II. 1647. Advance of the army forbidden by parliament. June 11. Committee of safety derable part of them, should be seduced to take up arms against their just undertakings, they trusted they had freed themselves from all blame in the ruin which might in that case befal this great and populous city 2. At twelve o'clock the next day, Friday, this letter reached the lord mayor, who immediately convened the common council, and by them a petition was agreed upon, and without delay presented to the two houses of parliament, intreating the legislature that they would send to Fairfax not to quarter his army or any part of it within twenty-five miles of the metropolis. A letter was accordingly dispatched, specifying the distance of forty miles as that beyond which he was not to advance a. Parliament proceeded at the same time to take appointed. such measures as they judged to be most effectual, to repel force with force, if necessary. They voted, that there should be a committee of lords and commons to provide for the safety and defence of the kingdom, parliament and city, with power to raise horse and foot for that purpose, and that this committee should be empowered to act for one month and no longer. There was a difference of opinion between the two houses as to who should be members of this committee. The lords voted that the committee for Irish IX. 1647. Preparadefence of affairs sitting at Derby House, should be consti- CHAP. tuted a committee of safety; but the commons proposed that an entirely new committee of twelve lords and twenty-four commoners should be named for the occasion: and this opinion finally prevailed. It was also determined that the committee should call in, if they thought fit, the regiments of colonel Graves and sir Robert London. Pye, together with such soldiers, whether horse or foot, as on this critical occasion divided themselves from the army, to be employed on the present emergency . This shew of resistance continued however for a very short time. The head-quarters of the army were removed the next day from Royston to St. Albans, only twenty miles from London. this news the citizens speedily took the tions for the Army at St. Albans. June 12. Upon Irresolutealarm. citizens. The administration of the executive government had been at various times intrusted to different agents. At the commencement of the civil war a committee of public safety had been chosen. Sec Vol. I, p. 19. This body had afterwards been superseded for the committee of both kingdoms. See Vol. I, p. 321. Again, as the union between England and Scotland began to relax, it was for the most part to the lords and commons of England that were of the committee of both kingdoms, that the parliament referred the questions of executive government. When however, in consequence of the plan for disbanding the army, and drafting off a large portion of it for the service of Ireland, the committee for the affairs of that country, appointed July 1, 1645 (Vol. II, p. 159), became of primary importance, this body seems to have been looked to on a majority of occasions, as the administration. C Journals, June 11. d Journals of Lords, June 12, 13. ness of the BOOK The nation had now been involved in war for w 1647. II. several years; and the city had shewn itself sufficiently warlike and resolute, when the king marched against it with the hope of taking them by surprise in the autumn of 1643. But at that time the parliament was at the height of its popularity, and the inhabitants were united, almost to a man, against episcopacy and the sentiments of absolute government Charles was well known to entertain. The plan which was now formed of putting down one army by another, the army which had gained the cause and conquered the despot and his followers, by another army which should be more pliable to the presbyterian leaders, could never be very extensively popular. The military leaders, Fairfax, Cromwel and Ireton, were in the very zenith of their glory. Though the great majority of the citizens were presbyterian, and consequently intolerant, sentiments of a more liberal nature, patronised by such advocates, were daily increasing in the number of their adherents. The corporation was on the whole perhaps sufficiently disposed to support the prevailing party in parliament; but they were not all prepared to make great sacrifices, and suffer bitter privations, for the benefit of that party. They revolved therefore a second time the perilous situation in which they stood; the friends of the army and of toleration took advantage of their suspense; and a new court of common coun ,to CHAP. 1647. Submission June 12. cil was summoned the next day to that on which they had petitioned parliament against the army, t reconsider the conduct it became them to pursue. It was there resolved to send a deputation of of the mefour aldermen and seven considerable citizens to wait on the commander in chief. They were the bearers of a letter from the common council, in which that body disavowed the raising any forces, or the taking up arms, to hinder the army from obtaining their just demands. The precautions they had adopted were merely designed to counteract any unlawful violence, which might occur without the army's having intended it. They professed their deep sense of the good deserts of that body, and assured them that they had been, and always should be anxious that their claims should be granted, and their grievances redressed. In consideration of the sympathy and amicable sentiments thus expressed, they made it their request to the commanders of the army that they would forbear taking up their quarters within thirty miles of the metropolis". by the commons. Previously to the departure of the deputation Approved for the head-quarters of the army, they attended house of the house of commons, and requested their approbation of the step they were about to adopt, which was given them. It is impossible to pro BOOK II. 1647. Conduct of the military amined. nounce with certainty whether the presbyterian leaders in parliament were in any way concerned in originating this letter. At any rate they felt that it was impracticable for them to proceed hostilely in this emergency, if divided from the city, which was the very focus and strong hold of the presbyterian party. It will ever be a momentous and a difficult leaders ex- question upon the principles of moral rectitude and public justice, how Cromwel and the leaders of the army ought to have acted on this occasion. Unworthy Nothing can be more indubitable than the unthe ruling worthiness of the proceeding of the ruling party parliament. in parliament. There was nothing direct and conduct of party in manly in whatever they did. Their favourite reasoning was, that the war was at an end, and there was no further occasion for the army, But their whole conduct belied their assertion. The royal party was not so beaten down, as not to be an object of the most incessant jealousy. The majority in parliament had voted to keep up in England a large body of horse, and a considerable number of garrisons. They had voted a large army to be transported to subdue the resistance of Ireland. They were looking out on all sides for recruits and new soldiers. Their quarrel was not with an army, but with the army which had obtained the victory that the votaries of liberty so much desired. They feared them as the friends of toleration, and the enemies of that lordly and |