XXIII. AND forasmuch, as it shall be necessary for all such our loving Subjects, as shall inhabit within the said Precincts of Virginia, aforesaid, to determine to live together, in the Fear and true Worship of Almighty God, Christian Peace, and civil Quietness, each with other, whereby every one may, with more Safety, Pleasure, and Profit, enjoy that, whereunto they shall attain with great Pain and Peril; WE. . . do GIVE and GRANT unto the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, and to such Governors, Officers, and Ministers, as shall be, by our said Council, constituted and appointed, according to the Natures. and Limits of their Offices and Places respectively, that they shall and may, from time to time for ever hereafter, within the said Precincts of Virginia, or in the way by Sea thither and from thence, have full and absolute Power and Authority, to correct, punish, pardon, govern, and rule, all such the Subjects of Us

as shall, from time to time, adventure themselves in any Voyage thither, or that shall, at any time hereafter, inhabit in the Precincts and Territories of the said Colony, as aforesaid, according to such Orders, Ordinances, Constitutions, Directions, and Instructions, as by our said Council, as aforesaid, shall be established; And in Defect thereof, in case of Necessity, according to the good Discretions of the said Governor and Officers, respectively, as well in Cases capital and criminal as civil, both marine and other; So always, as the said Statutes, Ordinances, and Proceedings, as near as conveniently may be, be agreeable to the Laws, Statutes, Government, and Policy of this our Realm of England.

XXIV. AND we do further . . . GRANT, DECLARE, and ORDAIN, that such principal Governor, as, from time to time, shall duly and lawfully be authorised and appointed, in Manner and Form. in these Presents heretofore expressed, shall have full Power and Authority, to use and exercise Martial Law, in Cases of Rebellion or Mutiny, in as large and ample Manner, as our Lieutenants in our Counties, within this our Realm of England, have, or ought to have, by Force of their Commissions of Lieutenancy.

*

XXIX. AND lastly, because the principal Effect, which we can desire or expect of this Action, is the Conversion and Reduction of the People in those Parts unto the true Worship of God and

Christian Religion, in which Respect we should be loath, that any Person should be permitted to pass, that we suspected to affect the superstitions of the Church of Rome; We do hereby DECLARE, that it is our Will and Pleasure, that none be permitted to pass in any Voyage, from time to time to be made into the said Country, but such, as first shall have taken the Oath of Supremacy; For which Purpose, we do, by these Presents, give full Power and Authority, to the Treasurer for the time being, and any three of the Council, to tender and exhibit the said Oath, to all such Persons, as shall at any time, be sent and employed in the said Voyage. .

No.

3.

Third Charter of Virginia

March 12/22, 1611/12

THE immediate reason for the third charter of Virginia was the desire to include within the limits of the Company the Bermudas, or Somers Islands, respecting whose beauty, fertility, and wealth glowing reports had been received; but the failure of many subscribers to pay their subscriptions, and the consequent low state of the treasury, emphasized the need of stronger powers of control. The petition was probably granted before November, 1610; but the names of subscribers were obtained with difficulty, and it was March, 1612, before the charter passed the seals. The rights in the Bermudas were subsequently sold by the Company to some of its own members, who, in 1614, obtained a charter as the Somers Islands Company. The Virginia charter of 1612 was annulled by writ of quo warranto in 1624.

REFERENCES. Text in Stith's History of Virginia (Sabin's ed., 1865), Appendix III. Hening's Statutes at Large, I., gives the early laws of the colony. The royal proclamation of 1625 is in Hazard's Historical Collections, I., 203-205. See also Brown's First Republic in America, 165–648.

[The charter begins with a recital of the grant of 1609, and continues:]

III. Now, forasmuch as we are given to understand, that in those Seas, adjoining to the said Coasts of Virginia, and without the Compass of those two hundred Miles . . ., and yet not far distant from the said Colony in Virginia, there are, or may be, divers Islands, lying desolate and uninhabited, some of which are already made known and discovered, by the Industry, Travel, and Expences of the said Company, and others also are supposed to be

and remain, as yet, unknown and undiscovered, all and every of which it may import the said Colony, both in Safety and Policy. of Trade, to populate and plant, in Regard whereof, as well for the preventing of Peril, as for the better Commodity and Pros· perity of the said Colony, they have been humble Suitors unto us, that we would be pleased to grant unto them an Enlargement of our said former Letters Patents .

IV. WE therefore . . . do . . . GIVE, GRANT, and CONFIRM to the said Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the city of London for the first Colony in Virginia, and to their Heirs and Successors, for ever, all and singular those Islands whatsoever, situate and being in any Part of the Ocean Seas bordering upon the Coast of our said first Colony in Virginia, and being within three hundred Leagues of any of the Parts heretofore granted to the said Treasurer and Company, in our said former Letters Patents, as aforesaid, and being within or between the one and fortieth and thirtieth Degrees of Northerly Latitude; ... Provided always, that the said Islands, or any the Premises herein mentioned, or by these Presents intended or meant to be granted, be not actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian Prince or Estate, nor be within the Bounds, Limits, or Territories of the Northern Colony, heretofore by Us granted to be planted by divers of our loving Subjects, in the North Parts of Virginia ..

