Commission and Instructions to the Earl of Orkney for the Government of Virginia, 1715

In 1719 the Board of Trade drew up instructions for their newly installed Governor Philipps. They directed him, in the absence of a civil government yet to be established in Nova Scotia, to follow the 1715 instructions to the Earl of Orkney as governor of Virginia, which are as follows.



George R.
Our Will and Pleasure is that you prepare a Bill for our Royal Signature to pass our great Seal of Great Britain in the Words or to the Effect following.
George by the Grace of God of great Britain, France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith &c to our right Well beloved Cousin George Earl of Orkney, Greeting, We reposing Special Trust and confidence in the Prudence, Courage and Loyalty of you the said Earl of Orkney of our Special Grace Certain Knowledge and Meer Motion have thought fit to constitute and appoint.

And by these Presents do constitute and Appoint you the said Earl of Orkney to be our Lieutenant and Governor Genll of our Colony and Dominion of Virginia in America with all the rights Members & Appurtenances whatsoever thereunto belonging, and we do hereby require & Command you to do and Execute all things in due Manner that shall belong unto your said Command & the Trust we have repos’d in you According to the Several Powers and Directions granted & Appointed you by the Present Commission, And the Instructions & Authority herewith given You Or by such further Powers Instructions & Authoritys as shall at any time hereafter be granted or appointed you under our Signet and Sign Manual or by our Order in our Privy Council and according to such reasonable Laws & Statutes as are now in force or hereafter Shall be made and agreed upon by you with the Advice & Consent of our Council and Assembly of our said Colony under Your Government in such form as is hereafter Express’d.

And Our Will and Pleasure is That you the said George Earl of Orkney (after the Publication of these our Letters Patents) do in the first Place take the Oaths appointed by Act of Parliament to be taken instead of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy & the Oaths mention’d in an Act pass’d in the Sixth Year of her late Majesty’s Reign Intitul’d an Act for the Security of her Majesty’s Person & Government & of the Succession to the Crown of Great Britain in the Protestant Line, As also that you make and Subscribe the Declaration mention’d in an Act of Parliament made in the 25 Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second, Entituled an Act for Preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants And likewise that you take the usuall Oath for the due Execution of the Office and Trust of Our Lieuten’t and Governor Generall of our said Colony & Dominion for the due and Impartial Administration of Justice, and further that you take the Oath required to be taken by Governors of Plantations to do their utmost that the Several Laws relaing to Trade and the Plantations be observ’d, which said Oaths & Declaration our Council in our said Colony or any three of the Members thereof have hereby full Power and Authority and are required to tender and Administer unto you, & in your Absence to our Lieut Governor if there be any upon the Place all which being duly perform’d you shall Administer unto each of the Members of our said Council as also to our Lieut Governor if there be any upon the Place the Oaths appointed by Law, to be taken instead of the Oaths of Allegiance & Supremacy, And the Oath mention’d in the said Act, Entituled an Act for the Security of her Majesty’s Person & Governm’t and of the Succession to the Crown of Great Britain in the Protestant Line, As also to Cause them to make and Subscribe the aforemention’d Declaration, And to Administer unto them the Oath for the due Execution of their Places & Trusts And we do hereby give and grant unto you full Power and Authority to suspend any of the Members of our said Council from Sitting, Voting & Assisting therein if you shall find just Cause for so doing, And if it shall at any time happen that by the Death, Departure out of our said Colony, Suspension of any of our said Councillors, or otherwise there shall be a Vacancy in Our said Council any three whereof we do hereby appoint to be a Quorum.

Our Will and Pleasure is, That you Signify the Same unto us by the first Opportunity, that we may under our Signet & Sign Manual Constitute & Appoint Others in their Stead-But that our Affairs may not Suffer (for want of a due Number of Councellors) at that distance if ever it shall happen that there be less than Nine of them residing in our said Colony-We do hereby give & grant unto you the said George Earl of Orkney full Power and Authority to chuse as many Persons out of the principal freeholders Inhabitants thereof As will make up the full Number of our said Council to be Nine & no more, which Persons so chosen & appointed by you, shall be to all intents and Purposes Councellors in our said Colony untill either they shall be confirmed by us, or that by the Nomination of others by us under our Sign Manual & Signet, our said Council shall have Nine or more Persons in it, and we do hereby give and grant unto you full Power and Authority with the advice and consent of our said Council from time to time as need shall require to Summon & call General Assemblys of the said freeholders & Planters within Your Government according to the Usage of our Colony and Dominion of Virginia, Our Will and Pleasure is, That the Persons thereupon duly Elected by the Major Part of the Freeholders of the respective Countys and Places, and so return’d shall before their Sitting take the Oaths appointed by Act of Parliament to be taken instead of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and the Oaths mention’d in the foresaid Act Entituled An Act for the Security of her Majesty’s Person & Government and of the Succession to the Crown of Great Britain in the Protestant Line, As also make and Subscribe the foremention’d Declaration (Which Oaths & Declaration you shall Commissionate fit Persons under our Seal of Virginia to tender and Administer the same unto them, and untill the Same shall be so taken and Subscrib’d No Person shall be capable of Sitting tho’ Elected.

And we do hereby declare that the Persons so Elected & Qualify’d Shall be call’d & Deem’d the General Assembly of that Our Colony & Dominion. And that you the said George Earl of Orkney with the Consent of our said Council & Assembly or the Major Part of them respectively shall have full Power & Authority to make, Constitute, and Ordain Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances for the Publick Peace Welfare & good Government of our said Colony, & of the People and Inhabitants thereof, and such others who shall resort thereunto, and for the benefit of us our Heirs & Successors-Which said Laws Statutes & Ordinances are not to be repugnant but as near as may be agreeable to the Laws and Statutes of this our Kingdom of Great Britain- Provided that all such Laws Statutes & Ordinances of what Nature or duration soever be within three Months or Sooner after the making thereof, transmitted unto us under our Seal of Virginia for our Approbation or disallowance of the Same, as also duplicates thereof by the next Conveyance.

And in Case any or all of the said Laws Statutes & Ordinances not before confirm’d by us, shall at any time be disapprov’d & not allow’d, & so signify’d by Us our heirs and Successors, under our or their Sign Manual or Signet, or by Order of our or their Privy Council unto you the said George Earl of Orkney, or to the Commander in Chief of our said Colony for the time being then such and so many of the said Laws Statutes & Ordinances as shall be so disallow’d and disapprov’d, shall from thenceforth Cease determine and become utterly void, and of None Effect, anything to the Contrary thereof Notwithstanding.


And to the End that nothing may be pass’d or done by our said Council or Assembly to the Prejudice of us our Heirs & Successors, We will & Ordain that you the said George Earl of Orkney shall have & enjoy a Negative Voice in making & passing all Laws Statutes & Ordinances as aforesaid.
And you shall & may likewise from time to time as you shall Judge it Necessary Adjourn Prorogue & Dissolve all General Assemblys as aforesaid. Our farther Will & Pleasure is, That you shall and may keep and Use the Publick Seal of our

Colony of Virginia for Sealing all things whatsoever that pass the great Seal of our said Colony of Virginia. And we do further give & Grant unto you the said George Earl of Orkney from time to time and at any time hereafter by your self or by any other to be Authorized by you in that behalf to Administer & give the Oaths appointed by Act of Parliament to be taken instead of the Oaths of Allegiance & Supremacy to all and every such Person or Persons as you shall think fit, who shall at any time or times pass into our said Colony or shall be resident or abiding there.

And we do by these presents give & and grant unto you the said George Earl of Orkney full Power & Authority with the Advice & Consent of our said Council to erect Constitute & Establish such & so many Courts of Judicature & Publick Justice within our said Colony & Dominion, as you & they shall think fitt & Necessary for the hearing & Determining of all Causes as well Criminal as Civil according to Law & Equity & for awarding of Execution thereupon with all reasonable & Necessary Powers & Authoritys, fees, & Privileges belonging thereunto.

As also to Appoint & Commissionate fit Persons in the Several Parts of your Government to Administer the Oaths appointed by Act of Parliament to be taken instead of the Oaths of Allegiance & Supremacy & the Oaths mention’d in the foresaid Act Entituled An Act for the Security of her Majestys Person & Government, and of the Succession to the Crown of Great Britain in the Protestant Line. And also to tender & Administer the aforesaid Declaration unto Such Persons belonging to the said Courts as shall be oblig’d to take the Same. And we do hereby Authorize & impower you to Constitute and Appoint Judges.

And in Cases requisite Commissioners of Oyer & Terminer Justices of the Peace & other Necessary Officers & Ministers in our said Colony for the better administration of Justice & putting the Laws in Execution And to Administer or Cause to be Administer’d unto them Such Oath or Oaths as are usually given for the due Execution & Performance of Officers & Places, and for the Clearing of truth in Judicial Cases. And we do hereby give & grant unto you full Power & Authority where you shall see Cause or shall

Judge any Offender or Offenders in Criminal Matters or for any fines or forfeitures due unto us, fit Objects of our Mercy to Pardon all such Offenders, and to remit all such Offences fines & forfeitures, Treason & Wilful Murder only Excepted, in which Cases you shall likewise have Power upon Extra- ordinary Occasions to grant Reprieves to the Offenders untill & to the Intent our Royal Pleasure may be known therein.

And we do by these Presents Authorize & Impower you to Collate any Person or Persons to any Churches, Chappels, or any other Ecclesiastical Benefices within Our said Colony as often as any of them shall happen to be void, And we do hereby give & grant unto you the said George Earl of Orkney by Your Self or by your Captains & Commanders by you to be Authorized full Power & Authority to Levy, Arm, Muster, Command & Employ all Persons whatsoever residing within our said Colony & Dominion of Virginia, And as Occasion shall Serve to march from one Place to another, and to Embark them for the resisting & with standing of all Enemys, Pirates, & Rebels both at Sea & Land, And to Transport such Forces to any of our Plantations in America if Necessity shall require for the Defense of the same against the Invasion or Attempt of any of our Enemies, And such Enemies Pirates & Rebels (if there shall be Occasion) to Pursue & Prosecute in or out of the Limits of our said Colony & Plantations or any of them.

And if it shall Please God them to Vanquish Apprehend & take, & being taken according to Law to put to Death, or keep & preserve alive at your Discretion. And to Execute Martial Law in time of Invasion, Insurrection, or War. And to do & Execute all & every other thing & things, which to our Lieutenant & Governor General doth or ought of right to belong. And we do hereby give & grant unto you full Power & Authority by & with the Consent & Advice of our said Council of Virginia to erect raise & build in our said Colony & Dominion Such & so many Forts & Platforms, Castles, Cities, Burroughs, Towns & Fortifications as you by the Advice aforesaid shall Judge Necessary, And the same or any of them to Fortifie & furnish with Ordnance, Ammunition & all Sorts of Arms, fit & Necessary for the Security & Defence of our said Colony And by the Advice aforesaid the same again or any of them to demolish or dismantle as may be most Convenient.

And forasmuch as divers Mutinies & disorders may happen by Persons Ship’t & employ’d at Sea during the time of War. And to the End that Such as are Shipped & Employ’d at Sea during the time of War, may be better Govern’d & Order’d, we do hereby give & grant unto you the said George Earl of Orkney full Power & Authority, to Constitute and appoint Captains, Lieutenants, Masters of Ships and other Commanders and Officers. And to grant to such Captains, Lieut’s, Masters of Ships and other Commanders & Officers, Commissions to Execute the Law Martial during the time of War.

And to the Use such Proceedings, Authorities, Punishments, Corrections & Executions upon any Offender or Offenders, who shall be Mutinous, Seditious, disorderly, or unruly either at Sea, or during the time of their abode or residence in any of the Ports, Harbors, or Bays of our said Colony and Dominion as the Cause shall be found to require according to Martial Law during the time of War as aforesaid Provided that nothing herein contained shall be Construed to the Enabling you or any by Your Authority to hold Plea or have any Jurisdiction of any Offence, Cause, Matter, or thing Committed or done upon the high Seas or within any of the Havens, Rivers or Creeks of our said Colony and Dominion under your Government by any Captain, Commander, Lieut, Master, Officer, Seaman, Soldier or Person whatsoever, who shall be in Actual Service and Pay in or on board any of our Ships of War or other Vessels Acting by immediate Commission or Warrant from our Commissioners for Executing the Office of our high Admiral, or from Our high Admiral of Great Britain for the time being under the Seal of our Admiralty But that such Captain, Commander, Lieut, Master, Officer, Seaman, Soldier, or other Person so Offending shall be left to be proceeded against & try’d as their Offences shall require, either by Com- mission under our great Seal of Great Britain as the Statute of the 28th of Henry the 8th directs, or by Commission from our said Commissioners for Executing the Office of our high Admiral, or from our high Admiral of Great Britain for the time being, According to the Act of Parliament passed in the 13th Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second Entituled an Act for the Establishing Articles & Orders for the Regulating & better Government of his Majesty’s Navys, Ships of War & forces by Sea and not otherwise.

Provided Nevertheless that all Misdemeanors & disorders committed on Shore by any Capt., Commander, Lieut, Master, Officer, Seaman, Soldier or other Person whatsoever, belonging to our Ships of War or other Vessels Acting by immediate Commission or Warrant from our Commissioners for Executing the Office of high Admirall, or from our high Admiral of Great Britain for the time being, under our Seal of our Admiralty, may be try’d and Punished according to the Law of the Place where any such Disorders, Offences or Misdemeanors shall be committed on Shore Notwithstanding such Offender be in our Actual Service and Born in our Pay, on board any such our Ships of War, or other Vessels Acting by immediate Commission or Warrant from our Commissioners for Executing the Office of high Admiral, or from our high Admiral of great Britain for the time being as aforesaid, So as he shall not receive any Protection for the avoiding of Justice for such Offences Com- mitted on Shore, from any Pretence of his being employ’d in our Service at Sea, And our further Will and Pleasure is, That all Publick Moneys rais’d or which shall be rais’d by any Act hereafter to be made within our said Colony be issued out by Warrant from You by and with the Advice and Consent of the Council and disposed of by you for the Support of the Government, And not otherwise And we do likewise give & grant unto you full Power and Authority, by and with the Advice & consent of our said Council to Settle and Agree with the Inhabitants of our Colony & Dominion aforesaid for such Lands Tenements & Hereditaments as now are, or hereafter shall be in our Power to dispose of And them to grant to any such Person or Persons, & upon such terms, & under such Moderate Quitrents, Services & Acknowledgments to be thereupon reserv’d unto us, as you by & with the Advice aforesaid shall think fit, which said Grants are to pass and be Seal’d with our Seal of Virginia, And being entered on Record by such Officer or Officers as shall be Appointed thereunto, shall be good & Effectual in Law against us our heirs & Successors And we do hereby Give unto you the said George Earl of Orkney full Power to Order & appoint Fairs, Marts, & Markets, as also such & so many Ports, harbors, Bays, Havens, & other Places for Conveniency & Security of Shipping, and for the better loading & unloading of Goods & Merchandize, as you with the Advice & Consent of the said Council shall think fit & Necessary.

And We do hereby require and Command all Officers & Ministers Civil & Military, and all other Inhabitants of our said Colony & Dominion to be obedient aiding & assisting unto you the said George Earl of Orkney in the Execution of this our Commission, and of the Powers & Authioities herein con- tain’d, & in Case of your Death or Absence out of our said Colony to be obedient aiding & Assisting unto such person as shall be appointed by us to be our Lieut Govemour or Commander in Chief of our said Colony To whom we do thereby these Presents Give & Grant all & Singular the Powers & Authorities herein granted to be by him Executed & Enjoy’d during our Pleasure, or untill your Arrival within our said Colony-If upon your Death or Absence out of our said Colony there be no Person upon the Place commissionated or appointed by us to be our Lieut Governor or Commander in Chief of the said Colony Our Will and Pleasure is, That the Eldest Councellor whose Name is first Plac’d in our said Instructions to you, and who shall be at the time of your Death or Absence, residing within our said Colony & Dominion of Virginia, shall take upon him the Administration of the Govemnent, and Execute our said Commission & Instructions, And the Several Powers & Authorities therein Contained, in the Same Manner, And to all Intents & Purposes as other our Governor or Commander in Chief shou’d or ought to do in Case of your Absence until your Return, or in all Cases untill our further Pleasure be known therein, And We do hereby declare, Ordain, and Appoint that You the said George Earl of Orkney, shall and may hold, Execute & Enjoy, the Office and Place of our Lieut & Governor General of our said Colony & Dominion with all its Rights Members & Appurtenances whatsoever together with all & Singular the Powers & Authoritys hereby Granted unto you, for & during our Will & Pleasure, Lastly we have revoked Determin’d & made Void

And by these Presents do revoke Determine & make Void certain Letters Patents Granted by her late Majesty Queen Anne unto you the said George Earl of Orkney for the Government of our said Colony & Dominion of Virginia under the Great Seal of Great Britain bearing Date at Westminster the day of in the Year of her said late Majesty’s Reign And every Clause, Article & thing therein Contain’d, In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patents.

Witness Our Self at Westminster the day of in the first Year of our Reign. And for so doing this shall be your Warrant Given at our Court at St. James the 15th day of January 1714 in the first Year of our Reign.


