HIs Highness the Lord Protector of the Common-wealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, and the Domi­nions thereunto belonging, taking into consideration how much the Honour and Safety of this Common-wealth is concerned in the speedy setling of Ireland; For the further [Page 416]Encouragement of the Adventurers for Lands in Ireland, and of the Souldiery of the Army, and late reduced Forces there in their Plantations, And for the better ease of all the Proprietors of Lands, and all other the Inhabitants of Ireland, Doth Ordain, and be it Ordained by His Highness the Lord Pro­tector, by and with the advice and consent of His Council, That from and after the four and twentieth day of June one thousand six hundred fifty and four, for and during the space of five years, from thence next ensuing, there shall be Taxed, Assessed and Levyed, upon all the Counties, Towns and Places in Ireland, and all the Estates reall and perso­nall therein, the severall Summs and pro­portions hereafter mentioned, and no more; That is to say, For two years, to commence the four and twentieth day of June one thou­sand six hundred fifty and four, and ending the four and twentieth of June one thousand six hundred fifty and six, Ten thousand pounds by the Moneth, for every Moneth during the said Two years.

For one year commencing the four and twentieth day of June one thousand six hundred fifty and six, and ending the four and twenti­eth day of June one thousand six hundred fifty and seven, Twelve thousand pounds by the Moneth for every Moneth, during that year.

For one year commencing the four and twentieth of June one thousand six hundred fif­ty and seven, and ending the four and twenti­eth of June one thousand six hundred fifty and eight, Thirteen thousand pounds by the Mo­neth for every Moneth during that year, and [Page 417]for one year, commencing the four and twenty­eth day of June, One thousand six hundred fifty and eight, and ending the four and twentieth of June, One thousand six hundred fifty and nine, fourteen thousand pounds by the Moneth for every Moneth during that year, accounting e­very Moneth as they are in the Assessements in England.

Provided, That this shall not extend to charge any Mannors, Lands, Tenements, Hereditaments, Rents, or Revenues belong­ing to any College, Hospital, Almes-house, or given to any charitable or pious use, towards the payment of the several summs and propor­tions aforesaid, save onely for so much as the said Mannors, Lands, Tenements, and Here­ditaments, are and shall be respectively worth by the year over and above the Rent and Reve­nue therefore respectively due and payable to the said Colleges, Hospitals, Almes-houses, Charitable or pious uses, and every of them respectively.

And be it further Ordained by the Authori­ty aforesaid, That from and after the four and twentieth day of June. One thousand six hun­dred fifty and nine, all publique Assessments, Impositions and Taxations whatsoever, be imposed, taxed and levyed proportionably from all the Inhabitants of England and Ireland, so that whatsoever shall be generally and in most Counties charged upon one hundred pounds by the year of Lands, or upon one hundred pounds personal Estate in England, the same and no more shall be charged upon one hundred pounds by the year of Lands, and upon one hundred pounds personal Estate in Ireland respectively, [Page 418]and so in proportion for greater or lesse sums. And that therein such manner and way of un­posing, assessing and levying shall be directed and used, as shall for the time being be directed and used in England.

Provided alwaies, and it is Ordained, That during the said five years, no Lands unplant­ed, unimployed, or unmanured, shall (ouring their being unplanted, unimployed or unmanu­red) be charged to pay any rate or proportion to­wards the said Monethly Tax and Assessment hereby ascertained as aforesaid, nor any other publique Tax or Assessement whatsoever. And that no Forrage, Billet-Money, Free quarter of any sort, Carriage, Carriage-Money, Salt, Caddows, Small Ruggs, Bedding, Bed­cloths, or any payment or publique Tax. Bur­then or Charge whatsoever, for or to the use or in behalf of the State be layed, assessed or taken from any the Inhabitants, Owners or Occupiers of Lands in Ireland, but according to this Ordinance; And that no Officers or Souldiers quarters be taken, or had in private houses without the consent of the respective Inhabitants, but only when and where there is no other provision for them, and at such time and in such case every Officer and Souldier shall pay a reasonable rate or value for the same; And in default thereof, the Captain or other Officer on the place, immediately com­manding the defaulter or Defaulters, shall pay the same, and is hereby impowred to retain or detain or defalk so much of the pay of every Souldier making default, as he shall pay for him

