To all people to whom these presents shall come, bee seen or
heard, the Treasuror, Council and Company of Adventurers and
Planters of the Citty of London for the First Collony in
Virginia send greeting: knowe yee that wee, the said
Treasuror, Counsell and Company, takeing into our carefull
consideracion the present state of the said Colony in
Virginia, and intending by the Devine assistance to settle
such a forme of government ther as may bee to the greatest
benifitt and comfort of the people and wherby all injustice,
grevance and oppression may bee prevented and kept of as
much as is possible from the said Colony, have thought fitt
to make our entrance by ordaining & establishing such
supreame Counsells as may not only bee assisting to the
Governor for the time being in administracion of justice and
the executing of other duties to his office belonging, but
also by ther vigilent care & prudence may provide as well
for remedy of all inconveniencies groweing from time to time
as also for the advancing of encrease, strength, stabillitie
and prosperitie of the said Colony:
Wee therefore, the said Treasuror, Counsell and Company, by authoritie
directed to us from His Majestie under his Great Seale, upon mature
deliberacion doe hereby order & declare that from hence forward ther bee
towe supreame Counsells in Virginia for the better government of the
said Colony as aforesaid: the one of which Counsells to bee called the
Counsell of State and whose office shall cheiflie bee assisting, wth
ther care, advise & circomspection, to the said Governor; shall be
chosen, nominated, placed and displaced from time to time by us, the
said Treasurer, Counsell & Company and our successors; which Counsell of
State shall consiste for the present onlie of those persons whose names
are here inserted, vizt.: Sir Francis Wyatt, Governor of Virginia;
Captaine Francis West; Sir George Yeardley, Knight; Sir William Newce,
Knight, Marshall of Virginia; Mr. George Sandys, Tresuror; Mr. George
Thorpe, Deputy of the Colledge; Captaine Thomas Newce, Deputy for the
Company; Mr. Christopher Davison, Secretarie; Doctor Potts, Phesition to
the Company; Mr. Paulet; Mr. Leech; Captaine Nathaniell Powell; Mr.
Roger Smith; Mr. John Berkley; Mr. John Rolfe; Mr. Ralfe Hamer; Mr. John
Pountus; Mr. Michael Lapworth; Mr. Harwood; [and] Mr. Samuel Macocke.
Which said Counsellors and Counsell wee earnestlie pray & desier, and in
His Majesties name strictlie charge and command, that all factious
parcialties and sinister respects laid aside, they bend ther care and
endeavors to assist the said Governor first and principallie in
advancement of the honor and service of Almightie God and the
enlargement of His kingdome amongste those heathen people; and next in
the erecting of the said Colonie in one obedience to His Majestie and
all lawful authoritie from His Majestis dirived; and lastlie in
maitaining the said people in justice and Christian conversation among
themselves and in strength and habillitie to wth stand ther ennimies.
And this Counsell is to bee alwaies, or for the most part, residing
about or neere the said Governor. The other Counsell, more generall, to
bee called by the Governor, and yeerly, of course, & no oftner but for
very extreordinarie & important occasions, shall consist for present of
the said Counsell of State and of tow burgesses out of every towne,
hunder [hundred] and other particuler plantacion to bee respetially
chosen by the inhabitants. Which Counsell shalbee called the Generall
Assemblie, wherein as also in the said Counsell of State, all matters
shall be decided, determined & ordered by the greater part of the voices
then present, reserveing alwaies to the Governor a negative voice. And
this Generall Assembly shall have free power to treat, consult &
conclude as well of all emergent occasions concerning the pupliqe weale
of the said Colony and evrie parte therof as also to make, ordeine &
enact such generall lawes & orders for the behoof of the said Colony and
the good govermt therof as shall time to time appeare necessarie or
requisite. Wherin as in all other things wee requier the said Gennerall
Assembly, as also the said Counsell of State, to imitate and followe the
policy of the forme of goverment, lawes, custome, manners of loyall and
other administracion of justice used in the realme of England, as neere
as may bee even as ourselves by His Majesties lettres patents are
required; provided that noe lawes or ordinance made in the said Generall
Assembly shalbe and continew in force and validitie, unlese the same
shalbe sollemlie ratified and confirmed in a generall greater court of
the said court here in England and so ratified and returned to them
under our seale. It being our intent to affoord the like measure also
unto the said Colony that after the goverment of the [said Colony, shall
once have been well framed & settled accordingly, which is to be done by
us as by authoritie derived from] his Majestie and the sa[me shall] have
bene soe by us declared, no orders of our court afterwarde shall binde
[the said] Colony unles they bee ratified in like manner in ther
Generall Assembly.
In wittnes wherof wee have hereunto sett our common seale the 24th day
of [July] 1621, and in the yeare of the raigne of our governoure, Lord
James by the ... of God of England, Scotland, France & Ireland, King,
Defendor of the ... vizt., of England, France and Scotland the
nineteenth and of Scotland the fower and fiftieth.
Kingsbury, Vol. III, pp. 482-484. Stith, Appendix, pp. 32-34.
Transcriber's Notes:
This is one of a series of 23 pamphlets produced in 1957 in celebration
of the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown colony in
Virginia. Research indicates that the copyright on this book was not
renewed.
Spelling was left unchanged throughout.
Footnotes were indented and moved after the paragraph to which they
pertain.
Extra spaces within lists of names were removed. Extra spaces within
text were retained where they indicate omitted text in the original
manuscript. The printer used multiple footnote anchors, numbered 24
and 25, to indicate some of these blank spaces.
A comma was replaced with a period at the end of a sentence in the
Introduction: ... governing body. It was thus ...
A semicolon was replaced with a period at the end of numbered paragraph
9 in the "Instructions ... to Sir Thomas West ..."
In the "Instructions to the Governor and Council of State," brackets
around paragraph number 22 are indicate the number was missing in the
original. These brackets are not a footnote anchor.