GEORGE R.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR OUR RIGHT TRUSTY & RIGHT WELL BELOVED COUSIN GEORGE EARL OF ORKNEY OUR LIEUTENANT & GOVERNOR GENERAL OF OUR COLONY & DOMINION OF VIRGINIA IN AMERICA.
And in his Absence to the Lieutenant Governor or Commander in Chief of our said Colony for the time being, Given at our Court at St James’s the 15th day of April 1715 in the first Year of our Reign.

  1. With these our Instructions you will receive our Commission under our Great Seal of Great Britain, Constituting you our Lieutenant & Governour General of our Colony & Dominion of Virginia in America.
  2. You are therefore to fit your self with all convenient speed & to repair to our said Colony of Virginia, And being there Arriv’d, You are to take upon you the Execution of the Place & Trust we have repos’d in You. And forthwith to Call together the Members of Our Council for Our Colony and Do- minion, by Name, Viz. Edmund Jennings, Robt. Carter, James Blair, Phillip Ludwell, John Lewis, William Byrd, William Basset, Nat Harrison, Mann Page, Dudley Digges, Peter Beverley and John Robinson Esq”.
  3. And You are with due and Usual Solemnity to Cause our said Commission under our great Seal of Great Britain Constituting You our Lieutenant and Governor General of our said Colony & Dominion, to be read and Publish’d at the said meeting of our Council.
  4. Which being done you shall yourself take-and also Administer unto each of the Members of Our Councill, As well the Oaths Appointed by Act of Parliament to be taken instead of the Oaths of Allegiance & Supremacy, And the Oath mention’d in an Act pass’d in the Sixth Year of her late Majesty’s Reign Entituled An Act for the Security of her Majesty’s Person and Government and of the Succession to the Crown of Great Britain in the Protestant Line, as also to make and Subscribe, & cause the Members of our Council to make and Subscribe the Declaration Mentioned in our Act of Parliament made in the 25th Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second, Entituled, an Act for Preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants, And you and every of them are likewise to take an Oath for the due Execution of Your and their Places and Trusts, as well with regard to your and their equal and Impartial Administration of Justice, and you are also to take the Oath required to be taken by Governors of Plantations to do their Utmost that the Laws relating to the Plantations be observ’d.
  5. You are forthwith to Communicate unto our said Council Such & so many of these our Instructions wherein their Advice and Consent are Mention’d to be requisite, as likewise all such others from time to time as you shall find Convenient for our Service to be imparted to them.
  6. You are to permit the Members of our Said Council of Virginia, to have and enjoy freedom of Debate, and Vote in all Affairs of Publick Concern, that may be Debated in Council.
  7. And also by our Commission aforesaid, we have thought fitt to direct that any three of our Councelors make a Quorum, It is Nevertheless Our Will and Pleasure that you do not Act without a Quorum of less than five Members unless upon Extraordinary Emergencies when a greater Number cannot be conveniently had..
  8. And that we may be always informed of the Names & Characters of Persons fit to Supply the Vacancies that shall happen in Our said Council, You are to transmit unto us by one of our Principal Secretarys of State And to Our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations with all Convenient Speed the Names and Characters of Twelve Persons Inhabitants of our said Colony, whom you shall esteem the best qualifi’d for that Trust, and so from time to time when any of them shall dye, depart out of our said Colony, or become otherwise unfit, You are to Nominate so many others in their Stead, that the list of twelve Persons fit to Supply the said Vacancys may be always Compleat.
  1. You are from time to time to send unto us as aforesaid & to our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, the Name or Names and Quality’s of any Member or Members by you put into our said Council, by the first Conveniency after your so doing.
  2. And in the Choice and Nomination of the Members of our said Council, as also of the Chief Officers, Judges, Assistants, Justices and Sheriffs, You are always to take Care that they be Men of good Life & well Affected to our Government, and of Good Estates, and Abilities, and not Necessitous People, or much in debt.
  3. You are neither to Augment nor diminish the Number of our said Council as it is hereby Established, Nor to Suspend any of the Members thereof without good and Sufficient Cause nor without the Consent and Majority of the said Council, And in case of Suspension of any, You are to Cause your Reasons for so doing, together with the Charges and Proofs, against the said Persons, and their Answer thereunto, (Unless you have some Extraordinary Reason to the Contrary) to be duly enter’d upon the Council Books, And you are forthwith to transmit the same together with your Reasons for not Entring them upon the Council Books (in Case you do not Enter them) unto us, And to our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations as aforesaid.
  4. You are to Signify our Pleasure unto the Members of our said Council, that if any of them shall hereafter absent themselves from our said Colony, and continue absent above the Space of Twelve Months together without leave from you, or from the Commander in Chief for the time being, first Obtain’d or shall remain absent for the Space of Two Years or the greater Part thereof Successively without our Leave given them under our Royal Sign Manual their Place or Places in our said Council shall immediately thereupon become Void, & that we will forthwith appoint others in their Stead.
  1. And whereas we Subscribe that Effectual care ought to be taken to Oblige the Members of Our said Council to a due Attendance therein, in order to prevent the many Inconveniences that may happen from the Want of a Quorum of the Council to Transact Business as Occasion may require IT IS OUR WILL AND PLEASURE that if any of the Members of the said Council shall hereafter Wilfully absent themselves when duly Summon’d without a just and Lawfull Cause, And shall persist therein after Admonition, You Suspend the said Councellors so absenting them till Our further Pleasure be known, Giving us timely Notice thereof, And We hereby Will and require you that this our Royall Pleasure be Signify’d to the Several Members of our Council aforesaid, and that it be enter’d in the Council Book of our said Colony as a standing Rule.
  2. You are to observe in the Passing of Laws that the Stile of Enacting the Same be by the Governor Council & Assembly and no other. You are as much as Possible to Observe in the Passing of all Laws that whatever may be requisite upon each different Matter be accordingly provided for by a different Law without intermixing in One & the Same Act such things as have no Proper relation to each other. And You are more Especially to take Care that no Clause or Clauses be Inserted in or Annext to any Act which shall be foreign to what the Title of such respective Act imports, & that no perpetual Clause be part of any Temporary Law, and that no Act whatever be Suspended, Alter’d, Reviv’d, Confirm’d or Repeal’d by General Words but that the Title & Date of such Act so Suspended, Alter’d, Reviv’d Confirm’d or Repealed be Par- ticularly Mention’d & Expressed.
  3. You are also to take Care that no Private Act be pass’d in which there is not a Saving Us Our Heirs & Successors all Bodys Politick or Corporate & of all other Persons except such as are mention’d in the Act.
  1. And Whereas great Mischief may Arise by Passing Bills of an Unusual & Extraordinary Nature & Importance in the Plantations which Bill remain in force there from the time of Enacting untill Our Pleasure be Signify’d to the Contrary, We do hereby Will and Require you not to Pass or give Your Consent hereafter to any Bill or Bills in the Assembly of our said Colony of unusual and Extraordinary Nature & Importance, Wherein our Prerogative or property of our Subjects may be prejudiced, without having either first Transmitted to us the Draught of such a Bill or Bills and our having Signinify’d our Royal Pleasure or that you take Care in the Passing of any Act of unusual and Extraordinary Nature that there be a Clause inserted therein Suspending and deferring the Execution thereof Untill our further Pleasure be known concerning the said Act to the End our Prerogative may not Suffer & that Our Subjects may not have reason to complain of hardships put upon them on the like Occasions.
  2. You are to transmit Authentick Copies of all Laws Statutes and Ordinances that are now made and in force which have not yet been sent, or which at any time hereafter shall be made or Enacted within our said Colony each of them Seperately under the Publick Seal unto Us & to our Commissioners for Trade & Plantations within three Months or by the first Opportunity after their being Enacted together with Duplicates thereof by the next Conveyance upon Pain of our highest displeasure and of the forfeit of that Years Salary Wherein you shall at any time upon any Pretence Whatsoever omit to send over the said Laws Statutes & Ordinances aforesaid within the time above limitted as also of such other Penalty as we shall Please to inflict But if it shall happen that during the time of War No shipping shall come from our said Colony within three Months after the Making such Laws Statutes and Ordinances whereby the same may be transmit- ted as aforesaid then the said Laws Statutes & Ordinances are to be transmitted as aforesaid by the next conveyance after the making thereof whenever it may happen for our Approbation or disallowance of the same
  1. And Our further Will and Pleasure is That in every Act which shall be transmitted there be the Several Dates & Respective times when the Same Pass’d the Assembly The Council and receiv’d your Assent, And you are to be as Particular as may be in your Observations to be sent to our Commissioners for Trade & Plantations upon every Act, that is to say whether the same is Introductive of a New Law Declaratory of a former Law, or does repeal a Law then before in being and you are likewise to send to our said Commissioners the Reasons for the Passing of such Law unless the same do fully appear in the Preamble of the said Act.
  2. And Whereas it hath been represented that the Taxes which have been levied by Poll within our said Colony have been heavy and burthensome unto our Subjects there, You are to recommend to the General Assembly the Consideration and Settling such a way for raising Money upon Necessary Occasions as shall be more equal and Acceptable to our subjects there than the Method of Levying by Poll and Titheables.
  3. And it having been further represented that a Duty to be raised upon Liquors Imported into our said Colony would be the most easy Means that can be found out for the better Support of that Government, You are therefore to recommend to the Assembly the raising of such Impost & continuance of the same, which you shall Permit them to Appropriate in such Manner that it be apply’d to the Uses of the Government and to None Other whatsoever.
  1. You are to take Care that in all Acts or Orders to be Pass’d within that our Colony in any Case for Levying Money or Imposing fines & Penalties express mention be made that the Same is Granted or reserv’d to Us Our Heirs and Successors for the Publick Uses of that Our Colony, and the Support of the Government thereof, as by the said Act or Order Shall be directed.
  2. Whereas we have been inform’d that during the late War Intelligence has been had in France of the State of our Plantations by letters from private Persons to their Correspondents in great Britain taken on board Ships coming from the Plantations and carry’d into France which may be of Dangerous consequence OUR WILL & PLEASURE is that you Signify to all Merchants Planters and Others that they be very Cautious in time of War whenever that shall happen in giving any Account by Letters of the Publick State and Condition of our Colony & Dominion of Virginia, and You are further to give directions to all Masters of Ships or Other Persons to whom you may Intrust your Letters that they put Such Letters into a Bagg, with Sufficient Weight to Sink the Same immediadiately in Case of Iminent Danger from the Enemy, and you are also to let the Merchants and Planters know how greatly it is for their Interest that their Letters shou’d not fall into the hands of the Enemy and therefore that they shou’d give the like Orders to the Masters of Ships in relation to their Letters; And you are further to advise all Masters of Ships that they do Sink all Letters in Case of Danger in the Manner aforesaid.
  3. And Whereas in the late War the Merchants and Planters in the West Indies did Correspond and Trade with the French and Carry Intelligence to them to the great Prejudice and Hazard of the British Plantations, You are therefore by all Possible Methods to endeavour to hinder all such Trade and Correspondence with the French whose Strength in the West Indies gives very Just Apprehensions of the Mischiefs that may ensue if the utmost Care be not taken to prevent them.
  4. And Whereas Several Inconveniencies have Arisen to Our Government in the Plantations by Gifts and Presents made to our Governors by the General Assembly IT IS OUR EXPRESS WILL AND PLEASURE that neither you our Govemor Lieutenant Governor Commander in Chief or President in the Council of our Colony of Virginia for the time being do give your or their Consent to the Passing any Law or Act for any Gift or Present to be made to you or them by the Assembly and that neither you nor they do receive any Gifts or Presents from the Assembly or others on any Account; or in any Manner whatsoever upon Pain of our highest displeasure and of being recall’d from that our Government.
  5. And we do further direct and require that this declaration of our Royal Will and Pleasure be Communicated to the Assembly at their first Meeting after your arrival in that Colony and Enter’d in the Registers of our Council and Assembly that all Persons whom it may concern may govern themselves accordingly.
  6. And Whereas we are Willing in the best Manner to provide for the Support of the Government in Virginia by Setting a Part a Sufficient allowance to such as shall be our Lieutenant Governor or Commander in Chief residing for the time being within the Same OUR WILL AND PLEASURE THERE FORE IS That when it shall happen that you shall absent yourself from Our said Colony, one full Moiety of the Salary & of all Perquisites & Emoluments whatsoever which wou’d otherwise become due unto you shall during the time of your Absence from the said Colony be paid and Satisfy’d unto Such Lieut. Governor, or Commander in Chief or President of our Council who shall be resident upon the place for the time being, which we do hereby Order and allot to him towards his Maintenance and for the better Support of the Dignity of our Government.
  7. And Whereas great Prejudice may happen to our Service and to the security of that Colony by your Absence from those Parts without Sufficient Cause & Especial Leave from us for Prevention thereof You are not upon any Pretence whatsoever to come to Europe from your Government without having first Obtain’d leave for so doing from us under Our Sign Manual and Signet or by our Order in our Privy Council, Yet Neverthe- less in Case of Sickness you may go to New York or any other of our Neighbouring Plantations and there stay for such a Space of time as the recovery of your Health may absolutely require.
  8. You are not to Permit any Clause whatsoever to be inserted in any Law for Levying Money or the Value of Money whereby the same shall not be made lyable to be accounted for unto us here in Great Britain and to our Commissioners of our Treasury or Our High Treasurer for the time being.
  1. And We do particularly require and Enjoin you upon Pain of Our Highest displeasure to take care that fair Books of Accounts of all Receipts and Payments of all such Money be duly kept and the truth thereof Attested upon Oath, And that the said Book be transmitted every half Year or Oftener to our Commissioners of our Treasury or to our high Treasurer for the time being and to our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations and Duplicates thereof by the next Conveyance in which Books shall be Specify’d every Particular Sum rais’d or dispos’d of together with the Names of the Persons to whom any Payment shall be made to the End we may be Satisfy’d of the Right and due Application of the Revenues of our Said Colony.
  2. You are not to Suffer any Publick money whatsoever to be issued or Dispos’d of otherways than by Warrant under your hand by and with the Advice of our said Council, But the Assembly may nevertheless be permitted from time to time to View & Examine the Accounts of Money or Value of Money dispos’d of by Vertue of Laws made by them, which you are to Signify unto them as there shall be Occasion.
  3. AND IT IS OUR EXPRESS WILL AND PLEASURE that no Law for raising any Imposition on Wines and other Strong Liquors be made to Continue for less than one whole Year as also that all other Laws whatsoever for the good Government and Support of the said Colony be made Indefinite and without Limitation of time except the Same be for a Temporary end and which shall expire and have its full Effect within a Certain time.
  4. AND THEREFORE you Shall not Re-Enact any Law which hath or Shall have been once Enacted there Except upon very Urgent Ocassions, but in no Case more than once without our Express consent.
  1. You shall take Care that an Act Pass’d here in the Sixth Year of the Reign of her late Majesty Queen Anne for Ascertaining the Rates of foreign Coins in our Plantations in America be daily observ’d and put in Execution.
  2. And You are particularly not to pass any Law, or do any Act, by Grant Settlement or Otherwise whereby our Revenue may be lessen’d or Impair’d without our Especial leave or Command therein.
  3. You shall take Care that the Members of the Assembly be Elected only by Freeholders as being more agreeable to the Custom of this Kingdom to which you are as near as may be to Conform yourself.
  4. You shall reduce the Salary of the Members of the Assembly to such a Moderate Proportion as may be no grievence to the Country wherein Nevertheless you are to use your discretion, so as no inconvenience may arise thereby.
  5. Whereas an Act has been Pass’d in Virginia on 16 April in the Year 1684 Entitled an Act for Altering the time of holding General Courts, You are to Propose to the Next Assembly (if the Same be not already done) that a clause be added to the said Act whereby it may be provided that the Power of Appointing Courts to be held at any time whatsoever remain in you or the Commander in Chief of that our said Colony for the time being.
  6. You shall not remit any fines or forfeitures whatsoever above the Sum of Ten Pounds, nor dispose of any Escheats fines or forfeitures whatsoever until upon Signifying unto our Commissioners of our Treasury, or Our high Treasurer for the time being, and to our Commissoners for Trade and Plantations, the Nature of the Offence and the Occasion of such fines forfeitures or Escheats with the Particular Sums or Value thereof which you are to do with all Speed Until you shall have receiv’d our Directions therein, But you may in the mean time Suspend the Payment of the said Fines and Forfeitures.
  7. You are to require the Secretary of our Said Colony or his Deputy for the time being to furnish you with Transcripts of all such Acts and Publick Orders as shall be made from time to time together with a Copy of the Journals of the Council to the end the same transmitted Unto us, and to our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations as above directed, which he is duly to perform upon Pain of incurring the Forfeiture of his Place.
  1. You are also to require from the Clerk of the Assembly or other Proper Officer Transcripts of all the Journals and other Proceedings of the said Assembly to the end the same may in like manner be transmitted as aforesaid.
  2. You are likewise to send a list of all Officers Employ’d under your Government together with all Publick Charges, and an Account of the Present Revenue with the Probability of the Increase or Diminution of it under every head or Article thereof.
  3. You shall not displace any of the Judges, Justices, Sherifs or other Officers or Ministers within our said Colony without good and Sufficient cause to be Signified to us and to our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations.
  4. And to prevent Arbitrary removals of Judges and Justices of the Peace You are not to express any Limitation of time in the Commissions which you are to Grant (with the Advice and Consent of our said Council) to Persons fit for those Employments nor shall you Execute by yourself or Deputy any of the said Offices nor Suffer any Person to Execute more Offices than One by Deputy.
  5. Whereas there are Several Offices within our said Colony Granted under our Great Seal of this Kingdom and that our Service may be very much prejudiced by reason of the absence of the Patentees and by their Appointing Deputies not fit to Officiate in their Stead You are therefore to Inspect the said Offices and to Enquire into the Capacity and behaviour of the Persons now Exercising them, and to Report thereupon to us and to our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations what you think fit to be done or Alter’d in relation thereunto, & you are upon the Misbehaviour of any of the said Patentees or their Deputies to Suspend them from the Execution of their Places till you shall have represented the whole Matter and receive our Directions therein, and in Case of the Suspension of any such Officer IT IS OUR EXPRESS WILL AND PLEASURE that you take Care that the Person appointed to Execute the place during such Suspension do give Sufficient Security to the Person Suspended to be answerable to him for the Pro- fits accruing during such Suspension in Case we shall think fit to restore him to his Place again But you shall not by Colour of any Power or Authority hereby or Otherwise Granted or mention’d to be Granted unto you take upon you to give Grant Dispose of any Office or Place within our said Colony which now is or shall be Granted under the Great Seal of Great Britain any otherwise than that you may upon the Vacancy of any such Place or Office or Suspension of any such Officer by you as aforesaid put in any fit Person to Officiate in the Interval till you shall have represented the Matter unto us and to our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations as aforesaid, which you are to do by the first Opportunity and till the said Office or Place be dispos’d of by Us, Our Heirs or Successors under the Great Seal of Great Britain, or that our further Directions be given therein And OUR WILL AND PLEASURE is that you do Countenance and give all due Encouragement to all our Patent Officers in the Enjoyment of their Legal and Accustomed Fees, Rights, Privileges, and Emoluments according to the true Intent and meaning of their Patents.
