this present Parliament be dissolved upon the last day of September which shall be in the year of our Lord 1648.

III.

That the people do, of course, choose themselves a Parliament once in two years, viz. upon the first Thursday in every 2d March', after the manner as shall be prescribed before the end of this Parliament, to begin to sit upon the first Thursday in April following, at Westminster or such other place as shall be appointed from time to time by the preceding Representatives, and to continue till the last day of September then next ensuing, and no longer.

IV.

That the power of this, and all future Representatives of this Nation, is inferior only to theirs who choose them, and doth extend, without the consent or concurrence of any other person or persons, to the erecting and abolishing of offices and courts, to the appointing, removing, and calling to account magistrates and officers of all degrees, to the making war and peace, to the treating with foreign States, and, generally, to whatsoever is not expressly or impliedly reserved by the represented to themselves:

Which are as followeth.

1. That matters of religion and the ways of God's worship are not at all entrusted by us to any human power, because therein we cannot remit or exceed a tittle of what our consciences dictate to be the mind of God without wilful sin: nevertheless the public way of instructing the nation (so it be not compulsive) is referred to their discretion.

2. That the matter of impresting and constraining any of us to serve in the wars is against our freedom; and therefore we do not allow it in our Representatives; the rather, because money (the sinews of war), being always at their disposal, they can never want numbers of men apt enough to engage in any just cause.

3. That after the dissolution of this present Parliament, no person be at any time questioned for anything said or done

1 I. e. in March in every other year.

in reference to the late public differences, otherwise than in execution of the judgments of the present Representatives or House of Commons.

4. That in all laws made or to be made every person may be bound alike, and that no tenure, estate, charter, degree, birth, or place do confer any exemption from the ordinary course of legal proceedings whereunto others are subjected.

5. That as the laws ought to be equal, so they must be good, and not evidently destructive to the safety and well-being of the people.

These things we declare to be our native rights, and therefore are agreed and resolved to maintain them with our utmost possibilities against all opposition whatsoever; being compelled thereunto not only by the examples of our ancestors, whose blood was often spent in vain for the recovery of their freedoms, suffering themselves through fraudulent accommodations to be still deluded of the fruit of their victories, but also by our own woeful experience, who, having long expected and dearly earned the establishment of these certain rules of government, are yet made to depend for the settlement of our peace and freedom upon him that intended our bondage and brought a cruel war upon us.

75.

THE FOUR BILLS, WITH THE PROPOSITIONS

ACCOMPANYING THEM.

[Passed the House of Lords December 14, 1647. Old Parliamentary History, vi. 405. See Great Civil War, iv. 36]

The Four Bills sent to the King in the Isle of Wight to be passed, together with the Propositions sent unto him at the same time, which, upon the passing of those Bills, were to be treated upon.

The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament have commanded us to present to your Majesty these Four Bills, which have passed the two Houses of Parliament.

I. Soit baillé aux Seigneurs,

A ceste Bille les Seigneurs sont assentuz.

An Act concerning the raising, settling and maintaining forces, by sea and land, within the kingdoms of England

and Ireland and dominion of Wales, the isles of Guernsey and Jersey, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Be it enacted by the King's Majesty, and by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, and by the authority of the same, that the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England now assembled or hereafter to be assembled, shall, during the space of twenty years, from the 1st of November, 1647, arm, train and discipline, or cause to be armed, trained and disciplined, all the forces of the kingdoms of England and Ireland and the dominion of Wales, the isles of Guernsey and Jersey, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, already raised both for sea and land service; and shall appoint all commanders and officers for the said forces; and shall from time to time, during the said space of twenty years, raise, levy, arm, train and discipline, or cause to be raised, levied, armed, trained and disciplined any other forces for land and sea service, in the kingdoms, dominions and places aforesaid, as in their judgments they shall, from time to time, during the said space of twenty years, think fit and appoint; and shall, from time to time, appoint all commanders and officers for the said forces, or remove them as they shall see cause; and shall likewise nominate, appoint, place or displace, as they shall see cause, all commanders and officers within the several garrisons, forts and places of strength, as shall be within the kingdoms of England, Ireland and dominion of Wales, the isles of Guernsey and Jersey, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed; and that neither the King, his heirs or successors, nor any other but such as shall act by the authority or approbation of the said Lords and Commons, shall, during the said space of twenty years, exercise any of the powers aforesaid.

