Charters of the old English colonies in America
Lucas, Samuel, 1818-1868. [from old catalog]
JK 49 I 1 * I • ••♦ *b T'' A :. ^ ^ yj p* r^ -J /V-SK->*^ ^T'\A V ..f. >-> ** '••. +* o* .•••♦*« V ♦TXT." A <, -•.?• .0T 4?^. *- ,-cr oiij 4<a '.• ^"-. *.? "oV V V 0W .•!*S$3w% o A* *\ V**J rof »T .■•••. >.'♦.. -♦. ** V y: 4.°%. •« *4°- sski-.% >*\c^/^ o°*.-^i.>o y..id tt--' Ao 1?^ ^••^L% <^ #»-«° -y °o./^^^ *p **t. o* •*^% "> V^\/ V"V V^*>' * 5v J> % ^ V 0** r ♦ 4* ^ o? 1<^ ,<*/, !♦ ^ 4* L*. *bK V^^V V^^'V" <V^?VV *< %\ WMtV-J *« . \ * bVV V -♦7S7«* A <* ♦••»« o* v •; **6* ,.*v /°* y\ci*.**. 2V. "^d* "fe V" .J V »i*i- '/ 4?V*8*: ♦♦^ 'fWVV'K ■*cf ,< .\£§ira ^ :m^~ -W ^^. if"**. J-^% z^.^ (0 o°JU*. O. 4l* -•> V*"^" jf" *HO- < o %<* :&fa. \>/ :Mfc% ^** /- V^' ^ ^^ --W^*# 4,*y^ ~°oW$W: f* '*\ t^d* ^°* ":->o mil X*** :»K: *W* r'^KS: ^ ; .* .<\ <. • ^x < 6 "5^ CHARTERS THE OLD ENGLISH COLONIES IN AMERICA. AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, SAMUEL LUCAS, Esq., M.A. LATE OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD; BARRISTER AT LAW. PUBLISHED FOR THE SOCIETY FOR THE REFORM OF COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. LONDON: JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND. <. % Transfer <», 1/ Canterbury Papers. *#* These Papers are published occasionally, in order to circulate informa- tion concerning the principles, objects, plans, and proceedings of the Founders of the Settlement of Canterbury, in New Zealand. Now Ready, Nos. I. & IT. (with a Map,) 6d. each. Contents : Committee and Officers of the Canterbury Association — Sketch of their Plan — Preliminary Arrangements and Economy of the proposed Settlement — Form of Government — Concentration — Supply of Labour — Other distinctive fea- tures— Price of Land — Application of Proceeds — Preliminary Survey and Roads — Immigration Fund — Selection of Colonists — Mode of Selecting Land — Allotment of Pastoral Ranges — Ecclesiastical and Educational Endowments — Progress hitherto — Topographical Information respecting the Canterbury District — Despatch of Captain Thomas — Despatch from Captain Stokes, R.N. — Replies from Messrs. Deans to Captain Thomas's Inquiries — Letter from the Chief Surveying Officer of H.M. ship Acheron — Report on the Coast from Kaiapoi to Otago, by Walter Mantell, Esq., Government Commissioner — Letter from the Bishop of New Zealand — Correspond- ence between Lord Lyttelton and Earl Grey — Terms of Purchase — Instructions to John Robert Godley, Esq., Local, Agent of the Association. London : JOHN W. PARKER, West Strand. ERRATUM. In the last line of the Introduction, for " exercise," read " avenue.' I <z&z> CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction vii /^Virginia Charters — No. I 1 No. II 10 No. Ill 20 The New England States 30 Charters of the New England States — * Massachusetts 32 y Connecticut 46 U- Rhode Island 55 Massachusetts Second Charter 66 New Hampshire and Maine 85 Proprietary Charters — -- Maryland 87 ^The Carolinas 97 Pennsylvania and Delaware 98 New York and New Jersey 109 j. The Charter of Georgia 110 INTRODUCTION. THE present volume comprises ten of the Charters which were granted to our early American Colo- nies. The same Charters were originally collected by a bookseller, named Almon, at the close of the last century; but as his edition has become scarce, and is much sought after, they are now reprinted, with the addition of some explanatory statements and notes. It has not been thought necessary to add to their number, though many are wanting to complete the series,* inasmuch as Almon' s edition contains the principal specimens of each class into which they have been appropriately distinguished. An attempt only has been made to improve upon Almon' s method, who, to borrow a simile from Mr. Carlyle, edited them as you edit bricks, by tilting the wagon. Be the result as it may, it is necessarily imperfect, as the intention was conceived but a week or two since, in connexion with the question of Colonial misgovern- ment. The object was to furnish at a critical time materials for comparison between our present attempts, and the grandest and most successful colonizing opera- * In fact, to the time of the founding of New South Wales, when the convict system involved the adoption by England of the centralized methods of France and Spain, a Colony had a Charter as an indis- pensable condition of its political existence. a2 INTRODUCTION. tions which England, or, indeed, any other nation, ancient or modern, has ever accomplished. It is obviously not so much a perfect design, as a pressing want, which was here contemplated, and the value of the book should be estimated accordingly. The want of such a work was, indeed, exemplified, a few nights back, in an eminent instance. When Lord John Russell made his exposition of the future Colonial policy of the Government, and when, for that purpose, he professed to review the past history of our Colonial possessions, it was remarkable that he never once alluded to those which were the earliest and greatest of all. As I could not impute to his Lordship for a moment the design of slipping over a difficulty, I can only conceive that he shared in the disability, which we have most of us commonly laboured under hitherto, of a want of familiarity with their most ancient records. Inasmuch as these are the key to their history, it is not to be wondered at that our leading statesmen have, as yet, been