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CHAP,
I.
10 THE RESTORA TION IN ENGLAND. 1660
large measure of ejection and restoration. But the convention
contained many men who had profited by the transfers of
property, and there was an obvious reluctance to inquire too
closely into the titles of existing holders. Both in the act of
indemnity and in a subsequent "act for the confirmation of
judicial proceedings " an exception was made in favour of lands
previously belonging to the king or queen, to the Church, or to
royalists who had suffered actual confiscation. These recovered
their estates, and though it was understood that present occupants
were to receive favourable treatment from the restored
owners, no legal security was given them, and on Church lands
especially they had in many cases to make way for the highest
bidder. But the royalist who had parted with his lands by his
own act, though under practical compulsion, had no remedy
unless he could prove in a law-court some illegality on the part
of those concerned in the transaction. And from this he was
in most cases barred by the act of indemnity. Such a man
was left with a galling sense of wrong, and he was apt to look
upon Clarendon rather than upon parliament as the author of
the injustice.
There was one expedient of the rebels which commended
itself both to king and parliament. Monthly assessments
were necessary to pay the army and navy until their eventual
fate could be determined. The excise upon beer and spirits
was required to furnish the king with an adequate revenue.
The annual sum which the convention was willing to grant
to Charles II. was £1,200,000. This was ,£300,000 more
than the late king was computed to have received from all
sources, and for its payment one half of the proceeds of the
excise was granted to the king for his life. The other half
was to go to the crown for ever as a commutation of the old
feudal incidents. Down to the great rebellion the heir of a
tenaht-in-chief had continued to pay a relief as in the days of
the Normans*and Plantagenets. If the heir were a minor he
was a royal ward, and during his minority the revenue of
his estates was administered by the court of wards for the
crown. The hand of an heiress could be disposed of at the
will of the suzerain. When the king knighted his eldest son
or gave his eldest daughter in marriage, he was entitled to demand
an aid from all tenants by knight-service. These customs