + that all matters which concerne Acts of State or of the + Councill be referred. The persons to be the Arch. B<sup>p</sup>: of + Canterbury, Lord Keeper [Sir Orlando Bridgeman], L<sup>d</sup>: Privy + Seale [Lord Robartes], L<sup>d</sup>: Great Chamberlain [?], L<sup>d</sup> + Chamberlain [Edward, Earl of Manchester], Ea: of Bridgewater, + Ea: of Anglesey, Ea: of Bathe, Ea: of Carbery, Viscount + Fitzharding, L<sup>d</sup>: Arlington, L<sup>d</sup>: Holles, L<sup>d</sup>: Ashley, + M<sup>r</sup> Sec<sup>ry</sup>: Morice, M<sup>r</sup>: Chancellor of the Dutchy + [of Lancaster, Sir Thomas Ingram], and S<sup>r</sup>: John Duncombe. + The constant day of meeting to be Friday in the Councill + Chamber. And his Ma<sup>ts</sup> further meaning is, that to these + two last committees, any of the Councill may have Liberty to + come & vote and that his two principall Sec<sup>ries</sup>: of State + [at this time Lord Arlington and Sir William Morrice] be ever + understood to be of all Com<sup>tees</sup>:, And hereof 3 or more of + them to be a Quorum. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + And for the better carrying on of Business at those severall + Comittees, his Ma<sup>tie</sup>: thinks fit, and accordingly is pleased + to appoint, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page90" name="page90"></a>[90]</span> + + That each of these Committees be assigned to the + particular care of some one person, who is constantly to attend + it. In that of the Navy & Military matters his Royal Highness + may p<sup>r</sup>side, if he so please, or else the Lord Generall [Duke + of Albemarle]. In Forraine matters the L<sup>d</sup> Arlington. In Trade + & Plantations the L<sup>d</sup>: Privy Seale [Lord Robartes]. In matters + of State & Greivances, the Lord Keeper [Sir Orlando Bridgeman]. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + Besides which fixt & established Committees, if there shall + happen anything extraordinary that requires Advice, whether in + matters relating to the Treasury, or of any other mixt nature + other than what is afore determined His Ma<sup>ties</sup> meaning and + intention is, that particular Committees be in such Cases + appointed for them, as hath been accustomed. And that such + Committees do make their Report in Writing, to be offered to + his Ma<sup>tie</sup>: the next Councill day following, in which, if any + Debate arise, the old Rule is ever strictly to be observed, that + the youngest Councell<sup>r</sup>: do begin, and not to speake a second + time without Leave first obteyned. And that as on the one side + nothing is hereafter to be resolved in Councill, till the matter + hath been first examined, And have received the Opinion of + some Committee or other, So on the other hand, that nothing be + referred to any Committee, untill it have been first read at + the Board, except in Forraine Affaires. And his Ma<sup>ts</sup> express + pleasure is, That no Order of Councill be henceforth any time + issued out by the Clerks of the Councill till the same have been + first perused by the Reporter of each Committee respectively.<a href="#note-32-4" name="noteref-32-4"><small>32</small></a> +</p> +<p> +There is very little evidence to show that the Committee of the Council +for Trade and Plantations played any very conspicuous part in regulating +either trade or plantations during the years from 1668 to 1675, though +a number of petitions were referred to it. Its most important report +was that recommending the restoration of the province of Maine to the +grandson of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, but even that matter was taken out +of its hands by the further reference of the Gorges' petition to the +Committee for Foreign Affairs. In 1668, it dealt with the restitution +of Surinam to the Dutch and the settlement of Lord Willoughby's + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page91" name="page91"></a>[91]</span> + + claims; +with relief for Barbadoes after the disastrous fire which destroyed +St. Michaels in April of that year; with the equipment of Sir Tobias +Bridges' regiment in the same island; and with the liberty granted to +certain Dutch ships of trading to New York despite the Navigation Act. +In 1669, it considered a few petitions and reported on Gorges' memorial. +After 1670 it did little, as far as actual evidence of its activity is +concerned, but it is entirely clear that it had to transact a great deal +more business than is recorded either in the Register or in the Colonial +Papers.<a href="#note-33-4" name="noteref-33-4"><small>33</small></a> Many of the questions that were referred to the Select +Council of Trade and the Select Council of Trade and Plantations were +first passed upon by this committee or were referred to it after the +report from the separate body had come in. Furthermore, we know that +in the case of this committee, as of similar committees of the Privy +Council after 1696, many questions were never allowed to pass out of its +hands, except as they were reported to the Council itself. Though not +conspicuous, it was potentially active and quite ready in 1675 to take +up the burden of colonial control that the King placed upon it.<a href="#note-34-4" name="noteref-34-4"><small>34</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Even before it had begun the reorganization of its committee system, the +Privy Council made known its decision to revive the system of separate +and select councils which had probably been in abeyance since 1665. +On September 23, 1667, it ordered its Committee for Trade and Foreign +Plantations to take into consideration the advisability of revoking +the commissions of the two councils of 1660,—which councils must, +therefore, have been deemed still legally in existence—and of uniting +these bodies so as to form a single select council for trade and +plantations. To this end it instructed the secretaries of those +councils, Philip Frowde + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page92" name="page92"></a>[92]</span> + + and George Duke, to appear before it. For +reasons that are nowhere found among the official papers this plan was +given up and the decision reached to revoke only the commission of the +Council of Trade and to issue a patent for a new body. Roger North, in +his <i>Examen</i>, published in 1740, a work little to be depended on as far +as historical accuracy is concerned, declares that this move was merely +a piece of political manœuvering and never was designed to accomplish +anything of importance for the trade or revenue of the kingdom. He says: +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "The courtiers, for his Majesty's Ease, moved that there might + be a commission to several of the greatest Traders in <i>London</i> + to examine all matters of that kind, and to report their Opinion + to the Council; upon which his Majesty might determine. This + plausible project was put in Execution and the Leaders of the + Fanatic party in the city [especially Alderman Love and Josiah + Child] were the Commissioners; for so it was plotted. The great + House in Queen Street was taken for the use of this Commission. + Mr. Henry Slingsby, sometime Master of the Mint was the Secretary; + and they had a formal Board with Green Cloth and Standishes, + Clerks good store, a tall Porter and Staff, and fitting Attendance + below, and a huge Luminary at the Door. And in Winter Time, when + the Board met, as was two or three Times a Week, or oftener, all + the Rooms were lighted, Coaches at the Door, and great passing in + and out, as if a Council of State in good Earnest had been sitting. + All Cases, Complaints, and Deliberations of Trade were referred + to this Commission, and they reported their opinion."<a href="#note-35-4" name="noteref-35-4"><small>35</small></a> +</p> +<p> +North's implication that the Council was a contrivance of the enemies +of the King to effect a prohibition of trade with France which the +government wished to keep open seems deserving of little credence. +In the past, facts regarding this Council and its work have not been +complete, and even a full list of its members has been wanting. Even now +the commission and instructions, which, after considerable delay, were +issued on October 20, 1668, have eluded discovery, and we can present +little more than the terms of the docket as entered in the books of +the Crown Office. The docket + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page93" name="page93"></a>[93]</span> + + reads: "A Commission with instructions +annexed establishing a Counsell of Trade, for Keeping a control and +super-inspection of his Majesty's Trade and Commerce." From another +source we learn that the Council was to take into consideration "the +Conditions of your Maj<sup>tyes</sup> Plantations abroad, in order to the +improvement of Trade and increase of Navigation, and for the further +encouragement of yo<sup>r</sup> Maj<sup>tyes</sup> Subjects in their Trade and Commerce +both at home and abroad."<a href="#note-36-4" name="noteref-36-4"><small>36</small></a> A second commission was issued on April +13, 1669, "directed to the same persons in the same form & with the +same powers and instructions ... with a confirmation of all Acts done +in pursuance of the said late commission in election of officers and +otherwise."<a href="#note-37-4" name="noteref-37-4"><small>37</small></a> The clerical secretary was Peter du Moulin, though Dr. +Benjamin Worsley seems to have had some official position on the board. +The members of the Council were as follows: Duke of York, Prince Rupert, +Lord Keeper, Lord Privy Seal, Duke of Buckingham, Duke of Albemarle, +Duke of Ormond, Earl of Bridgewater, Earl of Ossory, Earl of Anglesey, +Earl of Carlisle, Earl of Craven, Earl of Lauderdale, Lord Arlington, +Lord Berkeley of Stratton, Lord Holles, Lord Ashley, Sir Thomas +Clifford, Sir George Carteret, Sir John Trevor, Sir William Morrice, Sir +William Coventry, Sir Thomas Osborne, Sir Thomas Littleton, Sir Henry +Blount, Sir George Downing, Sir Andrew Riccard, Sir William Thompson, +Silas Titus, William Garroway, Henry Slingsby, Thomas Grey, John Birch, +William Love, Esq., Benjamin Worsley, Doctor of Physic; John Buckworth, +Thomas Papillion, John Page, Josiah Child, Thomas Tyte, Benjamin Albyn, +and John Shorter. In 1669 were added the Earl of Devonshire, Earl of +Sandwich, Viscount Halifax, and George, Lord Berkeley, making forty-six +members in all.<a href="#note-38-4" name="noteref-38-4"><small>38</small></a> This is an extraordinary body of men to be engaged +in pulling the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page94" name="page94"></a>[94]</span> + + wool over the eyes of the King, and though Professor +Ashley is inclined to view North's account with approval, we doubt if +it will stand the test of examination. Professor Ashley's further belief +that from this Council emanated the document called "A Scheme of Trade," +is capable of satisfactory disproof, since but few of the signers of +that document were members of the Council and the date when it was +issued, November 29, 1674, was after the Council as a separate body had +been abolished.<a href="#note-39-4" name="noteref-39-4"><small>39</small></a> +</p> +<p> +The Council lasted from 1668 to 1672 and during that time it did +nothing, so far as we can discover, either for or against the trade +with France. It considered the granting of patents, foreign trade with +Piedmont and elsewhere, the export of wool, disputes among the merchant +companies, dispensations from the operation of the Navigation Act, and +a few matters relating to home industry, particularly as regards abuses +in the baize trade. It took into consideration the order in Council +of October 23, 1667, permitting the Dutch to send three or more ships +yearly for seven years to trade from Holland to New York, and reported +so strongly against it that the Privy Council revoked the order.<a href="#note-40-4" name="noteref-40-4"><small>40</small></a> +More important still, it took up the whole question of the operation of +the navigation acts in the colonies, called upon the merchants and the +farmers of the customs for information, and made a careful report to the +Privy Council, which the latter, on January 20,1669, embodied in the +following order: +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "His Ma<sup>tie</sup> this day taking into consideration the great + importance the Trade of his severall plantations is to his + Ma<sup>tie</sup> & his Kingdome, and being informed that severall + Governments of the s<sup>d</sup> Plantations have been wanting to + their duty in the following particulars, viz: +</p> +<p class="quote"> + 1. That Governors have not taken the oath enjoined by law, +</p> +<p class="quote"> + 2. That shipps have been permitted to trade to and from the + Plantations not qualified according to law, +</p> +<p class="quote"> + 3. That there has been omission in taking Bond and Security + and returning those Bonds according as directed by the severall + Acts of Parliament. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page95" name="page95"></a>[95]</span></p> + +<p class="quote"> + For redresse it is ordered, that the Farmers of the Customs do + and are hereby required (at their owne charge) to send over and + make choice of upon the place & from time to time commissionate + & maynteyne one or more persons in each Plantation (whom his + Ma<sup>tie</sup> shall approve & authorize) to administer the usual oaths + to the severall Governors, that no vessels be admitted to trade + there till said officer has the perusal of the passes and + certificates and certifies that they may trade there, and that + no Bond or security be admitted without the allowance of said + officer, +</p> +<p class="quote"> + That letters be written to all said Governors to take said + oaths before said officer and also to give them countenance and + assistance, +</p> +<p class="quote"> + That Directions be given to the Commanders of his Ma<sup>ties</sup> ships + and to any merchant shipps to arrest any ship trading to His + Ma<sup>ties</sup> Plantations contrary to the law."<a href="#note-41-4" name="noteref-41-4"><small>41</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Under this order Edward Digges, former governor of Virginia and a London +merchant well known to us, was appointed by the farmers of the customs +as a fit person to execute for the colony of Virginia the articles and +instructions contained in this order. No other appointments, however, +appear to have been made at this time.<a href="#note-42-4" name="noteref-42-4"><small>42</small></a> +</p> +<p> +After 1670 activities of the Council of Trade, as far as they are +recorded, are very few. It considered the trade of the Eastland Company, +provided for a supply of coal for London at reasonable rates, and +discussed a few minor petitions, but as compared with its contemporary, +the Council for Foreign Plantations, it accomplished little.<a href="#note-43-4" name="noteref-43-4"><small>43</small></a> +</p> + +<hr /> + +<a name="note-1-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-1-4">1</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1514–1660, pp. 482, 483; P.C.R., +Charles II, Vol. II, p. 63; New York Colonial Docts., III, p. 30. +</p> + +<a name="note-2-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-2-4">2</a>) +P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. II, p. 37; Bodleian, Rawlinson A., +117, No. 20. +</p> + +<a name="note-3-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-3-4">3</a>) +Professor Osgood thinks that a part of Noell's fortune was +made in the slave trade. Beyond the fact that he was a member of the +Royal African Company, I cannot find any evidence whatever to prove this +statement. Noell certainly was not a slave trader before 1660. +</p> + +<a name="note-4-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-4-4">4</a>) +Bodleian, Clarendon Papers, <i>passim</i>, New York Hist. +Soc. Collections, 1869; Brit. Museum, Add. MSS., 11410, ff. 18 et seq. +Clarendon had an agent in Jamaica, Major Ivy, who was considering the +setting up of plantations and planting cocoa walks in the interest of +the King's revenue. Clarendon's policy toward the continental colonies +overshadows somewhat his policy toward the West Indies and in +consequence this phase of the subject has been neglected by those who +have dealt with Clarendon's colonial relations. +</p> + +<a name="note-5-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-5-4">5</a>) +P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. II, pp. 131–132; printed in part +in Analytical Index to the Series of Records known as the Remembrancia, +preserved among the Archives of the City of London, 1579–1664. +(Privately printed, 1878); and in very much abbreviated form in +Bannister, Writings of William Patterson, III, 251–252, from whom it has +been copied by both Egerton and Cunningham. It seems somewhat strange +that there should be no entry of the receipt of this letter in the +journal of the court of Aldermen nor any draft of an answer among the +Remembrancia or elsewhere. A careful search has failed to disclose any +reference to action taken upon this letter among the papers in the Town +Clerk's office at the Guildhall. +</p> + +<a name="note-6-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-6-4">6</a>) +Bodleian, Clarendon Papers, 73, f. 232. +</p> + +<a name="note-7-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-7-4">7</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1660–1661, p. 319. +</p> + +<a name="note-8-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-8-4">8</a>) +Public Record Office, Chancery, Crown Dockets, 6, p. 50. +On the docket for the commission of the council of trade the names of +the members are inserted; but on that of the commission for the council +for foreign plantations the place is left blank. A marginal note on the +latter docket gives the explanation noted above. +</p> + +<a name="note-9-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-9-4">9</a>) +There is a list of the members in 1661, containing but +forty-seven names with some omissions and additions. +</p> + +<a name="note-10-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-10-4">10</a>) +Egerton, 2395, ff. 268, 269; Cal. State Papers, Dom., +1660–1661, pp. 353–354; P.R.O. State Papers, Domestic, XXI, No. 27; +Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, 4 ed., Appendix. +</p> + +<a name="note-11-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-11-4">11</a>) +The journal of the Council of Plantations is among the +Colonial Papers in the Public Record Office, XIV, No. 59, ff. 1–57, +December 1, 1660–August 4, 1664, entitled "Orders and Proceedings at his +Ma<sup>ts</sup> Counsell for Forraigne Plantacons." There is no journal of the +Council of Trade known to exist, but minutes of one or two meetings, +which have been preserved, show that a journal must have been kept. An +entry-book for patents is mentioned, Cal. State Papers, Col., 1661–1668, +§ 15, and an entry-book of petitions and reports, November 13, +1660–March 12, 1662, is in Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 25115. +</p> +<p class="foot2"> +Regarding the history of the papers of the Council of Trade the +following information may be of interest. The records probably remained +in the possession of George Duke, secretary to the Council, and were +called for by Dr. Worsley, secretary of the Council of 1672 in a letter +dated November 28, 1672 (Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1672–1673, pp. +213–214). No answer was received from Duke and evidently the papers were +not handed over, for when in 1698 the Board of Trade applied for them to +Col. Duke's son-in-law, Henry Crispe, it was informed by Mr. Crispe that +he had never even seen any of the papers but had heard that some of them +were burnt in the Temple when in Col. Duke's possession (Journal of the +Board of Trade, XI, p. 55, May 10, 1698). In June and July, 1707, the +Board of Trade attempted again to get hold of the papers and wrote to +Crispe on June 30. Crispe's reply is worth printing: +</p> +<p class="foot2"> +"If I am rightly informed there are divers original books and papers +relating to the Royal Fishery and the establishing thereof from the +year 1660 for divers successive years in which are contained several +projections concerning the promoting the same. And there are also books +and minutes of the proceedings of the Council of Trade from the year +1660 to 1668, which also contain several material things in relation to +Trade and the improvement thereof, which I understand are in the power +of a friend of mine. +</p> +<p class="foot2"> +"These books and papers will be disposed of as the Hon<sup>ble</sup> Board the +Council of Trade shall direct or order. +</p> +<p class="foot2"> +"But it is humbly desired that consideration be allowed the party that +shall produce these Books and Papers. And that it may be ascertained +what that consideration shall be and by whom it shall be given. +</p> +<p class="foot2"> +"I was desired to inform you of this to the end you may take such steps +therein as you in your great prudence shall judge most proper. +</p> +<p class="foot2"> +"If any orders or commands shall be given about this affair that I can +be useful or serviceable therein & they be transmitted for me or be left +at Johns Coffee House in Bedford St. near the Church in Convent Garden +such orders will be faithfully observed by +</p> +<p class="foot2"> + "S<sup>rs</sup> Your faithfull humble Servant<br /> + "<span class="sc">H. Crispe.</span>" +</p> +<p class="foot2"> +Crispe sent a list of the books with his letter, but that list is +missing. The Board answered that it would not buy the books without +seeing them first, but as we find no further mention of the matter in +the Journal and as the books and papers are not to be found to-day the +probabilities are that the negotiations fell through. Journal, XIX, +p. 296; Board of Trade Papers, Trade, H Nos. 74, 76. +</p> + +<a name="note-12-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-12-4">12</a>) +This may be inferred from the following note attached to +one of the reports: "The council conceiving themselves to be in noe +capacitie of giving any judgment therein having heard but one side." +Egerton, 2395, f. 299. +</p> + +<a name="note-13-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-13-4">13</a>) +See Cal. State Papers, Col., 1675–1676, §§ 338, 339, where +he is called "Secretary for Foreign Plantations." +</p> + +<a name="note-14-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-14-4">14</a>) +Egerton, 2395, ff. 286, 291, 299, 335, 336. +</p> + +<a name="note-15-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-15-4">15</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1661–1668, §§ 790, 833; Dom., +1664–1665, p. 4. +</p> + +<a name="note-16-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-16-4">16</a>) +In December, 1665, he wrote of "an uncomfortable journey +on unfrequented roads, with none to break the ice, in a hackney coach +which receives the wind in all parts." Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1665, +p. 105. +</p> + +<a name="note-17-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-17-4">17</a>) +P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. VI, p. 231; Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1661–1668, § 1685. +</p> + +<a name="note-18-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-18-4">18</a>) +Egerton, 2395, ff. 449, 451, 452, 453; Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1661–1668, §§ 1598–1600. +</p> + +<a name="note-19-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-19-4">19</a>) +Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 25115, f. 156; Cal. State Papers, +Dom., 1661–1662, pp. 411–412. +</p> + +<a name="note-20-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-20-4">20</a>) +Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 25115; Cal. State Papers, Dom., +1660–1661, pp. 356, 359, 363, 372, 412; 1661–1662 pp. 28, 80. +</p> + +<a name="note-21-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-21-4">21</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1660–1661, pp. 383, 532; +1661–1662, pp. 111, 277, 529, 446; Bodleian, Rawlinson MSS., A. 478, f. +81. +</p> + +<a name="note-22-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-22-4">22</a>) +Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 25115, ff. 133–140; Cal. State +Papers, Treasury Books, 1660–1667, pp. 245–247, containing the list of +convoys, a duplicate of that in the British Museum volume; p. 250, the +Treasurer's report. +</p> + +<a name="note-23-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-23-4">23</a>) +Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2543, ff. 137–139. +</p> + +<a name="note-24-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-24-4">24</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1663–1664, pp. 515, 549. +The Fishing Commission, appointed in 1661, had proved a failure, but +the council borrowed from the patent of that commission many of the +suggestions which it recommended. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661–1662, +p. 83. +</p> + +<a name="note-25-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-25-4">25</a>) +Cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661–1662, p. 83. +</p> + +<a name="note-26-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-26-4">26</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1665–1666, p. 330. Yet Crispe's +letter (<i>ante</i>, p. 75, note) certainly speaks as if the Council had a +continuous existence from 1660 to 1668, and the mention of Exeter House +as its place of meeting after 1667 points in the same direction. +</p> + +<a name="note-27-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-27-4">27</a>) +"Some considerations about the commission for trade," +P.R.O. Shaftesbury MSS., Div. X, 8(1). +</p> + +<a name="note-28-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-28-4">28</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1663–1664, pp. 528, 531, 543, +572, 573, 588. +</p> + +<a name="note-29-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-29-4">29</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661–1662, pp. 75, 135–136, 149. +</p> + +<a name="note-30-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-30-4">30</a>) +19 Charles II, c. 13. +</p> + +<a name="note-31-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-31-4">31</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1667–1668, pp. 156, 158, 165, +173, 180, 187, 191, 247, 321, 433, 444, 452, 511, 593, 594; 1668–1669, +pp. 35, 40. +</p> + +<a name="note-32-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-32-4">32</a>) +Brit. Mus., Egerton MSS., 2543, ff. 205–205<sup>b</sup>. Endorsed +"Regulation of Committees of the Councill. Read & Ordered in Councill +the 31<sup>st</sup> January, 1667<sup>b</sup>." For reasons that cannot be explained +this regulation is not entered in the Privy Council Register. It is +a similar order of February 12, 1668, P.C.R., Charles II, +Vol. VII, pp. 176–177, but otherwise omitted. For this reason the +document is here printed in full. Cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom., +1667–1668, p. 261. +</p> + +<a name="note-33-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-33-4">33</a>) +For instance, there are among the Colonial Papers memoranda +of proceedings at various sittings of this committee held between +April 7, 1668, and February 18, 1669, relative to domestic, colonial, +and foreign trade, that are not recorded elsewhere. +</p> + +<a name="note-34-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-34-4">34</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1661–1668, §§ 1685, 1712, 1759, +1769, 1791, 1870, 1883; 1660–1674, §§ 30, 66, 150, 184–186, 751, 837, +1226, I, II, III; 1320, 1353, 1390. Dom., 1668–1669, pp. 62, 201. +</p> + +<a name="note-35-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-35-4">35</a>) +Roger North, Examen, p. 461, quoted by Prof. Ashley in +Surveys, Historic and Economic, pp. 274–275. +</p> + +<a name="note-36-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-36-4">36</a>) +New York Colonial Docts., III, p. 175. +</p> + +<a name="note-37-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-37-4">37</a>) +P.R.O. Chancery, Crown Office, Docket Books, 7, pp. 335, +344; Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1668–1669, pp. 6, 18, 224–225. +</p> + +<a name="note-38-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-38-4">38</a>) +Bodleian, Rawlinson MSS. A, 478, f. 77; Cal. State Papers, +Dom., 1668–1669, pp. 224–225, 651. +</p> + +<a name="note-39-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-39-4">39</a>) +Ashley, Surveys, pp. 275–276. +</p> + +<a name="note-40-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-40-4">40</a>) +New York Colonial Docts., III, pp. 175–178; Cal. State +Papers, Col., 1661–1668, §§ 1874, 1875. +</p> + +<a name="note-41-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-41-4">41</a>) +P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. VIII, p. 169; Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1661–1668, § 1884, 1669–1674, §§ 6, 9. +</p> + +<a name="note-42-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-42-4">42</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1669–1674, §§ 104, 696. +</p> + +<a name="note-43-4"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-43-4">43</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1671, p. 210; 1671–1672, +pp. 450–451. +</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page96" name="page96"></a>[96]</span></p> + +<a name="h2HCH0009" id="h2HCH0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER V. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">The Plantation Councils of 1670 and 1672.</span> +</h3> + +<p> +During the years 1668 and 1669 no member of the government was more +active in promoting the development of the plantations than Anthony +Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley. As one of the proprietaries of Carolina, +he had taken the lead in advancing that settlement, had called upon +John Locke to frame a new constitution, and had himself organized the +expedition of 1669 which gave to the new colony its most important +impetus. He became a proprietary of the Bahamas in 1670 and later +attempted to found a plantation on the Edisto River. He planned to +organize these colonies at Charles Town, Albemarle, Edisto, and New +Providence into a kind of cooperative trading group of settlements, +under the same laws and instructions, and from them he hoped to obtain +in time for himself and the other proprietaries ample returns on their +investments. It is of no concern to us here that his scheme failed, the +important fact remains that Ashley and Locke were at this juncture in +the very heyday of their interest in colonial affairs and were eager to +take advantage of every opportunity for encouraging colonial trade. The +revival of the Select Council for Foreign Plantations was due in largest +part to the influence and initiative of these two men, particularly of +Ashley, who in 1670 was at the height of his political power and on +terms of closest intimacy with the King.<a href="#note-1-5" name="noteref-1-5"><small>1</small></a> That he was sincere in this +movement seems to me beyond question, and the charge that has been made +against him of recommending the creation of this Council as a means of +obtaining sinecures for his friends, does not appear capable of the +slightest + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page97" name="page97"></a>[97]</span> + + proof.<a href="#note-2-5" name="noteref-2-5"><small>2</small></a> If membership on the Council was deemed at the first +a position of ease, it must soon have lost that character, for few +committee men ever worked harder than those who looked after plantation +affairs in the years from 1670 to 1674. This fact will appear as we +examine the nature and extent of their activities. +</p> +<p> +Experience with previous councils had shown that too numerous and +fluctuating a membership was not conducive either to harmony or to +despatch of business. Therefore, in reviving the Council for Plantations +it was decided, as the most important change to be effected, that the +number should be reduced to such terms as to enable the committee to +apply itself as a whole to the business in hand. The commission was +issued on July 30, 1670, to ten persons, of whom but three were members +of the nobility. The commissioners were Edward, Earl of Sandwich; +Richard, Lord Gorges, Baron of Dundalk in Ireland; William, Lord +Allington, Baron of Killar in Ireland; Thomas Grey, son of Lord Grey, +of Warke; Henry Brouncker, Sir Humphrey Winch, Sir John Finch, Edmund +Waller, Henry Slingsby, master and worker of the mint and one of the +gentlemen of the privy chamber, and Silas Titus, one of the grooms of +the bed chamber. To this number was added in 1671 James, Duke of York; +Prince Rupert, George, Duke of Buckingham, Master of the Horse; James, +Duke of Ormond, Lord Steward of the Royal Household; John, Earl of +Lauderdale, Secretary of State for Scotland; Thomas, Lord Culpeper; Sir +George Carteret, Vice-Chamberlain; and John Evelyn, but of these only +the last named stood on the same footing with those first appointed as +a regular and salaried member, the others being appointed to give weight +and dignity to the board and receiving no compensation. In August, 1671, +Sir Richard Temple was added to the board, also to + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page98" name="page98"></a>[98]</span> + + serve without pay. +The only basis for the charge of self-seeking which has been brought +against the members of this Council is the fact that for the first time, +as far as we know, the working members received pay for their services. +The allowances and salaries were as follows: the Earl of Sandwich, as +president, received £700; Lord Gorges, Lord Allington, Thomas Grey, +Henry Brouncker, Sir Humphrey Winch, Sir John Finch, Edmund Waller, +Henry Slingsby, Silas Titus, and John Evelyn, each £500, paid quarterly. +Dr. Benjamin Worsley, who held the position of advisor and assistant +secretary under Slingsby, the secretary of the Council, was allowed +£300, while for contingent expenses £1,000, the same amount that had +been placed at the disposal of each of the secretaries, Sir Philip +Frowde and Col. Duke, of the former councils, was appropriated.<a href="#note-3-5" name="noteref-3-5"><small>3</small></a> Five +members, always including the president or one of the officers of state +authorized to attend, constituted a quorum of the Council, which was +ordered to meet for the first time at Essex House, the residence of +the Lord Keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, near Temple Bar, at two in the +afternoon. After the addition of the new members, May 16, 1671, it +removed to the Earl of Bristol's house in Queen Street near Lincoln's +Inn Fields;<a href="#note-4-5" name="noteref-4-5"><small>4</small></a> and after February 12, 1672, to Lord Arlington's lodgings +in Whitehall, in order, as Evelyn tells us, that the King might be +present and hear the debates. It was authorized to employ clerks, +messengers, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page99" name="page99"></a>[99]</span> + + solicitors, doorkeepers, and other inferior officers and +attendants as it should think fit and necessary for its service. +</p> +<p> +By their commission the members of the Council were empowered "to inform +themselves by the best ways and meanes they can of the present State and +condition of our Plantations, together with the Increase, or Decay of +the Trade, and strength of each of them respectively, And the Causes and +Reasons of such Encrease or Decay, And to use all Industry and Diligence +for gaining the full knowledge of all things transacted within any part +of those our Dominions, either by the respective Governours themselves +or their respective Deputies or by them and the respective Councills, or +Assemblies, belonging to any of our said respective Plantations, and +thereof from time to time to give us a true faithfull and certaine +Accompt togeather with their best advice and opinion thereupon." The +range of colonial interest was a wide one, "all the affaires which doe +or may touch or concerne any of our Forreigne Plantations, Colonies, or +Dominions, situate, lying and being in any part of America or in the +Ocean lying betweene this and the maine Land of America, or in any part +of the Bay of Mexico, or upon the Coast of Guinea, or within any of that +circuit of the Globe, that is generally known or called by the name of +the West Indies, whether the said Plantations, Countries, and +Territories, be immediately held by us, or held by any others of us, by +vertue of any Charters, Graunts, or Letters Patents thereof already made +or graunted, or hereafter to be made or graunted, and of all other and +forreigne Plantations, Colonies, and Dominions (our Towne, Citty and +Garrison of Tangier only excepted)." The Council had power to send for +any person or persons whom it deemed able to furnish information or +advice; to call for any books, papers, or records that it judged likely +to be useful to it, and to require of every person called upon or +colonial official addressed prompt and ready response. +</p> +<p> +By its instructions and additional instructions the Council + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page100" name="page100"></a>[100]</span> + + was +ordered to make full inquiry into the state of the plantations and +to take every means of acquiring full and accurate information as to +the powers of the governors, the execution of the same, the number of +parishes, planters, servants, and slaves there, and the best means for +increasing the supply where needed. It was to instruct the governors +to live at peace with the Indians and not to suffer them to be injured +in their persons, goods, or possessions; and to keep on terms of amity +with their neighbors, whether Dutch, French, or Spanish; to take such +measures that all commodities of the growth or making of the Plantations +be duly manufactured and improved, and to inquire whether it were +possible to promote in any way the production of such tropical +commodities as cotton, ginger, cocoa, etc. It was to find out what +islands were best fitted for the breeding of cattle and to encourage +the same; to investigate the opportunities of obtaining masts and to +stimulate the production of hemp, flax, pitch, and tar in New England, +and the setting up of saw mills. It was instructed to study the question +of procuring servants and slaves, to settle all difficulties between the +Royal African Company and the colonies, and to do all in its power to +check "spiriting" or the enticing of children and young persons from +England to the plantations. It was to deal with colonial trade, both +oceanic and coastwise, to see that the acts of navigation were duly +enforced; to inquire into the conduct of colonial governments, to +examine colonial laws and to recommend for annulment such as were +contrary to honor, justice, or the law of England. It was to become +familiar with colonial geography, to procure maps and charts, and to +have them available for examination. It was to aid the spread of the +Gospel, the purification of morals, and the instruction of Indians and +slaves. By the additional instructions, issued August 1, 1670, it was to +consider the question of colonial defence, to recommend the production +of saltpetre, to consider how spices, gums, drugs, dyeing stuffs, etc., +might be procured for the plantations from the East Indies, and to + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page101" name="page101"></a>[101]</span> + + study the systems employed in other countries for the improvement of +trade and the plantations.<a href="#note-5-5" name="noteref-5-5"><small>5</small></a> +</p> +<p> +It is noteworthy that the sessions of the Council were held in secret, +no one being admitted except the members, and even those only after each +had taken an oath not to betray the proceedings. "You shall swear," so +runs this oath, "to be true and faithful to our Sovereign Lord the King, +his heirs and successors; you shall according to the best of your skill, +discretion, knowledge, and experience give unto his Maj<sup>tie</sup> true and +faithful councell, in all things that shall be demanded of you touching +or concerning his Ma<sup>ties</sup> forreigne Plantations. You shall keepe +secret and conceale his Ma<sup>ties</sup> said Councells, without disclosing the +same to any person except he be of the same Councill, and if the matter +touch any of the same Councill you shall not disclose the same to him. +You shall not promote or further any matter in the said Councill, for +any reward, favour, affection, or displeasure, And in case you shall +perceive anything to be done contrary to his Ma<sup>ties</sup> honour and +service you shall to the utmost of your Power with stand and Lett +the same." +</p> +<p> +The Council had its first meeting on August 3, 1670, when the commission +and instructions were read; and from that time until September 20, 1672, +a period of nearly twenty-three months, it held one hundred meetings of +which we have record, and probably many more of which no record has been +found.<a href="#note-6-5" name="noteref-6-5"><small>6</small></a> It is reasonable to infer that during the working months the +Council met twice a week. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page102" name="page102"></a>[102]</span></p> + +<p> +The Council began by taking over much of the business left unfinished +by the Committee of the Privy Council, but it soon increased its +activity. It early inaugurated a policy and system of control that was +more comprehensive than any which had been put into practice by the +previous boards. Efficient though some of the former councils and +committees had been, no one of them had endeavored to cover so wide a +range of colonial business or to inquire so minutely into the details +of colonial government as did this Council of 1670. It not only took +into consideration all petitions, memorials, statements of claim, and +subjects in dispute, but it also set up an elaborate system of inquiry +on its own part, following out the instructions which had been given to +it to require of every colonial governor frequent information regarding +the condition of his government. It drafted long series of queries which +were despatched to all the colonies, and to which elaborate replies +were received, notably from Berkeley, of Virginia, Wheeler, of St. +Christopher, and Lynch, of Jamaica. It supplemented the information +thus received by demanding letters from the governors, and received +in response long and frequent epistles, dealing with + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page103" name="page103"></a>[103]</span> + + colonial affairs +in the most minute detail. Wheeler, Stapleton, Lynch, Willoughby, +Colleton, and others furnished the Council with all sorts of descriptive +and statistical matter, and were always ready to offer suggestion and +advice. Merchants, planters, agents, and others familiar with colonial +trade were also called upon for statements, either in person or in +writing, and at many a meeting outsiders were called in to make reports +to the board. The evidence thus obtained was generally discussed +in the Council itself, at which the King and officers of state were +occasionally present, and it was also referred to committees of two or +more, which made their report to the Council. Upon the information and +opinions thus obtained, the Council based its orders and reports to the +Privy Council.<a href="#note-7-5" name="noteref-7-5"><small>7</small></a> +</p> +<p> +In addition to these functions, the Council assumed an important and in +some ways a new rôle when it took upon itself the business of preparing +all the preliminary drafts of the various commissions and instructions +of the governors, often spending many days in the consideration of +these instruments, and often receiving from the appointees themselves +suggestions as to the wording of certain clauses. As far as the more +general powers and duties were concerned, these instructions were +modelled somewhat after those which the Council itself had received, +and lively debate arose not infrequently over the nature and extent of +the authority that ought to be conferred on the appointees. The drafts +of the commission and instructions, when completed, were sent to the +Secretary of State, by whom corrections might be made, then conveyed to +the Privy Council, where the documents were frequently referred to the +attorney general for his advice on legal points, and sometimes to the +Committee of the Council, which at this time, as well as afterward, felt +itself fully empowered to make any alterations it pleased. Thus many +hands may have had a share in shaping these important papers before they +were finally engrossed, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page104" name="page104"></a>[104]</span> + + although it is probable that in the majority of +instances the draft of the Council was accepted unchanged by the King. +</p> +<p> +The Council was also beginning to exercise another important function +in receiving from the Privy Council copies of laws passed in the +colonies upon the character of which its opinion was desired, and in +being called upon by the Privy Council or the Secretary of State to +make recommendations as to fit persons to hold colonial offices. In +this particular, the most responsible task of the Council lay in the +selection and instruction of special commissioners, who in accordance +with many earlier precedents were vested with authority to go to the +colonies for the settlement of difficult questions there. Three such +commissions were set on foot by the Council of Plantations: that +appointed to bring to an end the dispute with the French at St. +Christopher; that appointed to treat with the Dutch regarding the +English subjects at Surinam; and that designed for New England, which +was to be openly commissioned to settle boundary disputes, but to be +secretly instructed to inform the Council of the condition of the New +England colonies, "and whether they were of such power as to be able +to resist his Majesty and declare for themselves as independent of the +Crown." No commissioners were, however, sent until the time of Edward +Randolph.<a href="#note-8-5" name="noteref-8-5"><small>8</small></a> +</p> +<p> +A large amount of time was consumed by the Council in considering the +petitions and memorials of private persons, who had some grounds of +complaint against one or other of the colonial governments. Among these +the charges of Mason and Gorges against Massachusetts hold prominent +place, but other complainants were none the less insistent; Capt. +Archibald Henderson, of Antigua, who had been imprisoned by Governor +Wheeler for alleged seditious practices; the owners of the ship <i>James</i>, +of Belfast, which had been seized by Wheeler as a "stranger-built" +trading contrary to the Navigation Acts; the owners of the logwood + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page105" name="page105"></a>[105]</span> + + ship <i>William and Nicholas</i>, also seized by Wheeler on suspicion that +it had obtained its lading in violation of the treaty of 1670 with +Spain; owners of the <i>Peter</i>, of London, seized by the Spaniards in +violation of the same treaty; Jamaica planters who claimed that Spain +had broken the clause of the treaty relating to logwood cutting at +Campeachy; one Mark Gabry, exporter of wool; merchants in Jamaica +complaining of the number of Jews there and their engrossment of trade; +inhabitants of Easthampton, Southampton, and Southold in Long Island in +regard to their whale fishery and their relations with the Dutch at New +Amsterdam; the government of Virginia against the Arlington and Culpeper +grant. The Council also discussed many other matters, all more or less +closely bound up with the welfare of the plantations and of plantation +trade, such as the despatch of their letters and orders; the proper time +for the sailing of merchant ships in order that advantage might be taken +of companies or convoys; the sugar question in the West Indies, notably +Barbadoes, that perennial cause of dispute from the point of view of +customs and impositions; the enticing or spiriting away of young people +from England to go as servants to the plantations, a grievance almost +as old as the plantations themselves and one which Ashley had made a +special subject of inquiry with the result that Parliament passed an +Act, March 18, 1670, making "spiriting" a capital offence; the fisheries +and the abuses in the Newfoundland trade; privateering, especially in +relation to the act of Governor Modyford in commissioning Capt. Morgan +to cruise against the Spaniards and to capture Panama; the slave trade +and the relations of the plantations with the Royal African Company; +and lastly, in obedience to the fourth article of its additional +instructions, the proper supplying of the West India colonies with such +commodities as silk, galls, spices, senna and other dyeing materials, +in order to see whether or not such things could be obtained from the +plantations, a subject upon which Dr. Worsley, who had already +experimented with senna, was deemed an authority. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page106" name="page106"></a>[106]</span></p> + +<p> +The efficiency of the Council of Foreign Plantations and the +inefficiency of the Council of Trade during the same period may +well have led to the belief that the work would be better done if the +functions of the latter were transferred to the former body. The death +of the Earl of Sandwich, who lost his life in the naval engagement of +Southwold Bay with De Ruyter, May 28, 1672, may have hastened this +conclusion, and the need of economy, especially manifest in this year, +1672, may have been a further influence. Whatever the causes, as early +as the summer of 1672 the decision was reached, undoubtedly through the +advice of Lord Ashley, now the Earl of Shaftesbury, to reconstitute +the Council, and to issue a new patent which should cover trade as +well as foreign plantations. Evelyn says that the old Council met at +Shaftesbury's house on September 1, 1672, to consider the draft of the +new commission. The form of the commission having been approved, the +warrant was issued to the attorney general on September 16 to prepare +the bill for the King's signature, and on the twenty-seventh the Council +was duly commissioned by writ of privy seal. The membership remained the +same as before, with the single exception that the Earl of Shaftesbury +took the place of the Earl of Sandwich as the president of the board, +with Lord Culpeper as vice-president. When in December of the same year +Sir John Finch was appointed ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, in place +of Sir Daniel Harvey, deceased, Sir William Hickman was constituted +a member of the Council in his stead. As in the case of the former +Council, the Duke of York, Prince Rupert, and the chief officers of +state were authorized to attend and vote but without pay. To their +number were now added the Duke of Ormond, George, Viscount Halifax; Sir +Thomas Osborne, and Sir Robert Long, all of whom, except Long, had been +members of the Council of Trade, while Halifax, who had just returned +from an important mission to France and was rapidly rising to power, +had been a member of the committee of the House of Lords, appointed +in October, 1669, to + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page107" name="page107"></a>[107]</span> + + consider the improvement of trade. Sandwich and +Shaftesbury had both been on the same committee, and it is not unlikely +that the latter was responsible for the remarkable report made by this +committee to the Lords that "some relaxation in ecclesiastical matters +will be a means of improving the trade of this kingdom."<a href="#note-9-5" name="noteref-9-5"><small>9</small></a> +</p> +<p> +According to its commission, the Council of Trade and Plantations was +"to take care of the welfare of our said Colonies and Plantations and +of the Trade and Navigation of these our Kingdomes and of our said +colonies and plantations," and was to be a council of advice to the +King "in and for all the affairs which do or may any way concern the +navigation, commerce, or trade, as well domestic as foreign of these our +kingdoms and our said foreign colonies and plantations." Five were to +constitute a quorum of which the president or vice-president or one of +the unsalaried members should always be one. The salary of the president +was raised to £800, that of the vice-president was made £700, while that +of the other salaried members remained as before, £500. No treasurer or +secretary is named in the commission, but Dr. Worsley held these offices +until in September, 1673, he was discharged and John Locke took his +place. In all other respects the commission of 1672 reproduces that +of 1670. +</p> +<p> +The most noteworthy difference between the two councils is to be +found in the instructions, which for the Council of 1672 form a very +comprehensive and intelligent statement of the essentials of plantation +control. The draft was undoubtedly written by Shaftesbury and Locke, for +a preliminary sketch is to be found among the Shaftesbury Papers; the +preliminary meeting for the consideration and approval of the articles +was held at Shaftesbury's residence, Exeter House; and the essential +portions of the document are all to be found embodied in one form or +another in the instructions and suggestions sent to the planters in +the Bahamas and Carolina, colonies which for two years had been a + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page108" name="page108"></a>[108]</span> + + kind +of experimental station for Shaftesbury's and Locke's ideas. All the +later commissions and instructions were based in the main on the +principles laid down in these documents, and neither the Lords of Trade +from 1675 to 1696 nor the Board of Trade from 1696 to 1782 ever in any +important particular passed the limits herein defined. Probably the +instructions of 1672 became from this time forward the precedent and +guide for those who in later years were called upon to shape the powers +vested in the boards of trade and plantations. It frequently happened, +of course, that orders in Council directed the attention of the boards +to matters which needed special examination, but in the main it may be +said that Povey first and Shaftesbury afterward mapped out the lines +to be followed by future commissions in their control of plantation +affairs. This fact gives to the work of these men a peculiar interest +and value. +</p> +<p> +By the terms of the instructions of 1672, the Council was to consider +first of all the trade of the kingdom and of the plantations in the +following particulars: the increase and improvement of raw commodities +for use at home, the promotion of manufactures, the betterment of +the fishing trade at home and abroad, the opening of rivers, ports, +and harbors, the proper distribution of trade and manufactures, the +obstacles that lay in the way of English trade as compared with those +confronting the trade of other nations, and all abuses of trade and +manufactures in the kingdom. It was to inquire into the best methods of +increasing the sale and export of native commodities and manufactures, +of encouraging the importation of foreign goods at the cheapest rates, +of building ships for the carrying of such bulky articles as masts and +timber, of extending correspondence with the great commercial centers +abroad, and of opening free ports where foreign commodities might be +landed and stored with small charge if designed for reëxportation. It +was also to take into special consideration the advantages of a more +open and free trade than that of companies and corporations, and to +encourage inventions and improvements designed to + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page109" name="page109"></a>[109]</span> + + improve any art, +trade, or manufacture or to secure and promote trade and navigation. +</p> +<p> +So far as the plantations were concerned, the Council was to inquire +into the general state of the colonies, and to obtain full information +regarding councils, assemblies, courts of judicature, courts of +admiralty, legislative and executive powers, statutes, laws and +ordinances, militia, fortifications, arms, and ammunition. It was to +learn all it could about boundaries, lands, mines, staple products, +and manufactures; to determine whether or not nutmegs, cinnamon, +cloves, pepper, and other spices would grow if planted; to inform itself +regarding rivers, harbors, and fishing banks; and to estimate how many +planters and parishes there were, how many whites and blacks yearly +arrived, and how many people died each year. It was to learn the number +of ships trading to the plantations, to discover the obstacles to trade +and how they could be removed, the advantages and how they could be +increased; it was to concern itself with export and import dues, public +revenues, measures taken for the instruction of the people and the +maintenance of the ministry. It was especially instructed to keep in +frequent correspondence with the governors, to urge upon them the +necessity of maintaining peace with their neighbors, the Indians and +others, of taking the Indians under their protection and of guarding +their persons, goods, and possessions according to law. Furthermore, +it was to procure copies of all necessary documents, to purchase maps, +plats, and charts when needed, to study those portions of treaties +made with other countries that related to peace and commerce, and to +determine how far those articles had been upheld and performed. And +lastly, it was to consider the practice of other countries in matters +of trade, commerce, and the colonies, and to see how far such practices +might be of value to England. +</p> +<p> +The Council had its first meeting on October 13, at Essex House, and +there the commission was read and the oaths were taken. Soon after, it +took up its abode at Villier's House in King's Street near Whitehall, +which it rented of + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page110" name="page110"></a>[110]</span> + + the Duchess of Cleveland for £200 a year. There it +had a council chamber, an office for the clerks, two messengers, a +porter, a maid, and a chamber keeper, all of whom were paid out of the +£1,000 allowed for contingent expenses. We have record of seventy-six +meetings held between October 13, 1672, and December 22, 1674, a period +of twenty-six months; but it is quite certain that more meetings than +this were held, inasmuch as the session-days were every Wednesday and +Friday at ten in the morning.<a href="#note-10-5" name="noteref-10-5"><small>10</small></a> So far as the plantations were +concerned the Council did little more than continue the work of its +predecessor, the Council of 1670, but in addition it concerned itself +with a large number of questions that had to do with domestic and +foreign as well as with colonial trade. The most important of these +related to the petition of the English consul at Venice that his +consulage be levied on goods and not on ships, a matter that aroused +prolonged debate; to the petition of the Gambia adventurers against +the importation by the East India Company of the dyeing wood called +"sanders" which, because cheaper, was taking the place of their redwood +from Africa; to the ordinances issued in Sweden against the English +"privileges" concerning naval stores; to the exportation of wool from +England, a matter already dealt with in an Act of Parliament; and to +the treatment of merchants at the hands of the Spaniards, regarding +which a number of petitions had been received by the board. A few new +petitions were taken into consideration from traders and others in the +plantations, notably those of the Jew Rabba Couty, whose ship had been +seized at Jamaica on the ground that he was a foreigner; of William +Helyar, whose woodland in Jamaica had been seized by Governor Lynch; +of John Rodney and his wife Frances, whose plantation in Nevis had +been seized by Governor Russell, a case destined to drag on for nearly +two years. +</p> +<p> +In recommending the appointment of governors and other officials, +passing upon colonial laws, scrutinizing nominations + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page111" name="page111"></a>[111]</span> + + as of colonial +councillors, corresponding with the governors, organizing an efficient +system of communication and supervision in all matters touching trade +and commerce, and in making reports to the King in Council,—in short, +in the control and management of colonial affairs, the Council of 1672 +placed the British colonial policy on a broader and more comprehensive +foundation than had hitherto been laid and inaugurated a more thorough +system of colonial control than had been established by any of its +predecessors. It is doubtful if even the Lords of Trade or the Board of +Trade surpassed the Councils of 1670 and 1672 in enthusiasm, loyalty, +or dispatch of business. +</p> +<p> +On December 21, 1674, Charles II revoked the commission of the Council, +and plantation affairs under their cognizance thus being "left loose and +at large" were "restored to their accustomed channel of a Committee of +the Privy Council," that is, to the Committee of the Board appointed for +matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations.<a href="#note-11-5" name="noteref-11-5"><small>11</small></a> The reasons for +this step are of course to be found in the first instance in the fall +of Shaftesbury from power the summer before, but that event is not in +itself a sufficient explanation of the change. At least it is worthy of +remark that the dissolution of the Council took place many months after +Shaftesbury's dismissal. Probably a further cause is to be found in the +widespread demand for economy and retrenchment. The Council of 1672 +cost the King nearly £8,000 a year; the Committee of the Privy Council +cost the King nothing for the services of its members, although its +contingent expenses ran higher than had those of any previous board, +amounting to between £275 and £400 a quarter from 1676 to 1687 and £250 +and £300 from 1689 to 1696.