appoint magistrates and other officers, and punish all crimes and offences except treason and murder.] Provided, Nevertheles, that the said Lawes bee consonant to reason, and bee not repugnant or contrarie, but as neare as conveniently may bee agreeable to the Lawes, Statutes and rights of this our Kingdome of England, And Saveing and reserving to us, Our heirs and Successors, the receiving, heareing and determining of the Appeale and Appeales, of all or any person or persons, of, in or belonging to the Territories aforesaid, or touching any Judgement to bee there made or given. . . [In emergencies, the proprietor or his representatives may make ordinances without the consent of the freemen; the same to be agreeable to the laws of England] . . . And to the End the said William Penn, or heires, or other, the Planters, Owners or Inhabitants of the said Province, may not att any time hereafter, by misconstrucon of the powers aforesaid, through inadvertiencie or designe, depart from that faith and due allegiance which by the Lawes of this our Realme of England, they and all our subjects, in our Dominions and Territories, always Owe unto us by colour of any extent or largenesse of powers hereby given, or pretended to bee given, or by force or colour of any lawes hereafter to bee made in the said Province, by vertue of any such powers. Our further will and pleasure is, that a transcript or Duplicate of all lawes which shall bee soe as aforesaid, made and published within the said province, shall within five yeares after the makeing thereof, be transmitted and delivered to the privy Councell . . . ; And if any of the said Lawes within the space of six months, after that they shall be soe transmitted and delivered, bee declared by us . . . in our . . . privy Councell, inconsistent with the sovereignety or lawful prerogative of us . . . or contrary to the faith and allegiance due by [to] the legall Government of this realme, from the said William Penn, or his heires, or of the Planters and Inhabitants of the said province; and that thereupon any of the said Lawes shall bee adjudged and declared to bee void . . . that then, and from thenceforth such Lawes concerning which such Judgement and declaracon shall be made, shall become voyd, otherwise the said lawes soe transmitted, shall remaine and stand in full force according to the true intent and meaneing thereof. . . . We Will alsoe, and by these presents . . . doe . . . grant licence . . . unto the said William ... ... Penn ... and to all the inhabitants and dwellers in pvince aforesaid .. to import or unlade by themselves or theire Servants, ffactors or assignes, all merchandizes and goods whatsoever, that shall arise of the fruites and comodities of the said province, either by Land or Sea, into any of the ports. . . in our kingdome of England, and not into any other countrey whatsoever. And Wee give him full power to dispose of the said goods in the said ports, and if need bee, within one yeare next after the unladeing of the same, to Lade the said Merchandizes and goodes again into the same or other shipps, and to export the same into any other Countreys, either of our Dominions or fforreigne, according to Lawe: PROVIDED alwayes, that they pay such customes and imposicons, subsidies and duties for the same . . . as the rest of our subjects of our kingdome of England, for the time being shall be bound to pay, And doe observe the Acts of Navigation and other Lawes in that behalfe made. . . . And Wee doe further . . . ordaine . . . That he the said William penn . . . may from time to time forever, have and enjoy the Customes and Subsidies in the ports, harbours and other Creeks, and places aforesaid, within the pvince aforesaid, payable or due for merchandizes and wares, there to be Laded and unladed, the said Customes and Subsidies to be reasonably assessed, upon any occasion by themselves, and the people there as aforesaid, to be assembled to whom wee Give power, by these presents . . to assesse and impose the same, Saveing unto us . . . such imposicons and customes as by Act of parliament are and shall be appointed . . . [The proprietor to appoint an agent, who shall reside in England.]. .. And further... Wee doe Covenant and grant to and with the said William Penn, and his heires and assignes, That Wee . . . shall att no time hereafter sett or make, or cause to be sett, any impossicon, custome or other taxacon, rate or contribucon whatsoever, in and upon the dwellers and inhabitants of the aforesaid pvince, for their Lands, tenements, goods or chattels, within the said province, or in and upon any goods or merchandize within the said prince, ... or to be laden or unladen within the ports or har bours of the said pvince, unles the same be with the consent of the pprietary, or chiefe Governor and assembly, or by Act of parliament in England. . . . And ... Wee doe hereby charge and require that if any of the inhabitants of the said pvince, to the number of Twenty, shall att any time hereafter be desirous, and shall by any writeing or by any pson deputed for them, signify such their desire to the Bishop of London, that any preacher or preachers to be approved of by the said Bishop, may be sent unto them for their instruccon, that then such preacher or preachers, shall and may be and reside within the said pvince, without any deniall or molestacon whatsoever. No. 24. Second Charter of Massachusetts October 7/17, 1691 IN April, 1688, Increase Mather was sent to England to urge a restoration of the Massachusetts charter of 1629; and after the flight of James II. and the deposition of Andros, government under the charter was temporarily resumed. In January, 1688/9, Mather learned that "a circular letter was to be sent to all the plantations confirming the existing governments until further orders." He succeeded in stopping the dispatch of the letters intended for New England, and thus prevented the reinstatement of Andros, who was shortly made governor of Virginia. When it became clear that the old charter would not be restored, and