Chapter IV (1)

Committees and Councils Under the Restoration.

Charles II landed at Dover on May 25, 1660 and on the twenty-seventh named at Canterbury four men, General Monck, the Earl of Southampton, William Morrice, and Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, who took oath as privy councillors. Others who had been members of the Council on foreign soil or were added during the month following the return of the King swelled the number to more than twenty. The first meeting of the Privy Council was held on May 31, and it was inevitable that during the ensuing weeks many petitions concerning the various claims and controversies which had been agitating merchants and planters during the previous years and had been reported on by the Committee for America should have been brought to the attention of the Council. Such matters as appointments to governorships and other offices, the political disturbances in Antigua, Barbadoes, and Jamaica, the titles to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Barbadoes, became at once living issues. Many of the petitions were from the London merchants, and we may not doubt that the personal influence of those whose names have been already mentioned was brought to bear upon the members of the Council. It became necessary, therefore, for the King and his advisers to make early provision for the proper consideration of colonial business in order that the colonies might be placed in a position of greater security and in order that the West Indian and American trade, from which the King and his Chancellor expected important additions to the royal revenue, might be encouraged and extended. Among the petitions received in June, 1660, were two from rival groups of merchants interested in the governorship and trade of the island of Nevis. One of these petitions desired the confirmation of the appointment of Col. Philip Ward as governor of Nevis; the other the reappointment of the former governor, Russell. This was the first difficult question that had yet arisen, for Berkeley's return to Virginia was a foregone conclusion, while the condition and settlement of Nova Scotia, Barbadoes and Jamaica were to be of importance later. Acting on these petitions regarding Nevis, only the second of which is entered in the Privy Council Register, the King in Council appointed on July 4, 1660, a committee, known as "The Right Honorable the Lords appointed a Committee of this Board for Trade and Plantations." The members were Edward Montague, Earl of Manchester, the Lord Chamberlain; Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, the Lord Treasurer; Robert Sydney, Earl of Leicester; William Fiennes, Lord Say and Seale; John Lord Robartes; Denzil Holles, Arthur Annesley, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, and the Secretaries of State, Sir Edward Nicholas and Sir William Morrice. The committee was instructed to meet on every Monday and Thursday at three o'clock in the afternoon, "to review, heare, examine, and deliberate upon any petitions, propositions, memorials, or other addresses, which shall be presented or brought in by any person or persons concerning the plantations, as well in the Continent as Islands of America, and from time to time make their report to this board of their proceedings."[1]

It is evident from the wording of these instructions that the committee was designed to be a continuous one and to carry on the work of the former committee for foreign plantations of the Council of State. There is no essential difference between these committees, except that one represented a commonwealth and the other a monarchy. We pass from the one arrangement to the other with very little jar, and with much less sense of a break in the continuity than when we pass from the system under the Republic to that under the Protectorate. The Privy Council committee had all the essential features of a standing committee and, after the experiment with separate and select councils had proved unsatisfactory, it assumed entire control of trade and plantation affairs in 1675, a control which it exercised until 1696. Though an occasional change was made in its membership and some reorganization was effected in 1668, the Lords of Trade of July 4, 1660, commissioned with plenary powers by patent under the great seal, became the Lords of Trade of February 9, 1675.

From 1660 to 1675 this committee of the Privy Council played no insignificant part although, after the creation of the councils, it was bound to be limited in the actual work that it performed. During the four months after its appointment it was the only body that had to do with trade and plantations except the Privy Council, which occasionally sat as a committee of the whole for plantation affairs. During the summer the committee considered with care and a due regard for all aspects of the case the claims of various persons to the government of Barbadoes. Despite the opposition of Modyford, who had been commissioned governor by the Council of State the April before, and John Colleton, one of the Council of Barbadoes, and despite the efforts of Alderman Riccard and other merchants of London, Francis Lord Willoughby was restored to the government under the claims of the Earl of Carlisle. At the same time the claims of the Kirks, Elliott, and Sterling to Nova Scotia were examined and eventually decided in favor of Col. Temple, the governor there. Willoughby immediately appointed Capt. Watts governor of the Caribbee Islands, himself, through his deputy, took the governorship of Barbadoes, Modyford became governor of Jamaica, Berkeley of Virginia, and Russell of Nevis. It is at least worthy of recall that Willoughby, Watts, Temple, and Russell were all within the circle of Povey's friends, that Povey and Noell both petitioned the King for Russell's reappointment, and that Temple wrote Povey begging him to exert his influence in his (Temple's) behalf, lest he lose the governorship. Povey was certainly in high favor with the monarchy; in 1660 he was appointed treasurer to the Duke of York and Master of Requests to his Majesty in Extraordinary June 22, 1660,[2] and during the years that followed he held office after office and with all the skill of a politician continued to find offices for his kinsmen. William Blathwayt, of later fame, was his nephew. Noell was no less honored; he became a member of the Royal Company of Merchants, the Royal African Company, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, and was finally knighted in 1663 and died in 1665.[3] As we shall see, both men became very active in the affairs of the plantations, and it is more than likely that the opinions of the King in Council were not infrequently shaped by their suggestions and advice.

