(M474)
Within a week of the king’s execution the Commons, confident in their own
strength and that of the army, voted the abolition of king and house of
lords, and declared England to be a Commonwealth.(931) They next proceeded
(14 Feb.) to place the executive power in the hands of a Council of State
of forty-one members, most of whom were also members of their own body,
with Bradshaw as president. Cromwell, Fairfax and Skippon were members of
the council, as also were two aldermen of the city, viz., Pennington and
Wilson.(932) The post of Secretary for Foreign Languages was offered to a
kinsman of Bradshaw, and one of whom the city of London is justly proud,
to wit, John Milton.
(M475)
The revolution which was taking place in the government of the kingdom
found its counterpart in the municipal government of the City, where the
mayor, aldermen and commons bore close analogy to the king, lords and
commons of the realm. The City was but the kingdom in miniature, the
kingdom was but the City writ large. No sooner was the house of lords
abolished, and with it the right of the lords to veto the Acts of the
commons, than the Court of Aldermen was deprived of a similar right over
the proceedings of the Common Council.
(M476)
Until the year 1645 the right of the mayor and aldermen to veto an
ordinance made by the commons in Common Council assembled appears never to
have been disputed, but on the 24th January of that year, when fresh
by-laws were under the consideration of the court, and the mayor and
aldermen claimed this privilege as a matter of right, objection was
raised, and the question was referred to a committee.(933) No settlement
of the matter appears to have been arrived at until matters were brought
to a crisis by the action of the mayor and aldermen on the 13th January,
1649, when, as we saw at the close of the last chapter, they got up and
left the court.
(M477)
In view of similar action being taken by the mayor and aldermen in future,
it was enacted by parliament (28 Feb.),(934) that all things proposed in
Common Council should thenceforth be fairly debated and determined in and
by the same council as the major part of the members present should desire
or think fit; "and that in every vote which shall passe and in the other
proceedings of the said councell neither the lord maior nor aldermen,
joynte or separate, shall have any negative or distinctive voice or vote
otherwise than with and amonge and as parte of the rest of the members of
the said councell, and in the same manner as the other members have; and
that the absence or withdraweinge of the lord maior or aldermen from the
said councell shall not stopp or prejudice the proceedings of the said
councell; and that every Common Councell which shall be held in the city
of London shall sitt and continue soe longe as the major parte of the
saide councell shall thinke fitte, and shall not be dissolved or adjourned
but by and accordinge to the order or consent of the major parte of the
same councell." It was further enacted that "in all times to come the lord
maior ... soe often and att such time as any tenn or more of the Common
Councell men doe by wryting under theire hands request or desire him
thereunto, shall summon, assemble and hold a Common Councell. And if at
any tyme beinge soe requested or desired hee shall faile therein, then the
tenn persons or more makeinge such request or desire shall have power, and
are hereby authorized, by wrytinge under theire hands, to summon or cause
to be summoned to the said councell the members belonginge thereunto in as
ample manner as the lord maior himself usually heretofore hath done."
(M478)
Pursuant to this enactment the mayor received a written request from
fifteen members of the council for a court to meet at three o’clock of the
afternoon of the 14th June, 1650. The court assembled, but neither mayor
nor any alderman appeared until a message was sent to the Court of
Aldermen then sitting requesting their attendance in the Common
Council.(935) After prayers(936) his lordship declared that he had not
summoned the court inasmuch as the members who came to him on the matter
had refused to acquaint him with the reasons for which it was to be
summoned, and he moved that the subscribers to the request for a court
should state why the court was summoned before any other business was
taken in hand. This proposal met with great opposition, and a debate arose
on the question whether the mayor’s motion should take precedence of the
reading of the minutes of the last court or not, and lasted until nine
o’clock at night. At length the mayor’s motion was negatived and the
minutes of the last court were read. It then became known that the reason
for the court being summoned was to hear a committee’s report read. But
the mayor at this point declared himself tired with sitting so long and
rose to go, promising to call a court the next morning or any time most
convenient. Upon certain members insisting upon the report being read then
and there, his lordship and all the aldermen except one left the court.
