April, 1646
[16 April, 1646.]
Ordinance for erecting a French or Walloon Church at Dover.
Whereas a Petition has been presented to the House of Peers,
in the Name of the Walloones or French, and other Strangers,
professing the true Protestant Religion, and residing at Dover:
humbly praying, that they may have Liberty to erect a Wallowne
or French Congregation in the Town and Port of Dover, with the
same Discipline and Immunities as are granted to the several
Foreign Congregations of this Kingdom; which Petition being
referred by the said House of Peers to the Committee of Lords
and Commons for the Admiralty and Cinque Ports, the said
Committee, upon Consideration and Debate thereof, did report
their Opinion to the said House, That they conceived it meet the
said Petitioners should be authorized, by an Ordinance of
Parliament, to erect a Church accordingly, with such Cautions as
both Houses should in their Wisdom think fit: Be it therefore
Ordained, by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled,
That the said Foreign Protestants in Dover shall have Power,
and are hereby authorized, to erect a Wallowne or French Congregation in the Town and Port of Dover, with the same Discipline
and Immunities as are granted in the several Foreign Congregations of this Kingdom by the Charter of King Edward the Sixth,
and enjoyed by them in His Reign, and in the several Reigns of
Queen Elizabeth and King James, as likewise in the Reign of His
Majesty that now is; and also that the said Foreign Protestants
in Dover, and their Successors, shall have the Liberty and public
Exercise of the Protestant Religion, under a faithful Ministry of
the Word and Sacraments, as other Foreign Churches of this
Kingdom do and may freely enjoy: And it is Ordained, That the
Mayor and several Officers at Dover whom this may concern be
assistant, upon all Occasions, to the said Congregation, for the
Maintenance of them in their just Privileges hereby granted
them.