had discovered that the Negro trade could be made very
lucrative. In this charter, therefore, they obtained "the whole,
entire and only trade for the buying and selling bartering and
exchanging of for or with any Negroes, slaves, goods, wares and
merchandises whatsoever to be vented or found at or within any of the
Cities" on the west coast of Africa. The charter provided that there
should be no trading on the African coast except by the company in its
corporate capacity, and that any one guilty of transgressing these
rules should be liable to forfeiture of his ship and goods.[16]

The charter also required the shareholders to elect a governor,
subgovernor, deputy governor and a court of assistants; but that the
routine business of the company should be conducted by a smaller
committee corresponding to the committee of six of the previous
company. The duke of York was elected governor, in which capacity he
continued to serve during the company's entire existence. Thirty-six
men were chosen annually to compose the court of assistants. There
was also an executive committee of seven which was responsible to the
court of assistants.[17]

While the company was endeavoring to obtain this new charter an
unsuspected difficulty arose. It will be remembered that in 1631 Sir
Nicholas Crispe and others had received a patent to a portion of the
west coast of Africa for thirty-one years. The first charter of
Charles II to the Royal Adventurers in December, 1660, had been
granted a year and a half previous to the expiration of Crispe's
patent. In recognition of this fact the charter of the Royal
Adventurers provided that if the former patent was not void, the new
charter was not to be effective until its surrender or expiration. At
first Crispe made no complaint about the transgression of his rights,
probably because the first expedition under Captain Holmes had gone to
the Gambia region in which place Crispe had no interests. When it
became apparent that the company intended to carry its activities
further south, however, he appeared before the Privy Council on
November 22, 1661, and asked to have his interest confirmed in the
trade and settlements at Kormentine and in the region of the Sierra
Leone and Sherbro rivers.[18] On December 20, 1661, his case was heard
before the Privy Council, at which time the case was referred to the
Lord High Treasurer.[19] The matter was neglected and finally dropped.

Crispe found it impossible to