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Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
Instructions to William Tryon concerning the government of North Carolina [Extracts]
George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820; Great Britain. Board of Trade
December 1765
Volume 07, Pages 137-142

[B. P. R. O. No. Carolina. B. T. Vol. 23.]

Instructions to Our Trusty and Wellbeloved William Tryon Esquire, Our Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over Our Province of North Carolina in America. Given at our Court at St James's the Day of—in the—year of Our Reign.

First, We having thought fit by Our Great seal of Great Britain to constitute you Our Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over Our Province of North Carolina in America, you are therefore immediately upon having received these Our Instructions to call together the following Persons by name, whom we do hereby appoint to be the Members of Our Council for that Province, Viz: James Hasell, John Rutherford, Lewis DeRosset, Edward Brice Dobbs, Richard Spaight, John Sampson, Henry Eustace McCullock, Alexander McCullock, Charles Berry, William Dry, Robert Palmer and Benjamin Heron Esquires.

[The other instructions are identical with those given to Governor Dobbs, save that sections 13, 41, 45, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58,

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66, 84, 85 and 118 of Dobbs's are omitted from Tryon's, and that in Tryon's are to be found certain new sections set forth below, viz., 45, 50, 71, 77, 78, 109 and 111.—Editor.]

45. Whereas Laws have been lately passed or attempted to be passed in several of the Colonies in America, enacting that the Judges of the several Courts of Judicature or other Chief Officers of Justice in the said Colonies, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and whereas the Governors or other chief Officers of Our said Colonies have granted Commissions to the judges or other chief officers of Justice, by which they have been impowered to hold their said Offices during good Behaviour contrary to the express Directions of the Instructions given to the said Governors, or their Chief Officers by Us, or by Our Royal Predecessors, and whereas it does not appear to Us, that in the present Situation and Circumstances of Our said Colonies, it would be either for the Interest or Advantage of the said Colonies, or of this Our Kingdom of Great Britain that the Judges or other Chief Officers of Justice should hold their Offices during good Behaviour; It is therefore Our express Will and Pleasure, that you do not upon any pretence whatever, upon pain of being removed from your Government, give your Assent to any Act, by which the Tenure of Commissions to be granted to the chief Judges, or other Justices of the several Courts of Judicature, shall be regulated or ascertained in any manner whatsoever, and you are to take particular Care in all Commissions to be by you granted to the said Judges or other Justices of the Courts of Judicature that the said Commissions are granted during Pleasure only, agreeable to what has been the ancient Practice and Usage in Our said Colonies and Plantations.

50. Whereas frequent Complaints have been heretofore made that exorbitant Fees have been demanded and taken in Publick Offices in several of Our Colonies & Plantations in America, for Business transacted in such Offices, And whereas it hath been represented unto Us that there is great reason to apprehend that such unwarrantable Demands and Exactions are still continued in some of Our Colonies particularly on the Survey & passing Patents for Lands; And whereas such shamefull and illegal Practices do not only dishonour Our Service, but do also operate to the prejudice of the Publick Interests, by obstructing the Speedy Settlement of Our Colonies; It is therefore Our Will & Pleasure, and you are hereby strictly

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enjoined and required forthwith upon receiving these Our Instructions to you, to cause fair Tables of all Fees legally established within the Province under your Government to be affixed up in every Public Office within your said Government, and also to publish a Proclamation in Our name under the Seal of Our said Province, setting forth the Complaints and Representations which have been made to Us, in respect to the exorbitant Fees demanded and taken in the Publick Offices of several of Our Colonies, expressing Our just Indignation of such unwarrantable and dishonorable Practices and strictly enjoining and requiring all Public Officers whatever, in their respective Stations not to demand or receive any other Fees for Publick Business transacted in their Offices, than what have been established by proper Authority, upon pain of being removed from their said Offices, and prosecuted with the utmost Severity of the Law. And It is Our further Will & Pleasure that you do also forthwith transmit to Our Commrs for Trade and Plantations, in order to be laid before Us, an exact and authentick List or Table of all Fees allowed to, or taken by each Officer respectively within the Province under your Government, specifying by what Authority the Fees allowed to, or taken by each Officer are established and distinguishing such, if any, as are taken without any such Authority.

71. Whereas it hath been represented unto Us that the Governors of several of Our Colonies in America have granted Lands away close to the Forts belonging to Us; by which means the Garrison of such Forts have been obliged to pay the Proprietors of those Lands extravagant prices for Wood cut for a necessary Supply of Fuel, and thereby a great and unreasonable Expence has been brought upon the Military Contingencies; It is Our express Will and Pleasure that you do take especial Care that in all Warrants for surveying of Lands adjacent or Contiguous to any Fort or Fortification, whether such Warrant be granted upon an original Petition to you in Council, or upon Our Order in Our Privy Council there be an express direction to the Surveyor, that he do reserve to Us Our Heirs and Successors for the use of the Fort, near to which the Lands shall lye, such a part of the Tract petitioned for (being Wood Land) and in such a Situation as the Commander in Chief of the said Fort (with whom he is required to consult and advise in all such Cases) shall judge convenient and sufficient for a permanent and certain Supply of Fuel for such a Garrison as the said Fort may be able to contain. And it is Our further Will and

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Pleasure that a regular Plot of such reserved Land, describing the Bounds, expressing the Quantity of Acres, and properly signed and attested by such Surveyor be delivered to the Commanding Officer of each Fort, to be there publickly hung up, and a Duplicate thereof also recorded in the Secretary's Office or other proper Office of Record in Our Province under your Government; and as We judge the due Execution of this Our Order to be essential to Our Service you are hereby required to take care that the Regulations above prescribed be duly entered upon the Council Books of Our said Province, as a standing Order to all Persons who may be entrusted with the Powers to which they refer.

