said corporation assembled for that purpose, shall and may form and prepare laws, statutes and ordinances, fit and necessary for and concerning the government of the said colony, and not repugnant to the laws and statutes of England, and the same shall and may present, under their common seal, to us, our heirs and successors, in our or their privy council, for our or their approbation or disallowance; and the said laws, statutes and ordinances being approved of by us, our heirs and successors, in our or their privy council, shall from thenceforth be in full force and virtue within our said province of Georgia. And forasmuch as the good and prosperous success of the said colony, cannot but chiefly depend, next under the blessing of God and the support of our royal authority, upon the provident and good direction of the whole enterprize; and that it will be too great a burthen upon all the members of the said corporation, to be convened so often as may be requisite to hold meetings for the settling, supporting, ordering and maintaining the said colony therefore we do will, ordain and establish, that the said common council for the time being, of the said corporation, being assembled for that purpose, or the major part of them, shall from time to time and at all times hereafter, have full power and authority to dispose of, extend and apply all the moneys and effects belonging to the said corporation, in such manner and ways, and by such expenses as they shall think best to conduce to the carrying on and effecting the good purposes herein mentioned and intended: and also, shall have full power, in the name and on the account of the said corporation, and with and under their common seal, to enter under any covenants or contracts for carrying on and effecting the purposes aforesaid. And our further will and pleasure is, that the said common council for the time being, or the major part of such common council which shall be present and assembled for that purpose, from time to time and at all times hereafter, shall and may nominate, constitute and appoint a treasurer or treasurers, secretary or secretaries, and such other officers, ministers and servants of the said corporation, as to them or the major part of them as shall be present shall seem proper or requisite for the good management of their affairs; and at their will and pleasure to displace, remove and put out such treasurer or treasurers, secretary or secretaries, and all such other officers, ministers

and servants, as often as they shall think fit so to do, and others in the room, office, place or station of him or them so displaced, removed or put out, to nominate, constitute and appoint; and shall and may determine and appoint such reasonable salaries, perquisites and other rewards for their labor, or service of such officers, servants and persons, as to the said common council shall seem meet; and all such officers, servants and persons shall, before the acting their respective offices, take an oath, to be to them administered by the chairman for the time being of the said common council of the said corporation, who is hereby authorized to administer the same, for the faithful and due execution of their respective offices and places. And our will and pleasure is, that all such person and persons who shall from time to time be chosen or appointed treasurer or treasurers, secretary or secretaries of the said corporation, in manner herein after directed, shall, during such times as they shall serve in the said offices respectively, be incapable of being a member of the said corporation. And we do further, of our special grace, certain knowledge and mere motion, for us, our heirs and successors, grant, by these presents, to the said corporation and their successors, that it shall be lawful for them and their officers or agents, at all times hereafter, to transport and convey out of our realm of Great Britain, or any other our dominions, into the said province of Georgia, to be there settled, and so many of our loving subjects, or any foreigners that are willing to become our subjects and live under our allegiance in the said colony, as shall be willing to go to inhabit or reside there, with sufficient shipping, armor, weapons, powder, shot, ordnance, munition, victuals, merchandise and wares, as are esteemed by the wild people, clothing, implements, furniture, cattle, horses, mares, and all other things necessary for the said colony, and for the use and defence, and trade with the people there, and in passing and returning to and from the same. Also we do, for ourselves and successors, declare, by these presents, that all and every the persons which shall happen to be born within the said province, and every of their children and posterity, shall have and enjoy all liberties, franchises and immunites of free denizens and natural born subjects, within any of our dominions, to all intents and purposes, as if abiding and born within this our kingdom of Great Britain, or any other dominion. And for the greater ease and en

couragement of our loving subjects, and such others as shall come to inhabit in our said colony, we do, by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, grant, establish and ordain, that for ever hereafter, there shall be a liberty of conscience allowed in the worship of God, to all persons inhabiting or which shall inhabit or be resident within our said province, and that all such persons, except papists, shall have a free exercise of religion; so they be contented with the quiet and peaceable enjoyment of the same, not giving offence or scandal to the government. And our further will and pleasure is, and we do hereby, for us, our heirs and successors, declare and grant, that it shall and may be lawful for the said common council, or the major part of them, assembled for that purpose, in the name of the corporation, and under the common seal, to distribute, convey, assign and set over such particular portions of lands, tenements and hereditaments by these presents granted to the said corporation, unto such of our loving subjects naturally born or denizens, or others, that shall be willing to become our subjects, and live under our allegiance in the said colony, upon such terms, and for such estates, and upon such rents, reservations and conditions as the same may be lawfully granted, and as to the said common council, or the major part of them so present, shall seem fit and proper. Provided always, that no grants shall be made of any part of the said lands unto any person being a member of the said corporation, or to any other person in trust for the benefit of any member of the said corporation; and that no person having any estate or interest in law or equity in any part of the said lands, shall be capable of being a member of the said corporation, during the continuance of such estate or interest. Provided also, that no greater quantity of lands be granted, either entirely or in parcels, to or for the use or in trust for any one person than five hundred acres; and that all grants made contrary to the true intent and meaning hereof, shall be absolutely null and void. And we do hereby grant and ordain, that such person or persons for the time being, as shall be thereunto appointed by the said corporation, shall and may at all times, and from time to time hereafter, have full power and authority to administer and give the oaths appointed by an act of parliament made in the first year of the reign of our late royal father, to be taken instead of the oaths of allegiance

