The charter was drawn up in Latin. The preamble, or a translation of it, read thus:
"Whereas, our well-beloved and right trusty subject, Ralfe Morton, gent., of the county of Kent, in our said kingdom of England, being animated by a laudable and pious zeal for extending the Christian religion, and also the territories of our empire, hath humbly besought leave of us that he may transport, by his own industry and expense, a numerous colony of the English nation, to a certain region, hereinafter described, in a country hitherto uncultivated, in the parts of America now partly occupied by savages, who have no knowledge of the Divine Being, and in all that region, with certain privileges and jurisdictions appertaining unto the wholesome government and state of his colony and region aforesaid, may by our royal highness be given, granted, and confirmed unto him and his heirs."
Morton and his heirs and successors were constituted absolute lords and proprietaries of the region, to be held under the allegiance due to the king, in free and common socage, by fealty only, and not in capite, nor by knight's service, "yielding therefore unto us, our heirs and successors, two Indian arrows of