<a href="#note-12-5" name="noteref-12-5"><small>12</small></a> +</p> +<p> +Probably a greater reason for the dissolution of the Council of 1672 is +to be found in the dissatisfaction which existed + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page112" name="page112"></a>[112]</span> + + with the system of +advisory and independent bodies. Povey expressed the matter well when +he wrote: +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "His Ma<sup>tie</sup> since his happy Restoraton, rightly considering + of how great Consequence his foreign Plantations are to this + Crowne, hath at several times Commissionated certain select + persons to be Councells for the Plantations, every one of + which Councels were variously framed, instructed and encouraged, + w<sup>ch</sup> have all expired without any considerable advantage, or + satisfaction to his Ma<sup>tie</sup> or the Plantations. Among the other + Reasons w<sup>ch</sup> may be given, why they proved fruitless, it seems, + That it is found by experience that whatsoever Council is not + enabled as well to execute as advise, must needs produce very + imperfect and weak effects. It being, by its subordination and + impotency obliged to have a continual recourse to superior + Ministers, and Councels filled with other business, w<sup>ch</sup> + ofttimes gives great and prejudicial delays and usually begets + new or slower deliberations and results, than the matter in + hand may stand in need of, by w<sup>ch</sup> means the authority and + virtue of this little Council became faint and ineffectual. + Seeing therefore it hath been held at all times, that may + distant Colonies, and the manifold Concernments thereof do + require and deserve to be consider'd and provided for by some + select persons as a Councel for those affairs, And that the + wisdome of our Government admits not such a plenary Authority, + but solely in the highest Council, it remains only as the best + expedient, That Com<sup>rs</sup> be appointed out of the Privy Council + under the Great Seal, who may sit on some appointed day in every + [blank] and sometimes an hour before the Councel shall sit, as + occasion may call for it, to take consideration of any of the + affairs of the Plantations, who may give direcions in ordinary + cases, and in cases extraordinary may report to the King and + Councel."<a href="#note-13-5" name="noteref-13-5"><small>13</small></a> +</p> +<p> +We do not know when this paper was written nor do we know whether +it ever came to the attention of the King and his advisers. Its +recommendation was certainly carried out, when the King, taking into +his own hands again the full control of trade and the plantations, +issued a commission in February, 1675, placing the entire charge of +these matters in the hands of the committee of the Council, which +through all the changes of fifteen years had never ceased to exercise +its functions of supervision and control of colonial affairs. This +committee, known as the Lords of Trade, acted as a board of trade and +plantations for twenty years and conducted + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page113" name="page113"></a>[113]</span> + + its business with eminent +success. Its membership was occasionally changed, though as a rule the +work fell upon a comparatively small number of men who were in frequent +attendance. After the fall of the Stuarts, King William continued the +same policy, appointing a new Council Committee and resisting all +attempts of Parliament to interfere. +</p> +<p> +Parliament, however, determined to obtain control of the management of +colonial affairs, and as early as 1694 made an effort in that direction. +Acting evidently under the influence of the merchants of London, who +resented the fact that affairs of this character should be entrusted +to "courtiers without experience," it took into consideration the +appointment of a separate board, whose members should be chosen by +itself. The first bill was thrown out by Parliament, but the matter was +brought up at the next session in December, 1695. Strenuous efforts were +made by a few of the leading out-ports, such as Bristol, to obtain, +through their members in Parliament, a representation on the proposed +board, in order to overcome "the growing greatness of London." During +December and January the matter was debated with great heat in the +House, and Bristol went so far as to send up a special delegation to +lobby in its behalf. The proposal was defeated by the King's opposition +to this attempt to encroach upon his prerogative, and a compromise was +effected, in which the out-ports played no part. Influenced by the +determination of the majority in Parliament, William issued a commission +on May 15, 1696, to a separate Board of Trade and Plantations, the +membership of which was, however, to be controlled by the Crown. +</p> +<p> +Of the history of the Board of Trade, thus established in 1696, little +need be said here. The board passed through many vicissitudes in its +life of nearly eighty-seven years. It enjoyed its greatest repute during +the first fifteen years of its existence, falling into the hands of +inferior officials and placemen during the era of Walpole and the first +years of the supremacy of Newcastle. Granted new powers in + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page114" name="page114"></a>[114]</span> + + 1752, it rose +again to a position of prominence which it held for fourteen years, and +it reached a climax in 1765, when it was made a ministerial executive +office of government, as were the Secretary's office and the boards of +the Admiralty and the Treasury, possessing full authority and complete +jurisdiction in all matters relative to its own department. This +position of independence was, however, soon lost. On August 8, 1766, +an order in Council declared that all measures relative to commerce and +the colonies should originate either with the King in Council, the +Committee of the Council, or one of the principal Secretaries of State. +This order, which evidently originated with Shelburne, Secretary of the +Southern Department, that he might increase thereby his control over +all colonial affairs, reduced the board to the position of an advisory +and consulting body upon such matters as the Council might refer to +it. Henceforth all estimates for colonial services and the direction +and application of money granted thereupon, which had hitherto been +transacted by the board, were resumed by the higher authorities. From +this time the importance and influence of the board steadily declined +until it was finally abolished in 1782. The control of the colonies +during the period from 1768 to 1782 was assumed by the new Secretary +of State for the colonies and remained in his charge until his office +also was abolished in the same year. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<a name="note-1-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-1-5">1</a>) +See various papers among the Shaftesbury MSS., Division X, +particularly 8, No. 4, "L<sup>d</sup> Shaftesbury's Advice to his Majesty about +Trade, etc." +</p> + +<a name="note-2-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-2-5">2</a>) +Edward Long, governor and historian of Jamaica, viewed +the appointment of the Council as a piece of jobbery and graft, an +undertaking espoused not for the national good, but in order to obtain +new and lucrative offices for Ashley and others "his Brethren in the +ministry." Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 12438, iii, f. 17. +</p> + +<a name="note-3-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-3-5">3</a>) +Henry Slingsby is named secretary and treasurer in the +commission and his signature or initials are appended to all orders from +October 5, 1670, to July 23, 1672. During this time and until September +13, 1673, Dr. Worsley acted as assistant and is called "secretary" until +November 15, 1672, when he was made treasurer also. On October 15, 1673, +after the discharge of Worsley, John Locke, secretary, friend, and ally +of the Earl of Shaftesbury, president of the new Council of 1672, was +sworn in as secretary and as treasurer on December 16, 1673. He remained +in service until the abolition of the Council. Evelyn speaks of Worsley +as dead on October 15, but this statement cannot be true as Worsley was +still alive in March, 1675. +</p> + +<a name="note-4-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-4-5">4</a>) +Evelyn in describing the room in which the Council sat +mentions atlases, maps, charts, globes, etc., but Locke when called upon +to hand over the papers in March, 1675, reported that he never had had +any globes and maps. +</p> + +<a name="note-5-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-5-5">5</a>) +The commission, instructions, and additional instructions +of the Council for Foreign Plantations are to be found among the +Shaftesbury Papers in the Public Record Office, fair written in an entry +book bound in vellum. Div. X, 10. Another copy of the instructions is +contained in X, 8 (11). +</p> + +<a name="note-6-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-6-5">6</a>) +The sources for the history of the councils of 1670 and +1672 are: The Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1669–1674, which +contains abstracts of the papers of the Councils now among the Colonial +Papers. Had it been possible to examine each original document before +writing this paper there is no doubt that the list of the meetings given +in the Appendix would have been considerably extended. The calendaring +is often far from clear and the indexing, as far as all the boards are +concerned from 1622 to 1675, is a muddle of confusion. Among the Board +of Trade Papers is an Index to the entry books of the councils, which +shows that the following books, "called in the stile of the office, the +'rough books,'" were kept: "A Journal," "Orders of Council of Foreign +Plantations," "Petitions, References, and Reports," "Addresses and +Advices," "Letters and Answers," "Miscellanies," "Barbadoes," "Leeward +Islands," "Jamaica," "Virginia," "Letters from the Council," "New +England," "Fishery," "West India, Surinam," and "Letters to the +Council." Most of these entry books have been found scattered among +the Colonial Office volumes. Unfortunately the most important book, +"A Journal," is missing and has been missing for two centuries. The +"Index," however, contains a series of entries entitled, "Heads of +Business," which is very incomplete as an index to the meetings, but +upon which I have drawn in making up my list. The "Virginia" volume +is also missing, but it apparently contained nothing except blank +leaves. Part one of the volume entitled "Letters and Answers" and the +whole of "Letters to the Council" are also missing. The "New England" +volume contains only a copy of the Massachusetts charter; that entitled +"Miscellaneous" three interesting papers "Concerning Spiriting," +"Consideration about Foreign Plantations," and "Other considerations +concerning Plantations." The complete minutes of two meetings are among +the Shaftesbury Papers and very interesting notes in Evelyn's Diary. +</p> + +<a name="note-7-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-7-5">7</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1669–1674, §§ 327, I, 415, 565, +663, 680, 697, 704, 737, 804, 805, 891, 896, 1044, 1101. +</p> + +<a name="note-8-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-8-5">8</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Col., 1669–1674, §§ 287, 365, 822, 834, +917, 1003, 1011–1013, 1100, 1186, 1197, 1212, 1251–1252, 1255, 1295, +1300, 1306, 1386. +</p> + +<a name="note-9-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-9-5">9</a>) +Lord's Journal, XII, pp. 254, 257, 273–274, 284. +</p> + +<a name="note-10-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-10-5">10</a>) +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1672–1673, pp. 213–214. +</p> + +<a name="note-11-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-11-5">11</a>) +New York Col. Docts., III, pp. 228, 229–230; Cal. State +Papers, Col., 1675–1676, §§ 648, 649. +</p> + +<a name="note-12-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-12-5">12</a>) +Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 9767, 9768, containing an itemized +expense account of the Lords of Trade from 1676 to 1696. +</p> + +<a name="note-13-5"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +(<a href="#noteref-13-5">13</a>) +Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2395, f. 276. +</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page115" name="page115"></a>[115]</span></p> + +<a name="h2H_APPE" id="h2H_APPE"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + APPENDIX I. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">Instructions, Board of Trade, 1650.</span> +</h3> +<p> +<i>First.</i>—They are to take notice of all the Native commodities of this +Land, or what Time and Industry may hereafter make Native and advise how +they may not only be fully Manufactured, but well and truly wrought, to +the Honor and Profit of the Commonwealth. +</p> +<p> +<i>Secondly.</i>—They are to consider how the Trades and Manufactures of +this Nation may most fitly and equally be distributed to every part; to +the end that one part may not abound with Trade, and another remain poor +and desolate for the want of the same. +</p> +<p> +<i>Thirdly.</i>—They are to consult how the Trade may most conveniently be +driven from one part of this Land to another. To which purpose they are +to consider how the Rivers may be made more Navigable and the Ports more +capable of Shipping. +</p> +<p> +<i>Fourthly.</i>—They are to consider how the Commodities of this Land may +be vented, to the best advantage thereof, into Foraign Countreys, and +not undervalued by the evil management of Trade, And that they advise +how Obstructions of Trade into Foraign parts may be removed; and desire +by all means, how new ways and places may be found out, for the better +venting of the Native commodities of this Land. +</p> +<p> +<i>Fifthly.</i>—They are to advise how Free Ports or Landing-places +for Foreign Commodities imported (without paying of Custom if again +exported) may be appointed in several parts of this Land, and in what +manner the same is to be effected. +</p> +<p> +<i>Sixthly.</i>—They are to consider of some way, that a most exact account +be kept of all commodities imported and exported through the Land, +to the end that a perfect Balance of Trade may be taken, whereby the +Commonwealth may not be impoverished, by receiving of Commodities yearly +from Foraign parts of a greater value than what was carried out. +</p> +<p> +<i>Seventhly.</i>—They are duly to consider the value of the <i>English</i> +Coyns, and the Par thereof, in relation to the intrinsic value which it +bears in weight and fineness with the Coyns of other Nations. Also to +consider of the state of the Exchange, and of the gain or loss that +comes to the Commonwealth by the Exchange now used by the Merchants. +</p> +<p> +<i>Eighthly.</i>—They are (in order to the Regulating and Benefit of + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page116" name="page116"></a>[116]</span> + + Trade) +seriously to consider what Customs, Impositions, and Excise is fit to be +laid upon all Goods and Commodities, either Native or Imported, and how +the said Customs, Impositions, and Excise may be best ordered and +Regulated, and so equally laid and evenly managed, as neither Trade may +be thereby hindered, nor the State made incapable to defray the Publique +Charges of the Commonwealth. +</p> +<p> +<i>Ninthly.</i>—They are to take into their consideration whether it be +necessary to give way to a more open or free Trade than that of +Companies and Societies, and in what manner it is fittest to be done; +wherein, notwithstanding, they are to take care that Government and +Order in Trade may be preserved and Confusion avoided. +</p> +<p> +<i>Tenthly.</i>—They are to inform themselves of the particular Ordinances, +Orders, Grants, Patents, and Constitutions of the several Companies of +Merchants and Handicraftsmen, to the end that if any of them tend to +the hurt of the Publique, they may be laid down in such manner as the +Parliament shall think fit. +</p> +<p> +<i>Eleventhly.</i>—They are to consider the great Trade of Fishing, and +that not only upon the coasts of <i>England</i> and <i>Ireland</i> but likewise of +<i>Iceland</i>, <i>Greenland</i>, <i>Newfoundland</i>, and <i>New England</i>, or elsewhere, +and to take care that the Fishermen may be encouraged to go on in their +Labors, to the increase of Shipping and Mariners. +</p> +<p> +<i>Twelfthly.</i>—They are to take into their consideration the English +Plantations in America or elsewhere, and to advise how those Plantations +may be best managed, and made most useful for this Commonwealth, and how +the Commodities thereof may be so multiplied and improved, as (if it +be possible) those Plantations alone may supply the <i>Commonwealth</i> of +<i>England</i> with whatsoever it necessarily wants. (Inderwick, <i>The +Interregnum</i>, p. 74 note.) +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page117" name="page117"></a>[117]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + APPENDIX II. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">Instructions for the Council for Foreign Plantations, 1670–1672.</span> +</h3> + +<h4> +<span class="sc">Given at our Court at Whitehall the 30th day of July, 1670.</span> +</h4> +<p class="side"> +Preamble. +</p> +<p> +Forasmuch as our severall Colonies, and Plantations abroad, have by the +Prudence of our Predecessors, and not without the great hazard, Charge +and Expence of these Nations been respectively setled, and being so +setled are become the proper Right and Soveraigne Posessions of us: And +forasmuch as the said Colonies having upon severall Occasions readily +exprest their loyalty and faithfulnesse towards us, have thereby the +more engaged us, out of our Princely care, not only to take notice of +them, but by all Wayes and meanes to endeavour the promoting of their +Welfare and Increase, togeather with their flourishing Estate and +condition, and more especially their Protection and Defence. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To inquire of the State of the Plantations, of the Powers +and Instructions of the Governours how Executed. +</p> +<p> +1. You are therefore strictly to inquire and informe your selves, by +the best wayes and meanes you can of the State and condition of all and +every of our said respective Colonies, and Plantations, what it is, by +whome they are respectively governed, and what Commissions, Powers and +Instructions, have been graunted by us, or any way derived from us to +that End, how the same have been duly executed and observed. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Miscarriages to be represented. +</p> +<p> +And if upon Enquiry or Examination you shall find any neglect, or +miscarriage, to have been committed by any of the said Governours +respectively, or by any of their respective Deputies, or that any such +neglect or miscarriage shall hereafter appeare to you, that shall tend +to the abuse of our Authority, or to the prejudice of our Interest, Or +to the dammage and discouragement of any of our said Plantations, you +are forthwith and at all times from time to time carefully to represent +the same to us, that we may give such direction therein as the affaire +shall require and as to our Princely wisdome shall be thought fitt. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To send for Coppies of Commissions and Instructions, +and consider of them. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To give Directions accordingly. +</p> +<p> +2. And to this End you are to demaund of the said Governours respectively, +or of their respective Deputies, the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page118" name="page118"></a>[118]</span> + + Coppies of all such Commissions and +Instructions, as have mediatly, or immediatly been derived from us, or +to procure and require the same from the Officers of Record, within this +our Kingdome. Which having you shall cause them to be fairly transcribed +and entred in a Booke provided for that purpose. That you may at all +times be the better enabled to judge of the Duties of the said +Governours respectively, and may Administer such directions to them, +as may be suitable thereunto, and most agreeable to our service. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Number of Parishes, Planters, Servants and Slaves +are in the Severall Plantations. +</p> +<p> +3. And that you may the better provide for the Defence, Welfare, and +Security of the said Plantations, you are diligently to informe your +selves how all and every of the said Colonies and Plantations are +inhabited (viz) What number of Parishes there are in each respective +Goverment, and what number of Planters there be in each Parish and what +number of Servants doe belong to the said Planters respectively, and +whether the said Servants are Christians, or Slaves that are brought +from other parts. +</p> +<p class="side"> +If thinly stockt to consider how they may be supplyed +from other Plantations or from these Dominions. +</p> +<p> +And if you shall find any of the said Plantations to be so thinly and +weakly inhabited as that it may endanger the losse of them, you are to +consider how and which way they may most conveniently be supplyed either +from some other of our Plantations, where they are overstored, or from +any part of these our Dominions. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Not to give just Provocations to their Neighbours, Indians, +or others. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To preserve Amity with them. +</p> +<p> +4. And forasmuch as most of our said Colonies doe border upon the +Indians of severall Countries, or doe lye neare the Plantations of +our Neighbours the French, Spanish, or Dutch, and that peace is not +to be expected either with the said Indians, or with such as are our +Neighbours, without the due observance and præservation of Justice to +each of them respecively. You are therefore strictly in our Name to +charge and Command all and every the Governours of our said Colonies +respectively, that they at no time give any just provocation to any of +the said Indians, nor to any of our said Neighbours, that are at peace +with us, or their Subjects, but that they doe by all just wayes and +meanes endeavour to preserve the Amity that is respectively setled +betweene them, and to begett also for the future a good and faire +Correspondency with them. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Governours to receive all Indians under their Protections. +</p> +<p> +5. And inasmuch as some of the Natives of the said Indians may be of +great use to give Intelligence to our Plantations, Or to discover the +Trade of other Countries to them, or to be Guides to places more remote +from them, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page119" name="page119"></a>[119]</span> + + or to informe our Governours of severall Advantages, and +Commodities that may be within or neare to our severall Plantations, +not otherwise capable to be known to them, And may be many other wayes +serviceable, either to defend or to succour and assist our Plantations. +It is therefore our pleasure, and we doe hereby require you, to give +strict order to our severall and respective Governours, that if any of +the said Indian Nations shall at any time desire to put themselves under +the protection of our Goverment, that they doe receive them, And that +they doe by all Wayes and Meanes seeke firmly to oblige them, And that +they doe direct or employ some persons purposely to learne the languages +respectively of them. +</p> +<p> +And that they doe not only carefully protect and defend them from other +Indians, and from any that are the Adversaries of them. But that they +more especially take care that none of our owne Subjects, nor any of +their respective Servants, doe at any time any way harme them. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Not to suffer them to be injured in their persons Goods +or Possessions. +</p> +<p> +And that if any shall dare to offer any Violence to them in their +respective persons, Goods or possessions, the said Governours doe +severely punish the said Injuries agreeable to Justice and Right. +</p> +<p> +6. And for the better Improovement of the Trade and Commerce of the said +Plantations, you are as much as in you lyeth to take care, and to give +such Rules and Directions therein, as you shall in your Judgement thinke +best. +</p> +<p class="side"> +That all Commodities of their Growth or making be duly +manufactured and Improoved. +</p> +<p> +That all the Commodities which are made and produce in every of our said +Plantations, may be duly cured, Manufactured, Improoved, and made as +Merchantable to the utmost as they may, to the end that they may not +only be of the greater perfection, but of the greater value, worth and +repute abroad among other Countries. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Whether other Commodities, then what grow at present, +may not be planted and thrive, as Cotton, Ginger, Cocoa &c. +</p> +<p> +7. To which End you are to inquire and informe your selves aright. +Whether there may not be some better Species even of those very +Commodities which we now plant, Than what we yet have, as of Cotton, +Ginger, Cocoa &c. Or whether there may not be some better and more +perfect skill used, in some other places, for the husbanding, managing, +and perfecting the said Commodities, than what we use at present. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To gaine the knowledge and skill of such, & impart them +to the People. +</p> +<p> +And if you find the same to be so, you are to use all Endeavour possible +to procure the said Species, or to gaine the Knowledge of the said +skill, and to impart the same to the people of our said Plantations. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Islands are fittest and most conveniently seated +for breeding of Cattle. +</p> +<p> +8. And forasmuch as the Increase of Horses, and Cattle + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page120" name="page120"></a>[120]</span> + + for Draught +or for Victuall, are of very great use for the settling of new, and for +the furnishing of old Plantations, And that there are severall Islands +which as we are informed, are not so fitt for the inhabiting, or for the +planting of any Commodity in, as for the breeding the said Cattle, and +which may yet be the more easily setled, by how much they require the +lesse people. +</p> +<p> +You are therefore to informe your selves, what Islands are scituate +most convenient for that purpose, and to conferre with such Seamen and +Captaines of Shipps, as have viewed and coasted along the said places. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To give Encouragement towards the effecting of the same. +</p> +<p> +And to consider accordingly of such Conditions, and to publish such +encouragements, as that the same may be most probable to be effected. +</p> +<p> +9. And in regard whatever conduceth to the Increase of Shipping, must +equally conduce to the Safety and strength of these Nations. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Whether Masts and other Materialls for Shipping may not +be furnished from the Plantations. +</p> +<p> +And that not only Masts, but all other Materialls, as well for the +building, as fitting out of Shipps of great burthen may as we are +informed be plentifully furnished from some of our Plantations, if +care hereunto were more especially used. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To encourage the producing of Hempe, Flax, Pitch and Tarre +in New England: and setting up of Sawing Mills. +</p> +<p> +You are therefore more particularly to advise about this matter, with +the severall Governours, and Colonies of New England, and to propound +to them or receive their Opinion, what methods and course might be +most fitt for the producing of Flax, Hempe, Pitch and Tarre in those +Countries in most plenty. As also where Mills might be most conveniently +placed and encreased for the sawing of Timber, and Planke, and how best +we may ease the charge and promote the building there of great Shipping. +</p> +<p class="side"> +How the Plantations may be supplyed with Servants +and Slaves. +</p> +<p> +10. You are to take into your Consideration, how all and every our said +Colonies, and Plantations, may be best supplyed both with servants and +Slaves. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To consider the differences betwixt the Guiny Company, +and the Plantations, and to find out expedients of agreement. +</p> +<p class="side"> +That none of his Ma<sup>ties</sup> Subjects of these kingdomes be +forced or Enticed away to the Plantations by any unlawfull Practises, +but that they may be duly accomodated. +</p> +<p> +And what just Objections the said Plantations have against the standing +and Priviledges of the Guiny Company, Or what complaints the Guiny +Company doth justly make against any of the said Colonies. And to find +out such Expedients if possible, that neither of them may lye under any +Discouragements, or that at least neither of them may be permitted to +injure or oppresse the other. You are also as farre as you may, to +provide that none of our Subjects in these Kingdomes, be either forced +or enticed away into any of our said Plantations, by any indirect and +unlawfull practises, But that all such persons neverthelesse, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page121" name="page121"></a>[121]</span> + + as are +willing, and that shall desire to be transported thither, to seeke a +better condition there than what they have at present at home, may by +all meanes be encouraged. +</p> +<p> +And that some Course be duly considered by you also how far the future +Vagrants, and all such persons as are Noxious, and infamous for their +Lives here, may be Transported, as that the forreigne Plantations may +be accomodated with them, and these Kingdomes disburthened. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Correspondency with the Governours the better to understand +their Government, Plantations, Complaints, Trade and Shipping, and the +Increase or Decrease thereof. +</p> +<p> +11. You are likewise to order and settle such a continuall +correspondence with all and every our said Plentations, and with all and +every the respective Governements of them. That you may be able as often +as you are required thereunto to give us an Account, not only of the +Governement of each Colony, and of the severall Commodities which they +respectively plant, but of their severall Complaints and wants also, +and how you find their Trade respectively to increase or decrease. +</p> +<p> +To which purpose you are to require an Account to be sent you +continually from time to time of all the Shipps that shall Trade into +any of the said Plantations. And of the substance of what lading they +import thither togeather with an account also what Shipps are freighted +from thence and with what sort of Goods, and what quantity there is of +each of the said sorts, and whether Consigned. That so the true state +and condition of each Colony in reference to the Trade and Increase and +Decrease of it, may be thoroughly and rightly understood. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To regulate the trade of the Plantations, so that they may +be serviceable to one another, as well as to these our kingdomes. +</p> +<p> +12. And being thus informed you are further to apply your selves by +all prudentiall wayes and Meanes so to Order, Governe, and Regulate the +Trade of our whole Plantations, that they may be most serviceable one +unto another, and as the whole unto these our Kingdomes so these our +kingdomes unto them. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To take care of the due execution of the Acts for +encouragement of Shipping and Navigation. +</p> +<p> +13. You are therefore to inquire into, and strictly to take care of the +due Execution of the severall Acts for the encouragement of Shipping, +and Navigation and that as much as in you lyeth, none of those good +Ends and purposes, so much tending to the strength and benefitt of this +Nation may be frustrated for which the said Acts were primarily intended +and designed. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To require Coppies of all Charters and Graunts concerning +any forreigne Plantations. +</p> +<p> +14. And to the End that nothing may be wanting to the said Regulation +and that Justice may be equally distributed throughout all our said +Plantations, You are likewise to take an Inspection into, and require +a Coppy of all Charters, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page122" name="page122"></a>[122]</span> + + and Graunts that have been passed by us or by +any of our Prædecessors, to any particular persons, or to any Societies, +and Corporations of Men with reference to any of the said Plantations. +</p> +<p> +And more particularly to informe your selves what Goverments are held by +vertue of any of the said Charters at present, and by whome. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To examine how the Ends of them have been pursued or +neglected. +</p> +<p class="side"> +In case of any differences to endeavour the composing of +them amicably. +</p> +<p> +You are likewise to examine what Causes, Covenants and Conditions, with +relation to our selfe and to the Crowne are inserted in any of the said +Charters or Graunts, and how the same have been performed, and how the +Ends of the said Graunts themselves have been respectively pursued. Or +how much on the contrary, you find they have been neglected, and our +selfe præjudiced, and to report the same to us. And in case there shall +any differences arise concerning the bounds, and Limits of any of the +said respective Charters, or concerning the Priviledges, Rights, or +Properties, which may be challenged by any by vertue of the said +Charters. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Otherwise to state and report them to his Ma<sup>tie</sup>. +</p> +<p> +You are to endeavour by the best and justest meanes you may, amicably to +compose and determine the same. But if the difference arising about any +of the said Charters, shall have so much difficulty, as that the same +cannot be friendly and amicably ended as aforesaid. In that case you +are after Examination of it to state it to us. That we may give such +Resolution thereupon as may be agreeable to Justice. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To send for Coppies of the Lawes now in force that if upon +examination any of them be found contrary to honour, Justice, or the +Law of England, they may be nulled. +</p> +<p> +15. And as you are not to permitt any of our Loving Subjects to be +oppressed by any of the Governours of our said Colonies contrary to the +Lawes that are in force, within the said Colonies respectively, so you +are as carefully to examine, send for and require a Coppy of all such +Lawes, as have been at any time made, and doe stand yet unrepealed +within any of our said Plantations. That if any of the said Lawes be +found inconvenient or contrary to the Lawes of this Land, or to the +honour and Justice of our Governement, all such Lawes may be immediately +nulled. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To procure Mapps and Charts of the severall Plantations, +and to Register and keep them. +</p> +<p> +16. You are also by all Wayes and meanes you may to procure exact Mapps, +Platts or Charts of all and Every our said Plantations abroad, togeather +with the Mapps and Descriptions of their respective Ports, Harbours, +Forts, Bayes, Rivers with the Depth of their respective Channells +comming in or going up, and the Soundings all along upon the said +respective Coasts from place to place, and the same so had, you are +carefully to Register and Keepe. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page123" name="page123"></a>[123]</span></p> + +<p class="side"> +To take effectuall care for the Propagating the Gospell in +the Plantations, and for the providing and maintaining of a pious and +learned Ministry. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To reforme the Debaucheries of Planters and Servants. +</p> +<p> +You are above all especially required to take an effectual care for the +Propagation of the Gospell, in all our said Colonies and Plantations +respectively, by providing that there be good Encouragem<sup>t</sup> setled for +the Invitation and maintenance of pious and learned Ministers, and by +sending strict Orders and Instructions for the regulating and reforming +the Debaucheries of Planters and Servants, whose evill Example doth +bring Scandall upon the Profession of Christianity, and doth deterre +such as are not yet admitted thereunto, from effecting and esteeming +the same. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To invite and Instruct the Indians and Slaves in the +Christian Religion. +</p> +<p> +And you are to consider how much of the Indians, or such as are +purchased from other parts for Slaves, may be best Instructed and +invited to the Christian Religion and Faith, it being both for the +Honour of our Crowne, and of the Protestant Religion it selfe. That all +persons within any of our Territories though never so remote should be +taught the Knowledge of God, and be accquainted with the Mysteries of +Salvation. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To write Letters to the severall Governours to informe them +of his Ma<sup>ties</sup> great care of the Plantations in erecting this Councill +as also a generall Councill for trade. +</p> +<p> +18. You are therefore forthwith to write Letters and to send them +to the severall Governours of our said respective Plantations, or to +their respective Deputies in all parts, wherein you are to informe +them of our great care and signall grace towards our said Colonies, +and of our erecting not only a general Councill for Trade, that might +take cognizance of such things as may be their concerne, But of our +appointing this Councill in particular which is employed only for the +better care and conduct of them. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To require of them an Account of the state of their present +condition and of what they judge necessairie for their Securitie, +Encouragem<sup>t</sup>, and accomodation. +</p> +<p> +You are therefore to require them, by themselves, or by the Assistance +of the respective Councills or Assemblies of the said Colonies to send +you an exact account of the State of their Condition at present, and of +such particulars within these your Instructions as you shall in the +first place thinke most necessary for them to answer or informe you of. +</p> +<p> +And that they doe further propound to you what they judge to be +most immediately necessary either for their security, or for the +encouragement, and accomodation of them. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To observe such other Instructions as shall be sent under +his Ma<sup>ties</sup> Signe Manuall, and if further Powers be found necessary, +the Councill to adresse to his Ma<sup>tie</sup> therein. +</p> +<p> +19. Lastly you are to follow such other Instructions concerning the +Præmises, as shall be sent to you from time to time by us under our +Signe Manuall. +</p> +<p> +And in all cases wherein you shall judge that further Powers and +Assistance shall be necessary for you, You are + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page124" name="page124"></a>[124]</span> + + to addresse Your selves +to us, for our further pleasure Resolution and Direction therein. +</p> +<p> + Given at our Court at Whitehall the 30<sup>th</sup>. day of July 1670, + in the two and twentieth yeare of our Reigne. +</p> +<p> + By his Ma<sup>ties</sup> Command +</p> +<p> + <span class="sc">Arlington</span> +</p> + +<h3> +<span class="sc">Additional Instructions for the Council for Foreign Plantations, 1670–1672.</span> +</h3> +<h4> +<span class="sc">Given at Our Court at Whitehall the First Day of August, 1670.</span> +</h4> +<p class="side"> +To inquire concerning the Strength Fortifications and +Military discipline of the Plantations. +</p> +<p> +1. You are also particularly to inquire and informe your selves of the +strength of all and every of our Colonies, how they are respectively +fortifyed, what the said Fortifications are, and how conveniently +situated; as also to inquire how the Inhabitants of the said Colonies +are respectively trained or disciplined. +</p> +<p> +And in what Posture they are to make a resistance upon occasion, against +any sudden attempt or Assault, if it should be offred them either by the +Indians, or by the forces of any other Prince or State that are their +Neighbours: +</p> +<p class="side"> +Concerning the Stores of their Ball, Powder, and other +Ammunition and the securing and præserving of them. +</p> +<p> +And what Stores they have of Armes, Ball, Powder or any other Ammunition +respectively, and what care is further necessary to be employed, for the +better Securing and præserving each of them, and to give an account from +time to time of the whole to us. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To recommend to the Governours, the breeding and producing +of Salt Petre. +</p> +<p> +2. And forasmuch as we are informed, that there are among severall of +our Plantations, Grounds very proper for the Breeding and producing of +Salt Petre. +</p> +<p> +And those so rich also that if they were improoved to the utmost, great +quantities of that Commodity might be easily had from those parts, +without sending into the Indies for it: +</p> +<p> +You are therefore very specially to Recommend this affaire to the +Governours of such Plantations, where you shall be informed the Grounds +are fittest for this purpose. And not only to require their care for the +Improovement of it; but to send your Advice to them, and to receive +their respective answer and opinion, how and in what manner they judge +the same, may be best, and most speedily put in Execution. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page125" name="page125"></a>[125]</span></p> + +<p class="side"> +The Planting of such Commodities as are most for the benefit +of the Plantacons and to redresse all præjudiciall Courses of Planting. +</p> +<p> +3. And forasmuch as the greatest benefitt that can arise to any of our +said Colonies, must be when the Planters of any of the said Colonies +shall be able to improove their Labour or Ground to the utmost Profitt +respectively. +</p> +<p> +Wherefore if the Sayle of any of the said Plantations shall be equally +fitt for the producing as well of severall other Commodities, as for the +producing of that which the said Colonie is accustomed unto. +</p> +<p> +And that the said other Commodities are such also as are of more profitt +to be planted by farre then that which is usuall, And that doe not only +grow in the Countries adjacent to the said Plantations, but are found by +Experience to thrive well even in the very said Plantations themselves. +</p> +<p> +In this Case you are to take care that a Custome be not nourished to the +præjudice of Trade, and of the said Plantations, But that you take order +for the Planting, Husbanding and Improoving of that Commodity that is +most profitable and most for the benefitt of the said Plantation. And to +this End that you by Letters conferre with the Governour, or with the +Assembly of the said respective Plantation, that some redresse may be +made and some stopp put to such a præjudiciall Course, or Custome of +planting as is aforesaid. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To consider how Spices, Gummes, Drugs, Dying Stuffes &c. may +best be obtained from the East Indies, and other places, for the storing +and enriching Plantations, and how to Reward the Undertakers thereof. +</p> +<p> +4. And forasmuch as the scituation of severall of our said Plantations +is such, as that it seemeth very probable to us, they might be stored +with many more Druggs, Gummes, and Dying Stuffes than what they now +have. Yea with severall Spices, and other Merchandises as well from the +East Indies, Turkie, and other places, as from severall of the Spanish +and Portugeeze Plantations. You are therefor required to consider and +advise what Commodities, in any of the Countries aforementioned or in +any other that shall be considered by you, may be (as you Judge) best +and fittest to transplant into any of our said Colonies (respect being +had to their said severall and respective Climates). And how the said +Commodities may easiest, best, and with least Observation, be obtained +from the said Countries: +</p> +<p> +What methods are meetest to be used, or what Rewards fittest to be +given, to any that shall runne the hazards and Expence of it, to +undertake them. +</p> +<p> +And which may therefore the same, may be most probably soe effected, as +that the Commerce mey be encreased, and the said Plantations enriched +through it. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page126" name="page126"></a>[126]</span></p> + +<p class="side"> +What Councills are established in other Kingdomes, and what +Powers and instructions are given them for the improving of their Trade +and Plantations and to consider the Advantages and Disadvantages +thereof. +</p> +<p> +5. You are to informe your selves as farre as you may what Councills +are Established in any other Kingdome for the good Governement, and +Improoving of their respective Plantations. What Directions or +Instructions, also, are particularly given to the said respective +Councills, and what Policy, Method or Conduct is used by them with +relation to the Strength, Trade and Increase of the said respective +Colonies, or with relation to the people themselves that are sent +thither. +</p> +<p> +And if you shall discerne such Methods and Directions to be good, or to +be well founded in Experience and Reason, You are to consider either how +the same may be aplyed to the Advantage of our owne Plantations, or how +any Inconveniences that may follow from them may be by you prudently +avoided. +</p> +<p> + Given at our Court at Whitehall, the first day of August 1670, + in the two and twentieth yeare of our Reigne. +</p> +<p> + By his Ma<sup>ties</sup> Command +</p> +<p> + <span class="sc">Arlington</span>. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page127" name="page127"></a>[127]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + APPENDIX III. +</h2> +<h3> +<span class="sc">Draft of Instructions for the Council of Trade and Foreign Plantations, +1672–1674.</span> +</h3> +<h4> +<span class="sc">The Commission and Instructions Were Issued on September 27, 1672.</span> +</h4> + +<p class="side"> +To consider the Improvem<sup>t</sup> of the Commodityes of these +Kingdomes. +</p> +<p> +1. You are to consider how all Goods and Commodityes of the Production +or Growth of these Our Kingdomes may be best Improoved. What other +usefull Commodityes or Materialls for Manufactures there are which the +Nature of Our Sayle with good Husbandry will beare, or that tyme and +Industry can make Native. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To consider the Setting up of Manufactures. +</p> +<p> +2. You are likewise to consider the setting up and Improoving of +Manufactures within Our said Kingdomes, especially of shipping. And such +others as are most for the Employment of Our people of best use, and +greatest Proffit to our Kingdomes. The Establishing of Such Manufactures +in Townes and places most convenient for them. And to provide that all +such Manufactures (especially our Old and new Draperyas) be truely made +and fully manufactured at home. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The improoving of the Fishing Trade at home & abroad. +</p> +<p> +3. You are to consider how the Fishing Trade both at home and abroad may +be encouraged and improoved to the best advantage. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The opening of Rivers, Ports and Harbours. +</p> +<p> +4. How Our Rivers may be made Navigable and Our Ports and Harbours more +capable of receiving Shipping. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Distributing of Trade and Manufactures. +</p> +<p> +5. And how Trade and Manufactures may be more fitly and equally +distributed through Our Kingdomes. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To examine the Burthens of Trade. +</p> +<p> +6. You are strictly to Examine what Burthens the Trade of Our sayd +Kingdomes doth at present Groane under both at home and abroad, more +then the Trade of Neighbouring Princes and States. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To enquire into abuses in Trade and Manufactures. +</p> +<p> +7. You are to make due Search and Inquiry into the abuses practised +among Merchants, Vintners, Wyne-Coopers, Brewers, Dyers, Apothecaryes, +Goldsmyths, Refyners, Wyre-Drawers, Penterers, Hatters, Clothiers and +other Trades and Manufactures within these Our Kingdomes, as also +concerning Weights and Measures. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page128" name="page128"></a>[128]</span></p> + +<p class="side"> +To consider of the better venting of Native Commodity's. +</p> +<p> +8. You are to consider how Our Native Commodityes, and Manufactures may +be vented in greater Quantetyes, and with more Hono<sup>e</sup> and profitt to +Our said Kingdomes. +</p> +<p class="side"> +How forreigne Commodityes may be brought in at cheaper +Rates. +</p> +<p> +9. And how forreigne Goods, and Commodityes may be brought from the +severall places of their Growth or making in fitt and reasonable tymes, +and at the Cheapest rates. +</p> +<p class="side"> +about building of Ships for the carriage of Bulky +Commodityes. +</p> +<p> +10. You are to consider about the Building of Pinkes, Flutes, and other +great Ships for the more convenient Carryage of Masts, Tymber and other +Bulky Commodityes. And about setting them out (according as the place to +which they are bound may allow) with fewer men and Gunns then usuall. +</p> +<p class="side"> +How Correspondencyes may be kept in places of great commerce +abroad. +</p> +<p> +11. You are to consider how Correspondencyes may be settled and kept +in all places of Great Commerce abroad for the better knowing with what +proffit or Losse Our Native Commodityes and Manufactures are vented. And +What Lawes are from tyme to tyme made or Trades new Erected in forreigne +parts to the advantage, or Disadvantage of Our Trade or Commerce. +</p> +<p class="side"> +How free Ports may be opened. +</p> +<p> +12. You are to consider how Free Ports may conveniently be opened +about Our Coasts for the Landing, and Storeing of Forreigne +Commodityes. Giving leave to retransport them paying only some small +acknowledgements. And of the severall Advantages that may arise unto +these Our Kingdomes by Giving way (according to the Example of other +Nations) to a more open, and free Trade then that of Companyes and +Corporations. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To receive Propositions concerning Trade and Navigation. +</p> +<p> +13. And you are to receive and Consider all Propositions or Overtures +concerning new Inventions or Improvements in any Art, Trade or +Manufacture, or concerning the regulating or Securing of Trade, and +Improoving of Navigation that shall be offered unto you by any person +whatsoever. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To enquire into the State of his Ma<sup>ts</sup> forreigne +Plantacons. +</p> +<p> +14. You are strictly to enquire, and informe yourselves by the best +wayes and Meanes you can of the State and Condition of Our said +Forreigne Collonyes and Plantations. By whome they are Governed and what +Commissions, Powers and Instruccons have been granted by Us, or by any +of Our Royall Predecessors to that End, and how the same have been +Executed and observed. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To enquire What Councills Assemblies and Courts of Indicature +there are in them. +</p> +<p> +15. You are likewise to enquire and informe yourselves. What Councills, +Assemblyes and Courts of Indicature for Civill and Criminall Causes +there are within the said Collonyes and Plantations, and of what Nature +and Kind. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Courts of Admiralty. +</p> +<p> +16. What Courts of Indicature they have relating to the Admiralty. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page129" name="page129"></a>[129]</span></p> + +<p class="side"> +What their Legislative and Executive Powers are. +</p> +<p> +17. Where the Legislative and Executive Powers of their Governments are +seated. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Statutes and Lawes they have. +</p> +<p> +18. What Statutes, Lawes, and Ordinances they have made, and are now in +force. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What number of Horse and Foot. +</p> +<p> +19. What number of Horse and Foot they have and whether Trayned Bands, +Bands, or Standing Forces. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Castles and Forts and how provided. +</p> +<p> +20. What Castles or Forts they have, how situated and what Stores and +Provisions they are furnished with. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What strength their Neighbours have. +</p> +<p> +21. What strength their Bordering Neighbours have by Sea and Land. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Correspondency they keep with them. +</p> +<p> +22. What Correspondency they keep with their Neighbours. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Armes Ammunition &c. have been sent unto them. +</p> +<p> +23. What Armes, Ammunition, and Stores have been sent unto the said +Collonyes and Plantations upon our Accompt, when received, how Employed, +and what part of them is there remayning and where. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Moneys have been paid for Armes &c. and Fortifications. +</p> +<p> +24. What Moneys have been paid or appointed to be paid by Us, or Leavyed +within the said severall Collonys, and Plantacons for and towards the +buying of Armes, or making and Mayntaining of any Fortifications, or +Castles, And how the said Moneys have been expended. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Boundaryes and Contents of their Lands. +</p> +<p> +25. What the Boundaryes, and Contents of their Lands are. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Mynes, Commodityes and Manufactures they have. +</p> +<p> +26. What Mynes they have of Gold, Silver, Copper, Tynne, Ledd, or Iron. +What Commodityes there are of their production, growth, or Manufacture. +What Materialls for Shipping and whether Salt-petre is or may be +produced in any of the said Collonyes or Plantations. And if so, At what +Rates it may be delivered in England. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Whether Spices, Gumms, Drugs if Planted will not thrive. +</p> +<p> +27. Whether Nutmegs, Cinnamon, Cloves, Pepper, and other Spices, and +Gumms, Druggs and Dying Stuffs which now grow in the East Indyes, and +are brought from thence may not be planted and come to perfection in +some of Our Collonyes, and Plantations in the West Indyes. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Rivers, Harbours &c. they have. +</p> +<p> +28. What Rivers, Harbours, and Roads they have, and of What Depths, and +Soundings. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Banks or Shoales for Fishing. +</p> +<p> +29. What Banks, or Shoales they have upon, or neare their Coasts for +Fishing. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What number of Planters and Parishes. +</p> +<p> +30. What number of Planters, Servants, and Slaves, and how many Parishes +they have. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What number of Whites and Blacks doe yearly come. +</p> +<p> +31. What Number of English, Scotch, or Irish doe yearely come, and what +Blacks, or Slaves, are brought unto them. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What number of People dye yearely. +</p> +<p> +32. What Number of People doe yearely dye within the said Collonyes and +Plantations both Whites, and Blacks. +</p> +<p> +33. What Number of Shipps doe Yearely Trade to and from the said +Collonyes and Plantations, and of what Burthen they are. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page130" name="page130"></a>[130]</span></p> + +<p class="side"> +What number of Ships Trade yearely. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What obstructions they have and Advantages may be gained to +their Trade. +</p> +<p> +34. What Obstructions there are, and What advantages may be gained to +the Improovement of their Trade and Navigation. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Dutyes are Charged upon Goods imported, or exported. +</p> +<p> +35. What Rates and Dutyes are charged and payable upon any Goods or +Commodityes exported out of the said Collonyes and Plantations, whether +of their owne Growth and Manufacture or otherwyse. As also upon Goods +imported. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What Publick Revenues doe arise among them. +</p> +<p> +36. What Revenues doe or may arise unto Us within the said Collynes and +Plantations, and of what nature they are. By whome Collected, and how +answered and Accompted unto Us. +</p> +<p class="side"> +How they instruct the People in Religion, and pay their +Ministry. +</p> +<p> +37. And what Course they take about Instructing of their People in the +Christian Religion. And what Provision is made for the Maintenance of +their Ministers. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To consider which of the said Collonyes are not fully +Planted. +</p> +<p> +38. You are to informe yourselves which of our said Collonyes and +Plantations are not fully Planted or Inhabited, and to consider how such +of them may most conveniently be supplyed from others that are +overstored with people. +</p> +<p class="side"> +How the s<sup>d</sup> Collonyes may be serviceable to one another and +useful to these Kingdomes. +</p> +<p> +39. You are to consider how our said Collonyes, and Plantations may be +serviceable unto one another in relation to their mutuall Sustenance and +Defence, and how they may be Governed to be of use and advantage +likewise to these Our Kingdomes. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To Correspond by Letters with forreigne Governours. +</p> +<p> +40. You are to take care in Keeping frequent Correspondency by Letters +with the severall Governours of Our said Collonyes, and Plantations. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To Charge them to preserve peace with their Neighbo<sup>rs</sup> and +to protect y<sup>e</sup> Indians. +</p> +<p> +41. You are hereby required in Our Name strictly to charge all and every +the Governours of Our said Collonyes and Plantations respectively. That +they doe not Give any just Provocation unto any of their Neighbours +Indians or others that are at Peace & Amity with Us. But that they doe +by all just wayes and Meanes endeavours to preserve such Peace and Amity +and keep a good and fayre Correspondencye with them. +</p> +<p> +And if any of the said Indians shall desire to putt themselves under +the Protection of the Governours, or Governments of our said Collonyes +or Plantations, That they doe receive them with respect and Kindnesse, +and Give them due Protection, and Defence in their Persons, Goods, and +Possessions according to Lawe. And in case any Persons shall contrary +thereunto offer any Affronts or Injuryes unto them, That the said +Governours doe + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page131" name="page131"></a>[131]</span> + + severly punish such offenders according to Justice and +Right. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To procure Coppyes of all Grants concerning the said +Collonyes &c. +</p> +<p> +42. You are to endeavour the procuring Coppyes of all Letters Patents, +Charters, or Grants of any of Our said Collonyes or Plantations, or of +any Part of them, passed by Us or any of Our Predecessors under the +Great Seale of England, to any Person, Socyety, or Corporation of Men +Whatsoever. And to informe yourselves whether they have been duely putt +in Execution according to the Severall Grants, Clauses and Conditions, +conteyned in them respectively. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To procure Exact Mapps of the said Collonyes. +</p> +<p> +43. You are likewise to endeavour the procuring of Exact Mapps, +Platts, or Charts of all Our said Collonyes and Plantations with the +Descriptions of their respective Rivers, Forts, Harbours, Bayes, and +Roads. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To consider of the improoving of their Trade and Commerce. +</p> +<p> +44. And when you shall have received due Information concerning the +perticulars in the foregoing Instructions. You are to consider of the +best wayes, and Meanes for the encourageing settling, and Improoving +the Trade, and Commerce of Our sayd Collonyes, and Plantations. And +accordingly to offer unto Us your Opinions, and Advice thereupon. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To Examine if the Articles of Peace and Commerce with +forreigne Princes have been performed. +</p> +<p> +45. You are to consider the severall Articles of Peace and Commerce that +have been heretofore made between Us or any of our Royal Predecessors, +and all forreigne Princes, and States, and to Examine whether the +Priviledges and Immunityes by them Granted or agreed for the Benefitt +and advantage of Our Merchants, have from tyme to tyme been carefully +upheld and performed, And in case you shall find any Manifest Breach of +them, or any Injuryes done to Our Merchants, or any Obstructions to Our +Trade thereby, You are to represent the same to Us for Our +Consideration. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To enquire what Councills of Trade &c. are settled in +forreigne Parts and w<sup>t</sup> Commiss<sup>ns</sup> Instructions and Allowances +they have. +</p> +<p> +46. You are to informe yourselves the best that may be, What Councills, +or Courts of Indicature are Established in any forreigne Kingdomes +or States for the well Government of their Trade and Navigation, +and for the Improovement Settlement, and Defence of their Collonyes +and Plantations. As also What Commissions, Powers, Authorityes, +Instructions, and allowances they have Given and Granted unto them +for the better carrying on of those Services. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To observe such other Instructions &c as shall be sent +und<sup>r</sup> his Ma<sup>ts</sup> Signe Manuall and to addresse to his Ma<sup>ty</sup> +for further Instructions &c. if need be. +</p> +<p> +47. And Lastly you are required and authorized to observe and putt in +Execution all such other Powers, Authorityes and Instructions (relating +unto Our said Collonyes or + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page132" name="page132"></a>[132]</span> + + Plantations, or unto the Trade, Commerce or +Navigation of them, or of these our Kingdomes) as shall from tyme to +tyme be sent unto you by Us under Our Signe Manuall. +</p> +<p> +And where you shall judge it necessary to have any further Powers, +Authorityes, or Instructions for the better Carrying on of Our Service +therein. You are to Addresse yourselves unto Us for Our further Pleasure +and Direction. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page133" name="page133"></a>[133]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + APPENDIX IV. +</h2> +<h3> + <span class="sc">Heads of Business of Councils, 1670–1674.</span> +</h3> +<h4> +<span class="sc">Council for Foreign Plantations, 1670–1672.</span> +</h4> + +<p> +<i>August 3, 1670.