How early the decision was reached to create separate councils of trade and foreign plantations it is impossible to say. Some time between May and August, 1660, Povey must have planned to recast his "Overtures" and to present them for the consideration of the King. At first he endeavored to adapt those of 1657 to the new situation by substituting "Foreign Plantations" for the "West Indies," "Ma^{tie}" for "Highness," and "his Ma^{ties} Privie Councill" for "the great Councill"; but he finally decided to present a new draft, in which, however, he retained many of the essential clauses of the former paper. Whether the recommendations of Povey as presented in the "Overtures" influenced Lord Clarendon to recommend such councils to the King we cannot say; it is more likely that the practice adopted under the Protectorate had already commended itself to the Chancellor, who was beginning to show that interest in the plantations which characterizes the early years of his administration. That he should have consulted Noell and Povey and other London merchants is to be expected of the man who for at least five years kept up a close correspondence with Maverick of New England, Ludwell of Virginia, and D'Oyley, Littleton, and Modyford in the West Indies,[4] and who was constantly urging upon the King the importance of the plantations as sources of revenue and the great financial possibilities that lay in the improvement of trade. On August 17, 1660, the King in Council drafted a letter to "Our very good Lord the Lord Maior of the Citty of London & to the Court of Aldermen of the said City," reading as follows:

"After our hearty commendations these are to acquaint you, That
his Majesty having this day taken into his princely consideration
how necessary it is for the good of this kingdom, that Trade and
Commerce with foreign parts, be with all due care, incouraged
and maintayned, And for the better settling thereof declared his
gracious intention to appoint a Committee of understanding able
persons, to take into their particular consideration all things
conducible thereunto; We do by his Ma^{ts} special command and
in order to the better carrying on of this truly royal, profitable,
and advantageous designe, desire you to give notice hereof
unto the Turkey Merchants, the Merchant Adventurers, the East
India, Greenland, and Eastland Companys, and likewise to the
unincorporated Traders, for Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, and
the West India Plantations; Willing them out of their respective
societies to present unto his Majesty the names of fower of their
most knowing active men (of whom, when his Majesty shall have
chosen two and unto this number of merchants added some other
able and well experienced persons, dignified also with the
presence and assistance of some of his Majesty's Privy Council)
All those to be by his Ma^{tie} appointed constituted and authoried
by commission under the Great Seal as a Standing Committee, to
enquire into and rectify all things tending to the Advancement
of Trade and Commerce; That so by their prudent and faithful
council and advice, his Ma^{tie} may (now in this conjuncture,
whilst most Foraigne Princes and Potentates doe, upon his Ma^{ties}
most happy establishment upon his throne, seek to renew their
former Allyances with this Crowne), insert into the several
Treatyes, such Articles & Clauses as may render this Nation more
prosperous and flourishing in Trade and Commerce. Thus by prudence,
care, & industry improving those great advantages to the highest
point of felicity, which by its admirable situation Nature seems
to have indulged to this his Majesty's kingdom. So we bid you
heartily farewell."[5]

This letter was signed by Chancellor Hyde, Earl of Southampton, George Monck, Earl of Albemarle, Lord Say and Seale, Earl of Manchester, Lord Robartes, Arthur Annesley, and Secretary Morrice, who probably formed a special committee appointed to draft it. Some time within the month the answer of the Aldermen must have been received, for on September 19 the Council ordered the attorney general "to make a draught of a commission for establishing a Councell of Trade according to the grounds layed" in the letter of the seventeenth of August, "upon the perusal whereof at the Board his Ma^{tie} will insert the names of the said Counsell." It is more than likely that the project for the second council, that of plantations, went forward _pari passu_ with the Council for Trade and that the letter to the Mayor and Aldermen served a double purpose. At any rate that must have been the understanding among those interested at the time, for on September 26, one Norwich, Captain of the Guards, who had been in Clarendon's employ, sent in a memorial to the Chancellor begging that the King employ him "in his customs and committees of trade and forraign plantations."[6] The matter of drafting the commissions must have taken some time, for they are not mentioned as ready for the addition of names before the last week in October. The business of making up the lists of members must have been a difficult and tedious matter. Many lists exist among the Domestic Papers which contain changes, erasures and additions, drafts and corrected drafts, which show how much pains Clarendon and the others took to make the membership of the Council of Trade satisfactory. A suggested list was first drawn up containing the names of privy councillors, country gentlemen, customers, merchants, traders, the navy officers, gentlemen versed in affairs, and doctors of civil law. With this list was considered another containing the names of the persons nominated by the different merchant companies. Other lists seem also to have been presented.[7] Probably in much the same way the list of the members of the Council for Foreign Plantations was made up, but more slowly.

The commissions were both ready by October 25 and on November 7 had reached the Crown Office (Chancery), ready to pass the great seal. The commission for the Council of Trade passed the great seal on that day and is dated November 7, 1660; but the commission for the Council for Foreign Plantations was held back that the names of other members might be added and it became necessary to have a new bill passed and duly engrossed three weeks later.[8] Therefore the commission for the Council for Foreign Plantations is dated December 1, 1660.

