AN ORDINANCE DECLARING That the OFFENCES herein mentioned, and no other, shall be adjudged HIGH TREASON Within the COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, and IRELAND, and the Dominions thereunto belonging.  
Thursday, January 19 1653.  
ORdered by His Highness the Lord Protector and His Council, that this Ordinance be forthwith Printed and published.  
HENRY SCOBEL, Clerk of the Council.  
Printed at London, and reprinted at Leith, 1653.   

An ORDINANCE declaring that the Offences herein mentioned, and no other, shall be adjudged HIGH TREASON within the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Dominions thereunto belonging.  
THE Government of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Dominions thereunto belonging, and the Supreme Legislative Authority of the same being settled and established to be, and reside in One Person, and the People assembled in Parliament (the stile of which Person is already declared to be LORD PROTECTOR of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland) and the Exercise of the chief Magistracy and Administration of the Government over the said Countries and Dominions, and the People thereof, to be in the Lord Protector, assisted with a Council, who have power, until the meeting of the next Parliament, (which is to be the third of Sept. next) to make Laws and Ordinances for the Peace and Welfare of these Nations, where it shall be necessary, which shall be binding and in force, until Order shall be taken in Parliament concerning the same; And it being a matter of greatest Importance to the just Government of a People, That Crimes and Offences of highest nature, punishment and forfeiture, should be most clearly and fully expressed, and reduced into such certainty as the People might readily know them, and knowing them, might the better shun and avoid the same; And by reason that the Nation of Scotland is reduced unto, and brought under this Government, which must necessarily occasion an alteration of some Laws formerly in force; His Highness revising and perusing the several Laws heretofore made in Cases of High Treason, and to the end the same might be brought into one Body, Doth Declare, Establish and Ordain, And be it Established and Ordained by His Highness the Lord Protector, by, and with the consent of His Council, That if any person or persons shall compass or imagine the death of the Lord Protector for the time being; Or if any person or persons shall maliciously or advisedly either by writing, printing, openly declaring, preaching, teaching, or otherwise, publish, That the Lord Protector, and the people in Parliament assembled, are not the Supreme Authority of this Commonwealth; Or that the Exercise of the chief Magistracy and Administration of the Government over the said Countries and Dominions, and the People thereof, is not in the Lord Protector, assisted with a Council; Or that the said Authority or Government is tyrannical, usurped, or unlawful; Or that there is any Parliament now in being, or that hath any Continuance, or any Law in force for continuing the Parliament, which is hereby declared to have been absolutely dissolved and determined upon the twentieth day of April, one thousand six hundred fifty and three, and shall be adjudged and taken so to be; Or shall plot, contrive or endeavour to stir up or raise force against the Protector or the present Government, or for the subversion or alteration of the same, And shall declare such endeavour or endeavours by an open Deed, Then every such Offence shall be taken and adjudged to be high Treason.  
And whereas the Lord Protector and the Council, for the just and lawful defence of this Commonwealth, are at present necessitated, by reason of the manifold distractions within the same, and Invasions threatened from abroad, to continue Armies and Forces in England, Scotland, and Ireland, which (under God) must be the Instrumental means of preserving the good People of these Nations in peace and safety; Be it further Ordained and Established by the Authority aforesaid, That if any person (not being an Officer, Soldier, or Member of the Armies or Forces) shall plot, contrive or endeavour to stir up any mutiny in the said Armies, or among the said Forces, or any of them; Or to withdraw any Soldiers or Officers from their obedience to their Superior Officers, or from the present Government, as aforesaid; Or if any person or persons whatsoever shall procure, invite, aid or assist any Foreigners or Strangers to invade England, Scotland, or Ireland, or any the Dominions thereunto belonging; Or shall adhere unto any Forces raised by the Enemies of this Commonwealth; Or if any person or persons shall plot, contrive or endeavour the betraying, surrendering or yielding up any City, Town, Fort, Magazine, Ship, Vessel, or Forces by Sea or Land belonging to this Commonwealth; Or if any person or persons shall counterfeit the Great Seal of England, or of Scotland, or Ireland, for the time being, used and appointed by Authority of Parliament, or by the Lord Protector, with the Consent of the Council; Or the Sign Manual, Privy S●gnet, or Privy Seal of the Lord Protector for the time being; Or if any person or persons whatsoever shall proclaim, declare, publish, or any way promote Charles Stuart, Eldest Son to the late King, or James Stuart, ●ne other of his Sons, or any other the Issue or Posterity of the said late King, or any other person or persons claiming by, from, or under him or them, or either, or any of them, to be King or Chief Magistrate of England, Scotland, or Ireland, or of either or any of them, or of any the Dominions to them, or either, or any of them belonging; Or if any person or persons shall give, keep, or