</i> +</p> +<p> +Commission and instructions for a Council for Foreign Plantations read. +(From the Index mentioned on p. 101, note 6, here cited as <i>Journal</i>.) +</p> +<p> +<i>August 9.</i> +</p> +<p> +Letter to Trinity House. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>August 12.</i> +</p> +<p> +Oath of Secrecy to the Officers. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>August 16.</i> +</p> +<p> +Petition of St. Christopher read. (<i>Journal</i>; Cal. State Papers, Col. +1669–1674, § 232, here cited as <i>Cal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>August 19.</i> +</p> +<p> +Commissioners for St. Christopher agreed on. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 232.) +</p> +<p> +<i>August 22.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report on St. Christopher's case. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 232, 850.) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 22.</i> +</p> +<p> +Petition for a chief governor of the Leeward Is. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, +§ 268.) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 24.</i> +</p> +<p> +Beginning of consideration of Surinam question. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, +§§ 60, 291, 486, 524, and <i>passim.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 26.</i> +</p> +<p> +Col. Lynch to be a committee at St. Christopher and afterwards to goe to +Jamaica as his Maj. Lieutenant. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 287.) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 27.</i> +</p> +<p> +Leeward Is. petition again read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 269.) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 29.</i> +</p> +<p> +Drafting of queries to Gov. Berkeley of Virginia. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 565.) +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page134" name="page134"></a>[134]</span> +</p> +<p> +<i>September 30.</i> +</p> +<p> +Jamaica & the Isle of Providence. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 276.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 5.</i> +</p> +<p> +Surinam, Jamaica, St. Christopher; Conveyance of Letters to Foreign +Plantations. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, 1672–1673, p. 295.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 10.</i> +</p> +<p> +Surinam agreement with the two ships, 20,000<sup>11</sup> damage at St. +Christopher. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 274, 292, 295.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 18.</i> +</p> +<p> +St. Christopher order of summons to planters of Barbadoes and +petitioners from St. Christopher to appear. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 297.) There must +have been a meeting on "Friday next." +</p> +<p> +<i>October 25.</i> +</p> +<p> +Draft instructions for Commissioners for St. Christopher for bringing +off from Surinam English subjects, their families, and estates. +(<i>Cal.</i>, § 304.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 27.</i> +</p> +<p> +Leeward Is. their Governor apart, Answer of Lord Willoughby read. +(<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 309, 327.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 1.</i> +</p> +<p> +Surinam, names of Commissioners. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 319, 320, 324.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 5.</i> +</p> +<p> +Commission and instructions to Major Bannister for fetching off the +English from Surinam. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 850.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 8.</i> +</p> +<p> +Peace with Spain. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 334, 334 I.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 12.</i> +</p> +<p> +Barbadoes imposition on Sugar. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 332, 519, 520, +p. 229, <i>passim.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 15.</i> +</p> +<p> +Order regarding 16th article of the treaty with Spain. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 334.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 17.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report on petition of Leeward Is., favoring the petition, despite Lord +Willoughby's objections. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 339, 850.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 26.</i> +</p> +<p> +Sir Chas. Wheeler appointed governor of the Leeward Is. (<i>Journal</i>; +<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 327, 392–397.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 16.</i> +</p> +<p> +Commission and instructions to Sir Thomas Lynch, Lieut. Gov. of Jamaica. +(<i>Cal.</i>, § 850.) +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page135" name="page135"></a>[135]</span></p> + +<h4> +1671. +</h4> + +<p> +<i>January 14.</i> +</p> +<p> +Newfoundland, petition regarding the fishery. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, +§§ 362, 368, 369, 385.) +</p> +<p> +<i>January 21.</i> +</p> +<p> +Governors of Plantations to take the Oaths [of Allegiance?]. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>January 28.</i> +</p> +<p> +Continuation of Newfoundland Question. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>February 9.</i> +</p> +<p> +Consideration of proposals of Sir Charles Wheeler. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, +§§ 410, 412, 415, 420.) +</p> +<p> +<i>February 14.</i> +</p> +<p> +Wheeler's proposals regarding defence of St. Christopher. (<i>Journal</i>; +<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 412, 850.) +</p> +<p> +<i>February 18.</i> +</p> +<p> +Spiriting, kidnapping of young persons for transport to the plantations. +(<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, 1661–1668, Preface, p. xxvii <i>et seq.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>March 2.</i> +</p> +<p> +Continuation of Newfoundland question. Report on the petition. (<i>Cal.</i>, +§§ 362, 850.) +</p> +<p> +<i>March 8.</i> +</p> +<p> +Estimate sent (and probably received on same day) by officers of +ordnance regarding ammunition, etc. for Leeward Is. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 445.) +</p> +<p> +<i>March 10.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report on Newfoundland petition, made on March 2, read. (<i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, +1671, under Mar. 10.) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 27.</i> +</p> +<p> +Petition of Ferdinando Gorges read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 512; See <i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, +1671, April 27, Slingsby to Williamson.) +</p> +<p> +<i>May 22.</i> +</p> +<p> +Robert Mason's first petition to the Council; divers relations +concerning New England, with observations of the commissioners lately +employed there, read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 512.) +</p> +<p> +<i>May 26.</i> +</p> +<p> +"The Earl of Bristol's house in Queen's Street (Lincoln's Inn Fields) +was taken for the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, and furnished +with rich hangings of the King's. It consisted of seven rooms on a +floor, with a long gallery, gardens, etc. This day we met the Duke of +Buckingham, Earl of Lauderdale, Lord Culpeper, Sir George Carteret, Vice +Chamberlain, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page136" name="page136"></a>[136]</span> + + and myself, had the oaths given us by the Earl of Sandwich, +our President. It was to advise and counsel his Majesty, to the best of +our abilities, for the well-governing of his Foreign Plantations, etc., +the form very little differing from that given to the Privy Council. We +then took our places at the Board in the Council Chamber, a very large +room furnished with atlases, maps, charts, globes, etc. Then came the +Lord Keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Earl of Arlington, Secretary of +State, Lord Ashley, Mr. Treasurer, Sir John Trevor, the other Secretary, +Sir John Duncomb, Lord Allington, Mr. Grey, son to the Lord Grey, Mr. +Henry Broncher, Sir Humphrey Winch, Sir John Finch, Mr. Waller and +Colonel Titus of the Bed chamber, with Mr. Slingsby, Secretary to the +Council, and two clerks of the Council, who had all been sworn some +days before. Being all set, our Patent was read, and then the additional +Patent, in which was recited this new establishment; then, was delivered +to each a copy of the Patent, and of instructions; after which we +proceeded to business. +</p> +<p> +The first thing we did was to settle the form of a circular letter to +the Governors of all his Majesty's Plantations and Territories in the +West Indies and Islands thereof, to give them notice to whom they should +apply themselves on all occasions, and to render us an account of their +present state and government; but what we most insisted on was, to know +the condition of New England, which appearing to be very independent as +to their regard to Old England or his Majesty, rich and strong as they +now were, there were great debates in what style to write to them; for +the condition of that Colony was such that they were able to contest +with all other Plantations about them, and there was fear of their +breaking from all dependence on this nation; his Majesty, therefore +commended this affair more expressly. We, therefore, thought fit, in the +first place, to acquaint ourselves as well as we could of the state of +that place, by some whom we heard of that were newly come from thence; +and to be informed of their present posture and condition; some of our +Council were for sending them a menacing letter, which those who better +understood the peevish and touchy humour of that Colony, were utterly +against. +</p> +<p> +A letter was then read from Sir Thomas Modiford, Governor of Jamaica; +and then the Council brake up." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, pp. 63–64.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 6.</i> +</p> +<p> +"I went to Council where was produced a most exact and ample information +of the state of Jamaica and of the best + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page137" name="page137"></a>[137]</span> + + expedients as to New England, +on which there was a long debate; but at length it was concluded that if +any it should be only a conciliating paper at first, or civil letter, +till we had better information of the present face of things, since we +understood they were a people almost on the very brink of renouncing any +dependence on the Crown." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 65.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 16.</i> +</p> +<p> +Colonel Cartwright's papers concerning the New England Colonies read. +(<i>Cal.</i>, § 512.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 19.</i> +</p> +<p> +Patent of Massachusetts read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 572; The <i>Journal</i> says, +"Cartwright's report"; but this seems to be wrong as both Evelyn and the +<i>Calendar</i> place Cartwright's report on the 21st.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 20.</i> +</p> +<p> +"To carry Colonel Middleton [Capt. Thomas Middleton of the former +Council for Foreign Plantations] to Whitehall, to Lord Sandwich, our +President, for some information which he was able to give of the Colony +in New England." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 65.) Probably no regular +meeting was held on this day. +</p> +<p> +<i>June 21.</i> +</p> +<p> +Commission and instructions of the New England Commissioners read; +Col. Cartwright heard (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 512, 566). "To Council again, when one +Colonel Cartwright a Nottinghamshire man (formerly in commission with +Colonel Nicholls) gave us a considerable relation of that country; on +which the Council concluded that in the first place a letter of amnesty +should be despatched." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 65.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 26.</i> +</p> +<p> +Further consideration of the New England case. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 512.) +</p> +<p> +"To Council, where Lord Arlington acquainted us that it was his +Majesty's proposal we should, every one of us, contribute £20 toward +building a Council Chamber and conveniences somewhere in Whitehall, that +his Majesty might come and sit amongst us, and hear our debates; the +money we laid out to be reimbursed out of the contingent monies already +set apart for us, viz. £1000 yearly. To this we unanimously consented." +(Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 66.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 29.</i> +</p> +<p> +Sir Thomas Modyford, Panama. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 209, 433, 504, 505, +577, 578.) +</p> +<p> +"To Council, where were letters from Sir Thomas Modiford, of the +expedition and exploit of Colonel Morgan, and others +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page138" name="page138"></a>[138]</span> +</p> +<p class="quote"> + of Jamaica, on the +Spanish Continent at Panama." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 66.) +</p> +<p> +<i>July 4.</i> +</p> +<p> +"To Council, where we agreed to and drew up a letter to be sent to New +England, and made some proposal to Mr. Gorges, for his interest in a +plantation there." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 66.) +</p> +<p> +<i>July 12.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report on Gorges petition, recommending the sending of commissioners to +New England. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 439, I.) +</p> +<p> +<i>July 17.</i> +</p> +<p> +New England, Massachusetts. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>July 24.</i> +</p> +<p> +Robert Mason's second petition to the Council read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 512.) +</p> +<p> +"To Council. Mr. Surveyor brought us a plot for the building of our +Council Chamber, to be erected at the end of the Privy-garden, in +Whitehall." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, p. 66.) +</p> +<p> +<i>August 3.</i> +</p> +<p> +Agreement about Commissioners to New England. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 512.) +</p> +<p> +Address regarding sending two ships to Surinam. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 596, 850.) +</p> +<p> +"A full appearance at the Council. The matter in debate was whether we +should send a deputy to New England, requiring them of the Massachusetts +to restore such to their limits and respective possessions, as had +petitioned the Council; this to be the open commission only; but in +truth, with secret instructions to inform us of the condition of those +Colonies, and whether they were of such power, as to be able to resist +his Majesty and declare for themselves as independent of the Crown, +which we were told and which of late years made them refractory. Colonel +Middleton being called in, assured us they might be curbed by a few of +his Majesty's first-rate frigates, to spoil their trade with the +islands; but, though my Lord President was not satisfied, the rest were, +and we did resolve to advise his Majesty to send Commissioners with a +formal Commission for adjusting boundaries, etc., with some other +instructions." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 66.) +</p> +<p> +<i>August 12.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report concerning New England, a representation of the present state of +New England and the sending over of Commissioners. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 512, 598, +850.) +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page139" name="page139"></a>[139]</span></p> + +<p> +<i>August 19.</i> +</p> +<p> +"To Council. The letters of Sir Thomas Modiford were read, giving +relation of the exploit at Panama, which was very brave." (Evelyn's +<i>Diary</i>, II, pp. 66–67.) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 9.</i> +</p> +<p> +Commissioners (names of) to be sent to New England. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 15.</i> +</p> +<p> +"In the afternoon at Council, where letters were read from Sir Charles +Wheeler, concerning his resigning his government at St. Christopher's." +(Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 67.) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 19.</i> +</p> +<p> +Council informed that the king had agreed to the sending commissioners +and desiring instructions to be prepared against spring. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 512.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 13.</i> +</p> +<p> +Further information to Council regarding commissioners; Council to treat +with Mason and Gorges regarding sale of their estates in New England, +but not without the king's leave. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 512.) +</p> +<p> +St. Christopher and Leeward Is. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +Negroes, Leeward Is. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 700.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 14.</i> +</p> +<p> +"To Council, where Sir Charles Wheeler, late Governor of the Leeward +Islands, having been complained of for many indiscreet managements, +it was resolved, on scanning many of the particulars, to advise his +Majesty to remove him; and consult what was to be done to prevent these +inconveniences he had brought things to. This business stayed me in +London almost a week, being in Council or Committee every morning till +the 25th." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 72.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 16.</i> +</p> +<p> +Mr. Gorges, New England. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 20.</i> +</p> +<p> +St. Christopher; Publication by Sir Charles Wheeler and answer of the +Council. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 657, 658, 659.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 24.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report to the king on the same subject. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 659, 850.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 26 (7).</i> +</p> +<p> +St. Christopher: proclamation disowning Sir Charles Wheeler read. +(<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 661.) +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page140" name="page140"></a>[140]</span></p> + +<p> +Mr. Brouncker's conference with the French ambassador read. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +"We ordered that a proclamation should be presented to his Majesty to +sign against what Sir Charles Wheeler had done in St. Christopher's +since the war, on the articles of peace at Breda. He was shortly +afterwards recalled." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, p. 73.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 28.</i> +</p> +<p> +The Answer of the Planters of the Leeward Is. read. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +Account of Jamaica, probably taken from Gov. Lynch's answers to queries. +(<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 663, p. 277.) +</p> +<p> +Heads of king's proclamation regarding St. Christopher. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 7.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report of the Council on the proclamation and the framing of something +fit to be offered to the French ambassador. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 675, 677, 850.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 11.</i> +</p> +<p> +New England Case, Mr. Mason's account of the commodities of New +Hampshire. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 687.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 14.</i> +</p> +<p> +Mr. Mason, the answer of the Council. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 18.</i> +</p> +<p> +Instructions to Mr. Slingsby to speak to members of Privy Council +regarding patents to Massachusetts. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 652.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 19.</i> +</p> +<p> +Mr. Slingsby's report about a new governor for the Leeward Is. +(<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 20.</i> +</p> +<p> +Draft of commission for governor of Leeward Is.; revocation of Wheeler's +commission; report to king concerning Col. Stapleton, the new governor. +(<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 699, 707, 738, 740, 744, 804, 805, 850.) +</p> + +<h4> +1672. +</h4> + +<p> +<i>January 22.</i> +</p> +<p> +Commissioners for New England. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 512.) +</p> +<p> +<i>February 6.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report of Mr. Gorges, "Commissioner for the province of Maine" read. +(<i>Cal.</i>, § 753.) +</p> +<p> +<i>February 12.</i> +</p> +<p> +"At the Council, we entered on enquiries about improving the Plantations +by silks, galls, flax, senna, etc., and considered how nutmegs and +cinnamon might be obtained and brought to Jamaica, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page141" name="page141"></a>[141]</span> + + that soil and climate +promising success. Dr. Worsley being called in, spake many considerable +things to encourage it. We took order to send to the Plantations, +that none of their ships should venture homeward single, but stay for +company and convoys. We also deliberated on some fit person to go as +Commissioner to inspect their actions in New England, and, from time +to time, report how that people stood affected.—In future to meet at +Whitehall." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 74.) +</p> +<p> +<i>February 13.</i> +</p> +<p> +Instructions from Secretary of State to prepare commission, etc., for +New England Commissioners. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 512.) +</p> +<p> +<i>February 16.</i> +</p> +<p> +Account of the militia in the Province of Maine read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 762.) +</p> +<p> +<i>February 20.</i> +</p> +<p> +Letter from Sir Thomas Lynch to the Council read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 640.) +</p> +<p> +<i>March 1.</i> +</p> +<p> +"A full Council of Plantations, on the danger of the Leeward Islands, +threatened by the French, who had taken some of our ships, and began +to interrupt our trade. Also in debate, whether the new governor of +St. Christopher's should be subordinate to the Governor of Barbadoes. +The debate was serious and long." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 75.) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 2.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report concerning the general state of the Leeward Is. and the +differences depending between the English and French at St. Christopher. +(<i>Cal.</i>, § 850.) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 9.</i> +</p> +<p> +About Logwood (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 709, 742, 777, 825), and the +defence of Barbadoes and the Leeward Is. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 799.) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 15.</i> +</p> +<p> +Commission and instructions for Lord Willoughby and a report on his +proposals. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 850.) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 16.</i> +</p> +<p> +Letter from Sir Charles Wheeler read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 748.) +</p> +<p> +"Sat in Council, preparing Lord Willoughby's commission and instructions +as governor of Barbadoes and the Caribbee Islands." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, +II, p. 78.) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 19.</i> +</p> +<p> +"At Council, preparing instructions for Colonel Stapleton, now to go +Governor of St. Christopher's; and heard the complaints + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page142" name="page142"></a>[142]</span> + + of the Jamaica +merchants against the Spaniards, for hindering them from cutting logwood +on the main land, where they have no pretence." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, +pp. 78–79.) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 26.</i> +</p> +<p> +Archibald Henderson's case. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 775, p. 339, 806.) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 30.</i> +</p> +<p> +Commissioners for New England named, etc. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 512.) +</p> +<p> +<i>May 7.</i> +</p> +<p> +Case of Mark Gabry, exporter of wool. (<i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, 1671–1672, +pp. 155, 156, 481.) +</p> +<p> +<i>May 10.</i> +</p> +<p> +Case of the <i>James</i> of Belfast (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 813), and Wheeler +letter (§ 775), containing a statement about Henderson. +</p> +<p> +Draft commission for Willoughby (§ 822). +</p> +<p> +Agreed that the commission for New England should be expedited (§ 512). +</p> +<p> +Report to the king upon the case of the <i>William and Nicholas</i> (§ 850). +</p> +<p> +<i>May 14.</i> +</p> +<p> +Proposals about the Leeward Is. formerly delivered by Lord Willoughby. +(<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 828.) +</p> +<p> +<i>May 17.</i> +</p> +<p> +Case of the <i>William and Nicholas</i>, Logwood ship. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, +§§ 823, 824.) +</p> +<p> +<i>May 27.</i> +</p> +<p> +Letter from Sir Thomas Lynch read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 777.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 4.</i> +</p> +<p> +Consideration of the Logwood trade. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 825, 837.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 11.</i> +</p> +<p> +Order regarding ship <i>William and Nicholas.</i> (<i>Cal.</i>, § 823.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 13.</i> +</p> +<p> +Surinam and Curaçao. (<i>Journal</i> has "Quarasao"; <i>Cal.</i>, § 879.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 15.</i> +</p> +<p> +Continuation of the Logwood difficulty. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 825, II, +879, 880.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 21.</i> +</p> +<p> +Case of the <i>Peter</i> of London (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 820; <i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, +1673, pp. 198–199.) +</p> +<p> +Petition from Montserrat. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 859, 879.) +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page143" name="page143"></a>[143]</span></p> + +<p> +<i>June 25.</i> +</p> +<p> +Jews in Jamaica. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 848, 879.) +</p> +<p> +Heads of a letter to Sir Thomas Lynch from the Council. (<i>Journal</i>; +<i>Cal.</i>, § 943.) +</p> +<p> +Injuries from the French in the West Indies. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 805.) +</p> +<p> +About ship departure from Jamaica. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 683, 910.) +</p> +<p> +<i>July 2.</i> +</p> +<p> +Opinion and advice of the Council to the king upon a great variety of +matters already discussed. Jews, logwood, Surinam, Jamaica defence, +Curaçoa, Leeward Is. and Wheeler, and Stapleton, defense of Montserrat, +etc. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 879.) In addition the merchants seem to have made a +report on the best time for ships to depart from Jamaica. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>July 3.</i> +</p> +<p> +Petition from the Long Islanders regarding the whale fishery and their +relations with New Amsterdam read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 875.) +</p> +<p> +<i>July 16.</i> +</p> +<p> +Concerning Virginia—probably the question of the Arlington and Culpeper +grant. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>July 19.</i> +</p> +<p> +Regarding the whale fishery. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 875.) +</p> +<p> +<i>July 26.</i> +</p> +<p> +Petition of Sir Ernestus Biron, escheator in Barbadoes, read. +(<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, 1661–1668, § 1622.) +</p> +<p> +<i>July 29.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report on the petition. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 1.</i> +</p> +<p> +"Our Council of Plantations met at Lord Shaftesbury's (Chancellor of the +Exchequer) to read and reform the draught of our new Patent, joining the +Council of Trade to our political capacities." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, +p. 83.) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 20.</i> +</p> +<p> +Particulars of monies disbursed for the Council. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 1 (about).</i> +</p> +<p> +Letters written by Sir Thomas Lynch on June 20 and July 5 read to the +Council. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 943.) +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Council for Trade and Foreign Plantations, 1672–1674.</span> +</p> +<p> +<i>October 13.</i> +</p> +<p> +Commission opened and read and oath administered. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +Letters from Gov. Stapleton and his answer to inquiries read. (<i>Cal.</i>, +§§ 842, 896.) +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page144" name="page144"></a>[144]</span></p> + +<p> +"Went to my Lord Keeper, (Sir Orlando Bridgeman) at Essex House, where +our new patent was opened and read, constituting us that were of the +Council of Plantations, to be now of the Council of Trade also, both +united. After the patent was read, we all took our oaths, and departed." +(Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 85.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 24.</i> +</p> +<p> +Oaths administered. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +"Met in Council, the Earl of Shaftesbury, now our President, swearing +our Secretary and his clerks, which was Mr. Locke, an excellent learned +gentleman, and student of Christ Church, Mr. Lloyd, and Mr. Frowde [son +of Philip Frowde, clerk of the former Council of 1660]. We dispatched a +letter to Sir Thomas Linch Governor of Jamaica, giving him notice of a +design of the Dutch on that island." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 86.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 27.</i> +</p> +<p> +Jamaica laws received and probably considered. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 829.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 29.</i> +</p> +<p> +Meeting held at 9. a. m. No statement as to business. (<i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, +1672–1673.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 3.</i> +</p> +<p> +Logwood case; depositions and letters presented. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 954.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 8.</i> +</p> +<p> +New England case considered. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +Letter from Sir Thomas Lynch read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 855.) +</p> +<p> +Rodney petition received from the Privy Council and read. (<i>Cal.</i>, +§ 958.) +</p> +<p> +The petition from the consul of Venice, asking that consulage be levied +on goods not on ships. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, 1673, pp. 100, 303.) +</p> +<p> +"At Council we debated the business of the consulate of Leghorn (?). I +was of the Committee with Sir Humphrey Winch, the Chairman, to examine +the laws of his Majesty's several plantations and colonies in the West +Indies, etc." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 86.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 13.</i> +</p> +<p> +Letter from Dep. Gov. Coddrington of Barbadoes read. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 872, +901, 902.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 15.</i> +</p> +<p> +Petition of the consul at Venice considered further. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +"Many merchants were summoned about the consulate of Venice; which +caused great disputes; the most considerable thought it useless." +(Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 86.) +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page145" name="page145"></a>[145]</span></p> + +<p> +<i>November 20.</i> +</p> +<p> +Petition of Rabba Couty, whose ship was seized at Port Royal, Jamaica, +on the ground that he was a foreigner. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 968; <i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, +1672–1673, p. 295.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 29.</i> +</p> +<p> +Order of Council appointing a committee to confer with Sir Charles +Wheeler. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 974.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 7.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report of the conferences. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 977.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 10.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report of the conferences. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 977.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 20.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report on the case of Rabba Couty, recommending the return of the +vessel. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 968, IV; <i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, 1672–1673, p. 295.) +</p> +<p> +Order issued for a more speedy and orderly despatch of reports to +the King and of letters and orders to the Governors of plantations. +(<i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, 1672–1673, p. 295.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 21.</i> +</p> +<p> +"Settled the Consulate of Venice." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>. II, p. 86.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 29.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report on petition of the Gambia merchants regarding the use of a wood +called "sanders" for dyeing purposes. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 973, III; <i>Cal.</i>, +<i>Dom.</i>, 1673, pp. 190, 217.) +</p> + +<h4> +1673. +</h4> + +<p> +<i>January 7.</i> +</p> +<p> +Letter of Sir Thomas Lynch; complaint of Gambia Company; Russell's +answer to Rodney's petition; report on laws of Jamaica; articles +relating to the Venetian trade; Ordinance in Sweden against "our +privileges"; St. Christopher business; answer to Col. Stapleton; advice +to the King about planting St. Christopher; regarding the books and +papers of the former councils; Newfoundland trade; acts of Barbadoes. +(<i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, 1672–1673, p. 403. This series of subjects is the only +complete list of the heads of a single day's business that we find +anywhere, except in the minutes of two meetings noted below.) +</p> +<p> +<i>January 9.</i> +</p> +<p> +About Johnson "the Pyrat." (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 938, 1082, Index; <i>Journal</i>.) +</p> +<p> +<i>January 11.</i> +</p> +<p> +Order of the Council to the secretary to report on losses and injuries +lately sustained from the Spaniards. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1022.) +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page146" name="page146"></a>[146]</span></p> + +<p> +<i>February 1.</i> +</p> +<p> +Similar order regarding the differences with the French at St. +Christopher. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 1028, 1033.) +</p> +<p> +Heads of a letter to Gov. Stapleton of St. Christopher. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>February 6.</i> +</p> +<p> +Gambia Adventurers. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>February 18.</i> +</p> +<p> +Gambia Adventurers. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +Secretary's report on St. Christopher. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1034.) Secretary +ordered to prepare another report for the 25<sup>th</sup> on same subject. +</p> +<p> +<i>February 25.</i> +</p> +<p> +Secretary's report probably presented on this day. +</p> +<p> +<i>March 6.</i> +</p> +<p> +Letter to Gov. Stapleton written. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +Letter from Lord Willoughby read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1000.) +</p> +<p> +<i>March 17.</i> +</p> +<p> +Petition from Rodney asking that a certain Carpenter, "who has long +lived in Nevis," may be heard. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1049.) +</p> +<p> +Reply of Capt Rodney to the answer of Gov. Russell read. (<i>Cal.</i>, +§ 1050.) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 10.</i> +</p> +<p> +Heads of an address about St. Christopher. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 1038, +1069.) +</p> +<p> +New England. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 14.</i> +</p> +<p> +Representations on Gambia question drawn up. (<i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, 1773, +p. 142.) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 22.</i> +</p> +<p> +Rodney's petition. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 958, 1049–1050, 1071, 1074, +1110, 1194, 1225. See Index.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 9.</i> +</p> +<p> +Address of Council to the king regarding differences between the English +and the French at St. Christopher. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 903, 1105.) +</p> +<p> +<i>June 23.</i> +</p> +<p> +Representation and advice of the Council regarding the Rodney case. +(<i>Cal.</i>, § 1110.) +</p> +<p> +"To London, to accompany our Council, who went in a body to congratulate +the new Lord Treasurer [Sir Thomas Osborne], no friend to it, because +promoted by my Lord Arlington, whom he hated." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, +p. 90.) +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page147" name="page147"></a>[147]</span></p> + +<p> +<i>July 21.</i> +</p> +<p> +About the exportation of wool (<i>Journal</i>); report on this question +urging that present laws be put in execution and export of wool be +strictly forbidden. (<i>Cal.</i>, <i>Dom.</i>, 1673, pp. 382, 541.) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 13.</i> +</p> +<p> +Dr Worsley, his discharge. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 1151.) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 16.</i> +</p> +<p> +To Council about chosing a new Secretary. (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 94.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 15.</i> +</p> +<p> +Mr. Lock sworne. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 1162, 1163.) +</p> +<p> +"To Council, and swore in Mr. Locke, secretary, Dr. Worsley being dead." +(Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, 95. This statement regarding Dr. Worsley cannot +be true.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 21</i> (committee). +</p> +<p> +Charter parties for transporting to Barbadoes stores and provisions +read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1058.) +</p> +<p> +Letters from Sir Peter Colleton & others read. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 1101, 1104, +1131, 1133.) +</p> +<p> +Regarding capture of New York. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 1138, 1157.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 27</i> (committee). +</p> +<p> +About Sir J. Atkins, Barbadoes. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +Regarding New York; Mr. Dyer's project for reducing that town. +(<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 1157.) +</p> +<p> +"To Council about sending succours to recover New York; and then we read +the commission and instructions to Sir Jonathan Atkins, the new Governor +of Barbadoes." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, 95.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 3.</i> +</p> +<p> +About New York, Albany, etc.; consideration of the retaking of these +places from the Dutch. (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 1160, 1165.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 7</i> (committee). +</p> +<p> +William Dervell's statement regarding the loss of New York. (<i>Cal.</i>, +§ 1143.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 8.</i> +</p> +<p> +Barbadoes and Sir J. Atkins. (<i>Journal.</i>) Probably the question +of Atkins's commission as Governor of Barbadoes was here under +consideration. +</p> +<p> +<i>November 19</i> (committee). +</p> +<p> +Letters from Gov. Lynch read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1115.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 24.</i> +</p> +<p> +Petitions of Steed, provost marshal of Barbadoes, read. (<i>Cal.</i>, +§ 1167.) +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page148" name="page148"></a>[148]</span></p> + +<p> +<i>December 1.</i> +</p> +<p> +Letter from Sir Jonathan Atkins received and (probably) read. (<i>Cal.</i>, +§ 1173.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 5.</i> +</p> +<p> +Deposition of William Carpenter in favor of Steed. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1177.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 19.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report to the King, presenting draft of commission and instructions for +Sir Jonathan Atkins, governor of Barbadoes. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 1182, 1185.) +</p> + +<h4> +1674. +</h4> + +<p> +<i>January 7.</i> +</p> +<p> +Received order from Privy Council committee on grievances regarding the +Rodney petition. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1194.) +</p> +<p> +<i>January 10</i> (committee). +</p> +<p> +Petition of William Dyer of New York to the King read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1108.) +</p> +<p> +<i>January 16.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report of the Council on this petition. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1108.) +</p> +<p> +<i>January 23.</i> +</p> +<p> +Order from the Privy Council instructing the Council to transmit a true +state of the case between Rodney and others. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1207.) +</p> +<p> +<i>February 10.</i> +</p> +<p> +"Ordered, That a Copy of M<sup>r</sup>. Rodneys Petic̃on and his Ma<sup>ties</sup>. +Reference thereupon, and the Report of this Councill should bee +delivered by M<sup>r</sup>. Lock to M<sup>r</sup>. Secret<sup>ry</sup>. Coventry to bee by him +p<sup>e</sup>sented to his Ma<sup>ty</sup>. +</p> +<p> +The Earle of Arlingtons Lr︢e︣ to this Councill of the 23<sup>d</sup>. of +January last signifying his Ma<sup>ties</sup>. pleasure, That this Councill +should consider of a Com<sup>n</sup>. & Instruc︢c︣ons for the Earle of +Carlisle, appointed to bee Governo<sup>r</sup>. of Jamaica, and Col: Morgan +appointed to bee Deputy Governo<sup>r</sup>. was read. +</p> +<p> +A Draught of Instruc︢c︣ons for my Lord Carlisle was read and debated, +and the further debate thereof adjourned till next meeting. +</p> +<p> +My Lord Culpeper having acquainted this Councill, that my Lord Carlisle +had something to offer to this Councill. The Councill desired my Lord +Culpeper to acquaint his Lords︢p︣, That if hee pleased to come to the +Councill on Fryday next in the Afternoone, they shall bee ready to +receive what e︢v︣ his Lords︢p︣ shall bee pleas'd to offer to them. +</p> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page149" name="page149"></a>[149]</span> +</p> +<p> +Ordered that M<sup>r</sup>. Lock gett some Presses made wherein the papers +belong to this Councill may bee conveniently layd up. +</p> +<p> +Two Addiconall Instruc︢c︣ons for S<sup>r</sup>. Jonathan Atkins Ordered to bee +drawne, one to p<sup>e</sup>vent his making of Judges & Justices by Com<sup>ns</sup>. +limited in tyme, becaus some former Governo<sup>rs</sup>. by com̃issionating +these Officers only for a yeare, kept them at their devoc̃on for +feare they should bee left out of the next, thereby eluding their +Instruc︢c︣ons, which forbid the turning out of any of these Officers, +but for good caus. Another to prevent the perpetuity of Laws in the +Plantac̃ons w<sup>th</sup>out his Ma<sup>ties</sup> confirmac̃on. Ordered also +that the Addres to his Ma<sup>ty</sup> ab<sup>t</sup>. Jonathan Atkins and others +Governo<sup>rs</sup>. taking the Oath's here, to be drawne w<sup>th</sup>out Preamble." +(<i>Shaftesbury Papers</i>, Div. X, 8 (8).) +</p> +<p> +<i>February 17.</i> +</p> +<p> +"M<sup>r</sup>. Locke Reported to the Councill, That attending M<sup>r</sup>. Secretary +Coventry w<sup>th</sup> the papers concerning Rodney's Case ordered by this +Council the 10<sup>th</sup> of this Instant February, M<sup>r</sup>. Secretary Coventry +told him, That the Order of the Privy Councill being to transmitt the +said papers, to his Ma<sup>ty</sup> in Councill, that itt was not proper to do +itt by his hands, Butt that they should bee sent to one of the Clerks of +the Councill to bee by him delivered. +</p> +<p> +Ordered thereupon, That the said papers bee delivered to one of the +Clerks of the Councill, to bee by him p<sup>e</sup>sented to his Ma<sup>ty</sup> in +Councill. +</p> +<p> +Ordered That the Address of this Councill to his Ma<sup>ty</sup> concerning +S<sup>r</sup>. Jonathan Atkins and other Governo<sup>rs</sup>. and Deputy Governo<sup>rs</sup>. +takeing the Oathes &c: here, bee delivered to the Earle of Arlington to +bee by him p<sup>e</sup>sented to his Ma<sup>ty</sup>. +</p> +<p> +Two Addiconall Instruc︢c︣ons for S<sup>r</sup>. Jonathan Atkins, The one about +the Com<sup>ns</sup>. of Justices of the Peace, and the other about Marshall Law +read & agreed. +</p> +<p> +A Copy of an Order of the Presid<sup>ts</sup>. & Councill of Barbados, +concerning the Provost Marshall's place, was brought in by my Lord +Culpeper, who assured the Councill hee had rec̃ed itt in a Letter from +the Clerk of the Councill there, which letter hee had not now about him. +The considerac̃on thereof adjourned till this Copy bee made appeare to +this Councill to bee more authentique. +</p> +<p> +Upon Reading the Addiconall Instruc︢c︣on to Sir Jonathan Atkins +concerning the reenacting of Laws. The Councill entred into a debate +about the best way for his Ma<sup>ty</sup> to confirme the Laws made by the +Plantac̃ons, which being often tymes ill worded by the Assembly there, +and some tymes faulty in some part though the maine deserves to bee +established. Which being + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page150" name="page150"></a>[150]</span> + + found to bee a matter of great moment, The +farther debate thereof was adjourned till another opportunity, when the +Earle of Shaftesbury should bee present." (<i>Shaftesbury Papers</i>, Div. X, +8 (9); <i>Cal.</i>, § 1221. These minutes are the only complete record that +we have of the proceedings at council meetings. They show how much has +been lost in the disappearance of the original journal.) +</p> +<p> +<i>March 6.</i> +</p> +<p> +Letter from Lord Willoughby read. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 966.) +</p> +<p> +Petition of William Helyar regarding woodland purchased by him in +Jamaica. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1236.) +</p> +<p> +<i>March 8.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report of the Council upon the petition of Edwin Steed. (<i>Cal.</i>, +§ 1238.) +</p> +<p> +<i>March 17.</i> +</p> +<p> +Mr. Gorges paper regarding the sugar plantations. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1244.) +</p> +<p> +<i>March 23.</i> +</p> +<p> +Sends Helyar's petition to Gov. Lynch and wishes reply. (<i>Cal.</i>, +§ 1250.) +</p> +<p> +Draft Commission for the Earl of Carlisle, appointed governor of +Jamaica. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 1251, 1252. Cf. § 1253.) +</p> +<p> +Similar draft for Col. Morgan, deputy governor of Jamaica. (<i>Cal.</i>, +§ 1254.) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 3.</i> +</p> +<p> +Petition from Representatives of Leeward Is. for convoys, etc. +(<i>Cal.</i>, § 1257.) +</p> +<p> +<i>April 13.</i> +</p> +<p> +New England: petition of Earl of Sterling, Gorges, and Mason read. +(<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, § 1247.) +</p> +<p> +<i>May 8</i> (committee). +</p> +<p> +Letter from Gov. Stapleton read. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 1201–1203, 1327.) +</p> +<p> +<i>July 3.</i> +</p> +<p> +Petition of Edmund Cooke, merchant, regarding the barbarous treatment +received from the Spaniards. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1320.) +</p> +<p> +<i>July 17.</i> +</p> +<p> +Similar petition from other merchants. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1327.) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 15.</i> +</p> +<p> +"To Council, about fetching away the English left at Surinam, etc., +since our reconciliation with Holland." (Evelyn's <i>Diary</i>, II, p. 99.) +</p> +<p> +<i>September 22.</i> +</p> +<p> +Regarding Surinam question—fetching the English away, etc. (<i>Cal.</i>, +§ 1354.) +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page151" name="page151"></a>[151]</span></p> + +<p> +<i>September 24.</i> +</p> +<p> +Report on this question to the King. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1355.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 6</i> (Committee). +</p> +<p> +Letter from Gov. Lynch in answer to Col. Helyar's petition read. +(<i>Cal.</i>, § 1301.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 13.</i> +</p> +<p> +Letter from Gov. Stapleton on the wrongs suffered from the French in the +Leeward Is. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1333.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 15.</i> +</p> +<p> +Proposal read of F. Gorges, agent of Gov. Stapleton, regarding the +action of the French. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1360.) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 16.</i> +</p> +<p> +St. Christopher and Sir William Lockhart's letter. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1365, I.) +Lockhart was "Resident with the French King." +</p> +<p> +<i>October 27.</i> +</p> +<p> +Discussion of the Surinam situation. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>October 30.</i> +</p> +<p> +Continuation of the same. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 17.</i> +</p> +<p> +Continuation of the same. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +"To Council, on the business of Surinam, where the Dutch had detained +some English in prison, ever since the first war, 1665." (Evelyn's +<i>Diary</i>, II, 100.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 20.</i> +</p> +<p> +About Negroes; probably regarding a clause in Lord Vaughan's commission. +(<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, §§ 1386, 1392.) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 21.</i> +</p> +<p> +Jamaica and my Lord Vaughan. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>November 24.</i> +</p> +<p> +Heads of Lord Vaughan's commission and instructions. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1392). +About Negroes. (<i>Journal.</i>) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 4.</i> +</p> +<p> +About Surinam. Address of the Council to the King (<i>Journal</i>; <i>Cal.</i>, +§ 1401.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 17.</i> +</p> +<p> +Address of the Council regarding Indians brought by force from Guinea to +Barbadoes. (<i>Cal.</i>, § 1409.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 18.</i> +</p> +<p> +About Surinam. (<i>Journal.</i>) Instruction for a vessel sailing to that +island. (<i>Cal.</i>, §§ 1413, 1414, 1415.) +</p> +<p> +<i>December 22.</i> +</p> +<p> +Address from the Council to the King regarding the Surinam question. +(<i>Cal.</i>, § 1416.) +</p> + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of British Committees, Commissions, and +Councils of Trade and Plantations, 1622-1675, by Charles M. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: British Committees, Commissions, and Councils of Trade and Plantations, 1622-1675 + +Author: Charles M. Andrews + +Release Date: August 1, 2010 [EBook #33313] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH COMMITTEES *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: Portions of this text are written in an archaic +manner in which macrons over single or double letters stand in place +for an abbreviation. This has been represented in the text version +by enclosing the letter in square brackets and preceeding the letter +(or letters) with a tilde character. There are also copious single +and multiple superscripted abbreviations represented in the text version +by enclosing the superscripted characters with curly braces, preceded +by a caret.] + + + + + + + Series XXVI Nos. 1-2-3 + + JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES + IN + Historical and Political Science + + Under the Direction of the Departments + of History, Political Economy, and + Political Science + + * * * * * + + + + +BRITISH COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS, AND COUNCILS OF TRADE AND PLANTATIONS, +1622-1675 + + +BY CHARLES M. ANDREWS +Professor of History + + + + BALTIMORE + THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS + + PUBLISHED MONTHLY + January, February, March, 1908 + + + Copyright 1908 by + THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +CONTROL OF TRADE AND PLANTATIONS UNDER JAMES I AND CHARLES I. + + Before 1622, Privy Council the sole authority 10 + Commission of Trade, 1622-1623 11 + Commission of Trade, 1625-1626 12 + Privy Council Committee of Trade, 1630-1640 13 + Temporary Plantation Commissions, 1630-1633 14 + Laud Commission for Plantations, 1634-1641 14 + Subcommittees for Plantations, 1632-1639 17 + Privy Council in control, 1640-1642 21 + Parliamentary Commission for Plantations, 1643-1648 21 + + +CHAPTER II. + +CONTROL OF TRADE AND PLANTATIONS DURING THE INTERREGNUM. + + The Council of Trade, 1650-1653 24 + Plantation Affairs controlled by the Council of State, 1649-1651 30 + Standing Committee of the Council for Plantations, + 1651-April, 1653 33 + Plantation Affairs controlled by the Council of State, + April-Dec., 1653 35 + Trade controlled by Council of State and Parliamentary Committees, + Dec., 1653-June, 1655 36 + Importance of the years 1654-1655 36 + The great Trade Committee, 1655-1657 38 + Parliamentary Committees of Trade, 1656-1658 43 + Plantation Affairs controlled by Protector's Council and Council + of the State, 1653-1660 43 + Special Council Committees for Plantations, 1653-1659 44 + Council Committee for Jamaica and Foreign Plantations, 1655-1660 44 + Select Committee for Jamaica, known later as Committee + for America, 1655-1660 45 + Inadequacy of Control during the Interregnum 47 + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE PROPOSALS OF THE MERCHANTS: NOELL AND POVEY. + + Career of Martin Noell 49 + Career of Thomas Povey 51 + Enterprises of the Merchants, 1657-1659 53 + Proposals of Noell and Povey 55 + "Overtures" of 1654 55 + "Queries" of 1656 58 + Additional Proposals, 1656, 1657 58 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +COMMITTEES AND COUNCILS UNDER THE RESTORATION. + + Plantation Committee of Privy Council, June 4, 1660 61 + Work of Privy Council Committee 63 + Appointment of Select Councils of Trade and Plantations, 1660 64 + Membership of these Councils 67 + Comparison of Povey's "Overtures" with the Instructions for + Council for Foreign Plantations 68 + Comparison of Povey's "First Draft" with Instructions for + Council of Trade 71 + Work of Council for Foreign Plantations, 1660-1665 74 + Control of Plantation Affairs, 1665-1670 79 + Work of Council of Trade, 1660-1664 80 + Parliamentary Committee of Trade, 1664 85 + Commission for English-Scottish Trade, 1667-1668 86 + Reorganization of Committees of the Privy Council, 1668 87 + Work of Privy Council Committee for Foreign Plantations, 1668-1670 90 + New Select Council of Trade, 1668-1672 91 + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE PLANTATION COUNCILS OF 1670 AND 1672. + + Influence of Ashley and Locke 96 + Revival of Council for Foreign Plantations, 1670-1672 97 + Membership 97 + Commission and Instructions 99 + Meetings and Work 101 + Select Council of Trade and Foreign Plantations, 1672-1674 106 + Membership 106 + Commission and Instructions 107 + Meetings and Work 109 + Causes of the Revocation of the Commission of Select Council, 1674 111 + Later History of Plantation Control, 1675-1782 112 + + +APPENDICES. + + I. Instructions, Board of Trade, 1650 115 + II. Instructions, Council for Foreign Plantations, 1670-1672 117 + Additional Instructions for the Same 124 + III. Draft of Instructions, Council of Trade and Foreign + Plantations, 1672-1674 127 + IV. Heads of Business; Councils of 1670 and 1672 133 + + + + +BRITISH COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS, AND COUNCILS OF TRADE AND PLANTATIONS, +1622-1675. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Control of Trade and Plantations Under James I and Charles I. + + +In considering the subject which forms the chief topic of this paper, we +are not primarily concerned with the question of settlement, intimately +related though it be to the larger problem of colonial control. We are +interested rather in the early history of the various commissions, +councils, committees, and boards appointed at one time or another in the +middle of the seventeenth century for the supervision and management of +trade, domestic, foreign, and colonial, and for the general oversight of +the colonies whose increase was furthered, particularly after 1650, in +largest part for commercial purposes. The coupling of the terms "trade" +and "foreign plantations" was due to the prevailing economic theory +which viewed the colonies not so much as markets for British exports +or as territories for the receipt of a surplus British population--for +Great Britain had at that time no surplus population and manufactured +but few commodities for export--but rather as sources of such raw +materials as could not be produced at home, and of such tropical +products as could not be obtained otherwise than from the East and West +Indies. The two interests were not, however, finally consolidated in +the hands of a single board until 1672, after which date they were not +separated until the final abolition of the old Board of Trade in 1782. +It is, therefore, to the period before 1675 that we shall chiefly direct +our attention, in the hope of throwing some light upon a phase of +British colonial control that has hitherto remained somewhat obscure. +Familiar as are many of the facts connected with the early history of +Great Britain's management of trade and the colonies, it is nevertheless +true that no attempt has been made to trace in detail the various +experiments undertaken by the authorities in England in the interest +of trade and the plantations during the years before 1675. Many of +the details are, and will always remain, unknown, nevertheless it is +possible to make some additions to our knowledge of a subject which +is more or less intimately related to our early colonial history. + +At the beginning of colonization the control of all matters relating +to trade and the plantations lay in the hands of the king and his +council, forming the executive branch of the government. Parliament +had not yet begun to legislate for the colonies, and in matters +of trade and commerce the parliaments of James I accomplished much +less than had those of Elizabeth. "In the time of James I," says Dr. +Prothero, "it was more essential to assert constitutional principles +and to maintain parliamentary rights than to pass new laws or to create +new institutions." Thus the Privy Council became the controlling factor +in all matters that concerned the colonies and it acted in the main +without reference or delegation to others, since the practice of +appointing advisory boards or deliberative committees, though not +unknown, was at first employed only as an occasional expedient. The +councils of James I were called upon to deal with a wide variety of +colonial business--letters, petitions, complaints and reports from +private individuals, such as merchants, captains of ships voyaging +to the colonies, seamen, prisoners, and the like, from officials +in England, merchant companies, church organizations, and colonial +governments, notably the governor and council and assembly of Virginia. +To all these communications the Council replied either by issuing orders +which were always mandatory, or by sending letters which often contained +information and advice as well as instructions. It dealt with the +Virginia Company in London and sent letters, both before and after the +dissolution of the company, to the governor and council in Virginia, +and in all these letters trade played an important part. For example, +the order of October 24, 1621, which forbade the colony to export +tobacco and other commodities to foreign countries, declared that such +a privilege as an open trade on the part of the colony was desirable +"neither in policy nor for the honor of the state (that being but a +colony derived from hence)," and that it could not be suffered "for that +it may be a loss unto his Majesty in his customs, if not the hazarding +of the trade which in future times is well hoped may be of much profit, +use, and importance to the Commonalty."[1] Similarly the Council issued +a license to Lord Baltimore to export provisions for the relief of his +colony at Avalon,[2] ordered that the _Ark_ and the _Dove_, containing +Calvert and the settlers of Maryland, be held back at Tilbury until the +oaths of allegiance had been taken,[3] and instructed the governor and +company of Virginia to give friendly assistance to Baltimore's +undertaking.[4] + +Of the employment of committees or special commissions to inquire +into questions either commercial or colonial there is no evidence +before the year 1622. A few months after the dissolution of the third +Stuart parliament, James I issued a proclamation for the encouragement +of trade, and directed a special commission not composed of privy +councillors to inquire into the decay of the clothing trade and to +report to the Privy Council such remedial measures as seemed best +adapted to increase the wealth and prosperity of the realm.[5] At the +same time he caused a commission to be issued to the Lord Keeper, the +Lord Treasurer, the Lord President of the Council and others "to collect +and cause a true survey to be taken in writing of the names, qualities, +professions, and places of habitation of such strangers as do reside +within the realm of England and use any retailing trade or handicraft +trade and do reform the abuses therein according to the statutes now in +force."