unable to appreciate its value. The Charters themselves will be found most in- structive, by showing, in the first place, the liberal terms upon which our ancestors commenced to colonize. At the outset, they acquired the rights and privileges of British born subjects — an extensive grant, when, according to the theory of those early times, these Colonies were assumed to be the property of the Crown. Under this provision, they at once obtained the benefit of the common law of England, with all its inferential rights and obligations ; and though this incident is necessarily implied in the later and truer theory of state, which concludes that these Colonies were a part of the Empire, at that time, it behoves us INTKODUCTION. IX especially to remember it was conferred and received in the light of a boon. 4 In regard to the legislative power,' says Story, 4 there was a still more extensive latitude allowed ; for, notwithstanding the cautious reference in the Charters to the laws of England, the assemblies actually exercised the authority to abrogate every part of the common law, except that which united the Colonies to the parent state by the general ties of allegiance and dependency; and every part of the statute law, except those Acts of Parliament which expressly prescribed rules for the Colonies, and neces- sarily bound them, as integral parts of the Empire, in a general system, formed for all, and for the interest of all.' Upon these comprehensive bases, then, on the one hand, the full, unqualified right to all the principles of the common law ; and, on the other, the liberty to dispense with its provisions, as far as they were found unsuitable to their position, the whole of the Colonial Charters were founded. On the basis of these, the distinctive provisions of each Charter gave supplemental powers. In this respect the Charters may be divided into three classes — Provincial, Proprietary, and Municipal; the last designation only implying absolute powers of local self-government, as distinguished from such powers conferred with limitations.* Ehode Island and Con- * My designation of ' municipal/ as a distinctive term, must be clearly understood as only employed from the wish to follow a strict terminology. There can be no doubt that the Colonial Charters, the Proprietary ones especially, were municipal in the very highest degree, short of that absolute absence of limitation under which this element existed in the charters of some of the New England States. In a political point of view they may be also termed municipal, inas- much as this was their principal ingredient ; but, legally speaking, r X INTRODUCTION. iiecticut are specimens of the Municipal, Maryland of the Proprietary, and Virginia of the Provincial class. Both in the Proprietary and Municipal Charters, the right of the people to be governed by laws established by a local legislature, in which they were represented, was not only sanctioned, but its exercise provided for. But in the one case, it was exercised, subject to the veto of the Proprietary, whose position resembled that of the Sovereign;* and, in the other, subject to the Veto of a Governor of the Colonists' election, and to whom he was responsible. cIn the Provincial govern- ments/ says Mr. Justice Story, 'it was often a matter of debate, whether the people had a right to be repre- sented in the legislature, or whether it was a privilege enjoyed by the favour, and during the pleasure, of the Crown/ But the right, as a matter of fact, was maintained in opposition to the Crown and its legal advisers. In all of the Colonies, sooner or later, local legisla- tures were established, one branch of which consisted of representatives of the people, freely chosen, to represent and defend their interests, and possessing a negative upon all laws.f At as early a period as 1619, a House of Burgesses was forced, says Eobertson, I have reserved the term for such only as were purely and strictly so, excluding entirely all other elements. I would especially guard, in the present place, from being supposed for a moment to impute the greatness of our Colonies, as contrasted with those of France and Spain, to any other element than the municipal spirit which was, in fact, the vivifying principle of their institutions, and which enabled us, moreover, to retain their loyalty, till, mistaking our functions, we attempted to quench it. * In the Proprietary Charter of Pennsylvania, however, the laws were made subject to the Crown's supervision. t See Story, i. 149, in the Constitution of the U.S< INTRODUCTION. XI upon the then reluctant proprietors of Virginia. In Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Ehode Island, the same course was pursued ; and Mr. Hutchinson has observed, that all the Colonies, before the reign of Charles II., (Maryland alone excepted, whose Charter contained an express provision on the subject,) had settled a model of government for them- selves, in which the people had a voice and representa- tion in framing the laws, and in assenting to burthens to be imposed upon themselves. Story adds, that after the Restoration, there was no instance of a Colony without a representation of the people, nor any attempt to deprive the Colonies of this privilege, except during the brief and arbitrary reign of James II. To revert, however, to the main position, the con- clusion is, that under the Charters, if not strictly in pursuance of their provisions, the