hold any Intelligence whatsoever, by Letter's, Messages, or otherwise, to or with the sa●d Charles Stuart, James Stuart, the late Queen their Mother, or any of th●m; Or i● any person or persons shall counterfeit the Money of this Commonwealth; or shall bring any false Money into this Land, either Counterfeit or other, like to the Money of this Commonwealth (knowing such Money to be false) to the intent to Merchandise, or otherwise; Or if any person or persons shall hereafter falsely forge or Counterfeit any such kind of Coin, either of Gold or Silver, which is not the proper Coin of this Common wealth, and yet is or shall be current within the same; Or shall bring from the parts beyond the Seas into this Commonwealth or into any the Dominions of the same, any such false or Counterfeit Coin of Money, being current within this Common wealth, as is abovesaid (knowing the said Money to be false and Counterfeit) to the intent to utter or make payment with the same, within this Commonwealth, by Merchandise or otherwise; Or if any person or persons shall Impair, Diminish, Falsify, Clip, Wash, Round, File, Scale, or lighten, for wicked lucre, or gains sake, any the proper Moneys of this Commonwealth or of the Dominions thereof, or of the Moneys or Coins of any other place allowed or suffered to be current within this Commonwealth or the Dominions thereof; Then all and every the offences  shall be, and are hereby deemed, ordained and adjudged to be high Treason; And the Offenders therein, and their Counsellors, Procurers, Aiders, and Abetters, being Convicted according to the Laws of this Nation of any of the said Offences, shall be and are hereby deemed and adjudged to be Traitors against this Commonwealth, and shall suffer and have such pains of death, and incur such forfeitures, as in case of high Treason is used and Ordained.  
Provided always, That neither this Ordinance, nor any thing therein contained as touching the Moneys and Coins aforesaid, nor any attainder of any person or persons for the same, shall in any wise be adjudged to make any corruption of blood to any the heir or heirs of any such Offender or Offenders, nor to make the wise of any such Offenders to lose or forfeit her Dower of or in any Lands Tenements, or Hereditaments, or her Title, Action, or Interest in or to the same.  
Provided always, That no person or persons shall be Indicted or arraigned for any of the Offences before mentioned in this Ordinance, unless such Offender or Offenders shall be indicted or prosecuted for the same within one year after the offence committed.  
And it is lastly Ordained and Established, That no other Matter, Fact, Crime, or Offence whatsoever, then only such as are herein mentioned and expressed, shall be deemed, taken, or adjudged to be high Treason, any Law, Statute, Act, or Ordinance to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.  
Provided nevertheless, and it is hereby declared to be the full purpose and true intent and meaning of this Ordinance, That the Laws and Statutes made in the times of the late Queen Elizabeth and of King James against the pretended Authority of the Bishop of Rome, and his See, Jesuits; Seminary Priests, and Professors of the Romish Religion, should not be repealed, but stand, be, and continue in full force and effect in every Clause and part thereof; And therefore, If any person or persons shall attribute unto, maintain, or defend the Bishop of Rome, or his See, to have any Power, Authority, or Jurisdiction within this Common-weath, Or if any Person hath procured, or shall obtain from the Bishop of Rome or his See, any Bulls, writings or Instruments to absolve the People of this Common wealth from their obedience to this Government, and to reconcile them to the Authority of the said See; And hath used, or put in ure, or shall use or put in ure, any such Instrument, either upon or beyond the Seas, or in any place within this Commonwealth, Or if any person or Persons by colour of any such Instrument, hath or have heretofore taken, or shall hereafter take upon him or them to absolve or reconcile, or to grant, or promise any such Absolution or Reconciliation; Or if any person or persons shall obtain or get any manner of Bull, writing, or other Instrument, either written or Printed, which shall contain any thing, matter or Cause whatsoever; Or shall publish, or by any ways or means put in ure any such Bull, writing or Instrument; Or if any person on persons shall pretend to have Power, or shall by any ways or means put in practice to absolve, persuade or withdraw any of the people of this Common wealth from their obedience to the Government established in the same; Or to move any of them to promise any obedience to any pretended Authority of the See of Rome, or of any other Prince, State, or Potentate to be had or used within this Commonwealth; And shall do any overt Act to that intent or purpose; Or if any person shall by any means be willingly reconciled or absolved, or withdrawn as aforesaid; Or shall promise any obedience to any such pretended Authority, Prince, State, or Potentate, as aforesaid; Or if any Jesuit, Seminary Priest, or such other Priest, Deacon, or Religious or Ecclesiastical person whatsoever being born in any pa 'tis within this Commonwealth, or the Dominions thereof, that hath been or shall be made, ordained, or professed by any Authority or Jurisdiction dirived, or challenged, or pretended from the See of Rome, by, or of what Name, Title, or Degree soever the same be called, or known, and shall come into, be, or remain in any parts of this Commonwealth, or the Dominions thereof, That then all and every the offences  shall be and are hereby deemed and adjudged to be high Treason.  
FINIS.