[6] The commissioners of trade duly met, during the years 1622 +and 1623, summoned persons to appear before them, and reported to the +Council. Their report was afterward presented to the King sitting with +the Council at Wansted, "was allowed and approved of, and commandment +was given to enter it in the Register of Counsell causes and to remain +as an act of Counsell by order of the Lord President."[7] There is +evidence also to show that the commission issued orders on its own +account, for in June, 1623, the Mayor and Aldermen of the city of London +wrote two letters to the commission expressing their approval of its +orders and sending petitions presented to them by citizens of London.[8] + +On April 15, 1625, less than three weeks after the death of James I, +a warrant was issued by his successor for a commission of trade, the +duties of which were of broader and more general character than were +those of the previous body.[9] The first record of its meeting is dated +January 18, 1626, but it is probable that then the commission had been +for some time in existence, though the exact date when its commission +was issued is not known. The text of both commission and instructions +are among the Domestic Papers.[10] The board was to advance the +exportations of home manufactures and to repress the "ungainful +importation of foreign commodities." Looked upon as a subcommittee of +the Privy Council, but having none of the privy councillors among its +members, it was required to sit every week and to consider all questions +that might be referred to it for examination and report. The fact that a +complaint against the patent of Sir Ferdinando Gorges was referred to it +shows that it was qualified to deal not only with questions of trade but +also with plantation affairs.[11] At about the same time a committee of +the Council was appointed to take into consideration a special question +of trade and to make report to the Council. Neither of these bodies +appears to have had more than a temporary existence, although the +commission sat for some time and accomplished no inconsiderable amount +of work. + +The first Privy Council committee of trade that had any claim to +permanency was that appointed in March, 1630, consisting at first of +thirteen members, the Lord Keeper, the Lord Treasurer, the Lord +President, the Lord Privy Seal, Earl Marshall, the Lord Steward, Earl +of Dorset, Earl of Holland, Earl of Carlisle, Lord Dorchester, the +Vice-Chamberlain, Sir Henry Cottington and Mr. Secretary Coke. This +committee was to meet on Friday mornings. The same committee, with the +omission of one member, was appointed the next year to meet on Tuesdays +in the afternoon. In 1634 the membership was reduced to nine, but in +1636, 1638 and 1639, by the addition of the Lord Treasurer, the number +was raised to ten, as follows: the Lord President, the Lord Treasurer, +the Lord Keeper, the Lord Privy Seal, Earl Marshall, Earl of Dorset, +Lord Cottington, Mr. Comptroller, Mr. Secretary Coke and Mr. Secretary +Windebank. The meetings were again held on Fridays, though on special +occasions the committee was warned to meet on other days by order of the +Council, and on one occasion at least assembled at Hampton Court.[12] +To this committee were referred all matters of trade which came to the +attention of the Council during the ten years, from 1630 to 1640. Notes +of its meetings between 1631 and 1637 were kept by Secretaries Coke and +Windebank and show the extent and variety of its activities. Except for +the garbling of tobacco it does not appear to have concerned itself +with plantation affairs.[13] As the King was generally present at its +meetings, it possessed executive as well as advisory powers, not only +making reports to the Council, but also drafting regulations and issuing +orders on its own account. Occasionally it appointed special committees +to examine into certain trade difficulties, and on September 21, 1638, +and again on February 3, 1639, we find notice of a separate board of +commissioners for trade constituted under the great seal to inquire into +the decay of the clothing industry. This board sat for two years and +made an elaborate report to the Privy Council on June 9, 1640.[14] + +Though committees for trade, ordnance, foreign affairs, and Ireland +had a more or less continuous existence during the period after 1630, +no similar committee for plantations was created during this decade. +Temporary commissions and committees of the Council had been, however, +frequently appointed. In 1623 and 1624 several sets of commissioners for +Virginia were named "to inquire into the true state of Virginia and the +Somers Islands plantations," "to resolve upon the well settling of the +colony of Virginia," "and to advise on a fit patent for the Virginia +Company." In 1631 a commission of twenty-three persons, of whom four +constituted a quorum, was created, partly from within and partly from +without the Privy Council, "to advise upon some course for establishing +the advancement of the plantations of Virginia."[15] Similar commissions +were appointed to meet special exigencies in the careers of other +plantations, Somers Islands, Caribbee Islands, etc. In 1632, we meet +with a committee forming the first committee of the Council appointed +for the plantations, quite distinct in functions and membership +from the committee for trade and somewhat broader in scope than the +commissions mentioned above. The circumstances of its appointment were +these: In the year 1632 complaints began to come in to the Privy Council +regarding the conduct of the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Thomas Morton +and Philip Ratcliffe had been banished from that colony and sent back +to England. Sir Christopher Gardiner, also, after a period of troubled +relations with the authorities there, had taken ship for England. These +men, acting in conjunction with Gorges and Mason, whose claims had +already been before the Council, presented petitions embodying their +grievances. On December 19, 1632, the Council listened to the reading +of these petitions and to the presentation of a "relation" drawn up by +Gardiner. After long debate "upon the whole carriage of the plantation +of that country," it appointed a committee of twelve members, called the +Committee on the New England Plantations, with the Archbishop of York at +its head, "to examine how the patents for the said plantations have been +granted." This committee had power to call "to their assistance such +other persons as they shall think fit," "to examine the truth of the +aforesaid information or any other information as shall be presented to +them and shall make report thereof to this board and of the true state +of the said plantations." The committee deliberated on the "New England +Case," summoned many of the "principal adventurers in that plantation" +before it, listened to the complainants, and reported favorably to the +colony. The essential features of its report were embodied in an order +in council, dated January 19, 1633.[16] This committee, still called the +Committee for New England, was reappointed in December, 1633, with a +slight change of membership, Laud, who had been made primate the August +before, taking the place of the Archbishop of York as chairman. But this +committee was soon overshadowed by the greater commission to come.[17] + +The first separate commission, though, in reality, a committee of the +Privy Council, appointed to concern itself with all the plantations, +was created by Charles I, April 28, 1634. It was officially styled +the Commission for Foreign Plantations; one petitioner called it +"the Lords Commissioners for Plantations in General," and another +"the learned Commissioners appointed by the King to examine and rectify +all complaints from the plantations." It is probable that the term +"Committee of Foreign Plantations" was occasionally applied to it, +as there is nothing to show that the committee of 1633 remained in +existence after April, 1634.[18] Recommissioned, April 10, 1636, it +continued to sit as an active body certainly as late as August, 1641, +and possibly longer,[19] though there is no formal record of its +discontinuance. Its original membership was as follows: William Laud, +Archbishop of Canterbury; Richard Neile, Archbishop of York; Sir Thomas +Coventry, the Lord Keeper; Earl of Portland, the Lord Treasurer, Earl +of Manchester, the Lord Privy Seal, Earl of Arundel, the Earl Marshall, +Earl of Dorset, Lord Cottington, Sir Thomas Edmondes, the Master +Treasurer, Sir Henry Vane, the Master Comptroller, and the secretaries, +Coke and Windebank. Later the Earl of Sterling was added.[20] Five +constituted a quorum. The powers granted to the commission were +extensive and almost royal in character: to make laws and orders for the +government of the English colonies in foreign parts; to impose penalties +and imprisonment for offenses in ecclesiastical matters; to remove +governors and require an account of their government; to appoint judges +and magistrates, and to establish courts, both civil and ecclesiastical; +to hear and determine all manner of complaints from the colonies; +to have power over all charters and patents, and to revoke those +surreptitiously or unduly obtained. Such powers clearly show that the +commission was designed as an instrument for enforcing the royal will +in the colonies, and furnishes no precedent for the later councils and +boards of trade and foreign plantations. Called into being probably +because of the continued emigration of Puritans to New England, the +complaints against the Massachusetts charter, and the growth of +Independency in that colony, it was in origin a coercive, not an +inquisitory, body, in the same class with the courts of Star Chamber and +High Commission, and the Councils of Wales and the North. Unlike these +bodies, it proved practically impotent, and there is nothing to show +that it took any active part in the attempt to repeal the Massachusetts +charter or in any important particular exercised the powers granted +to it. It did not remove or appoint a governor, establish a court, or +grant or revoke a charter. It received petitions either directly or +from the Privy Council and made recommendations, but it never attempted +to establish uniformity in New England or to bring the New England +colonies more directly under the authority of the Crown. Whether it was +the failure of the attempt to vacate the Massachusetts charter, or the +poverty of the King, or the approach of civil war that prevented the +enforcement of the royal policy, we cannot say, but the fact remains +that the Laud commission played a comparatively inconspicuous part +during the seven years of its existence and has gained a prominence in +the history of our subject out of all proportion to its importance. + +More directly connected with the commercial and colonial interests of +the realm were the subcommittees which the Privy Council used during +these years and earlier as advisory and inquisitory bodies. In addition +to committees of its own, the Privy Council called on various outside +persons known to be familiar with the circumstances of a particular +case or experts in the general subject involved, and entrusted to +them the consideration of important matters that had been called to its +attention. As we have already seen, such a subcommittee on trade had +been appointed in 1625, and after 1630 we meet with many references to +individuals or groups of experts. The attorney general was called upon +to examine complaints regarding New England and Maryland in 1632 and +1635; the Chancellor of London was requested to examine the parties in +a controversy over a living in St. Christopher in 1637; many commercial +questions were referred to special bodies of merchants or others holding +official positions. In 1631 a complaint regarding interlopers in Canada +was referred to a committee of three, Sir William Becher, clerk of the +Council; Serj. (Wm.) Berkeley, afterward governor of Virginia, and +Edward Nicholas, afterward clerk of the Council, and a new committee +in which Sir William Alexander and Robert Charlton took the place of +Becher and Nicholas was appointed in 1632.[21] Berkeley, Alexander, +and Charlton were known as the Commissioners for the Gulf and River of +Canada and parts adjacent, and were all directly interested in Canadian +trade.[22] These committees received references from the Council, +summoned witnesses and examined them, and made reports to the Council. +Similarly, the dispute between Vassall and Kingswell was referred on +March 10, 1635, to Edward Nicholas and Sir Abraham Dawes for examination +and report, and because it was an intricate matter, consumed +considerable time and required a second report.[23] Again a case +regarding the Virginia tobacco trade was referred to the body known +as the "Commissioners of Tobacco to the Lords of the Privy Council," +appointed as early as 1634 and itself a subcommittee having to do with +tobacco licenses, customs, and trade. The members were Lord Goring, +Sir Abraham Dawes, John Jacob, and Edmund Peisley. The first specific +references to "subcommittees," _eo nomine_, are of date May 23, May 25, +and June 27, 1638. The last named reference mentions the receipt by the +Privy Council of a "certificate" or report from Sir John Wolstenholme +and Sir Abraham Dawes "unto whom their lordships had formerly referred +the hearing and examining of complaints by John Michael in the Laconia +case."[24] As the earlier reference of May 23 had to do with the estate +of Sir Thomas Gates and that of May 25 to a Virginia matter, it is +evident that this particular subcommittee had been appointed some time +before May 23, 1638, and that the only thing new about it was the +term "subcommittee" as applied to such a body. This conjecture seems +reasonable when we note that Wolstenholme and Dawes had already served +on the commission for Virginia and were thoroughly conversant with +plantation affairs, while Dawes was also a member of the tobacco +commission and had served on the committee in the Kingswell-Vassall +case. An examination of later "subcommittees" shows that many of the +same men continued to be utilized by the Council in their capacity as +experts. Lord Goring, John Jacob, Sir Abraham Dawes, with Sir William +Becher and Edward Nicholas, clerks of the Council, and Edward Sandys, +brother of Sir Edwin Sandys, and a councillor of Virginia under Governor +Wyatt, formed the subcommittee to whom, on July 15, was referred the +complaint of Samuel Mathews against Governor Harvey. When the same +matter was referred again to a subcommittee on October 24, Sir Dudley +Carleton, formerly one of the commissioners for Virginia, and Thomas +Meautys, clerk of the Council, were substituted for Dawes and +Nicholas.[25] These committees were instructed "to call the parties +before them, to examine the matter, and find out the truth, and then +to make certificate to their lordships of the true state of things and +their opinion thereof."[26] Similar references continued to be made +during the year 1639, on January 4, February 22, March 8,[27] June 12, +16, July 17, 26, 28, August 28, and the evidence seems to show that the +committee, though frequently changing its membership, was considered +a body sitting regularly and continuously. The certificate of July 9, +1638, in answer to the reference of June 16, was signed by Sir William +Becher, Thomas Meautys, Sir Francis Wyatt, and Abraham Williams; that +of July 23 by Becher, Dawes, Jacob, and Williams. After August 28 we +hear no more of the subcommittee. Whether this is due to a failure of +the Register to enter further references and certificates or to the +actual cessation of its labors, we cannot say. The committee was always +appointed by the Council, and always reported to that body. Frequently +its certificates are entered at length in the Register.[28] The petition +upon which it acted was sometimes sent directly to itself, frequently +to the Privy Council, which referred it to the subcommittee, and but +rarely to the Commissioners for Foreign Plantations.[29] The committee +was limited in its scope to no one colony. It reported on matters in +England, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Somers Islands, and Virginia. +It dealt with secular business and ecclesiastical questions, and on one +occasion at least was required to examine and approve the instructions +issued to a colonial governor.[30] It does not appear ever to have acted +except by order of the Privy Council, and was never in any sense of +the word a subcommittee of the Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, +although in reporting to the Council it was reporting to those who +composed that commission.[31] + +From 1640 to 1642 plantation business was managed by the Privy Council +with the aid of occasional committees of its own appointed to consider +special questions. The term "subcommittee," as we have seen, does not +appear to have been used after 1639,[32] but commissions authorizing +experts to make inquiry and report are referred to, and committees +of the Council took into consideration questions of trade and the +plantations. During the year from July 5, 1642, to June, 1643, no +measures relating to the colonies appear to have been taken, for +civil war was in full swing. In 1643, Parliament assumed to itself +the functions of King and Council and became the executive head of the +kingdom. Among the earliest acts was the appointment of a parliamentary +commission of eighteen members, November 24, 1643, authorized to control +plantation affairs. At its head was Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, +and among its members were Philip, Earl of Pembroke, Edward, Earl of +Manchester, William, Viscount Say and Seale, Philip, Lord Wharton, and +such well known Puritan commoners as Sir Arthur Haslerigg, John Pym, Sir +Harry Vane, Junior, Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Vassall, and others. Four +members constituted a quorum. The powers granted to this commission were +extensive, though as far as phraseology goes, less complete than those +granted to the commission of 1634. The commissioners were to have "power +and authority to provide for, order, and dispose all things which they +shall from time to time find most fit and advantageous to the well +governing, securing, and strengthening, and preserving" of "all those +islands and other plantations, inhabited, planted, or belonging to any +of his Majesty's the King of England's subjects." They were authorized +to call to their assistance any inhabitants of the plantations or owners +of land in America who might be within twenty miles of their place of +meeting; to make use of all records, books, and papers which concerned +any of the colonies; to appoint governors and officers for governing +the plantations; to remove any of the officials so appointed and to put +others in their places; and, when they deemed fit, to assign as much of +their authority and power to such persons as they should deem suitable +for better governing and preserving of the plantations from open +violence and private disturbance and destruction. + +In the exercise of these powers the commissioners never embraced the +full opportunity offered to them by their charter. They did appoint +one governor, Sir Thomas Warner, governor of the Caribbee Islands. +They granted to the inhabitants of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport +a patent of incorporation and conferred upon the patentees authority +"to rule themselves by such form of civil government as by voluntary +consent of all or the greater part of them they should find most +suitable to their estate or condition.[33] They also endeavored to make +a grant of the Narragansett country to Massachusetts, at the special +request of Massachusetts' agents in 1643, but failed, partly because +they had no certain authority to grant land and partly because the +only clause of their commission which seemed to give such authority +required the consent of a majority, and the agents could obtain but nine +signatures to the grant. Even these activities on the part of the board +lasted but little over a year, and after 1644 the commissioners played a +more or less passive role. They continued to sit but their only recorded +interest in colonial affairs concerned New England. From 1645 to 1648 +they became involved in the controversy over the Narragansett country, +and in the attempt of Massachusetts to thwart her enemies, the +Gortonists and the Presbyterians.[34] Whether the commission continued +to sit after the execution of the King is uncertain; there are no +further references to its existence. That many of its members remained +influential in colonial affairs is evident from the fact that at least +seven of the commissioners became members of the Council of State, +appointed February 13, 1649: Philip, Earl of Pembroke (died 1650); Sir +Arthur Haslerigg, Sir Harry Vane, the younger; Oliver Cromwell, Dennis +Bond, Miles Corbet, and Cornelius Holland. Haslerigg was a conspicuous +leader in colonial as well as other matters during the entire period of +the Commonwealth and the Protectorate; Vane became president of the new +board of trade created in August, 1650, was at the head of the Committee +of the Admiralty, which often had colonial matters referred to it, and +served frequently on plantation committees from 1649 to 1659; while +Bond, Corbet, and Holland, though never very active, were members of +one general and a few special committees that concerned themselves with +trade and plantations. Thus the spirit of the Independent wing of the +old commission continued to influence the policy of the government +in the early years of the Commonwealth period. The Council of State, +appointed by act of the Rump Parliament, was given full authority to +provide for England's trade at home and abroad and to regulate the +affairs of the plantations. Though its membership underwent yearly +changes and its composition and members were altered many times before +1660, its policy and machinery of control remained constant except as +far as they were affected by the greater power which the Council gained +in the face of the growing weakness of Parliament. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: Privy Council Register, James I, Vol. V, p. 173; repeated +p. 618.] + +[Footnote 2: P.C.R., Charles I. Vol. V, p. 106.] + +[Footnote 3: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. IX, p. 291.] + +[Footnote 4: Cal. State Papers, Colonial, 1574-1660, p. 170, Sec. 78.] + +[Footnote 5: Rymer, Foedera XVII. pp. 410-414.] + +[Footnote 6: Public Record Office, Chancery, Crown Dockets, 4, p. 280, +June 26, 1622.] + +[Footnote 7: P.C.R., James I, Vol. VI, pp. 333, 365-368, July, 1624.] + +[Footnote 8: Analytical Index to the Series of Records known as +Remembrancia preserved among the Archives of the City of London, +1579-1644, p. 526.] + +[Footnote 9: Cal. State Papers, Domestic, 1625-1649, pp. 4, 84.] + +[Footnote 10: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1625-1649, pp. 225, 522, Sec.Sec. 19, +20, p. 495.] + +[Footnote 11: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. II, Pt. I, p. 68.] + +[Footnote 12: P.C.R., Charles I, Vols. V, p. 10; VI, p. 7; X., p. 3; +XII, p. 1; XV, p. 1.] + +[Footnote 13: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1629-1631, p. 526; 1634-1635, +pp. 453, 472, 513, 584; 1635, pp. 30, 515, 548, 598; 1635-1636, +pp. 44, 231; 1636-1637, p. 402; 1637, pp. 47; 1637-1638, p. 410. +The secretaries' notes will be found as follows: Coke, 1629-1631, pp. +526, 535; Windebank, 1634-1635, pp. 500, 513; 1635, pp. 11-12, 29, 502, +536; 1635-1636, pp. 291-292, 428-429, 551-552; 1636-1637, pp. 402; 1637, +p. 47.] + +[Footnote 14: Historical MSS. Commission, Report XV. Manuscripts of the +Duke of Portland, VIII, pp. 2-3.] + +[Footnote 15: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 44, 62, 63, 64, +130; Virginia Magazine, VIII, pp. 29, 33-46, 149.] + +[Footnote 16: Bradford, pp. 352-355; P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. VIII, pp. +346-347; Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, p. 158.] + +[Footnote 17: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. IX, p. 1. The order in Council +of July 3, 1633, regarding Virginia and Lord Baltimore, is headed "Lords +Commissioners for Foreign Plantations." It is evident, however, that +this body is not a separate board of commissioners but the Privy Council +sitting as a committee of the whole for plantations. The membership does +not agree with that of the committee of 1632, that committee did not sit +in the Star Chamber, and such a committee could not issue an order which +the Privy Council alone could send out. There was no separate commission +of this kind in July, 1633, as Tyler, England in America, pp. 122-123 +(Amer. Nation Series, IV) seems to think.] + +[Footnote 18: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 184, 200, 251, +259.] + +[Footnote 19: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1675-1676, Sec. 193.] + +[Footnote 20: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. X, p. 1; XII, p. 1; XV, p. 1; Cal. +State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 177, 232.] + +[Footnote 21: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 9, 140, 151, 158, +211, 258.] + +[Footnote 22: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1600, p. 129.] + +[Footnote 23: Cal. State Papers, Col., pp. 197-198, 207.] + +[Footnote 24: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. XV, p. 300.] + +[Footnote 25: Virginia Magazine, X, p. 428; XI, p. 46.] + +[Footnote 26: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. XV, p. 508.] + +[Footnote 27: "Att Whitehall, 8th of March, 1638(9) + +Their Lordships do pray and require the subcommittee for foreign +plantations to consider of this petition at their next meeting and to +make report to their Lordships of their opinion concerning the same. + +Will. Becher."] + +[Footnote 28: P.C.R., Charles I, Vols. XV, p. 343; XVI, pp. 542-543.] + +[Footnote 29: P.C.R., Charles I, Vol. XVI, p. 558; Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1574-1660, p. 301.] + +[Footnote 30: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1675-1676, Sec. 190.] + +[Footnote 31: The commissioners frequently formed a majority of those +present at a Privy Council meeting. For example, in 1638, the Council +wrote a letter to the governor of Virgina. This letter was signed by +eleven councillors, of whom eight were members of the Commission. +It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the different capacities in +which Archbishop Laud acted. A series of minutes drawn up by him in 1638 +of the subjects upon which he had prepared reports to the King notes +the following: concerning the six plantations, grants of offices in +reversion, new patent offices and monopolies, the execution of the +King's former directions, and trade and commerce. In making these +reports Archbishop Laud acted as president of the Council, president +of the Commission for Foreign Plantations, president of the committee +for Foreign Affairs, High Commission Court, etc.] + +[Footnote 32: The term "subcommittee" is used by petitioners as late +as August, 1640 (Cal. Col., 1574-1660, p. 314), but no references and +reports of so late a date are to be found in the Calendar or the +Register.] + +[Footnote 33: This is, of course, the well-known Williams patent of +1644. Rhode Island, Colonial Records, I, pp. 143-146.] + +[Footnote 34: Osgood, The Colonies in the Seventeenth Century, III, +pp. 110-112.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Control of Trade and Plantations During the Interregnum. + + +The earliest separate council to be established during the period from +1650 to 1660 was that appointed by act of Parliament, August, 1650, +known as the Commission or Council of Trade, of which Sir Harry Vane +was president and Benjamin Worsley, a London merchant and "doctor of +physic," already becoming known as an expert on plantation affairs, +was secretary. This body was specially instructed by Parliament to +consider, not only domestic and foreign trade, the trading companies, +manufactures, free ports, customs, excise, statistics, coinage and +exchange, and fisheries, but also the plantations and the best means +of promoting their welfare and rendering them useful to England. +"They are to take into their consideration," so runs article 12 of the +instructions, "the English plantations in America or elsewhere, and +to advise how these plantations may best be managed and made most +useful for the Commonwealth, and how the commodities thereof may be so +multiplied and improved as (if it be possible) those plantations alone +may supply the Commonwealth of England with whatsoever it necessarily +wants." These statesmanlike and comprehensive instructions are notable +in the history of the development of England's commercial and colonial +program. Free from the limitations which characterize the instructions +given to the earlier commissions, they stand with the Parliamentary +ordinance of October, 1650, and the Navigation Act of 1651, as forming +the first definite expression of England's commercial policy. Inadequate +though the immediate results were to be, we cannot call that policy +"drifting" which could shape with so much intelligence the functions +of a board of trade and plantations. There is no trace here of the +coercive and politico-ecclesiastical purpose of the Laud Commission, or +of the partisan policy in the interests of the Puritans that the Warwick +Commission was instructed to carry out. Here we have the first attempt +to establish a legitimate control of commercial and colonial affairs, +and to these instructions may be traced the beginnings of a policy which +had the prosperity and wealth of England exclusively at heart. + +Of the history of this board but little has been hitherto known and +its importance has been singularly neglected. It was more than a merely +advisory body, like the later councils and boards of trade, for it had +the power to issue orders of its own. It sat in Whitehall, received +information, papers,[1] and orders from the Council of State, and +reported to that higher authority, which approved or disapproved of +its recommendations. To it the Council instructed traders and others +to refer their petitions, and itself referred numbers of similar papers +that came into its hands.[2] This board took into consideration the +various questions touched upon in its instructions, especially those +concerning fisheries (Greenland), manufactures, navigation, commerce, +trade (with Guinea, Spain, Canary Islands, etc.), the poor, the trading +companies (especially the East India and Guinea companies), the merchant +companies (chiefly of London), and freedom of trade. During the first +year of its existence it was an active body and could say on November +20, 1651, that it had made seven reports to the Council of State and +seven to Parliament, that it had its opinions on six subjects ready +to be reported, and eight other questions under debate.[3] In two +particulars a fuller consideration of its work is desirable. + +The Council of Trade devoted a considerable amount of time to regulating +the buying and selling of wool, and to settling the difficulties that +had arisen among the curriers, fellmongers, staplers, and clothiers +of London and elsewhere regarding their trade privileges. Late in the +spring of 1651 petitions and statements of grievance had been sent +both to the Council of Trade and to the Common Council of London by +the "freemen of the city trading in wool," for redress of grievances +practiced by the Society of Staplers. Shortly afterward, May 13, +apparently in answer to the complaint of the freemen of London, the +fellmongers of Coventry petitioned the Council of Trade, begging that +body not to interfere with its ancient privileges. Taking the matter +into consideration, the Council, on May 14, issued an order requiring +the companies to present their expedients and grievances, and appointed +a committee of two expert wool staplers, members of the Staplers +Company, to meet with the other companies and draft a certificate of +their proper and ancient rights. The Common Council, on the same day, +ordered its committee of trade, or any five of them, to attend the +Council of Trade and assist the "Company of Upholders," the committee +presenting the original complaint, in its attempt to obtain a redress +of grievances according to the plan already placed before the Common +Council. These efforts were not very successful, for the wool growers +refused to meet the committee of staplers appointed by the Council of +Trade, and the fellmongers and clothiers could not reach an agreement +with the staplers as to the latter's ancient privileges. Consequently, +the Council of Trade, on June 11, issued a second order requiring the +committee of trade of the Common Council to report on "the foundation +and nature of the Staple and the privileges pretended to by that +Society." This committee "heard certain of the principal staplers and +perused the acts and records produced by them in defence of the same," +and reported to the Council of Trade on June 26 that, in its opinion, +the Company of Staplers had become an unnecessary and useless Society, +and were the principal cause for the dearness of wool, the badness of +cloth, and the general decay of the woolen trade.[4] + +The trouble seems to have been that the fellmongers and staplers +were deemed useless middlemen between the growers and the clothiers, +and injurious to the clothing industry because of their abuses. The +controversy was carried before the Council of State and its committees, +and both fellmongers and staplers argued long and forcibly in defence +of their trade.[5] On November 3, 1652, the two societies presented an +answer to the particular order of the Council of Trade which declared +them unnecessary and disadvantageous, denied the charges, and prayed +that they might enjoy their trade as before. Even as late as April 16, +1653, the fellmongers petitioned for leave to produce wool-growers and +clothiers to certify the necessity of their trade.[6] But fellmongers +and staplers as factors in English trade and industry were beginning +to pass away by the middle of the seventeenth century. + +The second important question that came before the Council was no less +significant in its relation to the growth of British trade than was the +decay of the Societies of Fellmongers and Staplers. It concerned the +breaking down of the privileges of the merchant companies in general, +and the establishment of free ports and free trade in England--that is, +free trade controlled and ordered by the state. To this end, the Council +appointed a committee of eleven merchants to whom it gave elaborate +directions to report on the feasibility of setting apart four free ports +to which foreign commodities might be imported without paying customs +dues if again exported. These merchants met and drew up a report dated +April 26, 1651, and again on May 26 of the same year expressed further +opinions on the advisability of the "opening of free ports for trade." +"Trade being the basis and well-being of a Commonwealth, the way to +obtain it is to make it a free trade and not to bind up ingenious +spirits by exemptions and privileges which are granted to some +particular companies." In addition to the home merchants, the Council +of Trade presented its queries to the merchant strangers and to the +Committee for the Affairs of Trinity House, all of whom returned +answers. It also made public its desire to consider the appointment of +"convenient ports for the free trade in the Commonwealth," and as early +as May 22 a number of the out-ports, Dover, Plymouth, the Isle of Wight, +Barnstaple, Bideford, Appledore, and Southampton petitioned that they be +recognized as free landing places. The period was one of rivalry between +London and the out-ports, and the latter believed that the various acts +of 1650 and 1651 were in the interest of the London merchants only. +"Yet thus much that act seems to have on it only a London stamp and +a contentment to subject the whole nation to them, for most of the +out-ports are not capable of the foreign trade to Indies and Turkey. The +Londoners having the sole trade do set what price they please upon their +commodities, knowing the country cannot have them nowhere but by them, +whereby not only the out-ports are undone but the country brought to the +devotion of the city. But a great abuse is here, for the city are not +contented with this act but only so far as it serves their own turns, +for they procure (upon some pretexts or other) particular licenses for +many prohibited commodities contrary to that act, as namely for the +importation of French wines and free both of custom and excise tax, +and for the importation of whale oil and skins so as either directly or +indirectly they will have the whole trade themselves."[7] Evidently the +Council of Trade favored the establishment of a freer trade as against +the monopoly of the merchant companies, believing, it may be, that +London did monopolize trade and that it was "no good state of a body +to have a fat head and lean members." The city authorities, apparently +alarmed at the favorable action of the Council, took immediate action. +On June 19, 1651, the Court of Aldermen instructed Alderman Fowke, one +of its most influential members, in case the Council of Trade came to +an agreement favorable to free trade, to move for a reconsideration in +order that London might have a hearing before the matter was finally +settled.[8] But the hearing, if had, could not have been successful in +altering the determination of the Council, for a few months later, on +December 5, 1651, the Common Council of London, probably convinced that +the Council of Trade was in earnest in its policy and alarmed at the +prospect of losing its trading privileges, ordered its committee of +trade to prepare a petition to Parliament, the Council of State, or the +Council of Trade, asking that London be made a free port. The petition +was duly drawn up and approved by the Common Council, which ordered its +committee "to maintain" it before the Council of Trade.[9] Evidently the +matter went no further. The Council of Trade continued its sittings and +debated and reported on a number of petitions "complaining of abuses and +deceits" in trade, but after 1652 it plays but an inconspicuous part. +Even before that date many questions before it were taken over by the +Council of State and referred to its own committees. Fellmongers and +staplers defended their cause before the higher body and the free trade +difficulty continued to be agitated, at least as far as concerned the +Turkey trade and the Greenland fishing, by the Council committee after +it had passed out of the hands of the lesser body.[10] The period was +one of transition from a monopolized to an open trade, and consequently +to many trade everywhere appeared to be in decay. Remedies were sought +through the intervention of the state and the passing of laws, but the +early period of the Commonwealth was not favorable to a successful +carrying out of so promising an experiment. On October 3, 1653, trade +was reported from Holland as "somewhat dead" and the Council of Trade, +which the Dutch at first feared might be "very prejudicial" to their +state, was declared "only nominal," so that the Dutch hoped that in time +those of London would "forget that they ever were merchants." In fact, +however, the Council of Trade had come to an end more than four months +before this report was made. + +That the Council of Trade, notwithstanding its carefully worded +instructions, had no part in looking after the affairs of the colonies +is probably due to the activity of the Council of State, which itself +exercised the functions of a board of trade and plantations. According +to article 5 of the Act of February 13, 1649, appointing a Council +of State, it was to use all good ways and means for the securing, +advancement, and encouragement of the trade of England and Ireland +and the dominions to them belonging, and to promote the good of all +foreign plantations and factories belonging to the Commonwealth. +It was also empowered "to appoint committees of any person or persons +for examinations, receiving of informations, and preparing of business +for [its] debates or resolutions." The members chosen February 14, 1649, +were forty-one in number and were to hold office for one year.[11] +February 12, 1650, a second council was elected, of which twenty were +new members and the remaining twenty-one taken over from the former +body.[12] On November 24, 1651, a third council was chosen under the +same conditions.[13] The same was true of the fourth council of +November 24, 1652.[14] Many of the "new" members were generally old +members dropped for a year or more. On July 9 and 14, 1653, the number +of members was reduced to thirty-one, and this council was designed to +last only until the following November.[15] Two councils, the fifth +and sixth were, therefore, elected in the same year, each composed of +fifteen old and fifteen new members. The sixth council, elected November +1, 1653, was chosen for six months, but after six weeks was supplanted +by the body known as the Protector's Council, elected December 16, +1653, under the provisions of the _Instrument of Government_.[16] +This council was to consist of not more than twenty-one nor less than +thirteen members, and according to the method of election provided for +in that instrument, was practically controlled by Cromwell himself. The +membership varied from time to time, rarely numbering more than sixteen, +with an average attendance of about ten. Cromwell was frequently absent +from its meetings, but the council, though designed constitutionally to +be a check upon his powers, was in reality his ally and answerable to +him alone, particularly after the dissolution of Parliament in January, +1655. The council provided for in _The Humble Petition and Advice_ was +but a continuation of the Protector's Council, so that from December, +1653, until May, 1659, the Protector's Council, representing Cromwell +policy and interest, continued to exist. After the abdication of Richard +Cromwell and the restoration of the Rump Parliament, the Protector's +Council came to an end, and a new council, the eighth, was chosen on May +13, 14, 15, 1659.[17] This body contained ten members not of Parliament +and lasted until December 31, when a new Council of State was chosen +for three months; but on February 21 the council was suspended, and two +days afterward the tenth and last council was chosen.[18] On May 21, +1660, this council was declared "not in being," and formally came to +an end on May 27, when Charles II, who had had his Privy Council more +or less continuously since 1649, named at Canterbury Monck, Southampton, +Morrice, and Ashley as privy councillors. The first meeting at Whitehall +was held May 31.[19] + +The Council of State itself acted as a board of trade and plantations +and directly transacted a large amount of business in the interest of +manufactures, trade, commerce, and the colonies. It initiated important +measures, received petitions, remonstrances, and complaints, either at +first hand or through Parliament, from which it also received special +orders, entered into debate upon all questions arising therefrom, +summoned before it any one who might be able to furnish information +or to offer advice, and then drew up its reply, embodied in an order +despatched to government officials, private individuals, adventurers, +merchant and trading companies, colonial governments in particular +or in general. For example, it ordered letters to be written to the +plantations, giving them notice of the change of government in 1649, +sending them papers necessary for their information, and requiring them +to be obedient if they expected the protection which the Republic was +prepared to extend to them. Until March 2, 1650, it does not appear to +have organized itself especially for this purpose, but on that date it +authorized the whole council, or any five members, to sit as a special +committee for trade and plantations, and on February 18 and December 2, +1651, repeated the same order.[20] During the early part of this period +it depended to a considerable extent on committees, either of merchants +and others outside the council, men already engaged in trade with the +plantations, such as Worsley, Maurice Thompson (afterward governor of +the East India Company), Lenoyre, Allen, Martin Noell, and others, +or of councillors forming committees of trade (sitting in the Horse +Chamber in Whitehall), of plantations, of the admiralty, of the navy, +of examinations, of Scottish and Irish affairs, and of prisoners, to +whom many questions were referred and upon whose reports the Council +acted. It also appointed special committees to take into consideration +particular questions relating to individual plantations, Barbadoes, +Somers Islands, Bermudas, New England, Newfoundland, Virginia. Of all +these committees none appears to have been more active, as far as the +plantations were concerned, than the Committee of the Admiralty, before +whom came a large amount of colonial business, which was transacted +with the cooeperation of Dr. Walker, of Doctors Commons, advocate for +the Republic, and David Budd, the proctor of the Court of Admiralty. + +An important departure was introduced on December 17, 1651, when a +standing committee of the Council was created, consisting of fifteen +members, to concern itself with trade and foreign affairs. This +committee took the place of that which had formerly sat in the Horse +Chamber in Whitehall, and renewed consideration of all questions which +had been referred to that body. It was organized, as were all the +Council committees, with its own clerk, doorkeeper, and messenger, and +as recommissioned on May 4, 1652, and again on December 2, 1652, when +the membership was raised to twenty-one and the plantations were brought +within the scope of its business, became a very independent and active +body until its demise in April, 1653. Its members were Cromwell, Lords +Whitelocke, Bradshaw, and Lisle, Sir Arthur Haslerigg, Sir Harry Vane, +Sir William Masham, Sir Gilbert Pickering, Colonels Walton, Purefoy, +Morley, Sidney, and Thomson, Major Lister, Messrs. Bond, Scott, Love, +Challoner, Strickland, Gurdon, and Alleyn.[21] This committee, to which +new members were frequently added, sat in the Horse Chamber at Whitehall +and took cognizance of a great variety of commercial and colonial +business. It considered the question of free trade versus monopolies +and during the summer of 1652, after the Council of Trade had fallen +into disfavor, debated at length the desirability of opening the Turkey +trade as freely to adventurers as was that of Portugal and Spain. It +listened to a number of forcible papers presented in the interest of +free trade in opposition to trade in the hands of companies; it dealt +with the operation of the Navigation Act of 1651 and rendered decisions +regarding penalties, exemptions, licenses, and the disposal of prizes +and prize goods; it devoted a large amount of time to plantation +business; and, for the time being, probably supplanted consideration +of these matters by the Council of State, and rendered unnecessary the +appointment of any other committee on colonial affairs. Except for the +Admiralty Committee and one or two other committees to which special +matters were referred, as concerning Newfoundland, there appears to +have been no other subordinate body actually in charge of affairs in +America between December 17, 1651, and April 15, 1653. The period was +an important and critical one, and the committee must have had before +it business connected with nearly every one of the colonies in America. +The Council of State referred to it petitions, etc., from and relating +to Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Haven, Rhode Island, Newfoundland, +Maryland and Virginia, Barbadoes, Nevis, Providence Island, and the +Caribbee Islands in general. It dealt with the proposed attack on +the Dutch at New Amsterdam, losses of merchant ships, privateer's +commissions and letters of marque; the Greenland and Newfoundland +fisheries, naval stores, and land disputes. It drafted bills and +governors' commissions, considered vacancies in the colonies, and +received applications for office, and, in one case, promoted the +founding of a plantation in South America.[22] This business was +performed to a considerable extent through subcommittees, many of +which met in the little Horse Chamber and acted in all particulars as +regular committees. On one occasion, the entire committee was appointed +a subcommittee, and very frequently the committee met for no other +purpose than to hear the report of a subcommittee. These subcommittees, +which were generally composed of councillors, referred matters to +outside persons, merchants, judges, and doctors of civil law, while +the committee itself called before it merchants, officials, members +of other committees, and indeed any one from whom information might +be extracted. The main work was performed by the subcommittees, their +reports were reviewed by the committee itself, and, if approved, were +sent to the Council of State, which based upon them recommendations to +Parliament.[23] After April 15, 1653, we hear no more of this committee. +There is some reason to think that the duties entrusted to it were +deemed too extensive and a division between trade, plantations, and +foreign affairs was planned, but no definite record of such a separation +of functions is to be found. A Council Committee of Foreign Affairs was +appointed, probably before June, 1653, reappointed on July 27, and again +reappointed August 16, but no committees of trade and of plantations +appear. Very likely the Council of State, with the assistance of the +committees on Scottish and Irish affairs, admiralty, navy, and customs, +and a few special committees and commissioners, assumed control of +plantation affairs. The interests of industry and trade may have been +looked after by the Committee on Trade and Corporations appointed by the +Barebones Parliament, July 20, 1653, "to meet at Whitehall in the place +where the Council of Trade did sit."[24] Several times during the year +this committee proposed the establishment of a separate council of trade +to take the place of the former Council, to which proposition Parliament +agreed, but nothing was done, and the Parliamentary Committee of Trade +and Corporations seems to have been the only official body that existed +during the year 1653 for the advancement of trade and industry.[25] + +On December 29, 1653, the Protector's Council made known its purpose +of taking "all care to protect and encourage navigation and trade," +and in March, 1654, we meet with a reference to a committee of the +Council appointed for trade and corporations. As this body was organized +for continuous sitting, with a clerk, doorkeeper, and messenger, and +as a second reference to it appears under date August 21, 1654, the +probabilities are in favor of its existence as a regular committee +during the year 1654.[26] That it was an important committee is +doubtful, for we meet with practically no references to its work, and +when in January, 1655, the project of a select trade committee was +brought forward it was referred for consideration and report, not to +this committee, but to Desborough of the Council and the Admiralty +Committee. + +The events of the years 1654 and 1655 mark something of an era in the +history of trade and commerce, not because the capture of Jamaica had +any very conspicuous effect upon Cromwell's own policy or upon the +commercial activities of the higher authorities, but because it opened +a larger world and larger opportunities to the merchants and traders of +London who were at this time seeking openings for trading ventures in +all parts of the world. To better their fortunes many men accompanied +the expedition under Penn and Venables, and the merchants at home were +seized with something of the spirit of the Elizabethans in planning, +not only to increase commerce and swell their own fortunes, but also +to drive the Spaniard from the southwestern waters of the Atlantic +and extend British control and British trade into regions heretofore +wholly in the hands of Spain. Barbadoes, Jamaica, Florida, Virginia, +New England, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland became a world of great +opportunities, and with plans for the expansion of trade went plans for +naval and military activity. If the merchants of the period had had +their way, a systematic and orderly policy of colonial control in the +interest of British power and profit would have been inaugurated during +the second period of the Interregnum, but circumstances do not appear +to have been propitious, and the disturbed political order during the +years 1658 and 1659 led not only to a cessation of activity as far +as the government was concerned but also to decay of trade, shrinking +of profits, decrease of fortunes, and widespread discouragement. +Furthermore, there is nothing to show that Cromwell himself ever rose +to a statesmanlike conception of colonial control and administration. +He was thoroughly interested in those matters, was personally influenced +by the London merchants, frequently called on the most conspicuous of +them for advice, placed them on committees and councils established for +purposes of trade, and was always open to their suggestions. But while +he was willing to act upon their opinions and recommendations in many +respects, he never seems to have grasped the essentials of a large +and comprehensive plan of colonial control, and it is not possible +to discover in what he actually accomplished any broadminded idea of +uniting the colonies under an efficient management for the purpose of +laying the foundations of an empire. His expedients, interesting and +practical as many of them were, do not seem to be a part of any large or +well-formed plan. Whether he would ever have risen to a higher level of +statesmanship in these respects we cannot say, but he never found time +to give proper attention to the suggestions of the merchants or to the +demands of trade and commerce. + +That he took a great interest in the industrial and commercial +development of England is evident from one of his earliest efforts to +provide for its proper control. Even while the fleet was on its way +to the West Indies, the Council of State instructed Desborough and +the Admiralty Committee, January 29, 1655, to consider "of some fit +merchants to be a trade committee." There is some reason to think +that this instruction was in response to a paper drawn up by certain +merchants of London in 1654, entitled, "An Essaie or Overture for the +regulating the Affairs of his Highness in the West Indies," drafted +after the expedition had sailed and with the confident expectation of +conquest in mind.[27] If the original suggestion did not come from the +merchants, we may not doubt that in the promotion of the plan they +exercised considerable influence. In 1655, Martin Noell and Thomas Povey +sent a petition to the Protector regarding trade, and suggested that +there be appointed "some able persons to consider what more may be done +in order to those affairs and a general satisfaction for the fixing the +whole trade of England." They wished that a competent number of persons, +of good reputation, prudent and well skilled in their professions and +qualifications should be "selected and set apart" for the "care of his +Highness Affairs in the West Indies." The number was to be not less than +seven, and these not to be "of the same but of a mixt qualification," +constituting a select council subordinate only to the Protector and the +Council. After careful attention to the fitness of a large number of +prominent individuals, a committee of twenty was named on July 12, 1655. +If the "Overture" was responsible for the decision to name a select +council, its influence went no further, for except that merchants were +placed as members, there is no likeness between the plan as finally +worked out and that formulated by the merchants. Indeed, Povey himself +later expressed his dissatisfaction in saying that "that committee which +[we] so earnestly prest should be settled will not tend in any degree +to what we proposed, the constitution of it being not proportionable +to what was desired."[28] The committee of twenty was soon expanded into +a much larger and more imposing body, possibly due to the receipt of the +news of the capture of Jamaica and the decision announced in Cromwell's +proclamation of August to hold the island. On November 11, 1655,[29] +a board, made up of officers of state, gentlemen, and merchants, was +commissioned a "Committee and Standing Council for the advancing and +regulating the Trade and Navigation of the Commonwealth," generally +shortened to "Trade and Navigation Committee," or simply "Trade +Committee." Its membership, instead of being seven, was over seventy, +and it was thus a dignified though unwieldy body. At its head was +Richard Cromwell and its members were as follows: Montague, Sydenham, +Wolseley, Pickering, and Jones of the Protector's Council; Lord Chief +Justice St. John and Justices Glynn, Steele, and Hale; Sir Henry Blount, +Sir John Hobart, Sir Gilbert Gerard, gentlemen of distinction; Sir +Bulstrode Whitelocke and Sir Thomas Widdrington, sergeants-at-law; Col. +John Fiennes and John Lisle, commissioners of the Great Seal; the four +Treasury Commissioners; Col. Richard Norton, governor of Portsmouth; +Capt. Hatsell, navy commissioner of Plymouth; Stone and Foxcroft, excise +commissioners; Martin Noell, London merchant and farmer of the customs; +Upton, customs commissioner; Bond, Wright, Thompson, Ashurst, Peirpont, +Crew, and Berry, London merchants; and Tichborne, Grove, Pack (Lord +Mayor), and Riccards, aldermen of London; Bonner, of Newcastle; Dunne, +of Yarmouth; Cullen, of Dover; Jackson, of Bristol; Toll, of Lyme; +Legay, of Southampton; Snow, of Exeter; and Drake, of Sussex. At various +times, and probably for various purposes, the following members were +added between December 12, 1655, and June 19,1656: Secretary Thurloe, +William Wheeler, Edmund Waller, Francis Dincke, of Hull; George Downing, +at that time major general and scoutmaster; Alderman Ireton, of London; +Col. William Purefoy; Godfrey Boseville; Edward Laurence; John St. +Barbe, of Hampshire, [Lord] John Claypoole, Master of the Horse, and +Cromwell's son-in-law; John Barnard; Sir John Reynolds; Col. Arthur +Hill; George Berkeley; Capt. Thomas Whitegreane; Thomas Ford, of Exeter; +Francis St. John; Henry Wright; Col. John Jones, Alderman Frederick, +sheriff of London; Richard Ford, the well-known merchant of London; +Mayor Nehemiah Bourne; Charles Howard; Robert Berwick; John Blaxton, +town clerk of Newcastle; Col. Richard Ingoldsby; Edmund Thomas; +Thomas Banks, and Christopher Lister. Thus the Trade Committee, composed +of members from all parts of England, represented a wide range of +interests. Furthermore, any member of the Protector's Council could come +to the meetings of the committee and vote.[30] Such a body would have +been very unmanageable but for the fact that seven constituted a quorum +and business was generally transacted by a small number of the members. +The instructions were prepared by Thurloe after a scrutiny of those +of the former Council of Trade, and bore little resemblance to the +recommendations of the "Overture," because they were designed to cover +a far wider range of interests than were considered by the merchants. +The "Overture" was planned only for a plantation council. The Trade +Committee was invested with power and authority to consider by what +means the traffic and navigation of the Republic might best be promoted +and regulated, to receive propositions for the benefit of these +interests, to send for the officers of the excise, the customs, and the +mint, or such other persons of experience as they should deem capable of +giving advice on these subjects, to examine the books and papers of the +Council of Trade of 1650, and all other public papers as might afford +the members information. When finally its reports were ready for the +Council of State, that body reserved to itself all power to reject or +accept such orders as it deemed proper and fitting. + +The Trade Committee met for the first time on December 27, 1655, in the +Painted Chamber at Westminster. Authorized to appoint officers, it chose +William Seaman secretary, two clerks, an usher, and two messengers at +a yearly salary of L280, with L50 for contingent expenses;[31] and from +the entries of the payments ordered to be made to these men for their +services, we infer that the board sat from December 27, 1655, until +May 27, 1657, exactly a year and a half. During this time it probably +accumulated a considerable number of books and papers, though such are +not now known to exist. Proposals, petitions, complaints, and pamphlets, +such, for example, as that entitled _Trading Governed by the State_, a +protest against the commercial dominance of London, were laid before it, +and it took into its own hands many of the problems that had agitated +the former board. It discussed foreign trade, particularly with Holland, +and the questions of Swedish copper,[32] Spanish wines, and Irish linen; +home manufactures, among which are mentioned swords and rapier blades, +madder-dyed silk, needle making, and knitting with frameworks; and +domestic concerns, such as the preservation of timber. It made a number +of recommendations regarding "the exportation of several commodities of +the breed, growth, and manufacture of the Commonwealth," "the limiting +and settling the prices of wines," "vagrants and wandering, idle, +dissolute persons," and the "giving license for transporting fish in +foreign bottoms." These recommendations were drafted by the Trade +Committee, or by one of its subcommittees, and after adoption were +reported to the Council of State and by it referred to its own committee +appointed to receive reports from the Trade Committee. When approved by +the Council of State, the recommendations were sent to Parliament and +there referred to the large Parliamentary committee of trade of fifty +members, appointed October 20, 1656. That committee drafted bills which +were based on these recommendations and which later were passed as acts +of Parliament and received the consent of the Protector. For example, +the recommendation regarding exports, noted above, became a law November +27, 1656.[33] + +Under the head of "navigation and trade" came the commercial interests +of the plantations, and though there existed during this year, 1656, +other machinery for regulating plantation affairs, a number of questions +were referred from the Council to the Trade Committee that were strictly +in the line of plantation development. These questions concerned customs +duties on goods exported to Barbadoes, the political quarrels in +Antigua which threatened to bring ruin on that plantation and the +remedies therefor, the pilchard fishery off Newfoundland, and finally +the controversy between Maryland and Virginia which had already been +referred to a special committee of the Council. Upon all these questions +the Trade Committee reported to the Council; its recommendations and +findings were debated in that body or further referred to one of its own +committees or to the outside committee for America, and finally embodied +in an order regulating the matter in question.