77. And whereas Our late Royal Grandfather was graciously pleased by His Orders in Council dated the 19th day of May 1737, in the tenth year of His Reign, to direct that one Million Two Hundred Thousand Acres of Land should be set out and granted unto Murray Crymble and James Huey and their Associates, in such Proportions as should be required by them, and upon the following Terms and Conditions, Viz: That They should settle one white person for every 200 Acres within Ten Years from the date of their Grants, and also that from and after the Expiration of that Term, they should pay unto Us, Our Heirs, & Successors, a Quit Rent of four Shillings Proclamation Money for every hundred Acres so granted to them. And whereas it hath been represented to Us that in consequence of the said Orders in Council the Associates of the said Murray Crymble and James Huey did in the year 1746 take out Ninety six Grants amounting in the whole to one Million Two hundred Thousand Acres; and whereas the times limited for fullfilling the Conditions of the said Grants are now expired, and it hath been represented unto Us that the whole of said Grants have not as yet been settled with white Persons in the proportion prescribed by the said Orders, It is our Will and Pleasure, and you are hereby authorized and required to seize and take possession of, in our Name and Right as forfeited and escheated, all such parts and Tracts of the said Lands as lye to the Southward of the Earl of Granville's boundary Line, and which shall not have been actually settled according to the Terms of the Grants, and you are afterwards to govern yourself in relation to the said Lands conformable to the 78th Article of these your Instructions relative to forfeitures & Escheats nevertheless it is Our Will and Pleasure that you cause proper Measures to be taken to secure the payment of Our Quit

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Rents upon all such parts of the said Grantees Lands, as shall at that time be duly and compleatly settled, by permitting the Possessors holding under them by Grants or leases to attorn unto Us for the Payment of the Quit Rents, and to register at the proper Office for such Quantity of Land as they are actually in possession of, respective Grants or Leases under which they hold their Lands.

78. And whereas it has been represented to Us that Complaint hath been made by Henry MacCulloh in behalf of himself and other Associates of the late Murray Crymble & James Huey, that they have been greatly disturbed and molested in the quiet possession of their said Grants by the late Governor of Our said Province and others acting under his Authority, who took upon them to grant to other persons, Lands before set out and granted to them pursuant to Our said Royal Order, Our Will & Pleasure is, and you are hereby directed and required to maintain and support the said Grantees in their just and legal Rights, and in the quiet possession of their Lands.

109. Whereas the Peace and Security of Our Colonies and Plantations upon the Continent of North America does greatly depend upon the Amity & Alliance of the several Nations or Tribes of Indians bordering upon the said Colonies, and upon a just & faithfull Observance of those Treaties and Compacts, which have been heretofore solemnly entered into with the Indians by Our Royal Predecessors Kings and Queens of this Realm; And Whereas notwithstanding the repeated Instructions which have been from time to time given by Our Royal Grandfather to the Governors of Our several Colonies upon this head, the said Indians have made, and do still continue to make great Complaints that Settlements have been made, and Possession taken of Lands, the property of which they have by Treaties reserved to themselves by persons claiming the said Lands under pretence of Deeds of Sale and Conveyance illegally, fraudulently, and Surreptitiously obtained of the said Indians; And whereas if in Our name strictly enjoining & requiring all persons whatever who may either willfully or inadvertently have seated themselves upon any Lands so reserved to or claimed by the said Indians without any lawfull Authority for so doing, forthwith to remove therefrom: And in case you shall find, upon strict Enquiry to be made for that purpose, that any person or persons do claim to hold or possess any Lands within Our said Province, upon pretence of Purchases made of the said Indians without a proper Licence

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first had & obtained either from Us, or any of Our Royal Predecessors or any person acting under Our or Their Authority, you are forthwith to cause a Prosecution to be carried on against such person or persons who shall have made such fraudulent Purchases, to the end that the Land may be recovered by due course of Law: And Whereas the wholesome Laws, which have at different times been passed in several of Our said Colonies and the Instructions which have been given by Our Royal Predecessors. for restraining persons from purchasing Lands of the Indians without a Licence for that purpose, and for regulating the Proceedings upon such Purchases, have not been duly observed; It is therefore Our express Will and Pleasure, that when Application shall be made to you for Licence to purchase Lands of the Indians, you do forbear to grant such Licence, until you shall have first transmitted to Us by Our Commrs for Trade & Plantations, the Particulars of such Application, as well in respect to the Situation as the Extent of the Lands so proposed to be purchased, and shall have received Our further Directions therein; And it is Our further Will & Pleasure that you do forthwith cause this Our Instruction to you to be made publick, not only within all parts of your said Province, inhabited by Our Subjects, but also amongst the several Tribes living within the same, to the End that Our Royal Will and Pleasure in the Premises may be known, and that the Indians may be apprized of Our determined Resolution to support them in their just Rights, and inviolably to observe Our Engagements with them.

111. Whereas in consequence of Our additional Instruction to Our Governors of North Carolina and South Carolina respectively in the Year 1763, a temporary Line of Jurisdiction has been agreed upon, and set out by Commissioners appointed by both the said Provinces, We do signify to you Our Will and Pleasure, that the Line so set out shall be the Line of Jurisdiction between Our said Provinces, until a perpetual Line of Partition between them shall be finally determined by Us, or until Our further Pleasure shall be signified thereupon.