Provided, That it shall and may be lawful [Page 419]to and for the Commissioners for the said Assess­ments when they shall see cause, to give Order and Directions to any Officers or Souldiers of the Army to quarter upon such person or per­sons as they shall find to be in arrear, or shall refuse to pay their Assessments, untill such per­son shall pay and satisfy the moneys due for the same.

And be it further Ordained and Established by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for all and every the peo­ple of this Commonwealth, and of the Domini­ons thereunto belonging, to export out of Eng­land, Scotland, Wales, and every the Dominions of this Common-wealth into Ireland, Horses, Mares, Cattle, Sheep, Housholdstuff, Corn, Victuals, Tools, Instruments, Materials necessary or useful for Planting, Building, Stocking, Imploying or Improving of Hou­ses, Lands, or other Hereditaments in Ireland, and all other goods necessary or useful for any the purposes aforesaid, at any time during the space of seven years, to be accompted from the four and twentieth day of June one thousand six hundred fifty and four, without paying any Custome, Subsidy, Excise or Impost for the same in England or Ireland, upon sufficient secu­rity to be given to the Officers of the respective Ports, in such sort as by former Laws is pro­vided, or hath been accustomed for those that ship and carry goods from Port to Port in England.

And be it further Ordained by the Authori­ty aforesaid. That the same Custom, Subsidy, and Impost, which is now payable in England, for any Commodity, Goods or Merchandize, [Page 420]imported from, or exported into Forein parts, and the same Excise payable upon the Consum­ption or use of any Commodity in England and no other, shall be from henceforth imposed, collected, levyed and paid in Ireland according to the respective books of Rates for the Cu­stoms and Excise in England, paid by English men, as the same now are or hereafter shall be settled or altered by Act of Parlament.

And be it further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That all and every the Quit-rents charged or reserved upon the Lands granted or intended to the said Adventurers and Soul­diers, by any former Acts or Ordinance, be remitted and discharged unto every the said Adventurers and Souldiers, their respective Heirs and Assigns for five years next ensuing, from the four and twentieth of June, One thousand six hundred fifty and four, and until the Assessments of Ireland be brought into an even proportion with the Assessments of Eng­land, as is before expressed, and after that time the Adventurers and Souldiers, their Heirs and Assigns shall pay all and every the Quit-rents expressed in one Act of Parlament, Entituled, An Act for the speedy and effectual redu­cing of the Rebells in his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland, to their due obedience to his Majestie, and the Crown of England, according to the rates for Lands in the respective Provinces.

Provided That this shall not bind up or conclude the State from letting or disposing such Lands in Ireland, as do or shall belong or remain to them, upon such terms as they shall judge advantageous to the Common-wealth.

And be it further Ordained by the Autho­rity [Page 421]aforesaid, That for and in consideration of every Rent, Service, Charge or Duty, issu­ing, reserved, charged, due or payable (on or out of the Lands or other the Hereditaments granted or intended to or for the said Souldiers and Adventurers, or either of them) to any per­son or persons, who have duly claimed the same, and according to this Ordinance shall have the same allowed and ordered and certified, Every Adventurer and Souldier, on or out of whose Lands or Hereditaments the same shall be issu­ing, reserved, charged, due or payable, shall have set forth, and enjoy to him and his heirs for e­ver, so much Land in the County of Kildare, (according to the acts and values of Adventu­rers at such measure as was allowed to such person for his adventure, in satisfaction where­of such Lands so charged were allotted unto them) as would have been produced or due for an adventure of such certain sum of money as the purchase or buying out of such Rent, Service, Charge, or duty shall be computed to amount unto, Computation being thereof made and cer­tified by such person and persons as shall be au­thorized by his Highness the Lord Protector with the consent of his Council.

