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or Country contrary to the true intent and meaning hereof, as alsoe of the ship in which they were imported with all her Guns Furniture Ammunition Tackle and Apparel.

[VI.] [Foreign vessels excluded from the English coasting trade.]

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[VIII.] And it is further Enacted. That noe Goods or Commodityes of the Growth Production or Manufacture of Muscovy or of any the Countryes . . . to the Great Duke or Emporer of Muscovia or Russia belonging, As alsoe that noe sorts of Masts Timber or boards noe forraigne Salt Pitch Tar Rozin Hempe or Flax Raizins Figs Prunes Olive Oyles noe [sort 1] of Corne or Graine Sugar Pot-ashes Wines Vinegar or Spirits called Aqua-vite or Brandy Wine shall from and after . . . [April 1, 1661] . . . be imported into England Ireland Wales or Towne of Berwicke upon Tweede in any Ship or Ships Vessel or Vessels whatsoever but in such as doe truely and without fraude belong to the people therof or of some of them as the true Owners and proprietors therof, and wherof the Master and Three Fourths of the Mariners at least are English, and that noe Currants, nor Commodityes of the growth production or Manufacture of any the Countryes . . . to the Othoman or Turkish Empire belonging shall from and after . . . [September 1, 1661] . . . be imported into any the forementioned places in any Ship or Vessel, but which is of English built and navigated as aforesaid and in noe other, except onely such forraigne ships and vessels as are of the built of that Country or place of which the said Goods are the growth production or Manufacture respectively, or of such Port where the said Goods can onely be or most usually are first shiped for transportation, and wherof the Master and three Fourths of the Mariners at least are of the said Country [and 2] place under the penalty and forfeiture of Ship and Goods. . . .

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[XVIII.] And it is further Enacted . . . That from and after [April 1, 1661] . . . noe Sugars Tobaccho Cotton Wool Indicoes Ginger Fustick or other dyeing wood of the Growth Pro

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duction or Manufacture of any English Plantations in America Asia or Africa shall be shiped carryed conveyed or transported from any of the said English Plantations to any Land Island Territory Dominion Port or place whatsoever other then to such 1] English Plantations as doe belong to His Majesty . . . or to the Kingdome of England or Ireland or Principallity of Wales or Towne of Berwicke upon Tweede there to be laid on shore under the penalty of the Forfeiture of the said Goods or the full value thereof, as alsoe of the Ship with all her Guns Tackle Apparel Ammunition and Furniture. . .

[XIX.] And be it further Enacted . . That for every Ship or Vessel which from and after . . . [December 25, 1660] . . . shall set saile out of, or from England Ireland Wales or Towne of Berwicke upon Tweede for any English Plantation in America Asia [or] Africa sufficient bond shall be given with one surety to the cheife Officers of the Custome house, of such Port or place from whence the said Ship shall set saile . . . That in case the said Ship or Vessel shall loade any of the said Commodityes at any of the said English Plantations, that the same Commodityes shall be by the said ship brought to some Port of England Ireland Wales, or to the Port or Towne of Berwicke upon Tweede and shall there unload and put on shore the same, the danger of the Seas onely excepted, And for all ships coming from any other Port or Place to any of the aforesaid plantations who by this Act are permited to trade there, that the Governour of such English plantation shall before the said Ship or Vessel be permited to loade on board any of the said Commodityes take Bond in manner and to the value aforesaid for each respective Ship or Vessel, That such Ship or Vessell shall carry all the aforesaid Goods that shall be laden on board in the said ship to some other of His Majestyes English Plantations, or to England Ireland Wales or Towne of Berwicke upon Tweede . . . [under penalty of forfeiture of the vessel, &c.]. . .

1 The Ms. inserts other.

No. 16.

Charter of Connecticut

April 23/May 3, 1662

IN May, 1661, the General Court of Connecticut appointed a committee to prepare a petition for a royal charter. Governor Winthrop, to whom the negotiations were intrusted, had the influential support of Lord Say and Sele and the Earl of Manchester; and in April, 1662, the charter was granted. The boundaries, as defined by the charter, included New Haven. The delay of the latter colony in proclaiming Charles II., and its tender treatment of the regicides, had brought it into disfavor with the king; and it now, under the lead of Davenport, resisted annexation and appealed to the Commissioners of the United Colonies. But the conquest of New Netherland by the English, in 1664, and the grant to the Duke of York of territory as far east as the Connecticut River, hastened submission; and in December of the latter year a committee was appointed to arrange for the union. A quo warranto was issued against the Connecticut charter in 1684, but judgment was not entered. When Andros demanded the charter, in 1687, it was secreted, and remained hidden until 1689, when, upon the deposition of Andros, government under the charter was resumed. The State constitution of 1776 continued the charter in force, with a few changes, and it remained the fundamental law of Connecticut until the adoption of a new constitution in 1818. REFERENCES. Text in Connecticut Colonial Records, II., 3-11. Winthrop's instructions, the address to the King, and the letter to the Earl of Manchester, are in ib., I., 579–585. For the proceedings in New Haven, see the New Haven Colonial Records, 1653-1665, passim.

