He calls and presides in all councils of State, and hath his negative there also.
He appoints commissioners of county courts for the administration of justice, by consent of council.
He grants commissions to all officers of the militia, under the degree of a lieutenant general, (which title he bears himself,) as he thinks fit.
He orders and disposes the militia for the defence of the country.
He tests proclamations.
He disposes of the unpatented land according to the charter, the laws of that country, and his instructions; for which end, and for other public occasions, the seal of the colony is committed to his keeping.
All issues of the public revenue must bear his test.
And by virtue of a commission from the admiralty he is made vice-admiral.
The governor's salary, till within these forty-five years last past, was no more than a thousand pounds a year; besides which, he had about five hundred more in perquisites. Indeed, the general assembly, by a public act, made an addition of two hundred pounds a year to Sir William Berkeley in particular, out of the great respect and esteem they bore to that gentleman, who had been a long time a good and just governor; and who had laid out the greatest part of his revenue in experiments, for the advantage and improvement of the country; and who had, besides, suffered extremely in the time of the usurpation. But this addition was to determine with his government.
Sir William Berkeley, after the short interval of Jeffery's and Chicheley's being deputy-governors, was succeeded by the Lord Colepepper, who, under pretence of his being a peer of England, obtained of King Charles II. a salary of two thousand pounds, besides one hundred and sixty pounds a year for house rent, because there was no house appointed by the country for the governor's reception. This salary has continued ever since, to the succeeding governors.