  1. Whereas We are above all things desirous that, all Our Subjects may enjoy their Legal Rights and Properties You are to take Especial Care that if any Person be Committed for any Criminal Matters unless for Treason & Felony, plainly and Especially expressed in the Warrant of Commitment to have free Liberty to Petition by himself or otherwise the Chief Barron or any one of the Judges of the Common Pleas for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, which upon such Application shall be granted and Served on the Provost Marshall Goaler or other Officer having the Custody of such Prisoner, or shall be left at the Goal or Place where the Prisoner is confin’d and the said Provost Marshall or other Officer shall within three days after such service on the Petitioners Paying the Fees & Charges, and giving Security that he will not escape by the way make return of the Writ and Prisoner before the Judge who granted out the said Writ and there Certify the true Cause of the Imprisonment, and the said Baron or Judge shall Discharge such Prisoner taking his Recognizance and Sureties for his Appearance at the Court where the Offence is Cognizable, and Certifie the said Writ and Recognizance into the Court unless Such Offences appear to the said Baron or Judge not Bailable by the Law of England.
  1. And in Case the Said Baron or Judge shall refuse to grant a Writ of Habeas Corpus on View of the Copy of Commitment or upon Oath made of such Copy having been deny’d the Prisoner or any Person requiring the Same in his behalf or shall delay to discharge the Prisoner after the granting such Writ the said Baron or Judge shall incur the forfeiture of his Place.
  2. You are likewise to declare our Pleasure that in Case the Provost Marshal or other Officer shall Imprison any Person above Twelve Hours except by a Mittimus setting forth the Cause thereof he be removed from his said Office.
  3. And upon the Application of any Person wrongfully Committeed the Baron or Judge shall issue his Warrant to the Provost Marshall or other Officer to bring the Prisoner before him who shall be discharged without Bail or Paying Fees, & the Provost Marshall or other Officer refusing Obedience to such Warrant shall be thereupon removed, and if the said Baron or Judge denies the Warrant he shall likewise Incur the forfeit- ure of his Place.
  4. And You shall give directions that no Prisoner being set at large by an Habeas Corpus be recommitted for the said Offence but by the Court where he is bound to appear and if any Baron, Judge, Provost Marshall or other Officer contrary hereunto shall recommit such Person so Bail’d or deliver’d you are to remove him from his Place, and if the Provost Marshall or other Officer having the Custody of the Prisoner neglects to return the Habeas Corpus or refuses a Copy of the Committment within Six hours after demand made by the Prisoner or any other in his behalf shall likewise Incurr the forfeiture of his Place.
  1. And for the better Prevention of long Imprisonments you are to appoint two Courts of Oyer & Terminer to be held Yearly, Viz, on the Second Thursday in December and the Second Tuesday in June, the Charge whereof to be paid by the Publick Treasury of Our said Colony not exceeding One Hundred Pounds each Session.
  2. You are to take Care that all Prisoners in Case of Treason or Felony have free Liberty to Petition in Open Courts for their Tryals, that they be indicted at the first Court of Oyer and Terminer unless it appears upon Oath that the Witnesses against them cou’d not be produced and that they be try’d the Second Court or discharg’d and the Baron or Judge upon Motion made the last Day of the Sessions in Open Court is to Bail the Prisoners, or upon the refusal of the said Baron or Judge and Provost Marshal or Other Officer to do their respective Duties herein they shall be remov’d from their Places.
  1. Provided always that no Person be discharged out of Prison who stands Committed for Debt for any decree of Chan- cery or any Legal proceedings of any Court of Record.
  2. And for the preventing any Executions that may be made upon Prisoners, You are to declare Our Pleasure that no Baron or Judge shall receive for himself or Clerks for granting a Writ of Habeas Corpus more than Two Shillings and Six Pence and the like Sum for taking a Recognizance and that the Provost Marshall shall not receive more than five Shillings for every Commitment, One Shilling & three Pence for the Bond the Prisoner is to Sign, One Shilling & three Pence for every Copy of a Mittimus & one Shilling & three Pence for every Mile he bringeth Back the Prisoner.
  1. And further you are to Cause this our Royal Pleasure hereby Signify’d to you to be made Publick & Register’d in the Council Books of our said Colony.
  2. And Whereas Commissions have been granted unto Several Persons in our Respective Plantations in America for the trying of Pirates in those Parts pursuant to the Act for the more Effectual Suppression of Piracy and by a Commission sent to our Colony of Virginia You as our Lieutenant and Governor General of our said Colony are impower’d together with others therein mention’d to proceed accordingly in Reference to Our said Colony. Our Will and Pleasure is that in all Matters relating to Pirates You govern yourselves according to the intent of the Act and Commission aforemention’d. But as whereas Accessories in Cases of Piracy beyond the Seas are by the said Act left to be try’d in this Kingdom according to the Statute of the twenty Eighth of King Henry the Eighth we do hereby further direct and require you to send all such Accessories in Case of Piracy in Our foresaid Colony into this Kingdom with the Proper Evidences that you may have against them in Order to their being Try’d here.
    IT IS OUR FURTHER PLEASURE that no Person for the future be sent as Prisoners to this Kingdom from our said Colony and Dominion of Virginia without Sufficient Proof of their Crimes, and that Proof transmitted along with the said Prisoners.
  3. In Case any Goods Money or other Estate of Pirates or Piratically taken or brought or found within our said Colony of Virginia or taken on board any Ships or Vessels You are to Cause the same to be Seiz’d and Secur’d until You shall have given us an Account thereof and receiv’d our Pleasure Concerning the Disposal of the Same. But in Case such Goods or any Part of them are Perishable the Same shall be Publickly Sold and Disposed of, and the Produce thereof in like Manner secur’d until our further Order.
  1. You shall not Erect any Court or Office of Judicatory not before Erected or Established nor dissolve any Court or Office already Erected or Established without our especial Order: But in Regard we have been inform’d that there is a Want of a particular Court for determining of small Causes You are to recommend it to the Assembly of our said Colony that a Law be pass’d (if not already done) for the Constituting such Court or Courts for the ease of our Subjects there, and you are from time to time to transmit to our said Commissioners for Trade and Plantations an Exact Account of what Causes have been determin’d what shall be then Depending, as likewise an Abstract of all proceedings of the Several Courts of Justice within our said Government.
  2. You are to Transmit to Us & to Our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations with all convenient Speed a Particular Account of all Establishments of Jurisdictions Courts Offices and Officers Powers Authorities Fees and Priviledges Granted or Settled within our said Colony to the End you may receive our farther Directions therein.
  3. COMPLAINT having been made that the Members of our said Council in all Matters of Civil Right where any of them are Defendants claim a Priviledge of Exemption from the Ordinary forms of Process by Writ, so that they cannot be arrested, and that it being the Practice in all such Cases that the Secretary Summon them to an Appearance by a Letter, either Comply with the Same or Neglect it at their own Pleasure by which Means the Course of Justice is obstructed & the Plaintiffs who are not of the Council are left destitute of relief. You are therefore to take Special Care that according to the Order made in the said Council of Virginia the 27 March 1678 (by which the Members thereof claim’d the Aforesaid Priviledge) a Letter of Summons to any of the said Councelors Sign’d either by your self or by the Secretary of our said Colony be deem’d as binding and as Strict in Law for their Appearance as a Writ and that upon their Neglect to Comply with any such Summons (Except only in time of General Assembly) they be liable to the Ordinary forms of Common Process.
  1. And you are with the Advice and Consent of our said Council to take Especial Care to regulate all Salaries and Fees belonging to Places or Paid upon Emergencies that they be within the Bounds of moderation and that no Exaction be made upon any Occasion whatsoever, as also that Tables of all Fees be Publickly hung up in all Places where such Fees are to be paid and you are to transmit Copies of all such Tables of Fees to Us & to Our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations as aforesaid.
  2. WHEREAS it is necessary that our Rights & Dues be preserved and recover’d and that speedy and Effectual Justice be administer’d in all Cases relating to our Revenue, You are to take Care that a Court of Exchequer be call’d and do meet at all such times as shall be needfull and You are upon your Arrival to inform us and our Commissioners for Trade & Plantations whether Our Service may require that a constant Court of Exchequer be Settled & Established there.
  3. You are to take Care that no Man’s Life Member freehold or Goods be taken away or harm’d in our said Colony otherwise than by establish’d and known Laws, not repugnant but as near as may be agreeable to the Laws of this Kingdom.
  4. You shall administer or Cause to be administer’d the Oaths appointed by Act of Parliament to be taken instead of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and the Oath Mention’d in the foresaid Act Entituled an Act for the Security of Her Majesty’s Person and Government and of the Succession to the Crown of Great Britain in the Protestant Line, to the Members and Officers of our Council & Assembly and to all Judges and Justices and all other Persons that hold any Office or Place of Trust or Profit in our said Colony whether by Vertue of any Patent under our Great Seal of this Kingdom or the Publick Seal of Virginia or otherwise and you shall also Cause them to make and Subscribe the aforesaid Declaration without the doing of all which you are not to admit any Person whatsoever into any Publick Office, nor Suffer those that have been admitted formerly to Continue therein.
  1. You are to Permit a Liberty of Conscience to all Persons except Papists, so they be contented with a quiet and peaceable Enjoyment of the Same not giving Offence or Scandal to the Government.
  2. You shall send to us & our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations by the Conveyance of our Ships of War, an Account of the present Number of Planters and Inhabitants-Men Women and Children as well Masters as Servants, Free and Unfree, And of the Slaves in our said Colony as also a Yearly account of the Increase and decrease of them and how many of them are fit to bear Arms in the Militia of our said Colony.
  3. You shall also Cause an Exact Account to be kept of all Persons born Christened and Buried and you shall Yearly send fair Abstracts thereof unto us and to Our foresaid Commissioners for Trade and Plantations.
  4. You shall take Care that all Planters and Christian Servants be well and fitly provided with Arms, and that they be listed under good Officers and when and as often as shall be thought fit Muster’d and Train’d whereby they may be in a better readiness for the Defense of our said Colony and Dominion under your Government, and you are to use your utmost Endeavours that such Planters do each of them keep such Numbers of White Servants as by Law Directed and that they appear in Arms when thereunto required.
  5. You are to take especial Care that neither the frequency nor unreasonableness of the Marches Musters and Trainings be an unnecessary Impediment to the Affairs of the Inhabitants.
  6. And for the greater Security of that Our Colony You are to Appoint fit Officers and Commanders in the Several Parts of the Country bordering upon the Indians who upon any Invasion may raise Men and Arms to oppose them untill they shall receive your directions therein.
  7. You shall not upon any Occasion whatsoever Establish or put in Execution any Articles of War or other Law Martial upon any of Our Subjects Inhabitants of our said Colony of Virginia without the advise and Consent of our Council there.
  1. AND WHEREAS there is no Power given you by Our Commission to Execute Martial Law in time of Peace upon Soldiers in Pay and yet nevertheless it may be necessary that some Care be taken for the keeping good Discipline amongst those that we may at any time hereafter think fit to send into our said Colony (which may properly be provided for by the Legislative Power of the same) You are therefore to recommend unto the General Assembly of our said Colony that (if not already done) they Prepare such Act and Law for the Punishing Mutiny Desertions and fake Musters, and for the better pre- serving of good Discipline amongst the Said Soldiers as may best Answer those ends.
  2. AND WHEREAS together with other Powers of Vice Admiralty You will Receive Authority from our Commissioners for executing the Office of our high Admiral of great Britain and of our Plantations upon the refusal or Neglect of any Captain or Commander of any of our Ships of War to Execute the Written Order he shall receive from you for Our Service and the Service of our Colony under your Government, or upon his Neglect & undue Execution thereof to suspend such Captain or Commander from the Exercise of his said Office of Captain or Commander and to committ into Safe Custody either on Board his own Ship or elsewhere at Your Discretion in Order to his being brought to Answer for such refusal or Neglect by Commission either under Our great Seal of this Kingdom or from our Commissioners for executing the Office of our high Admiral of Great Britain for the time being And whereas you will likewise receive directions from our said Commissioners for Executing the Office of our high Admiral of Great Britain and of our Plantations that the Captain or Commander so by you suspended shall during such his Suspension and Commitment be succeeded by such Commission or Warrant Officer of our said Ship ap- pointed by our said Commissioners for Executing the Office of our high Admiral of Great Britain for the time being as by the known Practice and Discipline of our Navy does and ought next to Succeed as in case of Death, Sickness or any other ordinary disability happening to the Commander of any of our Ships of War and not otherwise You standing Accountable for the truth and Importance of the Crime & Misdemeanor for which you shall so proceed to the Suspending any such Captain or Commander You are not to Exercise the said Power of Suspending any such Captains or Commanders of our Ships of War otherwise than by Vertue of such Commission or Authority from our said Commissioners for executing the Office of our high Admiral of Great Britain any former Custom or usage Notwithstanding.
  1. You are to demand an Account from all Persons concern’d of the Arms Ammunition and Stores sent to our said Colony from our Office of Ordnance here as likewise what other Arms Ammunition and Stores have been bought with the Publick Money for the Service of our said Colony and how the Same have been employ’d, and whether any of them and how many of them have been sold, Spent, Lost, Decay’d or dispos’d of and to whom and to what use and to transmit the said Account to Us and to our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations afore- said.
  2. You shall take an Inventory of all Arms Ammunition and Stores remaining in any of our Magazines or Garrisons in our Colony under your Government, and immediately after your Arrival to transmit the same unto Us and to our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations and the like Inventory afterwards half Yearly, as also a Duplicate thereof to our Master General or Principal Officers of our Ordnance, which Accounts are to express the Particulars of Ordnance Carriages, Powder, Balls, and all other Sorts of Arms and Ammunition in our Publick Stores at your said Arrival, and so from time to time of what shall be sent you or bought with the Publick Money and to specify the time of the disposal and the Occasion thereof.
  3. You are to take especial Care that fit Storehouses be Settled throughout our said Colony for receiving and keeping of Arms Ammunition and Publick Stores.
  4. You shall cause a Survey to be made of all the Considerable landing Places and Harbours in our said Colony, and with the Advice of our Council there Erect in any of them such Fortifications as shall be necessary for the Security and Advantage of that Colony which shall be done at the Publick Charges of the Country, in which we doubt not of the Chearfull concurrence of the Inhabitants, thereunto from the common Security and benefit they will receive thereby.
  5. OUR WILL AND PLEASURE IS that all Servants that shall come to be Transported to Our Colony of Virginia shall serve their respective Masters for the Terms prescrib’d by the Laws of our said Colony, and the said Servants shall at the end of the said Term have 50 Acres of Land Assign’d and set out to every of them respectively to Have and to Hold to them and every of them their Heirs and Assigns for ever under the Rules and Duties usually Paid and reserved.
  6. AND WHEREAS it has been represented that the Grant of King James the first heretofore made to that our Colony to Exempt the Planters from paying Quitrents for the first Seven ‘Years did tun to the great Prejudice of the same and that many took Occasion thereby to take and Create to themselves a Title of such Quantitys of Land which they never intended to or in truth cou’d Occupy or Cultivate but thereby only kept out others who would have Planted and manured the Same, and King Charles the Second having therefore by his Instructions given to Sir We, Berkly revok’d all such Grants as contrary to the Intention of the said King James the first and to the good of our Subjects there We do likewise give the same directions unto you, that if any Such Grants Shou’d be still Insisted on the ‘same be look’d on and taken to be void and of None Effect And you are likewise to restrain the unlimited practice of taking more Lands than can reasonably be Cultivated and to regulate all Abuses therein.
  7. You shall with the Advice of Our Council there take Care to appoint Men fitly Qualify’d to be Surveyors throughout all the Several Districts of Our said Colony, and that they be sworn to make true and exact Surveys of all Lands requir’d to be set out according to the best of their Skill 80. You shall likewise take Care that a General Survey be made of all the said Colony and Dominion, and of each County in it, and that an Exact Map or Maps be thereupon drawn, and ‘Transmitted to Us and to our foresaid Commissioners for Trade and Plantations.
  8. You shall likewise take Care that a General Survey be made of all the said Colony and Dominion, and of each County in it, and that an Exact Map or Maps be thereupon drawn, and ‘Transmitted to Us and to our foresaid Commissioners for Trade and Plantations.
  1. And You are further to take Care that an Exact Account be forthwith drawn of all Arrears of Quitrents due unto Us ex- pressing from what Persons, for what Quantity of Land, and for what time those Arrears are due, and likewise an Account Specifying what Particular Persons throughout all our said Colony are possess’d above 20,000 Acres of Land a Piece, by what Titles they hold the said Lands, and how much each of them is possess’d of above that Quantity. Both which Accounts you are without Delay to transmit to Us and to Our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations.
  2. WHEREAS it was represented to her Late Majesty by the President and Council of our said Colony that the Method of Granting Lands as directed by the Instructions given to Robert Hunter Esq’ bearing Date at St. James’s the 30th of April 1707 is not agreeable to the Laws Constitution and Practice of our said Colony. OUR WILL AND PLEASURE THEREFORE IS That for the future the Method of Granting of Land be in such form and Manner, and under the like Conditions Covenants and Reservations of Quitrent as are by the Charter and Laws of that our Colony allow’d and Directed to be made and as were permitted to be made before the Instructions given to Robert Hunter Esq’ as aforesaid, PROVIDED due care be taken that in all such Grants hereafter to be made regard be had to the profitable and unprofitable Acres, and particularly that every Patentee be obliged in the best and most Effectual Manner to Cultivate & Improve three Acres part of every fifty Acres so granted within the term of three Years after the Passing of such Grant and in Case of failure thereof such Grant or Grants to be void and of None Effect.
