behoof of the said company of Planters and Adventurers; YIELDING thereof, and paying Yearly unto Us, our Heirs and Successors as aforesaid.

AND we do further of our special Grace, certain Knowledge, and mere Motion for Us, our Heires, and Successors, GRANT by these presents, to and with the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, that it shall be lawful and free for them and their Assigns, at all and every time and times hereafter, out of our Realm of England, and out of all other our Dominions, to take and lead into the said Voyages, and for and towards the said Plantation, and to travel thitherwards and to abide and inhabit there in the said Colony and Plantation, all such and so many of our loving Subjects, or any other Strangers, that will become our loving Subjects, and live under our Obedience, as shall willingly accompany them in the said Voyage and Plantation; With sufficient Shipping, Armour, Weapons, Ordinance, Munition, Powder, Shot, Victuals, and such Merchandises or Wares as are esteemed by the wild People in those Parts, Cloathing, Implements, Furniture, Cattle, Horses, and Mares, and all other things necessary for the said Plantation, and for their Use, and Defence, and Trade with the People there; and passing and returning to and fro; Without yielding or paying Subsidy, Custom, Imposition, or any other Tax or Duty, to Us, our Heirs, or Successors, for the space of seven Years from the Date of these Presents: PROVIDED that none of the said Persons be such as shall be hereafter by special name restrained by Us, our Heirs, and Successors.

AND for their further Encouragement, of our special Grace and Favour, we do by these Presents, for Us, our Heires, and Successors, YEILD and GRANT to and with the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, and every of them, their Factors and Assigns, that they and every of them shall be free of all Subsidies and Customs in Virginia, for the space of one and twenty Years, and from all Taxes and Impositions for ever upon any Goods or Merchandizes at any Time or Times hereafter, either upon Importation thither, or Exportation from thence into our Realm of England, or into any other of our Realms or Dominions, by the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, and their Deputies, Factors, or Assigns, or any of them: EXCEPT only the five Pounds per Cent. due for Custom upon all such Goods and Merchandizes as shall be brought or Imported into our Realm of England, or any other of these our Dominions according to the antient Trade of Merchants; WHICH FIVE POUNDS per Cent ONLY being paid, it shall be thenceforth lawful and free for the said Adventurers, the same Goods and Merchandizes to export and carry out of our said Dominions into foreign Parts without any Custom, Tax, or other Duty to be paid to Us, our Heires, or Successors, or to any other our Officers or Deputies: PROVIDED, that the said Goods and Merchandizes be shipped out, within thirteen Months after their first landing within any Part of those Dominions. AND we do also GRANT and confirm to the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, as also to all and every such Governor, or other Officers, and Ministers, as by our said Council shall be appointed to have Power and Authority of Government and Command in and over the said Colony and Plantation; That they, and every of them, shall and lawfully may from Time to Time and at all Times for ever hereafter, for their several Defence and Safety,

encounter, expulse, repel, and resist by Force and Arms, as well by Sea as by Land, and all Ways and Means whatsoever, all and every such Person and Persons whatsoever as (without the special Licence of the said Treasurer and Company and their Successors) shall attempt to inhabit within the said several Precincts and Limits of the said Colony and Plantation; And also all and every such Person and Persons whatsoever, as shall enterprize or attempt at any Time hereafter, Destruction, Invasion, Hurt, Detriment, or Annoyance, to the said Colony and Plantation, as is likewise specified in the said former Grant:

AND that it shall be lawful for the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, and every of them from Time to Time, and at all Times for ever hereafter, and they shall have full Power and Authority to take and surprize by all Ways and Means whatsoever. all and every Person and Persons whatsoever, with their Ships, Goods, and other Furniture, trafficking in any Harbour, Creek, or Place, within the Limits or Precincts of the said Colony and Plantation not being allowed by the said Company to be Adventurers or Planters of the said Colony until such Time as they being of any Realms and Dominions under our Obedience, shall pay, or agree to pay, to the Hands of the Treasurer, or of some other Officer deputed by the said Governor of Virginia (over and above such Subsidy or Custom as the said Company is or hereafter shall be to pay) five Pounds per Cent. upon all Goods and Merchandises so brought in thither, and also five per Cent. upon all Goods by them shipped out from thence; And being Strangers and not under our Obedience until they have paid (over and above such Subsidy and Custom, as the said Treasurer and Company, or their Successors, is, or hereafter shall be to pay) ten Pounds per Cent, upon all such Goods likewise carried in and out, any Thing in the said former Letters-patents to the contrary notwithstanding; And the same SUMS of MONEY and Benefit, aforesaid, for and during the space of one and twenty Years. shall be wholly employed to the Benefit, Use, and Behoof of the said Colony and Plantation; And after the said one and twenty Years ended, the same shall be taken to the use of Us, our Heirs and Suecessors, by such Officers and Ministers, as by Us, our Heirs or Suecessors shall be thereunto assigned and appointed, as is specified in the said former Letters-patents.

ALSO we do for Us, our Heirs and Successors, DECLARE by these Presents, that all and every the Persons being our Subjects, which shall go and inhabit within the said Colony and Plantation, and every their Children and Posterity, which shall happen to be born within any of the Limits thereof, shall HAVE and ENJOY all Liberties, Franchizes, and Immunities of Free Denizens and natural Subjects within any of our other Dominions to all Intents and Purposes, as if they had been abiding and born within this our Realm of England, or in any other of our Dominions.

AND forasmuch as it shall be necessary for all such our loving Subject 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 for Us, our Heirs, and Successors are likewise pleased and contented, and

by these Presents 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 Seas thither and from thence, have full and absolute Power and Authority to correct, punish, pardon, govern, and rule all such the Subjects of Us, our Heires, and Successors 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.