An analysis of the membership of these two councils and of the membership of the Royal African Company, created soon after, shows many points of interest. The Council of Trade consisted of sixty-two members, that of Foreign Plantations of forty-eight,[9] and that of the African Company of sixty-six. Twenty-eight members are common to the first two bodies, eleven are common to the Council of Trade and the Royal African Company, and eight are common to all three groups. These eight are John Lord Berkeley of Stratton; Sir George Carteret, Sir Nicholas Crispe, Sir Andrew Riccard, Sir John Shaw, Thomas Povey, Martin Noell, and John Colleton. The other members common to the two councils are Lord Clarendon, the Earl of Southampton, Earl of Manchester, Earl of Marlborough, Earl of Portland, Lord Robartes, Francis Lord Willoughby, Denzil Holles, Sir Edward Nicholas, Sir William Morrice, Arthur Annesley, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, William Coventry, Daniel O'Neale, Sir James Draxe, Edward Waller, Edward Digges, William Williams, Thomas Kendall, and John Lewis; while among the other members of the Council for Foreign Plantations are such well-known men as Sir William Berkeley, Capt. John Limbrey, Col. Edward Waldrond, Capt. Thomas Middleton, Capt. William Watts, and Capt. Alexander Howe. Thus the merchants, sea-captains, and planters, men thoroughly familiar with the questions of trade and plantations and intimately connected with the plantations themselves are members of the Council of Plantations and sometimes of that of Trade also. It is significant that among the four London merchants common to all three groups should be found the names of Noell and Povey. Their associates, Crispe and Riccard, were persons well known in the history of London trade, and probably the four names represent the four most influential men among the merchants of London who supported the King. When we turn to the work of these councils we shall see that Povey and Noell were active members also.

However uncertain we may be regarding the influence of Povey and Noell in shaping the policy of Clarendon and the King, that uncertainty disappears as soon as we examine the instructions which were drafted to accompany the commission for a Council for Foreign Plantations. The instructions are little more than a verbal reproduction of the "Overtures" which Povey drafted some time during the summer of 1660 for presentation to the King. They are based on the earlier overtures and proposals and certain passages can be traced back unchanged to the first "Overture" of 1654. Seven of the eleven clauses are taken from the Povey papers as follows:

_Overtures._ _Instructions._

They may forthwith write letters 2. You shall forthwith write
to everie Governour ... requiring letters to evrie of our
an exact and perticular Account of Governo^{rs} ... to send unto
the State of their affairs; of the
nature and constitution of their 3. you ... perticular and exact
Lawes and Government, and in what accompt of the state of their
modell they move; what numbers of affaires; of the nature and
them, what Fortifications, and constitution of their lawes and
other Strengths, and Defences are governm^{t} and in what modell
upon the Places. and frame they move and are
disposed; what numbers of men;
what fortifications and other
strengths and defences are upon
the place.

To apply to all prudentiall meanes 5. To applie your selves to
for the rendering these Dominions all prudentiall means for the
usefull to England, and England rendering those dominions usefull
helpfull to them; and that the to England, and England helpful
Severall Pieces, and Collonies bee to them, and for the bringing the
drawn and disposed into a more severall Colonies and Plantacons,
certaine, civill, and uniform waie within themselves, into a more
of Government; and distribution of certaine civill and uniforme
publick justice. [waie] of government and for the
better ordering and distributeing
of publicque justice among them.

To settle such a continuall 4. To order and settle such a
correspondencie, that it may be able continuall correspondencie that
to give upp an account once a yeare you may be able, as often as you
to his Ma^{tie} of the Goverment of are required thereunto, to give
each Place; of their Complaints, up to us an accompt of the
their Wants, their Aboundance, of Governm'{t} of each Colonie; of
everie Shipp trading there, and its their complaints, their wants,
lading; and whither consign'd; and their abundance; of their severall
to know what the proceeds of that growths and comodities of every
Place have been that yeare; whereby Shipp Tradeing there and its
the instrinsick value, and the true ladeing and whither consigned and
condition of each part and of the what the proceeds of that place
whole may be thoroughly understood; have beene in the late years; that
and whereby a Ballance may be thereby the intrinsick value and
erected for the better ordering and the true condicon of each part of
disposing of Trade, and of the the whole may be thoroughly
growth of the Plantations, that soe, understood; whereby a more steady
each Place within itself and all of judgem^{t} and ballance may be
them being as it were made up into made for the better ordering and
one Comonwealth, may by his Ma^{tie} disposing of trade & of the
bee heere governd, and regulated proceede and improvem^{ts} of the
accordingly, upon common and equal Plantacons; that soe each place
principles. within it selfe, and all of them
being collected into one viewe and
managem^{t} here, may be regulated
and ordered upon commonand equall
ground & principles.

To enquire diligently into the 6. To enquire diligently into
Severall Governments and Councells the severall governm^{ts} and
of Plantations belonging to Councells of Colonies Plantacons
forreigne Princes, or States; and distant Dominions, belonging
and examine by what Conduct and to other Princes or States, and
Pollicies they govern, or benefitt to examine by what conduct and
their own Collonies, and upon what pollicies they govern or benefit
Grounds. And is to consult and them; and you are to consult and
provide soe, that if such Councells provide that if such councells be
be good, wholesome, and practicable, good wholesome and practicable,
they may be applyed to our use; or they may be applied to the case
if they tend, or were designed to of our Plantacons; or if they
our prejudice or Disadvantage, they tend or were designed to the
may bee ballanced, or turned-back prejudice or disadvantage thereof
upon them. or of any of our subjects or of
trade or comerce, how then they
may be ballanced or turned back
upon them.

