An Act passed at the Restoration in 1660, granting a free pardon to those who had been in arms against the king, with the exception of the Regicides and Sir Harry Vane and General Lambert, and settling in favour of _bonâ fide_ holders all claims to land acquired during the Commonwealth. Independence. _See_ Declaration. Independents. A sect of extreme Puritans, originally identified with the Brownists. They afterwards became a political party, holding more advanced views than the Presbyterians, who represented a conservative form of republicanism, and ultimately, under the leadership of Cromwell and with the aid of the army, which was mainly officered by them, they became the predominant party in the state. Index Expurgatorius. The list of books the perusal of which is forbidden to devout Catholics. The first index was drawn up by Paul IV in 1555 to prevent the diffusion of heretical opinions through the writings of the Reformers. India Act, Pitt’s. An Act passed in 1784 by which all political power was taken from the East India Company and vested in a Board of Control nominated by the Government. The Company retained all its patronage, excepting the appointment of Commander-in-Chief and some other high posts, and their commercial rights under their Charter were not interfered with. Indian National Congress. An annual congress of natives of India, with some few Europeans, whose object is to promote the extension to India of Western political institutions, such as representative government. The first congress met at Allahabad in 1888, and was attended by a few Mohammedans, but it has now fallen almost entirely into the hands of the Bengali Babus. Indians, Apostle of the. The name given to Bartolomeo de las Casas (1474-1566), the Spanish ecclesiastic who devoted his life to the amelioration of the condition of the South American Indians. Indies, Apostle of the. St. Francis Xavier, the famous Jesuit missionary to India in the sixteenth century is so called. Indies, Council of the. A supreme court for American affairs, established in Spain by Ferdinand in 1511 and reorganized by Charles V in 1524. The council promulgated all the laws relating to the government of the colonies and appointed to all colonial offices under the Crown. Indulgence. A measure of toleration granted to the Scottish Presbyterians in 1669, by which their ministers were permitted to preach in vacant parishes and received some pecuniary aid from the Government. This measure, however, did nothing to reconcile the more bigoted members of the Church, who continued their resistance to all State control. The Indulgence was soon withdrawn. Indulgence. _See_ Declaration. Indulgences.