AND we do further of our special Grace, certain Knowledge, and mere Motion, GRANT, DECLARE, and ORDAIN, that such principal Governor, as from Time to Time shall duly and lawfully be authorized 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.

AND furthermore, if any Person or Persons, Adventurers or Planters of the said Colony, or any other at any Time or Times hereafter, shall transport any Monies, Goods, or Merchandises, out of any of our Kingdoms with a Pretence or Purpose to land, sell, or otherwise dispose of the same within the Limits or Bounds of the said Colony, and yet nevertheless being at Sea, or after he hath landed within any part of the said Colony, shall carry the same into any other foreign Country with a Purpose there to sell and dispose thereof; That then all the Goods and Chattels of the said Person or Persons so offending, and transported, together with the Ship or Vessel wherein such Transportation was made, shall be forfeited to Us, our Heirs, and Successors.

AND further, our Will and Pleasure is, that in all Questions and Doubts that shall arise upon any difficulty of Construction or Interpretation of any Thing contained either in this, or in our said former Letters-patents, the same shall be taken and interpreted in most ample and beneficial Manner for the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, and every Member thereof.

AND further, we do, by these Presents RATIFY and CONFIRM unto the said Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, all the Privileges, Franchises, Liberties, and Immunities granted in our said former Letters-patents, and not in these our Letters-patents, revoked, altered, changed, or abridged.

AND finally our Will and Pleasure is, and we do further hereby for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, GRANT and AGREE, to and with the said

Treasurer and Company, and their Successors, that all and singular Person and Persons, which shall at any Time or Times hereafter adventure any Sum or Sums of Money, in and towards the said Plantation of the said Colony in Virginia, and shall be admitted by the said Council and Company, as Adventurers of the said Colony in Form aforesaid, and shall be enrolled in the Book or Records of the Adventurers of the said Company, shall and may be accounted, accepted, taken, held, and reputed Adventurers of the said Colony, and shall, and may enjoy all and singular Grants, Privileges, Liberties, Benefits, Profits, Commodities and Immunities, Advantages and Emoluments whatsoever, as fully, largely, amply, and absolutely, as if they and every of them, had been precisely, plainly, singularly, and distinctly named and inserted in these our Letters-patents.

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.

ALTHOUGH express Mention of true yearly Value or Certainty of the Premisses, or any of them, or of any other Gifts or Grants by Us, or any of our Progenitors or Predecessors to the aforesaid Treasurer and Company heretofore made in these Presents, is not made; Or any Act, Statute, Ordinance, Provision, Proclamation, or Restraint, to the contrary hereof had, made, ordained, or provided, or any other Thing, Cause, or Matter whatsoever in any wise notwithstanding. IN WITNESS Whereof, We have caused these our Letters to be made Patent. Witness ourself at Westminster, the 23d Day of May, in the seventh Year of our Reign of England, France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the PER IPSUM REGEM.

* **

LUKIN.

THE THIRD CHARTER OF VIRGINIA-1611-12 *

JAMES, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith; To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting. WHEREAS at the humble Suit of divers and sundry our loving Subjects, as well Adventurers as Planters of the first Colony in Virginia, and for the Propagation of Christian Religion, and Reclaiming of People barbarous, to Civility and Humanity, We have, by our Letters-Patents, bearing Date at Westminster, the three-and-twentieth Day of May, in the seventh Year of our Reign of England, France, and Ireland, and the two-and-fortieth of Scot

* Hening's Statutes of Virginia, I. 98-110.

land, GIVEN and GRANTED unto them that they and all such and so many of our loving Subjects as should from time to time, for ever after, be joined with them as Planters or Adventurers in the said Plantation, and their Successors, for ever, should be one Body politick, incorporated by the Name of The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London for the first Colony in Virginia;

And whereas also for the greater Good and Benefit of the said Company, and for the better Furtherance, Strengthening, and Establishing of the said Plantation, we did further GIVE, GRANT and CONFIRM, by our Letters-Patents unto the said Company and their Successors, for ever, all those Lands, Countries or Territories, situate, lying and being in that Part of America called Virginia, from the Point of Land called Cape or Point Comfort all along the Sea Coasts to the Northward two hundred Miles; and from the said Point of Cape Comfort all along the Sea Coast to the Southward two hundred Miles; and all that Space and Circuit of Land lying from the Sea Coast of the Precinct aforesaid, up into the Land throughout from Sea to Sea West and North-west; and also all the Islands lying within one hundred Miles along the Coast of both the Seas of the Precinct aforesaid; with divers other Grants, Liberties, Franchises and Preheminences, Privileges, Profits, Benefits, and Commodities granted in and by our said Letters-patents to the said Treasurer and Company and their Successors for ever.

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 by Us so granted unto the said Treasurer and Company as aforesaid, 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 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, as well for a more ample Extent of their Limits and Territories into the Seas adjoining to and upon the Coast of Virginia, as also for some other Matters and Articles concerning the better government of the said Company and Colony, in which Point our said former Letters-Patents do not extend so far as Time and Experience hath found to be needful and convenient:

We therefore tendering the good and happy Success of the said Plantation, both in Regard of the General Weal of human Society, as in Respect of the Good of our own Estate and Kingdoms, and being willing to give Furtherance unto all good Means that may advance the Benefit of the said Company, and which may secure the Safety of our loving Subjects planted in our said Colony, under the Favour and Protection of God Almighty, and of our Royal Power and Authority, have therefore of our especial Grace, certain Knowledge, and mere Motion, given, granted, and confirmed, and for Us, our Heirs and Successors, we do by these Presents give, grant, and confirm to the said Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of