that Massachusetts would remain a royal province, Mather and two other representatives of the colony petitioned for a new charter. The petition was favorably received, and the instrument was drafted in consultation with the agents. REFERENCES. - Text in Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, I., 1-20. On the vacating of the charter of 1629, see Toppan's Edward Randolph (Prince Soc. Publ.), I., II.; the exemplification is in Mass. Hist. Coll., Fourth Series, II., 246-278. [The charter begins by reciting the grant of a patent in 1620 to the Council for New England, the grant by the Council to the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1628, the royal charter of 1629, and the vacating of the charter by a judgment in chancery in 1684, and continues:] And Whereas severall persons employed as Agents in behalfe of Our said Collony of the Massachusetts Bay in New England have made their humble application unto Us that Wee would be graciously pleased by Our Royall Charter to Incorporate Our Subjects in Our said Collony . . . And alsoe to the end Our good Subjects within Our Collony of New Plymouth in New England aforesaid may be brought under such a forme of Government as ants of may put them in a better Condition of defence . . . Wee doe by these presents for Us Our Heirs and Successors Will and Ordeyne that the Territories and Collonyes comonly called or known by the Names of the Collony of the Massachusetts Bay and Collony of New Plymouth the Province of Main the Territorie called Accadia or Nova Scotia and all that Tract of Land lying betweene the said Territoritories of Nova Scotia and the said Province of Main be Erected United and Incorporated . . . into one reall Province by the Name of Our Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England And... Wee doe. grant unto . . . the Inhabitthe Massachusetts Bay and their Successors all that parte of New England in America lying and extending from the greate River commonly called Monomack alias Merrimack on the Northpart and from three Miles Northward of the said River to the Atlantick or Western Sea or Ocean on the South part And all the Lands and Hereditaments whatsoever lying within the limitts aforesaid and extending as farr as the Outermost Points or Promontories of Land called Cape Cod and Cape Mallabar North and South and in Latitude Breadth and in Length and Longitude of and within all the Breadth and Compass aforesaid throughout the Main Land there from the said Atlantick or Western Sea and Ocean on the East parte towards the South Sea or Westward as far as Our Collonyes of Rhode Island Connecticutt and the Marragansett [Narragansett] Countrey all alsoe all that part or portion of Main Land beginning at the Entrance of Pescata way Harbour and soe to pass upp the same into the River of Newickewannock and through the same into the furthest head thereof and from thence Northwestward till One Hundred and Twenty Miles be finished and from Piscata way Harbour mouth aforesaid NorthEastward along the Sea Coast to Sagadehock and from the Period of One Hundred and Twenty Miles aforesaid to crosse over Land to the One Hundred and Twenty Miles before reckoned up into the Land from Piscataway Harbour through Newickawannock River and also the North halfe of the Isles and [of] Shoales together with the Isles of Cappawock and Nantukett near Cape Cod aforesaid and alsoe [all] Lands and Hereditaments lying and being in the Countrey and Territory commonly called Accadia or Nova Scotia And all those Lands and Hereditaments lying and extending betweene the said Countrey or Territory of Nova Scotia and the said River of Sagadahock or any part thereof . . . and alsoe all Islands and Isletts lying within tenn Leagues directly opposite to the Main Land within the said bounds. And Wee doe further . . . ordeyne that . . . there shall be one Governour One Leiutenant or Deputy Governour and One Secretary of Our said Province or Territory to be from time to time appointed and Commissionated by Us . . . and Eight and Twenty Assistants or Councillors to be advising and assisting to the Governour . . . for the time being as by these presents is hereafter directed and appointed which said Councillors or Assistants are to be Constituted Elected and Chosen in such forme and manner as hereafter in these presents is expressed And for the better Execution of Our Royall Pleasure and Grant in this behalfe Wee . . . Nominate . . Simon Broadstreet John Richards Nathaniel Saltenstall Wait Winthrop John Phillipps James Russell Samuell Sewall Samuel Appleton Barthilomew Gedney John Hawthorn Elisha Hutchinson Robert Pike Jonathan Curwin John Jolliffe Adam Winthrop Richard Middlecot John Foster Peter Serjeant Joseph Lynd Samuell Hayman Stephen Mason Thomas Hinckley William Bradford John Walley Barnabas Lothrop Job Alcott Samuell Daniell and Silvanus Davis Esquiers the first and present Councillors or Assistants of Our said Province . . . And Wee doe further . . . appoint . . . Isaac Addington Esquier to be Our first and present Secretary of Our said Province during Our Pleasure And Our Will and Pleasure is that the Governour shall have Authority from time to time at his discretion to assemble and call together the Councillors or Assistants . . . and that the said Governour with the said Assistants or Councillors or Seaven of them at the least shall and may from time to time hold and keep a Councill for the ordering and directing the Affaires of Our said Province And further Wee Will . . . that there shall . . . be convened. . . by the Governour . upon every last Wednesday in the Moneth of May every yeare for ever and at all such other times as the Governour . . . shall think fitt and appoint a great and Generall Court of Assembly Which . . . shall consist of the Governour and Council or Assistants . . . and of such Freeholders . . . as shall be from time to time elected or deputed by the Major parte of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the respective Townes or Places who shall be present at such Elections ... |