America and West Indies: Miscellaneous, 1674

Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 7, 1669-1674. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1889.

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'America and West Indies: Miscellaneous, 1674', in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 7, 1669-1674, (London, 1889) pp. 635-638. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol7/pp635-638 [accessed 19 March 2024]

Miscellaneous, 1674

1425. Paper endorsed " To the Right Honobl. the Lord Vaughan, Govr. of the Island of Jamaica," recapitulating a conversation overheard by the writer between a father and son in the house of a person of honour. The father says that a friend of his is very intimate with the new designed Governor of Jamaica, to whom he has promised to recommend the son for preferment, and proceeds to discourse upon wealth and honour as the two standards of temporal felicity, and points out what means may be most conducive to the increase of the wealth and reputation of Jamaica and its Governor, in whose interest the son must look for his own; viz.:—That the law have free and open course; That no industrious man be imprisoned for debt till he have where-withall to make satisfaction; That some public manly sports instead of cards, dice, and tables be brought into fashion among the young gentry, as riding at the ring, tilting on horseback, shooting at marks with guns and bows, running, wrestling, and the like, and that prizes be appointed for the victors by way of encouragement. That in time of peace they be often exercised in arms. That a good collection of books in the English tongue be gotten at public charge and disposed in the most conspicuous places where such of the gentry as are studious may always resort, since there is nothing more ridiculous than ignorance in a person of quality. That idleness be utterly discountenanced as unworthy of a man, and most unworthy of a gentleman, being certainly the father of expensive vices, and the undoubted mother of poverty and shame That penalties be set upon men's vices, especially upon swearing, that unpleasant, unprofitable piece of irreligion, which takes away all reverence to the Divine Majesty, ushering atheism into the world, and upon intemperance, that shame of society, so as at least it may be brought to the state it was formerly, when those that were drunk were drunk in the night. That all men may enjoy liberty of conscience, if they own the substance of Christian Religion, and entertain no tenets prejudicial to the ends of Government and Society. Our blessed Saviour and His Apostles never preached, nor did the Church for some ages ever practise, any other force on men's consciences than those of persuasion and a holy example; and this course is most suitable to the constitution of Christianity, and also agreeable with modern policy, witness the poverty and emptiness of Spain, and the vast riches and numbers of people in the United Netherlands. That government would do well to make the laws few and plain and the execution certain and severe; patient connivance at the breach of a known law, renders the law and law-giver contemptible. If the law be good it ought to be executed, if ill repealed. Besides, the laws designed for the redress of immoralities must receive their true value from the example of the Court. Shame is a greater restraint upon vice than penalties or pain itself, therefore, the Governor ought to begin the reformation at his own house, and if he intends to take any liberties which God's laws or his own prohibit, he should content himself with those enjoyments in private, lest he minister cause of scandal to the best and of encouragement to the worst of the people. For his own part, he ought to consider of some methods to enrich himself as well as the island against the time the government ceases, for if the place be so profitable as reported he cannot be always secured the enjoyment of it, for the King has many needy favourites to gratify, whose importunity shall over-balance the greatest merit in the world at that distance. He should not make show of more outward splendour at first arrival than may be conveniently maintained, nay augmented, for exterior gaiety brings no addition to any man's credit, it only serves to dazzle the eyes of the ignorant vulgar. He should so proportion his expenses that the first year he may have something to add to his stock. Most of the great men in this nation run in debt, to the impoverishing of their revenue and loss of their credit. He must be punctual in the payment of all men, especially tradesmen, whose greatest gain is a quick return, so he may be sure of a pennyworth for a penny, and it is from the mouths of these men that he shall rise or fall in his credit. He should now and then borrow money when he needs it not, for no other end but to pay it exactly at the time, because he may have occasion to use his credit for a considerable sum. For not the fame of power, or greatness of estate, but that of being prudent and just is the very root of reputation; else how comes it to pass that a goldsmith finds credit for many thousands of pounds more than he is worth, while a nobleman worth 10,000l. per annum cannot borrow so many shillings without a mortgage. He should take to his intimate acquaintance some of the most thriving men upon the island, that he may be instructed in all the arts of improvement and be concerned with them in some of their most profitable undertakings. Using these means everybody will be ready to put their money into his hands as into the safest repository, whereas if he run into debt and forfeit the reputation of wise or of just, he must not think to fare better than those unhappy Princes whose people make them part with two pennyworth of prerogative for every penny of money they supply them. " Just then somebody else coming into the room put an end to the discourse." 