Colonies enjoyed ample powers of seZ/'-government, irrespective of the form which that government assumed. And even where they transgressed the limits of these Charters, which it must be admitted they did in numerous instances, and the occasion of which I shall estimate presently, it was so long a time before their acts were questioned, that they were permitted to conduct their first operations almost as if they had been prac- tically independent. There is this peculiarity about the Charters themselves — that, as some of their pre- liminary recitals state, one of their objects was to invite emigration, and no greater inducement could be found to invite emigrants than the power conceded, expressly or tacitly, to manage their own affairs. There was another reason, indeed, for conceding it at their first origin, which Chalmers appreciates, though a strenuous Xll INTRODUCTION. champion of imperial authority. Speaking of the earliest state of Virginia, he observes, ' It was impos- sible in those days, and it is more so in the present, for the Parliament to extend its legislative care to the various little wants of an inconsiderable colony ; to the making of roads ; the building of churches ; to the affording of remedies for inconveniences which altera- tion of circumstances daily brought forth.'* The Parliament's disability, therefore, conspired with the policy of inviting emigration to the Colonies; and many of the Charters were thus obtained before the settlers departed from our shores. To use the phrase of the people of Massachusetts, they were 4 settled' in the Colony with the Colonists themselves, and, taking root there, they grew with the settlement, extending with its limits and amplified by its necessities. There is this other peculiarity about the Charters, that almost all of them conferred upon the Colonists a larger measure of freedom, political as well as reli- gious, than England or Europe at that time enjoyed. What says Mons. de Tocqueville? 'Lorsque, apres avoir ainsi jete un regard rapide sur la society Am^- ricaine de 1650, on examine l'etat de l'Europe, et par- ticulierement celui du continent vers cette meme epoque, on se sent penetre d'un profond etonnement : sur le continent de l'Europe, au commencement du xviie siecle, triomphait de toutes parts la royaute absolue sur les debris de la liberty oligarchique et feodale du moyen age. Dans le sein de cette Europe brillante et litteraire jamais peut-etre l'idee des droits n'avait ete plus completement meconnue; jamais les peuples n'avaient moins recu de la vie politique; * Annals, i. 45. INTRODUCTION. jamais les notions de la vraie liberty n'avaient moins preoccupe les esprits, et c'est alors que ces memes prineipes, inconnus aux nations Europeennes, ou meprises par elles, etaient proclames dans les deserts du Nouveau Monde, et devenaient le symbole futur d'un grand peuple.' To the aspect of society thus created, the ' point de depart,1 as Mons. de Tocqueville phrases it, I attribute that early elastic vigour which our American Colonies specially exhibited. It was this which invited emigration at a time when, excepting a temporary and partial persecution, there was in- finitely less pressure outwards than now ; and this, I confidently believe, was the cause, pre-eminent above others, of the same tendency which conducted that emigration to its prosperous issue. If, however, I infer that the source of the great- ness of our American Colonies was the municipal principle, no one, on the other hand, can entertain a doubt that the cause of their alienation was inter- ference with its exercise. It is not possible, nor indeed is it necessary, to exhibit here the successive steps, from the attack on their Charters, in 1685, to the attempt to deprive them of the municipal right of self- taxation, which produced their revolt. But it is possible, and especially desirable, at the present moment, to state briefly by what instrumentality the process was wrought out which produced, in the first place, mutual aggressions, and ended at length in com- plete separation. I say, then, with confidence, that a careful inquiry will be found to bear out the statement I make, that the primary cause of all the dissensions between this country and her American Colonies, was the absence of any clear distinction between her imperial, and their XIV INTRODUCTION. municipal rights. Their early Charters, faulty in many respects, were especially so in this particular, that they left a wide and debateable ground between the local and imperial functions. Upon this ground, alternate inroads on either side produced irritation; and a sort of border-warfare was kept up, which naturally ended by bringing into collision the aggre- gate forces of each people, and involving them at length in implacable war. The Charters, speaking generally, although, as I said before, they undoubtedly conferred extensive powers, had, nevertheless, this great anomaly : whereas some of their powers were granted in derogation of the Royal prerogative, or Imperial rights, others were conferred with some reservation of the rights which properly pertained to the colonists. The Crown conferred the right to levy war; on the other hand, as the Charter of Pennsylvania provided, it reserved a power of taxation to the Parliament. It abdicated its regalities in favour of a Proprietary, yet claimed to bind him by its fiscal regulations. There was thus a confusion in the Charters