Harbord, out attorney, solicitor, and surveyor general for the time being, sir Edward Turner, sir Allen Brodrick, Matthew Hale, Samuel Brown, John Crewe, Richard Kinsman, Job Charleton, Thomas Beverly, Francis Phillips, and Richard Newman, to be our commissioners for 5 and touching the premises, hereby giving and granting unto you, or any five or more of you, full power and authority to call, and cause to appear before you, as well the said officers and soldiers, and all other persons, who have purchased, or do claim any of the said lands of us, ro or of the jointure of our dear mother, or of any the said archbishops, bishops, deans and chapters, prebends, and other ecclesiastical persons whatsoever, and every or any of them, as also the officers, servants, or agents of the said archbishops, bishops, deans and chapters, prebends, 15 or other ecclesiastical persons, all or any of them, by your good discretion; and to inquire and inform yourselves, or by such other lawful ways or means, as you in your discretion shall think meet, which of the said lands, honours, manors, lordships, castles, parks, chases, forests, houses, timber trees, woods, underwoods, mills, mines, fee-farm rents, or other rents, or hereditaments, leases, or farms were sold, given, or granted by or under the late pretended parliament, or usurped power or authority; and to inquire and find out 25 the true value of the said lands, honours, manors, lordships, castles, parks, chases, forests, timber trees, woods, underwoods, mills, mines, fee-farm rents, or other rents or hereditaments, leases, or farms, as the same were then worth by the year, or otherwise by your judgments and 3o discretion, and how much ready money was then, or at any time since really, and "bona fide" paid for the same, and how much in true bills and debentures, as they were then worth in ready money, and whether any bills or debentures, which have been allowed upon any of the 35 said sales or purchases, were counterfeited or altered in 20 part, or in all, and by whom the same were done, and to what value and proportion, and how far the same have been discovered, and when, and by whom, and in what manner; and what profits or sums of money have been 5 raised or made by any of the purchasers, or possessors, or pretended owners of any the said lands or other premises so sold or given as aforesaid, or any part thereof by after sales or exchanges of land, or by sale of woods, or timber, or by ploughing up or improving the same lands, or any 10 other part of the premises, or by sale of any iron, stone, lead, timber, or other materials of churches, chapels, or other houses that have been pulled down, altered, or defaced, or by the receipts, or rents, or by any ways or means whatsoever, and when, and by whom, and for 15 whose use and benefit the same have been so raised or made. And to inquire and find out which of the purchases of any of the said lands or premises were made by the tenants themselves to preserve their houses, tenuaries, lands, woods, or estates from waste and injury, and which 20 of them were made by others for gain and advantage, and when and by whom the same was done, and what profit, gain, or advantage hath been made thereby; and to inquire and find out what damage or danger hath accrued or may arise to us and these our kingdoms by 25 the destruction or waste of timber trees from off any the premises that were serviceable for our navy, or otherwise; and to inquire which of the said purchasers or late pretended owners of any of the said lands or premises have relinquished or offered up the same unto us, or any of 30 the said ecclesiastical persons, or shall yield up the same unto you for our use, or for the use of any of the said ecclesiastical persons, or any of them; and also to inquire and find out all other things which you in your discretion shall think meet for your perfect information in and 35 touching the premises. And thereupon you are to proceed and compose all differences arising between the said archbishops, bishops, deans and chapters, prebends, and other ecclesiastical persons, and the said purchasers or pretended owners, and thereupon to make orders and agreements between them in writing under your hands and seals, and in such manner as you in your discretion 5 shall find just and reasonable with their consents; and in case of refusal or disagreement on either part, then you are forthwith to certify the same unto us, and our council, whereupon you shall receive such further order therein as shall be meet: and you are then also to propose unto 10 the said officers and soldiers, and other purchasers of our own lands such satisfaction for and in respect of their several pretended interests in the same, as upon consideration of their several interests, you shall think fit to advise in that behalf, and thereof you shall certify us with 15 all convenient speed. And for your better information and proceeding in the premises, we do hereby will and authorize you to send for and convene before you all such treasurers, receivers, accountants, registers, witnesses, clerks, officers and other persons as you shall 20 think fit, and to examine all or any of them upon their corporal oaths to be administered unto them, or any of them by your discretion, and to send for and peruse all such books of account, register books, surveys and other writings, as you shall think meet for your better discovery 25 and finding out of the truth in all things touching the premises, and what monies have been raised by the said sales, and to whom the same hath been paid, and how the same hath been accounted for and disposed of, and how much remains in the treasurers', receivers', or ac- 30 countants' hands, or any others', and how long it hath remained. And we do also hereby will and authorize you, to inquire by the oaths of good and lawful men of every county, city or privileged place, wherein the said lands and premises or any of them do lie, of all things 35 comprehended in this our commission: hereby willing and commanding all our sheriffs, mayors, bailiffs, and all other officers and ministers, whom it may concern, upon your precepts and warrants to return good and sufficient jurors for the better inquiry and finding out of the truth 5 of the premises, and to be obedient, aiding, and assisting unto you in all things, tending to the execution of this our commission. And whatsoever you, or any five, or more of you shall do or cause to be done in or about the premises, we do hereby ratify, confirm, and approve of. 10 And our will and pleasure is, and we do hereby require the said archbishops, bishops, deans and chapters, prebends, and other ecclesiastical persons by themselves or by other persons sufficiently authorized by them to appear before you, when they shall be so required, to the end 15 that your mediation and interposition may be the more effectual; we in no wise doubting of their readiness to comply with us in the end of this our commission, and that they will accept such reasonable conditions, as shall be tendered to them by you on the behalf of such as have been purchasers of any lands held from them or their respective churches, according to the several considerations of the persons and their interests, and that they will do no act to the prejudice of any purchasers, by granting any new or concurrent leases, whereby their 25 present interest or possession may be hurt or disturbed, whilst the same is under your deliberation, and until our pleasure be further known. In witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patents. Witness ourself at Westminster the seventh day of October, in the twelfth year of our reign. 20 30 CXLIX. Archiepisc. Cant. GUIL. JUXON I. Anno Christi 1660. Reg. Angliæ His majesty's declaration to all his loving subjects of his kingdom of England and dominion of Wales, concerning ecclesiastical affairs. CHARLES REX. HOW much the peace of the state is concerned in the peace of the church, and how difficult a thing it is to preserve order and government in civil, whilst there is no order or government in ecclesiastical affairs, is evident 5 to the world; and this little part of the world, our own dominions, hath had so late experience of it, that we may very well acquiesce in the conclusion, without enlarging ourself in discourse upon it, it being a subject we have had frequent occasion to contemplate upon, and to lament, 10 abroad as well as at home. 66 His majesty's declaration] When the convention-parliament was adjourned on the 13th of September 1660, the lord chancellor [Clarendon] in the course of his speech gave the following notice: This disquisition [respecting religion] hath cost the king many a sigh, many 15 a sad hour, when he hath considered the almost irreparable reproach the protestant religion hath undergone, from the divisions and distractions which have been so notorious within this kingdom. What pains he hath taken to compose them, after several discourses with learned and pious men of different persuasions, you will shortly see by a Decla- 20 ration he will publish upon that occasion: by which you will see his great indulgence to those who can have any pretension from conscience to differ with their brethren." The Declaration was issued on the 25th of October; and on the 6th of November, the day on which the parliament assembled after its adjournment, a committee of the house of 25 |