  3. That we may be the better inform’d of the Trade of our said Colony, You are to take especial Care that Due enteries be made in all Ports of our said Colony of all Goods and Commodities their Species and Quantities Imported or Exported from thence, with the Names Burden and Guns of all Ships Exporting and Importing the same, also the Names of their Commanders and likewise expressing from and to what Place the said Ships do come and go (a Copy whereof the Naval Officer in each respective District is to furnish you with) and you are to transmit the Same unto us Our Commissioners of our Treasury or our high Treasurer for the time being, and to our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations Quarterly, and Duplicates thereof by the Next Conveyance.
  1. You are to take especial Care all Tobacco ship’d in Virginia from what part soever do come they pay Virginia Duties.
  2. You are likewise to Examine what Rates and Duties are Charged and Payable upon any Goods Imported and Exported within our Colony of Virginia, whether of the Growth or Manufacture of our said Colony or otherwise and to use your best Endeavours for the Improvement of the Trade in those Parts.
  3. AND WHEREAS Orders have been given for the Commissionating of fit Persons to be Officers of our Admiralty and Customs in our Several Plantations in America, and it is of great importance to the Trade of this Kingdom, and to the welfare of Our Plantations that illegal Trade be every where discouraged, you are therefore to take especial Care that the Acts of Trade and Navigation be duly put in execution, and in Order thereunto you are to give Constant Protection and all due Incouragement to the Officers of our Admiralty and Customs in the Execution of their Respective Offices and Trusts.
  4. AND WE FURTHER WILL AND REQUIRE You to be aiding and Assisting unto such Persons as are or shall be appointed by our Commissioners of Our Treasury to be Agent in the West Indies or such other Agent as shall be appointed in his Room in the discharge of his Office according to such Instructions as he hath receiv’d from our Principal Commissioners for that Purpose, also for preventing Imbezelments and Recovering of Prize Goods which may happen to be Imbezel’d or Conceal’d, as well as the Execution of all Orders to him or them directed in Relation to Prizes by any Court of Admiralty Legally Established by Our Commissioners of our Admiralty in our said Plantations And you are likewise to Transmit unto Our Commissioners of our Treasury from time to time exact Accounts of all Occurances concerning Prizes that happen to be brought into that our Colony of Virginia under your Government in the Same Manner as you are required to do in other Matters under your Care.
  1. AND WHEREAS We have been Inform’d that the Fees for the Condemnation of a Prize Ship in our Courts of Admiralty in the Plantations are considerably greater than those demanded on the like occasions in our High Court of Admiralty here, And Whereas we are willing that our Subjects in the Plantations shou’d have the same ease in the Obtaining Condemnations of Prizes there as in this Kingdom. You are to Signifie our Will and pleasure to the Officers of our Admiralty Court in Virginia that they do not presume to demand or Exact other Fees than what are taken in this Kingdom which amount to about Ten Pounds for the Condemnation of each Prize according to the List of Fees herewith deliver’d to you.
  2. You are from time to time to give an Account as before directed what Strength your bordering Neighbors have be they Indians or others, by Sea and Land, and of the Condition of their Plantations and what Correspondence you do keep with them.
  3. You shall take Especial Care that God Almighty be devoutly and duly served throughout your Government, the Book of Common Prayer as by Law established read each Sunday and Holy day and the Blessed Sacraments administer’d according to the rites of the Church of England.
  4. You shall be carefull that the Churches already built there be well and Orderly kept, and that more be built as the Colony shall by the Blessing of God be improved, and that besides a Competent Maintenance to be Assign’d to the Ministers of each Orthodox Church a convenient House be built at the Common charge for each Minister and a competent Portion of Glebe Assign’d him.
  5. And You are to take Care that the Parishes be so bounded and Settled as you shall find most convenient for the accomplishing this good Work.
  6. You are not to refer any Minister to any Ecclesiastical Business in that our Colony without a Certificate from the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of London of his being conformable to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England, and of a good Life and Conversation, and if any Person preferr’d already to a Benefice shall appear to you to give Scandal, either by his Doctrine or Manners, you are to use the proper and usual Means for removal of him and to supply the Vacancy in such Manner as we have directed.
  1. You are to give Order forthwith (if the same be not already done) that every Orthodox Minister within your Govern- ment be one of the Vestry in his respective Parish, and that no Vestry be held without him except in Case of Sickness, or that after Notice of a Vestry Summon’d he omit to come.
  2. You are to Enquire whether there be any Ministers within your Government, who Preaches and Administers the Sacraments in any Orthodox Church or Chappel without being in due Orders, and to give an Account thereof to the said Lord Bishop of London.
  3. And to the end the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the said Lord Bishop of London may take Place in that Our Colony so far as conveniently may be, We do think fit that you give all countenance and encouragement to the exercise of the same, excepting only the Collating to Benefices, granting Licences for Marriages and Probates of Wills, which we have reserved to you our Governor or Commander in Chief of our said Colony for the time being.
  4. We do Further direct that no School Master be henceforth Permitted to come from this Kingdom and to keep School within our said Colony without the Licence of the said Lord Bishop of London, and that no other Person now there or that Shall come from other Parts be admitted to keep School without your Licence first Obtain’d.
  5. And you are to take especial Care that a Table of Marriages Establish’d by the Cannons of the Church of England be hung up in every Orthodox Church, and duly observ’d & you are to Endeavour to get a Law pass’d in the Assembly of that Colony (if not already done) for the Strict Osbervation of the said Table.
  6. You are to take Care that Drunkenness and Debauchery, Swearing and Blasphemy be discountenanced and Punished. And for the further Discountenance of Vice and encouragement of Vertue and good living (that by such Examples the Infidels may be invited and desire to Partake of the Chris- tian Religion) You are not to Admit any Person to Publick Trusts and Employments in our said Colony whose ill fame and Conversation may Occasion Scandal.
  1. And you are to Suppress the Ingrossing of Commoditys as tending to the prejudice of that freedom which Trade and Commerce ought to have and to Settle Such Orders and Regulations therein with Advice of our said Council as may be most Acceptable to the generality of the Inhabitants.
  2. And Upon Several Representations made concerning a Trade with the Indian Natives, it has been thought fit to permit a free Trade between our Subjects of Virginia and the Indians, and We being willing to continue the same Permission to all our Subjects or that Colony, You are therefore to Signify the same to the next Assembly, and to give them to understand that out of our great Care for the Welfare of that Colony, We have preferr’d the Particular Benefit of our Subjects before any other Advantage that might accrue unto us by restraining that Trade with the Indians, Whereof we expect they shoul’d have a due Sence and provide by some Means for the better Support of the Government.
  3. You are to give all due Encouragement and Invitation to Merchants and others who shall bring Trade to our Colony or any way contribute to the Advantage thereof and in Particular to the Royal Affrican Company.
  4. And as we are willing to recommend unto the said Company that the said Colony may have a constant and Sufficient Supply of Merchantable Negroes at Moderate Rates in Money or Commodities so you are to take especial Care that Payment be duly made & within a competent time according to their Agreements.
  5. And whereas the said Company have frequently great Sums of Money owing to them in our Plantations in America, they have been much hindered in the recovery of their Just debts there, and discouraged in their Trade by the too frequent Adjournments of Courts, and it being absolutely necessary that all Obstructions in the Course of Justice be Effectually remov’d, You are to take Care that the Courts of Justice be duly and frequently held in our Colony and Dominion under your Government, so that all our Subjects in the said Colony, and Particularly the Royal African Company may enjoy the Benefit thereof, and not receive any undue hinderance in the recovery of their Just Debts.
  1. And you are to take care that there be no Trading from Virginia to any Place in Africa within the Charter of the Royal African Company otherwise than prescribed by Law.
  2. And we do further expressly Command and require you to give unto us, & to our Commissioners for Trade & Plantations an Account every half Year of what Number of Negroes the said Colony is Supply’d with, that is what Number by the African Company, and what by Seperate Traders, and at what rates Sold.
  3. You are likewise from time to time to give unto us and to our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations as aforesaid an Account of the Wants and Defects of our said Colony, what are the Chief Products thereof, new Improvements are made therein by the Industry of the Inhabitants or Planters, and what further Improvements you conceive may be made, or Advantages gain’d by Trade, & which way we may contribute thereunto.
  4. You are not to grant Commissions of Mark or Reprizal against any Prince or State or their Subjects in Amity with us, to any Person whatsoever without our Special Command.
  5. Whereas great Inconveniencies do happen by Merchants Ships and other Vessels in the Plantations wearing the Colours born by our Ships of War under Pretence of Commissions granted to them by the Governors of the said Plantations, and that by Trading under those Colours not only amongst our Own Subjects, but also those of other Princes and States and committing divers Irregularities, they do very much dishonour our Service, For prevention whereof you are to oblige the Commanders of all such Ships to which you shall grant Commissions to wear no other Jack than according to the Sample here described, that is to say, such as is worn by our Ships of War with a distinction of a White Escutcheon in the middle thereof and that the said Mark of distinction may ex- tend itself to one half of the Depth of the Jack and one third of the Fly thereof.
  1. Our Will and Pleasure is That Appeals be permitted to be made in Cases of Error from the Courts in our said Colony unto you and our Council there in General Court & in Your Absence from that our Colony to the Commander in Chief for the time being, and the said Council in Civil Causes, wherein such of our said Council as shall be at that time Judges of the Court from whence such Appeals shall be made to You our Governor and Council, or to the Commander in Chief for the time being, and Council in General Court as aforesaid shall not be admitted a vote upon the said Appeal, but they may Nevertheless be present at the hearing thereof to give the reasons of the Judgment given by them in the Cause wherein such Appeal shall be made.
  2. And Inasmuch as it may not be fit that Appeals be too frequently and for too Small a Value brought unto Our Governor and Council, as aforesaid, You shall therefore with the Advice of our said Council propose a Law to be pass’d wherein the Method and Limitation of Appeals unto Our Governor and Council may be Settled and Restrain’d in such Manner as shall be most Convenient and easy to Our Subjects in Virginia.
  3. And if either Party shall not rest Satisfy’d with the Judgement of you or the Commander in Chief for the time being & Council as aforesaid, they may then Appeal unto Us in Our Privy Council, provided the Sum or Value so appeal’d for unto us do exceed £300 Sterl and that such Appeal be made within one fortnight after Sentence and good Security given by the Appellant that he will Effectually prosecute the same, and Answer the Condemnation as also pay such Costs as shall be awarded by us in Case the Sentence of you the Governor or Commander in Chief for the time being and Council be Affirmed, & provided also that Execution be not Suspended by reason of any such Appeal unto Us.
  4. You are also to Permit Appeals unto Us in Council in all Cases of Fines imposed for Misdemeanors, provided the Fines so impos’d amount to, or Exceed the Value of £200 the Appellant first giving good Security that he will Effectually prosecute the same, and Answer the Condemnation of the Sentence by which such Fine was impos’d in Virginia in case the said Sentence shall be confirm’d.
  1. You are for the better Administration of Justice to Endeavour to get a Law pass’d (if not already done) wherein shall be Set the Value of Men’s Estates either in Goods or Lands under which they shall not be capable of Serving as Jurors.
  2. You are to take Care that no Courts of Judicature be adjourned but upon good Grounds, and whereas Complaint hath been made that the Orders of Court are entered in the Absence of the Magistrates and sometimes penn’d in Private at the Magistrates House, you are to take care to prevent the said abuses, and particularly that no Orders of any Court of Judicature be enter’d or allow’d which shall not be first read and approv’d of by the Magistrates in Open Court, which Rule you are in like manner to see observ’d with relation to the Proceedings in Our Council of Virginia and that all Orders there made be first read and approved in Council before they are enter’d in the Council Books.
  3. You shall Endeavour to get a Law pass’d (if not already done) for the restraining of any Inhuman Severities which by ill Masters or Overseers may be used towards their Christian Servants, and their Slaves, and that Provision be made therein that the Wilfull killing of Indians and Negroes may be punish’t with Death, and that a fit Penalty be impos’d for the Maiming of them. And you are also with the Assistance of the Council and Assembly to find out the best Means to facilitate and encourage the Conversion of Negroes and Indians to the Christian Religion.
  4. And whereas an Agreement has been formerly made with the Indians of Virginia and of New York for their Peaceable living with Our Subjects and Submission to Our Government, We do hereby approve the Same, and do require you to endeavour as much as in you lyes that the said Agreement be Punctually observ’d and renew’d if it shall be Necessary, as conducing to the Welfare of our Colony under your Government.
  1. You are to Endeavour with the Assistance of our Council to provide for the raising of Stocks and building Publick Warehouses in convenient places for the employing of Poor and indigent People.
  2. You are to propose an Act to be pass’d in the Assembly wherby the Creditors of Persons becoming Bankrupts in this Kingdom and having Estates in Virginia may be reliev’d and Satisfy’d for the Debts owing to them.
  3. In Case of Distress of any other of our Plantations You shall upon the Application of the Respective Governors thereof to you, Assist them with what Aid the Condition of Our Colony under Your Government can Spare.
  4. You are to take Care by and with the Advice and Assistance of our Council that such Prisons there as want Reparation be forthwith repair’d and put into and kept in such a Condition as may Sufficiently Secure the Prisoners that are or shall be there in Custody.
  5. And for as much as we have thought fit for the Dignity of the Government that a House be built for our Governor or Commander in Chief, for defraying of which Expence a Levy has been made, You are to hasten the Building and fitting up such a House if not already done.
  6. Our Will and Pleasure is, that you do take to yourself as Governor Two Thousand Pounds Sterl. per Annum by Quarterly Payments, and shall also Cause to be paid out of the Revenues of our said Colony to the Councelors & other Judges and Officers as well Civil as Military, and to the Mar- shal, Clerk of the Assembly Gunner and Matrosses the Several Salaries and allowances formerly paid, or such other reas- onable Ones as you with Advice of Our Council there shall think requisite a true Account whereof you shall from time to time transmit unto the Commissioners of Our Treasury or Our High Treasurer for the time being, and to Our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations.
  7. Provided always that you do not dispose of any Part of our Quitrents, nor Suffer the same to be issued out upon any Occasion untill upon your Certifying to us the Value of what shall remain thereof from time to time in Our Treasury or be due Unto Us we shall Order the Same to be dispos’d of as we shall find Occasion for our Service.
  1. And for the better improving the Value of Our Quit-rents, You are to take Care they be not only duly Collected, but they be sold every Year Openly by Inch of Candle to the highest Bidder in the respective County Courts, and that due Notice be given of the time and Place of any such intended Sale in such Manner as may make it most Publickly known to all People a Competent time before hand.
  2. Whereas upon considering the Entries of our Custom house here in this Kingdom with the Payment of the two Shillings per Hogsh on Tobacco, and other Duties and Impositions due unto us in Virginia there has been certain Information given of great Frauds and Abuses both in Payment thereof by Masters of Ships and others, and in the Collection by Our Officers, You are to use all Lawfull Means for the Prevention there- of and for the Improvement of our said Revenues. And whereas such Abuses cannot be committed without apparent Negligence of the Collectors or their connivance with the said Masters of Ships and other Persons, You are to take great Care with the Advice of Our Council in appointing fit and duly Qualify’d Persons for the Collecting of those duties and the like for the Employment of Naval Officers.
  3. You shall not commit the Care of those different Employments to One and the same Person, nor any of them unto Persons much concern’d in Trade who may be apt thereby to be byassed from their respective Duties, nor unto the Members of our said Council.
  4. You shall take Care that each of the Persons appointed by you to the said Employments (as well Naval Officers as Collectors) be sworn to Execute faithfully and diligently their Respective Offices in their Own Persons and not by Deputies unless in Cases of Absolute Necessity, and that those Deputies be then likewise sworn to the faithfull and diligent execution of their respective Offices. And that each of the said Officers or their Deputies be required accordingly to give their Attendance at such certain times and Places as you with the Advice of our said Council shall direct.
  1. You are Strictly to charge and Command them and every of them in our Name to be more carefull and diligent for the future, under Penalty of the forfeiture of our respective Places by your putting others in their Stead on the first offence, and of our highest displeasure, and you are from time to time to give Us Our Commissioners of our Treasury or high Treasurer for the time being, and to Our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations a Particular Account of your Proceedings therein, and of the Duties and Impositions Collected and dispos’d of pursuant to former directions in that behalf
  2. And whereas Complaints have been made of Several undue Practices in the Office of Secretary or Register of that Colony by the Clerks or other Persons employ’d therein, You are to make Inspection into what has been the State and Management of the said Office, and Report to Us and to Our Commissioners for Trade and Plantations how you find the Same, together with your opinion by what Methods any former Mismanagements may for the future be best Prevented and in the meanwhile to take all possible care that the Records of the said Office be well and faithfully kept, and in Order thereunto that not only the Secretary or Register himself but his Clerks also be under Oath for the due Execution of the trust repos’d in them, and that they accordingly give Sufficient Security for their faithful performance.
  3. Whereas Our Council of Virginia has formerly made Complaints that the Lord Baltimore hath insisted on a pre- tended Right to the whole River of Potomack, which did very much discourage the Merchants and Masters of Ships trading to that our Colony, You are to Assert our Rights in those Parts, & to take care that the Trade of our Subjects be not disturb’d by the said pretences, or any other whatsoever.
  4. Whereas We have been pleas’d by our Commission to direct that in Case of your Death or Absence from our said Colony, & in Case there be at that time no Person upon the Place Commission’d or appointed by us to be our Lieutenant Governor or Commander in Chief the Eldest Councellor whose Name is first placed in our Instructions to you, and who shall be at the time of your Death or Absence residing within our said Colony and Dominion of Virginia, shall take upon him the Administration of the Government and Execute our said Commission and Instructions and the Several Powers and Authorities therein contain’d, in the manner thereby directed. It is nevertheless Our Express Will and Pleasure that in such Case the said President shall forbear to pass any Acts but what are Immediately necessary for the Peace and Welfare of our said Colony without our Particular Order for that Purpose.