themselves of two powers essentially distinct; each intruded on the other's province, and so effaced the line of demar- cation. The exercise of powers which the Charters omitted, but which they ought to have contained, increased this confusion, as it obviously widened the debateable ground, on which the Colonies were compelled to trespass, in order to perfect their system of self-govern- ment. For instance, it is appositely mentioned by ISTeal, with respect to the first Massachusetts Charter, that when it was laid by the agents of Massachusetts before some of the best politicians and lawyers after the INTKODUCTION. XV Revolution, — Somers, Holt, Treby, Ward, &c, they thus remarked its defects : ' that being originally granted to a great company resident in England, it was wholly inapplicable to the circumstances of a distant colony, because it gave the body politic no more jurisdiction than had every other corporation within the kingdom ; that no authority was conferred to call special assemblies, wherein should appear the delegates of the people, because representation was expressly excluded by the clause requiring the presence of the freemen in the general courts; that no permission was given to raise money, either on the colonists, or on strangers trading thither, because the King could not give an authority which he did not himself possess ; that it did not enable the legislative body to erect various judicatories, either of admiralty, of probate of wills, or of chancery, because that required such a special grant as did not by these provisions exist.' Here, then, were various powers omitted which the Colonies afterwards had to appro- priate, and these powers confessedly necessary to their own management of Colonial affairs. The necessity under which they laboured, in such cases, of transgressing the strict limits of their Charters, tended, as I said, to increase the confusion. Supposing them void of all inclination to usurp the rightful functions of the empire, it was impossible that they should freely encroach on the waste without occupying territory which they were not entitled to. Unconsciously, I believe, in the majority of instances, they invaded the boundaries of the imperial domain. It is thus that I regard such acts, for example, as the Federal Union of the New England States in 1643; the treaty entered into, in 1644^ by the Governor of XVI INTRODUCTION. New England and a Commissioner for the King of France. The worst was, that acts of a similar nature induced proceedings to forfeit their Charters, and the Crown, for its error in what it had not, resumed what it had given, by way of reprisals. The consequence of these mutual invasions is notorious. According to Chalmers, ' uncertainty of law introduced that misery, and consequential feeble- ness, which every community, when placed in a similar situation, had felt; and the Colonies exhibited a state of society during the foregoing reign (that of George the First) unexampled in the annals of the world. Though the Royal instructions had denied the provincials mental freedom, by restraining the liberty of the Press — and personal freedom, by refusing them the writ of Habeas Corpus, they yet enjoyed an independence of thought and action beyond what the people of Britain exerted.' On the other hand, 4 though the King was supposed to possess a prero- gative in the Provinces superior to that which he might exercise within the kingdom, he had been gradually deprived, not only of political influence, but even of regal authority.' * Thus, neither right was adequately enjoyed, but the exercise of both was impeded and restrained, from their being entangled one with the other. That the more sagacious men of the time were not blind to the inevitable consequences, I anticipate that numerous proofs may be found. One which I met with accidentally I produce here for its singular * Chalmers' Introduction to the History of the Revolt of the Colonies ; a rare book, of which only six copies were printed, but which has been recently, I believe, republished in America. INTRODUCTION. XV11 clearness. I should premise that the book I am about to quote was the production of one Thomas Pownal, who was Governor and Commander-in-chief of Massachusetts, South Carolina, and New Jersey, about the middle of the eighteenth century, and who, coming to England, published a work on the adminis- tration of the Colonies some twenty years or more before the American revolt broke out. ' If the Colonies,' says he, ' are to be possessed as of right, and governed by the Crown as demesnes of the Crown by such charters, commissions, instructions, &c, as the Crown shall from time to time grant or issue, then a revision of these charters, commissions, instructions, so as to establish the rights of the Crown and the privileges of the people as thereby created, is all that is necessary. But while the Crown may per- haps justly, and of right, in theory, consider these lands and the plantations thereon as its demesnes, and as of special right properly belonging to it, not in- corporated and of common right with the dominions and realm of Great Britain, in consequence of which theory special rights of the Crown are there esta- blished, and from which theory the special modification under which the people possess their privileges is derived. While this is the idea on the one hand, the people on the other say, that they could or not forfeit lose the common rights