1622); "A planet disposes of any other which may be found in its essential dignities" (W. Lilly, 1670).

In the original form of the word, "dispone," it was used both transitively and intransitively, and the word ' of," when used with it, plainly meant upon, respecting, concerning." This is evident from the two quotations from Chaucer, given by the Century Dictionary: "Syn God seth every thing, out of doutance, And hem disponeth through his ordinaunce" and: "Of my moble (i. e., belongings) thou dispone Right as the semeth best is for to done."

The conception of the King as the "disposer" of the affairs of the dependencies was the conception of him as the Imperial Judge and Ruler, under a condition to exercise his powers by expert advice according to just principles, and not beyond what the necessity, in each case, required.

In the Instructions occurs a clause in which the King declares his power in the dependencies to be superior and the power of Parliament to be supreme, which reads:

That as the Colonies shall, from time to time, increase in plantation, the King, his heirs and successors, will ordain and give such order and further instructions, laws, constitutions and ordinances as by them shall be thought fit and convenient: Provided always that they be such as may stand with and be consonant to the laws of England, or the equity thereof.

Consonant to the equity of the laws of England" meant, of course, "not repugnant, but agreeable, as nearly as may be, considering the local conditions and circumstances."

Excellent as the Charter was in the respect that it assured the Colonies an intelligent fulfilment of the functions of the Imperial State toward them, it was objectionable because it did not admit any right in the Colonies to be treated as States for any purposes. It did

not say that they had not this right, but simply left the whole matter indefinite. There was to be a Council in each Colony, but how these Local Councils were to be constituted or what their duties were to be was not stated. This was left to future determination by the King, presumably though not necessarily following the advice of the Imperial Administrative Council. These Local Councils were thus described:

Each of the said Colonies shall have a Council, which shall govern and order all matters and causes which shall arise, grow or happen, to or within the same several Colonies, according to such laws, ordinances and instructions as shall be, in that behalf, given and signed with our hand or sign manual, and pass under our Privy Seal of our Realm of England; each of which Councils shall consist of thirteen persons, to be ordained, made, and removed from time to time, according as shall be directed or comprised in the same instructions.

The Instructions, though so careful as to the powers of the Council in England, not only denied all statehood to the Colony, but required the colonists for five years to bring all their products into hotchpot, thus converting the Colony into a mere farm or factory, out of the product of which the colonists, as farmers or workmen, got their living merely. The Instructions did not specify what was to be done after the expiration of the five years. Not only was statehood and private property denied, but the President and Council were given powers without the limitation provided in the English Constitution, even jury trial being permitted only in certain specified

cases.

This un-English system of local administration was naturally most galling to the colonists. They refused to allow the President and Council to carry out the Instructions, and a state of anarchy ensued. It was to these Instructions, which were a perversion of the Charter, and

not to the Charter itself, that the unpopularity of it was due.

This Imperial Constitution for the American dependencies, as it might be called, containing so many excellent ideas and capable of such good results had it been supplemented by Instructions securing to the colonists a just share in their own government, was revoked after being in existence only three years, and a new charter granted on entirely different principles.

THE

CHAPTER IV

IMPERIAL COUNCILS, 1606-25

HE year 1606 marked the beginning of systematic colonization not only in Virginia, but in Ireland. After the rebellion in Ulster in 1605, the whole Province was practically depopulated and confiscated to the Crown. This situation furnished an opportunity for the English to gain a new foothold in Ireland by colonization, and James, in his eagerness for his own aggrandizement, was not slow to take advantage of it. One of the persons who was consulted concerning the proper methods to be employed, or who at least felt at liberty to offer his advice, was Sir Francis Bacon. That it was acceptable is shown by the fact that the King appointed him Solicitor-General the next year. The advice so given is preserved in the form of a tract entitled Certain Considerations touching the Plantation in Ireland, which, though not dated, shows on its face that it was written after the Virginia Charter of 1606 had been granted.

In order to appreciate the purport of Bacon's advice, it is necessary to consider the methods of administration of the dependencies then prevailing. Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, were each administered by the King in Council through a royal Governor assisted by a royal Council, with the concurrence of an Assembly representing the people. The Governor of Ireland was called the King's Deputy or Viceroy, it being thus recognized as a petty kingdom, that is, a State which had formerly been a Kingdom, but which was now a dependency,

retaining its royal organization to some extent. Since 1495, when the law called Poynings' Law was enacted,so called because suggested by Sir Edward Poynings, the King's Deputy, upon his pacification of Ireland,—no Parliament could be held in Ireland without the King being officially informed of it, and no Acts could be introduced in an Irish Parliament without having previously received the approbation and license of the King under the Great Seal. The Irish Parliament was thus a merely deliberative and registering body, like the French parlements.

Sir Francis Bacon, after referring to the fact that the plan for the colonization of Ulster, which had already been partly formed, provided for a local Commission in that Province, suggested:

That your Majesty would make a correspondency between the Commission there, and a Council of Plantation here; wherein I warrant myself by the precedent of the like Council of Plantation for Virginia; an enterprise in my opinion differing as much from this as Amadis de Gaul differs from Cæsar's Commentaries. But when I speak of a Council of Plantation, I mean some persons chosen by way of reference, upon whom the labor may rest to prepare and report things to the Council of State here that concern that business. For although your Majesty have a grave and sufficient Council in Ireland, from whom and upon whom the Commissioners are to have assistance and dependence; yet that supplies not the purpose whereof I speak. For considering that upon the advertisements as well of the Commissioners as of the Council of Ireland itself, there will be many occasions to crave directions from your Majesty and your Privy Council here, which are busied with a world of affairs, it cannot but give greater expedition, and hence better perfection unto such directions and resolutions, if the matters may be considered of aforehand by such as may have a continual care of the cause. And it will be likewise a comfort and satisfaction to some principal undertakers, if they may be admitted of that Council.