November 1643
[2 November, 1643.]
Whereas many Thousands of the Natives and Good Subjects
of this Kingdom of England, through the Oppression of the
Prelates and other ill-affected Ministers and Officers of State,
have of late Years, to their great Grief and miserable Hardship,
been inforced to transplant themselves and their Families into
several Islands, and other remote and desolate Parts of the West
Indies, and having there through exceeding great Labour and
Industry (with the Blessing of God), obtained for themselves and
their Families some competent and convenient Means of Maintenance and Subsistance, so that they are now in a reasonable
well settled and peaceable Condition; but fearing the outrageous
Malice of Papists and other ill-affected Persons should reach unto
them in their poor and low (but as yet peaceable) Condition, and
having been informed that there hath been lately procured from
His Majesty several Grants under the Great Seal, for erecting
some new Governors and Commanders amongst the said Planters,
in their aforementioned Plantations; whereupon the said Planters,
Adventurers, and Owners of Land, in the said Foreign Plantations,
have preferred their petition unto this present Parliament, That,
for the better securing of them, and their present Estates
there, obtained through so much extreme Labour and
Difficulty, they might have some such Governors and Government as should be approved of and confirmed by the Authority
of both Houses of Parliament; which Petition of theirs the
Lords and Commons having taken into Consideration, and
finding it of great Importance both to the Safety and Preservation of the aforesaid Natives and Subjects of this Kingdom, as
well from all Foreign Invasions and Oppressions as from their
own intestine Distractions and Disturbances, as also much
tending to the Honour and Advantage of His Majesty's
Dominions, have thought fit, and do hereby constitute and
ordain, Robert Earl of Warwicke, Governor in Chief and High
Lord Admiral of all those Islands, and other Plantations
inhabited, planted or belonging to any His Majesty's the King
of England's Subjects, or which hereafter may be inhabited,
planted, or belonging to them, within the Bounds and upon the
Coasts of America: And, for the more effectual, speedier, and
easier Transaction of this so weighty and important a Business
which concerns the Well-being and Preservation of so many of
the distressed Natives of this and other His Majesty's Dominions
the Lords and Commons have thought fit, that Phillip Earl of
Pembroke, Edward Earl of Manchester, William Viscount Say
and Seale, Phillip Lord Wharton, John Lord Roberts, Members
of the House of Peers, Sir Gilbert Gerrard Knight
and Baronet, Sir Arthur Heselrigg Baronet, Sir Henry
Vane Junior Knight, Sir Benjamine Rudyer Knight, John
Pym, Oliver Cromwell, Denis Bond, Miles Corbett, Cornelius
Holland, Samuell Vassall, John Rolls, and William Spurstowe,
Esquires, Members of the House of Commons, shall be Com
missioners, to join in Aid and Assistance with the said Earl of
Warwicke, Chief Governor and Admiral of the said Plantations;
which Chief Governor, together with the said Commissioners or
any Four of them, shall hereby have Power and Authority to
provide for, order, and dispose, all Things which they shall from
Time to Time find most fit and advantageous to the well-governing, securing, strengthening, and preserving of the said Plantations, and chiefly to the Preservation and Advancement of the
true Protestant Religion amongst the said Planters and Inhabitants, and the further Enlargement and Spreading of the Gospel
of Christ amongst those that yet remaineth there in great and
miserable Blindness and Ignorance: And, for the better Advancement of this so great a Work, it is hereby further Ordained, by
the said Lords and Commons, That the aforesaid Governor
and Commissioners shall hereby have Power and Authority,
upon all weighty and important Occasions which may concern
the Good and Safety of the aforesaid Planters, to call unto their
Advice and Assistance therein any other of the aforesaid Planters,
Owners of Land, or Inhabitants of the said Islands and Plantations, which shall then be within Twenty Miles of the Place
where the said Commissioners shall then be; and shall have
Power and Authority to send for, view, and make Use of, all such
Records, Books, and Papers, which do or may concern any of
the said Plantations: And because the well-settling and
establishing of such Officers and Governors as shall be
laborious and faithful in the right Governing of all such
Persons as be resident in or upon the said Plantations
and due Ordering and Disposing all such Affairs as
concern the Safety and Welfare of the same, is of very
great advantage to the Public Good of all such remote and
new Plantations, it is hereby further Ordained and Decreed,
That the said Robert Earl of Warwicke, Governor in Chief and
Admiral of the said Plantations, together with the aforesaid
Commissioners, Phillip Earl of Pembroke, Edward Earl of Manchester, William Viscount Say and Seale, Phillip Lord Wharton,
John Lord Roberts, Sir Gilbert Gerrard Knight and Baronet, Sir
Arthur Haslerig Baronet, Sir Henry Vane Junior Knight, Sir
Benjamine Rudyer Knight, John Pym, Oliver Cromwell, Dennis
Bond, Miles Corbett, Cornelius Holland, Samuell Vassall, John
Rolls, and William Spurstowe, Esquires, or the greater Number
of them, shall have Power and Authority, from Time to Time, to
nominate, appoint, and constitute, all such subordinate Governors,
Counsellors, Commanders, Officers, and Agents, as they shall
judge to be best affected, and most fit and serviceable for the
said Islands, and Plantations, and shall hereby have Power and
Authority, upon the Death or other avoidance of the aforesaid
Chief Governor and Admiral, or any the other Commissioners before
named, from Time to Time to nominate and appoint such other
Chief Governors and Admiral, or Commissioners in the Place and
Room of such as shall so become void; and shall also hereby
have Power and Authority to remove any of the said subordinate
Governors, Counsellors, Commanders, Officers, or Agents, which
are or shall be appointed to govern, counsel, or negociate, the
Public Affairs of the said Plantation, and in their Place and
Room to appoint such other Officers as they shall judge fit: And
it is hereby Ordained, That no subordinate Governors, Counsellors, Commanders, Officers, Agents, Planters, or Inhabitants
whatsoever, that are now resident in or upon the said Islands
or Plantations, shall admit or receive any other new Governors,
Counsellors, Commanders, Officers, or Agents whatsoever, but
such as shall be allowed and approved of under the Hands and
Seals of the aforesaid Chief Governor and High Admiral of the
said Plantation, together with the Hands and Seals of the aforementioned Commissioners, or any Six of them, or under the
Hands and Seals of such as they shall authorize thereunto:
And whereas, for the better Government and Security of the
said Plantations and Islands, and the Owners and Inhabitants
thereof, there may be just and fit Occasion to Assign over some
Part of the Power and Authority (granted in this Ordinance to
the Chief Governor and Commissioners aforenamed) unto the
said Owners, Inhabitants, and others, it is hereby Ordained, That
the said Chief Governor and Commissioners before mentioned, or
the greater Number of them, shall hereby be authorized to assign,
ratify and confirm, so much of their aforementioned Authority
and Power, and in such Manner, and to such Persons, as they
shall judge to be fit for the better governing and preserving the
said Plantations and Islands from open Violence and private
Disturbance and Distractions.
And lastly, that whosoever shall do execute, or yield Obedience, to any Thing contained in this Ordinance, shall, by virtue
hereof, be saved harmless and indemnified.