To receive, debate, and favour 11. To advise, order, settle, and
all such Propositions as shall dispose of all matters relating to
be tendered to them, for the the good governm^{t} improvement
improvement of any of the forreigne and management of our Forraine
Plantations, or in order to any Plantacons or any of them, with
other laudable and advantageous your utmost skill direccon and
enterprize. prudence.

To call to its Advice and 7. To call to your assistance
Consultation from time to time, as from time to time as often as the
often as the matter in debate and matter in consideration shall
under consideration shall require, require any well experienced
any well experienced Persons, persons, whether merchants,
whether Mechants, or Seamen, or planters, seamen, artificers,
Artificers. etc.

In the "Overtures" there are no clauses corresponding to those in the Instructions relating to the enforcement of the Navigation Act or to the spread of the Christian religion; these may well be deemed Restoration additions, inserted at Clarendon's request. But the clause concerning the transportation of servants, poor men, and vagrants may well have been Povey's own, for both Povey and Noell were interested in the question and Noell had been in the business since 1654. In the "Queries" is the following paragraph:

"Whither the weeding of this Comon Wealth of Vagabonds, condemned
Persons and such as are heere useless and hurtful in wars and
peace, and a settled course taken for the transporting them to
the Indias and thereby principally supplying Jamaica is not
necessary to be consulted."

Among the Povey papers is one entitled "Certain propositions for the better accommodating the Forreigne Plantacons with Servants," which Povey may have drawn up. Hence, there is no good reason to doubt but that Povey wrote the entire draft of these instructions himself. Even those portions that are not to be found in the "Overtures" are written in Povey's peculiar and rather stilted style.

That Povey and Noell were the authors of the instructions given to the Council of Trade it is not so easy to demonstrate. A preliminary sketch of "Instructions for a Councill of Trade" as well as a copy of the final instructions are to be found among the Povey papers and both Povey and Noell were sufficiently familiar with the requirements of trade at that period to have drafted such a document. The fact that the second paper is but an elaboration of the first leads to the conclusion that they bear to each other much the same relation that the "Overtures" bear to the Instructions for the Council of Plantations:

FIRST DRAFT. FINAL INSTRUCTIONS.

1. You shall in the first place 1. You shall take into your
consider, and propound how to consideration the inconveniences
remedy inconveniencys of the the w^{ch} the English Trade hath
English trade, in all the respective suffered in any Partes beyond the
dominions of those Princes and Seas, And are to inquire into such
States with whom his Mat^{ie} may Articles of former Treaties as
renew Alliance, and to that end have been made with any Princes or
make due enquiry into such former States in relation to Trade, And
treaties as relate to Trade. to draw out such Observations or
Resolutions from thence, as may be
necessary for us to advise or
insist upon in any forreigne
Leagues or Allyances. That such
evills as have befallen these our
Kingdomes through the want of
good information in these great
and publique concernm^{ts} may be
provided against in tyme to come.

What Articles have bin provided 2. You are to consider how & by
in favour of the Trade of his whome any former Articles or
Ma^{ties} Subjects, How they have Treatyes have been neglected or
been neglected & Violated, What violated, what new Capitulations
new Capitulations may be necessary are necessary either to the
pro Ratione Rerum, et temporum. freedome of Sale of your
Commodities of all sorts, as to
And those, either in Relation: price & payment, Or to the best
expedition of Justice to the
1. To the freedome of Sale of your recovery of Debts, or to the
Commodities of all sorts, as to Security of Estates of all factors
price & payment. & their Principalls in case of the
factor's Death, Or to the
2. To the best expedition of prevention of those interruptions
Justice for recovery of your debts. w^{ch} the Trade & Navigations of
our Kingdomes have suffered by
3. To the security of the Estates Imbargoes of forreigne Princes or
of all factors, and their States, Or Imprestinge the Shipps
Principalls in case of the factor's of any of our Subjects, for their
death. Service.

4. To the Prevention of the 3. You are to consider well the
Interruption of the Trade & Interest of all such trades as
Navigation, by Embargos of forraigne are or shall be Incorporated
Princes & States, or imprestinge by our Royall Charters, & what
your Shipps to their Service. Jurisdictions are necessary to
be obteyned from such as are,
5. To the Interest of all Trades or shall be in Allyance with us,
that are or shall be incorporated for the more regular managem^{t}
by his Mat^{ies} Charters, what & governm^{t} of the Trade,
jurisdictyon is necessary to be & of the members of those our
obtained from our Allies, for Corporations & forreigne
the more regular government factories.
of the Trade & members of those
Corporations in forraigne 4. You are to consider of the
factoryes. several Manufactures of these our
Kingdomes how & by what occasions
2^{ly}. And next you shall they are corrupted, debased &
consider, how the reputation disparaged, And by what probable
of all the manufactures of his meanes they may be restored &
Mat^{ies} Kingdome may be recovered maintained in their auncyent
by a just regulation and standard goodness & reputation, And how
of weight, length, and breadth, they may be farther improved to
that soe the more profitable and there utmost advantage by a just
ample Vent of them may be procured. Regulation & Standard of weight
Length & Breadth, that soe the
private profitt of the Tradesmen
or Merchants may not destroy
the Creditt of the Commodity,
& thereby render it neglected
& unvended abroad, to the great
loss & scandall of these our
Kingdomes.