The Randolph Manuscript. Virginia Seventeenth Century Records (Continued). (1912). The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 20(4), 337–346. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4243223

The Randolph Manuscript. Virginia Seventeenth Century Records (Continued). (1913). The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 21(1), 1–8. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4243241

The Randolph Manuscript. Virginia Seventeenth Century Records (Continued). (1913). The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 21(2), 113–121. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4243258

The Randolph Manuscript: Virginia Seventeenth Century Records (Continued). (1913). The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 21(3), 225–233. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4243279

The Randolph Manuscript. Virginia Seventeenth Century Records (Continued). (1913). The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 21(4), 347–358. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4243299

The Powers of the Governors of the Governor in Early Eighteenth-Century Virginia

“The powers of the royal governor were generally defined in the commission which he received from the crown. The governor’s instructions were more specific in nature and usually stated the exact manner in which the governor was to execute his powers. The commissions and instructions were “issued in the spirit of government ’by royal grace and favor’ and remained static and unchanging throughout the century prior to the American Revolution.

These documents nevertheless, retained an Important place in the governmental system of the colonies. Constitutionally speaking, they formed a basis for the provincial constitutions, and “there were no documents above these to which appeal could be taken.” They were to serve the governor as a guide to the actual frame of government and to the policies which the home officials expected him to pursue.

Of these two documents, the commission was the highest in authority. It was issued under the great seal of England and contained the actual appointment of the governor to his post.”

Lonnes, Anita Joy, “The Powers of the Governor in Early Eighteenth-Century Virginia” (1964). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1539624556. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-fxhg-fx54

Bound to Serve: Indentured Servitude in Colonial Virginia, 1624-1776

“That most people get sick is not surprising,” wrote indentured servant Gottlieb Mittelberger in 1750. “Warm food is served only three times a week …. such meals can hardly be eaten on account of being so unclean. The water which is served on the ships is often very black, thick and full of worms …. the biscuit is filled with red worms and spiders nests.”

Worm-filled water and spider-infested biscuits seemed vile enough, yet conditions could and did get worse for some traveling to the New World. Consider the fate of the Virginia Merchant. In 1649 the Virginia Merchant, filled with 350 men, women, and children, battled a two-front war: the elements and famine. The ship lost its mainmast in a storm off the coast of Cape Hatteras and fought tempests for eleven days. Food ran low, and
men and women bartered over the many rats that infested the ship’s hull. The captain put the weakest ashore on an uninhabited island.

As death took its toll upon the sick, “the living fed upon the dead.” Danger from inhumane conditions and danger from the sea made for a horrendous and potentially life-threatening voyage. Thus were the immigrants initiated to the realities of a new life. The voyage was a foretaste of what was to come.”

“A brief history of indentured servitude can illustrate exactly what being indentured meant in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Indentured servitude was by no means a Virginian invention; one must go to the mother country to find its origins. Agricultural servitude was a traditional form of dependent service in England: it was a renewable, annual contract. The master hired servants in order to increase labor potential beyond the bounds of his family. This type of service was highly suited to the early modern English economy, which was agriculture-based.

Although the precedent for contract labor was established in England, indentures to the colony evolved to better suit the New World. Whether in England or in Virginia, the indenture or contract was a vital part of the business transaction between master and servant. The indenture was a legal contract backed by law. The contractual tradition in England was conducive to the tobacco culture of Virginia. During the seventeenth century, the white servant was more significant than the slave in supplying the demand for labor. In 1683 there were twelve thousand of these quasi-slaves in Virginia, composing about one-sixth of the population.

White indentured servants and their masters came to Virginia mainly from England. According to historian Wesley Frank Craven, the servant’s place of origin was an important issue. Because of the predominance of those of English origin in Virginia, Craven suggested that their identification with the traditions of the common law was significant. From the tradition of common law came the statutes governing the life of the indentured servant.”

“It is instructive to compare the laws created specifically for the indentured white with those for a free person clandestinely marrying a servant. A 1661 law stated: “If any person being free shall clandestinely marry with a servant, he shall pay the Master of the servant 1500 lbs of tobacco or a years service plus a year ( extra) from the servant.”38 While it is true that free persons could be forced to serve the offended master for a period of time, the punishments were less severe than those for the indentured servant. The free person would generally be subjected to fines…

Should children be born from a secret marriage or out of wedlock during the mother’s term of indenture in Virginia, the children would be indentured to the parish until age 21 if male and until age 18 if female. Laws requiring the forced servitude of a child of such a union were harsh if one considers that the average term of indenture for those entering voluntarily was four years. In addition to forced servitude for any children, the mother would serve an extra year in indenture and pay the master 1000 lbs of tobacco (half a year’s work was usually equated with 500 lbs of tobacco). The father must give security to the churchwardens for the sum of 20 shillings for the care of the child. Fornication was also illegal.”

Howard, Penny (1999) “Bound to Serve: Indentured Servitude in Colonial Virginia, 1624-1776,” The Corinthian: Vol. 1 , Article 4. Available at: https://kb.gcsu.edu/thecorinthian/vol1/iss1/4

Sir Samuel Argall: the First Englishman at Mount Desert

The missionary work among the French, undertaken simultaneously with settlement, was so associated with political and commercial interests, that the Virginia Company might well look with apprehension upon the contemplated activities of the Jesuits, of which it was informed when the Grace de Dieu with Fathers Biard and Masse on board, en route to Port Royal, was driven by stress of weather into Newport Harbor, Isle of Wight, in 1611. As a result of this important information, the Trinity term of the Virginia Court, July 11, 1612, commissioned Captain Samuel Argall as Admiral of Virginia, with instructions to prevent the French from obtaining a foothold in North Virginia. Argall, therefore, sailed from England on August 12, 1612, in his ship the Treasurer, in which he was part owner with Sir Robert Rich, afterwards Earl of Warwick, and arrived at Point Comfort on September 27; spent the fall and winter in trading, fishing and exploring and in the spring made his preparations for the trip northward to Saint Croix and Port Royal.
It was sometime in July, 1613, that Argall sailing northward, under orders from Sir Thomas Dale, happened to be in the Mount Desert region. Here he chanced upon the Jesuit settlement at Fernald’s Point, but recently removed by orders from the French sovereign, from Port Royal; made a furious attack upon the colony which should have been better defended, and after a short but sharp conflict, came off an easy victor. The colonists were removed and never again in Eastern Maine did the French make any serious attempt at colonization.

In a “New England Relation,” printed in 1625, mention is made of the abandonment of the Popham colony at the mouth of the Kennebec and that “the Frenchmen immediately tooke the opportunity to settle themselves within our limits, which being heard by those of Virginia, that discreetly tooke to their consideration that the inconvenience that might arise, by suffering them to harbour there, dispatched Sir Samuel Argall, with Commission to displace them, which he performed with much discretion, judgment, valour, and dexterity …. And hereby hee hath made away for the present hopefull Plantation to be made in Nova Scotia, which we heare his Majesty hath lately granted to Sir William Alexander*, Knight.

*Afterwards first Earl of Stirling. An echo of this grant is to be found in the records of Sir Francis Bernard’s attempts to obtain validation of the grant of Mount Desert, made to Bernard by the General Court of Massachusetts, 1762, When Charles I, at the instigation of his Queen , Henrietta Marie, gave Acadia back to France, the Earl of Stirling, to compensate him for the loss of Nova Scotia, was given the County of Canada, extending from the St. Croix to Pemaquid, together with other territory. Complications arising from these facts, prevented approval of the Bernard grant until 1771. See my Sir Francis Bernard and His Grant of Mount Desert, Publications of the Colonial Society of Mass”.

With reference to Popham’s deserted fort on the Kennebec, there is a statement made by the Jesuit Father, Pierre Biard, in a letter to the Provincial, of date January 31, 1612, which makes it clear that one of the reasons which induced Biencourt, the commander of Port Royal, to undertake a trip to the westward, accompanied by Father Biard, was “in order to have news of the English, and to find out if it would be possible to obtain satisfaction from them” (si on pourroit avoir raison d’eux).
Noting certain inherent defects in the plan and defenses of the fort, the Frenchmen evidently concluded that it would be possible to get the better of the English, even if this fortification were well garrisoned; but they were reckoning without Captain Argall, to whom Father Biard was soon to have an introduction at Saint Sauveur. Here at Mount Desert, even if the improvident commander, La Saussaye, in spite of the vehement protestations of the militant members of the colony, set up fruit trees instead of cannon, and laid out gardens rather than fortifications, had listened to Captain Fleury, Lieutenant La Motte and the Jesuits, the English Captain Argall, in his strongly armed ship of some two hundred and fifty tons, with her complement of sixty fighting men, would have proved far too powerful. Argall, by rescuing the grant of North Virginia from the French, most certainly got the better of a movement, which, as Alexander Brown has said, had it not been stopped in the beginning, it is interesting to think what might have been the history of this nation.

As sometimes related, the story of Argall’s dealings with the Jesuits at Mount Desert, leaves nothing to his credit. His stealing of La Saussaye’s commission when that chickenhearted commander, at the first signs of trouble, discreetly took to the woods in the region of Valley Cove, was a senseless bit of villainy; his turning adrift in an open boat, well provisioned to be sure, of many colonists, seems, judged by modern standards, an inhuman act; but it is to be noted that upon the arrival in Virginia, with the remnant of the Saint Sauveur colony, when Marshall Dale threatened hanging, Argall came to the rescue, confessed his duplicity and zealously argued against any such proceedings.
Father Pierre Biard, Superior of Saint Sauveur, was perhaps the greatest sufferer as the result of Argall’s conquest, in body as well as. in mind, and his estimation of a former enemy, written after he was safely back in Europe, is an encomium worthy of remark; for the Jesuit Father has said:
“Certainly this Argall has shown himself such a person that we have reason to wish for him, that from now on, he may serve a better cause and one in which his nobility of heart may appear, not in the ruin, but in the preservation of honest men.”
Turning next to an English contemporary, let us note what Ralph Hamor, one time secretary of the Virginia Company, has to say of Admiral Argall at Mount Desert: “His Norward discoveries towards Sacadehoc, and beyond to Port Royal, Sancta Crux, and thereabout may not be concealed: In which his adventure if he had brought home no commodity to the colony (which yet he did very much both of apparrell, victualls, and many other necessaries) the honour which he hath done unto our Nation, by displanting the French there beginning to seat and fortefie within our limits, and taking of their Ship and Pinnas, which he brought to James Towne, which would have rewarded enough for his paines, and will ever speake loud his honour and approved valour.”

In the investigation which followed the destruction of Saint Sauveur, Argall was vindicated. The average reader of early American history will, however, find but few references to this important detail. On the other hand many of the older histories speak of Captain Argall as a freebooter, pirate, buccaneer or marauder because he attacked the French at a time when England and France were at peace, ignoring two very important points to which attention may now be turned.
There is a clause in the Virginia Charter which conferred upon the colonies of both North and South Virginia the right “to encounter, expulse, 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 especial license of the several said colonies and plantations, shall attempt to inhabit within the said several precincts and limits of the said several colonies and plantations, or any of them.”

The second point is this: On July 11, 1612, at the Trinity term of the Virginia court, Captain Samuel Argall was commissioned as Admiral of Virginia and specially instructed to prevent the French from establishing colonies in North Virginia, and under this authority of the Virginia court, backed by the clause in the Virginia Charter, the French Jesuit settlement at Mount Desert was obliterated. Dr. Burrage, in his Beginnings of Colonial Maine has ably discussed the Saint Sauveur episode in all its various phases and it is not here necessary to go further into detail, for the above mentioned facts are quite sufficient to show that Argall by carrying out instructions should not be anathematized as a pirate or marauder, but ought to be considered an English naval officer who, from the standpoint of British interests in America, performed an act at Mount Desert, the importance of which, in Colonial history, cannot be overestimated.

Sawtelle, William Otis, “Sir Samuel Argall: the First Englishman at Mount Desert” (1923). Maine History Documents. 82. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistory/82

Relations between England and the American colonies,1607-1625

“King James retained considerable control over the first permanent English colony in America. With the grant to the Plymouth and London Companies of 1606, the first attempt was made by the Crown to regulate somewhat the anticipated settlement and government of the colony. By the charter the patentees were granted the land lying along the coast of North America between thirty-four and forty-five degree* north latitude, and the islands adjacent to or within one hundred miles of the coast.


The patentees divided themselves into two companies and colonies “for a more speedy accomplishment of their said intended plantation and habitation.” Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hakluyt, Edward-Maria Wingfield, and other adventurers of London and elsewhere who might from time to time join them, were known as the first colony. This group was to plant its settlement between thirty-four and forty-one degrees north latitude along the coast of Virginia. The second colony was to settle between thirty-eight and forty-five degrees north latitude.

Each colony was to have “all the lands, woods, soil, grounds, havens, ports, rivers, mines, minerals, marshes, waters, fishing, commodities, and hereditaments, whatsoever” from the place of settlement one hundred and fifty English miles along the coast of Virginia toward the west and southwest or south, including the islands within one hundred miles of the coast and fifty English miles to the east, northeast, or north, including the islands within one hundred miles of the coast. The colonies should not be within one hundred miles of one another.

The king expected the colonists to explore the neighboring territory. The Royal Council ordered Captain Newport before he returned to England to spend two months in the exploration and to load his ships with the products of the country.

Any British subjects living in the colonies, and also any children born there, were to “have and enjoy all liberties, franchises, and Immunities, within any of our other dominions, and to all intent and purposes, as if they had been abiding and born within our realm of England.

Under the patent of 1606, the whole of North America between thirty-four and forty-five degrees north latitude was claimed by the king of England. This entire territory was placed under the management of one council, the Royal Council for Virginia. The charter of 1606 gave no governmental powers to the patentees. To carry out the governing of Virginia, three councils were created by the charter. The first, whose thirteen members were appointed by the Crown, was called the Royal Council or Our Council for Virginia.”

Oktabec, Josephine, “Relations between England and the American colonies, 1607–1625” (1953). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 3387. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/3387

History of the United States, or Republic of America

1620:

1643:

1692:

1776:

“1524: Smitten by the common passion of the sovereigns of Europe, for American discovery, Francis I. of France turned aside alike from his elegant and his warlike pursuits, and one year before his defeat at Pavia, he found for his service another Italian discoverer. This was John Verrazani, a Florentine, who reached the continent in the latitude of Wilmington, North Carolina. He then sailed fifty leagues south, but finding no convenient harbor, he returned and cast anchor; being the first European who had afforded the astonished natives the spectacle of the white race. They were received with rude, but fearless hospitality. The color of the Indians, the French compared to that of the Saracens. They looked with wonder upon their wild costume, made of the skins of animals, and set off by necklaces of coral and garlands of feathers. As they again sailed northward along the coast, their senses were regaled by the verdure of the forests, and the perfume of the flowers which they scented from the shores.