And be it also Ordained by the Authority a­foresaid, That all and every the said Souldiers and Adventurers, their respective Heirs and As­signs, be & shall be for ever freed and discharged of and from all Exchequer, and other old Rents, Payments, and Arrears whatsoever, due or forfeited to the Publique; And their Lands for ever freed and discharged of and [Page 422]from all distresses and seizures concerning the premisses.

And be it further Ordained by the Authori­ty aforesaid, That every person, or the Heirs, Executors, or Assigns of such person, who (upon the three and twentieth day of October, in the year one thousand six hundred fourty and one) had any lawful Estace, Right, Title, Interest, Vse, Possession, Reversion, Re­mainder, Office, Annuity, Service Rent, Common Debt, Charge or Incumbrance in, to, or out of any Honours, Castles, Man­nors, Messuages, Lands, Tenements, Rent, Reversions, Remainders, Vses, Possessions, Offices, Rights, Conditions, or any other Hereditaments of what name or quality soever they be (within the Counties of Eastmeath, West­meath, Kings County, Queens County, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, Antrim, Down, Armagh, and Lowth, or any of them) forfeited or any waies deemed, vested, adjudged, or taken to be in the actual and real possession of the late King Charles, his Heirs and, Successors upon or by force of any Act or Acts of Parlament, specified in a Commission under the great Seal of England to Charles Fleetwood Esq Lieute­tenant General of the Army in Ireland, and others, in the year one thousand six hundred fifty and three, or into or out of any Chantry Lands, Lands or Tenements given to superstitious u­ses, for maintenance of Popish Priests, and I­dolatrous Masses, Trentalls, Dirges, and the like, or for maintenance of Lazars, or La­sarous people, concealed in the possession and occupation of such person or persons who upon [Page 423]the fourteenth day of July one thousand six hundred fourty and three, or at any time since, was or were in Rebellion, shall on or before the three and twentieth day of October one thousand six hundred fifty and four, make the truth and reality of such Estate Right, Title, Interest, Vse, Possession, Reversion, Re­mainder, Office, Annuity, Service, Rent, common Debt, Charge or Incumbrance, ap­pear unto such persons as are appointed for re­ceiving and determining Claims in Ireland, and obtain from them an Order or Certificate of their allowance thereof, and shall cause the same to be sent unto the Register for forfeited Lands, and to be by him annexed to the Sur­vey of those Lands or other the Premisses, touching which such allowance shall be made: And in default thereof, the said Estate, Right, Title, Interest, Vse, Possession, Reversi­on, Remainder, Office, Annuity, Service, Rent, Common Debt, Charge, or Incom­brance, and every of them, shall be, and the same be hereby discharged, extinct, made nul and void.

And be it further Ordained and established by the Authority aforesaid, That no person shall incur either of the penalties for or upon Selling, Alyening, or for or upon Letting, Setting, or granting by Lease, any of the forfeited Houses and Lands to any person or persons comprehended in the Qualifications of the Act of Parlament Entituled, An Act for setling Ireland, but such onely who shall knowingly do the same, and that it shall be lawfull to all persons to Let or Grant by [Page 424]Lease, Lands to any persons, who, now, or by future Directions or Declaration of State, shall be exempted from Transplantation into Connaght or Clare.

And be it further Ordained and Establish­ed by the Authority aforesaid, That all and every City and County, or County of a City, City and Liberties, Town and County, half Barony, Territory, Franchise, Liberty, Pa­rish, Town, Place or Land which is return­ed among the Baronies, or for or as a Barony (on the abstract of the Surveys or estimate, made concerning the ten Counties appointed for the said Souldiers & Adventurers) shall, as to the Division, Sub-division, and enjoy­ment thereof amongst the said Souldiers and Adventurers and every of them respec­tively therein concerned, be deemed and taken to be as the same are returned in the Survey, although the same then were not a Barony, or were in another County, or were a County Franchise, or Liberty of it self: And that all Counties, Baronies and Places returned or certified in or by miswritten, mistaken or wrong names, shall be enjoyed by those whose Lots are or shall be on such Coun­ties, Baronies or Places, as if they had been returned or certified by their true and pro­per names.