5. You are also to take into
your Consideration all the
native Commodities of the growth
& production of these our
Kingdomes, and how they may be
ordered, nourished, increased &
manifactured to the ymployment
of our People and to the best
advantage of the Publique.

4^{ly}. How the fishinge Trades 6. You are especially to
of Newfound Land, the Coasts consider of the whole business
of England, Irland, & New of fishings of these our
England may be most improoved, Kingdomes or any other of our
and regulated to the greatest distant Dominions or Plantations
advantage of the Stocke and & to consult of some effectuall
navigation of the nation, by meanes for the reinforceing
excludinge the intrusion of our encouraging & encreasinge, and
neighbors into it. for the regulating & carryinge
on of the Trade in all the
Parts thereof. To the end That
the People and Stock, and
Navigation of these our Kingdomes
may be ymployed therein and
our Neighbors may not be
enricht with that which soe
properly & advantagiously may
be undertooke & carryed on by
our own Subjects.

3^{ly}. How the Trade of the 7. You are seriously to
Kingdome to forraigne parts consider & enquire whether the
may be soe menaged and Importation of forreigne
proportioned, that we may in Commodityes doe not over-ballance
every part be more Sellers than the Exportations of such as are
buyers, that thereby the Coyne Native, And how it may be soe
and present Stocke of money may Ordered remedied, & proportioned
be preserved and increased. that we may have more
Sellers than Buyers in every
parte abroad, And that the
Coyne & present Stock of these
our Kingdomes, may be preserved
& increased, We judging,
that such a Scale & Rule of
proportion is one of the highest
and most prudentiall points
of Trade by w^{ch} the riches
& strength of these our Kingdomes,
are best to be understood
& maintained.

8. You are to consider & examine
by what wayes & means other
Nations doe preferr their owne
growths & Manifactures, &
Importations, & doe discourage
& suppress those of these
our Kingdomes, & how the best
contrivances and managem^{t}
of Trade, exercysed by other
Nations may be rendred applicable
& practicable by these our
Kingdomes.

9. You are well to consider all
matters relatinge to Navigation,
& to the increase, & the Security
thereof.

10. You are thoroughly to consider
the severall matters relatinge
to Money, how Bullonge may be
best drawne in hither, & how any
Obstructions upon our Mynt may
be best removed.

5^{ly}. How the forraigne 11. You are to consider the
Plantations may be made most useful general State & Condition of our
to the Trade & Navigation of these forreigne Plantations & of the
Kingdomes. Navigation Trade & severall
Commodityes ariseinge thereupon,
& how farr theire future
Improvem^{t} & Prosperitie may
bee advanced by any discouragement
Imposition or Restraint, upon
the Importation of all goods or
Commodityes w^{th} which those
Plantations doe abound, and may
supply these our Kingdomes, And
you are alsoe in all matters
wherein our forreigne Plantations
are concerned to take advise or
information (as occasion shall
require) from the Councell
appointed & sett apart by us to
the more perticuler Inspection
Regulation and Care of our
forreigne plantations.

12. You are to consider how
the transportation of such
things may be best restreined
and prevented, as are either
forbiddenby the Lawe,
or may be inconvenient,
or of disadvantage by being
transported out of these our
Kingdomes and dominions.[10]

The councils thus commissioned and instructed soon met for organization and business, the Council for Plantations holding its preliminary session December 10, 1660, in the Star Chamber, and all remaining meetings in the Inner Court of Wards; the Council for Trade meeting, first, in Mercer's Hall, near Old Jewry, afterwards in certain rooms in Whitehall, still later in a rented house which was consumed in the great fire, and, after 1667, in Exeter House, Strand. Philip Frowde became the clerical secretary of the Plantation Council and George Duke secretary of the Council of Trade, a position that he seems to have lost in 1663 but to have resumed again before 1667. The meetings were attended chiefly by the non-conciliar members, for it was usually the rule that privy councillors were to be present only when some special business required their cooeperation. Both councils were organized in much the same manner, with a number, at least seven, of inferior officers, clerks, messengers, and servants, and in both cases journals of proceedings and entry books containing copies of documents, patents, charters, petitions, and reports were kept.[11] Whether minutes were taken of the meetings of the subcommittees is doubtful; no such papers have anywhere been found.

The Council for Plantations had a continuous existence from December 10, 1660, when the preliminary meeting was held, probably until the spring of 1665, though August 24, 1664, is the date of its last recorded sitting. During that time it shared in the extraordinary activity which characterized the early years of the Restoration and represents, as far as such activity can represent any one person, the enthusiasm of the Earl of Clarendon. There was not an important phase of colonial life and government, not a colonial claim or dispute, that was not considered carefully, thoroughly, and, in the main, impartially by the Council.[12] The business was nearly always handled, in the first instance, by experts, for with few exceptions the working committees were made up of men who had had intimate experience with colonial affairs or were financially interested in their prosperity. The first committee, that of January 7, 1661, for example, was composed of Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, who had been on plantation committees during the Interregnum; Robert Boyle, president of the Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England and one of the founders of the Royal Society; Sir Peter Leere and Sir James Draxe, old Barbadian planters; Edmund Waller, poet and parliamentarian, who had been interested in colonial affairs for some years; General Venables, who knew Jamaica well; Thomas Povey, Edward Digges, John Colleton (soon to be Sir John), Martin Noell (soon to be Sir Martin), and Thomas Kendall, all merchants and experts on colonial trade, and Middleton, Jefferies, Watts, and Howe, sea-captains and merchants in frequent touch with the colonies. Other committees were made up in much the same way, although the number of members was usually smaller. When letters were to be written or reports drafted that required skill in composition and embodiment in literary form, we find the task entrusted to Povey alone or to Povey assisted by the poets Waller and Sir John Denham. Povey was, indeed, the most active member of the Council, serving as its secretary in much the same capacity as on the Committee for America from 1657 to 1660.[13] On both these boards he exemplified his own recommendation that there should be on the Council "a Person who is to be more imediately concern'd and active than the rest ... allwaies readie to give a full and digested account and consideracon of any particular relating to those Affaires." Among the Povey papers are many drafts of letters and reports in process of construction, bearing erasures and additions which point to Povey as their author.[14]

