60 PAPERS, ETC. 



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BT JOHN BATTEN, JÜNR. * 



OF all the measures adopted by the Parliament for 

 strengthening their hands in their contest with the 

 ill-fated Charles, none was more effectual than the ordi- 

 nance of the Ist of April, 1643, declaring the property of 

 those who openly espoused the King's cause, or, in the 

 language of the day, " all delinquents and malignants," to 

 be forfeited for the use of the State. It not only pro- 

 duced very large sums for maintaining the army raised by 

 the Parliament, and meeting other pressing demands, but 

 it deterred many, not actually committed to the King's 

 cause, from taking an active part on his behalf, at the risk 

 of their property and liberty. 



* It is hardly necessary for me to premise that my sole object in this 

 Paper is to present the Society with a detail of interesting /acte, without 

 reference to my own opinions or predilections, Respect for my ancestors 

 should perhaps enlist my sympathies with Parliaraentarians and 

 Puritans ; one of them, Sir William Batten, having been Vice-Admiral 

 of the Parliament Fleet in the Civil War; and another, the Rev. 

 Henry Butler, M.A., having been ejected, on the passing of the Act of 

 TTniformity, from the Vicarage of Yeovil, and subjected to much perse- 

 cution afterwards. 