Nevertheless the report was read, and the members themselves fixed a day
for another court for taking it into consideration unless the mayor
himself should summon one in the meantime. His lordship was informed of
this resolution by a deputation sent for the purpose.(937)
(M479)
In the meantime the Common Council had resolved to administer to itself a
further purge. A committee was appointed (17 March, 1649) to "consider
what officers are properly to sitt in this courte as itt is a courte, and
by what authority they doe sitt there, and are to doe and performe service
in the courte, and what sallary or allowance they shall conceive expedient
to bee made to them respectively, and whether those officers shall bee
yearely chosen or to remain for soe long time as they shall well and
honestly use and behave themselves in their places."(938) Another
committee was appointed to enquire what members of the council or others
holding positions under the council had subscribed engagements which
brought them within the purview of the ordinances of parliament of the
18th and 20th December. It was further instructed to devise some good
expedient "to heale upp all breaches and that may tende to union and to
the peace and safety of this citty, and likewise for the begettinge of a
right understandinge and to keepe a good correspondency both betweene the
parliament and citty and betweene the army and this citty."(939) Three
days later (20 March) the Common Council resolved that in the opinion of
the court "such persons as were chosen to any places of trust within the
city (before the two ordinances of the xviijth and xxth of December last
were made) and doe continue in those places and are within the compasse of
any the matters menconed in this same ordinances or either of them are as
equally dangerous to be in any of those places as they that were forbidden
to be chosen to any such place since the said ordinances made," and the
committee last mentioned were to see how best to avert the danger.(940)
(M480)
When it came to proclaiming in the city the decrees of parliament
abolishing the kingly office and the House of Lords, Reynardson, the
mayor, declined to do so, and defended his action before the House by the
plea of conscientious scruples. He was forthwith deposed from the
mayoralty, condemned to pay a fine of £2,000 and committed to the
Tower.(941) As to the fine, he stoutly refused to pay it. His goods were
therefore seized and, according to the custom that prevailed, sold "by the
candle."(942)
(M481)
Not content with deposing him from the mayoralty, the House deposed (7
April) Reynardson also from his aldermanry and with him four other
aldermen,(943) viz., John Gayer, Thomas Adams, John Langham and James
Bunce—the same who had undergone impeachment in 1648. Bunce was a special
object of aversion to the Council of State, who later on (14 April, 1651)
ordered an Act to be prepared declaring all who had correspondence with
the enemies of the Commonwealth, "and especially with James Bunce, late
alderman of London," guilty of high treason.(944)
(M482)
The times were so much "out of joint" that it was no easy matter to find
well-to-do citizens willing to undertake an office which had become so
unenviable, and many paid fines varying in amount from £400 to £1,000
rather than serve.(945) By paying a fine for not taking upon himself the
duties of an alderman a man could generally, upon petition, be relieved
from serving as sheriff.(946)
(M483)
Meanwhile the continued presence of the soldiers of Fairfax in the city
was becoming more and more burdensome. Scarcely a day passed without some
disturbance arising between the soldiers and the civil guardians of the
peace. Occasionally there was bloodshed, and twice within a very few days
appeal had to be made to the general himself to restrain the plundering
and roystering habits of his men.(947) It is not surprising if, bearing in
mind the horrors that the military occupation of the city had recently
brought upon the inhabitants, the Common Council rejected a proposal (17
April) that the custody of the Tower should be placed in the hands of a
national guard in preference to the city’s own trained bands.(948)
(M484)
A series of royalist successes in Ireland now engaged the attention of
Cromwell, recently appointed (15 March) lord-lieutenant of that country,
but nothing could be done without money. More than a year ago (16 Feb.,
1648) an ordinance had been passed for raising money for Ireland, but in
the city it had been almost treated as a dead letter—"in divers wards no
assessment at all, and in most very little paid in." The civic authorities
had recently (22 March, 1649) been reminded of their remissness in this
respect by a letter from the Council of State, who threatened to enforce
their ordinance if the City could not be brought to execute it from a
sense of duty.(949)
(M485)
Three weeks later (12 April) a deputation from parliament, including
Cromwell himself, appeared before the Common Council and desired a loan of
£120,000 upon the security of the Act for assessment of £90,000 per month
and the Act for sale of fee-farm rents. The security was not liked,
nevertheless the council nominated a committee to confer with parliament
as to the best means of raising the money.(950)
(M486)
Want of money was not the only difficulty that Cromwell had to contend
with. The levelling spirit which two years before had displayed itself in
the ranks of the army, and had ever since been fostered by speeches and
writings of the wrong-headed and impracticable John Lilburne, again
asserted itself. The troops refused to serve in Ireland. A mutiny broke
out at "The Bull," in Bishopsgate Street, the soldiers refusing to obey
their colonel’s orders and seizing the regimental colours. An example had
to be made, so one of the ringleaders was shot in St. Paul’s Churchyard.