The Council for Plantations and its committees sat and deliberated apart, the latter in Grocer's Hall; but the subjects under examination were considered by both bodies. The subcommittees were frequently instructed to call in persons interested, to write to others from whom information could be obtained, and to pursue their investigations with due regard for both sides of the case. Sometimes questions would be submitted to the attorney general, to Dr. Walter Walker and others from Doctors Commons, to special members of the Council who were more familiar than the rest with the facts in the case. On at least one occasion all the members of the Council were requested to bring in what information they could obtain regarding a particular matter. Question after question was postponed from one meeting to another, because the Council had not obtained all the details that it felt should be in hand before the report was sent to the King in Council. On a few occasions members of the Council accompanied the report to the Privy Council apparently with the intention of explaining or emphasizing their recommendations. The subjects under debate concerned the internal or external affairs of all the colonies. They related to Jamaica, Barbadoes, Maryland, Virginia, and New England, including Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, Maine, and Long Island; they dealt with Quakers, Jews, vagrants, and servants, supplies, provisions, naval stores, emigrant registration, and abuses in colonial trade; they included that burning question of the period, the Dutch at New Amsterdam and the complaints that arose regarding Holland as an obstruction to English trade. The amount of time taken and pains expended on controversial points can be inferred from an examination of the New England case, which was taken up at the first regular meeting in January and was under examination from that time until April 30, when the Council sent in its report. Even then it was taken up by the Privy Council, referred to its own committee, called the Committee for New England, and in one or two particulars was sent back to the Council for further consideration. In the performance of its duties the Council for Plantations can never be charged with indolence or neglect. In the year 1661 alone it held forty meetings, or an average of one every nine days.

After August, 1664, the records of the Council come to an end, but there is reason to believe that the Council continued its sessions at least until the spring of 1665. That the last meeting was not held on August 24 is certain, not only from the wording of the minute, which reads: "ordered, being a matter of great moment and the day far spent, that the further consideration be deferred for a week," but also from two further references to the existence of the Council, of later date,--one dated September 7, when the Council sent in a report regarding the proposed establishment of a registry office, and the other in the form of an endorsement upon a letter from Lord Willoughby which says: "Ref^{d} to the Council, Feb. 24," that is February 24, 1665. It seems probable, therefore, that the Council was sitting as late as February-March of that year.[15] Probably its meetings were broken up by the plague which started in London about that time, in the westernmost parish, St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and lasted until the end of October. Whether the Council resumed its sessions after the plague had subsided it is almost impossible to say. No definite record exists of its meetings or work. Some of its members had died, Sir Martin Noell in October, 1665, and Sir Nicholas Crispe the next year; others had left England, Lord Willoughby, Capts. Watts and Kendall, and possibly Sir James Draxe; while others had accepted posts that took them away from London, as in the case of Capt. Middleton, who became commissioner of the navy at Portsmouth. Certainly Povey could have had very little to do with the affairs of a council in London in 1664-1666, when as surveyor-general of the victualling department he was required to be frequently at Plymouth and to spend a considerable amount of time travelling about England.[16] Yet there is nothing to show that its commission was revoked, and an order of the Privy Council, September 23, 1667, to which further reference will be made below, reads as if the Council were in existence at that time. If so, it must have been merely a nominal body.

After 1665, and until 1670, plantation affairs seem to have been controlled entirely by the Privy Council and its committees, which proved themselves capable and vigorous bodies. Before 1666, besides the Committee for Foreign Plantations, which has already been noticed, other committees were appointed as occasion arose,--committees for Jamaica, for Jamaica and Algiers, for the Guinea trade, for the Royal Company, for fishing in Newfoundland, for Jersey and Guernsey, and for New England. Committees for Trade and for hearing appeals from the Plantations also existed. On December 7, 1666, after the plague had subsided and the great fire had spent itself, the Privy Council reappointed its plantation committee, which now entered upon a career of greatly increased activity.[17] At the same time the Council made use of its other committees, particularly the "Committee for the Affaires of New England and for the bounding of Acadia," October 2, 4, 1667, which took into consideration the question of the restitution of Acadia to the French;[18] and it referred important matters of business to committees of selected experts. Under these conditions the affairs of the colonies were managed until the appointment of a new Plantation Council in August, 1670.

