[1663/6/3]¹

Procedure: commission

His majesty's commission to [John Leslie], earl of Rothes

The which day the lord commissioner produced his majesty's commission granted to him under his majesty's great seal for holding of this parliament, whereof the tenor follows.

Charles, by the grace of God, king of Scotland, England, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, to all his honest men to whom this commission shall have come, greetings. Know that in as much as at the end of the most recent session of the present parliament of this our ancient kingdom of Scotland, we prorogued the said parliament on 20 May last and afterwards by public proclamation postponed the next parliament until 11 June next to come; and because we cannot be present in our sacred person at the next session of this parliament because we have been held back by matters of great importance relating to our kingdom of England; and for the good of our service [and] not without weighty reasons, we have revoked the two previous commissions granted to [John Middleton], earl of Middleton as a reward for our service; and in addition we have decreed that our commission be entrusted to a man of overt loyalty and endowed with remarkable talents, so that he may represent our royal person therein; and since we have ascertained by many important tokens the conspicuous love, exceptional virtue, and indomitable loyalty towards us of our dearly beloved and most loyal kinsman and councillor John, earl of Rothes, lord Leslie and Bambreich, president of our privy council; in consideration of the great loyalty and constancy he has always given us, both in our kingdom of Scotland while we were there and then later at Worcester in our kingdom of England, (for which he suffered daily imprisonment and serious financial loss); and of the great love and readiness he showed us before our happy restoration, and later in our parliament in everything touching our service; and since he has been imbued with such remarkable talents which are worthy of praise² for the governance of a province of such a great trust, therefore we have given and granted, and by the tenor of this commission do give and grant, full power and commission to our said most loyal and beloved kinsman and councillor John, earl of Rothes³ to represent our royal person and authority in the next sitting of our said parliament and in all its future sessions; and in everything to act in the interest and for the good of the church, and the peace and governance of this our⁴ kingdom with respect to both church and state, just as at the present time he is firmly establishing in law the extension of our service, as it touches upon each and every administrative function thereof, as far as befits for our commissioner; and we have given and granted, and by the tenor of this commission do give and grant, to him our full authority and the said power of exercising the commission, and of carrying out, as our commissioner, each and every duty by virtue of the office and the province which has been entrusted to him, with no less liberty and fullness of right in all respects than any other commissioner endowed with a similar authority has done or has been lawfully able to do. Wherefore we consider and shall consider as binding and permanent any and every thing our said [most loyal] kinsman shall have done in the execution of the foresaid commission. Furthermore, we command all the officers of our state, our councillors, judges, and subjects to pay due respect, to acknowledge, and to obey the said earl, our commissioner, while he is representing our most sacred person and authority, to the ends specified in⁵ said commission; and we wish that this have force during the next session of⁶ said parliament; in witness whereof we have ordered that our great seal be appended to this commission.

At our palace of Whitehall, 29 May 1663, and in the fifteenth year of our reign.

Signed by the hand manual of our supreme lord the king.