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Charles the Second, [&c.] Whereas . . . formed by the humble Petition of our Trusty and welbeloved John Winthrop, John Mason, Samuell Willis, Henry Clerke, Mathew Allen, John Tappen, Nathan Gold, Richard Treate, Richard Lord, Henry Woolicot, John Talcott, Daniell Clerke, John Ogden, Thomas Wells, Obedias Brewen, John Clerke, Anthony Haukins, John Deming, and Mathew Camfeild, being Persons Principally interested in our Colony or Plantation of Conecticutt in New England, that the same Colony or the greatest parte thereof was purchased and obteyned for greate and valuable considerations, And some other parte thereof gained by Conquest and with much difficulty, and att the onely endeavours, expence and Charge of them and their Associates, and those under whome they Clayme, Subdued and improved, and thereby become a considerable enlargement and addition of our Do

minions and interest there, -Now Know yea, that . . . wee ... by theis presents . . . Doe Ordeine, Constitute and Declare That they, the said John Winthrop . . [and others]...,

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and all such others as now are or hereafter shall bee Admitted and made free of the Company and Society of our Collony of Conecticut in America, shall . . . bee one Body Corporate and Pollitique in fact and name, by the Name of Governour and Company of the English Collony of Conecticut in New England in America; . . . And further, wee . . . Doe Declare . . . that for the better ordering and manageing of the affaires and businesse of the said Company and their Successors, there shall be one Governour, one Deputy Governour and Twelve Assistants, to bee from tyme to tyme Constituted, Elected and Chosen out of the Freemen of the said Company for the tyme being, in such manner and forme as hereafter in these presents is expressed; which said Officers shall apply themselves to take care for the best disposeing and Ordering of the Generall busines and affaires of and concerning the lands and hereditaments herein after mentioned to bee graunted, and the Plantation thereof and the Government of the People thereof. And . . . Wee doe . . . appoint the aforesaid John Winthrop to bee the first and present Governour of the said Company; And the said John Mason to bee the Deputy Governour; And the said Samuell Willis, Mathew Allen, Nathan Gold, Henry Clerke, Richard Treat, John Ogden, Thomas Tappen, John Talcott, Thomas Wells, Henry Woolcot, Richard Lord and Daniell Clerke to bee the Twelve present Assistants of the said Company; . . . And further, wee . . . Doe Ordaine . . . that the Governour of the said Company for the tyme being, or, in his absence by occasion of sicknes, or otherwise by his leave or permission, the Deputy Governour . . . shall and may . . . give Order for the assembling of the said Company and calling them together to Consult and advise of the businesse and Affaires of the said Company, And that for ever hereafter, Twice in every yeare, (That is to say,) on every second Thursday in October and on every second Thursday in May, or oftener, in Case it shall be requisite, The Assistants and freemen of the said Company, or such of them (not exceeding twoe Persons from each place, Towne or Citty) whoe shall bee from tyme to tyme thereunto Elected or Deputed by the major

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parte of the freemen of the respective Townes, Cittyes and Places for which they shall bee soe elected or Deputed, shall have a generall meeting or Assembly, then and their to Consult and advise in and about the Affaires and businesse of the said Company; And that the Governour, or . . . Deputy Governour and such of the Assistants and freemen of the said Company as shall be soe Elected or Deputed and bee present att such meeting or Assembly, or the greatest number of them, whereof the Governour or Deputy Governour and Six of the Assistants, at least, to bee Seaven, shall be called the Generall Assembly, and shall have full power and authority to alter and change their dayes and tymes of meeting or Generall Assemblies for Electing the Governour, Deputy Governour and Assistants or other Officers, or any other Courts, Assemblies or meetings, and to Choose, Nominate and appoint such and soe many other Persons as they shall thinke fitt and shall bee willing to accept the same, to bee free of the said Company and Body Politique, and them into the same to Admitt and to Elect, and Constitute such Officers as they shall thinke fitt and requisite for the Ordering, mannageing and disposeing of the Affaires of the said Governour and Company and their Successors. And wee doe hereby . . . Ordeine, that once in the yeare. . ., namely, the said Second Thursday in May, the Governour, Deputy Governour and Assistants of the said Company and other Officers of the said Company, or such of them as the said Generall Assembly shall thinke fitt, shall bee, in the said Generall Court and Assembly to bee held from that day or tyme, newly Chosen for the yeare ensuing, by such greater part of the said Company for the tyme being then and there present. . . . And Knowe yee further, That Wee . . . Doe . . . Graunt . . . unto the said Governor and Company and their Successors, All that parte of our Dominions in Newe England in America bounded on the East by Norrogancett River, comonly called Norrogancett Bay, where the said River falleth into the Sea, and on. the North by the lyne of the Massachusetts Plantation, and on the South by the Sea, and in longitude as the lyne of the Massachusetts Colony, runinge from East to West, (that is to say,) from the said Narrogancett Bay on the East to the South Sea on the West parte, with the Islands thereunto adjoyneinge....

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