And be it further Ordained, If within six Moneths after publication of the late Act, for the speedy and effectuall satisfaction of the Adventurers for Lands in Ireland, any Ca­stles, Cittadels, Forts, Bulwarks, Ram­pyers, Blockhouses, or any places of defence [Page 425](in any of the Towns or Counties appointed for the said Souldiers and Adventurers) were judged and declared by the person or per­sons therein specified, to be fit and meet to be reserved for the publique safety of the Land, and the service of the Common-wealth (not­withstanding such Iudgement and Declara­tion, and the Proviso in the said Act referring thereunto) the respective Adventurers and Souldiers, their severall Heirs and Assigns, in whose Lots or Proportions any such decla­red Castle, Cittadell, Fort, Bulwark, Ram­pier, Blockhouse or other place of defence is or shall be, shall or may presently, or any time hereafter, if the same be not now a Garrison, enter upon, have and enjoy the same, to him, his Heirs and Assigns; And if the same now be a Garrison, and shall hereafter be dismant­led, or the Guard or Souldiers with-drawn from the same, then and from thenceforth, It shall and may be lawfull to and for such person, his Heirs and Assignes, in whose Lot or Proportion the same is or shall be, to enter upon, have and enjoy the same to his and their own use for ever; And that upon the dismant­ling any such Castle, Cittadell, Fort, Bul­wark, Rampier, Blockhouse, or place of de­fence, or the pulling or taking down any part thereof, such person and persons, in whose Lot or Lots the same shall be, shall have and enjoy all and singular the Iron, Lead, Tim­ber, Stones and materials thereof, to his and their own use, without paying any thing for the same: And that no person or persons do or shall convert the same to any other use whatsoever.

[Page 426]And to the end such godly and able Prea­chers as are already in Ireland, or shall be willing to transplant themselves thither for spreading and publishing the knowledge of Christ in that Land, may have due encou­ragement therein, and a competent provision of maintenance, Be it further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That there shall be allowed unto every such person, as having first obtained from the Commissioners for ap­probation of publique Preachers such testimo­nial as by the Ordinance, Entituled, An Ordi­nance appointing Commissioners for approbation of Publique Preachers, is directed, of his fitness and sufficiency for that work, shall, within five years from and after the four and twentieth of June one thousand six hundred fifty and four, transport himself into Ireland, the sum of fifty pounds towards the charge of his transpor­tation to be paid unto every such person out of the publique Treasury. And that the Com­missioners for ordering and managing the Af­fairs of Ireland for the time being, and such o­ther person and persons as shall hereafter be deputed by His Highness for the Government of that Nation, shall and are hereby required to place every such person in some such Bene­fice as shall be in the gift of His Highness the Lord Procector, [or confirm any presentation which shall be granted unto such person by the Patron] to the value of one hundred pounds per annum, and in case the same shall not be of that value, then to grant unto such person, such yearly allowance by way of augmentati­on as shall make up the same to that value, [Page 427]as also to grant such further augmentation as they shall think fit, to any such person, or to a­ny other Preachers now there (whose living doth not exceed the value of fifty pounds per annum) as they shall find worthy such augmen­tation, not exceeding fifty pounds per annum; And all and every such person and persons so by them placed as aforesaid, shall hold and en­j [...]y such Benefice, and all the Houses, Lands, Dues and Profits of and belonging thereun­to, and have such and the like benefit and means for recovery thereof, as if such person had been instituted and inducted according to the Laws in Ireland.