uthampton, George
Monck, Earl of Albemarle, Lord Say and Seale, Earl of Manchester, Lord
Robartes, Arthur Annesley, and Secretary Morrice, who probably formed a
special committee appointed to draft it. Some time within the month the
answer of the Aldermen must have been received, for on September 19 the
Council ordered the attorney general "to make a draught of a commission
for establishing a Councell of Trade according to the grounds layed"
in the letter of the seventeenth of August, "upon the perusal whereof
at the Board his Ma^{tie} will insert the names of the said Counsell."
It is more than likely that the project for the second council, that of
plantations, went forward _pari passu_ with the Council for Trade and
that the letter to the Mayor and Aldermen served a double purpose. At
any rate that must have been the understanding among those interested at
the time, for on September 26, one Norwich, Captain of the Guards, who
had been in Clarendon's employ, sent in a memorial to the Chancellor
begging that the King employ him "in his customs and committees of trade
and forraign plantations."[6] The matter of drafting the commissions
must have taken some time, for they are not mentioned as ready for the
addition of names before the last week in October. The business of
making up the lists of members must have been a difficult and tedious
matter. Many lists exist among the Domestic Papers which contain
changes, erasures and additions, drafts and corrected drafts, which show
how much pains Clarendon and the others took to make the membership of
the Council of Trade satisfactory. A suggested list was first drawn up
containing the names of privy councillors, country gentlemen, customers,
merchants, traders, the navy officers, gentlemen versed in affairs, and
doctors of civil law. With this list was considered another containing
the names of the persons nominated by the different merchant companies.
Other lists seem also to have been presented.[7] Probably in much the
same way the list of the members of the Council for Foreign Plantations
was made up, but more slowly.

The commissions were both ready by October 25 and on November 7 had
reached the Crown Office (Chancery), ready to pass the great seal. The
commission for the Council of Trade passed the great seal on that day
and is dated November 7, 1660; but the commission for the Council for
Foreign Plantations was held back that the names of other members might
be added