November, 1649
[23 November, 1649.]
Act 16 July 1649.
Be it Enacted by this present Parliament, and by the authority
of the same, That the form of the Debentures which the Trustees
named in an Act of this present Parliament, Entituled An Act
of the Commons in Parliament assembled, for Sale of the Honors
Manors and Lands heretofore belonging to the late King, Queen
and Prince are by the said former Act authorized and required
to give to the said several Officers and Soldiers in the said Act
mentioned, shall be in maner following; (viz.)
Form of a Debenture.
All lawful Deductions made, there remaineth due from the
Commonwealth to his Executors, Administrators
and Assigns, until the day of the date hereof, the sum of
which said sum of is to be paid to the said
his Executors, Administrators or Assigns, upon the
day of which shall be in the year of our Lord
But if the said his Executors, Administrators or
Assigns, do before that time become a Purchaser of any the
Lands or Particulars Enacted to be sold for security of the said
Debt, that in such case allowance shall be then made thereof,
according to the said Act, if the same be required, and the Commonwealth to be thenceforth discharged of the said Debt, or so much
thereof as shall be defalked upon such Purchase.
Which said form, the said Trustees observing the substance
and effect thereof, shall and may vary in circumstances, as the
case shali require; which said Debentures prepared as aforesaid,
and being signed, stamped, registred, attested and perfected,
as by the said former Act is limited and appointed, shall be sufficient
and effectual Debentures, to all intents and purposes, according
to the Rules and Directions in the said former Act prescribed.
Debentures to be entered.
And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall
and may be lawful to and for the said Trustees, or the Register
for Debentures by them appointed or to be appointed, after the
several Debentures perfected and entred according to this or
the said former Act, to deliver the same unto such person or persons
as shall bring to the said Trustees the respective Original Debentures, Accompts or Certificates, upon which such perfected Debentures shall be made, or their respective Assigns, and to no other
person whatsoever.
Trustees to rectifie Accompts.
And be it likewise Enacted, That the said Trustees, or any three
or more of them, and also such other persons as the said Trustees
or any five or more of them shall appoint, shall and may rectifie
such mistakes and errors in Accompts stated, and in Debentures
signed and past by any Committee, Commissioners, or other
persons having power to state Accompts, and returned, certified
or brought unto them (according to the Directions in the said
former Act) as upon perusal of such Accompts and Debentures
respectively, may be discerned to have happened by reason of
wrong calculation or miscasting; and where such errors happen
to be to the prejudice of the Commonwealth, that then the said
Trustees, and such as they shall appoint as aforesaid, shall and
may charge such respective Accompts and Debentures with so
much as the respective errors therein contained amount unto by
way of surcharge; and that the said Accompts and Debentures so
surcharged, shall stand good and effectual for the remainder
thereof, as if no such error or mistake had been therein.
Committee for Accompts appointed.; Their Power.; To administer an Oath.; To view and take Copies of any Muster-Rolls, &c.
