it alluded to the actions at law to which the actual
possessors of estates purchased by them or granted to them during the
revolution might be liable, and purposed to leave the settlement of all
such differences to the wisdom of parliament, which could best provide for
the just satisfaction of the parties concerned: lastly, it promised to
liquidate the arrears of the army under General Monk, and to retain the
officers and men in the royal service upon the same pay and conditions
which they actually enjoyed. This was the celebrated declaration from
Breda, the royal charter on the faith of which Charles was permitted to
ascend the throne of his fathers.[1]
Encouraged by the bursts of loyalty with which the king's letters and
declaration had been received, his agents made it their great object to
procure his return to England before limitations could be put on the
prerogative. From the Lords, so numerous were the Cavaliers in the upper
house, no opposition could be feared; and the temper already displayed
by the Commons was calculated to satisfy the wishes of the most ardent
champions of royalty. The two houses voted, that by the ancient and
fundamental laws of the realm the government was and ought to be by king,
lords, and commons; they invited Charles to come and receive the crown to
which he was born; and, to relieve his more urgent necessities, they sent
him a present of fifty thousand pounds, with ten thousand pounds for his
brother the duke of York, and five
[Footnote 1: Lords' Journ.
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