CHARLES II.

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CHAP.

LXIII,

1060 ,

After repeated solicitations , the act of indem-nity passed both houses, and soon received theroyal assent. Those who had an immediate handin the late king's death, were there excepted :Even Cromwel, I re ton , Bradshaw , and othersnow dead were attainted, and their estates for-feited. Vane and Lambert, though none of theregicides, were also excepted. St. John andseventeen persons more were deprived of all bene-fit from this act, if they ever accepted any publicemployment. All who had fit ten in any illegalhigh court of justice were disabled from bearingoffices. These were all the severities, which fol-lowed such furious civil wars and convulsions.

The next business was the settlement of theking’s revenue. In this work , the parliamenthad regard to public freedom as well as to thesupport of the crown. The tenures of wards andliveries had long been regarded as a grievousburthen by the nobility and gentry: Several at-tempts had been made during the reign of Jamesto purchase this prerogative , together with thatof purveyance; and 200,000 pounds a year hadbeen offered that prince in lieu of them: Wardshipsand purveyance had been utterly abolished bythe republican parliament: And even in the pre-sent parliament, before the king arrived in Eng-land 1 , a bill had been introduced, offering him acompensation for the emoluments of these prero-gatives. A hundred thousand pounds a year wasthe snm agreed to; and half of.the excise wassettled in perpetuity upon the crown as the fund

B 4

Settlementof the revenue.