At a fine harbor, supposed to be that of Newport in Rhode Island, Verrazani remained fifteen days, and there found “the goodliest people he had seen.” From thence he followed the north-eastern shore of New England, finding the inhabitants jealous and hostile. From the peninsula of Nova Scotia, he returned to France, and wrote a narrative of his voyage, which is the earliest original account of the coast of the United States.”

“1692: In none of the colonies did the Revolution in England produce a greater change than in Massachusetts. In 1692, king William, who had refused to restore its former government, granted a new charter, which, extending its limits, but restricting its privileges, commenced a new era in the history of this colony. Massachusetts now embraced, besides the former territory, Plymouth, Maine, and Nova Scotia; extending north to the river St. Lawrence, and west to the South Sea, excepting New Hampshire and New York; and including, also, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and the Elizabeth islands. Almost the only privilege which the new charter allowed the people, was that of choosing their representatives. The king reserved to himself the right of appointing the governor, lieutenant governor, and secretary; and of repealing all laws within three years after their passage.”

“1755: General Braddock was to attack Fort du Quesne ; Gov. Shirley was to lead the American regulars and Indians against Niagara; the militia of the northern colonies were to be directed against Crown Point; and Nova Scotia was to be invaded.

Early in the spring, the French sent out a powerful fleet, carrying a large body of troops, under the Baron Dieskau, to reinforce the army in Canada.

For the expedition against Nova Scotia, three thousand men, under generals Monckton and Winslow, sailed from Boston on the 20th of May. They arrived at Chignecto, on the Bay of Fundy, the first of June. Here they were joined by 300 British troops, and proceeding against BeauSejour, now the principal post of the French in that country, invested and took possession of it, after a bombardment of five days. The fleet appearing in the river St. Johns, the French set fire to their works, and evacuated the country. Thus, with the loss of only three men, the English found themselves in possession of the whole of Nova Scotia.

Col. Washington, on his return from the Great Meadows, had public thanks voted him by the house of burgesses. He rejoined his regiment at Alexandria, and was ordered by the governor to fill up his companies by enlistments — go back immediately — conquer the French, and build a fort beyond the mountains. He wrote to a member of the council, showing the folly and impracticability of the scheme; and it was given up.”

“1756: The campaign of 1756 had been, during the preceding autumn, provided for by the colonists ; but the bad arrangements of the British cabinet palsied their efforts. Although Shirley had been appointed by the crown, commander-in-chief of the forces, yet Winslow, in consequence of his success in Nova Scotia, had the confidence of the people, without which troops could not be raised. The generous Shirley ceded his claim, and the unfinished plans of the preceding campaign were to be again attempted.”

Willard, Emma. History of the United States, or Republic of America. [ New York, Barnes, 1847] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://archive.org/details/historyofuniteds00willuoft/

An historical geography of the United States

1606:

King James’ Patent of 1606, Dividing Virginia into two parts.

The patents of the Plymouth and London companies in 1606 extended 100 miles from the coast and overlapped each other three degrees of latitude (from 38° to 41°.) Neither company however was to make a settlement within 100 miles of one already made by the other.”

[Norumbega noted on this map].

[Reading the patent itself it states “situate, lying, and being all along the Sea Coasts, between four and thirty (34°) Degrees of Northerly Latitude from the Equinoctial Line, and five and forty (45°) 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”.

Hinted on the map, though not shaded along with the rest of the Plymouth Company lands unlike in earlier works, is the fact that 45° latitude also traverses across Nova Scotia, which, despite being a peninsula, is undoubtedly a part of the mainland. Is this revision meant to satiate those to the north, or their proprietors, after their “Confederation”? If this were a one-off I’d more less likely to attribute it to any kind of an arrangement, but there are other sources which confirm this earlier view. Even if Nova Scotia were an island and not connected to the mainland, it would still be within 50 miles of the seacoast of the shaded area, let alone 100 miles.]

[This might provide insight into the rationale behind naming conventions used for certain communities in Nova Scotia, such as “Virginia East”.]

Virginia East, Nova Scotia
Virginia East, Nova Scotia

1609-1620:

“Reorganization of the Plymouth Company in 1620 as the Council of Plymouth for New England.

The Virginia charter of 1609 bounded the London Company to the land between points 200 miles north and 200 miles south of Point Comfort, throughout from sea to sea, “west and northwest.” The Plymouth charter of 1620 fixed the limits of Plymouth Company between 40° and 48°.”

1640:

“French claims”

1655:

“French claims”

1660:

“Barony of New Scotland”

“Council of Plymouth, of New England. Grants by the Council:

1621 To Sir W. Alexander, Lordship and Barony of New Scotland (Nova Scotia)

1635 To Sir W. Alexander, Pemaquid and Islands of Long, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.”

1664:

“Grants to the Duke of York”

1763:

“Massachussetts until 1696”

[There were other English colonies that existed in 1763 not included in this map. While they did not go on to become part of the United States, they were fellow colonies, at least up until ‘the commencement of hostilities’.]

Maccoun, Townsend. An historical geography of the United States. [New York, Boston etc. Silver, Burdett & company, 1911] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/11031776/

US Federal, State, Territorial and Tribal Constitutions

Federal:

The United States: https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/

State:

Alabama: https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/constitution
Alaska: https://ltgov.alaska.gov/information/alaskas-constitution/
Arizona: https://www.azleg.gov/constitution/
Arkansas: https://www.jonesboro.org/DocumentCenter/View/290/Arkansas-Constitution-PDF
California: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codesTOCSelected.xhtml?tocCode=CONS&tocTitle=+California+Constitution+-+CONS
Colorado: https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/info_center/laws/COConstitution/ColoradoConstitution.pdf
Connecticut: https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/Content/constitutions/Constitution_State_CT.pdf
Delaware: https://delcode.delaware.gov/constitution/
Florida: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Constitution
Georgia: https://sos.ga.gov/sites/default/files/2023-08/Georgia%20Constitution%20-%20Electronic%20Version%20-%20January%2C%202023.pdf
Hawaii: https://lrb.hawaii.gov/constitution/
Idaho: https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idconst/
Illinois: https://www.ilga.gov/commission/lrb/conmain.htm
Indiana: https://iga.in.gov/laws/const
Iowa: https://publications.iowa.gov/9883/1/CONSTITUTION_OF_THE_STATE_OF_IOWA.pdf
Kansas: https://kslib.info/405/Kansas-Constitution
Kentucky: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/constitution
Louisiana: https://senate.la.gov/Documents/LAConstitution.pdf
Maine: https://legislature.maine.gov/doc/10674
Maryland: https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/43const/html/const.html
Massachusetts: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/Constitution
Michigan: https://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(acma0gdbf2kc22n3fyibycee))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=mcl-Constitution
Minnesota: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/constitution/
Mississippi: https://www.sos.ms.gov/content/documents/ed_pubs/pubs/Mississippi_Constitution.pdf
Missouri: https://www.sos.mo.gov/CMSImages/Publications/CurrentMissouriConstitution.pdf?v=202212
Montana: https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/title_0000/chapters_index.html
Nebraska: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs/Current/PDF/Constitution/constitution.pdf
Nevada: https://www.leg.state.nv.us/const/nvconst.html
New Hampshire: https://www.nh.gov/glance/constitution.htm
New Jersey: https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/constitution
New Mexico: https://lawlibrary.nmcourts.gov/new-mexico-constitution/
New York: https://dos.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/01/Constitution-January-1-2022.pdf
North Carolina: https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Constitution/NCConstitution.pdf
North Dakota: https://ndlegis.gov/constitution
Ohio: https://www.ohiosos.gov/globalassets/publications/election/constitution.pdf
Oklahoma: https://oklahoma.gov/labor/transparency/oklahoma-state-constitution.html
Oregon: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/IndexORConstitution.pdf
Pennsylvania: https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/00/00.HTM
Rhode Island: https://www.rilegislature.gov/riconstitution/Pages/default.aspx
South Carolina: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/scconstitution/SCConstitution.pdf
South Dakota: https://sdlegislature.gov/Constitution
Tennessee: https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/pub/blue_book/05-06/46-tnconst.pdf
Texas: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/SDocs/THETEXASCONSTITUTION.pdf
Utah: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/constitution.html
Vermont: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/constitution-of-the-state-of-vermont/
Virginia: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/constitution/
Washington: https://leg.wa.gov/CodeReviser/RCWArchive/Documents/2019/WA%20Constitution.pdf
West Virginia: https://www.wvlegislature.gov/wvcode/wv_con.cfm?lv=true
Wisconsin: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/constitution/wi.pdf
Wyoming: https://sos.wyo.gov/Forms/Publications/WYConstitution.pdf

Territorial:

Tribal:

Alabama:

Poarch Band of Creek Indians Constitution – Muni Code

Alaska:

Arizona:

California:

Connecticut:

Idaho:

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Constitution and Bylaws

Indiana:

Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Constitution

Iowa:

Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa Constitution

Kansas:

Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation Constitution

Louisiana:

Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana Constitution and Bylaws

Maine:

Massachusetts:

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Constitution

Michigan:

Minnesota:

Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Constitution and Bylaws – Consists of the Chippewa Indians of the White Earth, Leech Lake, Fond du Lac, Bois Forte (Nett Lake), and Grand Portage Reservations and the Nonremoval Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians

Lower Sioux Indian Community Constitution

Prairie Island Indian Community Constitution and By-Laws

Mississippi:

Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Tribal Constitution

Montana:

Nebraska:

Nevada:

New Mexico:

New York:

North Dakota:

Oklahoma:

Oregon:

South Dakota:

Texas:

Washington:

Wisconsin:

Note by the Commissioner on the Sources of Land Titles in Maine

Screenshot 2024 03 15 064240

The development of that political jurisdiction and sovereignty, which at the end of more than two centuries ripened into State Independence in 1820, is so peculiar and interesting, and the sources of land titles in Maine are so obscure as to justify a reference to some of the more important links in the intricate historical chain.

In 1493, Alexander VI, Pope of Rome, issued a bull, granting the New World, which Columbus was discovered during the preceding year by the sovereigns of Spain and Portugal. Under this title, Spain laid claim to the entire North American Coast from Cape Florida to Cape Breton, as part of its territory of Bacalaos. It has even been claimed that between 1566 and 1588, Spain took the fortified possession of Maine as a part of its grant at Pemaquid, but such possession, if effected, was abandoned before the end of the sixteenth century.

Although in that age, a Papal bull was usually regarded by British nations as a sufficient title to heathen lands, both France and England protested against the exclusion of so many Christian Princes from this wholesale grant. England, becoming Protestant, did not hesitate to plead against the bull, its legal maxim “Prescriptio sine possessione haud valebat,” and in 1588, Drake decided the issue by his victory over the Danish Armada in the British Channel.

In 1495–6, three years after the discovery of the Western Hemisphere, Henry VII, King of England issued a commission to John Cabot and his sons “to seek out, discover, and find whatsoever Isles, Countries, Regions, or Provinces of the Heathens and infidels” hitherto unknown to all Christians; and, as vassals of the King, to hold same by his authority. (1) Under this commission, the rising Venetians discovered the Western continent more than a year before Columbus saw it, and the American coast, at least as far as Nova Scotia to Labrador. (2) (3)

In 1502, the same king commissioned Hugh Eliot and Thomas Ashurst to discover and take possession of the islands and continents in America; “and in his name and for his use, as his vassals, to enter upon, doss, conquer, govern, and hold any Mainland or Islands by them discovered.” (2)

In 1524, Francis I, King of France, said that he should like to see the clause in Adam’s will, which made the American continent the exclusive possession of his brothers of Spain and Portugal, is said to have sent out Verrazzano, a Florentine corsair, who, as has generally been believed, explored the entire coast from 30° to 50° North Latitude, and named the whole region New France. (1)

In 1534, King Francis commissioned Jacques Quartier [or Cartier] to discover and take possession of Canada; “his successive voyages, within the six years following, opened the whole region of St. Lawrence and laid the foundation of French dominion on this continent.” (1) (2)

In 1574, a petition had been presented to Elizabeth, Queen of England, to allow of the discovery of lands in America “fatally reserved to England and for the honor of Her Majesty,” and, in 1578, she gave a royal commission to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, “for planting our people in America,” authorizing himself, his heirs, and assigning them to discover’, occupy and possess such remote “heathen lands not actually possessed of any Christian prince or people, as should seem good to him or them,” and in 1584, after Gilbert’s death, she renewed the grant to Sir Walter Raleigh, his half-brother.

Under this commission, Raleigh made an unsuccessful attempt to plant an English colony in Virginia, a name afterwards extended to the whole North Coast of America in honor of the “Virgin” Queen. (3)

On November 8, 1603, Henry IV, King of France, granted Sieur de Monts, a Protestant gentleman of the King’s Bedchamber, a royal patent conferring the possession of and sovereignty of the country between latitudes 40° and 46° (from Philadelphia as far north as Katahdin and Montreal). Samuel Champlain, geographer to the King, accompanied De Monts on his voyage, landing at the site of Liverpool, N.S., a region already known as “Acadia,” May 6, 1604, but establishing their first colony of gentlemen, priests, ministers, vagabonds, and ruffians, “the best and the meanest of France,” at Neutral Island, in the St. Croix River, where they passed the winter of 1604-5. After carefully exploring the entire coast of Maine and giving names to Mt. Desert and the Isle au Haut, they abandoned its shores in 1606.(4)

“But the noble efforts of Raleigh had not passed out of thought.” (5) On the last day of March, 1605 (0. S.), Captain George Waymouth sailed from the
Downs in the Arc-angel, a ship which had been fitted out by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Governor of Plymouth, in England (to whom Waymouth on his return gave the three Maine Indians whom he kidnapped), and the Earls of Southampton and Arundel, and anchored off the coast of Maine, May 17, probably under Monhegan Island, whence he visited the mainland and from the anchorage in “Pentecost Harbor” (probably George’s Island Harbor, possibly Boothbay) explored “that most excellent and beneficial River of Sagadahoc,” and afterwards, as some have supposed, the Penobscot, returning the same season to England. (6) (7)

Early the next spring, an association of English gentlemen, prominent among whom was Gorges, obtained from James I, King of Great Britain, a grant of all that part of North America between latitudes 34° and 45° (from South Carolina to New Brunswick) “extending from the sea on the east between those parallels of latitude west, one hundred English miles inland, and the Islands within one hundred miles of the shore, to be holden by them as a corporation, and to their success in the same, and to their assigns, in free and common socage, not in capite, nor by knights’ sevice; but after the form of the royal manor of East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, for the advancement of the Christian religion and the good of God; and to replenish the deserts with people, which would be led by laws and magistrates.” (1)

By the Royal Patent, which passed the seals on April 10, 1606, the grantees were, at their own desire, incorporated into two Companies under one Council of Government, wherein Richard Hakluyt, Somers and their associates, of London, formed the London Company, Dr. First Colony of Virginia; and Lord John Popham, Chief Justice of England, Raleigh Gilbert, George Popham, Sir Ferdinand D Gorges, and others of Plymouth, in the County of Devon, and their associates, formed the Plymouth Colony, or the Second Commonwealth of Virginia. The first colony was permitted to begin a plantation anywhere South of Latitude 41° and the Second Colony anywhere North of 38°, provided that the Colony last planted should not settle within one hundred miles of the other. The government was ordained as a general “Council of Virginia,” consisting of thirteen men appointed by the crown, residing in England, with paramount jurisdiction, to be exercised according to such arrangements as should be given them under the royal sign manual; and two subordinate councils, each of thirteen members, living in America, named in the same way. The first settlement was affected by the London Company of South Virginia at Jamestown, in Virginia, April 26, 1607. (2)

On the last day of the next month, two ships “The Gift of God,” commanded by George Popham, brother of the Lord Chief Justice, and “The Mary and John,” composed by Raleigh Gilbert, son of Sir Humphrey and nephew of Sir Walter Raleigh, sailed from Plymouth with the Plymouth Company of North Virginia, arriving at Monhegan Island, August 8, at Stage Island, August 11, and landing at the site of Fort Popham, at the mouth of the Kennebec, August 18, 1607, where, with Popham for their President and Gilbert for their Admiral, the Colony built a thirty-ton vessel “The Virginia of Sagadahoc” and passed the winter. But they experienced So many misfortunes and discourages in the death of their president, the loss of their fort, storehouse and magazine, and the hostility of the natives, that the settlement was abandoned in the spring, some of the company returning to England, while Some, as there is reason to believe, may have gone to Virginia, and others probable to Monhegan and Pemaquid. (3) (4)

During the next twelve years, settlements were attempted at various points on the coast of Maine, at Mt. Desert, in 1613, by Suassaye, agent of Madame de Guercheville, a French Roman Catholic lady who had procured of De Monts a Surender of his patent, and had obtained a Charter from the French King at Monhegan, in 1614, by Captain John Smith, ex-president of the Commonwealth Council of Virginia Who gave to New England the name which was confirmed by Charles I, when Prince of Wales, by Sir Richard Hawkins, President of the Plymouth Colony in October 1615, -at Saco, by Richard Vines and his companions, whom Gorges hired to remain during the winter of 1617, and others. (5)

The General Court of Massachusetts, by a resolution of July 6, 1787, granted to ”Monsieur and Madame de Gregsire, all such parts and parcels of the island of Mount Desert, and other islands, and tracts of land particularly described in the grant or patent of his late most Christian majesty, Lewis XIV, in April 1691, to Monsieur de la Motte Cadillac, grandfather of said Madame de Gregoire, which now remain the property of this commonwealth,” not so much on account of any legal claim, “the legal title to the lands having been by Iong lapse of possession lost to said heir at law,” but as an “act of the most liberal justice” and “through the liberality and generality of this Court, which are not hereafter to be drawn into precedent.” (6) Perhaps the inlet between Mt. Desert and Gouldsborough may thus have derived the name “Frenchman’s Bay.”