...

VII. AND We do hereby ORDAIN and GRANT . . . that the said Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters aforesaid, shall and may, once every Week, or oftener, at their Pleasure, hold and keep a Court and Assembly, for the better Order and Government of the said Plantation, and such things, as shall

concern the same. . . .

VIII. AND that nevertheless, for the handling, ordering, and disposing of Matters and Affairs of greater Weight and Importance, and such, as shall or may, in any Sort, concern the Weal Publick and general Good of the said Company and Plantation, as namely, the Manner of Government from time to time to be used, the Ordering and Disposing of the Lands and Possessions, and the Settling and Establishing of a Trade there, or such like, there shall be held and kept, every Year, upon the last Wednes

...

day, save one, of Hillary Term, Easter, Trinity, and Michaelmas Terms, for ever, one great, general, and solemn Assembly, which four Assemblies shall be stiled and called, The four Great and General Courts of the Council and Company of Adventurers for Virginia; In all and every of which said Great and General Courts, so assembled. . ., the said Treasurer and Company, or the greater Number of them, so assembled, shall and may have full Power and Authority to elect and chuse discreet Persons, to be of our said Council for the said first Colony in Virginia, and to nominate and appoint such Officers, as they shall think fit and requisite, for the Government, Managing, Ordering, and Dispatching of the Affairs of the said Company; And shall likewise have full Power and Authority, to ordain and make such Laws and Ordinances, for the Good and Welfare of the said Plantation, as to them, from time to time, shall be thought requisite and meet: So always, as the same be not contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this our Realm of England.

XIV. AND furthermore, whereas we have been certified, that divers lewd and ill-disposed Persons, both Sailers, Soldiers, Artificers, Husbandmen, Labourers, and others, having received Wages, Apparel, and other Entertainment from the said Com-, pany, or having contracted and agreed with the said Company, to go, or to serve, or to be employed in the said Plantation of the said first Colony in Virginia, have afterwards, either withdrawn, hid, or concealed themselves, or have refused to go thither, after they have been so entertained and agreed withal; And that divers and sundry Persons also, which have been sent and employed in the said Plantation of the said first Colony in Virginia, at and upon the Charge of the said Company, and having there misbehaved themselves by Mutinies, Sedition, or other notorious Misdemeanors, or having been employed or sent abroad, by the Governor of Virginia or his Deputy, with some Ship or Pinnace, for our Provision of the said Colony, or for some Discovery, or other Business and Affairs, concerning the same, have from thence most treacherously, either come back again and returned into our Realm of England, by Stealth, or without Licence of our Governor of our said Colony in Virginia for the time being, or have been sent hither, as Misdoers and Offenders; And that many also of

those Persons, after their Return from thence, having been questioned by our said Council here, for such their Misbehaviors and Offences, by their insolent and contemptuous Carriage in the Presence of our said Council, have shewed little Respect and Reverence, either to the Place, or Authority, in which we have placed and appointed them; And others, for the colouring of their Lewdness and Misdemeanors committed in Virginia, have endeavoured, by most vile and slanderous Reports, made and divulged, as well of the Country of Virginia, as also of the Government and Estate of the said Plantation and Colony, as much as in them lay, to bring the said Voyage and Plantation into Disgrace and Contempt; By Means whereof, not only the Adventurers and Planters, already engaged in the said Plantation, have been exceedingly abused and hindered, and a great Number of other our loving and well-disposed Subjects, otherwise well-affected, and inclined to join and adventure in so noble, christian, and worthy an Action, have been discouraged from the same, but also the utter Overthrow and Ruin of the said Enterprise hath been greatly endangered, which cannot miscarry without some Dishonour to Us and our Kingdom;

XV. Now, forasmuch as it appeareth unto us, that these Insolences, Misdemeanors, and Abuses, not to be tolerated in any civil Government, have, for the most part, grown and proceeded, in regard our said Council have not any direct Power and Authority, by any express Words in our former Letters Patents, to correct and chastise such Offenders; We therefore, for more speedy Reformation of so great and enormous Abuses and Misdemeanors, heretofore practised and committed, and for the preventing of the like hereafter, do . . . GIVE AND GRANT to the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors for ever, that it shall and may be lawful for our said Council for the said first Colony in Virginia, or any two of them (whereof the said Treasurer, or his Deputy . to be always one) by Warrant under their Hands, to send for, or to cause to be apprehended, all and every such Person and Persons, who shall be noted, or accused, or found, at any time or times hereafter, to offend, or misbehave themselves, in any the Offences before mentioned and expressed; And upon the Examination of any such Offender or Offenders, and just Proof made by Oath, taken before the said

C