Chapter VI: Part 6

46. Item: wee doe moreover requier that according to your oaths and severall charges your thoughts & endeavors be unanimouslie employed for performance of our instructions in generall, & particuler that chieflie aiminge at the establishment of the Colonie your selves & all of us that have endeavorid therein may bee comforted in a happie apparence of prosperity of the plantacion which wilbe glorious before God and infinitt honor, strenght & profitt to our King & Cuntry.

47. Lastly wee pray you that no shipp that now or at any time wee shall send at the companies charge to Virginia bee suffered to stay ther above thirty dayes for avoiding of charge which hath heretofore grown uppon long voydges in freight & wages & that you suffer not in the said shipps any goods provicions sent thither to bee brought from thence againe by any marriners, passengers or others uppon paine of some punishment to be inflicted upon them; and although the infancy of the plantacion may nott some time afford the more valuable comodities to freight the shipps home uppon so short a stay, yett wee suppose that a prudent course & preperacion may at last afford them choice timber as clear walnutt or some other such lesse valueable commodity to add to ther lading which will yeild more profitt to the Companie with the shipps quicke returne then is usueally raised by ther best comodities when longer accompt for freightt hath drawne on a further charge. Given under the Counsell scale the fower and twentith day of Julie, 1621; and in the yeare of the raign of our soveraigne Lord James, by the grace of God of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the faith, &c., that is to say of England, France and Ireland the nineteenth and Scottland the fower and fiftith.

Signed by the Earl of Southampton

Sir Edwin Sandis
Mr. John Davers
Mr. John Ferrar, deputy
Mr. Thomas Gibbs
Mr. Sam Wrote
Mr. Nicholas Ferrar
Doctor Anthony
Doctor Williamson
Doctor Galston
Mr. George Sandys

Kingsbury, Vol. III, pp. 468-482.

TREASURER AND COMPANY. AN
ORDINANCE AND CONSTITUTION FOR
COUNCIL AND ASSEMBLY IN VIRGINIA

JULY 24, 1621

To all people to whom these presents shall come, bee seen or
heard, the Treasuror, Council and Company of Adventurers and
Planters of the Citty of London for the First Collony in
Virginia send greeting: knowe yee that wee, the said
Treasuror, Counsell and Company, takeing into our carefull
consideracion the present state of the said Colony in
Virginia, and intending by the Devine assistance to settle
such a forme of government ther as may bee to the greatest
benifitt and comfort of the people and wherby all injustice,
grevance and oppression may bee prevented and kept of as
much as is possible from the said Colony, have thought fitt
to make our entrance by ordaining & establishing such
supreame Counsells as may not only bee assisting to the
Governor for the time being in administracion of justice and
the executing of other duties to his office belonging, but
also by ther vigilent care & prudence may provide as well
for remedy of all inconveniencies groweing from time to time
as also for the advancing of encrease, strength, stabillitie
and prosperitie of the said Colony:

