September 1645: An Ordinance for the raising of 500. Horse and 500. Dragoons.

September, 1645

[9 September, 1645.]

Committee of Militia of London may send out 500 Horse raised under Ord. of 27 Feb. 1644-5.; And recall them two months.;Penalty for neglect to provide Horse.; Power to Common Council to levy £10000 for payment of above Forces.

The Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, do Ordain and Declare, and be it Ordained and Declared, That the Committee of the Militia of London within the Lines of Communication and Bills of Mortality, shall have power, and are hereby authorized to send Five hundred Horse and Five hundred Dragoons, raised or to be raised by vertue of an Ordinance bearing date the 27. of February, 1644. under such Officers as the said Committee of the Militia shall think fit for the publique service of the Kingdom, and under such Commanders in chief as the Committee of both Kingdoms shall appoint; And the said Committee of the Militia shall have power to call back the said Forces at the end of two Moneths next after the date of this Ordinance. And it is further Ordained, That if any person or persons that are or shall be charged to finde Horse as aforesaid, or for the future safety of the city and parts adjacent, shall refuse or neglect to provide and send in within two days after notice thereof given to them in person, or left at their dwellings, the said Horse, with Rider, Furniture and Arms thereunto belonging to the Commissaries in More-fields, there to be listed, valued and marked, or to send in the sum of twelve pounds to the Committee of CommonCouncel sitting in the Irish Chamber at Guildhall, for them to buy and provide the said Horse, Furniture and Arms for the said publique service of the Kingdom; and in default thereof, the said Committee of Common-councel or any five of them shall have power, and are hereby authorized, to fine such person or persons, not exceeding the sum of Twenty pounds upon any one person, and in case of non-payment, to imprison the persons of such offenders until they have paid the same, or to leavy the said fines by distress and sale of the said offenders goods, in such maner and form as is expressed in an Ordinance of both Houses of Parliament dated 1. July 1645. Intituled, An Ordinance for the raising of Twenty thousand pounds to be imployed towards the reducing of Oxford. And be it Ordained, That the said Committee of Common-Councel, or any five of them shall have power, and are hereby authorized from time to time, to impose the sum of forty shillings to be leavied as aforesaid, or five days imprisonment, without bail or mainprize, upon every such person or persons appointed or to be appointed to finde Horses and Riders, compleatly furnished and armed in his or their Troop or Troops, who shall neglect or refuse to send forth their said Horse or Horses compleatly furnished as aforesaid, when and so often as he or they shall be thereunto summoned; which fines are to be imployed by the said Committee for the paying of the Commanders and other Officers of the said Troops. And to the end the aforesaid Five hundred Horse, and Five hundred Dragoons with their Commanders and Riders, may be paid during the time of their being abroad in the said publike service, and the owners of the said Horse and Arms secured & satisfied for such Horse or Arms as shalbe lost in the service, or made unuseful, so as the value of a Light horse, Furniture and Arms exceed not the sum of Twelve pounds, and a Dragoons horse, Furniture and Arms exceed not the sum of Six pounds; It is Ordained by authority aforesaid, That the Committee of Common-Councel for getting in the arrears, sitting at Weavers Hall, London, shall have power in the City of London and Liberties thereof, and the several SubCommittees of the Militia without the Liberties, and within the Lines of Communication and weekly Bills of Mortality, shall have power, and are hereby authorized to assess the sum of ten thousand pounds upon such persons of ability as either now inhabit or have any trade or stock going within the limits aforesaid, for the payment of the said Forces.

Said sum to be levied according to former Ord. of 1st July, 1645.; Repayment of Moneys lent on this Ord. to be made out of Excize.; Satisfaction for Horses & Arms lost or made unserviceable.; Assistance.; None to be exempt from this Ord. save Members, etc. of both Houses.

And it is further Ordained, That the said Committee of arrears, and the said several Sub-Committees, shall have power, and are hereby authorized to leavy the said Ten thousand pounds, or any part thereof, in like maner and form as is expressed in the former recited Ordinance of 1. July, 1645. which money so leavied shalbe paid to the said Committee of arrears, whose receipts under the hands of any two of them shall be sufficient to enable the said lenders to demand the same with interest after the rate of eight pounds per cent. of the Commissioners of Excize in maner and form as hereafter is expressed: And the said Committee of arrears to issue out the said money from time to time, for the payment of the said Forces by Warrant from the said Committee of the Militia, and shall have power to deduct such necessary charges for the collecting and gathering in of the said moneys, as the said several Committees shall think fit, not exceeding three pence in the pound. And the said Lords and Commons do hereby Ordain, That such persons as shall pay in any moneys by vertue of this Ordinance, shall be repaid the several sums which shall be by them advanced out of the receipt of Excize by Ordinance of the 11. of Septemb. 1643. And that no Ordinance nor Assignment, which is not already passed upon those receipts shall precede this Ordinance: And the Commissioners of the Excize and New-Impost for the time being, are hereby authorized to pay at the end of six moneths, the interest of so much monys as shal be advanced by vertue hereof, after the rate of eight pounds per centum, per annum, and the principal money, and the rest of the interest after the rate aforesaid, shalbe paid in due course unto such persons as did advance the same, whose receipt shalbe a sufficient discharge to the Commissioners of Excize, and every of them in that behalf, for principal and interest, and every part and parcel thereof: and shall also pay in course unto the said Committee for arrears, or any two of them, whose receipt shall be a sufficient discharge to the Commissioners of Excize for so much money as shalbe certified by Mr. John Smith, and Mr. Tho: Richardson Commissaries. or other such Commissioners for the time being, to make satisfaction for such Horse and Arms as shall be lost or made unuseful in the said service, To the end the said Committee may be enabled to satisfie the said owners thereof accordingly. And that all Commanders, Officers, Soldiers, Constables and Headboroughs within the limits aforesaid, are hereby required to be ayding and assisting in the due execution of this Ordinance; and that all persons acting in the pursuance of the same, shall be saved harmless by authority of both Houses of Parliament. And that no priviledge place or person within the limits aforesaid, shall be exempted from the power of this Ordinance, except the Peers of this Realm, and Members of the House of Commons, and Assistants of the House of Peers, and Officers and Attendants of both Houses of Parliament respectively, who shall stand exempted from this Ordinance, and all things therein contained.