[34] + +Of the activity of the Trade Committee during the few months of the year +1657, when it continued its sessions, scarcely any evidence appears. +There is a very slight reason to believe that it took up the question of +free ports, but there is nothing to show that it accomplished anything +in that direction. That it came to an end in May seems to be borne out +by the fact that the officers of the board were paid only to May 27, but +this statement is rendered uncertain by the further fact that on June 26 +Portsmouth petitioned the committee to be made a free port and that the +petition was brought in by one of the members of the committee for +America, Capt. Limbrey.[35] The question cannot be exactly settled. +Though the committee was by no means a nominal body, it accomplished +little, and certainly did not meet the situation that confronted the +trade and navigation of the kingdom. + +After the appointment of this select Trade Committee, no standing +committee of the Council was created. Questions of trade were looked +after either by the Council itself, that of May, 1659, being especially +instructed to "advance trade and promote the good of our foreign +plantations and to encourage fishing,"[36] by an occasional special +committee, by the Trade Committee until the summer of 1657, or by the +committees of Parliament. Of Parliamentary committees there were two: +one a select committee of fifty members, appointed October 20, 1656, to +which were added all the merchants of the House and all members that +served for the port towns;[37] and a grand committee of the whole House +for trade, appointed February 2, 1658, which sat weekly and was invested +with the same powers as the committee of 1656 had had.[38] But except +that the first committee adopted some of the recommendations of the +Trade Committee, there is nothing to show that these committees took any +prominent part in the advancement of the interest in behalf of which +they had been created. + +From 1654 to 1660 the welfare of the plantations lay chiefly in the +hands of the Protector's Council and the Council of State, and their +system of control was in many respects similar to that which had been +adopted during the earlier period of the Interregnum. At first all +plantation questions were referred to committees of the Council +appointed temporarily to consider some particular matter. From December +29, 1653, to the close of the year 1659 some fifty cases were referred +to about thirty committees, of which twenty were appointed for the +special purpose in hand. Many matters were referred to such standing +committees as the Admiralty Committee, Customs Committee, etc.; others +to the judges of admiralty, commissioners of customs, and the like, +while petitions and communications regarding affairs in Jamaica, New +England, Virginia, Antigua, Somers Islands, Newfoundland, and Nevis, +regarding the transporting of horses, mining of saltpeter, payments of +salaries, indemnities, and trade, and regarding personal claims, such as +those of Lord Baltimore, William Franklin, De La Tour, and others, were +referred to committees composed of from two to eight members of the +Council, whose services in this particular ended with the presentation +of their report. Sometimes a question would be referred to the whole +Council or to a "committee," with the names unspecified, or to "any +three of the Council." The burden of serving upon these occasional +committees fell upon a comparatively small number of councillors: +Ashley, Montague, Strickland, Wolseley, Fiennes, Jones, Sydenham, Lisle, +and Mulgrave. One or more of these names appear on the list of every +special committee appointed except that to which Lord Baltimore's case +was referred, consisting of the sergeants-at-law, Lords Whitelocke and +Widdrington. During 1654 the committees for Virginia and Barbadoes, to +which were referred other colonial matters, came to be known as the +"committee for plantations," but it is doubtful if this was deemed in +any sense a standing committee. + +When the affairs of Jamaica became exigent after the summer of 1655 +a committee of the Council was appointed to carry out the terms of +Cromwell's proclamation and to report the needs of the colony. Though +the membership was generally changed this committee continued to be +reappointed as one question after another arose which demanded the +attention of the Council. It reported on the equipment of tools, +clothing, medicaments and other necessaries, on the transporting of +persons from Ireland and colonies in America, on the distribution of +lands in the island, and on various matters presented to the Council +in letters and petitions from officers and others there or in England. +After 1656 this committee, which continued to exist certainly until +the middle of April, 1660, played a more or less secondary part, doing +little more than consider the various colonial matters, whether relating +to Jamaica or to other colonies, that were taken up by the select or +outside committee appointed by Cromwell in 1656. + +The employment of expert advisers in the Jamaica business was rendered +necessary by the financial questions involved, and in December Robert +Bowes, Francis Hodges and Richard Creed were called upon to assist a +committee of Council appointed May 10, 1655, in determining the amounts +due the wives and assignees of the officers and soldiers in Jamaica. +Creed was dropped and Sydenham and Fillingham were added in 1656.[39] +But a more important step was soon taken. On July 15,1656, Cromwell +appointed a standing committee of officers and London merchants to +take general cognizance of all matters that concerned "his Highness +in Jamaica and the West Indies." The following were the members: Col. +Edward Salmon, an admiralty commissioner and intimately interested in +the Jamaica expedition; Col. Tobias Bridges, one of Cromwell's major +generals, afterwards serving in Flanders, who was to play an important +part in proclaiming Richard Cromwell Protector; Lieutenant Colonel +Miller, of Col. Barkstead's regiment, and Lieutenant Colonel Mills; +Capt. Limbrey, London merchant and Jamaican planter, who had lived in +Jamaica and made a map of the island, and as commander of merchant +vessels had made many trips across the Atlantic; Capt. Thomas Aldherne, +also a London merchant and sea captain, the chief victualler of the +navy, and an enterprising adventurer in trade; Capt. John Thompson, sea +captain and London merchant; Capt. Stephen Winthrop, sea captain and +London merchant; Richard Sydenham, and Robert Bowes, already mentioned +as commissioners for Jamaica,[40] and lastly Martin Noell, London +merchant, and Thomas Povey, regarding whom a fuller account is given +below. Povey, who was not appointed a member until October, 1657, +apparently became chairman and secretary, while Francis Hodges was +clerical secretary. Except for Tobias Bridges, the military members had +little share in the business of the committee, the most prominent part +being taken by Noell, Bridges, Winthrop, Bowes, Sydenham, and Povey. +As far as the records show, Salmon, Miller, Aldherne, Thompson, and +White never signed a report, while Mills and Limbrey signed but one. +The committee seems to have sat at first in Grocer's Hall, afterward +in Treasury Chambers, where its members discussed and investigated +all questions that came before them with care and thoroughness. +Their instructions authorized them to maintain a correspondence +with the colonies, obtaining such infromation and advice as seemed +essential; to receive all addresses relating thereunto, whether from +persons in America or elsewhere; to consider and consult thereof and +prepare such advices and answers thereupon as should be judged meet +for the advantage of the community. Their earliest business concerned +itself with Jamaica, its revenues, finances, expenses of expeditions +thither, arrears due the officers and soldiers, their wives and +assignees, individual claims, want of ministers, and other similar +questions. But as addresses came in from other colonies the scope of +their activity was broadened until it included at one time or another +nearly all the American colonies. The committee reported on the +constitution, governing powers, fortifications, militia of Somers +Islands (Bermudas) and on the fitness of Sayle to be governor there; +on the controversy between Virginia and Maryland and on the organization +and government of the former colony; on the petition of the Long +Islanders and others in New England, and on complaints against +Massachusetts Bay; on the revenue, government, and admiralty system +of Barbadoes; on questions of governor and arrears of salary in +Nevis and Tortugas; on the desirability of continuing the plantation +in Newfoundland; and lastly on the important subject of ship insurance, +upon which Capt. Limbrey presented a very remarkable paper.[41] These +reports were sent sometimes to the Protector, sometimes to the Council +of State, and sometimes to the committee of the Council on the affairs +of America. While the latter committee, under the name of "Committee for +Foreign Plantations" continued until the return of the King, the select +committee for America does not appear to have lasted as a whole after +the final dissolution of the Rump Parliament, March 16, 1660. Thomas +Povey alone seems to have been the committee from March to May, and on +April 9 and May 11 made two reports on matters referred to him by the +Council committee regarding Jamaica and Newfoundland. As Charles II had +been recalled to his own in England before the last report was sent in, +the machinery created under Cromwell for the plantations remained in +existence after the government set up by him had passed away.[42] + +Any account of the system appointed for the control of trade and +plantations during the Interregnum is bound to be something of a tangle, +not because the system itself was a complicated one, but because its +simplicity is clouded by a bewildering mass of details. Occasional +committees of Parliament, the Council as a board of trade and +plantations, committees of the Council, and select councils and +committees do not form a very confusing body of material out of which +to fashion a system of colonial control. Yet, despite this fact, the +management of the colonies during the Interregnum was without unity or +simplicity. Control was exercised by no single or continuous organ and +according to no clearly defined or consistent plan. Colonial questions +seemed to lie in many different hands and to be met in as many different +ways. Delays were frequent and there can be little doubt that many +important matters were laid aside and pigeon-holed. When an important +colonial difficulty had to pass from subcommittee to committee, from +committee to Council, and sometimes from Council to Parliamentary +committee and thence to Parliament, we can easily believe that in the +excess of machinery there would be entailed a decrease of despatch and +efficiency. Indeed, during the Interregnum colonial business was not +well managed and there were many to whom colonial trade was of great +importance, who realized this fact. Merchants of London after 1655 +became dissatisfied with the way the plantations were managed and +desired a reorganization which should bring about order, improve +administration, economize expenditure, elevate justice, and effect +speedily and fairly a settlement of colonial disputes. They doubted +whether a Council, "busyed and filled with a multitude of affairs," +was able to accomplish these results and they refused to believe that +affairs of such a nature should be transacted "in diverse pieces and +by diverse councils." The remedy of these men was carefully thought +out and carefully expressed and though it was undoubtedly listened +to by Cromwell, it never received more than an imperfect application. +To these men and their proposals we must pay careful attention for +therein we shall find the connecting link between the Protectorate +and the Restoration as far as matters of trade and the plantations +are concerned. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: Among others, The Advancement of Merchandize or certain +propositions for the improvement of the trade of this Commonwealth, +humbly presented to the Right Honorable the Council of State by Thomas +Viollet, of London, Goldsmith, 1651. This rare pamphlet was drawn up +by Viollet when connected with the Mint in the Tower and sent to the +Council of State, evidently in manuscript form. Most of the papers +composing this pamphlet were transmitted by the Council of State to +the Council of Trade. For Viollet see Cal. State Papers, Domestic, +1650-1651, 1659-1660.] + +[Footnote 2: The Council of Trade accumulated in this and other ways a +considerable mass of books and papers, but this material for its history +has entirely disappeared.] + +[Footnote 3: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1650, p. 399; 1651, pp. 16, 29, +38, 107, 230; 1651-1652, pp. 87. The first suggestion of this committee +was as early as January 1650, Commons' Journal, VI, p. 347.] + +[Footnote 4: Guildhall, Journal of the Proceedings of the Common +Council, Vol. 41, ff. 45, 55; Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651, pp. 198, +247-249, 270-271; Inderwick, The Interregnum, ch. II.] + +[Footnote 5: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651-1652, pp. 470-472, 479-481.] + +[Footnote 6: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1652-1653, p. 282.] + +[Footnote 7: British Museum, Add. MSS., 5138, f. 145.] + +[Footnote 8: Guildhall, Repertories of the Court of Aldermen, 61, p. +152^{b}.] + +[Footnote 9: Guildhall, Journal of the Proceedings of the Common +Council, Vol. 41, pp. 67^{b}, 68.] + +[Footnote 10: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651-1652, pp. 232, 235. The +question was as to whether or not the Turkey trade could best be carried +on by a company "as now," or by free trade, as in the case of Portugal +and Spain. Able arguments in favor of free trade were brought forward, +and when later the question of a monopoly of the Greenland whale fishing +came up, the Council of State admitted free adventurers to a share in +the business. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1653-1654, p. 379; 1654, p. 16.] + +[Footnote 11: Commons' Journal, VI, p. 140.] + +[Footnote 12: Commons' Journal, VI, p. 361.] + +[Footnote 13: Commons' Journal, VII, p. 41.] + +[Footnote 14: Commons' Journal, VII, p. 220.] + +[Footnote 15: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 283, 284, 285.] + +[Footnote 16: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 343-344; Cal. State Papers, +Dom., 1653-1654, pp. 297-298.] + +[Footnote 17: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 652, 654, 655; Cal. State +Papers, Dom., 1658-1659, p. 349.] + +[Footnote 18: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 800, 849.] + +[Footnote 19: P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. I, May 3/13, 1649--September +28, 1660. Meetings of Privy Councils during the Interregnum were held at +Castle Elizabeth, St. Hillary, Breda (1649-1650), Bruges (1656, 1658), +Brussels (1659), Breda (1660), Canterbury (May 27, 1660), Whitehall (May +31, 1660).] + +[Footnote 20: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 335, 352, 366; +Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651-1652, p. 43.] + +[Footnote 21: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, p. 394; Cal. State +Papers, Dom., 1651-1652, pp. 67, 232, 235, 426; 1652-1653, pp. 18-27.] + +[Footnote 22: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 373-402, +_passim_.] + +[Footnote 23: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1651-1652, pp. 266, 350, 396, +472; 1652-1653, pp. 18, 27, 160, 171.] + +[Footnote 24: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 19, 287. On May 6, 1653, +a new commission of trade was proposed by the Council of State but +no appointments are given. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1653-1654, +pp. 310, 344.] + +[Footnote 25: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 308, 319, 341, 375.] + +[Footnote 26: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1654, pp. 61, 285, 316.] + +[Footnote 27: Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 11411, ff. 11^{b}-12^{b}.] + +[Footnote 28: That such an outcome was anticipated is evident from the +concluding words of the "Overture." "If his Highness shall think fit +to constitute a council for the general Trade of these Nations and the +several Interests relating thereunto, these seaven may properly be of +that number, the employment being of the same nature and therefore +will rather informe then divert them who ought indeed to be busyed or +conversant in no other Affaires than the matters of Trade."] + +[Footnote 29: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655, pp. 27, 133, 240.] + +[Footnote 30: Thurloe, State Papers, IV, p. 177; British Museum, Add. +MSS., 12438, iii; Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655, p. 240, 1655-1656, pp. +1, 2, 54, 73, 100, 114, 115, 141, 156, 162, 188, 252, 275, 297, 327, +382. "We might speak also of the famed 'Committee of Trade' which has +now begun its sessions 'in the old House of Lords.' An Assembly of +Dignitaries, Chief Merchants, Political Economists, convened by summons +of his Highness; consulting zealously how the Trade of this country +may be improved. A great concernment of this commonwealth 'which his +Highness is eagerly set upon.' They consulted of 'Swedish copperas' and +such like; doing faithfully what they could." Cromwell's Letters and +Speeches, II, p. 202.] + +[Footnote 31: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655-1656, p. 113; 1656-1657, +p. 556; 1657-1658, pp. 308, 589; 1657-1658, p. 69.] + +[Footnote 32: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655-1656, p. 318.] + +[Footnote 33: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 442, 452, 460.] + +[Footnote 34: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660, pp. 436, 439, 440 (2), +441, 443, 447, 453.] + +[Footnote 35: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 12438, iii.] + +[Footnote 36: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1658-1659, p. 349.] + +[Footnote 37: Commons' Journal, VII, pp. 442, 452.] + +[Footnote 38: Commons' Journal, VII, p. 596.] + +[Footnote 39: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1655-1656, pp. 46, 65, 318, 351.] + +[Footnote 40: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1657-1658, pp. 51, 66.] + +[Footnote 41: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574, 1660, pp. 445, 447, 448, +449, 450, 452, 453, 455, 456, 458, 459, 460, 461, 464, 465, 468, 470, +477; Brit. Mus. Egerton, 2395, ff. 123, 136, 142, 148-151, 157; Add. +MSS., 18986, f. 258.] + +[Footnote 42: Note to the report of May 11, 1660, is as follows: "By +order of the Councill of State sitting and taking care of the government +in the interval between the suppression of the Rump of the Parliament +and the return of his Majesty which was not many days before the date of +this report." Egerton MSS., 2395, f. 263. Probably the recall not the +actual landing at Dover is meant.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The Proposals of the Merchants: Noell and Povey. + + +Between the colonial and commercial activities of the later years of +the Interregnum and the corresponding activities during the early years +of the Restoration no hard and fast line can be drawn. The policy of +control adopted by Charles II can be traced to the agitation of men, +chiefly merchants of London and others familiar with the colonies, who +since 1655 had become impressed with the possibilities of the New World +as a field for profitable ventures in trade and commerce, and desired, +whether under a republic or a monarchy, the cooeperation and aid of the +government. Among the leaders of this movement were Martin Noell and +Thomas Povey. + +Martin Noell was probably the most conspicuous London merchant of his +time. Of his early life nothing seems to be known. He first appears as +a merchant in 1650 trading with Nevis and Montserrat, and in the next +few years he extended his operations to New England, Virginia, the other +West India islands, and the Mediterranean. His ships trafficked in a +great variety of commodities--iron, hemp, pitch, tar, flax, potashes, +cables, fish, cocoa, tobacco, etc., and he became a power in London, +his place of business in Old Jewry being the resort of merchants, +ship captains, and persons desiring to cooeperate in his ventures. +He was an alderman as early as 1651, was placed a little later on the +commission for securing the peace of the city, and held other offices +by appointment of the city or of the Commonwealth. He was also +a member of the East India Company and influential in its councils. +In addition to his mercantile interests he became a farmer, first of +the inland and foreign post-office,--one writer speaking of him as +"the postmaster,"--and later, on a large scale, of customs and excise. +At one time or another he held the farm of the customs in general and +of the excise of salt, linen, silk mercery, and wines in particular. In +these capacities he acted as a banker of the government, paying salaries +and expenses of official appointees, advancing loans, and issuing bills +of exchange and letters of credit. His vessels carried letters of marque +during the Dutch war and the war with Spain, and he himself traded in +prizes and became one of the commissioners of prize goods. The Jamaican +expeditions of 1654 and afterward gave him an opportunity to become a +contractor and he organized a committee in London for the purpose of +financiering the expedition, himself advancing L16,000, and in company +with Capts. Alderne, Watts, and others contracted for the supplies of +the ships and soldiers, furnishing utensils, clothing, bedding, and +provisions for this and other expeditions, notably that to Flanders. +He was Gen. Venables' personal agent in London and agent for the army +in general in Jamaica. He also became a contractor for transporting +vagrants, prisoners, and others to various American plantations. These +accumulating ventures increased his interest in the colonies, and after +the capture of Jamaica in 1655 he obtained a grant of 20,000 acres in +that island, from which he created several plantations. In his new +capacity as planter he was constantly engaged in shipping servants, +supplies, and horses. The firm of Martin Noell & Company became +exceedingly prosperous, and Noell himself one of the mainstays of the +government. He became a member of the Trade Committee in 1655, of the +committee for Jamaica in 1656, and was frequently called in by the +Council of State to offer advice or to give information. He was on terms +of intimacy with Cromwell, and because of the Protector's friendship +for him and confidence in his judgment, his recommendations for office, +both in England and the colonies had great weight. Povey speaks of the +"extraordinary favor allowed him (Noell) by his Highness." He had a +brother, Thomas Noell, who was prominent in Barbadoes and Surinam and +in charge of his interests there. He was also represented in other +islands by agents and factors, of whom Edward Bradbourne was the most +conspicuous, while Major Richard Povey in Jamaica, and William Povey +in Barbadoes, brothers of Thomas Povey, had for a time charge of his +plantations in those islands. Noell indirectly played no small part in +politics, particularly of Barbadoes, where Governor Searle held office +largely through his influence. Besides his Jamaica holdings he had +estates at Wexford in Ireland, and in April, 1658, wrote to Henry +Cromwell that he had "transplanted much of his interest and affairs +and relations" to that country, seeming to indicate thereby that his +colonial ventures were not prospering satisfactorily. Noell was a +politic man, shrewd and diplomatic, asserting his loyalty to the house +of Cromwell, yet becoming a trusty subject of King Charles, from whom +he afterward received knighthood.[1] + +Thomas Povey was born probably about 1615, son of Justinian Povey, +auditor of the exchequer and one of the commissioners of the Caribbee +Islands in 1637. He was one of a large family of children, nine at +least, Justinian, John, Francis, William, Richard, Thomas, Mrs. +Blathwayt (afterward Mrs. Thomas Vivian), Mrs. Barrow, and Sarah Povey, +and he spent his early years at the family home in Hounslow. In 1633 he +entered Gray's Inn and in 1647 became a member of the Long Parliament. +"Purged" with the other Presbyterian members in 1648, he did not return +to Parliament until the restoration of those members in 1659. He was +evidently inclined at first to go into law and politics, but for reasons +unnamed, possibly the slenderness of his fortune, which he says was +hardly sufficient to support him, he turned, about 1654, to trade, +and was thus brought into close relations with Martin Noell. Of his +activities until 1657 we hear very little, though it is evident that +from 1654 to 1657 he lived in Gray's Inn, engaging in many trading +ventures in the West Indies and elsewhere, was on terms of intimacy +with Noell and frequently at his house, and showed himself fertile of +suggestions, as always, regarding the improvement of trade and the +care and supply of men, provisions, and intelligence. In 1657 he lost +by death his brothers John and Francis, and his mother, who died at +Hounslow. As two of his brothers had gone to the West Indies with the +expedition of 1654 and the remainer of the family was scattered, he +decided to marry, and settled down in a house in Lincoln's Inn Fields +next the Earl of Northampton, with a widow without children, but +possessed "of a fortune capable of giving a reasonable assistance to +mine." In October of that year, possibly through Noell's influence, he +became a member of the committee for America, and from that time was +a conspicuous leader among those interested in plantation affairs. +As chairman and secretary of the committee, he took a prominent part +in all correspondence, and was familiar with the chief men in all the +colonies. He exchanged letters with Searle, of Barbadoes, D'Oyley, +of Jamaica, Temple, of Nova Scotia, Digges, at one time governor of +Virginia, Russell, of Nevis, Major Byam, of Surinam, Col. Osborn, of +Montserrat, General Brayne, in command of one of the expeditions to +Jamaica, and particularly with Lord Willoughby of Parham, with whom he +stood on terms of intimate friendship and over whose policy he exercised +considerable control. He was proposed at this time as agent in London +for Virginia, but the suggestion does not appear to have been acted on. +His brother Richard was commissary of musters and major of militia in +Jamaica, and his brother William, the black sheep of the family, who +had married a wife far too good for him, as Povey once wrote her, was +provost marshal in Barbadoes and in charge of Noell's interests there, +bringing that merchant nothing but "discontent and damage," and causing +Thomas Povey a great deal of trouble and expense. The colonial +appointments of these brothers were obtained entirely through the +influence of Noell and Povey in England. The disordered and uncertain +political situation in England in 1659 and the unsettled state of +affairs in both Jamaica and Barbadoes at the same time cost Povey great +anxiety and a part of his own and his wife's fortune, and he echoed +the complaint, widespread at the time, of the decay of trade and the +insecurity of all commercial ventures. We may not doubt that Povey, +as well as Noell, was ready to welcome the return of the King.[2] + +Though Noell and Povey were intimate friends and had been engaged in +common trading enterprises for a number of years, we have no definite +knowledge of their earlier undertakings, beyond the fact that with Capt. +Watts and Capt. Aldherne, whom Povey met by accident at Noell's house, +they were particularly concerned in developing the Barbadoes and Jamaica +trade. In the years 1657 and 1658, when Noell was "swol'n into a much +greater person by being a farmer of the customs and excise," we meet +with two enterprises, one for a West India Company, promoted by Lord +Willoughby, Noell, Povey, and Watts, as partners and principals, with +Watts as sea captain in charge of the vessel; the other for a Nova +Scotia Company, composed of Lord William Fiennes, Sir Charles Wolseley, +Noell, Povey, and others, with Watts and Collier as managers and Capt. +Middleton as sailing master. The latter company was organized for +settling a trade in furs and skins in Nova Scotia, and to that end +engaged the cooeperation of Wolseley's cousin, Col. Thomas Temple, +lieutenant general of Nova Scotia since 1655, and of Capt. Breedon, +a prominent merchant of New England. It sent out a ship freighted with +goods under Capt. Middleton, but despite an auspicious beginning, +does not appear to have prospered. The title to Nova Scotia was disputed +not only by the French, but also by the Kirkes, whom Cromwell had +dispossessed in 1655, when he appointed Temple as governor; hostilities +broke out in Nova Scotia, and the company was called upon for a larger +stock and incorporation at a time when its promoters seemed unwilling to +risk more money. Though Povey was encouraged by the specimens of copper +which Temple sent over, the enterprise made no progress until after the +Restoration. It is probable that both Noell and Povey lost money by the +venture. + +The project for a West India Company was more ambitious and must have +been formulated some time in 1656 or 1657. Various propositions were +drawn up with care, probably by Povey or by Noell and Povey together, +for the better serving the interests of the Commonwealth by the erection +of a company which had as its object the advancing of trade and the +prosecution of the war with Spain. The two ideas seem, however, to have +been kept separate. Trade was to be promoted by despatching a vessel to +"Florida" under Capt. Watts which, in case it was unable to open trade +there, was to take on a lading of pipe staves in New England, sail to +the West Indies, and return thence with a cargo of sugar and other West +Indian commodities. For the purpose of attacking Spanish towns, of +"interrupting the Spanish fleet in their going from Spain to the Indies +and in their return thence for Spain, and of ousting the Spaniards from +their control in the West Indies and South America"--a subject regarding +which Capt. Limbrey had drawn up a paper of information,--the company +proposed that the state should furnish and equip twenty frigates which +were to be fully provisioned, manned and officered by itself. The +company desired to be incorporated by act of Parliament,[3] rather +than by a patent under the great seal, because the former would confer +"diverse privileges and assistances, and an immunity and sole trade +in any place they shall conquer or beget a trade with the Spaniard's +dominion," all of which a patent could not convey. The proposals were +presented to the Council of State in 1659 and were referred to a special +committee. They were debated in Council on August 7, and on October 20 +Povey wrote to Governor Searle that they had received encouragement +and hoped to have a charter from Parliament, and because "they have so +much favor from the state they will have an influence upon most of the +English plantations."[4] Either Parliament refused to incorporate the +company or in the distractions of the winter of 1659-1660 the proposals +were lost sight of. + +The group of merchants, among whom Noell and Povey were so conspicuous, +seemed to desire, as far as possible, a monopoly of the trade in America +and the West Indies, and to that end controlled to no inconsiderable +extent political appointments there. Governor Searle, of Barbadoes, +was their appointee, and Governors Russell, of Nevis, and Osborn, +of Montserrat, were in close touch with them and looked to them for +support. In 1657, acting through the committee for America, they +recommended that Edward Digges be made governor of Virginia, and about +the same time Martin Noell and eighteen others petitioned that Capt. +Watts be made governor of Jamaica. Lord Willoughby was practically +one of them, and Gen. Brayne and Lieut. Gen. D'Oyley were on intimate +terms with them. It is not surprising, in view of the importance of the +colonial trade and the disturbed condition of the plantations, that such +a man as Povey, who was always ready with plans and proposals, should +have endeavored to solve the problem of colonial control. He was in +frequent consultation with Noell concerning matters relating to the West +Indies, and in consequence, many schemes were discussed and carefully +worked out by them. The various drafts touching the West India Company +are elaborated in minute detail, and Povey showed clearly that he +possessed admirable qualities as a committee-man and an organizer. + +The first "overture" or plan seems to have been written in 1654 at the +time when the expedition of Penn and Venables was on its way to the +West Indies, and does not refer specifically to Jamaica. Its authors +recommended that a competent number of persons, not less than seven, of +good repute and well skilled in their professions and qualifications, +be selected to form a council. A greater number would be undesirable, +they said, because "in such an affair where there are many, the chief +things are done and ofttimes huddled up by a few; and there is neither +that secrecy, steadiness, nor particular care, nor so good an account +given of the trust, where more are employed than are necessary and +proportionable to the business."[5] The qualifications of the seven are +interesting: "(1) One to be a Merchant that hath been in those Indias +and trading that waie. (2) One also to bee a Merchant but not related +to that trade, and who rather retires from than pursues in profession. +(3) One well experienced Seaman, not or but little trading att present. +(4) One Gentleman that hath travailed; that hath language and something +of the civill Lawe. (5) One Citizen of a general capacitie and +conversation. (6) One that understands well our municipall Lawes and +the general Constitutions of England. (7) One to be a Secretarie to his +Highness in all Affaires in the West Indias, and relating thereunto, who +is solely to give himself up to this Employm^{t}." This council was to be +subordinated only to Cromwell and the Council and its powers were to be +fairly extensive. It was + + "to have power to advise w^{th} all other Committees or Persons, + Officers, or others as occasion shall require; + + "to consider (by what they shall observe here and what shalbee + represented from the Commission^{rs} now in the expedition) how + and what forreigne Plantations may be improved, transplanted, + and ordered; + + "to reduce all Colonies and Plantations to a more certaine, + civill, and uniforme way of government and distribution of + publick justice; + + "to keep a constant correspondence with the Commission^{rs} now + in the expedition, and w^{th} all the Chiefe Ports both at home + and abroad; + + "to be able to give up once in a year unto his Highness a perfect + Intelligence and Account of the Government of every place, of their + complaints, their wants, their abundance of every ship trading + thither and its lading and whither consigned, and to know what the + proceeds of the place have been that yeare, whereby the intrinsick + value and the certaine condition of each port will be thoroughly + understood. And by this conduct and method those many rich places + and severall Governments and Adventures will have all due and + continuall care and Inspection taken of them, w^{th}out divertion + to the nearest Affairs of this Nation, w^{ch} being of so much of a + greater and a closer consequence, the Superior Council can seldome + bee at leisure to descend any further than to breife and imperfect + considerations and provisions, w^{ch} is the sad Estate of fforeigne + Dominions, and distant Colonies and Expeditions from whence usually + the most strict, or servile duty and obedience is exacted, but very + seldome any Indulgencie or paternall care is allowed to them. + + "These therefore are to indeavour and contrive all possible + Encouragem^{ts} and Advantages for the Adventurer, Planter, and + English Merchants, in order also to the shutting out all Straingers + from that Trade, by making them not necessary to it, and by drawing + it wholly and with satisfaction to all parties into our Ports here, + that it may bee afterward instead of Bullion to trade with other + Nations, it being the Traffick of our own proper and native + Commodities. That our Shipping may be increased, our poore here + employed, and our Manufactures encouraged: And by the generall + consequencies hereof, a considerable Revenue may be raised to + his Highness. + + "to debate among themselves, and satisfy themselves from others; + and to present their Results to his Highness in all matters + reserved and proper for his Highness Judgment and last + Impressions. + + "to bee a readie and perfect Register both to his Highness and + all other persons, as far as they may be concerned, of all + particulars relating to those Affaires. + + "The Secretarie may be the person to represent things from time + to time between his Highness and this Councill. To make and receive + dispatches. To make readie papers for his Highness signature. + And generally his Office wilbee to render the Supreame Management + & comp^{r}hension of this Affaire less cumbersome and difficult to + his Highness, hee being allwaies ready to give his Highness a full + and a digested consideration, if any particular relating to those + Affaires and w^{th}in the cognizance of that Council."[6] + + +That these recommendations had any influence in determining the +character of the Trade Committee of 1655 is doubtful, but the next +effort of the merchants was probably more successful. Some time in 1656 +Povey drew up a series of queries "concerning his Highness Interest in +the West Indias" in which occur the following suggesive paragraphs: + + "Whether a Councell busyed and filled with a multitude of + Affaires, w^{ch} concerne the imediat Safety and preservation + of the State at home, can bee thought capable of giving a proper + conduct to such various and distant Interests. + + "Whether an Affaire of such a nature and consequence may be + transacted in diverse peices and by diverse Councells, and how + a proper Result cann be instantly arise out of such a kind of + management. + + "Whether a Councill constituted of fitt Persons Solely sett apart + to the busyness of America be not the likeliest means of advancing + his Highness Interest there and of bringing them continually to + a certain account and readiness whensoever his Highness or his + Privie Councill shall have occasion to looke into any particular + thereof. + + "Whether it be not a prudentiall thing to draw all the Islands, + Colonies, and Dominions of America under one and the same + management here."[7] + + +That the men who drafted these queries were mainly responsible for the +creation of the select council of 1656, at first known as the Committee +for Jamaica and afterwards as the Committee for his Highness Affairs +in America, we can hardly doubt, for the constitution and work of that +committee represents very nearly the ideas that Povey and Noell had +expressed up to this time. It is not to be wondered at that Povey should +have been the chairman, secretary, and most active member of this +committee after his appointment in 1657. + +Two other propositions or overtures appear among Povey's papers that +belong to the period of the Protectorate, and were written probably +the one in 1656, known as the "Propositions concerning the West India +Councill," and the other, known as "Overtures touching the West Indies," +before August, 1657.[8] In the first of these the number of the +council was to be ten, in the second it was not to exceed six. The +"Propositions" repeat in the main the points already quoted, including +the recommendation that it should be the business of the council +"to consider of the reducing all Colonies and Plantations to a more +certaine, civill, and uniform waie of Governm^{t} and distribution +of publick justice." The "Overtures" are much more elaborate, though +frequently containing the identical phrases of the first "Overture," +with many new paragraphs which seem to show the same spirit of hostility +for Spain that is exhibited in the formation of the West India Company. +Indeed this document is an outcome of the same movement which led to the +formation of that company. Some of the more important sections are as +follows: + + "To render what we already possess, and all that depends upon it, + to be a foundation and Inducem^{t} for future undertakings; by + gathering reasonable assistances from thence, and by mingling and + interweaving of Interest, and letting it appear that such Persons + and Collonies shall have the more of the Indulgencie of the State + as shall merit most in what they shall in any way be readier to do, + or contribut to the service of the whole; for hereafter they may + be considered as one embodied Commonwealth whose head and centre + is here. + + "That every Governour shall have his Commission reviewed, and + that all be reviewed in one form, w^{th} such clauses and provisions + as shalbee held necessary for the promotion of his Highness other + public affairs, and that as soone as order can be conveniently taken + therein the several Governours to be paid their allowances from + hence (though upon their own accounts), that their dependencie bee + immediately and altogether from his Highness.... + + "That all prudentiall means be applyed to for the rendering these + Dominions useful to England, and England helpful to them; and that + the severall Peices and Colonies bee drawn and disposed into a more + certaine, civill, and uniforme waie of Government and distribution + of Publick Justice. And that such Collonies as are the Proprietie + of particular Persons or of Corporations may be reduced as neare as + cann bee to the same method and proportion w^{th} the rest w^{th} + as little dissatisfaction or injurie to the persons concerned as + may bee. + + "That a continual correspondence bee so settled and ordered ... + that so each place w^{th}in itself and all of them being as it + were made up into one Commonwealth may be regulated accordingly + upon comon and equal Principles." + + +These proposals are followed by a series of propositions designed to +further the enterprise of the merchants and to aid in the defeat of +the Spaniards, whereby "those oppressed People (who are w^{th}held +from Trade though to their extreme suffering and disadvantage)" may +be released "from the Tyranny [of Spain] now upon them." + +Taken as a whole, these documents form a remarkable series of unofficial +papers which formulate foundation principles of colonial empire that +England never applied. That these principles met the approval of those +who were to shape the colonial policy of the Restoration a further +examination will show. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660; Dom., vols. for years +1650-1660, Indexes; Brit. Mus. Egerton, 2395, Add. MSS., 11410, 11411, +15858, f. 97, 22920, f. 22; Lansdowne, 822, f. 164, 823, f. 33.] + +[Footnote 2: Cal. State Papers, Col. and Dom. Indexes; Egerton, 2395, +which contains Povey's collection of papers; Add. MSS., 11411, which +contains his correspondence. See also Dictionary of National Biography.] + +[Footnote 3: A draft of such an act is to be found in Egerton, 2395, f. +202.] + +[Footnote 4: Brit. Mus. Egerton, 2395, pp. 87-113, 176 (there is a +duplicate of Povey's letter in Add. MSS., 11410); Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1574-1660, pp. 475, 477.] + +[Footnote 5: That all these proposals were drafted by Povey is evident +from similar terms and phrases used in his letters.] + +[Footnote 6: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 11411, ff. 11^{b}-12^{b}.] + +[Footnote 7: Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2395, f. 86.] + +[Footnote 8: Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2395, f. 99; Add. MSS., 11411, ff. +3-3^{b}. In a letter of August, 1657, Povey refers to these "Overtures," +which he says were designed "for the better setting and carrying on of +the general affairs of the West Indies, enforcing the authority and +powers of the several governors there, and the establishment of a +certain course," etc.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Committees and Councils Under the Restoration. + + +Charles II landed at Dover on May 25, 1660 and on the twenty-seventh +named at Canterbury four men, General Monck, the Earl of Southampton, +William Morrice, and Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, who took oath as privy +councillors. Others who had been members of the Council on foreign soil +or were added during the month following the return of the King swelled +the number to more than twenty. The first meeting of the Privy Council +was held on May 31, and it was inevitable that during the ensuing weeks +many petitions concerning the various claims and controversies which +had been agitating merchants and planters during the previous years +and had been reported on by the Committee for America should have been +brought to the attention of the Council. Such matters as appointments to +governorships and other offices, the political disturbances in Antigua, +Barbadoes, and Jamaica, the titles to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and +Barbadoes, became at once living issues. Many of the petitions were from +the London merchants, and we may not doubt that the personal influence +of those whose names have been already mentioned was brought to bear +upon the members of the Council. It became necessary, therefore, +for the King and his advisers to make early provision for the proper +consideration of colonial business in order that the colonies might +be placed in a position of greater security and in order that the +West Indian and American trade, from which the King and his Chancellor +expected important additions to the royal revenue, might be encouraged +and extended. Among the petitions received in June, 1660, were two from +rival groups of merchants interested in the governorship and trade of +the island of Nevis. One of these petitions desired the confirmation +of the appointment of Col. Philip Ward as governor of Nevis; the other +the reappointment of the former governor, Russell. This was the first +difficult question that had yet arisen, for Berkeley's return to +Virginia was a foregone conclusion, while the condition and settlement +of Nova Scotia, Barbadoes and Jamaica were to be of importance later. +Acting on these petitions regarding Nevis, only the second of which is +entered in the Privy Council Register, the King in Council appointed +on July 4, 1660, a committee, known as "The Right Honorable the Lords +appointed a Committee of this Board for Trade and Plantations." The +members were Edward Montague, Earl of Manchester, the Lord Chamberlain; +Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, the Lord Treasurer; Robert +Sydney, Earl of Leicester; William Fiennes, Lord Say and Seale; John +Lord Robartes; Denzil Holles, Arthur Annesley, Sir Anthony Ashley +Cooper, and the Secretaries of State, Sir Edward Nicholas and Sir +William Morrice. The committee was instructed to meet on every Monday +and Thursday at three o'clock in the afternoon, "to review, heare, +examine, and deliberate upon any petitions, propositions, memorials, or +other addresses, which shall be presented or brought in by any person or +persons concerning the plantations, as well in the Continent as Islands +of America, and from time to time make their report to this board of +their proceedings."[1] + +It is evident from the wording of these instructions that the committee +was designed to be a continuous one and to carry on the work of the +former committee for foreign plantations of the Council of State. There +is no essential difference between these committees, except that one +represented a commonwealth and the other a monarchy. We pass from the +one arrangement to the other with very little jar, and with much less +sense of a break in the continuity than when we pass from the system +under the Republic to that under the Protectorate. The Privy Council +committee had all the essential features of a standing committee and, +after the experiment with separate and select councils had proved +unsatisfactory, it assumed entire control of trade and plantation +affairs in 1675, a control which it exercised until 1696. Though an +occasional change was made in its membership and some reorganization was +effected in 1668, the Lords of Trade of July 4, 1660, commissioned with +plenary powers by patent under the great seal, became the Lords of Trade +of February 9, 1675. + +From 1660 to 1675 this committee of the Privy Council played no +insignificant part although, after the creation of the councils, it was +bound to be limited in the actual work that it performed. During the +four months after its appointment it was the only body that had to do +with trade and plantations except the Privy Council, which occasionally +sat as a committee of the whole for plantation affairs. During the +summer the committee considered with care and a due regard for all +aspects of the case the claims of various persons to the government of +Barbadoes. Despite the opposition of Modyford, who had been commissioned +governor by the Council of State the April before, and John Colleton, +one of the Council of Barbadoes, and despite the efforts of Alderman +Riccard and other merchants of London, Francis Lord Willoughby was +restored to the government under the claims of the Earl of Carlisle. +At the same time the claims of the Kirks, Elliott, and Sterling to Nova +Scotia were examined and eventually decided in favor of Col. Temple, the +governor there. Willoughby immediately appointed Capt. Watts governor of +the Caribbee Islands, himself, through his deputy, took the governorship +of Barbadoes, Modyford became governor of Jamaica, Berkeley of Virginia, +and Russell of Nevis. It is at least worthy of recall that Willoughby, +Watts, Temple, and Russell were all within the circle of Povey's +friends, that Povey and Noell both petitioned the King for Russell's +reappointment, and that Temple wrote Povey begging him to exert his +influence in his (Temple's) behalf, lest he lose the governorship. Povey +was certainly in high favor with the monarchy; in 1660 he was appointed +treasurer to the Duke of York and Master of Requests to his Majesty +in Extraordinary June 22, 1660,[2] and during the years that followed +he held office after office and with all the skill of a politician +continued to find offices for his kinsmen. William Blathwayt, of later +fame, was his nephew. Noell was no less honored; he became a member of +the Royal Company of Merchants, the Royal African Company, the Society +for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, and was finally +knighted in 1663 and died in 1665.[3] As we shall see, both men became +very active in the affairs of the plantations, and it is more than +likely that the opinions of the King in Council were not infrequently +shaped by their suggestions and advice. + +How early the decision was reached to create separate councils of trade +and foreign plantations it is impossible to say. Some time between May +and August, 1660, Povey must have planned to recast his "Overtures" +and to present them for the consideration of the King. At first he +endeavored to adapt those of 1657 to the new situation by substituting +"Foreign Plantations" for the "West Indies," "Ma^{tie}" for "Highness," +and "his Ma^{ties} Privie Councill" for "the great Councill"; but +he finally decided to present a new draft, in which, however, he +retained many of the essential clauses of the former paper. Whether the +recommendations of Povey as presented in the "Overtures" influenced Lord +Clarendon to recommend such councils to the King we cannot say; it is +more likely that the practice adopted under the Protectorate had already +commended itself to the Chancellor, who was beginning to show that +interest in the plantations which characterizes the early years of his +administration. That he should have consulted Noell and Povey and other +London merchants is to be expected of the man who for at least five +years kept up a close correspondence with Maverick of New England, +Ludwell of Virginia, and D'Oyley, Littleton, and Modyford in the +West Indies,[4] and who was constantly urging upon the King the +importance of the plantations as sources of revenue and the great +financial possibilities that lay in the improvement of trade. On August +17, 1660, the King in Council drafted a letter to "Our very good Lord +the Lord Maior of the Citty of London & to the Court of Aldermen of the +said City," reading as follows: + + "After our hearty commendations these are to acquaint you, That + his Majesty having this day taken into his princely consideration + how necessary it is for the good of this kingdom, that Trade and + Commerce with foreign parts, be with all due care, incouraged + and maintayned, And for the better settling thereof declared his + gracious intention to appoint a Committee of understanding able + persons, to take into their particular consideration all things + conducible thereunto; We do by his Ma^{ts} special command and + in order to the better carrying on of this truly royal, profitable, + and advantageous designe, desire you to give notice hereof + unto the Turkey Merchants, the Merchant Adventurers, the East + India, Greenland, and Eastland Companys, and likewise to the + unincorporated Traders, for Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, and + the West India Plantations; Willing them out of their respective + societies to present unto his Majesty the names of fower of their + most knowing active men (of whom, when his Majesty shall have + chosen two and unto this number of merchants added some other + able and well experienced persons, dignified also with the + presence and assistance of some of his Majesty's Privy Council) + All those to be by his Ma^{tie} appointed constituted and authoried + by commission under the Great Seal as a Standing Committee, to + enquire into and rectify all things tending to the Advancement + of Trade and Commerce; That so by their prudent and faithful + council and advice, his Ma^{tie} may (now in this conjuncture, + whilst most Foraigne Princes and Potentates doe, upon his Ma^{ties} + most happy establishment upon his throne, seek to renew their + former Allyances with this Crowne), insert into the several + Treatyes, such Articles & Clauses as may render this Nation more + prosperous and flourishing in Trade and Commerce. Thus by prudence, + care, & industry improving those great advantages to the highest + point of felicity, which by its admirable situation Nature seems + to have indulged to this his Majesty's kingdom. So we bid you + heartily farewell."[5] + + +This letter was signed by Chancellor Hyde, Earl of Southampton, George +Monck, Earl of Albemarle, Lord Say and Seale, Earl of Manchester, Lord +Robartes, Arthur Annesley, and Secretary Morrice, who probably formed a +special committee appointed to draft it. Some time within the month the +answer of the Aldermen must have been received, for on September 19 the +Council ordered the attorney general "to make a draught of a commission +for establishing a Councell of Trade according to the grounds layed" +in the letter of the seventeenth of August, "upon the perusal whereof +at the Board his Ma^{tie} will insert the names of the said Counsell." +It is more than likely that the project for the second council, that of +plantations, went forward _pari passu_ with the Council for Trade and +that the letter to the Mayor and Aldermen served a double purpose. At +any rate that must have been the understanding among those interested at +the time, for on September 26, one Norwich, Captain of the Guards, who +had been in Clarendon's employ, sent in a memorial to the Chancellor +begging that the King employ him "in his customs and committees of trade +and forraign plantations."[6] The matter of drafting the commissions +must have taken some time, for they are not mentioned as ready for the +addition of names before the last week in October. The business of +making up the lists of members must have been a difficult and tedious +matter. Many lists exist among the Domestic Papers which contain +changes, erasures and additions, drafts and corrected drafts, which show +how much pains Clarendon and the others took to make the membership of +the Council of Trade satisfactory. A suggested list was first drawn up +containing the names of privy councillors, country gentlemen, customers, +merchants, traders, the navy officers, gentlemen versed in affairs, and +doctors of civil law. With this list was considered another containing +the names of the persons nominated by the different merchant companies. +Other lists seem also to have been presented.[7] Probably in much the +same way the list of the members of the Council for Foreign Plantations +was made up, but more slowly. + +The commissions were both ready by October 25 and on November 7 had +reached the Crown Office (Chancery), ready to pass the great seal. The +commission for the Council of Trade passed the great seal on that day +and is dated November 7, 1660; but the commission for the Council for +Foreign Plantations was held back that the names of other members might +be added and it became necessary to have a new bill passed and duly +engrossed three weeks later.