XXIV.--AND we do further ... GRANT, DECLARE, and ORDAIN, that such principal Governor, as, from time to time, shall duly and lawfully be authorised and appointed, in Manner and Form in these Presents heretofore expressed, shall have full Power and Authority, to use and exercise Martial Law, in Cases of Rebellion or Mutiny, in as large and ample Manner as our Lieutenants in our Counties, within this our Realm of _England_, have, or ought to have....
XXV.--[Penalty for trying to evade English revenue laws under color of transporting goods to the colony, as in section XVI of the First Charter.]
XXVI.--AND further our will and pleasure is, that in all questions and doubts that shall arise upon any difficulty of construction or interpretation of anything contained either in this or in our said former letters patents, the same shall be taken and interpreted in most ample and beneficial manner for the said treasurer and company....
XXVII.--[Confirms all privileges granted in the first charter and not herein altered or revoked.]
XXVIII.--[Provides that anyone who will adventure the necessary money shall be received in full equality as a member of the Company.]
XXIX.--AND lastly, because the principal Effect which we can desire or expect of this Action, is the Conversion and Reduction of the People in those Parts unto the true Worship of God and Christian Religion, in which Respect we should be loath that any Person should be permitted to pass that we suspected to affect the superstitions of the Church of _Rome_; We do hereby DECLARE, that it is our Will and Pleasure, that none be permitted to pass in any Voyage, from time to time to be made into the said Country, but such as first shall have taken the Oath of Supremacy; For which Purpose, we do, by these Presents, give full Power and Authority, to the Treasurer for the time being, and any three of the Council, to tender and exhibit the said Oath to all such Persons as shall at any time be sent and employed in the said Voyage....
[It is a profitable exercise to read some of the sections in a more logical order. Thus the political provisions are seen better if arranged in the following sequence: XIV, XIII, XV, XXIII, XXIV, XXII. Certainly, too, XXVIII should follow, or be combined with, XVI. The utterly meaningless arrangement of many of these great documents, together with the unpardonable carelessness of the copiers, account partly for their needless length and largely for their obscurity.