14 1/2 pp. [Col. Papers, Vol. XXXI., No. 97.]
1426. Mem. "Sta Crux. The Governor is a Moore. We trade much there: the Hollanders have fallen in theirs: De Ruyter lived (?) there 5 years, &c." A fragment in Sir Jos. Williamson's handwriting. [Col. Papers, Vol. XXXI., No. 98.]
1427. Lists of the names of twenty persons who have sugar works and 675 negroes, and of the names of 26 persons who have provision plantations and 382 negroes in Surinam. There are several poor people who have two, three, or four negroes a piece, which may amount to 60 or 70 more; and there may be about 300 Christians, male and female; total, 1,397. Endorsed by John Locke "Surinam, 1674." 1 p. [Col. Papers, Vol. XXXI., No. 99.]
Shaftesbury
Papers.
1428. Mem., in the handwriting of John Locke, relating to Virginia. That corn was worth, in Sept. 1674, 150 lbs. of tobacco per barrel, the cheapest time to buy being in Oct., Nov., and Dec., newly after harvest: corn may now be worth 100 lbs. of tobacco. Indian corn requires more labour than wheat in planting and tillage, but nourishes labourers better and brings a far greater increase, commonly fifty for one. They have two sorts of wheat, winter wheat, sown in Sept., and summer wheat, sown in March, both ripe in June or July. Indian corn is gathered beginning of October. Maj.-Gen. Wood (liveth ? torn away) south-west part of Virginia, about 60 miles from the mountains, upon Apomotack River, which falls into James River. Mr. Richards (sic), by whom this paper was probably communicated to Locke, who has endorsed it "Virginia Husbandry." 1 p. [Shaftesbury Papers, Section IX., Bundle 48, No. 83.]
Shaftesbury
Papers.
1429. Two papers of memoranda in the handwriting of John Locke, marked Carolina. One relating to weights and measures, and the other with lists of names of places, the soil, vegetables, animals, and inhabitants; under the last heading "kind to their women, dye their deer skins of excellent colours, 1536. Kill servants to wait on them in the other world, 1553," &c. Together 5 pp. [Shaftesbury Papers, Section IX., Bundle 48, No. 83.]
Shaftesbury
Papers.
1430. An Account of what masts a ship of 300 tons may bring from Carolina to London and what they may be worth here. These include 10 masts of 76 feet long and 29 inches diameter at 24l. each and 50 other masts from 72 feet to 60 feet long and from 24 inches to 13 inches diameter, also 155 spears of 55 feet long and from 7 to 9 inches diameter. Pipe staves, cedar plank, knees, &c. to fill up the ship. The total worth 826l. 10s. 1 p. [Shaftesbury Papers Section IX., Bundle 48, No. 83.]
Shaftesbury
Papers.
1431. Mem. of provisions required for 48 men three months outward bound, allowing 50 beef days with pudding and peas, and 20 days for pork and peas, and 20 days stock fish with oil or butter, also mem. of provisions for 30 men in the country and for eight seamen for three months. With the prices. Two papers. 2 pp. [Shaftesbury Papers, Section IX., Bundle 48, No. 83.]
1432. Map of Jamaica (21 in. by 14 in.) showing the boundaries of the Parishes as fixed in 1674, and in detail the mountains, savannas, rivers, harbours, creeks, bays, points, islands, &c., with their names; also soundings on many parts of the coast. The churches also are delineated, and many houses and plantations are numbered. [Frontispiece to Col. Entry Bk., Vol. XXIX.]
1670 ? 1433. ADVERTISEMENT. The first part of Mr. Ogilby's English Atlas being published on the 28th of April last past are to be had at his office in White Fryers below the "Green Dragon" Tavern in Fleet St., where those that have subscribed and others that are willing to be concerned in like manner are desired to repair to receive African volumes that are ready to be delivered, where they may also subscribe for his second work, being America, which he hopes to make ready by January next, still continuing the same advantage according to the following proposals of six for five. Also he intends his third volume, before the publication of Asia, and his first part of Europe to be the Description of the British Monarchy, to which all those that are willing to be concerned are desired whatever they know of supplemental remarks conducible to the illustrations thereof that they would be pleased to participate them unto the author which he will take as a kind and civil favour from them. Printed. [Col. Papers, Vol. XXV., No. 113.]