And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the
Committee for Accompts sitting at Worcester-House, together with
William Jessop and Edward Carey, Esqs; be, and are declared,
appointed and intrusted to be the Committee mentioned in an
Act (Entituled, An Act for the present examining and stating of
the Accompts of the Officers and Soldiers now in the Parliaments
Service within this Nation) for the receiving of the several Lists,
Certificates, Accompts, Oathes and Examinations in the last recited
Act mentioned (in order to the stating of the Accompts of the said
Officers and Soldiers) and of all other Evidences whereupon such
Accompts and Lists are or shall be grounded, the same being certified and returned unto them by the respective Officers, and
other persons in the last recited Act appointed for that purpose,
according to the tenor, method and form in the said last recited
Act limited, and also for the taking, examining, stating and determining the Accompts of all the Colonels, Captains, Field-Officers,
Staff-Officers, Train-Officers, General-Officers, and other chief
Officers in the said last recited Act mentioned; which said Com
mittee or any three or more of them, are authorized and required
(after due examination of the said Accompts, according to the
computations in the said Lists, and such other Rules and Directions
as in the said Act are expressed) to give Debentures for the clear
Arrears due to every such Colonel, and other Officer and Soldier
respectively, in such form as by the said last recited Act is prescribed; and the said last mentioned Committee, or any three
or more of them, are further authorized to administer the Oath
in the said last recited Act appointed, unto every person that shall
desire to have his Accompt stated as aforesaid, and to require of them
such Certificates, or other Testimony or Vouchers, as by the said
Act is directed, before they proceed to the stating of their respective
Accompts: And likewise to open and examine such Certificates,
Accompts and other Vouchers as shall be returned unto them,
and to correct and amend such errors as they shall finde to be
in any such Accompts, so as neither the Commonwealth, nor the
party concerned therein may be prejudiced thereby; which said
Accompts so to be stated by the said last mentioned Committee,
shall be, and shall be deemed and taken to all intents and purposes
to be stated by vertue of the said last recited Act: And all
Muster-Masters, Treasurers, Auditors, Registers and other persons
whatsoever whom it may concern, are required to permit and
suffer the said last mentioned Committee or any of them, or any
other person or persons whom they or any three of them shall
appoint, without any delay to peruse all Muster-Rolls, Books of
Payment, Accompts, and all other Vouchers whatsoever in their
custody (relating to the service or pay of Soldiers, or to the Accompt
of any Soldier in relation to his service in the Wars) and to take
Copies of all or as many of them as they shall think necessary
for the better enabling of them to perform the said service; and
the Register to the late Committee for the Accompts of the whole
Kingdom, is authorized and required to deliver unto the said Committee at Worcester-House, all such Muster-Books and MusterRolls as are remaining in his custody, whose Receipts for the same
shall be unto the said Register a sufficient Discharge.
Committees Salary.; Assistant to the Surveyor-General.
And be it further Enacted, That the said Trustees be and are
authorized to allow and appoint unto the said Committee for
Accompts at Worcester-House, and to every of them, such Salaries
and allowances as to the said Trustees, with the approbation of
the Committee of Parliament for removing of Obstructions in the
Sale of the said Lands, shall be thought fit, as well for their service,
as for and towards their charge of Clerks and other necessaries,
for the due performance of the said service; and likewise to allow
and appoint such Salary as they shall think fit, with like approbation for an Assistant unto the Surveyor-General, appointed for
the service aforesaid. Provided, That such allowance for an Assistant
shall not exceed Fourscore pounds per annum, and shall not continue above the space of Two years: And the Treasurers in the said
former Act named, are authorized and required to pay the said
Salaries so to be appointed unto the said Committee and Assistant
accordingly.
Muster-Rolls to be delivered to the Trustees.
And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the
Committee for the Army, and the Commissary for the Musters
of the Army under the Conduct of Thomas Lord Fairfax, do forthwith deliver unto the said Trustees, such Muster-Rolls, Lists, Certificates and Duplicates of Debentures, as are in their or any of their
custody, by which it may appear what persons were within the
Establishment of the said Army the Twenty fourth day of December,
One thousand six hundred forty and seven; and likewise what
persons have their Accompts stated by Commissioners in the
Countrey, and returned to the said Committee for the Army, in
pursuance of an Ordinance of Parliament, bearing date the said
Four and twentieth day of December, One thousand six hundred
forty seven, to the end the said persons may have the benefit of
the security intended them by the said former Act.
Arrears due in January 1647, provided for.
And whereas the Accompts for the Arrears due unto divers
Officers and Soldiers, who were in the service of the Parliament
in December and in January, One thousand six hundred forty
and seven, are not yet fully audited, stated and confirmed, for
paying and satisfying of which Arrears, security was given in the
first recited Act, Be it Enacted and Declared by the authority
aforesaid, That the Contractors for the Sale of the Lands in the
said first recited Act mentioned and appointed to be sold for payment of Soldiers Arrears, shall have power, and are hereby author
ized, upon testimony given them, that any Officer and Soldier
who shall hereafter contract for any of the said Lands, and hath
not then his or their Accompts fully audited, stated and confirmed,
to give such further time for payment, or defalkation both of their
first and second payment, as they shall think reasonable, not
exceeding six moneths for the first payment or defalkation, and
three moneths for the last, more then is allowed in the aforementioned Act to other persons.