and supremacy; and also the oath of abjuration, to all and every person and persons which shall at any time be inhabiting or residing within our said colony; and in like cases to administer the solemn affirmation to any of the persons commonly called quakers, in such manner as by the laws of our realm of Great Britain the same may be administered. And we do, of our further gracc, certain knowledge and mere motion, grant, establish and ordain, for us, our heirs and successors, that the said corporation and their successors, shall have full power and authority for and during the term of twenty-one years, to commence from the date of these our letters patent, to erect and constitute judicaturies and courts of record, or other courts, to be held in the name of us, our heirs and successors, for the hearing and determining of all manner of crimes, offences, pleas, processes, plaints, actions, matters, causes and things whatsoever, arising or happening within the said province of Georgia or between persons of Georgia; whether the same be criminal or civil, and whether the said crimes be capital or not capital, and whether the said pleas be real, personal or mixed; and for awarding and making out executions thereupon; to which courts and judicaturies, we do hereby, for us, our heirs and successors, give and grant full power and authority, from time to time, to administer oaths for the discovery of truth, in any matter in controversy or depending before them, or the solemn affirmation to any of the persons commonly called quakers, in such manner as by the laws of our realm of Great Britain the same may be administered. And our further will and pleasure is, that the said corporation and their successors, do from time to time and at all times hereafter, register or cause to be registered all such leases, grants, plantings, conveyances, settlements and improvements whatsoever, as shall at any time hereafter be made by or in the name of the said corporation, of any lands, tenements or hereditaments within the said province; and shall yearly send and transmit, or cause to be sent or transmitted, authentic accounts of such leases, grants, conveyances, settlements and improvements respectively, unto the auditor of the plantations for the time being, or his deputy, and also to our surveyor for the time being of our said province of South Carolina, to whom we do hereby grant full power and authority from time to time, as often as need shall require, to inspect and survey such of the said lands and

premises as shall be demised, granted and settled as aforesaid, which said survey and inspection, we do hereby declare to be intended to ascertain the quit-rents which shall from time to time become due to us, our heirs and successors, according to the reservations herein before mentioned, and for no other purposes whatsoever; hereby, for us, our heirs and successors; strictly enjoining and commanding, that neither our or their surveyor, or any person whatsoever, under the pretext and color of making the said survey or inspection, shall take, demand or receive any gratuity, fee or reward of or from any person or persons inhabiting in the said colony, or from the said corporation or common council of the same, on the pain of forfeiture of the said office or offices, and incurring our highest displeasure. Provided always, and our further will and pleasure is, that all leases, grants and conveyances to be made by or in the name of the said corporation, of any lands within the said province, or a memorial containing the substance and effect thereof, shall be registered with the auditor of the said plantations, of us, our heirs and successors, within the space of one year, to be computed from the date thereof, otherwise the same shall be void. And our further will and pleasure is, that the rents, issues, and all other profits which shall at any time hereafter come to the said corporation, or the major part of them which shall be present at any meeting for that purpose assembled, shall think will most improve and enlarge the said colony, and best answer the good purposes herein before mentioned, and for defraying all other charges about the same. And our will and pleasure is, that the said corporation and their successors, shall from time to time give in to one of the principal secretaries of state and to the commissioners of trade and plantations, accounts of the progresses of the said colony. And our will and pleasure is, that no act done at any meeting of the said common council of the said corporation, shall be effectual and valid, unless eight members at least of the said common council, including the member who shall serve as chairman at the said meeting, be present, and the major part of them consenting thereunto. And our will and pleasure is, that the common council of the said corporation for the time being, or the major part of them who shall be present, being assembled for that purpose, shall from time to time, for and during and unto the full end and expiration of twenty-one