Five others condemned to death were pardoned. The funeral of the
unfortunate man who was executed was made the occasion of a public
demonstration against parliament and the army,(951) and for some time
afterwards the Levellers continued to give trouble in different parts of
the country.
(M487)
Time was passing rapidly and yet the establishment of the Commonwealth
still remained unproclaimed in the city. On the 10th May Colonel Venn, one
of the city members, was ordered to enquire and report to the House as to
the cause of the delay.(952) At length, on the 30th May, the formal
proclamation was made by Andrews, the new mayor, assisted by twelve of his
brother aldermen(953) and by a _posse_ of troops which had to be sent for
to preserve order. "It was desired," wrote the secretary of the French
ambassador in England to Cardinal Mazarin, "that this act should be
effected in the ordinary form of a simple publication, without the mayor
and aldermen being supported by any soldiers, in order to show that no
violent means had been resorted to; but a crowd of people having gathered
around them with hootings and insults, compelled them to send for some
troops, who first drove away all bystanders, and thus they finished their
publication."(954) A man named Prior was arrested for attempted riot and
was sent by the mayor to the Council of State, by whom he was committed to
the gatehouse.(955)
(M488)
Two aldermen, Sir Thomas Soame and Richard Chambers, who had absented
themselves on the occasion, were called before the bar of the House (1
June) to answer for their conduct. Soame, who was himself a member of the
House, boldly declared that the proclamation "was against several oaths
which he had taken as an alderman of London, and against his judgment and
conscience." Chambers said in defence "that his heart did not go along in
that business." Both delinquents were adjudged to lose their aldermanries,
and Soame was also condemned to lose his seat in the House.(956) Whilst
inflicting punishment upon those who determined to remain staunch to the
royalist cause, the House resolved to honour those who supported the new
order of things, and on the 6th June a proposal was made to authorise the
Speaker "to create the dignity of a knight, and to confer the same upon
Thomas Andrews, alderman and lord mayor of London, and Isaac Pennington
and Thomas Atkins [Atkin], aldermen and formerly lord mayors."(957)
(M489)
Thursday, the 7th June, having been appointed a day of public thanksgiving
for the suppression of the Levellers, the Common Council resolved (29 May)
to invite the Commons of England, the Council of State and other high
officers, as well as Fairfax and the chief officers of the army, to a
dinner at Grocers’ Hall, in order to "manifest the city’s good affections
towards them." The House accepted the invitation and appointed
Christchurch, Newgate, to be the church wherein the thanksgiving service
was to take place.(958) The same deference and respect was paid on this
occasion to the Speaker as was customarily paid to the king, the mayor
delivering the civic sword into his hands on entering the city and
receiving it back again, whilst the chief seat at the banquet was also
surrendered to him.(959)
(M490)
The City showed exceptional honour to Fairfax and to Cromwell, presenting
the former with a bason and ewer of gold weighing 242 ozs. 14 dwts., and
the latter with another bason and ewer, as well as with two flower pots, a
perfume and chafing dish, two fruit baskets, a kettle and laver and a
warming pan, the whole weighing 934 ozs. 9 dwts. Cromwell was also
presented with a purse containing £200 in twenty-shilling pieces.(960)
Thomas Vyner, a goldsmith of repute, who was sheriff at the time, provided
the plate at a cost of £1,412 15s.(961)
(M491)
The House was so pleased with the flattering reception it had received
that the next day (8 June) it appointed a special committee "to consider
of some mark of favour and respect" to be done to the City,(962) and on
the 30th it resolved "that the city of London have the New Park in the
county of Surrey settled upon them and their successors, as an act of
favour from this House, for the use of the city and their successors, and
that an Act be brought in for the purpose."(963) Accordingly, on the 17th
July, an Act "for settling the New Park of Richmond, alias Richmond Great
Park, on the mayor and commonalty and citizens of London and their
successors" was brought in and passed.(964)
(M492)
In the meantime (5 July) Cromwell had again appeared before the Common
Council and had desired a further advance of £150,000 upon the security of
the excise. The matter was referred to a committee.(965) By the 13th
August the new lord-lieutenant had obtained sufficient resources for him
to cross over to Ireland.