and privileges of Englishmen by adventures under various disasters and difficulties, under heavy expenses, and every hazard, to settle these vast countries, to engage in untried channels of labour, thereby increasing the nation's commerce, and extending its dominions; but that they must carry with them wherever they go, the right of being governed only by the laws of the realm — only by laws XV1U INTRODUCTION. made with their consent; that they must ever retain with them the right of not being taxed without their own consent or that of their representatives ; and therefore, as it were by nature divided off from the share of the general representation of the nation, they do not hold by tenor of charter or temporary grant in a commission, but by an inherent essential right, the right of representation and legislature, with all its powers and privileges as possessed in England. It is therefore that the people do, and ever will, until this matter be settled, exercise these rights and privileges after the precedents formed here in England, and perhaps carried, in the application, even further than they ever were in England, and not under the restric- tions of commissions and instructions; and it is there- fore, also, in matters where laws, made since their establishment, do not extend to them by special pro- viso, that they claim the right of directing themselves by their own laws. While these totally different ideas of the principles, whereon the government and the people found their claims and rights, remain un- settled and undetermined, there can be nothing but discordant jarring and perpetual obstruction in the exercise of them, — there can be no government, properly so called, but merely the predominancy of one faction or the other, acting under the mask of the forms of government. This is the short and precise abstract of the long and perplexed history of the governments and administrations of the Colonies under the various shapes with which their quarrels have vexed themselves and teased government here in Britain. The want, then, which Governor Pownal remarked, but urged on the English nation in vain, is precisely the want of the present hour, and to which I mean INTRODUCTION. my observations to point. That which is needed to preserve our Colonies is a broad demarcation of their rights from ours, a clear exemption from all control in the matters which solely regard themselves, with a supervision only on the part of the empire in matters strictly of imperial concernment. 4 Improper limita- tions of the local powers of a colony/ says Mr. Wake- field, ' if they were fixed by law so that every colonist should know exactly what they were, would be far preferable to the most proper limitations im- posed from time to time arbitrarily, irregularly, and without warning.' It is possible to make proper, as well as fixed limitations, as the experience of the United States has proved in the admirable harmony hitherto maintained between its federal and provincial constitutions. Yet at this moment, Crown lawyers disclaim the known capacity of their American brethren, and abandon us to that irregular contest which, as Pownal foresaw, will ever be carried on until the distinction is finally taken. It is thought, in this light, essential to maintain (and this is the blot which I desire to hit) in the Bill for the Better Government of the Australian Colonies, an arbitrary control over the Colonial legislatures, and the general Assembly which it is proposed to consti- tute, retaining for this purpose the power of the veto without qualification, in the English Privy Council. Eestraints are therefore imposed for a case in which they may be of the slightest importance, over an in- definitely vast number of other cases in which they are absolutely indifferent to us. On the other hand, the Colonies are told at the same time that they must still remain in a state of dependence in all which exclu- sively concerns them. To their great disgust and XX INTRODUCTION. mortification and weariness, we insist upon occupying an entire province, in which we have not the slightest business, in which our presence occasions to them un- certainty, vexatious delay, and irritation, without the least compensating benefit to ourselves, because we are too lazy to make a distinction, or too blind to perceive its pressing necessity. That for which the following Charters are useful, coupled, indeed, with their historic corollaries, is just to show us the working of this. There are two lessons capable of extraction from most of the memorable contests of time ; and we may learn one of them with our consent, or one without it. We are just at present at that critical point, that we are still hesitating which to choose. A spirit has met us on the threshold of the future, and offers, like the Roman from the folds of his mantle, the old alternatives — Peace or War. We may either select betimes for ourselves, or leave the choice to others hereafter. Either we may maintain the imperial unity, by liberating the Colonies from our municipal control, or, in evil hour, we may leave them to infer that their only chance of municipal freedom is through the exercise of their imperial independence. Inner Temple, Feb. 1850. VIRGINIA CHARTERS. The first of these Charters was granted by James, in the year 1606. Eleven years before, in 1585, an attempt had been made by Sir Richard Grenville, under the auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh, to