In September 1619, the Leyden Pilgrims who had been in Holland since 1608, obtained a patent from the London or South Virginia Company under which they founded the first permanent Colony in New England, at Plymouth, Massachusetts, Dec. 11, 1620. (0. S.)

While the Pilgrims were on their way under their South Virginia patent, King James, on petition of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, granted to the North Virginia Company a new separate patent dated Nov. 3, 1620, and known as the great Charter of New England, conferring in fee simple all the North American continent and islands between the parallels of 40° and 48°, “throughout the mainland from sea to sea” (from the Bay of Chaleur as far south as Philadelphia). The patentees were forty noblemen, knights, and gentlemen of England, chief of whom were the Duke of Lenox, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Francis Popham, son’ of the late Chief Justice, and Raleigh Gilbert; they were styled “The council established at Plymouth in the County of Devon for planting, ruling, and governing New England in America.” (1)

Whatever may have been the original design of the Pilgrims when they embarked In the Mayflower at Plymouth, their captain landed them nearly a degree north of the extreme limit of the South Virginia patent under which they had sailed, so that the colony found itself from the start within the jurisdiction of the Great Charter of New England.

But Gorges, Chief Manager of the Council, courteously obtained the new colony a Charter issued June 1, 1621, and enlarged in 1630, on which all the legal titles of the “Old Colony” are based. (2)

On February 2, 1619, John Pierce, a London clothier, and his associates obtained a grant. “in the northern part of what was called New England.”

On Feb. 12, 1620, Thomas Weston was sent to the Pilgrims at Leyden, in Holland, to inform them of the fact and to induce them to go there, which, it is stated, they were inclined to do so for “the hope of present profit to be made by the fishing that was found in that country.”

It is recorded in the transactions of the directors of the Virginia Company that prior to June 1, 1621, John Pierce had a grant indorsed by Sir T. Gorges and had seated thereupon a company within the limits of the Northern Plantations. This colony settled in and about Muscongus, north of New Harbor of Pemaquid. This grant of 1619, located prior to February 1620 and settled before 1621, was the root of the Muscongus grant and ended in the Waldo Patent. (3)

But the authority of the Council for the affairs of New England was too remote to be referred to by the Pilgrims. Therefore, they came into a voluntary and solemn compact, dated Nov. 11, 1621, to obey the laws, which should be made by their own common consent, and for this purpose, they assumed the title of a body politic, and proceeded to a division of the land. Under this compact, or at least without other authority, John Billington, one of the original companies of the Mayflower, was executed at Plymlouth in 1630 for the murder of one Newcomin. (4) (5)

On August 10, 1622, the Council granted Gorges and Mason a patent conveying all the country between the Merrimac and Kennebec to the farthest head of said rivers, and many miles inland, with all the islands and islets within five leagues of the shore which “they intend to call the province of Maine,”

On March 19, 1627-8, the Plymouth Council, through the friendly instrumentality of Gorges and the Earl of Warwick, granted to Sir Henry Roswell, John Endicott, and others, the territory, afterwards called the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, “between the great River Merimeck and the Charles River, in the bottom of a certain bay, called Massachusetts Bay; and within three English miles to the Northward of the River Merimeck or to the Northward of any and every part thereof from the Atlantic and Western Sea and Ocean on the East Part, to the South Sea, on the West part.” (6)

To give full effect to this patent, a Royal Charter was obtained on March 4, 1628-9, by which it was erected into a colony, under the name of Massachusetts Bay, and Endicott and his associates were incorporated into a government, with the power to choose a governor, deputy governor, and assistants, annually and forever. (7)

Endicott’s colony of Puritans arrived at Salem in 1628, but the authority of the corporation was exercised under a form of government agreed upon in London on April 30 1629, whereby the sole power was delegated from time to time to thirteen of such residents on the plantation “as should be reputed the most wise, honest, expert, and discreet.” (1)

Gorges claimed that in the Royal Patent to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, it was expressly conditioned that the grant should contain nothing to prejudice his son Robert, who in 1622 had obtained, under the Great New England Charter, the patent of a tract extending ten miles along Massachusetts Bay. But the Massachusetts agents claimed that this grant was “void in law,”  and the colony was advised “to take possession of the chief part thereof,”  which was forthwith done. (2)

In January 1629, before the Puritan colony had been organized upon the shores of Massachusetts, the Pilgrims had received from the Plymouth Council of Gorges an advantageous grant on the Kennebec, since called the Kennebec or Plymouth Patent, comprising a territory of about 1,500,000 acres, fifteen miles in width on each side of the Kennebec River, between Woolwich and Cornville. This grant was sold by the Pilgrim Colony in 1661 for £400 sterling to four persons. In 1753, the lands passed to a company, and were thenceforward known as the Kennebec Purchase. (3)

As early as 1624, Gorges had been called to the bar of the House of Collons to defend the Plymouth Council against the charge of misuse of its charter, and was required to deliver the patent forthwith to the House.

This Gorges declined to do because he had no authority to deliver the patent without the consent of the Council and because it was not in fact in his custody. But the House, in its presentation of grievances to King James, put the Plymouth Patent at the head of the list. Nevertheless, the King refused to recall it.

The next year, James I died. His successor, Charles I, married the daughter of the French King, and stipulated in the marriage treaty to cede Acadia to France.

In 1635, D’Aulney, under Razillai, in behalf of France, took possession of Penobscot [Castine] and drove out the English who had a trading house there. (4)

The north-eastern portion of the Plymouth patent was claimed by the French King. as part of Acadia, and Gorges was again summoned to defend it—this time before the King and his Council.

As soon as the French claim had been disposed of, the Commons again moved the crown for a dissolution of the charter, which the King refused to grant. (5)

On June 7, 1635, the Plymouth Council surrendered to Charles I the Great Charter of New England, which had been granted by James I in 1620, having divided all the territory that had not been deeded by the Council into eight Royal Provinces, four of which were in Maine, and the others in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. Gorges obtained Western Maine, being all the territory between the Piscataqua and the Kennebec, more than one-sixth of the present area of the state.

The Council also petitioned King Charles to revoke the Massachusetts Bay Charter alleging that it had been obtained surreptitiously and was held wrongfully, that a portion of their territory rightfully belonged to Robert Gorges, son of Sir Ferdinando, who, when the governor took actual possession of it, and that the Massachusetts Bay the colonists claimed to be absolute masters of the continent from sea to sea, a distance of more than a thousand leagues. Judgement was given that the franchises of Massachusetts Bay should be seized into the King’s hands, but in the confusion of the times it was never carried into execution.

On April 28, 1634, the King had appointed eleven of his Privy Councillors, Lords Commissioners of all his American plantations, and soon afterwards he made Sir Ferdinando Gorges Governor General over the whole of New England. (6) The same year or the next, he sent over his nephew, William Gorges, as Governor of his lands in Western Maine, which he called “New Somersetshire.” Governor William Gorges
opened a court at Saco as the shire town on March 28, 1636, which was the first organized government established within the present state of Maine.

At this time, there were six permanent settlements within the province: at Agamentic (now York),  at the Piscataqua settlement from Kittery Point to Newichawannock and the Northern Isles of Shoals; at Black Point, in Scarboro; at the Lygonian Plantation, or Casco, now Portland and vicinity; and at the Pejepscot settlements, on the lower Androscoggin, besides the Kennebec patent, which was under the jurisdiction of the Pilgrims. (1)

It was not, however, until April 3, 1639, that Sir Ferdinando Gorges obtained from King Charles, in a Provincial Charter of his Territory, described “all that Parte, Purpart, and Porcon of the Mayne Lande of New England aforesaid, beginning at the entrance of Pascatway Harbor,” extending up that river and through Newichawannock and Salmon Fall rivers, “north-westward, one hundred and twenty miles, and then overland to the utmost northerly end of the line first mentioned, including the north half of the Isles of Shoals;”… “also all the islands and inlets within five leagues of the Mayne, along the coasts between the said rivers Pascatway and Sagadahock, all of which said Parte, Purpart, or Porcon of the Mayne Lande wee doe for us Our heirs and successors create and incorporate into our province or county. And wee doe name, ordeyne, and appoynt that the Porcon of the Mayne Lande and Premises aforesaid shall forever hereafter be called and named THE PROVINCE OR COUNTIE OF MAYNE.” (2)

By this memorable charter, Gorges was made Lord Palatine of a princely domain extending northerly to the mouth of the Dead River and northwesterly to Umbagog Lake, the only instance of a purely feudal possession on this continent: a charter containing more extensive powers than were ever granted by the English crown to any other subject.

Under this Charter, which made the Lord Palatine, his heirs, and assigns absolute Lords Proprietors of the Province, subject only to the supreme dominion, faith, and allegiance due to the crown and certain revenues payable thereto, with the power to erect Courts of justice, and in concurrence with a majority of the freeholders, assembled in legislation, to establish laws extending to life or members, the colony was organized March 10, 1640, by the appointment of Thomas Gorges, cousin to Sir Ferdinando, Deputy Governor, Richard Vines, five other councillors, and the first General Court for the preservation of justice throughout his province, was opened at Saco on June 25 1640. The province was divided by the Kennebunk River into two counties, “East and West,” the former gradually acquiring the name “York” with its shire to at Agamenticus, and the latter the name of “Somerset,” or ‘New Somerset,” with Saco for its shire. (3)

Prior to the surrender of its charter, the Plymouth Council in England had issued twelve land patents within the limits of Maine, in addition to the two already mentioned, viz:

In 1630.
To Lewis and Bonythan on the north side of the Saco River, four miles along the
coast and eight miles inland.
To Oldham and Vines, a similar tract in Biddeford, on the south side of the Saco.
The Muscongus Grant, a territory thirty miles square between the Muscongus and
Penobscot Rivers, aftenvards known as the Waldo patent.
The Lygonia Patent, ending from Kennebunk to Harpswell and forty miles
inland, including rights to soil and government.

In 1631.
The Black Point Patent in Scarboro’, to Cammock, 1,500 acres on the sea coast, on
the east side of the Black Point River;
The Pejypscot Patent on the North Side of the Androscoggin River, to Bradshaw;
The Agamenticus Patent, to Godfrey and others at York, 12,000 acres;
Richmond’s Island and 1,500 acres on the inainland at Spurwink, in Scarboro’, to
Bagnall;
Cape Porpoise (Kennebunk Port),  2,000 acres on the south side, to Stratton.

In 1632.
The Treiawney and Goodyear Patent “between Black Point and the River and Bay of Casco,” including the ancient town of Falmouth (Portland and vicinity), Cape Elizabeth and a part of Gorham.

The Pemaquid Patent at Bristol, between the Muscongus and Damariscotta Rivers, 12,000 acres along the seacoast and up the river, besides all three leagues of islands into the ocean, with powers of government. The Way and Purchas Patent on the lower Androscoggin, reaching Casco Bay,
The whole, embracing the entire seaboard from the New Hampshire line to the Penobscot (save the coast between Sagadahoc and Damariscotta, a tract of five leagues, including the Sheepscot plantation and the Islands, and the most even of those small strip was claimed under the Kennebec Patent. Some of these grants conflicted with each other. (1)

On April 10, 1641, Sir Ferdinando Gorge’s, by a special charter of incorporation, was erected Agamenticus into a “borough,” and by a second charter dated March I, 1642, incorporated it with a territory of twenty-one square miles into a city called Gorgeana, with a charter that allowed no appeal to England. Under this charter, in 1644, a woman was tried, convicted, and executed in Gorgeana for the murder of her husband. (2)

Encouraged by the success of Republicanism in England, Sir Alexander Rigby, a member of the Long Parliament, purchased the Lygonia Patent, taking an assignment of the charter on April 7, 1643, and claimed exclusive jurisdiction thereunder from Kennebunk to Harpswell, but agreed to submit his claim to the Magistrates of Massachusetts Bay, who, in June 1645, dismissed the case, advising the disputants to live in peace until a decision comes from the proper authority.

In March 1646, the Earl of Warwick, whom the House of Commons in 1642 had appointed Governor General and High Admiral of all the American Plantations, and sixteen Commissioners (of whom John Pym and Oliver Cromwell were two) decided that Rigby was “the lawful owner and proprietor, in fee-simple, of the Province of Lygonia, being a tract of land forty miles square, lies on the south side of the river. Sagadahock and adjoining the great ocean, or sea, called Mare del Nort,” and directed the Governor of Massachusetts Bay, in case of resistance, to afford Rigby’s officers all suitable assistance. This restricted Gorges to the Kennebunk River on the East: (3)

The next year, Sir Ferdinando Gorges died in England while in arms for King Charles I against the Parliamentary forces.

At the death of the Gorges, the present area of Maine embraced four great political
sections:
First,—the restricted Province of Gorges, extending from the New Hampshire Line
to the Kennebunk River, and one hundred and twenty miles into the interior.
Second,—Lygonia, extending forty miles east from the Kennebunk River, and forty
miles inland, including Harpswell and the Islands of Casco Bay.
Third,—the Sagadahoc Territory, extending from the Kennebec River to the Penobscot, including several detached settlements, the chief of which was the Pemaquid Patent; and
Foul’th,— The region between Penobscot Bay and the Passamaquoddy or St. Croix
River was, at the time, in substantial possession of the French and claimed by them as part of Acadia. (4)

Discouraged by the dismemberment of the province and the death of the Lord Palatine, followed in less than two years by the execution of the King, the people of Wells, Gorgeana and Kittery held a consultation at Gorgeana in July, 1649, where they formed themselves into this “Social Compact:” — “We, with our free and consent, do bind ourselves in a body political and combination, to see these parts of the Country and province regulated, according to such laws as have formerly been exercised, and such others as shall be thought meet, but not repugnant to the fundamental laws of our native country.” (5)

Two years later, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay put forth a new claim. King Charles’ Charter of 1622–9 embraced “all the lands within the space of three English miles, to the northward of the River Merrimeck, or to the northward of any and every part thereof,” meaning, as had always been supposed, three miles beyond the river, but the colonial government now contended that their charter conveyed all the territory south of the line drawn due east across the country from point three miles north of the shore of the Merrimac to the same latitude on the Maine coast.

At the May session, 1652, the claim was embodied in a Legislative Resolve, and commissioners were appointed to procure “suitable artists (1) and assistants” to take a true observation of the latitude and to make the Survey, which they accomplished in August. 1, 1652, fixing the source of the Merrimac at Lat. 43° 40′ 12″, and at the October session their report was accepted, and the jurisdiction of Massachusetts was declared to extend as far north and east as a line drawn due east from a point three miles north of the head waters of the Merrimac in Lat. 43° 43′ 12″, “touching the southernmost bend of the River Presumpscot, and touching the coast at Goose Rock” (on the line which still divides the towns of Falmouth and Cumberland) “and terminating at Split Rock, on the northern point of Upper Clapboard” (Sturdivant’s) “Island, in Casco Bay, about three miles eastward of the Casco Peninsula” (Stover’s Point). (2)

The authorities of Massachusetts Bay at once proceeded to enforce their claim as fast as practicable upon the inhabitants of the Province of Maine and of Lygonia, South of 43° 43′ 12″, Luckidly for them, Edward Rigby, son and heir of Sir Alexander who had died in 1650, was pleased, at this juncture, to address the leaders of Lygonia a letter, dated London, July 19, 1652, notifying them that he conceived that all political power derived from his father expired at his death and commanding them to desist and abstain from the full exercise thereof, thus extinguishing the Lygonia government of which Saco had made the shire. (3)

In November 1652, a commission was appointed by the General Council of Massachusetts Bay was opened at Kittery, which had been incorporated into a town under the Government of Gorges five years before. and the inhabitants were persuaded to acknowledge their subjection to the government of Massachusetts Bay in New England.

Proceeding to Gorgeana, which had been erected into a borough by Sir Ferdinando Gorges in 1641, and chartered by him as a city in March 1642, abolished its charter and named it York, being the second town incorporated into the state. The next year, Wells, Saco, and Cape Porpoise (now Kennebunkport) were incorporated as towns by the Massachusetts Bay Commissioners. In July. 1658, Scarboro’ and Falmouth were incorporated out of the Lygonia territory and declared to be a part of Yorkshire. On October 27, 1658, the towns of York, Kittery, Wells, Saco, and Cape Porpoise were presented their memorial to “Lord Cromwell,” expressive of their satisfaction in the new government as administered by Massachusetts Bay, with a request for its uninterrupted continuance. (4)

At the restoration, in 1660, Ferdinando Gorges, grandson of the Lord Palatine, made claim to the Province of Maine, appealing to King Charles II in Council and to Parliament. (5)

Although the Committee of Parliament reported in favor of Gorges, it was not until January 11, 1664, that he obtained from the King an order to the Governor and Council of Massachusetts Bay forthwith to restore to him his province, or without delay assign their reasons for withholding it, and on June 11, 1664, the King addressed them a letter communicating his decision. But, notwithstanding, neither the King nor the Parliament of Charles II had any sympathy with the Massachusetts authorities, and In spite of the defects in that colony’s title, the General Council didn’t succeed in delaying final judgment for twenty years. (6)

But as early as March 12, 1664, the King granted to his brother James, Duke of York and Albany (afterwards King James II), all the Dutch territory on the Hudson River, including Long Island, together with the whole region between the St. Croix and Pemaquid, “thence to the Kennebeck and so upwards, to the ruler of Canada Northward.”

