Page:The statutes of Wales (1908).djvu/94

xc the remnant of the House of Connmons. The latter body then claimed for itself the name and authority of the Parliament of England, and resolved that the "House of Peers in Parliament is useless and dangerous and ought to be abolished."

A.D. 1648.—The first of these Statutes, passed in 1648, dealt with the sequestration of and the County of Monmouth. The House of Commons requiring revenue, inflicted severe penalties on those counties which had taken a prominent part in the Civil War, fines being imposed upon each county, accompanied by directions as to the manner of payment and how the compositions of these payments were to be made. The total sum of fines thus levied upon the several counties for their respective delinquencies was £20,500, made up as follows:—

A number of persons were nominated in the Act to act as Commissioners to carry its provisions into effect.

A.D. 1649.—The second statute of this period, passed in 1649, is known as "the Act for the better propagation of the Gospel in and redress of some grievances." It created a commission of seventy-one persons empowered to eject such clergy as they judged guilty of any delinquency, scandal, malignancy, or non-residence" and to supply their places with "godly and painful men." The Commissioners were to manage the profits of all sequestered livings, which