establish a colony at Roanoak. But this and the attempts to maintain it having failed, and the voyage of Gosnold in the last year of Elizabeth having brought good reports of another district — which reports were confirmed by subsequent navigators — an associa- tion was formed to found a settlement elsewhere. The attention of King James was so favourably directed to the advantages attending the plantation of colonies, in consequence of certain experiments of his own in the Highlands (see Robertson's Hist, of Scotland), that he readily hearkened to the applications which were Qjade to him, and accordingly issued his letters patent to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, and their associates, for two several colonies and plantations to be made in Virginia (which at that time had a wider signification than at present) and other parts and territories in America, These letters patent, dated April 10, 1606, and usually denominated the First Virginia Charter, are now given as follows, i/t extenso : — Charter No. I. I. TAMES, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, ^ France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. Whereas our loving and well disposed subjects, Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir George Somers, Knights, Richard Hackluit, Clerk, Prebendary of Westminster, and Edward-Maria Wing-field, Thomas Hanham, and Ralegh Gilbert, Esqrs., William Parker, and George Popham, Gentlemen, and divers others of our loving subjects, have been humble suitors unto us, that we would vouchsafe unto them our licence, to make habitation, plantation, and to deduce a colony of sundry of our people into that part of America, commonly called Virginia, and other parts and territories in America, either apper- taining unto us, or which are not now actually possessed by any Christian prince or people, situate, lying, and being all along the sea coasts, between four-and -thirty degrees of northerly latitude from the equinoctial line, and five-and-forty degrees of the same latitude, and in the main land between the same four-and-thirty and five-and-forty degrees, and the islands thereunto adjacent, or within one hundred miles of the coast thereof. II. And to that end, and for the more speedy accomplishment of their said intended plantation and habitation there, are desirous B 2 VIRGINIA CHARTERS. to divide themselves into two several colonies and companies : the one consisting of certain knights, gentlemen, merchants, and other adventurers, of our city of London and elsewhere, which are, and from time to time shall be, joined unto them, which do desire to begin their plantation and habitation in some fit and convenient place, between four-and-thirty and one-and-forty de- grees of the said latitude, along the coasts of Virginia and coasts of America aforesaid ; and the other consisting of sundry knights, gentlemen, merchants, and other adventurers, of our cities of Bristol and Exeter, and of our town of Plymouth, and of other places, which do join themselves unto that colony, which do desire to begin their plantation and habitation in some fit and convenient place, between eight-and-thirty degrees and five- and-forty degrees of the said latitude, all along the said coast of Virginia and America, as that coast lieth. III. We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their desires for the furtherance of so noble a work, which may, by the 'providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the glory of his divine Majesty, in propagating of christian religion to such people, as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and viorship of God, and may in time bring the infidels and savages, living in those parts, to human civility, and to a settled and quiet government : Do, by these our letters patents, graciously accept of, and agree to, their humble and well in- tended desires. Grant to IV. And do therefore, for us, our heirs and successors, grant the London ^ agree, that the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, company 01 ~. ©. ™ liberty to Richard Hackluit, and Edward-Maria Wingfield, adventurers of settle any and for our eity of London, and all such others, as are, or shall tnecoasfof be, joined/ unto them of that colony, shall be called the first North colony; and they shall and may begin their said first plantation America, an(j_ habitation, at any place upon the said coast of Virginia or 34° and lat. America, where they shall think fit and convenient, between the 41° ; said four-and-thirty and one-and-forty degrees of the said latitude ; and of the and that they shall have all the lands, woods, soil, grounds, havens, sea coast ports, rivers, mines, minerals, marshes, waters, fishings, commo- phtce ofset- Cities, and hereditaments, whatsoever, from the said first seat tlementto of their plantation and habitation by the space of fifty miles the distance 0f English statute measure, all along the said coast of Virginia from it^ach an(^ America, towards the west and south-west, as the coast lieth, way, and to with all the islands within one hundred miles directly over against loo^f11 °f ^ne same sea coas* j and also all the lands, soil, grounds, havens, into the ports, rivers, mines, minerals, woods, waters, marshes, fishings, main land, commodities, and hereditaments, whatsoever, from the said place of their first plantation and habitation for the space of fifty like