The Act of Settlement upon which all subsequent proceedings were founded declared that it was 'not the intention of the Parliament to extirpate that whole nation.' Pardon might be extended to the inferior sort of people on condition of submission and peaceable behaviour. Those of higher rank, 'according to the respective demerits and considerations under which they fell,' were divided into ten classes or qualifications, of which the first five were excepted from pardon for life and estate. The first comprised all who before November 10, 1642, when the Kilkenny assembly first met, had anything to say to the rebellion, murders, or massacre. The second clause included all ecclesiastical persons in Roman orders who had been so concerned, the penalty in their cases extending to 'violences' less than murder or open insurrection. The third consisted of one hundred and four persons excepted by name, including Ormonde, Castlehaven, Clanricarde, Inchiquin, Muskerry, and seventeen other temporal peers. Bishop Bramhall came next, and among the rest were Sir Phelim O'Neill, General Preston, and Roger O'More. The fourth qualification covered those who at any time after October 1, 1641, had a hand in killing any one except soldiers, and all Irishmen who, not being soldiers themselves, had killed Englishmen who were. The fifth clause condemned all who did not lay down their arms within twenty-eight days of the Act being published by authority in Ireland. The sixth clause provided for the banishment of all superior military officers and for the forfeiture of two-thirds of their estates, the value of the remaining third to be enjoyed by their wives and children 'in such places in Ireland as the Parliament, in order to the more effectual settlement of the peace of this nation, shall think fit to appoint for that purpose.' The seventh clause empowered the Commissioners to pardon others who had fought and submitted, and they also were deprived of two-thirds of their property, but might continue in Ireland upon the equivalent of one-third wherever the Parliament might assign it. The eighth applied to Papists who had lived in Ireland since October 23, 1641, 'and had not manifested their constant good affection to the interest of the Commonwealth of England'; they were to forfeit one-third, and other persons who might have helped the Parliament and failed to do so were deprived of only one-fifth. The ninth clause granted pardon for life and estate to those who had no land and not more than ten pounds personalty, provided they laid down their arms within the prescribed time. The tenth clause swept into the net all estates tail and trusts created after March 25, 1639, but English Protestants who purchased for value before the beginning of the rebellion were protected. There was a final proviso granting to all the benefit of any articles granted provided they had observed them on their part, but the Commissioners had, nevertheless,