Wee therefore, the said Treasuror, Counsell and Company, by authoritie directed to us from His Majestie under his Great Seale, upon mature deliberacion doe hereby order & declare that from hence forward ther bee towe supreame Counsells in Virginia for the better government of the said Colony as aforesaid: the one of which Counsells to bee called the Counsell of State and whose office shall cheiflie bee assisting, wth ther care, advise & circomspection, to the said Governor; shall be chosen, nominated, placed and displaced from time to time by us, the said Treasurer, Counsell & Company and our successors; which Counsell of State shall consiste for the present onlie of those persons whose names are here inserted, vizt.: Sir Francis Wyatt, Governor of Virginia; Captaine Francis West; Sir George Yeardley, Knight; Sir William Newce, Knight, Marshall of Virginia; Mr. George Sandys, Tresuror; Mr. George Thorpe, Deputy of the Colledge; Captaine Thomas Newce, Deputy for the Company; Mr. Christopher Davison, Secretarie; Doctor Potts, Phesition to the Company; Mr. Paulet; Mr. Leech; Captaine Nathaniell Powell; Mr. Roger Smith; Mr. John Berkley; Mr. John Rolfe; Mr. Ralfe Hamer; Mr. John Pountus; Mr. Michael Lapworth; Mr. Harwood; [and] Mr. Samuel Macocke. Which said Counsellors and Counsell wee earnestlie pray & desier, and in His Majesties name strictlie charge and command, that all factious parcialties and sinister respects laid aside, they bend ther care and endeavors to assist the said Governor first and principallie in advancement of the honor and service of Almightie God and the enlargement of His kingdome amongste those heathen people; and next in the erecting of the said Colonie in one obedience to His Majestie and all lawful authoritie from His Majestis dirived; and lastlie in maitaining the said people in justice and Christian conversation among themselves and in strength and habillitie to wth stand ther ennimies. And this Counsell is to bee alwaies, or for the most part, residing about or neere the said Governor. The other Counsell, more generall, to bee called by the Governor, and yeerly, of course, & no oftner but for very extreordinarie & important occasions, shall consist for present of the said Counsell of State and of tow burgesses out of every towne, hunder [hundred] and other particuler plantacion to bee respetially chosen by the inhabitants. Which Counsell shalbee called the Generall Assemblie, wherein as also in the said Counsell of State, all matters shall be decided, determined & ordered by the greater part of the voices then present, reserveing alwaies to the Governor a negative voice. And this Generall Assembly shall have free power to treat, consult & conclude as well of all emergent occasions concerning the pupliqe weale of the said Colony and evrie parte therof as also to make, ordeine & enact such generall lawes & orders for the behoof of the said Colony and the good govermt therof as shall time to time appeare necessarie or requisite. Wherin as in all other things wee requier the said Gennerall Assembly, as also the said Counsell of State, to imitate and followe the policy of the forme of goverment, lawes, custome, manners of loyall and other administracion of justice used in the realme of England, as neere as may bee even as ourselves by His Majesties lettres patents are required; provided that noe lawes or ordinance made in the said Generall Assembly shalbe and continew in force and validitie, unlese the same shalbe sollemlie ratified and confirmed in a generall greater court of the said court here in England and so ratified and returned to them under our seale. It being our intent to affoord the like measure also unto the said Colony that after the goverment of the [said Colony, shall once have been well framed & settled accordingly, which is to be done by us as by authoritie derived from] his Majestie and the sa[me shall] have bene soe by us declared, no orders of our court afterwarde shall binde [the said] Colony unles they bee ratified in like manner in ther Generall Assembly.

In wittnes wherof wee have hereunto sett our common seale the 24th day of [July] 1621, and in the yeare of the raigne of our governoure, Lord James by the ... of God of England, Scotland, France & Ireland, King, Defendor of the ... vizt., of England, France and Scotland the nineteenth and of Scotland the fower and fiftieth.

Kingsbury, Vol. III, pp. 482-484. Stith, Appendix, pp. 32-34.

Transcriber's Notes:

This is one of a series of 23 pamphlets produced in 1957 in celebration
of the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown colony in
Virginia. Research indicates that the copyright on this book was not
renewed.
Spelling was left unchanged throughout.
Footnotes were indented and moved after the paragraph to which they
pertain.
Extra spaces within lists of names were removed. Extra spaces within
text were retained where they indicate omitted text in the original
manuscript. The printer used multiple footnote anchors, numbered 24
and 25, to indicate some of these blank spaces.
A comma was replaced with a period at the end of a sentence in the
Introduction: ... governing body. It was thus ...
A semicolon was replaced with a period at the end of numbered paragraph
9 in the "Instructions ... to Sir Thomas West ..."
In the "Instructions to the Governor and Council of State," brackets
around paragraph number 22 are indicate the number was missing in the
original. These brackets are not a footnote anchor.

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