(M493)
Before he set sail a complete victory had been already gained over
Ormond’s forces before Dublin. The news of the success was despatched to
the mayor of London by letter from the Council of State (11 Aug.), who
ordered particulars of the victory to be printed and published in every
church within the lines of communication and thanks to be rendered to
Almighty God for his great goodness.(966) The 29th August was accordingly
kept as a day of public thanksgiving, and whilst the Commons attended
divine service at St. Margaret’s, Westminster, the municipal authorities
listened to sermons at Christchurch, Newgate, and afterwards dined
together at Mercers’ Hall.(967)
(M494)
The citizens kept such a tight hold upon their purse-strings, and the
money which they had been called upon to advance came in so slowly, that
the Council of State began to lose all patience, and on the 22nd August
wrote to the mayor and aldermen(968) reminding them of their remissness in
obeying the council’s previous orders, and informing them that the
soldiers had got to the end of their pay and wanted more. "It is not
reasonable," the letter went on to say, "that the country, which is far
less able, should bear the burden of the city, or that the soldiers should
quarter upon them to spare you; and if you suffer free quarter to come
upon you it may produce great inconvenience. You are therefore to take it
into serious consideration, and you will then be sensible of the effects
this backwardness in payment may produce. We once more offer this to your
consideration, resolving not to trouble you hereafter with further
letters, which produce no better effect, but that the same clamour and
complaints return to us every week."
(M495)
On the 25th August Glyn, the city’s Recorder, yielded to pressure and
resigned his office. An attempt had been made in January, 1648, to get him
to resign in favour of William Steele, but he managed to keep his place
notwithstanding his being a prisoner and threatened with impeachment at
the time. On the 9th August, 1649, the Court of Aldermen desired him to
surrender his place on the ground that both law and the custom of the city
demanded that the Recorder of the city should be an apprentice of the law
and not a sergeant-at-law.(969) The plea was a shallow one, and Glyn
declined to accede to their request, as being prejudicial to himself and
as casting a slur upon his profession. This answer he made on the 18th
August. Nevertheless by that day week he had thought better of it, and
came into court and there "freely tendred" his resignation, which was
accepted as "his own free voluntary act." The court voted him the sum of
£300 in recognition of his past services and appointed William Steele in
his place.(970)
(M496)
When Michaelmas-day, the day of election of a fresh mayor, arrived Andrews
was not re-elected, to the disappointment of a large number of citizens,
who petitioned the Common Council to enquire into the manner in which the
elections had taken place. The court, whilst declaring that the election
had been carried out according to custom, was willing to appoint a
committee to search the City’s Records with the view of getting more
definite information as to the mode of such election, as well as to
enquire into charges that had been publicly made against Sir John
Wollaston in connection with the recent election. Andrews himself appears
to have suffered no little disappointment, if we may judge from his not
presiding at any Common Council or Court of Aldermen after the 9th
October, leaving that duty to Foote, the lord mayor elect, as his _locum
tenens_.(971)
(M497)
A few days before Andrews quitted the mayoralty the Guildhall was the
scene of one of those trials for which it is historically famous. On the
24th October (1649) John Lilburne was brought to trial for spreading
seditious pamphlets. Parliament had shown every disposition to conciliate
this impracticable reformer, but all its efforts had been futile. "Tell
your masters from me," said he to a friend who visited him in the Tower,
"that if it were possible for me now to choose, I had rather choose to
live seven years under old King Charles’s government (notwithstanding
their beheading him as a tyrant for it) when it was at the worst before
this parliament, than live one year under their present government that
now rule; nay, let me tell you, if they go on with that tyranny they are
in, they will make Prince Charles have friends enow not only to cry him
up, but also really to fight for him to bring him into his father’s
throne."(972) His trial was at length forced on parliament by the
injudicious publication of a pamphlet(973) calculated to excite discontent
in the army, and a mutiny broke out in the garrison at Oxford so soon
after the issue of this pamphlet that it was justly thought to have
occasioned the outbreak. The country became flooded with seditious
pamphlets to such an extent that an Act was passed for their suppression
and for the better regulation of printing. The civic authorities and the
Stationers’ Company were especially admonished to see the provisions of
the Act carried out.(974) What brought matters to a climax was the
discovery that the Levellers were entering upon negotiations with Prince
Charles, and thereupon the House resolved (11 Sept.) that Lilburne’s trial
should at once be proceeded with.(975) A special commission of Oyer and
Terminer, presided over by Andrews, the outgoing Lord Mayor, and including
the Recorder, the Common Sergeant and nine aldermen, was opened at the
Guildhall on Wednesday, the 24th October. The trial lasted three days.
