and appoint and recal Governors and other Officers. The Governor and Company, or the Governor and Committees, are also impowered to appoint Governors and other Agents for me Said Island, and to recall and change them at Pleasure; Courts of Justice to be established. and the Persons so appointed are invested with a Power of ruling, correcting, and punishing His Majesty's Subjects.in the said Island, according to Justice, by Courts, Sessions, and other Forms of judicature, like those established in England, by such Judges and Officers as shall be delegated for that Purpose, snd in general to hsve the Command over all Persons in the Island, and to repel and expel by force of Arms,To repel Invasions,and exercise martial Law. all attempts of Invasion and Annoyance, and generally to exercise all other Authorities appertaining to the Captain General of His Majesty's Army.
Governor,&c, may administer Oaths.The Governor and Committees may administer Oaths to the Persons intrusted with the Governijpant of the said Island, and all other Agents sent thither, and the like Power of administering Oaths to Persons residing in the Island is given to the Governor thereof for the Time being; King's Subjects and Posterity, to be deemed natural born Subjects. and it is declared that all Persons, being His Majesty's Subjects, inhabiting within the said Island, and their Children, and their Posterity, born within the Limits thereof, shall be deemed free Denizens, and natural Subjects, as if living and born in England; The Powers granted for the Island extended to other Settlements.and that the Governor and Company, and their Agents, shall have the same powers in the said Island as in their other Plantations within the Limits of their Trade; and that they shall also exercise and enjoy the several Powers specifically granted by this Chifrter, in all other Ports, Islands, Territories, and Places, which they shall purchase or acquire within the Limits of their Charters, The Grant to be construed in the most favourable Sense. and that the Charter shall be construed in the most favourable Sense for their Benefit.
Grant of the Island of St. Helena, 16th December, 1674.
The Abstract.AFTER the Governor and Company had, under the Authority of their Charter of 1661, erected Forts, and made Plantations at St. Helena, that Island was captured by the Dutch, and re-taken by the King's Ships and Forces. The King, by this Grant, re-granted and confirmed the same to the said Governor and Company in Perpetuity, to be held in Soccage Tenure, as of the Manor of East Greenwich, with the same Powers and Privileges, for the Safety and Protection thereof, and for the Government of the Inhabitants, and with the like Declarations in Favour of the Company and Inhabitants, as were contained in the Grant of Bombay; Necessaries may be shipped to St. Helena, free from Duty.and with this further Privilege, that the Company he permitted to export to the said Island all Kind of Cloathing, Provisions, or Victuals, Amunition, Ordnance, and Supplements, without Payment of Custom, Subsidy, or other Duty; Recruits may also be sent thither. and also to transport thither such Numbers of Men, willing to go, as the Company shall think fit.
Fourth Charter, being a Cornfirmation of Privileges, and a Release of Debts and Demands, dated 5th October, 1677.
The Inducements for this Grant stated.IN and before the year 1677, great Clamours had been, raised on Account of the Company's exclusive Privileges of Trade, and many Opinions were promulgated through the Realm, that their Charters were become forfeited and void by Misuser and Abuse; Doubts had also been suggested, whether the Company were not liable to account to the Crown for Monies arising by Penalties levied in the East Indies, and by Seizures of forfeited Goods, and by Damages and Compositions recovered from their Servants for Breach of Contracts; Confirmation of former Privileges.the King, by this Grant, confirmed to the Company for ever, all their Rights, Liberties, and Franchises, granted by their former Charters, notwithstanding any Misuser, Nonuser, or Abuser; Grant of Damages recovered for breach of Covenants, and granted to them the Benefit of all Damages they should recover from their Servants, or Ship Owners, for Breach of Covenant, and gave a general Pardon to the Company, and their Servants, and of all Debts to the Crown,except Customs.of all Debts and Demands (except Customs and Subsidies which accrued since September, 1676), and directed that all Prosecutions depending in respect thereeof, should be surceased and withdrawn.—Power to Coin Money in India.By this Grant the Governor and Company were alsa authorized to coin Money at Bombay, and in all other Places in the East Indies mentioned in any of the King's Charters, so that any of such Coins be not called by the Name of any Coin current in the King's Dominions, except in the East Indies.