This grant was known as “The Duke of York’s Property,” “The Territory of Sagadahock, New Castle, and “The County of Cornwall.”! It was an encroachment upon the Kennebec Patent, the Pemaquid Patent, the Muscongus Patent, and others. Col. Nichols assumed the government of the ducal province as Deputy Governor under his Royal Highness, on Sept. 5, 1665, possession was taken of the Sheepscot plantation as the shire of the New County of Cornwall, the plantation being named Dartmouth or New Dartmouth . (1)

By 1670, the “Province of Maine” had been substantially reduced to the subjection of Massachusetts Bay; the interior regulations of Yorkshire had been perfected by the establishment of courts and the appointment of magistrates, commissioners, and judges, chief of whom was Thomas Danforth.

But the French, who were in full possession of Nova Scotia (including New Brunswick) and the territory west as far as the Penobscot River, boldly claimed jurisdiction over the rest of the Duke of York’s Patent, even to the Kennebec. In this aspect of affairs, both Massachusetts Bay and Duke’s colonists had reason to apprehend the sale or resignation of his entire Eastern patent to the French.

“To contravene a measure so much apprehended, the General Council in May, 1671, suspecting the accuracy of the survey of 1651,” determined to have a revision of their Northern line, which was accordingly made by Mountjoy of Falmouth in 1672, who found it six minutes further north, at 43° 49′ 12″, crossing the Kennebec near Bath, and terminating at White Head Island in Penobscot Bay. This new line, “run more suitable to the exigency,” added to the Massachusetts Bay Charter an extensive seaboard, also Arrowsic, Parker’s, and George’s Islands, with Monhegan, Matinicus, Damariscove and, in fact, all the other islands along the coast, and even the principal settlement at Pemaquid, “but happily, not embracing Dartmouth, the seat of the Duke’s Government.”

Encouraged by the recapture of the fort at New York by the Dutch armor On June 30, 1673, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay sanctioned Mountjoy’s Survey and in October 1673, proceeded to erect the easternmost section of the readjusted patent beyond Sagadahoc into a new county. In May 1674, a court was opened at Pemaquid, which was made the shire of the “County of Devonshire,” extending from Sagadahoc to Georges’ River.

But by a treaty of peace signed on February 9, 1674, Holland had already restored the Province of New York to the English, and on June 22, 1674, King Charles granted to the Duke of York a new patent comprising all the territories embraced in that of 1664. The Duke thereupon commissioned Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of both provinces, New York and Sagadahock, and Andros assumed the government in October. (2)

In 1676, Gorges and Mason, in their complaint against Massachusetts Bay, they had instituted in 1659, succeeded in persuading the King to serve legal notice of the charges against the Massachusetts Bay authorities and to require the appearance of its agents in defense.

Toward the end of the year, the Massachusetts agents appeared before a committee of the Privy Council, who gave a decision substantially extinguishing the claims of Massachusetts Bay to Maine, but leaving the rightful ownership of the province undetermined.

In consequence of this decision, the authorities of Massachusetts Bay employed John Usher, a Boston trader then in England, in behalf of the Colony, purchased all his interest in the Province. May 6, 1677, Ferdinando Gorges gave Usher an assignment of THE PROVINCE OF MAYNE for £1,250 sterling, with all “royalties, jurisdictions, ecclesiastical, civil, admiral, and military;— the privileges, governments, and liberties” that had been granted to Sir Ferdinando Gorges by charter of King Charles I, April 3, 1639, covenanting that “Usher should stand seized of an absolute, perfect, and independent estate of and in the said County Palatine,” excepting the grants made by the original proprietor or his agents. (3)

The purchase of Maine by the colony of Massachusetts Bay displeased Charles II who was himself, at the time, in a treaty with Gorges for its purchase for his natural son, the Duke of Monmouth (afterwards executed by Charles’ brother James), and he remonstrated with the colonial government on their conduct, and Even required the colony’s agents to assist it to the crown upon payment of the purchase money; to this demand, little attention was paid, and at the October session, the General Court resolved to keep the province. Accordingly, in February 1680, it was determined to assume the Royal Charter granted to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and to frame a civil administration over the province in conformity with its provisions,” consisting of a standing Council of eight members appointed by the Massachusetts Bay Board of Colony Assistants and a House of Deputies chosen by the towns in the province, with a President chosen by the Board of Assistants: (1)

Thomas Danforth of Cambridge, Deputy Governor of Massachusetts Bay, was chosen President of Maine and at once entered upon his duties, proclaiming his authority at York in March, and at Fort Loyal at Casco Neck in Falmouth (now Portland) on September 2, 1680, where President Danforth and his two assistants gave the name of North Yarmouth to a new plantation adjoining Falmouth on the east, eighth town incorporated in Maine. (2)

But the charter of Massachusetts Bay was now so violently assailed that in 1683, the The General Court directed its agents in England to resign to the crown the title deeds of Maine provided that the colonial conflict could be saved. Their proposition was not acceptable, for a writ of quo warranto has already been brought before the court of King’s Bench on July 20, and was served on the Governor of Massachusetts Bay in October, 1683. This not proving sufficient, a writ of scire facias was sued out of the Chancery Court at Whiteball in June 1684, under which the Royal Charter was granted to the Colony of Massachusetts Bay by Charles I in 1628 was promptly adjudged to be forfeited, and the liberties of the colonies were seized by the crown. (3)

The infamous Col. Kirke was immediately appointed by Charles II, Governor of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, New Hampshire, and Maine, but before his embarkation from England, the Duke of York succeeded to the throne as James II, Feb. 16. 1685, and was publicly proclaimed in York in April. He was not inclined to renew the appointment of Kirke, but commissioned Joseph Dudley, a native of Massachusetts, as President of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Rhode Island, with fifteen mandamus councillors appointed by the Crown to assist him.

The last General Court under the Massachusetts Bay Court of Charles I organized May 12, 1686, but was dissolved by President Dudley on May 20. (4)

Within five months, he was superseded by Sir Edmund Andros, who arrived in Boston on December 20, 1686, and on the same day published his commission. He has been for eight years the Ducal Governor of New York and Sagadabock, and was now made captain-general and governor-in-chief of all of New England. (5)

On April 18, 1689, a revolution took place in Boston, and the populace seized and imprisoned Governor Andros and a bunch of his partisans, and Andros was finally induced to surrender the keys of government and the command of the fortifications.

A general convention of the people was assembled on April 20, and a meeting of the General Court was called in Boston on May 22, which determined to resume the government according to charter rights, a resolution was called into effect on May 24, 1689.

Two days later, news arrived from England that James II had abdicated the British throne December 12, 1688, and that William and Mary had been proclaimed King and Queen, February 16, 1689. Danforth was re-elected President of Maine and continued to govern the province of Maine under the provisions of the Charter to Gorges until May 6, 1692.

Finally, the Province of Massachusetts Bay, the Pilgrim Colony of Plymouth, the Province of Maine, together with Sagadabock and Acadia (or Nova Scotia, including New Brunswick) were all incorporated into the Royal Province of Massachusetts Bay by the charter of William and Mary, which received royal sanction on October 7 1691, and took effect May 6, 1692. But Nova Scotia (with New Brunswick) was soon after being relinquished by Massachusetts to the entire exclusive dominion of the British crown.

The present state of Maine, at the time of this consolidation, consisted of three principal divisions:


I— The original ”Province of Maine” granted by Charles I to Sir Ferdinando Gorges in 1639, extending from the New Hampshire line to the Sagadahock’ or Kennebeck and one hundred and twenty miles into the interior, which his grandson Ferdinando Gorges was sold to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1677.
II.—The Province of Sagadabock, between the Kennebeck River and Nova Scotia, and extending “Northward to the River of Canada,” or latitude 48°, embracing not only the second principle in the eight great divisions of 1635, lying between the Kennebeck River and Pernaquid, but the ducal province of James II (as Duke of York) includes the rest of the whole territory between Pemaquid and St. Croix which had reverted to the crown on his abdication in 1688.
III.— The territory north of the original grant to Gorges, between the Northern limit of his patent and the Canada Line. (1)

As the Palatine Province of Maine was limited to one hundred and twenty miles from the sea, it may be asked how the Colony of Massachusetts Bay could, either by its purchase from Gorges or, under the charter of William and Mary, acquire title to that feasible territory in the north-western corner of the present State of Maine, between the northerly line of Gorges’ Province and the Canadian boundary, as conceded by the treaty of independence. Perhaps no better answer can be readily given than that of the learned attorney General of Massachusetts; in the first year of this century; the question “is not of much consequence.” (2)

The Provincial Charter of Massachusetts Bay continued to be the foundation and ordinance of civil government in Massachusetts and Maine for eighty-eight years, until the adoption of a Republican Constitution by the parent nation on October 25, 1780 (N.S.)

With the consolidation of 1692, the ephemeral counties of Somerset, Cornwall and Devonshire, and for seventy-eight years thereafter, the County of York, which was created by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Lord Palatine of the Province of Maine in 1610, and the first volume of whose records begins with the court opened at Saco, June 25, under the charter of Charles I, embraced the whole of Maine until November 2, 1760, when the counties of Cumberland and Lincoln were created by an act of the Provincial Legislature.

The formation of a Republican Constitution by the people of Massachusetts Bay and the recognition of that Commonwealth as an independent state within three years afterward seem to have inspired in the inhabitants of Maine a desire for separation. Indeed, as early as 1778, the Continental Congress had divided the United States into three districts, the Southern, Middle, and Northern, the last embracing the three Eastern counties of York, Cumberland, and Lincoln, which thus acquired a distinctive name, “THE DISTRICT OF MAlNE,” which it retained until the separation. Twelve years later, the First Federal Congress re-established the same division under the National Constitution.

Very soon after the acknowledgment of independence, separation began to be generally agitated throughout the district, and in September 1785, a notice appeared in The Falmouth Gazette, a paper that had made its appearance on New Year’s Day, calling a conference at Messrs. Smith and Dean’s Meeting House in Falmouth on October 5th to consider the proposal to erect the three eastern counties into a separate Government. Accordingly, thirty-five delegates appeared from twenty of the principal towns of each of the counties and organized a convention where William Gorham, of Gorham, was chosen President and Stephen Longfellow, Jr., of Gorham, Secretary. The convention voted to call another convention at the same place. on January 4, 1786, to consider the expediency and means of forming a separate state.


Governor Bowdoin, in his speech to the General Court, October 20, 1785, of his Council, deprecated the movement, and the General Council, in their reply, concurred in his views. The Convention, however, assembled and appointed a committee of nine whose report, stating the grievances and inconveniences under which the district labored, was signed by the President and sent to every town and settlement in Maine, and the Convention appointed another Convention to be held at the same place on September 6 1786; it was also voted to request the towns and plantations at their next March meetings to choose delegates and to certify the number of votes for and against the choice.

A convention, consisting of thirty-one members, was accordingly assembled and a committee to petition the General Court that the District of Maine be erected into a separate state and adjourned to January 3, 1787. On its re-assembling, the Convention found that of the ninety-three towns and plantations in Maine, only forty had been represented in any Convention, and of those only thirty-two had returned their votes; that was the whole number of votes returned was only 994, of which 645 were in favor of separation and 349 were opposed. Finally, the Convention, by a majority of two, directed the Committee to present or retain the petition, at their discretion, and adjourned from time to time until September, 1788, when it ejected the non-attendance of its members. The Committee finally decided to present the petition in 1788, and it was only referred to a committee of the General Court, which was the end of the agitation for nearly thirty years.

At the close of the war of 1812–15, the subject was revived, and at the January session of General Court in 1816, petitions were presented from forty-nine Maine towns in their corporate capacity, and individuals in many others, in favor of separation, wherein the Legislature directed town and plantation meetings to be held on the question throughout the district on May 20.

At the June session, it was found that out of the total number of 37,828 legal voters Only 16,891 had voted, of whom 10,393 favored separation and 6,501 opposed it. Thereupon, the Legislature of Massachusetts called for a second vote from the district in September and authorized each town to choose delegates to a convention to be held at Brunswick on the last Monday in September, which should count the votes, and if five-ninths of the votes returned were in favor of separation, they should also form a Constitution, but not otherwise.

A Convention of 185 delegates assembled and elected William King, of Bath, President, but of the 23,316 votes cast, only 11,969, a majority of less than five ninths, were for separation. Nevertheless, the Convention appointed a committee to frame a constitution and another to apply to Congress for admission into the Union and then adjourned to December.

But the General Court, convening in the meantime, dissolved the Convention. Still, the agitation continued, and at the May session of 1819, petitions for separation were presented from about seventy towns. By an act passed June 19, the General Court directed the voters of Maine to vote on the question July 24, and if the majority in favor of separation should exceed 1,500, the governor was authorized to proclaim the result and to direct the towns at the September election to choose delegates to a constitutional convention.

On August 24, Governor Brooks made the proclamation that separation had been carried out by the requisite majority of 9,959 to 7,132, and issued his call for a convention. The delegates chosen for the next month assembled at the convention in Portland on October 11 and organized by electing William King, President, and Robert C. Vose, Secretary.

The Convention completed the proposed Constitution on October 29 and adjourned to January 5, 1820, after submitting it to the people in town meetings to be held in December 6,1819.

On re-assembling, the Convention found that the Constitution had been adopted by
a large majority and announced the result to the people of Maine, as did Governor Brooks in his message to the General Court of Massachusetts. The Convention also applied to Congress for admission, which was granted by the Act of March 3, 1820, and Maine became an independent state of the Union on March 15, 1820.

During its connection with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, six new counties were included within the District of Maine, viz.—

Hancock and Washington, May 2, 1790, by act of June 25, 1789;
Kennebec, April 1, 1799; —February 21, 1799;
Oxford, —March 4, 1805;
Somerset, June 1, 1809;— March 1, 1809;
Penobscot, April 1, 1816;— February 15, 1816.

Since its independent existence, seven other counties have been organized in Maine. viz:-
Waldo, July 4, 1827, by act of February 7, 1827;
Franklin, May 9, 1838;  “March 20, 1838;
Piscataquis, May 1, 1838; March 23, 1838;
Aroostook, May 2, 1839; “”March 16, 1839;
Androscoggin, “.. March 18, 1854; March 31, 1854.”
Sagadahoc, April 5, 1854.” “April 4, 1854;
Knox, April 1, 1860,”… March 5, 1860;
being in all sixteen counties.

In conclusion, it may be said that private land titles in Maine are derived from six principal sources.

I— Possession.
II— Indian deeds.
III— The patent of the French King Louis XIV, in 1603, to Monsieur de la Motte Cadillac; substantially confirmed by a resolution of the General Court of Massachusetts Bay passed on July 6, 1787. 
IV— The Great Charter of New England, granted by James I, King of Great Britain, to the North Virginia or Plymouth Colony, issued November 3, 1620; through divers grants made by the Plymouth Council before the signing of its Charter in 1635, viz: between 1622 and 1632.
V— The Provincial Charter granted by Charles T., King of Great Britain, to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, April 3, 1639; through various grants from Gorges prior to the sale of his charter by his grandson Ferdinando Gorges to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1677, and through grants directly from the Colony of Massachusetts ‘Bay and the Province and State of Massachusetts after said sale.
VI— The Royal Charter issued by Charles I to the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, March 4, 1628; through grants directly from the colony after its assertion of a claim, thereunder to Latitude 43° 43′ 12″ and to 43° 49′ 12″ in 1652 and 1673.

The political sovereignty and authority of government in Maine is derived of course, directly from the act of Congress admitting Maine into the Union, passed March 3, 1820, and the consent of Massachusetts expressed in the act of its General Court passed June 19, 1819. The independence of Massachusetts itself rests on the Declaration of the Continental Congress, adopted on July 4, 1776. The Province of Massachusetts Bay, which sent its delegates to the Congress was chartered by William and Mary on October 7, 1691, which charter is, roughly speaking, the basis of the government of the States of Massachusetts and Maine.
Yet the germs of the State of Maine are to be found in the. grant of James I to the North Virginia or Plymonth Colony, issued November 3, 1620, and to the Pilgrim Colony of Massachusetts, dated June 1, 1621, and what is known as the Warwick Patent to the Pilgrim’s issued in 1629–30; in the two grants of his son Charles T, one to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, dated April 3, 1639, and purchased by Massachusetts Bay in 1677; the other to the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, March 4, 1628–9; in the extinction conquest of the claim maintained by France to the eastern part of Maine until the capture of Canada by the British government in 1759, and in terms of the Treaty of Independence of September 3, 1783, by which Great Britain conceded to the United States a boundary that includes within the limits of the District of Illinois a portion of territory in the Northwest extending beyond the terms of any prior grant from the British Crown, but which was curtailed on the Northeast by releasing to Great Britain its territory northerly of the river St. John, in the settlement of the Northeastern boundary in 1842. 

Legislature of the State of Maine. “The Revised Statutes of the State of Maine, Passed August 29, 1883, and Taking Effect January 1,1884.”, Portland, Loring, Short & Harmon and William M. Marks. 1884. https://lldc.mainelegislature.org/Open/RS/RS1883/RS1883_f0005-0017_Land_Titles.pdf

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