Lilburne made a spirited defence, winding up with a solemn peroration in
which he invoked God Almighty to guide and direct the jury "to do that
which is just, and for His glory." His words sent a thrill of enthusiasm
through the crowded hall, the audience with "an extraordinary great hum"
giving vent to cries of "Amen! Amen!" in such a manner that Skippon, who
was in attendance, deemed it advisable to send for more troops in case of
disturbance. When in the end a verdict of acquittal was brought in, a wild
scene followed. "The whole multitude in the hall, for joy of the
prisoner’s acquittal, gave such a loud and unanimous shout as is believed
was never heard in Guildhall, which lasted for about half an hour without
intermission." The judges turned pale from fear, but the prisoner at the
bar, so far from displaying any excess of joy, remained unmoved and
silent, and "rather more sad in his countenance than he was before."(976)
He was conducted back to the Tower, whence he had been brought, amid the
acclamations of the multitude. At night bonfires were lighted in his
honour. The government made an attempt to detain him still in prison, but
in about a fortnight the general discontent of the people and the
intercession of friends procured his liberation.
(M498) (M499)
The citizens of London further testified their appreciation of this
champion of liberty by electing him a member of their Common Council on
St. Thomas’s Day (21 Dec.), but upon the mayor and aldermen representing
the case to parliament the House declared his election void by
statute.(977) The matter, however, was compromised by Lilburne consenting
to take the engagement "with a declaration of his own sense upon it."(978)
Philip Chetwyn, a man somewhat of Lilburne’s stamp, who had interested
himself in Lilburne’s election, was ordered by parliament to lose the
freedom of the City, and was committed to Warwick Castle.(979)
(M500) (M501)
Colonel Pride, whose famous "purge" had reduced the House to a mere shadow
of its former self, and who was elected a member of the Common Council on
the same day as Lilburne, was allowed to take his seat without
objection,(980) whilst Colonel John Fenton was declared by the House to be
disabled from service as a Common Councilman. On the other hand, the
royalist alderman, Major-General Browne, had to go, notwithstanding his
past services to parliament and the army. According to the record of the
votes of the House of Commons for the 4th December, 1649, preserved in the
Journal of the Common Council, Browne was not only dismissed from
parliament, but was also discharged and disabled from being an alderman of
the city; but in the Journal of the House itself the latter resolution
relating to his discharge from his aldermanry was subsequently erased, and
a note subscribed to the effect that the vote was vacated by order of
parliament made the 26th March, 1659.(981)
(M502)
The late troubles had sadly depleted the city’s Chamber as well as
increased the number of the poor within the city’s walls. It became
necessary to appoint a committee (18 Sept., 1649) to examine the state of
the city’s finances. The result was that in the following December the
Common Council resolved to cut down the table expenses of the mayor and
sheriffs, which were found to have materially increased since they were
last taken in hand in 1555.(982) Thenceforth it was to be unlawful for any
mayor or sheriff to be served at dinner with more than one course; nor
were they to have at any time "any more sundry dishes of meat at that one
course, to a mess of ten or twelve persons, upon the Lord’s day, Tuesday,
Thursday or any ordinary festival day, than seaven, whether the same be
hot or cold." One or two of the dishes might (if they pleased) be brought
to the table hot "after the first five or six be served." On Monday,
Wednesday, Friday or Saturday the course was to comprise not more than
five sundry dishes of meat or six of fish, to be served in such order as
they pleased. _Hors d’œuvres_, such as "brawne, callups with eggs,
sallettes, broth, butter, cheese, eggs, herings, shrimps," and dishes
"serveinge onely for settinge forth and furnisheinge the table at any of
the said dinners or feasts and not there to be cutt or eaten," were not to
be accounted among the dishes thus limited. Similar restrictions were
placed upon the diet of the members of the household of the mayor and
sheriffs, and no lord mayor or sheriff was to "make any feast" on entering
or leaving office.(983)
(M503)
Hitherto the mayor and sheriffs for the time being had been accustomed to
sell offices and places as they happened to become vacant and to use the
money so obtained towards defraying the expenses of their own year of
office. This was to be no longer allowed. They were henceforth to be
content with the allowance made to them by the Common Council, viz., a
monthly allowance of £208 6_s._ 8_d._ for the mayor, and a monthly
allowance of £150 to each of the sheriffs.