The Council for Trade met in Mercer's Hall some time before November 13, 1660, and at its preliminary session considered that part of its instructions which related to bullion and coin. On December 13, 1660, it passed a resolution urging and inviting people and merchants to send in petitions, and it requested the King to issue a proclamation defining its powers in all matters relating to trade and manufactures and calling on "any person, concerned in the matters therein to be debated or who have any petition or invention to offer, to apply to them for redress of evils brought on by the late times or for the improvement of trade regulations."[19] In response to, this appeal a large number of petitions, sent either to the Privy Council or directly to the Select Council itself, were received, and the discussion of these petitions and the preparing of reports upon them occupied the attention of the Council during the first two years. These reports show that the Council took its duties seriously and was thoroughly in earnest to improve, if possible, the trade of the kingdom, and to carry out to the full the commands which the King had laid upon it. There is not a clause of the instructions to which it did not pay some attention, and upon many matters it debated long and ardently, making reports that are as valuable for the student of the trade policy of the seventeenth century as are the familiar writings of well-known mercantilists. The Council took up and discussed the export of bullion and coin, expressing its opinion that the penalties should be withdrawn as injurious to trade, because they prevented the English merchants from bringing their money into the kingdom where it would be detained, and saying that money most abounded in countries which enjoyed freedom from restraints on exports. The trade in the Baltic, the East Indies, and the Levant to which trade freedom to export bullion was preeminently important; the Merchant Adventurers, regarding whose history and position the Council made a valuable report, viewing the subject from the beginning; the East India Company, whose petition,--largely reproduced in the report of the Council,--contained a bitter arraignment of the Dutch, calling to mind the "impudent affronts to the honor of this nation and the horrid injuries done to the stock and commerce thereof," and demanding damages and a definite regulation of trade in the forthcoming treaty with Holland then under debate; treaties with foreign powers, clauses in which concerning trade were taken up at the early meetings of the Council; prohibition of imposts on foreign cloths and stuffs, regarding which sundry shopkeepers, tradesmen, and artificers of London had petitioned the Privy Council in November, 1660,[20]--all these matters the Council took under consideration. It dealt with the granting of patents, with the encouragement of home industries, particularly the business of the framework knitters, silk-dyeing, and the manufacture of tapestry, and with the establishment of an insurance company.[21] As far as the plantations were concerned, its recommendations were few, and were made chiefly in connection with reports on the ninth and eleventh articles of its instructions, which touched upon convoys, imports, and composition-ports. It drafted a carefully drawn list of necessary convoys in which, of all the American plantations, only Newfoundland is mentioned. It considered the importation of logwood and tobacco, and upon the latter point made the suggestion "that all tobacco of English Plantations do pay at importation 1/2d. a pound and at exportation nothing." This recommendation was accompanied by a valuable essay on trade in general. It dealt with the question of making Dover a free port for composition trade and took the ground that the Acts of Navigation should be inviolably kept. On this question the Earl of Southampton, the Treasurer, and Lord Ashley (Cooper), Chancellor of the Exchequer, took the opposite ground, favoring the freedom of the port, "Dover having formerly been a port for free trade," and adding that "a free trade thus settled we conceive might conduce to the advantage of your Majesty's customs," trade being injured by the "tyes and observances which the Act of Navigation places upon it." They reported further that the farmers of the customs wished the Act to be dispensed with in some cases.[22]

Regarding the attitude of the Council toward the sixth article of its instructions, the promotion of the fisheries, we have fuller information. At the session of December 17, 1663, there were present the Earl of Sandwich, William Coventry, Sir Nicholas Crispe, Henry Slingsby, Christopher Boone, John Lord Berkeley, Sir Sackville Crowe, Thomas Povey, John Jolliffe, and George Toriano. Acting on a special order from the King, they debated how best the fishing trade might be gained and promoted, and how encouraged and advanced when gained. They considered the respective merits of a commission and a corporation, and whether, if a corporation should be agreed upon, it ought to be universal or exclusive, perpetual or limited, a joint stock or a divided stock, and what immunities and powers should be granted, the character of the persons to be admitted and the number. Taking up each point in turn, the members of the Council first considered "How to gain the Trade of Fishery" and laid down seven methods: 1, 2, by raising money either through voluntary contributions or through lotteries; 3, 4, by restraint of foreign importation or by impositions upon all foreign importation; 5, by letters to all countries urging them to contribute such especial commodities as cordage, lumber, boards, and the like, in exchange for fish; 6, by declaring a war against the Dutch, and at the same time, 7, by naturalizing or indenizing all Hollanders who would come into the English fishery. For the support of the trade when gained the Council proposed: 1, to impose a proportion of fish upon every vintner, innkeeper, alehouse-keeper, victualler, and coffee house in England; 2, to refuse all licenses for fish, which were to be paid for to the corporation; 3, to take the stock of the poor of every parish and provide for the impotent and aged only out of the product, and employ such as were able to work in the fishery--the impotent in the making of nets, etc.; 4, to require the gentlemen of all maritime counties to raise a stock of money in their counties to be employed toward the advance of the fishery; 5, to raise busses, _i. e._, Dutch herring boats, and to set them forth to their own use and to receive the profits in fish or in the product of it; 6, to employ the imposition laid upon fish by the last Parliament for the purpose of advancing the trade; to accept the offer of fishmongers to raise busses and money; 8, to require the master and wardens of the company, and, 9, to encourage private persons to do the same; 10, to bring over Dutchmen to teach the English the art of curing, salting, and marking fish, and of making casks. It was then decided, "after a long and solemne debate of the whole matter," _nemine contradicente_, "that there being no disadvantage in a corporation But many great Advantages, powers and Immunities that cannot be had by Commission That the best way of advancing & encouraging the Fishing Trade is by way of [a] Corporation." To this corporation were to be granted "the sole power of Lycensing the Eating and killing of flesh in Lent," the power to make by-laws, to dispose of "guifts that are or shalbee given for carrying on of this Trade," to administer oaths, to constitute officers, to exercise coercion in case of contempt against orders, to fine and in some cases to imprison, to send for papers, persons, books, etc. The corporation was to be universal, perpetual, and a joint stock company.[23] As a result of the report of the Council a charter of incorporation was issued to the Duke of York and thirty-six others, forming the Governor and Company of the Royal Fishery of Great Britain and Ireland, and George Duke, "late Secretary to the Committee of Trade," was recommended by the King as its secretary.[24]