[8] Therefore the commission for the Council +for Foreign Plantations is dated December 1, 1660. + +An analysis of the membership of these two councils and of the +membership of the Royal African Company, created soon after, shows many +points of interest. The Council of Trade consisted of sixty-two members, +that of Foreign Plantations of forty-eight,[9] and that of the African +Company of sixty-six. Twenty-eight members are common to the first two +bodies, eleven are common to the Council of Trade and the Royal African +Company, and eight are common to all three groups. These eight are John +Lord Berkeley of Stratton; Sir George Carteret, Sir Nicholas Crispe, +Sir Andrew Riccard, Sir John Shaw, Thomas Povey, Martin Noell, and +John Colleton. The other members common to the two councils are +Lord Clarendon, the Earl of Southampton, Earl of Manchester, Earl of +Marlborough, Earl of Portland, Lord Robartes, Francis Lord Willoughby, +Denzil Holles, Sir Edward Nicholas, Sir William Morrice, Arthur +Annesley, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, William Coventry, Daniel O'Neale, +Sir James Draxe, Edward Waller, Edward Digges, William Williams, Thomas +Kendall, and John Lewis; while among the other members of the Council +for Foreign Plantations are such well-known men as Sir William Berkeley, +Capt. John Limbrey, Col. Edward Waldrond, Capt. Thomas Middleton, +Capt. William Watts, and Capt. Alexander Howe. Thus the merchants, +sea-captains, and planters, men thoroughly familiar with the questions +of trade and plantations and intimately connected with the plantations +themselves are members of the Council of Plantations and sometimes +of that of Trade also. It is significant that among the four London +merchants common to all three groups should be found the names of Noell +and Povey. Their associates, Crispe and Riccard, were persons well +known in the history of London trade, and probably the four names +represent the four most influential men among the merchants of London +who supported the King. When we turn to the work of these councils we +shall see that Povey and Noell were active members also. + +However uncertain we may be regarding the influence of Povey and Noell +in shaping the policy of Clarendon and the King, that uncertainty +disappears as soon as we examine the instructions which were drafted +to accompany the commission for a Council for Foreign Plantations. +The instructions are little more than a verbal reproduction of the +"Overtures" which Povey drafted some time during the summer of 1660 +for presentation to the King. They are based on the earlier overtures +and proposals and certain passages can be traced back unchanged to the +first "Overture" of 1654. Seven of the eleven clauses are taken from +the Povey papers as follows: + + _Overtures._ _Instructions._ + + They may forthwith write letters 2. You shall forthwith write + to everie Governour ... requiring letters to evrie of our + an exact and perticular Account of Governo^{rs} ... to send unto + the State of their affairs; of the + nature and constitution of their 3. you ... perticular and exact + Lawes and Government, and in what accompt of the state of their + modell they move; what numbers of affaires; of the nature and + them, what Fortifications, and constitution of their lawes and + other Strengths, and Defences are governm^{t} and in what modell + upon the Places. and frame they move and are + disposed; what numbers of men; + what fortifications and other + strengths and defences are upon + the place. + + To apply to all prudentiall meanes 5. To applie your selves to + for the rendering these Dominions all prudentiall means for the + usefull to England, and England rendering those dominions usefull + helpfull to them; and that the to England, and England helpful + Severall Pieces, and Collonies bee to them, and for the bringing the + drawn and disposed into a more severall Colonies and Plantacons, + certaine, civill, and uniform waie within themselves, into a more + of Government; and distribution of certaine civill and uniforme + publick justice. [waie] of government and for the + better ordering and distributeing + of publicque justice among them. + + To settle such a continuall 4. To order and settle such a + correspondencie, that it may be able continuall correspondencie that + to give upp an account once a yeare you may be able, as often as you + to his Ma^{tie} of the Goverment of are required thereunto, to give + each Place; of their Complaints, up to us an accompt of the + their Wants, their Aboundance, of Governm'{t} of each Colonie; of + everie Shipp trading there, and its their complaints, their wants, + lading; and whither consign'd; and their abundance; of their severall + to know what the proceeds of that growths and comodities of every + Place have been that yeare; whereby Shipp Tradeing there and its + the instrinsick value, and the true ladeing and whither consigned and + condition of each part and of the what the proceeds of that place + whole may be thoroughly understood; have beene in the late years; that + and whereby a Ballance may be thereby the intrinsick value and + erected for the better ordering and the true condicon of each part of + disposing of Trade, and of the the whole may be thoroughly + growth of the Plantations, that soe, understood; whereby a more steady + each Place within itself and all of judgem^{t} and ballance may be + them being as it were made up into made for the better ordering and + one Comonwealth, may by his Ma^{tie} disposing of trade & of the + bee heere governd, and regulated proceede and improvem^{ts} of the + accordingly, upon common and equal Plantacons; that soe each place + principles. within it selfe, and all of them + being collected into one viewe and + managem^{t} here, may be regulated + and ordered upon commonand equall + ground & principles. + + To enquire diligently into the 6. To enquire diligently into + Severall Governments and Councells the severall governm^{ts} and + of Plantations belonging to Councells of Colonies Plantacons + forreigne Princes, or States; and distant Dominions, belonging + and examine by what Conduct and to other Princes or States, and + Pollicies they govern, or benefitt to examine by what conduct and + their own Collonies, and upon what pollicies they govern or benefit + Grounds. And is to consult and them; and you are to consult and + provide soe, that if such Councells provide that if such councells be + be good, wholesome, and practicable, good wholesome and practicable, + they may be applyed to our use; or they may be applied to the case + if they tend, or were designed to of our Plantacons; or if they + our prejudice or Disadvantage, they tend or were designed to the + may bee ballanced, or turned-back prejudice or disadvantage thereof + upon them. or of any of our subjects or of + trade or comerce, how then they + may be ballanced or turned back + upon them. + + To receive, debate, and favour 11. To advise, order, settle, and + all such Propositions as shall dispose of all matters relating to + be tendered to them, for the the good governm^{t} improvement + improvement of any of the forreigne and management of our Forraine + Plantations, or in order to any Plantacons or any of them, with + other laudable and advantageous your utmost skill direccon and + enterprize. prudence. + + To call to its Advice and 7. To call to your assistance + Consultation from time to time, as from time to time as often as the + often as the matter in debate and matter in consideration shall + under consideration shall require, require any well experienced + any well experienced Persons, persons, whether merchants, + whether Mechants, or Seamen, or planters, seamen, artificers, + Artificers. etc. + + +In the "Overtures" there are no clauses corresponding to those in the +Instructions relating to the enforcement of the Navigation Act or to the +spread of the Christian religion; these may well be deemed Restoration +additions, inserted at Clarendon's request. But the clause concerning +the transportation of servants, poor men, and vagrants may well have +been Povey's own, for both Povey and Noell were interested in the +question and Noell had been in the business since 1654. In the "Queries" +is the following paragraph: + + "Whither the weeding of this Comon Wealth of Vagabonds, condemned + Persons and such as are heere useless and hurtful in wars and + peace, and a settled course taken for the transporting them to + the Indias and thereby principally supplying Jamaica is not + necessary to be consulted." + + +Among the Povey papers is one entitled "Certain propositions for the +better accommodating the Forreigne Plantacons with Servants," which +Povey may have drawn up. Hence, there is no good reason to doubt but +that Povey wrote the entire draft of these instructions himself. Even +those portions that are not to be found in the "Overtures" are written +in Povey's peculiar and rather stilted style. + +That Povey and Noell were the authors of the instructions given to the +Council of Trade it is not so easy to demonstrate. A preliminary sketch +of "Instructions for a Councill of Trade" as well as a copy of the final +instructions are to be found among the Povey papers and both Povey and +Noell were sufficiently familiar with the requirements of trade at that +period to have drafted such a document. The fact that the second paper +is but an elaboration of the first leads to the conclusion that they +bear to each other much the same relation that the "Overtures" bear +to the Instructions for the Council of Plantations: + + + FIRST DRAFT. FINAL INSTRUCTIONS. + + 1. You shall in the first place 1. You shall take into your + consider, and propound how to consideration the inconveniences + remedy inconveniencys of the the w^{ch} the English Trade hath + English trade, in all the respective suffered in any Partes beyond the + dominions of those Princes and Seas, And are to inquire into such + States with whom his Mat^{ie} may Articles of former Treaties as + renew Alliance, and to that end have been made with any Princes or + make due enquiry into such former States in relation to Trade, And + treaties as relate to Trade. to draw out such Observations or + Resolutions from thence, as may be + necessary for us to advise or + insist upon in any forreigne + Leagues or Allyances. That such + evills as have befallen these our + Kingdomes through the want of + good information in these great + and publique concernm^{ts} may be + provided against in tyme to come. + + What Articles have bin provided 2. You are to consider how & by + in favour of the Trade of his whome any former Articles or + Ma^{ties} Subjects, How they have Treatyes have been neglected or + been neglected & Violated, What violated, what new Capitulations + new Capitulations may be necessary are necessary either to the + pro Ratione Rerum, et temporum. freedome of Sale of your + Commodities of all sorts, as to + And those, either in Relation: price & payment, Or to the best + expedition of Justice to the + 1. To the freedome of Sale of your recovery of Debts, or to the + Commodities of all sorts, as to Security of Estates of all factors + price & payment. & their Principalls in case of the + factor's Death, Or to the + 2. To the best expedition of prevention of those interruptions + Justice for recovery of your debts. w^{ch} the Trade & Navigations of + our Kingdomes have suffered by + 3. To the security of the Estates Imbargoes of forreigne Princes or + of all factors, and their States, Or Imprestinge the Shipps + Principalls in case of the factor's of any of our Subjects, for their + death. Service. + + 4. To the Prevention of the 3. You are to consider well the + Interruption of the Trade & Interest of all such trades as + Navigation, by Embargos of forraigne are or shall be Incorporated + Princes & States, or imprestinge by our Royall Charters, & what + your Shipps to their Service. Jurisdictions are necessary to + be obteyned from such as are, + 5. To the Interest of all Trades or shall be in Allyance with us, + that are or shall be incorporated for the more regular managem^{t} + by his Mat^{ies} Charters, what & governm^{t} of the Trade, + jurisdictyon is necessary to be & of the members of those our + obtained from our Allies, for Corporations & forreigne + the more regular government factories. + of the Trade & members of those + Corporations in forraigne 4. You are to consider of the + factoryes. several Manufactures of these our + Kingdomes how & by what occasions + 2^{ly}. And next you shall they are corrupted, debased & + consider, how the reputation disparaged, And by what probable + of all the manufactures of his meanes they may be restored & + Mat^{ies} Kingdome may be recovered maintained in their auncyent + by a just regulation and standard goodness & reputation, And how + of weight, length, and breadth, they may be farther improved to + that soe the more profitable and there utmost advantage by a just + ample Vent of them may be procured. Regulation & Standard of weight + Length & Breadth, that soe the + private profitt of the Tradesmen + or Merchants may not destroy + the Creditt of the Commodity, + & thereby render it neglected + & unvended abroad, to the great + loss & scandall of these our + Kingdomes. + + 5. You are also to take into + your Consideration all the + native Commodities of the growth + & production of these our + Kingdomes, and how they may be + ordered, nourished, increased & + manifactured to the ymployment + of our People and to the best + advantage of the Publique. + + 4^{ly}. How the fishinge Trades 6. You are especially to + of Newfound Land, the Coasts consider of the whole business + of England, Irland, & New of fishings of these our + England may be most improoved, Kingdomes or any other of our + and regulated to the greatest distant Dominions or Plantations + advantage of the Stocke and & to consult of some effectuall + navigation of the nation, by meanes for the reinforceing + excludinge the intrusion of our encouraging & encreasinge, and + neighbors into it. for the regulating & carryinge + on of the Trade in all the + Parts thereof. To the end That + the People and Stock, and + Navigation of these our Kingdomes + may be ymployed therein and + our Neighbors may not be + enricht with that which soe + properly & advantagiously may + be undertooke & carryed on by + our own Subjects. + + 3^{ly}. How the Trade of the 7. You are seriously to + Kingdome to forraigne parts consider & enquire whether the + may be soe menaged and Importation of forreigne + proportioned, that we may in Commodityes doe not over-ballance + every part be more Sellers than the Exportations of such as are + buyers, that thereby the Coyne Native, And how it may be soe + and present Stocke of money may Ordered remedied, & proportioned + be preserved and increased. that we may have more + Sellers than Buyers in every + parte abroad, And that the + Coyne & present Stock of these + our Kingdomes, may be preserved + & increased, We judging, + that such a Scale & Rule of + proportion is one of the highest + and most prudentiall points + of Trade by w^{ch} the riches + & strength of these our Kingdomes, + are best to be understood + & maintained. + + 8. You are to consider & examine + by what wayes & means other + Nations doe preferr their owne + growths & Manifactures, & + Importations, & doe discourage + & suppress those of these + our Kingdomes, & how the best + contrivances and managem^{t} + of Trade, exercysed by other + Nations may be rendred applicable + & practicable by these our + Kingdomes. + + 9. You are well to consider all + matters relatinge to Navigation, + & to the increase, & the Security + thereof. + + 10. You are thoroughly to consider + the severall matters relatinge + to Money, how Bullonge may be + best drawne in hither, & how any + Obstructions upon our Mynt may + be best removed. + + 5^{ly}. How the forraigne 11. You are to consider the + Plantations may be made most useful general State & Condition of our + to the Trade & Navigation of these forreigne Plantations & of the + Kingdomes. Navigation Trade & severall + Commodityes ariseinge thereupon, + & how farr theire future + Improvem^{t} & Prosperitie may + bee advanced by any discouragement + Imposition or Restraint, upon + the Importation of all goods or + Commodityes w^{th} which those + Plantations doe abound, and may + supply these our Kingdomes, And + you are alsoe in all matters + wherein our forreigne Plantations + are concerned to take advise or + information (as occasion shall + require) from the Councell + appointed & sett apart by us to + the more perticuler Inspection + Regulation and Care of our + forreigne plantations. + + 12. You are to consider how + the transportation of such + things may be best restreined + and prevented, as are either + forbiddenby the Lawe, + or may be inconvenient, + or of disadvantage by being + transported out of these our + Kingdomes and dominions.[10] + + +The councils thus commissioned and instructed soon met for organization +and business, the Council for Plantations holding its preliminary +session December 10, 1660, in the Star Chamber, and all remaining +meetings in the Inner Court of Wards; the Council for Trade meeting, +first, in Mercer's Hall, near Old Jewry, afterwards in certain rooms in +Whitehall, still later in a rented house which was consumed in the great +fire, and, after 1667, in Exeter House, Strand. Philip Frowde became the +clerical secretary of the Plantation Council and George Duke secretary +of the Council of Trade, a position that he seems to have lost in 1663 +but to have resumed again before 1667. The meetings were attended +chiefly by the non-conciliar members, for it was usually the rule that +privy councillors were to be present only when some special business +required their cooeperation. Both councils were organized in much the +same manner, with a number, at least seven, of inferior officers, +clerks, messengers, and servants, and in both cases journals of +proceedings and entry books containing copies of documents, patents, +charters, petitions, and reports were kept.[11] Whether minutes were +taken of the meetings of the subcommittees is doubtful; no such papers +have anywhere been found. + +The Council for Plantations had a continuous existence from December 10, +1660, when the preliminary meeting was held, probably until the spring +of 1665, though August 24, 1664, is the date of its last recorded +sitting. During that time it shared in the extraordinary activity which +characterized the early years of the Restoration and represents, as far +as such activity can represent any one person, the enthusiasm of the +Earl of Clarendon. There was not an important phase of colonial life and +government, not a colonial claim or dispute, that was not considered +carefully, thoroughly, and, in the main, impartially by the Council.[12] +The business was nearly always handled, in the first instance, by +experts, for with few exceptions the working committees were made up +of men who had had intimate experience with colonial affairs or were +financially interested in their prosperity. The first committee, that of +January 7, 1661, for example, was composed of Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, +who had been on plantation committees during the Interregnum; Robert +Boyle, president of the Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel +in New England and one of the founders of the Royal Society; Sir Peter +Leere and Sir James Draxe, old Barbadian planters; Edmund Waller, +poet and parliamentarian, who had been interested in colonial affairs +for some years; General Venables, who knew Jamaica well; Thomas Povey, +Edward Digges, John Colleton (soon to be Sir John), Martin Noell (soon +to be Sir Martin), and Thomas Kendall, all merchants and experts on +colonial trade, and Middleton, Jefferies, Watts, and Howe, sea-captains +and merchants in frequent touch with the colonies. Other committees +were made up in much the same way, although the number of members was +usually smaller. When letters were to be written or reports drafted that +required skill in composition and embodiment in literary form, we find +the task entrusted to Povey alone or to Povey assisted by the poets +Waller and Sir John Denham. Povey was, indeed, the most active member +of the Council, serving as its secretary in much the same capacity +as on the Committee for America from 1657 to 1660.[13] On both these +boards he exemplified his own recommendation that there should be on +the Council "a Person who is to be more imediately concern'd and active +than the rest ... allwaies readie to give a full and digested account +and consideracon of any particular relating to those Affaires." Among +the Povey papers are many drafts of letters and reports in process of +construction, bearing erasures and additions which point to Povey as +their author.[14] + +The Council for Plantations and its committees sat and deliberated +apart, the latter in Grocer's Hall; but the subjects under examination +were considered by both bodies. The subcommittees were frequently +instructed to call in persons interested, to write to others from whom +information could be obtained, and to pursue their investigations with +due regard for both sides of the case. Sometimes questions would be +submitted to the attorney general, to Dr. Walter Walker and others +from Doctors Commons, to special members of the Council who were more +familiar than the rest with the facts in the case. On at least one +occasion all the members of the Council were requested to bring in what +information they could obtain regarding a particular matter. Question +after question was postponed from one meeting to another, because the +Council had not obtained all the details that it felt should be in +hand before the report was sent to the King in Council. On a few +occasions members of the Council accompanied the report to the Privy +Council apparently with the intention of explaining or emphasizing +their recommendations. The subjects under debate concerned the internal +or external affairs of all the colonies. They related to Jamaica, +Barbadoes, Maryland, Virginia, and New England, including Nova Scotia, +Massachusetts, Maine, and Long Island; they dealt with Quakers, Jews, +vagrants, and servants, supplies, provisions, naval stores, emigrant +registration, and abuses in colonial trade; they included that burning +question of the period, the Dutch at New Amsterdam and the complaints +that arose regarding Holland as an obstruction to English trade. The +amount of time taken and pains expended on controversial points can be +inferred from an examination of the New England case, which was taken +up at the first regular meeting in January and was under examination +from that time until April 30, when the Council sent in its report. +Even then it was taken up by the Privy Council, referred to its own +committee, called the Committee for New England, and in one or two +particulars was sent back to the Council for further consideration. +In the performance of its duties the Council for Plantations can never +be charged with indolence or neglect. In the year 1661 alone it held +forty meetings, or an average of one every nine days. + +After August, 1664, the records of the Council come to an end, but there +is reason to believe that the Council continued its sessions at least +until the spring of 1665. That the last meeting was not held on August +24 is certain, not only from the wording of the minute, which reads: +"ordered, being a matter of great moment and the day far spent, that the +further consideration be deferred for a week," but also from two further +references to the existence of the Council, of later date,--one dated +September 7, when the Council sent in a report regarding the proposed +establishment of a registry office, and the other in the form of an +endorsement upon a letter from Lord Willoughby which says: "Ref^{d} to +the Council, Feb. 24," that is February 24, 1665. It seems probable, +therefore, that the Council was sitting as late as February-March +of that year.[15] Probably its meetings were broken up by the plague +which started in London about that time, in the westernmost parish, +St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and lasted until the end of October. Whether +the Council resumed its sessions after the plague had subsided it is +almost impossible to say. No definite record exists of its meetings or +work. Some of its members had died, Sir Martin Noell in October, 1665, +and Sir Nicholas Crispe the next year; others had left England, Lord +Willoughby, Capts. Watts and Kendall, and possibly Sir James Draxe; +while others had accepted posts that took them away from London, as in +the case of Capt. Middleton, who became commissioner of the navy at +Portsmouth. Certainly Povey could have had very little to do with the +affairs of a council in London in 1664-1666, when as surveyor-general of +the victualling department he was required to be frequently at Plymouth +and to spend a considerable amount of time travelling about England.[16] +Yet there is nothing to show that its commission was revoked, and +an order of the Privy Council, September 23, 1667, to which further +reference will be made below, reads as if the Council were in existence +at that time. If so, it must have been merely a nominal body. + +After 1665, and until 1670, plantation affairs seem to have been +controlled entirely by the Privy Council and its committees, which +proved themselves capable and vigorous bodies. Before 1666, besides +the Committee for Foreign Plantations, which has already been noticed, +other committees were appointed as occasion arose,--committees for +Jamaica, for Jamaica and Algiers, for the Guinea trade, for the Royal +Company, for fishing in Newfoundland, for Jersey and Guernsey, and +for New England. Committees for Trade and for hearing appeals from +the Plantations also existed. On December 7, 1666, after the plague +had subsided and the great fire had spent itself, the Privy Council +reappointed its plantation committee, which now entered upon a career of +greatly increased activity.[17] At the same time the Council made use of +its other committees, particularly the "Committee for the Affaires of +New England and for the bounding of Acadia," October 2, 4, 1667, which +took into consideration the question of the restitution of Acadia to the +French;[18] and it referred important matters of business to committees +of selected experts. Under these conditions the affairs of the colonies +were managed until the appointment of a new Plantation Council in +August, 1670. + +The Council for Trade met in Mercer's Hall some time before November +13, 1660, and at its preliminary session considered that part of its +instructions which related to bullion and coin. On December 13, 1660, it +passed a resolution urging and inviting people and merchants to send in +petitions, and it requested the King to issue a proclamation defining +its powers in all matters relating to trade and manufactures and calling +on "any person, concerned in the matters therein to be debated or who +have any petition or invention to offer, to apply to them for redress +of evils brought on by the late times or for the improvement of trade +regulations."[19] In response to, this appeal a large number of +petitions, sent either to the Privy Council or directly to the Select +Council itself, were received, and the discussion of these petitions +and the preparing of reports upon them occupied the attention of the +Council during the first two years. These reports show that the Council +took its duties seriously and was thoroughly in earnest to improve, +if possible, the trade of the kingdom, and to carry out to the full +the commands which the King had laid upon it. There is not a clause +of the instructions to which it did not pay some attention, and upon +many matters it debated long and ardently, making reports that are as +valuable for the student of the trade policy of the seventeenth century +as are the familiar writings of well-known mercantilists. The Council +took up and discussed the export of bullion and coin, expressing its +opinion that the penalties should be withdrawn as injurious to trade, +because they prevented the English merchants from bringing their money +into the kingdom where it would be detained, and saying that money most +abounded in countries which enjoyed freedom from restraints on exports. +The trade in the Baltic, the East Indies, and the Levant to which trade +freedom to export bullion was preeminently important; the Merchant +Adventurers, regarding whose history and position the Council made +a valuable report, viewing the subject from the beginning; the East +India Company, whose petition,--largely reproduced in the report of the +Council,--contained a bitter arraignment of the Dutch, calling to mind +the "impudent affronts to the honor of this nation and the horrid +injuries done to the stock and commerce thereof," and demanding damages +and a definite regulation of trade in the forthcoming treaty with +Holland then under debate; treaties with foreign powers, clauses in +which concerning trade were taken up at the early meetings of the +Council; prohibition of imposts on foreign cloths and stuffs, regarding +which sundry shopkeepers, tradesmen, and artificers of London had +petitioned the Privy Council in November, 1660,[20]--all these matters +the Council took under consideration. It dealt with the granting of +patents, with the encouragement of home industries, particularly the +business of the framework knitters, silk-dyeing, and the manufacture of +tapestry, and with the establishment of an insurance company.[21] As far +as the plantations were concerned, its recommendations were few, and +were made chiefly in connection with reports on the ninth and eleventh +articles of its instructions, which touched upon convoys, imports, +and composition-ports. It drafted a carefully drawn list of necessary +convoys in which, of all the American plantations, only Newfoundland +is mentioned. It considered the importation of logwood and tobacco, +and upon the latter point made the suggestion "that all tobacco +of English Plantations do pay at importation 1/2d. a pound and at +exportation nothing." This recommendation was accompanied by a valuable +essay on trade in general. It dealt with the question of making Dover +a free port for composition trade and took the ground that the Acts +of Navigation should be inviolably kept. On this question the Earl of +Southampton, the Treasurer, and Lord Ashley (Cooper), Chancellor of the +Exchequer, took the opposite ground, favoring the freedom of the port, +"Dover having formerly been a port for free trade," and adding that +"a free trade thus settled we conceive might conduce to the advantage +of your Majesty's customs," trade being injured by the "tyes and +observances which the Act of Navigation places upon it." They reported +further that the farmers of the customs wished the Act to be dispensed +with in some cases.[22] + +Regarding the attitude of the Council toward the sixth article +of its instructions, the promotion of the fisheries, we have fuller +information. At the session of December 17, 1663, there were present the +Earl of Sandwich, William Coventry, Sir Nicholas Crispe, Henry Slingsby, +Christopher Boone, John Lord Berkeley, Sir Sackville Crowe, Thomas +Povey, John Jolliffe, and George Toriano. Acting on a special order +from the King, they debated how best the fishing trade might be +gained and promoted, and how encouraged and advanced when gained. +They considered the respective merits of a commission and a corporation, +and whether, if a corporation should be agreed upon, it ought to be +universal or exclusive, perpetual or limited, a joint stock or a divided +stock, and what immunities and powers should be granted, the character +of the persons to be admitted and the number. Taking up each point in +turn, the members of the Council first considered "How to gain the Trade +of Fishery" and laid down seven methods: 1, 2, by raising money either +through voluntary contributions or through lotteries; 3, 4, by restraint +of foreign importation or by impositions upon all foreign importation; +5, by letters to all countries urging them to contribute such especial +commodities as cordage, lumber, boards, and the like, in exchange for +fish; 6, by declaring a war against the Dutch, and at the same time, +7, by naturalizing or indenizing all Hollanders who would come into +the English fishery. For the support of the trade when gained the +Council proposed: 1, to impose a proportion of fish upon every vintner, +innkeeper, alehouse-keeper, victualler, and coffee house in England; +2, to refuse all licenses for fish, which were to be paid for to the +corporation; 3, to take the stock of the poor of every parish and +provide for the impotent and aged only out of the product, and employ +such as were able to work in the fishery--the impotent in the making +of nets, etc.; 4, to require the gentlemen of all maritime counties +to raise a stock of money in their counties to be employed toward the +advance of the fishery; 5, to raise busses, _i. e._, Dutch herring +boats, and to set them forth to their own use and to receive the profits +in fish or in the product of it; 6, to employ the imposition laid upon +fish by the last Parliament for the purpose of advancing the trade; to +accept the offer of fishmongers to raise busses and money; 8, to require +the master and wardens of the company, and, 9, to encourage private +persons to do the same; 10, to bring over Dutchmen to teach the English +the art of curing, salting, and marking fish, and of making casks. +It was then decided, "after a long and solemne debate of the whole +matter," _nemine contradicente_, "that there being no disadvantage in a +corporation But many great Advantages, powers and Immunities that cannot +be had by Commission That the best way of advancing & encouraging the +Fishing Trade is by way of [a] Corporation." To this corporation were to +be granted "the sole power of Lycensing the Eating and killing of flesh +in Lent," the power to make by-laws, to dispose of "guifts that are or +shalbee given for carrying on of this Trade," to administer oaths, to +constitute officers, to exercise coercion in case of contempt against +orders, to fine and in some cases to imprison, to send for papers, +persons, books, etc. The corporation was to be universal, perpetual, and +a joint stock company.[23] As a result of the report of the Council a +charter of incorporation was issued to the Duke of York and thirty-six +others, forming the Governor and Company of the Royal Fishery of Great +Britain and Ireland, and George Duke, "late Secretary to the Committee +of Trade," was recommended by the King as its secretary.[24] + +This account of the debate in the Council upon the fishery question +is important not only because it gives an interesting glimpse of the +Council at work, and the only glimpse that we have at any length of +its procedure, but because it illustrates a phase of mercantilism in +the making. It shows, also, the intensity of the rivalry that existed +between England and Holland, and furnishes an admirable example of one +of the causes of that rivalry, the Dutch predominance in the fishing +business.[25] The Council frequently appealed to the methods employed +by the Dutch as a sufficient argument to support its contention, and +when objections were raised against the universal corporation it +answered, "You destroy the essence of a Corporation by lymitting it, +And if you lymitt it, no man will venture their Stocke, and the mayne +reason why the Dutch employ not only their Stocke but their whole +families in the fisheries, is because their corporation is perpetual." + +How much longer the Council of Trade continued its sessions it is +impossible to say. Its last recorded action is a report, dated July, +1664, which contained its opinion upon the question of trade with +Scotland, a matter soon to be taken up by the higher authorities. +It is probable that, as in the case of the Council of Plantations, its +sessions were suspended because of the plague and the fire and were not +resumed. Its commission was not revoked and it certainly had a nominal +existence until 1667. That it had no actual existence in April, 1665, +seems likely from a letter sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury at that +time, begging that the King appoint a council of trade to find out the +cause of the decay in the coal trade.[26] By the summer of 1665 trade +was reported dead and money scarce and to the plague was ascribed "an +infinite interruption to the whole trade of the Nation." The fire and +the Dutch war completed the demoralization of commerce and in 1666 the +plantations were deemed in great want of necessaries on account of the +obstructions of trade by the war. Though in that year many questions +arose that might naturally have been referred to such a council had +it been in session, no such references appear among the records. The +advancement of trade was looked after by the Privy Council and its trade +committee, and particularly by the Committee of Trade appointed by +Parliament. The latter body had been named as early as March, 1664, +to investigate the export of wool, wool-fells, and fullers' earth. +A few weeks later it was entrusted with the duty of inquiring into the +reasons for the general decay of trade. As this function was conferred +on the Parliamentary Committee at a time when the Select Council was +still holding its sessions, it is reasonable to suppose that the work +of the latter body had not proved satisfactory. There is some slight +evidence to show that the meetings of the Council were at this time but +little attended and that its members were not working in harmony.[27] +The Parliamentary Committee, acting as a Council of Trade, ordered +representatives from all the merchant companies to prepare an account +of the causes of obstruction in their different branches, and when the +latter, among other obstacles, named the Dutch as the chief enemies of +English trade, resolved that the wrongs inflicted by the Dutch were the +greatest obstructions to foreign trade, and recommended that the King +should seek redress. Other causes were considered and debated.[28] + +An excellent idea of procedure can be obtained from studying the history +of trade relations with Scotland during this decade. Immediately after +the passage of the Navigation Act of 1660, the Scots petitioned that the +Act might be dispensed with for Scotland, and special deputies were sent +from the Scottish to the English Parliament to prevent, if possible, the +extension of the Act to their country. The matter was referred to the +Customs Commissioners and to the Privy Council, and the latter appointed +a special committee to investigate it. Both of these bodies reported +that the grant of such liberties to the Scots would frustrate the object +of the Act, and gave elaborate reasons for this opinion.[29] As an act +of retaliation the Scottish Parliament laid heavy impositions upon +English goods, and English merchants in 1664 petitioned Parliament for +relief. Parliament recommended the appointment of referees on both sides +and in July, 1664, the Privy Council placed the matter in the hands +of Southampton, Ashley, and Secretary Bennet. This committee laid the +question before the Council of Trade, which suggested a compromise, +whereby duties on both sides should be reduced to 5 per cent., the Scots +should have the benefits of the Act of Navigation but no intercourse +with foreign plantations, and should not buy any more foreign built +ships. As a result of these and further negotiations Parliament passed +an act in 1667,[30] "for settling freedom and intercourse of trade +between England and Scotland," and under the terms of that act +commissioners were appointed to meet with commissioners for Scotland +in the Inner Star Chamber to negotiate a freedom of trade between the +two countries. The commissioners duly met on January 13, 1668, and the +papers recording their negotiations are full and explicit. The whole +question of the relations between England and Scotland since the union, +both political and economic, was investigated with great care; papers +were searched for, records examined, memorials and petitions received, +and various conditions of trade inquired into. The commissioners +frequently disagreed and harmony was by no means always attained, +resulting in delays in drafting the treaty and the eventual failure +of the negotiations. In October the Scottish commissioners returned +to Edinburgh, and the conditions remained as before.[31] + +The fall of Clarendon, at the end of the year 1667, led to important +changes in the organization of the government, and the widespread +demoralization in trade demanded an improvement of the system of trade +and plantation control. The year 1668 is significant as the starting +point for a number of attempted remedies in matters of finance and +trade supervision. We have no opportunity here to examine the political +aspects of these changes or to determine how far they were effected +in the interest of mere political control. Suffice it to say that too +many conditions of the reign of Charles II have been attributed to +extravagance and political intrigue, and too few to an honest desire +on the part of those concerned to restore the realm to a condition of +solvency and prosperity. Heavily burdened with debt at the outset of the +reign, distracted by plague, fire, and foreign war during the years from +1665 to 1668, the kingdom needed the services of all its statesmen, +and even the most selfish politician must have realized the need of +reorganization. Acting upon a suggestion which Clarendon himself had +made to the King, the Privy Council in 1667 began by strengthening +its own committee system, and on January 31, 1668, established four +standing committees--for foreign affairs, military affairs, trade and +plantations, and petitions and grievances. These committees had almost +the character of state departments, though they had no final authority +of their own, all orders emanating from the Privy Council only. They +became, however, more independent than had been previous committees by +virtue of the fact that no order was to be issued by the Council until +it had been "first perused by the Reporter of each Committee +respectively," The following is a copy of the regulations: + + His Ma^{tie} among other the important parts of his Affairs + having taken into his princely consideration the way & method + of managing matters at the Council Board, And reflecting that + his Councills would have more reputation if they were put into + a more settled & established course, Hath thought it fit to + appoint certaine Standing Comitties of the Council for several + Businesses together with regular days & places for their + assembling in such sort as followeth: + + 1. The Committee of FORRAINE AFFAIRES is already settled to + consist of these Persons following (besides his Royall Highness, + who is understood to be of all comittees, where he pleases to be) + vizt. Prince Rupert, L^{d} Keeper [Sir Orlando Bridgeman], Lord + Privy Scale [Lord Robartes], Duke of Buckingham, Lord General + [Duke of Albemarle], L^{d} Arlington, & M^{r} Sec^{ry} Morice, + To which Committee His Ma^{tie} doth also hereby referr the + corresponding w^{th} Justices of peace & other officers & ministers + in the Severall Countys of the Kingdome, concerning the Temper of + the Kingdome &c. The constant day for this Committee to meete to be + every Monday besides such other dayes wherein any extraordinary + Action shall oblige them to assemble, And the place for their + meeting to be at the Lord Arlington's Lodgings in Whitehall. + + 2. Such matters as concerne the Admiralty & Navy as also all + Military matters, Fortifications &c, so far as they are fit to + be brought to the Councill Board, without intermedling in what + concernes the proper officers (unlesse it shall by them be + desired). If his Ma^{tie} is pleased to appoint that they be + und^{r} the consideracon of this following Committee, vizt, + Prince Rupert, L^{d} General [Duke of Albemarle], E. of Anglesy, + Ea. of Carlisle, Ea. of Craven, Lord Arlington, Lord Berkeley, + M^{r} Comptroller [Sir Thomas Clifford], M^{r} Sec^{ry} Morice, + S^{r} W^{m} Coventry & S^{r} John Duncombe. The usuall day of + meeting to be Wensdays, & oftner, as he that presides shall + direct, & the place to be the Councill Chamber, and hereof + Three or more of them to be a Quorum. + + 3. Another Committee his Ma^{tie} is pleased to constitute for + the Business of Trade under whose consideration is to come + whatsoever concernes his Ma^{ts}: FORRAINE PLANTATIONS, as also + what relates to his Kingdomes of Ireland or Scotland, the Isles + of Jersey & Guernsey, which is to consist of the Lord Privy + Scale [Lord Robartes], Duke of Buckingham, Earle of Ossory, + Ea. of Bridgewater, Ea: of Lauderdail, L^{d}: Arlington, + L^{d}: Holles, L^{d}: Ashley, M^{r}. Comptroller [Sir Thomas + Clifford], M^{r} Vice Chamberlain [Sir George Carteret], + M^{r} Sec^{ry}. Morice, & S^{r} W^{m} Coventry. The usuall day + of meeting to be every Thursday in the Councill Chamber, or + oftner as he that presides shall direct, and hereof 3 or more + of them to be a Quorum. + + 4. His Ma^{tie} is pleased to appoint one other Committee to + whom all PETITIONS of COMPLAINT & GREIVANCE are to be referred in + which His Ma^{tie} hath thought fit hereby particularly to + prescribe not to meddle w^{th} Property or what relates to + Meum & Tuum. And to this Committee his Ma^{tie} is pleased + that all matters which concerne Acts of State or of the + Councill be referred. The persons to be the Arch. B^{p}: of + Canterbury, Lord Keeper [Sir Orlando Bridgeman], L^{d}: Privy + Seale [Lord Robartes], L^{d}: Great Chamberlain [?], L^{d} + Chamberlain [Edward, Earl of Manchester], Ea: of Bridgewater, + Ea: of Anglesey, Ea: of Bathe, Ea: of Carbery, Viscount + Fitzharding, L^{d}: Arlington, L^{d}: Holles, L^{d}: Ashley, + M^{r} Sec^{ry}: Morice, M^{r}: Chancellor of the Dutchy + [of Lancaster, Sir Thomas Ingram], and S^{r}: John Duncombe. + The constant day of meeting to be Friday in the Councill + Chamber. And his Ma^{ts} further meaning is, that to these + two last committees, any of the Councill may have Liberty to + come & vote and that his two principall Sec^{ries}: of State + [at this time Lord Arlington and Sir William Morrice] be ever + understood to be of all Com^{tees}:, And hereof 3 or more of + them to be a Quorum. + + And for the better carrying on of Business at those severall + Comittees, his Ma^{tie}: thinks fit, and accordingly is pleased + to appoint, That each of these Committees be assigned to the + particular care of some one person, who is constantly to attend + it. In that of the Navy & Military matters his Royal Highness + may p^{r}side, if he so please, or else the Lord Generall [Duke + of Albemarle]. In Forraine matters the L^{d} Arlington. In Trade + & Plantations the L^{d}: Privy Seale [Lord Robartes]. In matters + of State & Greivances, the Lord Keeper [Sir Orlando Bridgeman]. + + Besides which fixt & established Committees, if there shall + happen anything extraordinary that requires Advice, whether in + matters relating to the Treasury, or of any other mixt nature + other than what is afore determined His Ma^{ties} meaning and + intention is, that particular Committees be in such Cases + appointed for them, as hath been accustomed. And that such + Committees do make their Report in Writing, to be offered to + his Ma^{tie}: the next Councill day following, in which, if any + Debate arise, the old Rule is ever strictly to be observed, that + the youngest Councell^{r}: do begin, and not to speake a second + time without Leave first obteyned. And that as on the one side + nothing is hereafter to be resolved in Councill, till the matter + hath been first examined, And have received the Opinion of + some Committee or other, So on the other hand, that nothing be + referred to any Committee, untill it have been first read at + the Board, except in Forraine Affaires. And his Ma^{ts} express + pleasure is, That no Order of Councill be henceforth any time + issued out by the Clerks of the Councill till the same have been + first perused by the Reporter of each Committee respectively.[32] + + +There is very little evidence to show that the Committee of the Council +for Trade and Plantations played any very conspicuous part in regulating +either trade or plantations during the years from 1668 to 1675, though +a number of petitions were referred to it. Its most important report +was that recommending the restoration of the province of Maine to the +grandson of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, but even that matter was taken out +of its hands by the further reference of the Gorges' petition to the +Committee for Foreign Affairs. In 1668, it dealt with the restitution +of Surinam to the Dutch and the settlement of Lord Willoughby's claims; +with relief for Barbadoes after the disastrous fire which destroyed +St. Michaels in April of that year; with the equipment of Sir Tobias +Bridges' regiment in the same island; and with the liberty granted to +certain Dutch ships of trading to New York despite the Navigation Act. +In 1669, it considered a few petitions and reported on Gorges' memorial. +After 1670 it did little, as far as actual evidence of its activity is +concerned, but it is entirely clear that it had to transact a great deal +more business than is recorded either in the Register or in the Colonial +Papers.[33] Many of the questions that were referred to the Select +Council of Trade and the Select Council of Trade and Plantations were +first passed upon by this committee or were referred to it after the +report from the separate body had come in. Furthermore, we know that +in the case of this committee, as of similar committees of the Privy +Council after 1696, many questions were never allowed to pass out of its +hands, except as they were reported to the Council itself. Though not +conspicuous, it was potentially active and quite ready in 1675 to take +up the burden of colonial control that the King placed upon it.[34] + +Even before it had begun the reorganization of its committee system, the +Privy Council made known its decision to revive the system of separate +and select councils which had probably been in abeyance since 1665. +On September 23, 1667, it ordered its Committee for Trade and Foreign +Plantations to take into consideration the advisability of revoking +the commissions of the two councils of 1660,--which councils must, +therefore, have been deemed still legally in existence--and of uniting +these bodies so as to form a single select council for trade and +plantations. To this end it instructed the secretaries of those +councils, Philip Frowde and George Duke, to appear before it. For +reasons that are nowhere found among the official papers this plan was +given up and the decision reached to revoke only the commission of the +Council of Trade and to issue a patent for a new body. Roger North, in +his _Examen_, published in 1740, a work little to be depended on as far +as historical accuracy is concerned, declares that this move was merely +a piece of political manoeuvering and never was designed to accomplish +anything of importance for the trade or revenue of the kingdom. He says: + + "The courtiers, for his Majesty's Ease, moved that there might + be a commission to several of the greatest Traders in _London_ + to examine all matters of that kind, and to report their Opinion + to the Council; upon which his Majesty might determine. This + plausible project was put in Execution and the Leaders of the + Fanatic party in the city [especially Alderman Love and Josiah + Child] were the Commissioners; for so it was plotted. The great + House in Queen Street was taken for the use of this Commission. + Mr. Henry Slingsby, sometime Master of the Mint was the Secretary; + and they had a formal Board with Green Cloth and Standishes, + Clerks good store, a tall Porter and Staff, and fitting Attendance + below, and a huge Luminary at the Door. And in Winter Time, when + the Board met, as was two or three Times a Week, or oftener, all + the Rooms were lighted, Coaches at the Door, and great passing in + and out, as if a Council of State in good Earnest had been sitting. + All Cases, Complaints, and Deliberations of Trade were referred + to this Commission, and they reported their opinion."[35] + + +North's implication that the Council was a contrivance of the enemies +of the King to effect a prohibition of trade with France which the +government wished to keep open seems deserving of little credence. +In the past, facts regarding this Council and its work have not been +complete, and even a full list of its members has been wanting. Even now +the commission and instructions, which, after considerable delay, were +issued on October 20, 1668, have eluded discovery, and we can present +little more than the terms of the docket as entered in the books of +the Crown Office. The docket reads: "A Commission with instructions +annexed establishing a Counsell of Trade, for Keeping a control and +super-inspection of his Majesty's Trade and Commerce." From another +source we learn that the Council was to take into consideration "the +Conditions of your Maj^{tyes} Plantations abroad, in order to the +improvement of Trade and increase of Navigation, and for the further +encouragement of yo^{r} Maj^{tyes} Subjects in their Trade and Commerce +both at home and abroad."[36] A second commission was issued on April +13, 1669, "directed to the same persons in the same form & with the +same powers and instructions ... with a confirmation of all Acts done +in pursuance of the said late commission in election of officers and +otherwise."[37] The clerical secretary was Peter du Moulin, though Dr. +Benjamin Worsley seems to have had some official position on the board. +The members of the Council were as follows: Duke of York, Prince Rupert, +Lord Keeper, Lord Privy Seal, Duke of Buckingham, Duke of Albemarle, +Duke of Ormond, Earl of Bridgewater, Earl of Ossory, Earl of Anglesey, +Earl of Carlisle, Earl of Craven, Earl of Lauderdale, Lord Arlington, +Lord Berkeley of Stratton, Lord Holles, Lord Ashley, Sir Thomas +Clifford, Sir George Carteret, Sir John Trevor, Sir William Morrice, Sir +William Coventry, Sir Thomas Osborne, Sir Thomas Littleton, Sir Henry +Blount, Sir George Downing, Sir Andrew Riccard, Sir William Thompson, +Silas Titus, William Garroway, Henry Slingsby, Thomas Grey, John Birch, +William Love, Esq., Benjamin Worsley, Doctor of Physic; John Buckworth, +Thomas Papillion, John Page, Josiah Child, Thomas Tyte, Benjamin Albyn, +and John Shorter. In 1669 were added the Earl of Devonshire, Earl of +Sandwich, Viscount Halifax, and George, Lord Berkeley, making forty-six +members in all.[38] This is an extraordinary body of men to be engaged +in pulling the wool over the eyes of the King, and though Professor +Ashley is inclined to view North's account with approval, we doubt if +it will stand the test of examination. Professor Ashley's further belief +that from this Council emanated the document called "A Scheme of Trade," +is capable of satisfactory disproof, since but few of the signers of +that document were members of the Council and the date when it was +issued, November 29, 1674, was after the Council as a separate body had +been abolished.[39] + +The Council lasted from 1668 to 1672 and during that time it did +nothing, so far as we can discover, either for or against the trade +with France. It considered the granting of patents, foreign trade with +Piedmont and elsewhere, the export of wool, disputes among the merchant +companies, dispensations from the operation of the Navigation Act, and +a few matters relating to home industry, particularly as regards abuses +in the baize trade. It took into consideration the order in Council +of October 23, 1667, permitting the Dutch to send three or more ships +yearly for seven years to trade from Holland to New York, and reported +so strongly against it that the Privy Council revoked the order.[40] +More important still, it took up the whole question of the operation of +the navigation acts in the colonies, called upon the merchants and the +farmers of the customs for information, and made a careful report to the +Privy Council, which the latter, on January 20,1669, embodied in the +following order: + + "His Ma^{tie} this day taking into consideration the great + importance the Trade of his severall plantations is to his + Ma^{tie} & his Kingdome, and being informed that severall + Governments of the s^{d} Plantations have been wanting to + their duty in the following particulars, viz: + + 1. That Governors have not taken the oath enjoined by law, + + 2. That shipps have been permitted to trade to and from the + Plantations not qualified according to law, + + 3. That there has been omission in taking Bond and Security + and returning those Bonds according as directed by the severall + Acts of Parliament. + + For redresse it is ordered, that the Farmers of the Customs do + and are hereby required (at their owne charge) to send over and + make choice of upon the place & from time to time commissionate + & maynteyne one or more persons in each Plantation (whom his + Ma^{tie} shall approve & authorize) to administer the usual oaths + to the severall Governors, that no vessels be admitted to trade + there till said officer has the perusal of the passes and + certificates and certifies that they may trade there, and that + no Bond or security be admitted without the allowance of said + officer, + + That letters be written to all said Governors to take said + oaths before said officer and also to give them countenance and + assistance, + + That Directions be given to the Commanders of his Ma^{ties} ships + and to any merchant shipps to arrest any ship trading to His + Ma^{ties} Plantations contrary to the law."[41] + + +Under this order Edward Digges, former governor of Virginia and a London +merchant well known to us, was appointed by the farmers of the customs +as a fit person to execute for the colony of Virginia the articles and +instructions contained in this order. No other appointments, however, +appear to have been made at this time.[42] + +After 1670 activities of the Council of Trade, as far as they are +recorded, are very few. It considered the trade of the Eastland Company, +provided for a supply of coal for London at reasonable rates, and +discussed a few minor petitions, but as compared with its contemporary, +the Council for Foreign Plantations, it accomplished little.[43] + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1514-1660, pp. 482, 483; P.C.R., +Charles II, Vol. II, p. 63; New York Colonial Docts., III, p. 30.] + +[Footnote 2: P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. II, p. 37; Bodleian, Rawlinson A., +117, No. 20.] + +[Footnote 3: Professor Osgood thinks that a part of Noell's fortune was +made in the slave trade. Beyond the fact that he was a member of the +Royal African Company, I cannot find any evidence whatever to prove this +statement. Noell certainly was not a slave trader before 1660.] + +[Footnote 4: Bodleian, Clarendon Papers, _passim_, New York Hist. +Soc. Collections, 1869; Brit. Museum, Add. MSS., 11410, ff. 18 et seq. +Clarendon had an agent in Jamaica, Major Ivy, who was considering the +setting up of plantations and planting cocoa walks in the interest of +the King's revenue. Clarendon's policy toward the continental colonies +overshadows somewhat his policy toward the West Indies and in +consequence this phase of the subject has been neglected by those who +have dealt with Clarendon's colonial relations.] + +[Footnote 5: P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. II, pp. 131-132; printed in part +in Analytical Index to the Series of Records known as the Remembrancia, +preserved among the Archives of the City of London, 1579-1664. +(Privately printed, 1878); and in very much abbreviated form in +Bannister, Writings of William Patterson, III, 251-252, from whom it has +been copied by both Egerton and Cunningham. It seems somewhat strange +that there should be no entry of the receipt of this letter in the +journal of the court of Aldermen nor any draft of an answer among the +Remembrancia or elsewhere. A careful search has failed to disclose any +reference to action taken upon this letter among the papers in the Town +Clerk's office at the Guildhall.] + +[Footnote 6: Bodleian, Clarendon Papers, 73, f. 232.] + +[Footnote 7: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1660-1661, p. 319.] + +[Footnote 8: Public Record Office, Chancery, Crown Dockets, 6, p. 50. +On the docket for the commission of the council of trade the names of +the members are inserted; but on that of the commission for the council +for foreign plantations the place is left blank. A marginal note on the +latter docket gives the explanation noted above.] + +[Footnote 9: There is a list of the members in 1661, containing but +forty-seven names with some omissions and additions.] + +[Footnote 10: Egerton, 2395, ff. 268, 269; Cal. State Papers, Dom., +1660-1661, pp. 353-354; P.R.O. State Papers, Domestic, XXI, No. 27; +Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, 4 ed., Appendix.] + +[Footnote 11: The journal of the Council of Plantations is among the +Colonial Papers in the Public Record Office, XIV, No. 59, ff. 1-57, +December 1, 1660-August 4, 1664, entitled "Orders and Proceedings at his +Ma^{ts} Counsell for Forraigne Plantacons." There is no journal of the +Council of Trade known to exist, but minutes of one or two meetings, +which have been preserved, show that a journal must have been kept. An +entry-book for patents is mentioned, Cal. State Papers, Col., 1661-1668, +Sec. 15, and an entry-book of petitions and reports, November 13, +1660-March 12, 1662, is in Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 25115. + +Regarding the history of the papers of the Council of Trade the +following information may be of interest. The records probably remained +in the possession of George Duke, secretary to the Council, and were +called for by Dr. Worsley, secretary of the Council of 1672 in a letter +dated November 28, 1672 (Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1672-1673, pp. +213-214). No answer was received from Duke and evidently the papers were +not handed over, for when in 1698 the Board of Trade applied for them to +Col. Duke's son-in-law, Henry Crispe, it was informed by Mr. Crispe that +he had never even seen any of the papers but had heard that some of them +were burnt in the Temple when in Col. Duke's possession (Journal of the +Board of Trade, XI, p. 55, May 10, 1698). In June and July, 1707, the +Board of Trade attempted again to get hold of the papers and wrote to +Crispe on June 30. Crispe's reply is worth printing: + +"If I am rightly informed there are divers original books and papers +relating to the Royal Fishery and the establishing thereof from the +year 1660 for divers successive years in which are contained several +projections concerning the promoting the same. And there are also books +and minutes of the proceedings of the Council of Trade from the year +1660 to 1668, which also contain several material things in relation to +Trade and the improvement thereof, which I understand are in the power +of a friend of mine. + +"These books and papers will be disposed of as the Hon^{ble} Board the +Council of Trade shall direct or order. + +"But it is humbly desired that consideration be allowed the party that +shall produce these Books and Papers. And that it may be ascertained +what that consideration shall be and by whom it shall be given. + +"I was desired to inform you of this to the end you may take such steps +therein as you in your great prudence shall judge most proper. + +"If any orders or commands shall be given about this affair that I can +be useful or serviceable therein & they be transmitted for me or be left +at Johns Coffee House in Bedford St. near the Church in Convent Garden +such orders will be faithfully observed by + + "S^{rs} Your faithfull humble Servant + "H. CRISPE." + + +Crispe sent a list of the books with his letter, but that list is +missing. The Board answered that it would not buy the books without +seeing them first, but as we find no further mention of the matter in +the Journal and as the books and papers are not to be found to-day the +probabilities are that the negotiations fell through. Journal, XIX, +p. 296; Board of Trade Papers, Trade, H Nos. 74, 76.] + +[Footnote 12: This may be inferred from the following note attached to +one of the reports: "The council conceiving themselves to be in noe +capacitie of giving any judgment therein having heard but one side." +Egerton, 2395, f. 299.] + +[Footnote 13: See Cal. State Papers, Col., 1675-1676, Sec.Sec. 338, 339, where +he is called "Secretary for Foreign Plantations."] + +[Footnote 14: Egerton, 2395, ff. 286, 291, 299, 335, 336.] + +[Footnote 15: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1661-1668, Sec.Sec. 790, 833; Dom., +1664-1665, p. 4.] + +[Footnote 16: In December, 1665, he wrote of "an uncomfortable journey +on unfrequented roads, with none to break the ice, in a hackney coach +which receives the wind in all parts." Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1665, +p. 105.] + +[Footnote 17: P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. VI, p. 231; Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1661-1668, Sec. 1685.] + +[Footnote 18: Egerton, 2395, ff. 449, 451, 452, 453; Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1661-1668, Sec.Sec. 1598-1600.] + +[Footnote 19: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 25115, f. 156; Cal. State Papers, +Dom., 1661-1662, pp. 411-412.] + +[Footnote 20: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 25115; Cal. State Papers, Dom., +1660-1661, pp. 356, 359, 363, 372, 412; 1661-1662 pp. 28, 80.] + +[Footnote 21: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1660-1661, pp. 383, 532; +1661-1662, pp. 111, 277, 529, 446; Bodleian, Rawlinson MSS., A. 478, f. +81.] + +[Footnote 22: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 25115, ff. 133-140; Cal. State +Papers, Treasury Books, 1660-1667, pp. 245-247, containing the list of +convoys, a duplicate of that in the British Museum volume; p. 250, the +Treasurer's report.] + +[Footnote 23: Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2543, ff. 137-139.] + +[Footnote 24: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1663-1664, pp. 515, 549. +The Fishing Commission, appointed in 1661, had proved a failure, but +the council borrowed from the patent of that commission many of the +suggestions which it recommended. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661-1662, +p. 83.] + +[Footnote 25: Cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661-1662, p. 83.] + +[Footnote 26: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1665-1666, p. 330. Yet Crispe's +letter (_ante_, p. 75, note) certainly speaks as if the Council had a +continuous existence from 1660 to 1668, and the mention of Exeter House +as its place of meeting after 1667 points in the same direction.] + +[Footnote 27: "Some considerations about the commission for trade," +P.R.O. Shaftesbury MSS., Div. X, 8(1).] + +[Footnote 28: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1663-1664, pp. 528, 531, 543, +572, 573, 588.] + +[Footnote 29: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1661-1662, pp. 75, 135-136, 149.] + +[Footnote 30: 19 Charles II, c. 13.] + +[Footnote 31: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1667-1668, pp. 156, 158, 165, +173, 180, 187, 191, 247, 321, 433, 444, 452, 511, 593, 594; 1668-1669, +pp. 35, 40.] + +[Footnote 32: Brit. Mus., Egerton MSS., 2543, ff. 205-205^{b}. Endorsed +"Regulation of Committees of the Councill. Read & Ordered in Councill +the 31^{st} January, 1667^{b}." For reasons that cannot be explained +this regulation is not entered in the Privy Council Register. It is +referred to in a similar order of February 12, 1668, P.C.R., Charles II, +Vol. VII, pp. 176-177, but otherwise omitted. For this reason the +document is here printed in full. Cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom., +1667-1668, p. 261.] + +[Footnote 33: For instance, there are among the Colonial Papers memoranda +of proceedings at various sittings of this committee held between +April 7, 1668, and February 18, 1669, relative to domestic, colonial, +and foreign trade, that are not recorded elsewhere.] + +[Footnote 34: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1661-1668, Sec.Sec. 1685, 1712, 1759, +1769, 1791, 1870, 1883; 1660-1674, Sec.Sec. 30, 66, 150, 184-186, 751, 837, +1226, I, II, III; 1320, 1353, 1390. Dom., 1668-1669, pp. 62, 201.] + +[Footnote 35: Roger North, Examen, p. 461, quoted by Prof. Ashley in +Surveys, Historic and Economic, pp. 274-275.] + +[Footnote 36: New York Colonial Docts., III, p. 175.] + +[Footnote 37: P.R.O. Chancery, Crown Office, Docket Books, 7, pp. 335, +344; Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1668-1669, pp. 6, 18, 224-225.] + +[Footnote 38: Bodleian, Rawlinson MSS. A, 478, f. 77; Cal. State Papers, +Dom., 1668-1669, pp. 224-225, 651.] + +[Footnote 39: Ashley, Surveys, pp. 275-276.] + +[Footnote 40: New York Colonial Docts., III, pp. 175-178; Cal. State +Papers, Col., 1661-1668, Sec.Sec. 1874, 1875.] + +[Footnote 41: P.C.R., Charles II, Vol. VIII, p. 169; Cal. State Papers, +Col., 1661-1668, Sec. 1884, 1669-1674, Sec.Sec. 6, 9.] + +[Footnote 42: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1669-1674, Sec.Sec. 104, 696.] + +[Footnote 43: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1671, p. 210; 1671-1672, +pp. 450-451.