(M504)
A committee was at the same time appointed to manage and let to farm to
the best advantage for the City a number of offices, including those of
garbling, package and scavage, metage of grain, coal, salt and fruit, as
well as all fines, issues, amerciaments and estreated recognisances under
the greenwax. It was to have entire control over the City’s new
acquisition, Richmond Park, the timber of which it was empowered to sell
(notwithstanding a proviso in the Act of Parliament to the contrary), as
well as the woods of the manors of Middleham and Richmond, which formed
part of the Royal Contract estate in Yorkshire. All sums of money thus
raised were to be paid forthwith into the Chamber.(984)
(M505)
The question how to deal with the poor of the city had been for some time
past growing more pressing every day, and in September last (1649) the
"President and Governors for the Poor of the city" suggested to the Common
Council the establishment of a postal system as a means of raising money
for the purpose. The court welcomed the proposal, and promised to forward
any scheme that might be laid before it.(985) A committee was appointed
(25 Sept.) to wait upon the Earl of Warwick, Prideaux, the
attorney-general, and Witheringe, who had the management of the inland
post—a government monopoly recently established—and inform them of the
desire of the court "that the President and Governors for the Poor of the
city of London may use and dispose of the said postage for the good of the
poor, without any obstructions from them in the work."(986) An attempt
(M506) to lay a petition before parliament on Friday, the 16th November,
having failed, the deputation not being admitted, the court appointed a
committee (24 Nov.) to consider the best way of setting the scheme on foot
without delay.(987) The committee had (M507) not proceeded far in the
matter when it was deemed advisable (23 Jan., 1650) to take counsel’s
opinion as to whether there might not be some danger of a _Quo Warranto_
against the City before allowing any further steps to be taken.(988) For a
fortnight, therefore, matters were in abeyance, but on the 6th February,
1650, the opinion of counsel having presumably been favourable to the
city’s action, the committee received instructions to proceed to settle
stages and other matters connected with a postal system without
delay.(989) Before another six weeks had elapsed the City had established
a postal system with Scotland and other places. Complaint was thereupon
(M508) made to parliament (21 March) "that the Common Council of London
have sent an agent to settle postages, by their authority, on the several
roads; and have employed a natural Scot into the North, who is gone into
Scotland; and hath settled postmasters (other than those for the State) on
all that road."(990) The Common Council, it was said, had "refused to come
to the parliament and to have direction from them in it," but this
statement is not borne out by the City’s Records, according to which, as
already narrated, a deputation had at least on one occasion waited on the
House, but had not been admitted. Fortified by the opinion of the (M509)
attorney-general and of the Council of State, the Commons passed a
resolution to the effect "that the offices of postmaster, inland and
foreign, are and ought to be in the sole power and disposal of the
parliament."(991) In the face of this resolution (M510) the City could
proceed no further. A petition to parliament was drafted, but failed to
get the approval of the Common Council, and the City posts were summarily
suppressed.(992)
(M511)
In the meantime steps had been taken towards raising a fund from the
inhabitants of the wards to enable the municipal authorities to find work
for the poor.(993) On the 2nd April the President and Governors for the
Poor of the city reported to the Common Council that they stood in need of
£12,000 at the least, in order to start the poor on work. The court
thought best to begin by raising only £4,000, and there was some talk of
applying to parliament to increase (if need be) the powers of the
Corporation for the Poor, so as to charge both real and personal estate in
assessments.(994) A year ago (6 June, 1649) parliament had assisted the
City with the sum of £1,000 towards the relief of the poor, and had
consented to convey to the municipal authorities a certain storehouse in
the Minories, as well as the wardrobe near the Blackfriars, the latter to
be used as a work-house.(995) The City now took the opportunity of
thanking the Commons for these gifts as well as for the gift of Richmond
Park, and promised to stand by them "against all wicked practices and
opposite pretended powers whatsoever."(996)
(M512)
There was another matter of municipal interest which claimed the attention
of the civic authorities about this time. Ever since 1550, when, as we
have seen, the borough of Southwark first became completely subject to the
jurisdiction of the city, the inhabitants of the borough had suffered from
the anomalous position of being ruled by an alderman not of their
choosing, and by a Common Council to which they sent no representatives.