And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that monies be raised and levied for the maintenance and use of the said forces for land service, and of the navy and forces for sea service, in such sort and by such ways and means, as the said Lords and Commons shall, from time to time, during the said space of twenty years, think fit and appoint, and not otherwise; and that the said forces both for land and sea service, so raised or levied, or to be raised or levied; and also the Admiralty or navy shall, from time to time,

during the said space of twenty years, be employed, managed, ordered, disposed or disbanded by the said Lords or Commons, in such sort, and by such ways and means, as they shall think fit and appoint, and not otherwise.

And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that the said Lords and Commons, during the said space of twenty years, shall have power in such sort, and by such ways and means as they shall think fit and appoint, to suppress all forces raised without authority and consent of the said Lords and Commons, to the disturbance of the public peace of the kingdoms of England and Ireland and dominion of Wales, and the isles of Guernsey and Jersey, and the town of Berwickupon-Tweed, or any of them; and also to suppress any foreign forces who shall invade, or endeavour to invade, the kingdoms of England and Ireland and dominion of Wales, and the isles of Guernsey and Jersey, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or any of them; and likewise to conjoin such forces of the kingdom of England with the forces of the kingdom of Scotland, as the said Lords and Commons shall, from time to time, during the said space of twenty years, judge fit and necessary to resist all foreign invasions, and to suppress any forces raised, or to be raised, against or within either of the said kingdoms, to the disturbance of the public peace of the said kingdoms, or any of them, by any authority under the Great Seal, or other warrant whatsoever, without consent of the said Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England and the Parliament or the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively and that no forces of either kingdoms shall go into or continue in the other kingdom without the advice and desire of the said Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England, and the Parliament of Scotland, or such as shall be by them respectively appointed for that purpose.

And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that after the expiration of the said twenty years, neither the King, his heirs or successors, or any person or persons, by colour or pretence of any commission, power, deputation or authority to be derived from the King, his heirs or successors, or any of them, shall raise, arm, train, discipline, employ, order, manage, disband or dispose of any of the forces, by sea and land, of the kingdoms

of England and Ireland, the dominion of Wales, the isles of Guernsey and Jersey, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or any of them: nor exercise any of the said powers or authorities before mentioned and expressed to be, during the said space of twenty years, in the said Lords and Commons: nor do any act or thing concerning the execution of the said powers or authorities, or any of them, without the consent of the said Lords and Commons first had and obtained.

And be it further also enacted, that after the expiration of the said twenty years, in all cases wherein the said Lords and Commons shall declare the safety of the kingdom to be concerned, and shall thereupon pass any Bill or Bills for the raising, arming, training, disciplining, employing, managing, ordering or disposing of the forces by sea or land, of the kingdoms of England and Ireland, the dominion of Wales, the isles of Guernsey and Jersey, and the town of Berwickupon-Tweed, or any part of the said forces, or concerning the said Admiralty or navy, or concerning the levying of monies for the raising, maintenance, or use of the said forces for land service, or of the navy and forces for sea service, or any part of them, and if that the royal assent to such Bill or Bills shall not be given in the House of Peers, within such time after the passing thereof by both Houses of Parliament, as the said Houses shall judge fit and convenient, that then such Bill or Bills so passed by the said Lords and Commons as aforesaid, and to which the royal assent shall not be given as is herein before expressed, shall nevertheless, after Declaration of the said Lords and Commons made in that behalf, have the force and strength of an Act or Acts of Parliament; and shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as if the royal asɛent had been given thereunto.

Provided always, and be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that nothing hereinbefore contained shall extend to the taking away of the ordinary legal power of Sheriffs, Justices of Peace, Mayors, Bailiffs, Coroners, Constables, Headboroughs or other officers of justice, not being military officers, concerning the administration of justice; so as neither the said Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace, Mayors, Bailiffs, Coroners, Constables, Headboroughs, and other officers, or any of them, do