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +The Plantation Councils of 1670 and 1672. + + +During the years 1668 and 1669 no member of the government was more +active in promoting the development of the plantations than Anthony +Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley. As one of the proprietaries of Carolina, +he had taken the lead in advancing that settlement, had called upon +John Locke to frame a new constitution, and had himself organized the +expedition of 1669 which gave to the new colony its most important +impetus. He became a proprietary of the Bahamas in 1670 and later +attempted to found a plantation on the Edisto River. He planned to +organize these colonies at Charles Town, Albemarle, Edisto, and New +Providence into a kind of cooperative trading group of settlements, +under the same laws and instructions, and from them he hoped to obtain +in time for himself and the other proprietaries ample returns on their +investments. It is of no concern to us here that his scheme failed, the +important fact remains that Ashley and Locke were at this juncture in +the very heyday of their interest in colonial affairs and were eager to +take advantage of every opportunity for encouraging colonial trade. The +revival of the Select Council for Foreign Plantations was due in largest +part to the influence and initiative of these two men, particularly of +Ashley, who in 1670 was at the height of his political power and on +terms of closest intimacy with the King.[1] That he was sincere in this +movement seems to me beyond question, and the charge that has been made +against him of recommending the creation of this Council as a means of +obtaining sinecures for his friends, does not appear capable of the +slightest proof.[2] If membership on the Council was deemed at the first +a position of ease, it must soon have lost that character, for few +committee men ever worked harder than those who looked after plantation +affairs in the years from 1670 to 1674. This fact will appear as we +examine the nature and extent of their activities. + +Experience with previous councils had shown that too numerous and +fluctuating a membership was not conducive either to harmony or to +despatch of business. Therefore, in reviving the Council for Plantations +it was decided, as the most important change to be effected, that the +number should be reduced to such terms as to enable the committee to +apply itself as a whole to the business in hand. The commission was +issued on July 30, 1670, to ten persons, of whom but three were members +of the nobility. The commissioners were Edward, Earl of Sandwich; +Richard, Lord Gorges, Baron of Dundalk in Ireland; William, Lord +Allington, Baron of Killar in Ireland; Thomas Grey, son of Lord Grey, +of Warke; Henry Brouncker, Sir Humphrey Winch, Sir John Finch, Edmund +Waller, Henry Slingsby, master and worker of the mint and one of the +gentlemen of the privy chamber, and Silas Titus, one of the grooms of +the bed chamber. To this number was added in 1671 James, Duke of York; +Prince Rupert, George, Duke of Buckingham, Master of the Horse; James, +Duke of Ormond, Lord Steward of the Royal Household; John, Earl of +Lauderdale, Secretary of State for Scotland; Thomas, Lord Culpeper; Sir +George Carteret, Vice-Chamberlain; and John Evelyn, but of these only +the last named stood on the same footing with those first appointed as +a regular and salaried member, the others being appointed to give weight +and dignity to the board and receiving no compensation. In August, 1671, +Sir Richard Temple was added to the board, also to serve without pay. +The only basis for the charge of self-seeking which has been brought +against the members of this Council is the fact that for the first time, +as far as we know, the working members received pay for their services. +The allowances and salaries were as follows: the Earl of Sandwich, as +president, received L700; Lord Gorges, Lord Allington, Thomas Grey, +Henry Brouncker, Sir Humphrey Winch, Sir John Finch, Edmund Waller, +Henry Slingsby, Silas Titus, and John Evelyn, each L500, paid quarterly. +Dr. Benjamin Worsley, who held the position of advisor and assistant +secretary under Slingsby, the secretary of the Council, was allowed +L300, while for contingent expenses L1,000, the same amount that had +been placed at the disposal of each of the secretaries, Sir Philip +Frowde and Col. Duke, of the former councils, was appropriated.[3] Five +members, always including the president or one of the officers of state +authorized to attend, constituted a quorum of the Council, which was +ordered to meet for the first time at Essex House, the residence of +the Lord Keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, near Temple Bar, at two in the +afternoon. After the addition of the new members, May 16, 1671, it +removed to the Earl of Bristol's house in Queen Street near Lincoln's +Inn Fields;[4] and after February 12, 1672, to Lord Arlington's lodgings +in Whitehall, in order, as Evelyn tells us, that the King might be +present and hear the debates. It was authorized to employ clerks, +messengers, solicitors, doorkeepers, and other inferior officers and +attendants as it should think fit and necessary for its service. + +By their commission the members of the Council were empowered "to inform +themselves by the best ways and meanes they can of the present State and +condition of our Plantations, together with the Increase, or Decay of +the Trade, and strength of each of them respectively, And the Causes and +Reasons of such Encrease or Decay, And to use all Industry and Diligence +for gaining the full knowledge of all things transacted within any part +of those our Dominions, either by the respective Governours themselves +or their respective Deputies or by them and the respective Councills, or +Assemblies, belonging to any of our said respective Plantations, and +thereof from time to time to give us a true faithfull and certaine +Accompt togeather with their best advice and opinion thereupon." The +range of colonial interest was a wide one, "all the affaires which doe +or may touch or concerne any of our Forreigne Plantations, Colonies, or +Dominions, situate, lying and being in any part of America or in the +Ocean lying betweene this and the maine Land of America, or in any part +of the Bay of Mexico, or upon the Coast of Guinea, or within any of that +circuit of the Globe, that is generally known or called by the name of +the West Indies, whether the said Plantations, Countries, and +Territories, be immediately held by us, or held by any others of us, by +vertue of any Charters, Graunts, or Letters Patents thereof already made +or graunted, or hereafter to be made or graunted, and of all other and +forreigne Plantations, Colonies, and Dominions (our Towne, Citty and +Garrison of Tangier only excepted)." The Council had power to send for +any person or persons whom it deemed able to furnish information or +advice; to call for any books, papers, or records that it judged likely +to be useful to it, and to require of every person called upon or +colonial official addressed prompt and ready response. + +By its instructions and additional instructions the Council was +ordered to make full inquiry into the state of the plantations and +to take every means of acquiring full and accurate information as to +the powers of the governors, the execution of the same, the number of +parishes, planters, servants, and slaves there, and the best means for +increasing the supply where needed. It was to instruct the governors +to live at peace with the Indians and not to suffer them to be injured +in their persons, goods, or possessions; and to keep on terms of amity +with their neighbors, whether Dutch, French, or Spanish; to take such +measures that all commodities of the growth or making of the Plantations +be duly manufactured and improved, and to inquire whether it were +possible to promote in any way the production of such tropical +commodities as cotton, ginger, cocoa, etc. It was to find out what +islands were best fitted for the breeding of cattle and to encourage +the same; to investigate the opportunities of obtaining masts and to +stimulate the production of hemp, flax, pitch, and tar in New England, +and the setting up of saw mills. It was instructed to study the question +of procuring servants and slaves, to settle all difficulties between the +Royal African Company and the colonies, and to do all in its power to +check "spiriting" or the enticing of children and young persons from +England to the plantations. It was to deal with colonial trade, both +oceanic and coastwise, to see that the acts of navigation were duly +enforced; to inquire into the conduct of colonial governments, to +examine colonial laws and to recommend for annulment such as were +contrary to honor, justice, or the law of England. It was to become +familiar with colonial geography, to procure maps and charts, and to +have them available for examination. It was to aid the spread of the +Gospel, the purification of morals, and the instruction of Indians and +slaves. By the additional instructions, issued August 1, 1670, it was to +consider the question of colonial defence, to recommend the production +of saltpetre, to consider how spices, gums, drugs, dyeing stuffs, etc., +might be procured for the plantations from the East Indies, and to +study the systems employed in other countries for the improvement of +trade and the plantations.[5] + +It is noteworthy that the sessions of the Council were held in secret, +no one being admitted except the members, and even those only after each +had taken an oath not to betray the proceedings. "You shall swear," so +runs this oath, "to be true and faithful to our Sovereign Lord the King, +his heirs and successors; you shall according to the best of your skill, +discretion, knowledge, and experience give unto his Maj^{tie} true and +faithful councell, in all things that shall be demanded of you touching +or concerning his Ma^{ties} forreigne Plantations. You shall keepe +secret and conceale his Ma^{ties} said Councells, without disclosing the +same to any person except he be of the same Councill, and if the matter +touch any of the same Councill you shall not disclose the same to him. +You shall not promote or further any matter in the said Councill, for +any reward, favour, affection, or displeasure, And in case you shall +perceive anything to be done contrary to his Ma^{ties} honour and +service you shall to the utmost of your Power with stand and Lett +the same." + +The Council had its first meeting on August 3, 1670, when the commission +and instructions were read; and from that time until September 20, 1672, +a period of nearly twenty-three months, it held one hundred meetings of +which we have record, and probably many more of which no record has been +found.[6] It is reasonable to infer that during the working months the +Council met twice a week. + +The Council began by taking over much of the business left unfinished +by the Committee of the Privy Council, but it soon increased its +activity. It early inaugurated a policy and system of control that was +more comprehensive than any which had been put into practice by the +previous boards. Efficient though some of the former councils and +committees had been, no one of them had endeavored to cover so wide a +range of colonial business or to inquire so minutely into the details +of colonial government as did this Council of 1670. It not only took +into consideration all petitions, memorials, statements of claim, and +subjects in dispute, but it also set up an elaborate system of inquiry +on its own part, following out the instructions which had been given to +it to require of every colonial governor frequent information regarding +the condition of his government. It drafted long series of queries which +were despatched to all the colonies, and to which elaborate replies +were received, notably from Berkeley, of Virginia, Wheeler, of St. +Christopher, and Lynch, of Jamaica. It supplemented the information +thus received by demanding letters from the governors, and received +in response long and frequent epistles, dealing with colonial affairs +in the most minute detail. Wheeler, Stapleton, Lynch, Willoughby, +Colleton, and others furnished the Council with all sorts of descriptive +and statistical matter, and were always ready to offer suggestion and +advice. Merchants, planters, agents, and others familiar with colonial +trade were also called upon for statements, either in person or in +writing, and at many a meeting outsiders were called in to make reports +to the board. The evidence thus obtained was generally discussed +in the Council itself, at which the King and officers of state were +occasionally present, and it was also referred to committees of two or +more, which made their report to the Council. Upon the information and +opinions thus obtained, the Council based its orders and reports to the +Privy Council.[7] + +In addition to these functions, the Council assumed an important and in +some ways a new role when it took upon itself the business of preparing +all the preliminary drafts of the various commissions and instructions +of the governors, often spending many days in the consideration of +these instruments, and often receiving from the appointees themselves +suggestions as to the wording of certain clauses. As far as the more +general powers and duties were concerned, these instructions were +modelled somewhat after those which the Council itself had received, +and lively debate arose not infrequently over the nature and extent of +the authority that ought to be conferred on the appointees. The drafts +of the commission and instructions, when completed, were sent to the +Secretary of State, by whom corrections might be made, then conveyed to +the Privy Council, where the documents were frequently referred to the +attorney general for his advice on legal points, and sometimes to the +Committee of the Council, which at this time, as well as afterward, felt +itself fully empowered to make any alterations it pleased. Thus many +hands may have had a share in shaping these important papers before they +were finally engrossed, although it is probable that in the majority of +instances the draft of the Council was accepted unchanged by the King. + +The Council was also beginning to exercise another important function +in receiving from the Privy Council copies of laws passed in the +colonies upon the character of which its opinion was desired, and in +being called upon by the Privy Council or the Secretary of State to +make recommendations as to fit persons to hold colonial offices. In +this particular, the most responsible task of the Council lay in the +selection and instruction of special commissioners, who in accordance +with many earlier precedents were vested with authority to go to the +colonies for the settlement of difficult questions there. Three such +commissions were set on foot by the Council of Plantations: that +appointed to bring to an end the dispute with the French at St. +Christopher; that appointed to treat with the Dutch regarding the +English subjects at Surinam; and that designed for New England, which +was to be openly commissioned to settle boundary disputes, but to be +secretly instructed to inform the Council of the condition of the New +England colonies, "and whether they were of such power as to be able +to resist his Majesty and declare for themselves as independent of the +Crown." No commissioners were, however, sent until the time of Edward +Randolph.[8] + +A large amount of time was consumed by the Council in considering the +petitions and memorials of private persons, who had some grounds of +complaint against one or other of the colonial governments. Among these +the charges of Mason and Gorges against Massachusetts hold prominent +place, but other complainants were none the less insistent; Capt. +Archibald Henderson, of Antigua, who had been imprisoned by Governor +Wheeler for alleged seditious practices; the owners of the ship _James_, +of Belfast, which had been seized by Wheeler as a "stranger-built" +trading contrary to the Navigation Acts; the owners of the logwood +ship _William and Nicholas_, also seized by Wheeler on suspicion that +it had obtained its lading in violation of the treaty of 1670 with +Spain; owners of the _Peter_, of London, seized by the Spaniards in +violation of the same treaty; Jamaica planters who claimed that Spain +had broken the clause of the treaty relating to logwood cutting at +Campeachy; one Mark Gabry, exporter of wool; merchants in Jamaica +complaining of the number of Jews there and their engrossment of trade; +inhabitants of Easthampton, Southampton, and Southold in Long Island in +regard to their whale fishery and their relations with the Dutch at New +Amsterdam; the government of Virginia against the Arlington and Culpeper +grant. The Council also discussed many other matters, all more or less +closely bound up with the welfare of the plantations and of plantation +trade, such as the despatch of their letters and orders; the proper time +for the sailing of merchant ships in order that advantage might be taken +of companies or convoys; the sugar question in the West Indies, notably +Barbadoes, that perennial cause of dispute from the point of view of +customs and impositions; the enticing or spiriting away of young people +from England to go as servants to the plantations, a grievance almost +as old as the plantations themselves and one which Ashley had made a +special subject of inquiry with the result that Parliament passed an +Act, March 18, 1670, making "spiriting" a capital offence; the fisheries +and the abuses in the Newfoundland trade; privateering, especially in +relation to the act of Governor Modyford in commissioning Capt. Morgan +to cruise against the Spaniards and to capture Panama; the slave trade +and the relations of the plantations with the Royal African Company; +and lastly, in obedience to the fourth article of its additional +instructions, the proper supplying of the West India colonies with such +commodities as silk, galls, spices, senna and other dyeing materials, +in order to see whether or not such things could be obtained from +the plantations, a subject upon which Dr. Worsley, who had already +experimented with senna, was deemed an authority. + +The efficiency of the Council of Foreign Plantations and the +inefficiency of the Council of Trade during the same period may +well have led to the belief that the work would be better done if the +functions of the latter were transferred to the former body. The death +of the Earl of Sandwich, who lost his life in the naval engagement of +Southwold Bay with De Ruyter, May 28, 1672, may have hastened this +conclusion, and the need of economy, especially manifest in this year, +1672, may have been a further influence. Whatever the causes, as early +as the summer of 1672 the decision was reached, undoubtedly through the +advice of Lord Ashley, now the Earl of Shaftesbury, to reconstitute +the Council, and to issue a new patent which should cover trade as +well as foreign plantations. Evelyn says that the old Council met at +Shaftesbury's house on September 1, 1672, to consider the draft of the +new commission. The form of the commission having been approved, the +warrant was issued to the attorney general on September 16 to prepare +the bill for the King's signature, and on the twenty-seventh the Council +was duly commissioned by writ of privy seal. The membership remained the +same as before, with the single exception that the Earl of Shaftesbury +took the place of the Earl of Sandwich as the president of the board, +with Lord Culpeper as vice-president. When in December of the same year +Sir John Finch was appointed ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, in place +of Sir Daniel Harvey, deceased, Sir William Hickman was constituted +a member of the Council in his stead. As in the case of the former +Council, the Duke of York, Prince Rupert, and the chief officers of +state were authorized to attend and vote but without pay. To their +number were now added the Duke of Ormond, George, Viscount Halifax; Sir +Thomas Osborne, and Sir Robert Long, all of whom, except Long, had been +members of the Council of Trade, while Halifax, who had just returned +from an important mission to France and was rapidly rising to power, +had been a member of the committee of the House of Lords, appointed +in October, 1669, to consider the improvement of trade. Sandwich and +Shaftesbury had both been on the same committee, and it is not unlikely +that the latter was responsible for the remarkable report made by this +committee to the Lords that "some relaxation in ecclesiastical matters +will be a means of improving the trade of this kingdom."[9] + +According to its commission, the Council of Trade and Plantations was +"to take care of the welfare of our said Colonies and Plantations and +of the Trade and Navigation of these our Kingdomes and of our said +colonies and plantations," and was to be a council of advice to the +King "in and for all the affairs which do or may any way concern the +navigation, commerce, or trade, as well domestic as foreign of these our +kingdoms and our said foreign colonies and plantations." Five were to +constitute a quorum of which the president or vice-president or one of +the unsalaried members should always be one. The salary of the president +was raised to L800, that of the vice-president was made L700, while that +of the other salaried members remained as before, L500. No treasurer or +secretary is named in the commission, but Dr. Worsley held these offices +until in September, 1673, he was discharged and John Locke took his +place. In all other respects the commission of 1672 reproduces that +of 1670. + +The most noteworthy difference between the two councils is to be +found in the instructions, which for the Council of 1672 form a very +comprehensive and intelligent statement of the essentials of plantation +control. The draft was undoubtedly written by Shaftesbury and Locke, for +a preliminary sketch is to be found among the Shaftesbury Papers; the +preliminary meeting for the consideration and approval of the articles +was held at Shaftesbury's residence, Exeter House; and the essential +portions of the document are all to be found embodied in one form or +another in the instructions and suggestions sent to the planters in +the Bahamas and Carolina, colonies which for two years had been a kind +of experimental station for Shaftesbury's and Locke's ideas. All the +later commissions and instructions were based in the main on the +principles laid down in these documents, and neither the Lords of Trade +from 1675 to 1696 nor the Board of Trade from 1696 to 1782 ever in any +important particular passed the limits herein defined. Probably the +instructions of 1672 became from this time forward the precedent and +guide for those who in later years were called upon to shape the powers +vested in the boards of trade and plantations. It frequently happened, +of course, that orders in Council directed the attention of the boards +to matters which needed special examination, but in the main it may be +said that Povey first and Shaftesbury afterward mapped out the lines +to be followed by future commissions in their control of plantation +affairs. This fact gives to the work of these men a peculiar interest +and value. + +By the terms of the instructions of 1672, the Council was to consider +first of all the trade of the kingdom and of the plantations in the +following particulars: the increase and improvement of raw commodities +for use at home, the promotion of manufactures, the betterment of +the fishing trade at home and abroad, the opening of rivers, ports, +and harbors, the proper distribution of trade and manufactures, the +obstacles that lay in the way of English trade as compared with those +confronting the trade of other nations, and all abuses of trade and +manufactures in the kingdom. It was to inquire into the best methods of +increasing the sale and export of native commodities and manufactures, +of encouraging the importation of foreign goods at the cheapest rates, +of building ships for the carrying of such bulky articles as masts and +timber, of extending correspondence with the great commercial centers +abroad, and of opening free ports where foreign commodities might be +landed and stored with small charge if designed for reexportation. It +was also to take into special consideration the advantages of a more +open and free trade than that of companies and corporations, and to +encourage inventions and improvements designed to improve any art, +trade, or manufacture or to secure and promote trade and navigation. + +So far as the plantations were concerned, the Council was to inquire +into the general state of the colonies, and to obtain full information +regarding councils, assemblies, courts of judicature, courts of +admiralty, legislative and executive powers, statutes, laws and +ordinances, militia, fortifications, arms, and ammunition. It was to +learn all it could about boundaries, lands, mines, staple products, +and manufactures; to determine whether or not nutmegs, cinnamon, +cloves, pepper, and other spices would grow if planted; to inform itself +regarding rivers, harbors, and fishing banks; and to estimate how many +planters and parishes there were, how many whites and blacks yearly +arrived, and how many people died each year. It was to learn the number +of ships trading to the plantations, to discover the obstacles to trade +and how they could be removed, the advantages and how they could be +increased; it was to concern itself with export and import dues, public +revenues, measures taken for the instruction of the people and the +maintenance of the ministry. It was especially instructed to keep in +frequent correspondence with the governors, to urge upon them the +necessity of maintaining peace with their neighbors, the Indians and +others, of taking the Indians under their protection and of guarding +their persons, goods, and possessions according to law. Furthermore, +it was to procure copies of all necessary documents, to purchase maps, +plats, and charts when needed, to study those portions of treaties +made with other countries that related to peace and commerce, and to +determine how far those articles had been upheld and performed. And +lastly, it was to consider the practice of other countries in matters +of trade, commerce, and the colonies, and to see how far such practices +might be of value to England. + +The Council had its first meeting on October 13, at Essex House, and +there the commission was read and the oaths were taken. Soon after, it +took up its abode at Villier's House in King's Street near Whitehall, +which it rented of the Duchess of Cleveland for L200 a year. There it +had a council chamber, an office for the clerks, two messengers, a +porter, a maid, and a chamber keeper, all of whom were paid out of the +L1,000 allowed for contingent expenses. We have record of seventy-six +meetings held between October 13, 1672, and December 22, 1674, a period +of twenty-six months; but it is quite certain that more meetings than +this were held, inasmuch as the session-days were every Wednesday and +Friday at ten in the morning.[10] So far as the plantations were +concerned the Council did little more than continue the work of its +predecessor, the Council of 1670, but in addition it concerned itself +with a large number of questions that had to do with domestic and +foreign as well as with colonial trade. The most important of these +related to the petition of the English consul at Venice that his +consulage be levied on goods and not on ships, a matter that aroused +prolonged debate; to the petition of the Gambia adventurers against +the importation by the East India Company of the dyeing wood called +"sanders" which, because cheaper, was taking the place of their redwood +from Africa; to the ordinances issued in Sweden against the English +"privileges" concerning naval stores; to the exportation of wool from +England, a matter already dealt with in an Act of Parliament; and to +the treatment of merchants at the hands of the Spaniards, regarding +which a number of petitions had been received by the board. A few new +petitions were taken into consideration from traders and others in the +plantations, notably those of the Jew Rabba Couty, whose ship had been +seized at Jamaica on the ground that he was a foreigner; of William +Helyar, whose woodland in Jamaica had been seized by Governor Lynch; +of John Rodney and his wife Frances, whose plantation in Nevis had +been seized by Governor Russell, a case destined to drag on for nearly +two years. + +In recommending the appointment of governors and other officials, +passing upon colonial laws, scrutinizing nominations as of colonial +councillors, corresponding with the governors, organizing an efficient +system of communication and supervision in all matters touching trade +and commerce, and in making reports to the King in Council,--in short, +in the control and management of colonial affairs, the Council of 1672 +placed the British colonial policy on a broader and more comprehensive +foundation than had hitherto been laid and inaugurated a more thorough +system of colonial control than had been established by any of its +predecessors. It is doubtful if even the Lords of Trade or the Board of +Trade surpassed the Councils of 1670 and 1672 in enthusiasm, loyalty, +or dispatch of business. + +On December 21, 1674, Charles II revoked the commission of the Council, +and plantation affairs under their cognizance thus being "left loose and +at large" were "restored to their accustomed channel of a Committee of +the Privy Council," that is, to the Committee of the Board appointed for +matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations.[11] The reasons for +this step are of course to be found in the first instance in the fall +of Shaftesbury from power the summer before, but that event is not in +itself a sufficient explanation of the change. At least it is worthy of +remark that the dissolution of the Council took place many months after +Shaftesbury's dismissal. Probably a further cause is to be found in the +widespread demand for economy and retrenchment. The Council of 1672 +cost the King nearly L8,000 a year; the Committee of the Privy Council +cost the King nothing for the services of its members, although its +contingent expenses ran higher than had those of any previous board, +amounting to between L275 and L400 a quarter from 1676 to 1687 and L250 +and L300 from 1689 to 1696.[12] + +Probably a greater reason for the dissolution of the Council of 1672 +is to be found in the dissatisfaction which existed with the system of +advisory and independent bodies. Povey expressed the matter well when +he wrote: + + "His Ma^{tie} since his happy Restoraton, rightly considering + of how great Consequence his foreign Plantations are to this + Crowne, hath at several times Commissionated certain select + persons to be Councells for the Plantations, every one of + which Councels were variously framed, instructed and encouraged, + w^{ch} have all expired without any considerable advantage, or + satisfaction to his Ma^{tie} or the Plantations. Among the other + Reasons w^{ch} may be given, why they proved fruitless, it seems, + That it is found by experience that whatsoever Council is not + enabled as well to execute as advise, must needs produce very + imperfect and weak effects. It being, by its subordination and + impotency obliged to have a continual recourse to superior + Ministers, and Councels filled with other business, w^{ch} + ofttimes gives great and prejudicial delays and usually begets + new or slower deliberations and results, than the matter in + hand may stand in need of, by w^{ch} means the authority and + virtue of this little Council became faint and ineffectual. + Seeing therefore it hath been held at all times, that may + distant Colonies, and the manifold Concernments thereof do + require and deserve to be consider'd and provided for by some + select persons as a Councel for those affairs, And that the + wisdome of our Government admits not such a plenary Authority, + but solely in the highest Council, it remains only as the best + expedient, That Com^{rs} be appointed out of the Privy Council + under the Great Seal, who may sit on some appointed day in every + [blank] and sometimes an hour before the Councel shall sit, as + occasion may call for it, to take consideration of any of the + affairs of the Plantations, who may give direcions in ordinary + cases, and in cases extraordinary may report to the King and + Councel."[13] + + +We do not know when this paper was written nor do we know whether +it ever came to the attention of the King and his advisers. Its +recommendation was certainly carried out, when the King, taking into +his own hands again the full control of trade and the plantations, +issued a commission in February, 1675, placing the entire charge of +these matters in the hands of the committee of the Council, which +through all the changes of fifteen years had never ceased to exercise +its functions of supervision and control of colonial affairs. This +committee, known as the Lords of Trade, acted as a board of trade and +plantations for twenty years and conducted its business with eminent +success. Its membership was occasionally changed, though as a rule the +work fell upon a comparatively small number of men who were in frequent +attendance. After the fall of the Stuarts, King William continued the +same policy, appointing a new Council Committee and resisting all +attempts of Parliament to interfere. + +Parliament, however, determined to obtain control of the management of +colonial affairs, and as early as 1694 made an effort in that direction. +Acting evidently under the influence of the merchants of London, who +resented the fact that affairs of this character should be entrusted +to "courtiers without experience," it took into consideration the +appointment of a separate board, whose members should be chosen by +itself. The first bill was thrown out by Parliament, but the matter was +brought up at the next session in December, 1695. Strenuous efforts were +made by a few of the leading out-ports, such as Bristol, to obtain, +through their members in Parliament, a representation on the proposed +board, in order to overcome "the growing greatness of London." During +December and January the matter was debated with great heat in the +House, and Bristol went so far as to send up a special delegation to +lobby in its behalf. The proposal was defeated by the King's opposition +to this attempt to encroach upon his prerogative, and a compromise was +effected, in which the out-ports played no part. Influenced by the +determination of the majority in Parliament, William issued a commission +on May 15, 1696, to a separate Board of Trade and Plantations, the +membership of which was, however, to be controlled by the Crown. + +Of the history of the Board of Trade, thus established in 1696, little +need be said here. The board passed through many vicissitudes in its +life of nearly eighty-seven years. It enjoyed its greatest repute during +the first fifteen years of its existence, falling into the hands of +inferior officials and placemen during the era of Walpole and the first +years of the supremacy of Newcastle. Granted new powers in 1752, it rose +again to a position of prominence which it held for fourteen years, and +it reached a climax in 1765, when it was made a ministerial executive +office of government, as were the Secretary's office and the boards of +the Admiralty and the Treasury, possessing full authority and complete +jurisdiction in all matters relative to its own department. This +position of independence was, however, soon lost. On August 8, 1766, +an order in Council declared that all measures relative to commerce and +the colonies should originate either with the King in Council, the +Committee of the Council, or one of the principal Secretaries of State. +This order, which evidently originated with Shelburne, Secretary of the +Southern Department, that he might increase thereby his control over +all colonial affairs, reduced the board to the position of an advisory +and consulting body upon such matters as the Council might refer to +it. Henceforth all estimates for colonial services and the direction +and application of money granted thereupon, which had hitherto been +transacted by the board, were resumed by the higher authorities. From +this time the importance and influence of the board steadily declined +until it was finally abolished in 1782. The control of the colonies +during the period from 1768 to 1782 was assumed by the new Secretary +of State for the colonies and remained in his charge until his office +also was abolished in the same year. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: See various papers among the Shaftesbury MSS., Division X, +particularly 8, No. 4, "L^{d} Shaftesbury's Advice to his Majesty about +Trade, etc."] + +[Footnote 2: Edward Long, governor and historian of Jamaica, viewed +the appointment of the Council as a piece of jobbery and graft, an +undertaking espoused not for the national good, but in order to obtain +new and lucrative offices for Ashley and others "his Brethren in the +ministry." Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 12438, iii, f. 17.] + +[Footnote 3: Henry Slingsby is named secretary and treasurer in the +commission and his signature or initials are appended to all orders from +October 5, 1670, to July 23, 1672. During this time and until September +13, 1673, Dr. Worsley acted as assistant and is called "secretary" until +November 15, 1672, when he was made treasurer also. On October 15, 1673, +after the discharge of Worsley, John Locke, secretary, friend, and ally +of the Earl of Shaftesbury, president of the new Council of 1672, was +sworn in as secretary and as treasurer on December 16, 1673. He remained +in service until the abolition of the Council. Evelyn speaks of Worsley +as dead on October 15, but this statement cannot be true as Worsley was +still alive in March, 1675.] + +[Footnote 4: Evelyn in describing the room in which the Council sat +mentions atlases, maps, charts, globes, etc., but Locke when called upon +to hand over the papers in March, 1675, reported that he never had had +any globes and maps.] + +[Footnote 5: The commission, instructions, and additional instructions +of the Council for Foreign Plantations are to be found among the +Shaftesbury Papers in the Public Record Office, fair written in an entry +book bound in vellum. Div. X, 10. Another copy of the instructions is +contained in X, 8 (11).] + +[Footnote 6: The sources for the history of the councils of 1670 and +1672 are: The Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1669-1674, which +contains abstracts of the papers of the Councils now among the Colonial +Papers. Had it been possible to examine each original document before +writing this paper there is no doubt that the list of the meetings given +in the Appendix would have been considerably extended. The calendaring +is often far from clear and the indexing, as far as all the boards are +concerned from 1622 to 1675, is a muddle of confusion. Among the Board +of Trade Papers is an Index to the entry books of the councils, which +shows that the following books, "called in the stile of the office, the +'rough books,'" were kept: "A Journal," "Orders of Council of Foreign +Plantations," "Petitions, References, and Reports," "Addresses and +Advices," "Letters and Answers," "Miscellanies," "Barbadoes," "Leeward +Islands," "Jamaica," "Virginia," "Letters from the Council," "New +England," "Fishery," "West India, Surinam," and "Letters to the +Council." Most of these entry books have been found scattered among +the Colonial Office volumes. Unfortunately the most important book, +"A Journal," is missing and has been missing for two centuries. The +"Index," however, contains a series of entries entitled, "Heads of +Business," which is very incomplete as an index to the meetings, but +upon which I have drawn in making up my list. The "Virginia" volume +is also missing, but it apparently contained nothing except blank +leaves. Part one of the volume entitled "Letters and Answers" and the +whole of "Letters to the Council" are also missing. The "New England" +volume contains only a copy of the Massachusetts charter; that entitled +"Miscellaneous" three interesting papers "Concerning Spiriting," +"Consideration about Foreign Plantations," and "Other considerations +concerning Plantations." The complete minutes of two meetings are among +the Shaftesbury Papers and very interesting notes in Evelyn's Diary.] + +[Footnote 7: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1669-1674, Sec.Sec. 327, I, 415, 565, +663, 680, 697, 704, 737, 804, 805, 891, 896, 1044, 1101.] + +[Footnote 8: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1669-1674, Sec.Sec. 287, 365, 822, 834, +917, 1003, 1011-1013, 1100, 1186, 1197, 1212, 1251-1252, 1255, 1295, +1300, 1306, 1386.] + +[Footnote 9: Lord's Journal, XII, pp. 254, 257, 273-274, 284.] + +[Footnote 10: Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1672-1673, pp. 213-214.] + +[Footnote 11: New York Col. Docts., III, pp. 228, 229-230; Cal. State +Papers, Col., 1675-1676, Sec.Sec. 648, 649.] + +[Footnote 12: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 9767, 9768, containing an itemized +expense account of the Lords of Trade from 1676 to 1696.] + +[Footnote 13: Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2395, f. 276.] + + + + +APPENDIX I. + +Instructions, Board of Trade, 1650. + + +_First._--They are to take notice of all the Native commodities of this +Land, or what Time and Industry may hereafter make Native and advise how +they may not only be fully Manufactured, but well and truly wrought, to +the Honor and Profit of the Commonwealth. + +_Secondly._--They are to consider how the Trades and Manufactures of +this Nation may most fitly and equally be distributed to every part; to +the end that one part may not abound with Trade, and another remain poor +and desolate for the want of the same. + +_Thirdly._--They are to consult how the Trade may most conveniently be +driven from one part of this Land to another. To which purpose they are +to consider how the Rivers may be made more Navigable and the Ports more +capable of Shipping. + +_Fourthly._--They are to consider how the Commodities of this Land may +be vented, to the best advantage thereof, into Foraign Countreys, and +not undervalued by the evil management of Trade, And that they advise +how Obstructions of Trade into Foraign parts may be removed; and desire +by all means, how new ways and places may be found out, for the better +venting of the Native commodities of this Land. + +_Fifthly._--They are to advise how Free Ports or Landing-places +for Foreign Commodities imported (without paying of Custom if again +exported) may be appointed in several parts of this Land, and in what +manner the same is to be effected. + +_Sixthly._--They are to consider of some way, that a most exact account +be kept of all commodities imported and exported through the Land, +to the end that a perfect Balance of Trade may be taken, whereby the +Commonwealth may not be impoverished, by receiving of Commodities yearly +from Foraign parts of a greater value than what was carried out. + +_Seventhly._--They are duly to consider the value of the _English_ +Coyns, and the Par thereof, in relation to the intrinsic value which it +bears in weight and fineness with the Coyns of other Nations. Also to +consider of the state of the Exchange, and of the gain or loss that +comes to the Commonwealth by the Exchange now used by the Merchants. + +_Eighthly._--They are (in order to the Regulating and Benefit of Trade) +seriously to consider what Customs, Impositions, and Excise is fit to be +laid upon all Goods and Commodities, either Native or Imported, and how +the said Customs, Impositions, and Excise may be best ordered and +Regulated, and so equally laid and evenly managed, as neither Trade may +be thereby hindered, nor the State made incapable to defray the Publique +Charges of the Commonwealth. + +_Ninthly._--They are to take into their consideration whether it be +necessary to give way to a more open or free Trade than that of +Companies and Societies, and in what manner it is fittest to be done; +wherein, notwithstanding, they are to take care that Government and +Order in Trade may be preserved and Confusion avoided. + +_Tenthly._--They are to inform themselves of the particular Ordinances, +Orders, Grants, Patents, and Constitutions of the several Companies of +Merchants and Handicraftsmen, to the end that if any of them tend to +the hurt of the Publique, they may be laid down in such manner as the +Parliament shall think fit. + +_Eleventhly._--They are to consider the great Trade of Fishing, and +that not only upon the coasts of _England_ and _Ireland_ but likewise of +_Iceland_, _Greenland_, _Newfoundland_, and _New England_, or elsewhere, +and to take care that the Fishermen may be encouraged to go on in their +Labors, to the increase of Shipping and Mariners. + +_Twelfthly._--They are to take into their consideration the English +Plantations in America or elsewhere, and to advise how those Plantations +may be best managed, and made most useful for this Commonwealth, and how +the Commodities thereof may be so multiplied and improved, as (if it +be possible) those Plantations alone may supply the _Commonwealth_ of +_England_ with whatsoever it necessarily wants. (Inderwick, _The +Interregnum_, p. 74 note.) + + + + +APPENDIX II. + +Instructions for the Council for Foreign Plantations, 1670-1672. + + +Given at our Court at Whitehall the 30th day of July, 1670. + +[Sidenote: Preamble.] + +Forasmuch as our severall Colonies, and Plantations abroad, have by the +Prudence of our Predecessors, and not without the great hazard, Charge +and Expence of these Nations been respectively setled, and being so +setled are become the proper Right and Soveraigne Posessions of us: And +forasmuch as the said Colonies having upon severall Occasions readily +exprest their loyalty and faithfulnesse towards us, have thereby the +more engaged us, out of our Princely care, not only to take notice of +them, but by all Wayes and meanes to endeavour the promoting of their +Welfare and Increase, togeather with their flourishing Estate and +condition, and more especially their Protection and Defence. + +[Sidenote: To inquire of the State of the Plantations, of the Powers +and Instructions of the Governours how Executed.] + +1. You are therefore strictly to inquire and informe your selves, by +the best wayes and meanes you can of the State and condition of all and +every of our said respective Colonies, and Plantations, what it is, by +whome they are respectively governed, and what Commissions, Powers and +Instructions, have been graunted by us, or any way derived from us to +that End, how the same have been duly executed and observed. + +[Sidenote: Miscarriages to be represented.] + +And if upon Enquiry or Examination you shall find any neglect, or +miscarriage, to have been committed by any of the said Governours +respectively, or by any of their respective Deputies, or that any such +neglect or miscarriage shall hereafter appeare to you, that shall tend +to the abuse of our Authority, or to the prejudice of our Interest, Or +to the dammage and discouragement of any of our said Plantations, you +are forthwith and at all times from time to time carefully to represent +the same to us, that we may give such direction therein as the affaire +shall require and as to our Princely wisdome shall be thought fitt. + +[Sidenote: To send for Coppies of Commissions and Instructions, +and consider of them.] + +[Sidenote: To give Directions accordingly.] + +2. And to this End you are to demaund of the said Governours respectively, +or of their respective Deputies, the Coppies of all such Commissions and +Instructions, as have mediatly, or immediatly been derived from us, or +to procure and require the same from the Officers of Record, within this +our Kingdome. Which having you shall cause them to be fairly transcribed +and entred in a Booke provided for that purpose. That you may at all +times be the better enabled to judge of the Duties of the said +Governours respectively, and may Administer such directions to them, +as may be suitable thereunto, and most agreeable to our service. + +[Sidenote: What Number of Parishes, Planters, Servants and Slaves +are in the Severall Plantations.] + +3. And that you may the better provide for the Defence, Welfare, and +Security of the said Plantations, you are diligently to informe your +selves how all and every of the said Colonies and Plantations are +inhabited (viz) What number of Parishes there are in each respective +Goverment, and what number of Planters there be in each Parish and what +number of Servants doe belong to the said Planters respectively, and +whether the said Servants are Christians, or Slaves that are brought +from other parts. + +[Sidenote: If thinly stockt to consider how they may be supplyed +from other Plantations or from these Dominions.] + +And if you shall find any of the said Plantations to be so thinly and +weakly inhabited as that it may endanger the losse of them, you are to +consider how and which way they may most conveniently be supplyed either +from some other of our Plantations, where they are overstored, or from +any part of these our Dominions. + +[Sidenote: Not to give just Provocations to their Neighbours, Indians, +or others.] + +[Sidenote: To preserve Amity with them.] + +4. And forasmuch as most of our said Colonies doe border upon the +Indians of severall Countries, or doe lye neare the Plantations of +our Neighbours the French, Spanish, or Dutch, and that peace is not +to be expected either with the said Indians, or with such as are our +Neighbours, without the due observance and praeservation of Justice to +each of them respecively. You are therefore strictly in our Name to +charge and Command all and every the Governours of our said Colonies +respectively, that they at no time give any just provocation to any of +the said Indians, nor to any of our said Neighbours, that are at peace +with us, or their Subjects, but that they doe by all just wayes and +meanes endeavour to preserve the Amity that is respectively setled +betweene them, and to begett also for the future a good and faire +Correspondency with them. + +[Sidenote: Governours to receive all Indians under their Protections.] + +5. And inasmuch as some of the Natives of the said Indians may be of +great use to give Intelligence to our Plantations, Or to discover the +Trade of other Countries to them, or to be Guides to places more remote +from them, or to informe our Governours of severall Advantages, and +Commodities that may be within or neare to our severall Plantations, +not otherwise capable to be known to them, And may be many other wayes +serviceable, either to defend or to succour and assist our Plantations. +It is therefore our pleasure, and we doe hereby require you, to give +strict order to our severall and respective Governours, that if any of +the said Indian Nations shall at any time desire to put themselves under +the protection of our Goverment, that they doe receive them, And that +they doe by all Wayes and Meanes seeke firmly to oblige them, And that +they doe direct or employ some persons purposely to learne the languages +respectively of them. + +And that they doe not only carefully protect and defend them from other +Indians, and from any that are the Adversaries of them. But that they +more especially take care that none of our owne Subjects, nor any of +their respective Servants, doe at any time any way harme them. + +[Sidenote: Not to suffer them to be injured in their persons Goods +or Possessions.] + +And that if any shall dare to offer any Violence to them in their +respective persons, Goods or possessions, the said Governours doe +severely punish the said Injuries agreeable to Justice and Right. + +6. And for the better Improovement of the Trade and Commerce of the said +Plantations, you are as much as in you lyeth to take care, and to give +such Rules and Directions therein, as you shall in your Judgement thinke +best. + +[Sidenote: That all Commodities of their Growth or making be duly +manufactured and Improoved.] + +That all the Commodities which are made and produce in every of our said +Plantations, may be duly cured, Manufactured, Improoved, and made as +Merchantable to the utmost as they may, to the end that they may not +only be of the greater perfection, but of the greater value, worth and +repute abroad among other Countries. + +[Sidenote: Whether other Commodities, then what grow at present, +may not be planted and thrive, as Cotton, Ginger, Cocoa &c.] + +7. To which End you are to inquire and informe your selves aright. +Whether there may not be some better Species even of those very +Commodities which we now plant, Than what we yet have, as of Cotton, +Ginger, Cocoa &c. Or whether there may not be some better and more +perfect skill used, in some other places, for the husbanding, managing, +and perfecting the said Commodities, than what we use at present. + +[Sidenote: To gaine the knowledge and skill of such, & impart them +to the People.] + +And if you find the same to be so, you are to use all Endeavour possible +to procure the said Species, or to gaine the Knowledge of the said +skill, and to impart the same to the people of our said Plantations. + +[Sidenote: What Islands are fittest and most conveniently seated +for breeding of Cattle.] + +8. And forasmuch as the Increase of Horses, and Cattle for Draught +or for Victuall, are of very great use for the settling of new, and for +the furnishing of old Plantations, And that there are severall Islands +which as we are informed, are not so fitt for the inhabiting, or for the +planting of any Commodity in, as for the breeding the said Cattle, and +which may yet be the more easily setled, by how much they require the +lesse people. + +You are therefore to informe your selves, what Islands are scituate +most convenient for that purpose, and to conferre with such Seamen and +Captaines of Shipps, as have viewed and coasted along the said places. + +[Sidenote: To give Encouragement towards the effecting of the same.] + +And to consider accordingly of such Conditions, and to publish such +encouragements, as that the same may be most probable to be effected. + +9. And in regard whatever conduceth to the Increase of Shipping, must +equally conduce to the Safety and strength of these Nations. + +[Sidenote: Whether Masts and other Materialls for Shipping may not +be furnished from the Plantations.] + +And that not only Masts, but all other Materialls, as well for the +building, as fitting out of Shipps of great burthen may as we are +informed be plentifully furnished from some of our Plantations, if +care hereunto were more especially used. + +[Sidenote: To encourage the producing of Hempe, Flax, Pitch and Tarre +in New England: and setting up of Sawing Mills.] + +You are therefore more particularly to advise about this matter, with +the severall Governours, and Colonies of New England, and to propound +to them or receive their Opinion, what methods and course might be +most fitt for the producing of Flax, Hempe, Pitch and Tarre in those +Countries in most plenty. As also where Mills might be most conveniently +placed and encreased for the sawing of Timber, and Planke, and how best +we may ease the charge and promote the building there of great Shipping. + +[Sidenote: How the Plantations may be supplyed with Servants +and Slaves.] + +10. You are to take into your Consideration, how all and every our said +Colonies, and Plantations, may be best supplyed both with servants and +Slaves. + +[Sidenote: To consider the differences betwixt the Guiny Company, +and the Plantations, and to find out expedients of agreement.] + +[Sidenote: That none of his Ma^{ties} Subjects of these kingdomes be +forced or Enticed away to the Plantations by any unlawfull Practises, +but that they may be duly accomodated.] + +And what just Objections the said Plantations have against the standing +and Priviledges of the Guiny Company, Or what complaints the Guiny +Company doth justly make against any of the said Colonies. And to find +out such Expedients if possible, that neither of them may lye under any +Discouragements, or that at least neither of them may be permitted to +injure or oppresse the other. You are also as farre as you may, to +provide that none of our Subjects in these Kingdomes, be either forced +or enticed away into any of our said Plantations, by any indirect and +unlawfull practises, But that all such persons neverthelesse, as are +willing, and that shall desire to be transported thither, to seeke a +better condition there than what they have at present at home, may by +all meanes be encouraged. + +And that some Course be duly considered by you also how far the future +Vagrants, and all such persons as are Noxious, and infamous for their +Lives here, may be Transported, as that the forreigne Plantations may +be accomodated with them, and these Kingdomes disburthened. + +[Sidenote: Correspondency with the Governours the better to understand +their Government, Plantations, Complaints, Trade and Shipping, and the +Increase or Decrease thereof.] + +11. You are likewise to order and settle such a continuall +correspondence with all and every our said Plentations, and with all and +every the respective Governements of them. That you may be able as often +as you are required thereunto to give us an Account, not only of the +Governement of each Colony, and of the severall Commodities which they +respectively plant, but of their severall Complaints and wants also, +and how you find their Trade respectively to increase or decrease. + +To which purpose you are to require an Account to be sent you +continually from time to time of all the Shipps that shall Trade into +any of the said Plantations. And of the substance of what lading they +import thither togeather with an account also what Shipps are freighted +from thence and with what sort of Goods, and what quantity there is of +each of the said sorts, and whether Consigned. That so the true state +and condition of each Colony in reference to the Trade and Increase and +Decrease of it, may be thoroughly and rightly understood. + +[Sidenote: To regulate the trade of the Plantations, so that they may +be serviceable to one another, as well as to these our kingdomes.] + +12. And being thus informed you are further to apply your selves by +all prudentiall wayes and Meanes so to Order, Governe, and Regulate the +Trade of our whole Plantations, that they may be most serviceable one +unto another, and as the whole unto these our Kingdomes so these our +kingdomes unto them. + +[Sidenote: To take care of the due execution of the Acts for +encouragement of Shipping and Navigation.] + +13. You are therefore to inquire into, and strictly to take care of the +due Execution of the severall Acts for the encouragement of Shipping, +and Navigation and that as much as in you lyeth, none of those good +Ends and purposes, so much tending to the strength and benefitt of this +Nation may be frustrated for which the said Acts were primarily intended +and designed. + +[Sidenote: To require Coppies of all Charters and Graunts concerning +any forreigne Plantations.] + +14. And to the End that nothing may be wanting to the said Regulation +and that Justice may be equally distributed throughout all our said +Plantations, You are likewise to take an Inspection into, and require +a Coppy of all Charters, and Graunts that have been passed by us or by +any of our Praedecessors, to any particular persons, or to any Societies, +and Corporations of Men with reference to any of the said Plantations. + +And more particularly to informe your selves what Goverments are held +by vertue of any of the said Charters at present, and by whome. + +[Sidenote: To examine how the Ends of them have been pursued or +neglected.] + +[Sidenote: In case of any differences to endeavour the composing of +them amicably.] + +You are likewise to examine what Causes, Covenants and Conditions, with +relation to our selfe and to the Crowne are inserted in any of the said +Charters or Graunts, and how the same have been performed, and how the +Ends of the said Graunts themselves have been respectively pursued. Or +how much on the contrary, you find they have been neglected, and our +selfe praejudiced, and to report the same to us. And in case there shall +any differences arise concerning the bounds, and Limits of any of the +said respective Charters, or concerning the Priviledges, Rights, or +Properties, which may be challenged by any by vertue of the said +Charters. + +[Sidenote: Otherwise to state and report them to his Ma^{tie}.] + +You are to endeavour by the best and justest meanes you may, amicably to +compose and determine the same. But if the difference arising about any +of the said Charters, shall have so much difficulty, as that the same +cannot be friendly and amicably ended as aforesaid. In that case you +are after Examination of it to state it to us. That we may give such +Resolution thereupon as may be agreeable to Justice. + +[Sidenote: To send for Coppies of the Lawes now in force that if upon +examination any of them be found contrary to honour, Justice, or the +Law of England, they may be nulled.] + +15. And as you are not to permitt any of our Loving Subjects to be +oppressed by any of the Governours of our said Colonies contrary to the +Lawes that are in force, within the said Colonies respectively, so you +are as carefully to examine, send for and require a Coppy of all such +Lawes, as have been at any time made, and doe stand yet unrepealed +within any of our said Plantations. That if any of the said Lawes be +found inconvenient or contrary to the Lawes of this Land, or to the +honour and Justice of our Governement, all such Lawes may be immediately +nulled. + +[Sidenote: To procure Mapps and Charts of the severall Plantations, +and to Register and keep them.] + +16. You are also by all Wayes and meanes you may to procure exact Mapps, +Platts or Charts of all and Every our said Plantations abroad, togeather +with the Mapps and Descriptions of their respective Ports, Harbours, +Forts, Bayes, Rivers with the Depth of their respective Channells +comming in or going up, and the Soundings all along upon the said +respective Coasts from place to place, and the same so had, you are +carefully to Register and Keepe. + +[Sidenote: To take effectuall care for the Propagating the Gospell in +the Plantations, and for the providing and maintaining of a pious and +learned Ministry.] + +[Sidenote: To reforme the Debaucheries of Planters and Servants.] + +You are above all especially required to take an effectual care for the +Propagation of the Gospell, in all our said Colonies and Plantations +respectively, by providing that there be good Encouragem^{t} setled for +the Invitation and maintenance of pious and learned Ministers, and by +sending strict Orders and Instructions for the regulating and reforming +the Debaucheries of Planters and Servants, whose evill Example doth +bring Scandall upon the Profession of Christianity, and doth deterre +such as are not yet admitted thereunto, from effecting and esteeming +the same. + +[Sidenote: To invite and Instruct the Indians and Slaves in the +Christian Religion.] + +And you are to consider how much of the Indians, or such as are +purchased from other parts for Slaves, may be best Instructed and +invited to the Christian Religion and Faith, it being both for the +Honour of our Crowne, and of the Protestant Religion it selfe. That all +persons within any of our Territories though never so remote should be +taught the Knowledge of God, and be accquainted with the Mysteries of +Salvation. + +[Sidenote: To write Letters to the severall Governours to informe them +of his Ma^{ties} great care of the Plantations in erecting this Councill +as also a generall Councill for trade.] + +18. You are therefore forthwith to write Letters and to send them +to the severall Governours of our said respective Plantations, or to +their respective Deputies in all parts, wherein you are to informe +them of our great care and signall grace towards our said Colonies, +and of our erecting not only a general Councill for Trade, that might +take cognizance of such things as may be their concerne, But of our +appointing this Councill in particular which is employed only for the +better care and conduct of them. + +[Sidenote: To require of them an Account of the state of their present +condition and of what they judge necessairie for their Securitie, +Encouragem^{t}, and accomodation.] + +You are therefore to require them, by themselves, or by the Assistance +of the respective Councills or Assemblies of the said Colonies to send +you an exact account of the State of their Condition at present, and of +such particulars within these your Instructions as you shall in the +first place thinke most necessary for them to answer or informe you of. + +And that they doe further propound to you what they judge to be +most immediately necessary either for their security, or for the +encouragement, and accomodation of them. + +[Sidenote: To observe such other Instructions as shall be sent under +his Ma^{ties} Signe Manuall, and if further Powers be found necessary, +the Councill to adresse to his Ma^{tie} therein.] + +19. Lastly you are to follow such other Instructions concerning the +Praemises, as shall be sent to you from time to time by us under our +Signe Manuall. + +And in all cases wherein you shall judge that further Powers and +Assistance shall be necessary for you, You are to addresse Your selves +to us, for our further pleasure Resolution and Direction therein. + + Given at our Court at Whitehall the 30^{th}. day of July 1670, + in the two and twentieth yeare of our Reigne. + + By his Ma^{ties} Command + + ARLINGTON. + + + + +Additional Instructions for the Council for Foreign Plantations, 1670-1672. + +Given at Our Court at Whitehall the First Day of August, 1670. + + +[Sidenote: To inquire concerning the Strength Fortifications and +Military discipline of the Plantations.] + +1. You are also particularly to inquire and informe your selves of the +strength of all and every of our Colonies, how they are respectively +fortifyed, what the said Fortifications are, and how conveniently +situated; as also to inquire how the Inhabitants of the said Colonies +are respectively trained or disciplined. + +And in what Posture they are to make a resistance upon occasion, against +any sudden attempt or Assault, if it should be offred them either by the +Indians, or by the forces of any other Prince or State that are their +Neighbours: + +[Sidenote: Concerning the Stores of their Ball, Powder, and other +Ammunition and the securing and praeserving of them.] + +And what Stores they have of Armes, Ball, Powder or any other Ammunition +respectively, and what care is further necessary to be employed, for the +better Securing and praeserving each of them, and to give an account from +time to time of the whole to us. + +[Sidenote: To recommend to the Governours, the breeding and producing +of Salt Petre.] + +2. And forasmuch as we are informed, that there are among severall of +our Plantations, Grounds very proper for the Breeding and producing of +Salt Petre. + +And those so rich also that if they were improoved to the utmost, great +quantities of that Commodity might be easily had from those parts, +without sending into the Indies for it: + +You are therefore very specially to Recommend this affaire to the +Governours of such Plantations, where you shall be informed the Grounds +are fittest for this purpose. And not only to require their care for the +Improovement of it; but to send your Advice to them, and to receive +their respective answer and opinion, how and in what manner they judge +the same, may be best, and most speedily put in Execution. + +[Sidenote: The Planting of such Commodities as are most for the benefit +of the Plantacons and to redresse all praejudiciall Courses of Planting.] + +3. And forasmuch as the greatest benefitt that can arise to any of our +said Colonies, must be when the Planters of any of the said Colonies +shall be able to improove their Labour or Ground to the utmost Profitt +respectively. + +Wherefore if the Sayle of any of the said Plantations shall be equally +fitt for the producing as well of severall other Commodities, as for the +producing of that which the said Colonie is accustomed unto. + +And that the said other Commodities are such also as are of more profitt +to be planted by farre then that which is usuall, And that doe not only +grow in the Countries adjacent to the said Plantations, but are found by +Experience to thrive well even in the very said Plantations themselves. + +In this Case you are to take care that a Custome be not nourished to the +praejudice of Trade, and of the said Plantations, But that you take order +for the Planting, Husbanding and Improoving of that Commodity that is +most profitable and most for the benefitt of the said Plantation. And to +this End that you by Letters conferre with the Governour, or with the +Assembly of the said respective Plantation, that some redresse may be +made and some stopp put to such a praejudiciall Course, or Custome of +planting as is aforesaid. + +[Sidenote: To consider how Spices, Gummes, Drugs, Dying Stuffes &c. may +best be obtained from the East Indies, and other places, for the storing +and enriching Plantations, and how to Reward the Undertakers thereof.] + +4. And forasmuch as the scituation of severall of our said Plantations +is such, as that it seemeth very probable to us, they might be stored +with many more Druggs, Gummes, and Dying Stuffes than what they now +have. Yea with severall Spices, and other Merchandises as well from the +East Indies, Turkie, and other places, as from severall of the Spanish +and Portugeeze Plantations. You are therefor required to consider and +advise what Commodities, in any of the Countries aforementioned or in +any other that shall be considered by you, may be (as you Judge) best +and fittest to transplant into any of our said Colonies (respect being +had to their said severall and respective Climates). And how the said +Commodities may easiest, best, and with least Observation, be obtained +from the said Countries: + +What methods are meetest to be used, or what Rewards fittest to be +given, to any that shall runne the hazards and Expence of it, to +undertake them. + +And which may therefore the same, may be most probably soe effected, as +that the Commerce mey be encreased, and the said Plantations enriched +through it. + +[Sidenote: What Councills are established in other Kingdomes, and what +Powers and instructions are given them for the improving of their Trade +and Plantations and to consider the Advantages and Disadvantages +thereof.] + +5. You are to informe your selves as farre as you may what Councills +are Established in any other Kingdome for the good Governement, and +Improoving of their respective Plantations. What Directions or +Instructions, also, are particularly given to the said respective +Councills, and what Policy, Method or Conduct is used by them with +relation to the Strength, Trade and Increase of the said respective +Colonies, or with relation to the people themselves that are sent +thither. + +And if you shall discerne such Methods and Directions to be good, or to +be well founded in Experience and Reason, You are to consider either how +the same may be aplyed to the Advantage of our owne Plantations, or how +any Inconveniences that may follow from them may be by you prudently +avoided. + + Given at our Court at Whitehall, the first day of August 1670, + in the two and twentieth yeare of our Reigne. + + By his Ma^{ties} Command + + ARLINGTON. + + + + +APPENDIX III. + +Draft of Instructions for the Council of Trade and Foreign Plantations, +1672-1674. + +The Commission and Instructions Were Issued on September 27, 1672. + + +[Sidenote: To consider the Improvem^{t} of the Commodityes of these +Kingdomes.] + +1. You are to consider how all Goods and Commodityes of the Production +or Growth of these Our Kingdomes may be best Improoved. What other +usefull Commodityes or Materialls for Manufactures there are which the +Nature of Our Sayle with good Husbandry will beare, or that tyme and +Industry can make Native. + +[Sidenote: To consider the Setting up of Manufactures.] + +2. You are likewise to consider the setting up and Improoving of +Manufactures within Our said Kingdomes, especially of shipping. And such +others as are most for the Employment of Our people of best use, and +greatest Proffit to our Kingdomes. The Establishing of Such Manufactures +in Townes and places most convenient for them. And to provide that all +such Manufactures (especially our Old and new Draperyas) be truely made +and fully manufactured at home. + +[Sidenote: The improoving of the Fishing Trade at home & abroad.] + +3. You are to consider how the Fishing Trade both at home and abroad may +be encouraged and improoved to the best advantage. + +[Sidenote: The opening of Rivers, Ports and Harbours.] + +4. How Our Rivers may be made Navigable and Our Ports and Harbours more +capable of receiving Shipping. + +[Sidenote: The Distributing of Trade and Manufactures.] + +5. And how Trade and Manufactures may be more fitly and equally +distributed through Our Kingdomes. + +[Sidenote: To examine the Burthens of Trade.] + +6. You are strictly to Examine what Burthens the Trade of Our sayd +Kingdomes doth at present Groane under both at home and abroad, more +then the Trade of Neighbouring Princes and States. + +[Sidenote: To enquire into abuses in Trade and Manufactures.] + +7. You are to make due Search and Inquiry into the abuses practised +among Merchants, Vintners, Wyne-Coopers, Brewers, Dyers, Apothecaryes, +Goldsmyths, Refyners, Wyre-Drawers, Penterers, Hatters, Clothiers and +other Trades and Manufactures within these Our Kingdomes, as also +concerning Weights and Measures. + +[Sidenote: To consider of the better venting of Native Commodity's.] + +8. You are to consider how Our Native Commodityes, and Manufactures may +be vented in greater Quantetyes, and with more Hono^{e} and profitt to +Our said Kingdomes. + +[Sidenote: How forreigne Commodityes may be brought in at cheaper +Rates.] + +9. And how forreigne Goods, and Commodityes may be brought from the +severall places of their Growth or making in fitt and reasonable tymes, +and at the Cheapest rates. + +[Sidenote: about building of Ships for the carriage of Bulky +Commodityes.] + +10. You are to consider about the Building of Pinkes, Flutes, and other +great Ships for the more convenient Carryage of Masts, Tymber and other +Bulky Commodityes. And about setting them out (according as the place to +which they are bound may allow) with fewer men and Gunns then usuall. + +[Sidenote: How Correspondencyes may be kept in places of great commerce +abroad.] + +11. You are to consider how Correspondencyes may be settled and kept +in all places of Great Commerce abroad for the better knowing with what +proffit or Losse Our Native Commodityes and Manufactures are vented. And +What Lawes are from tyme to tyme made or Trades new Erected in forreigne +parts to the advantage, or Disadvantage of Our Trade or Commerce. + +[Sidenote: How free Ports may be opened.] + +12. You are to consider how Free Ports may conveniently be opened +about Our Coasts for the Landing, and Storeing of Forreigne +Commodityes. Giving leave to retransport them paying only some small +acknowledgements. And of the severall Advantages that may arise unto +these Our Kingdomes by Giving way (according to the Example of other +Nations) to a more open, and free Trade then that of Companyes and +Corporations. + +[Sidenote: To receive Propositions concerning Trade and Navigation.] + +13. And you are to receive and Consider all Propositions or Overtures +concerning new Inventions or Improvements in any Art, Trade or +Manufacture, or concerning the regulating or Securing of Trade, and +Improoving of Navigation that shall be offered unto you by any person +whatsoever. + +[Sidenote: To enquire into the State of his Ma^{ts} forreigne +Plantacons.] + +14. You are strictly to enquire, and informe yourselves by the best +wayes and Meanes you can of the State and Condition of Our said +Forreigne Collonyes and Plantations. By whome they are Governed and what +Commissions, Powers and Instruccons have been granted by Us, or by any +of Our Royall Predecessors to that End, and how the same have been +Executed and observed. + +[Sidenote: To enquire What Councills Assemblies and Courts of Indicature +there are in them.] + +15. You are likewise to enquire and informe yourselves. What Councills, +Assemblyes and Courts of Indicature for Civill and Criminall Causes +there are within the said Collonyes and Plantations, and of what Nature +and Kind. + +[Sidenote: What Courts of Admiralty.] + +16. What Courts of Indicature they have relating to the Admiralty. + +[Sidenote: What their Legislative and Executive Powers are.] + +17. Where the Legislative and Executive Powers of their Governments are +seated. + +[Sidenote: What Statutes and Lawes they have.] + +18. What Statutes, Lawes, and Ordinances they have made, and are now in +force. + +[Sidenote: What number of Horse and Foot.] + +19. What number of Horse and Foot they have and whether Trayned Bands, +Bands, or Standing Forces. + +[Sidenote: What Castles and Forts and how provided.] + +20. What Castles or Forts they have, how situated and what Stores and +Provisions they are furnished with. + +[Sidenote: What strength their Neighbours have.] + +21. What strength their Bordering Neighbours have by Sea and Land. + +[Sidenote: What Correspondency they keep with them.] + +22. What Correspondency they keep with their Neighbours. + +[Sidenote: What Armes Ammunition &c. have been sent unto them.] + +23. What Armes, Ammunition, and Stores have been sent unto the said +Collonyes and Plantations upon our Accompt, when received, how Employed, +and what part of them is there remayning and where. + +[Sidenote: What Moneys have been paid for Armes &c. and Fortifications.] + +24. What Moneys have been paid or appointed to be paid by Us, or Leavyed +within the said severall Collonys, and Plantacons for and towards the +buying of Armes, or making and Mayntaining of any Fortifications, or +Castles, And how the said Moneys have been expended. + +[Sidenote: The Boundaryes and Contents of their Lands.] + +25. What the Boundaryes, and Contents of their Lands are. + +[Sidenote: What Mynes, Commodityes and Manufactures they have.] + +26. What Mynes they have of Gold, Silver, Copper, Tynne, Ledd, or Iron. +What Commodityes there are of their production, growth, or Manufacture. +What Materialls for Shipping and whether Salt-petre is or may be +produced in any of the said Collonyes or Plantations. And if so, At what +Rates it may be delivered in England. + +[Sidenote: Whether Spices, Gumms, Drugs if Planted will not thrive.] + +27. Whether Nutmegs, Cinnamon, Cloves, Pepper, and other Spices, and +Gumms, Druggs and Dying Stuffs which now grow in the East Indyes, and +are brought from thence may not be planted and come to perfection in +some of Our Collonyes, and Plantations in the West Indyes. + +[Sidenote: What Rivers, Harbours &c. they have.] + +28. What Rivers, Harbours, and Roads they have, and of What Depths, and +Soundings. + +[Sidenote: What Banks or Shoales for Fishing.] + +29. What Banks, or Shoales they have upon, or neare their Coasts for +Fishing. + +[Sidenote: What number of Planters and Parishes.] + +30. What number of Planters, Servants, and Slaves, and how many Parishes +they have. + +[Sidenote: What number of Whites and Blacks doe yearly come.] + +31. What Number of English, Scotch, or Irish doe yearely come, and what +Blacks, or Slaves, are brought unto them. + +[Sidenote: What number of People dye yearely.] + +32. What Number of People doe yearely dye within the said Collonyes and +Plantations both Whites, and Blacks. + +33. What Number of Shipps doe Yearely Trade to and from the said +Collonyes and Plantations, and of what Burthen they are. + +[Sidenote: What number of Ships Trade yearely.] + +[Sidenote: What obstructions they have and Advantages may be gained to +their Trade.] + +34. What Obstructions there are, and What advantages may be gained to +the Improovement of their Trade and Navigation. + +[Sidenote: What Dutyes are Charged upon Goods imported, or exported.] + +35. What Rates and Dutyes are charged and payable upon any Goods or +Commodityes exported out of the said Collonyes and Plantations, whether +of their owne Growth and Manufacture or otherwyse. As also upon Goods +imported. + +[Sidenote: What Publick Revenues doe arise among them.] + +36. What Revenues doe or may arise unto Us within the said Collynes and +Plantations, and of what nature they are. By whome Collected, and how +answered and Accompted unto Us. + +[Sidenote: How they instruct the People in Religion, and pay their +Ministry.] + +37. And what Course they take about Instructing of their People in the +Christian Religion. And what Provision is made for the Maintenance of +their Ministers. + +[Sidenote: To consider which of the said Collonyes are not fully +Planted.] + +38. You are to informe yourselves which of our said Collonyes and +Plantations are not fully Planted or Inhabited, and to consider how such +of them may most conveniently be supplyed from others that are +overstored with people. + +[Sidenote: How the s^{d} Collonyes may be serviceable to one another and +useful to these Kingdomes.] + +39. You are to consider how our said Collonyes, and Plantations may be +serviceable unto one another in relation to their mutuall Sustenance and +Defence, and how they may be Governed to be of use and advantage +likewise to these Our Kingdomes. + +[Sidenote: To Correspond by Letters with forreigne Governours.] + +40. You are to take care in Keeping frequent Correspondency by Letters +with the severall Governours of Our said Collonyes, and Plantations. + +[Sidenote: To Charge them to preserve peace with their Neighbo^{rs} and +to protect y^{e} Indians.] + +41. You are hereby required in Our Name strictly to charge all and every +the Governours of Our said Collonyes and Plantations respectively. That +they doe not Give any just Provocation unto any of their Neighbours +Indians or others that are at Peace & Amity with Us. But that they doe +by all just wayes and Meanes endeavours to preserve such Peace and Amity +and keep a good and fayre Correspondencye with them. + +And if any of the said Indians shall desire to putt themselves under +the Protection of the Governours, or Governments of our said Collonyes +or Plantations, That they doe receive them with respect and Kindnesse, +and Give them due Protection, and Defence in their Persons, Goods, and +Possessions according to Lawe. And in case any Persons shall contrary +thereunto offer any Affronts or Injuryes unto them, That the said +Governours doe severly punish such offenders according to Justice and +Right. + +[Sidenote: To procure Coppyes of all Grants concerning the said +Collonyes &c.] + +42. You are to endeavour the procuring Coppyes of all Letters Patents, +Charters, or Grants of any of Our said Collonyes or Plantations, or of +any Part of them, passed by Us or any of Our Predecessors under the +Great Seale of England, to any Person, Socyety, or Corporation of Men +Whatsoever. And to informe yourselves whether they have been duely putt +in Execution according to the Severall Grants, Clauses and Conditions, +conteyned in them respectively. + +[Sidenote: To procure Exact Mapps of the said Collonyes.] + +43. You are likewise to endeavour the procuring of Exact Mapps, +Platts, or Charts of all Our said Collonyes and Plantations with the +Descriptions of their respective Rivers, Forts, Harbours, Bayes, and +Roads. + +[Sidenote: To consider of the improoving of their Trade and Commerce.] + +44. And when you shall have received due Information concerning the +perticulars in the foregoing Instructions. You are to consider of the +best wayes, and Meanes for the encourageing settling, and Improoving +the Trade, and Commerce of Our sayd Collonyes, and Plantations. And +accordingly to offer unto Us your Opinions, and Advice thereupon. + +[Sidenote: To Examine if the Articles of Peace and Commerce with +forreigne Princes have been performed.] + +45. You are to consider the severall Articles of Peace and Commerce that +have been heretofore made between Us or any of our Royal Predecessors, +and all forreigne Princes, and States, and to Examine whether the +Priviledges and Immunityes by them Granted or agreed for the Benefitt +and advantage of Our Merchants, have from tyme to tyme been carefully +upheld and performed, And in case you shall find any Manifest Breach of +them, or any Injuryes done to Our Merchants, or any Obstructions to Our +Trade thereby, You are to represent the same to Us for Our +Consideration. + +[Sidenote: To enquire what Councills of Trade &c. are settled in +forreigne Parts and w^{t} Commiss^{ns} Instructions and Allowances +they have.] + +46. You are to informe yourselves the best that may be, What Councills, +or Courts of Indicature are Established in any forreigne Kingdomes +or States for the well Government of their Trade and Navigation, +and for the Improovement Settlement, and Defence of their Collonyes +and Plantations. As also What Commissions, Powers, Authorityes, +Instructions, and allowances they have Given and Granted unto them +for the better carrying on of those Services. + +[Sidenote: To observe such other Instructions &c as shall be sent +und^{r} his Ma^{ts} Signe Manuall and to addresse to his Ma^{ty} +for further Instructions &c. if need be.] + +47. And Lastly you are required and authorized to observe and putt in +Execution all such other Powers, Authorityes and Instructions (relating +unto Our said Collonyes or Plantations, or unto the Trade, Commerce or +Navigation of them, or of these our Kingdomes) as shall from tyme to +tyme be sent unto you by Us under Our Signe Manuall. + +And where you shall judge it necessary to have any further Powers, +Authorityes, or Instructions for the better Carrying on of Our Service +therein. You are to Addresse yourselves unto Us for Our further Pleasure +and Direction. + + + + +APPENDIX IV. + +Heads of Business of Councils, 1670-1674. + + +COUNCIL FOR FOREIGN PLANTATIONS, 1670-1672. + +_August 3, 1670._ + +Commission and instructions for a Council for Foreign Plantations read. +(From the Index mentioned on p. 101, note 6, here cited as _Journal_.) + +_August 9._ + +Letter to Trinity House. (_Journal._) + +_August 12._ + +Oath of Secrecy to the Officers. (_Journal._) + +_August 16._ + +Petition of St. Christopher read. (_Journal_; Cal. State Papers, Col. +1669-1674, Sec. 232, here cited as _Cal._) + +_August 19._ + +Commissioners for St. Christopher agreed on. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 232.) + +_August 22._ + +Report on St. Christopher's case. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 232, 850.) + +_September 22._ + +Petition for a chief governor of the Leeward Is. (_Journal_; _Cal._, +Sec. 268.) + +_September 24._ + +Beginning of consideration of Surinam question. (_Journal_; _Cal._, +Sec.Sec. 60, 291, 486, 524, and _passim._) + +_September 26._ + +Col. Lynch to be a committee at St. Christopher and afterwards to goe to +Jamaica as his Maj. Lieutenant. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 287.) + +_September 27._ + +Leeward Is. petition again read. (_Cal._, Sec. 269.) + +_September 29._ + +Drafting of queries to Gov. Berkeley of Virginia. (_Cal._, Sec. 565.) + +_September 30._ + +Jamaica & the Isle of Providence. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 276.) + +_October 5._ + +Surinam, Jamaica, St. Christopher; Conveyance of Letters to Foreign +Plantations. (_Journal_; _Cal._, _Dom._, 1672-1673, p. 295.) + +_October 10._ + +Surinam agreement with the two ships, 20,000^{11} damage at St. +Christopher. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 274, 292, 295.) + +_October 18._ + +St. Christopher order of summons to planters of Barbadoes and +petitioners from St. Christopher to appear. (_Cal._, Sec. 297.) There must +have been a meeting on "Friday next." + +_October 25._ + +Draft instructions for Commissioners for St. Christopher for bringing +off from Surinam English subjects, their families, and estates. +(_Cal._, Sec. 304.) + +_October 27._ + +Leeward Is. their Governor apart, Answer of Lord Willoughby read. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 309, 327.) + +_November 1._ + +Surinam, names of Commissioners. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 319, 320, 324.) + +_November 5._ + +Commission and instructions to Major Bannister for fetching off the +English from Surinam. (_Cal._, Sec. 850.) + +_November 8._ + +Peace with Spain. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 334, 334 I.) + +_November 12._ + +Barbadoes imposition on Sugar. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 332, 519, 520, +p. 229, _passim._) + +_November 15._ + +Order regarding 16th article of the treaty with Spain. (_Cal._, Sec. 334.) + +_November 17._ + +Report on petition of Leeward Is., favoring the petition, despite Lord +Willoughby's objections. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 339, 850.) + +_November 26._ + +Sir Chas. Wheeler appointed governor of the Leeward Is. (_Journal_; +_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 327, 392-397.) + +_December 16._ + +Commission and instructions to Sir Thomas Lynch, Lieut. Gov. of Jamaica. +(_Cal._, Sec. 850.) + + +1671. + +_January 14._ + +Newfoundland, petition regarding the fishery. (_Journal_; _Cal._, +Sec.Sec. 362, 368, 369, 385.) + +_January 21._ + +Governors of Plantations to take the Oaths [of Allegiance?]. (_Journal._) + +_January 28._ + +Continuation of Newfoundland Question. (_Journal._) + +_February 9._ + +Consideration of proposals of Sir Charles Wheeler. (_Journal_; _Cal._, +Sec.Sec. 410, 412, 415, 420.) + +_February 14._ + +Wheeler's proposals regarding defence of St. Christopher. (_Journal_; +_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 412, 850.) + +_February 18._ + +Spiriting, kidnapping of young persons for transport to the plantations. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, 1661-1668, Preface, p. xxvii _et seq._) + +_March 2._ + +Continuation of Newfoundland question. Report on the petition. (_Cal._, +Sec.Sec. 362, 850.) + +_March 8._ + +Estimate sent (and probably received on same day) by officers of +ordnance regarding ammunition, etc. for Leeward Is. (_Cal._, Sec. 445.) + +_March 10._ + +Report on Newfoundland petition, made on March 2, read. (_Cal._, _Dom._, +1671, under Mar. 10.) + +_April 27._ + +Petition of Ferdinando Gorges read. (_Cal._, Sec. 512; See _Cal._, _Dom._, +1671, April 27, Slingsby to Williamson.) + +_May 22._ + +Robert Mason's first petition to the Council; divers relations +concerning New England, with observations of the commissioners lately +employed there, read. (_Cal._, Sec. 512.) + +_May 26._ + +"The Earl of Bristol's house in Queen's Street (Lincoln's Inn Fields) +was taken for the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, and furnished +with rich hangings of the King's. It consisted of seven rooms on a +floor, with a long gallery, gardens, etc. This day we met the Duke of +Buckingham, Earl of Lauderdale, Lord Culpeper, Sir George Carteret, Vice +Chamberlain, and myself, had the oaths given us by the Earl of Sandwich, +our President. It was to advise and counsel his Majesty, to the best of +our abilities, for the well-governing of his Foreign Plantations, etc., +the form very little differing from that given to the Privy Council. We +then took our places at the Board in the Council Chamber, a very large +room furnished with atlases, maps, charts, globes, etc. Then came the +Lord Keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Earl of Arlington, Secretary of +State, Lord Ashley, Mr. Treasurer, Sir John Trevor, the other Secretary, +Sir John Duncomb, Lord Allington, Mr. Grey, son to the Lord Grey, Mr. +Henry Broncher, Sir Humphrey Winch, Sir John Finch, Mr. Waller and +Colonel Titus of the Bed chamber, with Mr. Slingsby, Secretary to the +Council, and two clerks of the Council, who had all been sworn some +days before. Being all set, our Patent was read, and then the additional +Patent, in which was recited this new establishment; then, was delivered +to each a copy of the Patent, and of instructions; after which we +proceeded to business. + +The first thing we did was to settle the form of a circular letter to +the Governors of all his Majesty's Plantations and Territories in the +West Indies and Islands thereof, to give them notice to whom they should +apply themselves on all occasions, and to render us an account of their +present state and government; but what we most insisted on was, to know +the condition of New England, which appearing to be very independent as +to their regard to Old England or his Majesty, rich and strong as they +now were, there were great debates in what style to write to them; for +the condition of that Colony was such that they were able to contest +with all other Plantations about them, and there was fear of their +breaking from all dependence on this nation; his Majesty, therefore +commended this affair more expressly. We, therefore, thought fit, in the +first place, to acquaint ourselves as well as we could of the state of +that place, by some whom we heard of that were newly come from thence; +and to be informed of their present posture and condition; some of our +Council were for sending them a menacing letter, which those who better +understood the peevish and touchy humour of that Colony, were utterly +against. + +A letter was then read from Sir Thomas Modiford, Governor of Jamaica; +and then the Council brake up." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, pp. 63-64.) + +_June 6._ + +"I went to Council where was produced a most exact and ample information +of the state of Jamaica and of the best expedients as to New England, +on which there was a long debate; but at length it was concluded that if +any it should be only a conciliating paper at first, or civil letter, +till we had better information of the present face of things, since we +understood they were a people almost on the very brink of renouncing any +dependence on the Crown." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 65.) + +_June 16._ + +Colonel Cartwright's papers concerning the New England Colonies read. +(_Cal._, Sec. 512.) + +_June 19._ + +Patent of Massachusetts read. (_Cal._, Sec. 572; The _Journal_ says, +"Cartwright's report"; but this seems to be wrong as both Evelyn and the +_Calendar_ place Cartwright's report on the 21st.) + +_June 20._ + +"To carry Colonel Middleton [Capt. Thomas Middleton of the former +Council for Foreign Plantations] to Whitehall, to Lord Sandwich, our +President, for some information which he was able to give of the Colony +in New England." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 65.) Probably no regular +meeting was held on this day. + +_June 21._ + +Commission and instructions of the New England Commissioners read; +Col. Cartwright heard (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 512, 566). "To Council again, when one +Colonel Cartwright a Nottinghamshire man (formerly in commission with +Colonel Nicholls) gave us a considerable relation of that country; on +which the Council concluded that in the first place a letter of amnesty +should be despatched." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 65.) + +_June 26._ + +Further consideration of the New England case. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 512.) + +"To Council, where Lord Arlington acquainted us that it was his +Majesty's proposal we should, every one of us, contribute L20 toward +building a Council Chamber and conveniences somewhere in Whitehall, that +his Majesty might come and sit amongst us, and hear our debates; the +money we laid out to be reimbursed out of the contingent monies already +set apart for us, viz. L1000 yearly. To this we unanimously consented." +(Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 66.) + +_June 29._ + +Sir Thomas Modyford, Panama. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 209, 433, 504, 505, +577, 578.) + +"To Council, where were letters from Sir Thomas Modiford, of the +expedition and exploit of Colonel Morgan, and others of Jamaica, on the +Spanish Continent at Panama." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 66.) + +_July 4._ + +"To Council, where we agreed to and drew up a letter to be sent to New +England, and made some proposal to Mr. Gorges, for his interest in a +plantation there." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 66.) + +_July 12._ + +Report on Gorges petition, recommending the sending of commissioners to +New England. (_Cal._, Sec. 439, I.) + +_July 17._ + +New England, Massachusetts. (_Journal._) + +_July 24._ + +Robert Mason's second petition to the Council read. (_Cal._, Sec. 512.) + +"To Council. Mr. Surveyor brought us a plot for the building of our +Council Chamber, to be erected at the end of the Privy-garden, in +Whitehall." (Evelyn's _Diary_, p. 66.) + +_August 3._ + +Agreement about Commissioners to New England. (_Cal._, Sec. 512.) + +Address regarding sending two ships to Surinam. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 596, 850.) + +"A full appearance at the Council. The matter in debate was whether we +should send a deputy to New England, requiring them of the Massachusetts +to restore such to their limits and respective possessions, as had +petitioned the Council; this to be the open commission only; but in +truth, with secret instructions to inform us of the condition of those +Colonies, and whether they were of such power, as to be able to resist +his Majesty and declare for themselves as independent of the Crown, +which we were told and which of late years made them refractory. Colonel +Middleton being called in, assured us they might be curbed by a few of +his Majesty's first-rate frigates, to spoil their trade with the +islands; but, though my Lord President was not satisfied, the rest were, +and we did resolve to advise his Majesty to send Commissioners with a +formal Commission for adjusting boundaries, etc., with some other +instructions." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 66.) + +_August 12._ + +Report concerning New England, a representation of the present state of +New England and the sending over of Commissioners. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 512, 598, +850.) + +_August 19._ + +"To Council. The letters of Sir Thomas Modiford were read, giving +relation of the exploit at Panama, which was very brave." (Evelyn's +_Diary_, II, pp. 66-67.) + +_September 9._ + +Commissioners (names of) to be sent to New England. (_Journal._) + +_September 15._ + +"In the afternoon at Council, where letters were read from Sir Charles +Wheeler, concerning his resigning his government at St. Christopher's." +(Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 67.) + +_September 19._ + +Council informed that the king had agreed to the sending commissioners +and desiring instructions to be prepared against spring. (_Cal._, Sec. 512.) + +_November 13._ + +Further information to Council regarding commissioners; Council to treat +with Mason and Gorges regarding sale of their estates in New England, +but not without the king's leave. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 512.) + +St. Christopher and Leeward Is. (_Journal._) + +Negroes, Leeward Is. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 700.) + +_November 14._ + +"To Council, where Sir Charles Wheeler, late Governor of the Leeward +Islands, having been complained of for many indiscreet managements, +it was resolved, on scanning many of the particulars, to advise his +Majesty to remove him; and consult what was to be done to prevent these +inconveniences he had brought things to. This business stayed me in +London almost a week, being in Council or Committee every morning till +the 25th." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 72.) + +_November 16._ + +Mr. Gorges, New England. (_Journal._) + +_November 20._ + +St. Christopher; Publication by Sir Charles Wheeler and answer of the +Council. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 657, 658, 659.) + +_November 24._ + +Report to the king on the same subject. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 659, 850.) + +_November 26 (7)._ + +St. Christopher: proclamation disowning Sir Charles Wheeler read. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 661.) + +Mr. Brouncker's conference with the French ambassador read. (_Journal._) + +"We ordered that a proclamation should be presented to his Majesty to +sign against what Sir Charles Wheeler had done in St. Christopher's +since the war, on the articles of peace at Breda. He was shortly +afterwards recalled." (Evelyn's _Diary_, p. 73.) + +_November 28._ + +The Answer of the Planters of the Leeward Is. read. (_Journal._) + +Account of Jamaica, probably taken from Gov. Lynch's answers to queries. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 663, p. 277.) + +Heads of king's proclamation regarding St. Christopher. (_Journal._) + +_December 7._ + +Report of the Council on the proclamation and the framing of something +fit to be offered to the French ambassador. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 675, 677, 850.) + +_December 11._ + +New England Case, Mr. Mason's account of the commodities of New +Hampshire. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 687.) + +_December 14._ + +Mr. Mason, the answer of the Council. (_Journal._) + +_December 18._ + +Instructions to Mr. Slingsby to speak to members of Privy Council +regarding patents to Massachusetts. (_Cal._, Sec. 652.) + +_December 19._ + +Mr. Slingsby's report about a new governor for the Leeward Is. +(_Journal._) + +_December 20._ + +Draft of commission for governor of Leeward Is.; revocation of Wheeler's +commission; report to king concerning Col. Stapleton, the new governor. +(_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 699, 707, 738, 740, 744, 804, 805, 850.) + + +1672. + +_January 22._ + +Commissioners for New England. (_Cal._, Sec. 512.) + +_February 6._ + +Report of Mr. Gorges, "Commissioner for the province of Maine" read. +(_Cal._, Sec. 753.) + +_February 12._ + +"At the Council, we entered on enquiries about improving the Plantations +by silks, galls, flax, senna, etc., and considered how nutmegs and +cinnamon might be obtained and brought to Jamaica, that soil and climate +promising success. Dr. Worsley being called in, spake many considerable +things to encourage it. We took order to send to the Plantations, +that none of their ships should venture homeward single, but stay for +company and convoys. We also deliberated on some fit person to go as +Commissioner to inspect their actions in New England, and, from time +to time, report how that people stood affected.--In future to meet at +Whitehall." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 74.) + +_February 13._ + +Instructions from Secretary of State to prepare commission, etc., for +New England Commissioners. (_Cal._, Sec. 512.) + +_February 16._ + +Account of the militia in the Province of Maine read. (_Cal._, Sec. 762.) + +_February 20._ + +Letter from Sir Thomas Lynch to the Council read. (_Cal._, Sec. 640.) + +_March 1._ + +"A full Council of Plantations, on the danger of the Leeward Islands, +threatened by the French, who had taken some of our ships, and began +to interrupt our trade. Also in debate, whether the new governor of +St. Christopher's should be subordinate to the Governor of Barbadoes. +The debate was serious and long." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 75.) + +_April 2._ + +Report concerning the general state of the Leeward Is. and the +differences depending between the English and French at St. Christopher. +(_Cal._, Sec. 850.) + +_April 9._ + +About Logwood (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 709, 742, 777, 825), and the +defence of Barbadoes and the Leeward Is. (_Cal._, Sec. 799.) + +_April 15._ + +Commission and instructions for Lord Willoughby and a report on his +proposals. (_Cal._, Sec. 850.) + +_April 16._ + +Letter from Sir Charles Wheeler read. (_Cal._, Sec. 748.) + +"Sat in Council, preparing Lord Willoughby's commission and instructions +as governor of Barbadoes and the Caribbee Islands." (Evelyn's _Diary_, +II, p. 78.) + +_April 19._ + +"At Council, preparing instructions for Colonel Stapleton, now to go +Governor of St. Christopher's; and heard the complaints of the Jamaica +merchants against the Spaniards, for hindering them from cutting logwood +on the main land, where they have no pretence." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, +pp. 78-79.) + +_April 26._ + +Archibald Henderson's case. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 775, p. 339, 806.) + +_April 30._ + +Commissioners for New England named, etc. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 512.) + +_May 7._ + +Case of Mark Gabry, exporter of wool. (_Cal._, _Dom._, 1671-1672, +pp. 155, 156, 481.) + +_May 10._ + +Case of the _James_ of Belfast (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 813), and Wheeler +letter (Sec. 775), containing a statement about Henderson. + +Draft commission for Willoughby (Sec. 822). + +Agreed that the commission for New England should be expedited (Sec. 512). + +Report to the king upon the case of the _William and Nicholas_ (Sec. 850). + +_May 14._ + +Proposals about the Leeward Is. formerly delivered by Lord Willoughby. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 828.) + +_May 17._ + +Case of the _William and Nicholas_, Logwood ship. (_Journal_; _Cal._, +Sec.Sec. 823, 824.) + +_May 27._ + +Letter from Sir Thomas Lynch read. (_Cal._, Sec. 777.) + +_June 4._ + +Consideration of the Logwood trade. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 825, 837.) + +_June 11._ + +Order regarding ship _William and Nicholas._ (_Cal._, Sec. 823.) + +_June 13._ + +Surinam and Curacao. (_Journal_ has "Quarasao"; _Cal._, Sec. 879.) + +_June 15._ + +Continuation of the Logwood difficulty. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 825, II, +879, 880.) + +_June 21._ + +Case of the _Peter_ of London (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 820; _Cal._, _Dom._, +1673, pp. 198-199.) + +Petition from Montserrat. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 859, 879.) + +_June 25._ + +Jews in Jamaica. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 848, 879.) + +Heads of a letter to Sir Thomas Lynch from the Council. (_Journal_; +_Cal._, Sec. 943.) + +Injuries from the French in the West Indies. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 805.) + +About ship departure from Jamaica. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 683, 910.) + +_July 2._ + +Opinion and advice of the Council to the king upon a great variety of +matters already discussed. Jews, logwood, Surinam, Jamaica defence, +Curacoa, Leeward Is. and Wheeler, and Stapleton, defense of Montserrat, +etc. (_Cal._, Sec. 879.) In addition the merchants seem to have made a +report on the best time for ships to depart from Jamaica. (_Journal._) + +_July 3._ + +Petition from the Long Islanders regarding the whale fishery and their +relations with New Amsterdam read. (_Cal._, Sec. 875.) + +_July 16._ + +Concerning Virginia--probably the question of the Arlington and Culpeper +grant. (_Journal._) + +_July 19._ + +Regarding the whale fishery. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 875.) + +_July 26._ + +Petition of Sir Ernestus Biron, escheator in Barbadoes, read. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, 1661-1668, Sec. 1622.) + +_July 29._ + +Report on the petition. (_Journal._) + +_September 1._ + +"Our Council of Plantations met at Lord Shaftesbury's (Chancellor of the +Exchequer) to read and reform the draught of our new Patent, joining the +Council of Trade to our political capacities." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, +p. 83.) + +_September 20._ + +Particulars of monies disbursed for the Council. (_Journal._) + +_October 1 (about)._ + +Letters written by Sir Thomas Lynch on June 20 and July 5 read to the +Council. (_Cal._, Sec. 943.) + + +COUNCIL FOR TRADE AND FOREIGN PLANTATIONS, 1672-1674. + +_October 13._ + +Commission opened and read and oath administered. (_Journal._) + +Letters from Gov. Stapleton and his answer to inquiries read. (_Cal._, +Sec.Sec. 842, 896.) + +"Went to my Lord Keeper, (Sir Orlando Bridgeman) at Essex House, where +our new patent was opened and read, constituting us that were of the +Council of Plantations, to be now of the Council of Trade also, both +united. After the patent was read, we all took our oaths, and departed." +(Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 85.) + +_October 24._ + +Oaths administered. (_Journal._) + +"Met in Council, the Earl of Shaftesbury, now our President, swearing +our Secretary and his clerks, which was Mr. Locke, an excellent learned +gentleman, and student of Christ Church, Mr. Lloyd, and Mr. Frowde [son +of Philip Frowde, clerk of the former Council of 1660]. We dispatched a +letter to Sir Thomas Linch Governor of Jamaica, giving him notice of a +design of the Dutch on that island." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 86.) + +_October 27._ + +Jamaica laws received and probably considered. (_Cal._, Sec. 829.) + +_October 29._ + +Meeting held at 9. a. m. No statement as to business. (_Cal._, _Dom._, +1672-1673.) + +_November 3._ + +Logwood case; depositions and letters presented. (_Cal._, Sec. 954.) + +_November 8._ + +New England case considered. (_Journal._) + +Letter from Sir Thomas Lynch read. (_Cal._, Sec. 855.) + +Rodney petition received from the Privy Council and read. +(_Cal._, Sec. 958.) + +The petition from the consul of Venice, asking that consulage be levied +on goods not on ships. (_Journal_; _Cal._, _Dom._, 1673, pp. 100, 303.) + +"At Council we debated the business of the consulate of Leghorn (?). I +was of the Committee with Sir Humphrey Winch, the Chairman, to examine +the laws of his Majesty's several plantations and colonies in the West +Indies, etc." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 86.) + +_November 13._ + +Letter from Dep. Gov. Coddrington of Barbadoes read. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 872, +901, 902.) + +_November 15._ + +Petition of the consul at Venice considered further. (_Journal._) + +"Many merchants were summoned about the consulate of Venice; which +caused great disputes; the most considerable thought it useless." +(Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 86.) + +_November 20._ + +Petition of Rabba Couty, whose ship was seized at Port Royal, Jamaica, +on the ground that he was a foreigner. (_Cal._, Sec. 968; _Cal._, _Dom._, +1672-1673, p. 295.) + +_November 29._ + +Order of Council appointing a committee to confer with Sir Charles +Wheeler. (_Cal._, Sec. 974.) + +_December 7._ + +Report of the conferences. (_Cal._, Sec. 977.) + +_December 10._ + +Report of the conferences. (_Cal._, Sec. 977.) + +_December 20._ + +Report on the case of Rabba Couty, recommending the return of the +vessel. (_Cal._, Sec. 968, IV; _Cal._, _Dom._, 1672-1673, p. 295.) + +Order issued for a more speedy and orderly despatch of reports to +the King and of letters and orders to the Governors of plantations. +(_Cal._, _Dom._, 1672-1673, p. 295.) + +_December 21._ + +"Settled the Consulate of Venice." (Evelyn's _Diary_. II, p. 86.) + +_December 29._ + +Report on petition of the Gambia merchants regarding the use of a wood +called "sanders" for dyeing purposes. (_Cal._, Sec. 973, III; _Cal._, +_Dom._, 1673, pp. 190, 217.) + + +1673. + +_January 7._ + +Letter of Sir Thomas Lynch; complaint of Gambia Company; Russell's +answer to Rodney's petition; report on laws of Jamaica; articles +relating to the Venetian trade; Ordinance in Sweden against "our +privileges"; St. Christopher business; answer to Col. Stapleton; advice +to the King about planting St. Christopher; regarding the books and +papers of the former councils; Newfoundland trade; acts of Barbadoes. +(_Cal._, _Dom._, 1672-1673, p. 403. This series of subjects is the only +complete list of the heads of a single day's business that we find +anywhere, except in the minutes of two meetings noted below.) + +_January 9._ + +About Johnson "the Pyrat." (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 938, 1082, Index; _Journal_.) + +_January 11._ + +Order of the Council to the secretary to report on losses and injuries +lately sustained from the Spaniards. (_Cal._, Sec. 1022.) + +_February 1._ + +Similar order regarding the differences with the French at St. +Christopher. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 1028, 1033.) + +Heads of a letter to Gov. Stapleton of St. Christopher. (_Journal._) + +_February 6._ + +Gambia Adventurers. (_Journal._) + +_February 18._ + +Gambia Adventurers. (_Journal._) + +Secretary's report on St. Christopher. (_Cal._, Sec. 1034.) Secretary +ordered to prepare another report for the 25^{th} on same subject. + +_February 25._ + +Secretary's report probably presented on this day. + +_March 6._ + +Letter to Gov. Stapleton written. (_Journal._) + +Letter from Lord Willoughby read. (_Cal._, Sec. 1000.) + +_March 17._ + +Petition from Rodney asking that a certain Carpenter, "who has long +lived in Nevis," may be heard. (_Cal._, Sec. 1049.) + +Reply of Capt Rodney to the answer of Gov. Russell read. (_Cal._, +Sec. 1050.) + +_April 10._ + +Heads of an address about St. Christopher. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 1038, +1069.) + +New England. (_Journal._) + +_April 14._ + +Representations on Gambia question drawn up. (_Cal._, _Dom._, 1773, +p. 142.) + +_April 22._ + +Rodney's petition. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 958, 1049-1050, 1071, 1074, +1110, 1194, 1225. See Index.) + +_June 9._ + +Address of Council to the king regarding differences between the English +and the French at St. Christopher. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 903, 1105.) + +_June 23._ + +Representation and advice of the Council regarding the Rodney case. +(_Cal._, Sec. 1110.) + +"To London, to accompany our Council, who went in a body to congratulate +the new Lord Treasurer [Sir Thomas Osborne], no friend to it, because +promoted by my Lord Arlington, whom he hated." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, +p. 90.) + +_July 21._ + +About the exportation of wool (_Journal_); report on this question +urging that present laws be put in execution and export of wool be +strictly forbidden. (_Cal._, _Dom._, 1673, pp. 382, 541.) + +_September 13._ + +Dr Worsley, his discharge. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 1151.) + +_September 16._ + +To Council about chosing a new Secretary. (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 94.) + +_October 15._ + +Mr. Lock sworne. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 1162, 1163.) + +"To Council, and swore in Mr. Locke, secretary, Dr. Worsley being dead." +(Evelyn's _Diary_, II, 95. This statement regarding Dr. Worsley cannot +be true.) + +_October 21_ (committee). + +Charter parties for transporting to Barbadoes stores and provisions +read. (_Cal._, Sec. 1058.) + +Letters from Sir Peter Colleton & others read. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 1101, 1104, +1131, 1133.) + +Regarding capture of New York. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 1138, 1157.) + +_October 27_ (committee). + +About Sir J. Atkins, Barbadoes. (_Journal._) + +Regarding New York; Mr. Dyer's project for reducing that town. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 1157.) + +"To Council about sending succours to recover New York; and then we read +the commission and instructions to Sir Jonathan Atkins, the new Governor +of Barbadoes." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, 95.) + +_November 3._ + +About New York, Albany, etc.; consideration of the retaking of these +places from the Dutch. (_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 1160, 1165.) + +_November 7_ (committee). + +William Dervell's statement regarding the loss of New York. +(_Cal._, Sec. 1143.) + +_November 8._ + +Barbadoes and Sir J. Atkins. (_Journal._) Probably the question +of Atkins's commission as Governor of Barbadoes was here under +consideration. + +_November 19_ (committee). + +Letters from Gov. Lynch read. (_Cal._, Sec. 1115.) + +_November 24._ + +Petitions of Steed, provost marshal of Barbadoes, read. +(_Cal._, Sec. 1167.) + +_December 1._ + +Letter from Sir Jonathan Atkins received and (probably) read. +(_Cal._, Sec. 1173.) + +_December 5._ + +Deposition of William Carpenter in favor of Steed. (_Cal._, Sec. 1177.) + +_December 19._ + +Report to the King, presenting draft of commission and instructions for +Sir Jonathan Atkins, governor of Barbadoes. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 1182, 1185.) + + +1674. + +_January 7._ + +Received order from Privy Council committee on grievances regarding the +Rodney petition. (_Cal._, Sec. 1194.) + +_January 10_ (committee). + +Petition of William Dyer of New York to the King read. (_Cal._, Sec. 1108.) + +_January 16._ + +Report of the Council on this petition. (_Cal._, Sec. 1108.) + +_January 23._ + +Order from the Privy Council instructing the Council to transmit a true +state of the case between Rodney and others. (_Cal._, Sec. 1207.) + +_February 10._ + +"Ordered, That a Copy of M^{r}. Rodneys Peti[~c]on and his Ma^{ties}. +Reference thereupon, and the Report of this Councill should bee +delivered by M^{r}. Lock to M^{r}. Secret^{ry}. Coventry to bee by him +p^{e}sented to his Ma^{ty}. + +The Earle of Arlingtons L[~re] to this Councill of the 23^{d}. of +January last signifying his Ma^{ties}. pleasure, That this Councill +should consider of a Com^{n}. & Instru[~cc]ons for the Earle of +Carlisle, appointed to bee Governo^{r}. of Jamaica, and Col: Morgan +appointed to bee Deputy Governo'{r}. was read. + +A Draught of Instru[~cc]ons for my Lord Carlisle was read and debated, +and the further debate thereof adjourned till next meeting. + +My Lord Culpeper having acquainted this Councill, that my Lord Carlisle +had something to offer to this Councill. The Councill desired my Lord +Culpeper to acquaint his Lord[~sp], That if hee pleased to come to the +Councill on Fryday next in the Afternoone, they shall bee ready to +receive what [~ev] his Lord[~sp] shall bee pleas'd to offer to them. + +Ordered that M^{r}. Lock gett some Presses made wherein the papers +belong to this Councill may bee conveniently layd up. + +Two Addiconall Instru[~cc]ons for S^{r}. Jonathan Atkins Ordered to bee +drawne, one to p^{e}vent his making of Judges & Justices by Com^{ns}. +limited in tyme, becaus some former Governo^{rs}. by co[~m]issionating +these Officers only for a yeare, kept them at their devo[~c]on for +feare they should bee left out of the next, thereby eluding their +Instru[~cc]ons, which forbid the turning out of any of these Officers, +but for good caus. Another to prevent the perpetuity of Laws in the +Planta[~c]ons w^{th}out his Ma^{ties} confirma[~c]on. Ordered also +that the Addres to his Ma^{ty} ab^{t}. Jonathan Atkins and others +Governo^{rs}. taking the Oath's here, to be drawne w^{th}out Preamble." +(_Shaftesbury Papers_, Div. X, 8 (8).) + +_February 17._ + +"M^{r}. Locke Reported to the Councill, That attending M^{r}. Secretary +Coventry w^{th} the papers concerning Rodney's Case ordered by this +Council the 10^{th} of this Instant February, M^{r}. Secretary Coventry +told him, That the Order of the Privy Councill being to transmitt the +said papers, to his Ma^{ty} in Councill, that itt was not proper to do +itt by his hands, Butt that they should bee sent to one of the Clerks of +the Councill to bee by him delivered. + +Ordered thereupon, That the said papers bee delivered to one of the +Clerks of the Councill, to bee by him p^{e}sented to his Ma^{ty} in +Councill. + +Ordered That the Address of this Councill to his Ma^{ty} concerning +S^{r}. Jonathan Atkins and other Governo^{rs}. and Deputy Governo^{rs}. +takeing the Oathes &c: here, bee delivered to the Earle of Arlington to +bee by him p^{e}sented to his Ma^{ty}. + +Two Addiconall Instru[~cc]ons for S^{r}. Jonathan Atkins, The one about +the Com^{ns}. of Justices of the Peace, and the other about Marshall Law +read & agreed. + +A Copy of an Order of the Presid^{ts}. & Councill of Barbados, +concerning the Provost Marshall's place, was brought in by my Lord +Culpeper, who assured the Councill hee had re[~c]ed itt in a Letter from +the Clerk of the Councill there, which letter hee had not now about him. +The considera[~c]on thereof adjourned till this Copy bee made appeare to +this Councill to bee more authentique. + +Upon Reading the Addiconall Instru[~cc]on to Sir Jonathan Atkins +concerning the reenacting of Laws. The Councill entred into a debate +about the best way for his Ma^{ty} to confirme the Laws made by the +Planta[~c]ons, which being often tymes ill worded by the Assembly there, +and some tymes faulty in some part though the maine deserves to bee +established. Which being found to bee a matter of great moment, The +farther debate thereof was adjourned till another opportunity, when the +Earle of Shaftesbury should bee present." (_Shaftesbury Papers_, Div. X, +8 (9); _Cal._, Sec. 1221. These minutes are the only complete record that +we have of the proceedings at council meetings. They show how much has +been lost in the disappearance of the original journal.) + +_March 6._ + +Letter from Lord Willoughby read. (_Cal._, Sec. 966.) + +Petition of William Helyar regarding woodland purchased by him in +Jamaica. (_Cal._, Sec. 1236.) + +_March 8._ + +Report of the Council upon the petition of Edwin Steed. (_Cal._, +Sec. 1238.) + +_March 17._ + +Mr. Gorges paper regarding the sugar plantations. (_Cal._, Sec. 1244.) + +_March 23._ + +Sends Helyar's petition to Gov. Lynch and wishes reply. (_Cal._, +Sec. 1250.) + +Draft Commission for the Earl of Carlisle, appointed governor of +Jamaica. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 1251, 1252. Cf. Sec. 1253.) + +Similar draft for Col. Morgan, deputy governor of Jamaica. (_Cal._, +Sec. 1254.) + +_April 3._ + +Petition from Representatives of Leeward Is. for convoys, etc. +(_Cal._, Sec. 1257.) + +_April 13._ + +New England: petition of Earl of Sterling, Gorges, and Mason read. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec. 1247.) + +_May 8_ (committee). + +Letter from Gov. Stapleton read. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 1201-1203, 1327.) + +_July 3._ + +Petition of Edmund Cooke, merchant, regarding the barbarous treatment +received from the Spaniards. (_Cal._, Sec. 1320.) + +_July 17._ + +Similar petition from other merchants. (_Cal._, Sec. 1327.) + +_September 15._ + +"To Council, about fetching away the English left at Surinam, etc., +since our reconciliation with Holland." (Evelyn's _Diary_, II, p. 99.) + +_September 22._ + +Regarding Surinam question--fetching the English away, etc. (_Cal._, +Sec. 1354.) + +_September 24._ + +Report on this question to the King. (_Cal._, Sec. 1355.) + +_October 6_ (Committee). + +Letter from Gov. Lynch in answer to Col. Helyar's petition read. +(_Cal._, Sec. 1301.) + +_October 13._ + +Letter from Gov. Stapleton on the wrongs suffered from the French in the +Leeward Is. (_Cal._, Sec. 1333.) + +_October 15._ + +Proposal read of F. Gorges, agent of Gov. Stapleton, regarding the +action of the French. (_Cal._, Sec. 1360.) + +_October 16._ + +St. Christopher and Sir William Lockhart's letter. (_Cal._, Sec. 1365, I.) +Lockhart was "Resident with the French King." + +_October 27._ + +Discussion of the Surinam situation. (_Journal._) + +_October 30._ + +Continuation of the same. (_Journal._) + +_November 17._ + +Continuation of the same. (_Journal._) + +"To Council, on the business of Surinam, where the Dutch had detained +some English in prison, ever since the first war, 1665." (Evelyn's +_Diary_, II, 100.) + +_November 20._ + +About Negroes; probably regarding a clause in Lord Vaughan's commission. +(_Journal_; _Cal._, Sec.Sec. 1386, 1392.) + +_November 21._ + +Jamaica and my Lord Vaughan. (_Journal._) + +_November 24._ + +Heads of Lord Vaughan's commission and instructions. (_Cal._, Sec. 1392). +About Negroes. (_Journal._) + +_December 4._ + +About Surinam. Address of the Council to the King (_Journal_; _Cal._, +Sec. 1401.) + +_December 17._ + +Address of the Council regarding Indians brought by force from Guinea to +Barbadoes. (_Cal._, Sec. 1409.) + +_December 18._ + +About Surinam. (_Journal._) Instruction for a vessel sailing to that +island. (_Cal._, Sec.Sec. 1413, 1414, 1415.) + +_December 22._ + +Address from the Council to the King regarding the Surinam question. +(_Cal._, Sec. 1416.) + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of British Committees, Commissions, and +Councils of Trade and Plantations, 1622-1675, by Charles M. 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