disadvantage)" may
be released "from the Tyranny [of Spain] now upon them."

Taken as a whole, these documents form a remarkable series of unofficial
papers which formulate foundation principles of colonial empire that
England never applied. That these principles met the approval of those
who were to shape the colonial policy of the Restoration a further
examination will show.

* * * * *

[Footnote 1: Cal. State Papers, Col., 1574-1660; Dom., vols. for years
1650-1660, Indexes; Brit. Mus. Egerton, 2395, Add. MSS., 11410, 11411,
15858, f. 97, 22920, f. 22; Lansdowne, 822, f. 164, 823, f. 33.]

[Footnote 2: Cal. State Papers, Col. and Dom. Indexes; Egerton, 2395,
which contains Povey's collection of papers; Add. MSS., 11411, which
contains his correspondence. See also Dictionary of National Biography.]

[Footnote 3: A draft of such an act is to be found in Egerton, 2395, f.
202.]

[Footnote 4: Brit. Mus. Egerton, 2395, pp. 87-113, 176 (there is a
duplicate of Povey's letter in Add. MSS., 11410); Cal. State Papers,
Col., 1574-1660, pp. 475, 477.]

[Footnote 5: That all these proposals were drafted by Povey is evident
from similar terms and phrases used in his letters.]

[Footnote 6: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 11411, ff. 11^{b}-12^{b}.]

[Footnote 7: Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2395, f. 86.]

[Footnote 8: Brit. Mus., Egerton, 2395, f. 99; Add. MSS., 11411, ff.
3-3^{b}. In a letter of August, 1657, Povey refers to these "Overtures,"
which he says were designed "for the better setting and carrying on of
the general affairs of the West Indies, enforcing the authority and
powers of the several governors there, and the establishment of a
certain course," etc.]

CHAPTER IV.

Committees and Councils Under the Restoration.

Charles II landed at Dover on May 25, 1660 and on the twenty-seventh
named at Canterbury four men, General Monck, the Earl of Southampton,
William Morrice, and Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, who took oath as privy
councillors. Others who had been members of the Council on foreign soil
or were added during the month following the return of the King swelled
the number to more than twenty. The first meeting of the Privy Council
was held on May 31, and it was inevitable that during the ensuing weeks
many petitions concerning the various claims and controversies which
had been agitating merchants and planters during the previous years
and had been reported on by the Committee