for America should have been
brought to the attention of the Council. Such matters as appointments to
governorships and other offices, the political disturbances in Antigua,
Barbadoes, and Jamaica, the titles to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and
Barbadoes, became at once living issues. Many of the petitions were from
the London merchants, and we may not doubt that the personal influence
of those whose names have been already mentioned was brought to bear
upon the members of the Council. It became necessary, therefore,
for the King and his advisers to make early provision for the proper
consideration of colonial business in order that the colonies might
be placed in a position of greater security and in order that the
West Indian and American trade, from which the King and his Chancellor
expected important additions to the royal revenue, might be encouraged
and extended. Among the petitions received in June, 1660, were two from
rival groups of merchants interested in the governorship and trade of
the island of Nevis. One of these petitions desired the confirmation
of the appointment of Col. Philip Ward as governor of Nevis; the other
the reappointment of the former governor, Russell. This was the first
difficult question that had yet arisen, for Berkeley's return to
Virginia was a foregone conclusion, while the condition and settlement
of Nova Scotia, Barbadoes and Jamaica were to be of importance later.
Acting on these petitions regarding Nevis, only the second of which is
entered in the Privy Council Register, the King in Council appointed
on July 4, 1660, a committee, known as "The Right Honorable the Lords
appointed a Committee of this Board for Trade and Plantations." The
members were Edward Montague, Earl of Manchester, the Lord Chamberlain;
Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, the Lord Treasurer; Robert
Sydney, Earl of Leicester; William Fiennes, Lord Say and Seale; John
Lord Robartes; Denzil Holles, Arthur Annesley, Sir Anthony Ashley
Cooper, and the Secretaries of State, Sir Edward Nicholas and Sir
William Morrice. The committee was instructed to meet on every Monday
and Thursday at three o'clock in the afternoon, "to review, heare,
examine, and deliberate upon any petitions, propositions, memorials, or
other addresses, which shall be presented or brought in by any person or
persons concerning the plantations, as well in the Continent as Islands
of America, and from time to time make their report to this board of