English miles, all along the said coasts of Virginia and America, towards the east and north-east, or towards the north, as the coast lieth, together with all the islands within one hundred miles, directly over against the said sea coast ; and also all the lands, woods, soil, grounds, havens, ports, rivers, mines, minerals, marshes, waters, fishings, commodities, and hereditaments, what- soever, from the same fifty miles every way on the sea coast, CHARTER NO. I. V. And we do likewise, for us, our heirs, and successors, by pJ^J^116 these presents, grant and agree, that the said Thomas Hanham, company of and Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, and George Popham, and all liberty to others of the town Plymouth in the county of Devon, or elsewhere, ^hereontiie which are, or shall be, joined unto them of that colony, shall be coast of called the second colony; and that they shall and may begin their North said plantation and seat of their first abode and habitation, at any be^veen'lat. place upon the said coast of Virginia and America, where they 38° and lat. shall think fit and convenient, between eight-and- thirty degrees 45° ' of the said latitude, and five-and-forty degrees of the same latitude; and that they shall have all the lands, soils, grounds, and of the havens, ports, rivers, mines, minerals, woods, marshes, waters, sea c°*st. fishings, commodities, and hereditaments, whatsoever, from the place of first seat of their plantation and habitation by the space of fifty settlement like English miles, as is aforesaid, all along the said coasts of *° tlie,is~ tt- • • i a • t i i ,1 i tanceofoO Virginia and America, towards the west and south-west, or miiesfromit towards the south, as the coast lieth, and all the islands within each way, one hundred miles, directly over against the said sea coast; and ^pth°0f e also all the lands, soils, grounds, havens, ports, rivers, mines, ioo miles minerals, woods, marshes, waters, fishings, commodities, and int0 tlie hereditaments, whatsoever, from the said place of their first m x plantation and habitation for the space of fifty like English miles, all along the said coast of Virginia and America, towards the east and north-east, or towards the north, as the coast lieth, and all the islands also within one hundred miles directly over against the same sea coast; and also all the lands, soils, grounds, havens, ports, rivers, woods, mines, minerals, marshes, waters, fishings, commodities, and hereditaments, whatsoever, from the same fifty miles every way on the sea coast, directly into the main land, by the space of one hundred like English miles; and shall and may inhabit and remain there : and shall and may also build and fortify within any the same for their better safeguard, according to their best discretion, and the discretion of the Council of that colony ; and that none of our subjects shall be permitted, or suffered, to plant or inhabit behind, or on the back of them, towards the main land, without the express licence of the Council that \he of that colony, in writing thereunto first had and obtained. settlements VI. Provided always, and our will and pleasure herein is, that ^t^1^be the plantation and habitation of such of the said colonies, as shall Shaii be last plant themselves, as aforesaid, shall not be made within one more than hundred like English miles of the other of them, that first began J^^j^m to make their plantation, as aforesaid. the first. b2 VIRGINIA CHARTERS. Each of these colo- nics shall be governed by a council of IS persons appointed by the king ; these coun- cils shall have seals. A superior council of 13 persons residing in England, appointed by the king. Liberty to work all mines of VII. And we do also ordain, establish, and agree, for us, our heirs, and successors, that each of the said colonies shall have a council, which shall govern and order all matters and causes, which shall arise, grow, or happen, to or within the same several colonies, according to such laws, ordinances, and instructions, as shall be, in that behalf, given and signed with our hand or sign manual, and pass under the privy seal of our realm of England; each of which Councils shall consist of thirteen persons, to be ordained, made, and removed, from time to time, according as shall be directed and comprised in the same instructions;* and shall have a several seal, for all matters that shall pass or concern the same several Councils; each of which seals shall have the king's arms engraven on the one side thereof, and his portraiture on the other; and that the seal for the Council of the said first colony shall have engraven round about, on the one side, these words; Sigillum Regis Magnce Britannice, Francice, Sf Hibemice; on the other side, this inscription, round about; Pro Concilio prima? Colonics Virginice. And the seal for the Council of the said second colony shall also have engraven round about the one side thereof, the aforesaid words; Sigillum Regis Magnce Britan- nice, Francice, 8? Hibemice; and on the other side; Pro Concilio secundce Colonics Virginice. VIII. And that also there shall be a Council established here in England, which shall, in like manner, consist of thirteen per- sons, to be, for that purpose, appointed by us, our heirs and successors, which shall be called our Council of Virginia; and shall, from time to time, have the superior managing and direction, only of and for all matters that