May 1643: A Declaration and Ordinance of the Lords and Commons in Parliament, for the better securing and settling of the Peace of the County of Kent, and for enabling them to associate with the City of London, or any other Counties adjacent.

May 1643

[30 May, 1643.]

Ordnance for securing Kent, and associating it with other Counties.

The Lords and Commons now in Parliament assembled, being certainly informed, and by sad Experience finding it true, that divers Papists, Traitors, Delinquents, and other Persons ill-affected to the King and Parliament, have traiterously combined and associated themselves in this Kingdom, for the utter Extirpation of the true Protestant well-affected Party therein; and for that End have raised, and daily do raise, great Forces both of Horse and Foot, and have plundered, spoiled, and destroyed, Multitudes of His Majesty's good Subjects, using also their utmost Endeavours to bring in to their Assistance Foreigners of their own Faction; all which, if not speedily prevented, will utterly subvert the true Protestant Religion (which is their chief Design), the Laws of the Land, the Privileges of Parliament, and the Liberty of the Subject: For the timely preventing and withstanding of which mischievous Designs, the well-affected of the County of Kent have been, and still are, desirous to have a considerable moving Body of Horse and Foot raised, and maintained at the Charge of the said County, and to enter into Association, for the mutual Defence and Preservation of the Peace of the said County, and of all those that shall join with them therein: The said Lords and Commons do thereupon Declare, That they hold it a Thing most fit and necessary for the present State of the Kingdom, and Security of the said County of Kent; and do Ordain and Declare, and be it Ordained and Declared, by the said Lords and Commons, That the Lord Lieutenant and Deputy Lieutenants, Colonels, Captains, and other Officers, that are or shall be employed, in the said County of Kent, the County and City of Canterbury, and Cinque Ports with their Members, and all other well-affected Persons, Inhabitants in them, or any of them, shall and may associate themselves each with other, and with all those who shall enter into the said Association; and that the said Lord Lieutenant and Deputy Lieutenants, or any Seven or more of them, for the aforesaid Ends and Purposes, and also for the forcing and compelling refractory Persons to yield Obedience under the Orders and Ordinances of either or both Houses of Parliament, shall have full Power and Authority, and are hereby authorized, to raise, arm, and maintain, a moving Body of Foot, consisting of One Thousand or more Voluntiers, whereof none to be of the Trained Bands, and One or more Troop or Troops of Horse, which now are, or hereafter shall be, subscribed, or otherwise provided, within the said County, whereof none also are to be taken out of the Trained Forces; and also to nominate, constitute, and appoint, a Major General over the said Forces; and to give full Power and Authority to the said Major General, in case of Sickness or Disability of Body, from Time to Time, to constitute and appoint, in his Stead, such trusty and able Person as he shall think fit, to be his Deputy, and, in his Absence, to do all Things belonging to the Office of a Major General; and the said Lord Lieutenant and Deputy Lieutenants, or any Seven or more of them, shall be, and are hereby, authorized to constitute and appoint Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels, Serjeant Majors, Captains and other Officers, over the said Forces, and from Time to Time, in and into all convenient Places, to lead, conduct, quarter, and exercise, or cause to be led and conducted, quartered, and exercised, the said Forces, or any Part thereof; and therewith to give or cause Battle to be given to all such Officers as are, or shall be, raised against, or without Authority or Consent of both Houses of Parliament; or that shall make, or endeavour to make, any Invasion, Rapine, Tumult, or Insurrection, or shall plunder, pillage, or destroy, any of His Majesty's good Subjects; and all and singular such Persons, their Abettors and Adherents, to invade, resist, put to Flight, pursue, suppress, kill, slay, put to Execution of Death, and by all Means to destroy, as Enemies to the Kingdom; and to perform, and cause to be performed, all Things else, which they shall in their Judgements think needful, as well for the Preservation and Safety of the Peace of the said County and Places aforesaid, as of all those which shall join in the said Association; observing the Instructions hereunto annexed, with such other Directions and Commands as they shall receive from Time to Time from both Houses of Parliament, or from his Excellency the Earl of Essex: And be it also Declared and Ordained, by the Authority aforesaid, That the said Lord Lieutenant, Deputy Lieutenants, and other Inhabitants of the said County, and every of them, and every other Person which is or shall be employed in that Service, in what they have any Way already done towards the preparing and perfecting so necessary a Work, or shall hereafter do or perform in Pursuance thereof, shall be saved and kept harmless, by the Power and Authority of Parliament: And the said Lords and Commons do hereby Declare and Ordain, That neither the said Forces, nor any Part of them, shall or may at any Time be removed out of the said County, without special Order and Direction from both Houses of Parliament, or from his Excellency the Earl of Essex, unless it be to the Aid and Assistance of the Counties with whom they shall enter into Association, and in Pursuance of their said Association: And, for the better Ordering and Managing of the said Force of Horses and Foot, be it Declared and Ordained, by the Authority aforesaid, That the said Lord Lieutenant and Deputy Lieutenants, or any Seven or more of them, shall have hereby full Power and Authority, to make, give, and execute, the same Orders and Instructions, for regulating and punishing the Officers, Troopers, and Soldiers of the said Forces, as his Excellency the Lord General hath done in his Army, and to compel them to Obedience as Occasion shall require: And, the better to defend the said County and Inhabitants thereof from all invading, plundering, and pillaging, and that speedy Means may be used for the furnishing and providing of Horses, Arms, and Ammunition, making of Fortifications, Payment of Officers, and other necessary Charges, and for the Re-payment of all such Sums of Money as are, or shall have been already, or shall be, advanced and subscribed, towards the forwarding of this Work, it is hereby Declared and Ordained, That forthwith, and from Time to Time until the said Forces shall by Authority of both Houses be disbanded, there be raised, by Way of Tax or Rate, within the said County and Places aforesaid, such Sums of Money, for the Intents aforesaid, as by the said Lord Lieutenant, Deputy Lieutenants, or any Seven or more of them, shall be thought requisite and necessary; and that the Deputy Lieutenants, or any Three or more of them, after Three Months next ensuing the first Cessment made by Virtue of this Ordinance, shall issue forth their several Warrants unto such Persons as by them, or any three of them, have been, or shall be, constituted and appointed Treasurers or Receivers of such Sums of Money as have been, or at any Time hereafter, before the said Cessment or any Levies thereupon made, shall be, lent towards the Advancement of this Work, for the Re-payment of the same unto the Lenders thereof; they, the said Lenders, producing the Acquittance or Acquittances of the said Treasurers or Receivers for the said Monies lent as aforesaid.