in the
following particulars: the increase and improvement of raw commodities
for use at home, the promotion of manufactures, the betterment of
the fishing trade at home and abroad, the opening of rivers, ports,
and harbors, the proper distribution of trade and manufactures, the
obstacles that lay in the way of English trade as compared with those
confronting the trade of other nations, and all abuses of trade and
manufactures in the kingdom. It was to inquire into the best methods of
increasing the sale and export of native commodities and manufactures,
of encouraging the importation of foreign goods at the cheapest rates,
of building ships for the carrying of such bulky articles as masts and
timber, of extending correspondence with the great commercial centers
abroad, and of opening free ports where foreign commodities might be
landed and stored with small charge if designed for reexportation. It
was also to take into special consideration the advantages of a more
open and free trade than that of companies and corporations, and to
encourage inventions and improvements designed to improve any art,
trade, or manufacture or to secure and promote trade and navigation.

So far as the plantations were concerned, the Council was to inquire
into the general state of the colonies, and to obtain full information
regarding councils, assemblies, courts of judicature, courts of
admiralty, legislative and executive powers, statutes, laws and
ordinances, militia, fortifications, arms, and ammunition. It was to
learn all it could about boundaries, lands, mines, staple products,
and manufactures; to determine whether or not nutmegs, cinnamon,
cloves, pepper, and other spices would grow if planted; to inform itself
regarding rivers, harbors, and fishing banks; and to estimate how many
planters and parishes there were, how many whites and blacks yearly
arrived, and how many people died each year. It was to learn the number
of ships trading to the plantations, to discover the obstacles to trade
and how they could be removed, the advantages and how they could be
increased; it was to concern itself with export and import dues, public
revenues, measures taken for the instruction of the people and the
maintenance of the ministry. It was especially instructed to keep in
frequent correspondence with the governors, to urge upon them the
necessity of maintaining peace with their neighbors, the Indians and
others, of taking the Indians under thei