shall or may concern the govern- ment, as well of the said several colonies, as of and for any other part or place, within the aforesaid precincts of four-and-thirty and five-and-forty degrees, above-mentioned; which Council shall, in like manner, have a seal for matters concerning the Council or colonies, with the like arms and portraiture, as aforesaid, with this inscription, engraven round about on the one side; Sigillum Regis Magnce Britannice, Francice, § Hibemice; and round about the other side, Pro Concilio suo Virginice. IX. And moreover, we do grant and agree, for us, our heirs and successors, that the said several Councils, of and for the said several colonies, shall and lawfully may, by virtue hereof, * In pursuance of this clause, King James prepared a constituent code of laws for the settlements ; and this must he taken to be incorporated in the Charter, if inquiry be made as to its practical operation. King James, it is clear, as Grahame suggests, had a more genuine purpose of colonization than the patentees. As a part of his code, he conferred legislative and executive functions within the Colonies on the provincial councils ; but with this con- trolling provision, that laws originating there should in substance be consonant to the English laws ; that they should continue in force only till modified or repealed by the king or the supreme council in England; and that their penal inflictions should not extend to death or demembration. But the power thus conferred, though under these restrictions, was afterwards confined within closer limits by clause 8 of the following Charter, which was procured at the express desire of the patentees. The inexpediency of the change was ultimately illustrated by the necessity which obliged Sir George Yeardley, in 1619, to re-establish this power on a more liberal basis. The changes he introduced are referred to on page 29. CHARTER NO. I. 5 from time to time, without any interruption of us, our heirs g°ld ,and si}- or successors, give and take order, to dig, mine, and search for colonies,^1 all manner of mines of gold, silver, and copper, as well within paying to any part of their said several colonies, as of the said main lands Jil^11^ a f on the backside of the same colonies; and to have and enjoy the the gold and gold, silver, and copper, to be gotten, thereof, to the use and silver, and a behoof of the same colonies, and the plantations thereof; yielding ^tee^th of therefore, to us, our heirs and successors, the fifth part only of all the same gold and silver, and the fifteenth part of all the same copper, so to be gotten or had, as is aforesaid, without any other manner of profit "or account, to be given or yielded to us, our heirs or successors, for or in respect of the same. X. And that they shall, or lawfully may, establish and cause to Power to be made a coin, to pass current there between the people of those c^sfor several colonies, for the more ease of traffic and bargaining be- those colo- tween and amongst them and the natives there, of such metal, nies- and in such manner and form, as the said several Councils there shall limit and appoint. XI. And we do likewise, for us, our heirs, and successors, by Power to these presents, give full power and authority to the said Sir carry out Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, Edward- 6ubjectf to Maria Wingfield, Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, William settle the Parker, and George Popham, and to every of them, and to the s^ld col°" said several companies, plantations, and colonies, that they, and every of them, shall and may, at all and every time and times hereafter, have, take, and lead in the said voyage, and for and towards the said several plantations and colonies, and to travel thitherward, and to abide and inhabit there, in every the said colonies and plantations, such and so many of our subjects, as shall willingly accompany them, or any of them, in the said voy- ages and plantations; with sufficient shipping, and furniture of armour, weapons, ordnance, powder, victual, and all other things, necessary for the said plantations, and for their use and defence there : Provided always, that none of the said persons be such, as shall hereafter be specially restrained by us, our heirs, or successors. XII. Moreover, we do, by these presents, for us, our heirs, and Power to re- successors, give and grant licence unto the said Sir Thomas w^ Sun-*" Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, Edward-Maria traders into Wingfield, Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, the. s»id <*>- and George Popham, and to every of the said colonies, that they, omes# and every of them, shall and may, from time to time, and at all times for ever hereafter, for their several defences, encounter, ex- pulse, repel, and resist, as well by sea as by land, by all ways and means whatsoever, all and every such person and persons, as without the especial licence of the said several colonies and plantations, shall attempt to inhabit within the said several pre- cincts and limits of the said several colonies and plantations, or any of them, or that shall enterprise or attempt, at any time here- after, the hurt, detriment, or annoyance, of the said several colo- nies or plantations. XIII. Giving and granting, by these presents, unto the said f^e]^° Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, Edward- and a half b VIRGINIA CHARTERS. 