Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large - vol 5.djvu/496

 45° Anno nono Georgii Regis. A.D. 1722. C. .18. ment, and that a]] others may by the Juftice of Parliament be for ever hereafter deterred from engaging in any traiterous Confpiracies or Attempts, We your Majefty's molt dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in Parliament affembled, do humbly befeech your Ma- jefty, that it may be enacted, &c. P R. and EXP. CAP. XVIII. An Aft for granting an Aid to his Majefty by laying a Tax upon Papifts, and for making fuch other Perfons, as upon due Summons fhall refufe or negled to take the Oaths therein mentioned, to contribute towards the faid Tax, for reimburfing to the Publick Part of the great Expences occafioned by the late Confpiracies ; and for difcharging the Eftates of Papifts from the two third Parts of the Rents and Profits thereof for one Year, and all Arrears of the fame, and from fuch Forfeitures as are therein more particularly 1 defcribed. 3 Geo. 1. Stat. i. c. 50. See 13 Geo. 1. e. 2S. ] Geo. 1. Stat. 2. I Geo. 1. Stat. 2. --«• *S- I. "a j" O S T Gracious Sovereign ; Whereas your Majefty in the firft Year of your Reign was gra- i.VjL cioufly pleated to fignify, by a Meflage to the Houfe of Commons then in Parliament afTembled, your Royal Confent, That the two third Parts of the Rents and Profits of the Lands, Tenements, He- reditaments, Leafes and Farms of all and every Perfon and Perfons, who was, were or fhould be a Po- pifh Recufant or Popifh Recufants convict, which by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm then in Force were or might be feized or taken into your Majefty's Hands for fuch Recufancy, might be raifed, levied and applied towards your Majefty's Supply for fuppreiling the unnatural Rebellion then lately made: And to the End the faid two third Parts of the faid Eftates, and the yearly and other Values of them, and every of them, might be better difcovered, known, defcribed and afcertained, and that the Publick might have the Benefit of your Majefty's -gracious Condefcenfion in relation to the fame, by Perception of the Rents and Profits thereof, or by laying fome Tax or Charge in Lieu thereof, or otherwise, as fnould afterwards be determined in Parliament to be reafonable, one Act was made and parted in the faid firft Year of your Majefty's Reign, intituled An A Ei for appointing Commijjioners to enquire of the Eftates of certain Traitors, and of Popijh Recufants, and of Ejiatcs given to fuperfitious Ufes, in order to raife Money out of them fever ally for the life of the Publick; In Purfuance of which Aft certain Commiffioners therein named were appointed {amongft other Things) to enquire concerning the faid Eftates, and the Values of them, and the two third Parts of the fame, liable to Seizure for the Ufe of the Publick ; and particularly what Popifh Recufants or Papifts, or Perfons educated in the Popifh Religion, or whofe Parents fhould be Papifts, or who fhould ufe or profefs thePopiih Religion, fhould hot take the Oaths, and make and fubferibe the Declaration prefcribed by any other Act of that Seffion of Parliament, within the refpective Times thereby appointed, or in De au.lt thereof fhould not regifter. or procure to be regiftred, his, her or their Names and Eftates, in the Manlier and Form prefcribed by fuch other Aft within the refpective Times thereby limited in that Behalf, and to do fuch other Matters and Things! as by the faid Act firft mentioned were authorized by the faid ComtniiSoners to be done and performed! by which Act all the Monies to arife to your Majefty by, for, upon or out of the fecial and refpective Eftates and Interefts thereby intended to be enquired into (except as therein is excepted) are appropria- ted to the Ufe of the Publick, and fhould be applied thereunto by Authority of Parliament, and not otherwife : And whereas in and by another Act made ami paffed in the faid Sefiion'of Parliament, held in the faid firft Year of your Majefty's Reign, intituled, An Acl to oblige Papifes to regt hr their Names and real Eftates, reciting, that the Papifts within this Kingdom, notwithftanding the tender Regard that had been fhewn them for many Years then laft part/, and their Enjoyment of the Protection and Benefit of the Government, had all, or the greateft Part of them, been concerned in ftirring up and fupporting the then late unnatural Rebellion, by which they had brought a vaft Expence upon this Nation, and that it manifeftly appeared by their Behaviour, that they take themfelves to be obliged, by the Principles they profefs, to be Enemies to your Majefty and the prefent happy Eftablifhment, watching all Oppor- tunities of fomenting and ftirring up new Rebellions and Difturbances within this Kingdom, and of invi- ting Foreigners to invade it ; and that it was highly reafonable that they fhould contribute a large Share to all fuch extraordinary Expences, as were or Should be brought upon this Kingdom by their Treachery and Inftigation ; and to the End that by paying largely to the great Expences which they had brought upon this Nation, they might be deterred, if poffible, from the like Offences for the Future, and that this Nation might have the Benefit of your Majefty's moft gracious Condefcenfion, in giving your In- tereft in the faid two third Parts, by fazing the fame, or by laying fome Tax or Charge upon their Eftates in Lieu thereof, in fuch Proportions, and in fuch Manner as fhould be determined to be reafon- able in Parliament, It was thereby enacted, That all and every Perfon and Perfons, not having taken the Oaths therein mentioned before the laft Day ox Trinity-Term one thoufand feven hundred and fixteen, having any Eftate or Intereft in any Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments, or who afterwards fhould have any Eftate or Intereft in any Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments in England, Wales or Berwick upon Tweed, who was or fhould be a Popifh Recufant or Papift, or was or fhould be educated in the Popifh Religion, or whofe Parent or Parents, was, were or fhould be a Papift or Papifts, or who fhould ufe or profefs the Popifh Religion, fhould, within fuch feveral and refpective Times as are thereby li- mited, take the feveral Oaths, and repeat and fubferibe the Declaration in the fame Ad prefcribed, in ' fuch