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.