This account of the debate in the Council upon the fishery question is important not only because it gives an interesting glimpse of the Council at work, and the only glimpse that we have at any length of its procedure, but because it illustrates a phase of mercantilism in the making. It shows, also, the intensity of the rivalry that existed between England and Holland, and furnishes an admirable example of one of the causes of that rivalry, the Dutch predominance in the fishing business.[25] The Council frequently appealed to the methods employed by the Dutch as a sufficient argument to support its contention, and when objections were raised against the universal corporation it answered, "You destroy the essence of a Corporation by lymitting it, And if you lymitt it, no man will venture their Stocke, and the mayne reason why the Dutch employ not only their Stocke but their whole families in the fisheries, is because their corporation is perpetual."

How much longer the Council of Trade continued its sessions it is impossible to say. Its last recorded action is a report, dated July, 1664, which contained its opinion upon the question of trade with Scotland, a matter soon to be taken up by the higher authorities. It is probable that, as in the case of the Council of Plantations, its sessions were suspended because of the plague and the fire and were not resumed. Its commission was not revoked and it certainly had a nominal existence until 1667. That it had no actual existence in April, 1665, seems likely from a letter sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury at that time, begging that the King appoint a council of trade to find out the cause of the decay in the coal trade.[26] By the summer of 1665 trade was reported dead and money scarce and to the plague was ascribed "an infinite interruption to the whole trade of the Nation." The fire and the Dutch war completed the demoralization of commerce and in 1666 the plantations were deemed in great want of necessaries on account of the obstructions of trade by the war. Though in that year many questions arose that might naturally have been referred to such a council had it been in session, no such references appear among the records. The advancement of trade was looked after by the Privy Council and its trade committee, and particularly by the Committee of Trade appointed by Parliament. The latter body had been named as early as March, 1664, to investigate the export of wool, wool-fells, and fullers' earth. A few weeks later it was entrusted with the duty of inquiring into the reasons for the general decay of trade. As this function was conferred on the Parliamentary Committee at a time when the Select Council was still holding its sessions, it is reasonable to suppose that the work of the latter body had not proved satisfactory. There is some slight evidence to show that the meetings of the Council were at this time but little attended and that its members were not working in harmony.[27] The Parliamentary Committee, acting as a Council of Trade, ordered representatives from all the merchant companies to prepare an account of the causes of obstruction in their different branches, and when the latter, among other obstacles, named the Dutch as the chief enemies of English trade, resolved that the wrongs inflicted by the Dutch were the greatest obstructions to foreign trade, and recommended that the King should seek redress. Other causes were considered and debated.[28]

An excellent idea of procedure can be obtained from studying the history of trade relations with Scotland during this decade. Immediately after the passage of the Navigation Act of 1660, the Scots petitioned that the Act might be dispensed with for Scotland, and special deputies were sent from the Scottish to the English Parliament to prevent, if possible, the extension of the Act to their country. The matter was referred to the Customs Commissioners and to the Privy Council, and the latter appointed a special committee to investigate it. Both of these bodies reported that the grant of such liberties to the Scots would frustrate the object of the Act, and gave elaborate reasons for this opinion.[29] As an act of retaliation the Scottish Parliament laid heavy impositions upon English goods, and English merchants in 1664 petitioned Parliament for relief. Parliament recommended the appointment of referees on both sides and in July, 1664, the Privy Council placed the matter in the hands of Southampton, Ashley, and Secretary Bennet. This committee laid the question before the Council of Trade, which suggested a compromise, whereby duties on both sides should be reduced to 5 per cent., the Scots should have the benefits of the Act of Navigation but no intercourse with foreign plantations, and should not buy any more foreign built ships. As a result of these and further negotiations Parliament passed an act in 1667,[30] "for settling freedom and intercourse of trade between England and Scotland," and under the terms of that act commissioners were appointed to meet with commissioners for Scotland in the Inner Star Chamber to negotiate a freedom of trade between the two countries. The commissioners duly met on January 13, 1668, and the papers recording their negotiations are full and explicit. The whole question of the relations between England and Scotland since the union, both political and economic, was investigated with great care; papers were searched for, records examined, memorials and petitions received, and various conditions of trade inquired into. The commissioners frequently disagreed and harmony was by no means always attained, resulting in delays in drafting the treaty and the eventual failure of the negotiations. In October the Scottish commissioners returned to Edinburgh, and the conditions remained as before.[31]