e Select Council for Foreign Plantations was due in largest
part to the influence and initiative of these two men, particularly of
Ashley, who in 1670 was at the height of his political power and on
terms of closest intimacy with the King.[1] That he was sincere in this
movement seems to me beyond question, and the charge that has been made
against him of recommending the creation of this Council as a means of
obtaining sinecures for his friends, does not appear capable of the
slightest proof.[2] If membership on the Council was deemed at the first
a position of ease, it must soon have lost that character, for few
committee men ever worked harder than those who looked after plantation
affairs in the years from 1670 to 1674. This fact will appear as we
examine the nature and extent of their activities.

Experience with previous councils had shown that too numerous and
fluctuating a membership was not conducive either to harmony or to
despatch of business. Therefore, in reviving the Council for Plantations
it was decided, as the most important change to be effected, that the
number should be reduced to such terms as to enable the committee to
apply itself as a whole to the business in hand. The commission was
issued on July 30, 1670, to ten persons, of whom but three were members
of the nobility. The commissioners were Edward, Earl of Sandwich;
Richard, Lord Gorges, Baron of Dundalk in Ireland; William, Lord
Allington, Baron of Killar in Ireland; Thomas Grey, son of Lord Grey,
of Warke; Henry Brouncker, Sir Humphrey Winch, Sir John Finch, Edmund
Waller, Henry Slingsby, master and worker of the mint and one of the
gentlemen of the privy chamber, and Silas Titus, one of the grooms of
the bed chamber. To this number was added in 1671 James, Duke of York;
Prince Rupert, George, Duke of Buckingham, Master of the Horse; James,
Duke of Ormond, Lord Steward of the Royal Household; John, Earl of
Lauderdale, Secretary of State for Scotland; Thomas, Lord Culpeper; Sir
George Carteret, Vice-Chamberlain; and John Evelyn, but of these only
the last named stood on the same footing with those first appointed as
a regular and salaried member, the others being appointed to give weight
and dignity to the board and receiving no compensation. In August, 1671,
Sir Richard Temple was added to the board, also to serve without pay.
The only basis for the charge of self-seeking which has been brought
against the members of this Council is the fact