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.]