be kept for that purpose, and shall be absolutely conclusive on the sd Company. That it shall be in the power of the said Company from time to time at a General meeting as aforesaid to direct and appoint any Sum and Sums of Money that they shall judge necessary, for the purpose for which this Company is instituted to be paid into the hands of a Treasurer for the time being by every particular member which Sum and Sums of Money the subscribers do bind themselves their Heirs Executors and Administrators to pay into the hands of such Treasurer at the times to be appointed for the payment of the same Provided that if any Member shall neglect or refuse to pay into the hands of the said Treasurer upon demand or shall fail to pay down to him at the next general meeting of Company the full Sum with legal Interest thereon from the time of the demand so made, the said delinquent shall forfeit all right title and interest in the said Company and be no longer deemed a Member thereof. The said Company at the first general meeting to be had, shall appoint a Treasurer out of their Number who shall immediately on his Appointment and before he is admitted to Act in that office, enter into Bond with two or more good and sufficient Securities to the said Company by the name of the Mississippi Company for the just and faithfull performance of his Office of Treasurer, and shall also make Oath that he will execute the same with justice and punctuality; which said Treasurer shall also act to the said company as Clerk or Secretary and shall in the capacity of Clerk and Treasurer one Year and from thence to the next meeting of the Company and no longer; and shall be allowed by the said Company for his Services five pler] Centum for all monies that shall past [sic] through his hands. A Committee of Ten members to be chosen by the Company, five of which shall be a sufficient Number to Do Business who shall meet twice a Year (to wit) on the [blank in MS.] day of [blank in MS.] and on the [blank in MS.] day of [blank in MS.] or oftener as the exigencies of the Company shall require, upon Notice of such extraordinary meeting being published in the Virginia & Maryland Gazette by one or more of the Members of the Committee and it shall be lawful for any member of the said Company that shall happen to be present at such Committees tho' not nominated as one of the Committee to vote at such meeting: Provided nevertheless that the Treasurer for the time being shall have no right to vote at the meeting of such Committee. Such Committee shall have power to put in execution such plans as shall be laid down by a general meeting of the Company and apply the monies raised by the Company for the effecting such plans. The Treasurer and Secretary of the Company aforesaid shall act as Clerk or Secretary to the Committee and shall enter all the orders of the said Committee in a Book to be kept for that purpose. That no member shall have a right to dispose of his share without first acquainting the Company at a general meeting and giving the Company the preference of purchasing. If any of the members of the said Company shall hereafter sell and dispose of his whole share to divers persons he shall loose his right of voting in the said Company and it shall be in the power of the said Company to choose which of the said purchasers they shall most approve to be a member of the said Company; no more than one vote being to be allowed for one share: but if any member shall dispose of only part of his share he shall not loose his right of voting at any meeting of the said Company; any thing to the contrary of this & the foregoing clause or seeming to the contrary notwithstanding. It shall not be lawful for any member of the said Company purchasing the share or shares of any other member or members thereof to have more than one vote. In Testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 3a day of June One thousand Seven hundred and sixty three. [on a slip of paper attached] A List of the Mississippi Company The Honble Presly Thornton Benedict Calvert Colonel George Washington Thomas Ludwell Lee Richard Henry Lee Francis Lightfoot Lee Henry Fitzhugh Adam Stephens William Fitzhugh William Brockenborough John Baylor Bernard Moore Mr Richard Parker William Lee John Turberville John Augt Washington William Flood Thomas Simpson Robert Woodrop Anthony Stewart 'Doct: Arthur Lee M. D. F. R. S. The Revd Henry Addison A.M. Mr Cuthbert Bullitt William Brent William Fitzhugh William Fitzhugh Jun John Alexander Francis Thornton Ralph Wormeley Mann Page Warner Lewis John Armistead William Booth Edmund Jenings Stephen Sayre Test, WILLIAM LEE S. M: C° [Collection endorsed:] Mississippie Coo papers, sent to the Right Honbl Earl of Chatham On Saturday the 2d April 1774 THE MISSISSIPPI COMPANY, September 9, 17631 [P.R.O., Chatham MSS., 97, f. 3—C.] At a meeting of the Mississippi Company at Belleview Sep 9th, 1763. 1 Printed in Carter, Great Britain and the Illinois Country, 1763–1774, pp. 165 et seq. A Memorial to his Majesty being read some amendments made thereto, the same was agreed to and is as followeth TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY The Humble Memorial of Inhabitants of Great Britain Virginia, Maryland &c. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY THE MEMORIALISTS considering it the duty of all good subjects to improve to the utmost of their power the blessings of peace and reflecting how this improvement may best be obtained by the exertions of their abilities and the applications of their fortunes; have proposed with the approbation and under the protection of your Majesty to settle as speedily & effectually as possible, some part of that vast Country on the Mississippi and its waters; now unquestionably your Majesty's territory by the late treaty of Peace. The increase of the People, the extension of Trade and the enlargement of the revenue are with certainty to be expected, where the fertility of the Soil, and mildness of the Climate invite emigrants (provided they can obtain Lands on easy terms) to settle and cultivate those commodities most wanted by Great Britain and which will bear the charges of a tedious navigation, by the high prices usually given for them—such as Hemp, Flax, Silk, Wine, Potash, Cochineal, Indigo, Iron &c, by which means the Mother Country will be supplied with many necessary materials, that are now purchased of foreigners at a very great expense Especially naval stores so essential to the very being of a commercial state, that it must be under great restraints, in all Transactions with those powers by whom they are furnished. Whilst the inhabitants of the infant settlement, finding their labour most profitably bestowed upon Agriculture will not think of interfering with the Mother Country in Manufactures but afford a never failing demand for them. To effect these good purposes the memorialists have formed themselves into a Company by the name of the Mississippi Company, that by a Union of their Councils and fortunes that may in the most prudent and proper manner explore & as quickly as possible settle that part of the Country hereafter mentioned, if your Majesty shall be graciously pleased to indulge them with these conditions. 1st That Your Majesty grant unto your memorialists, being fifty in number by the name of the Mississippi Company two million five hundred thousand acres of Land on the Mississippi, & its waters, to be laid off within the following bounds beginning upon the East side of the River Mississippi one hundred and twenty miles above, or to the Northward of the confluence of the River OHIO therewith. Thence by a Line to strike the River Wabash or St. Jerom eighty Miles above its junction with the River OHIO. Thence Southerly crossing the River OHIO one hundred and twenty Miles above the union of OHIO with Wabash. and abutting on the main branch of the River Cherokee or Tenesse one hundred and fifty miles above the junction of Cherokee River with OHIO and proceeding thence Westerly in a line to strike the River Mississippi ninety Miles below the union of Ohio with that River; thence upon the said River to the begining. 2dly That your Memorialists shall have liberty of holding their Lands twelve or any other larger number of Years that your Majesty shall approve (after a survey thereof shall have been made & returned) clear of all composition money quitrents or Taxes. And that your memorialists within twelve Years shall be obliged to seat the said lands with two hundred Families, at the least, if not interrupted by the Savages, or any foreign enemy, and to return the survey thereof to such office as your Majesty shall be pleased to direct otherwise to forfeit the Grant, so to be made by your Majesty, and the said lands liable to the entries of any other Adventurers. The Memorialists humbly hope that Your Majesty may be gra |