Nevertheless, it was not until the close of 1649 that they began to raise
any serious objection to the existing state of things. On the 4th
December of that year they petitioned parliament that they might be
incorporated or enfranchised either with or without the City, on the
ground that, as matters stood, their poor were neglected and they suffered
from "diversity of jurisdictions," under which they were subjected to
"double service and charges," such as no other body suffered throughout
the kingdom.(997)
(M513)
Early in the following year (28 Jan., 1650) the City presented a counter
petition in defence of its rights and privileges in Southwark, and the
whole matter was referred by parliament to the Committee for
Corporations.(998) The inhabitants of Southwark having submitted their
case to the committee, the City were called upon to make reply.(999) They,
in effect, denied that the inconveniences mentioned by the petitioners
were caused by their being under the City’s government. As to the alleged
grievance of being subject to concurrent jurisdictions, that was nothing
uncommon. Not that the City itself countenanced variety of jurisdiction
over the borough. Far from it. In fact, the civic authorities had recently
themselves applied to parliament for the removal of the "Court Marshall"
(or Marshalsea) and the abolition of the "Marshall of the Upper Bench"
from the borough. The answer concluded by assuring the Committee for
Corporations that if any inconveniences arose in the borough from any
defect in the City’s government the City would be pleased to receive the
assistance of the inhabitants in asking the supreme authority of
parliament to amend it. No defect, however, could justify the separation
of the borough from the City. There was another objection. The
incorporation of Southwark would not only be an invasion of the City’s
rights, but would work injury to the several companies and fraternities of
the city which for trade purposes had become incorporated. These exercised
their power of government over, and received support from, their members
who were not exclusively inhabitants of the city, but dwellers in the
suburbs two or three miles away. A conference was proposed between the
parties,(1000) but nothing appears to have come of it, and the matter was
allowed to rest for another hundred years and more.
(M514) (M515)
Cromwell had not been long in Ireland before the country began to assume
at least a semblance of prosperity. The good achieved by the city of
London and the companies in Ulster in the earlier years of the plantation
had well nigh disappeared during the troublous times of the civil war.
Londonderry itself had suffered two sieges at the hands of the royalists,
but the garrison on both occasions had displayed the same indomitable
courage as that which in later years made them famous in the pages of
history, and with like success. Cruel as was Cromwell’s policy in Ireland
it accomplished its object. By February, 1650, Bradshaw was able to write
to the mayor of London(1001) informing him of the intention of the Council
of State to "plant" the seaports in Ulster, which had by God’s blessing
been reduced to obedience. He understood that the City had or "pretended
to have" some interest in the towns of Londonderry and Coleraine, with
other lands and fishings in Ulster, and he desired to know if the City
intended to vindicate its right or claim. If so, the lord mayor was
advised to depute someone to attend the committee appointed by the Council
of State for Irish affairs and explain to him the nature of the City’s
rights. This letter having been read to the Court of Aldermen on the 19th
February, counsel was instructed to investigate the City’s interest in
Ireland.(1002) A committee of aldermen was subsequently appointed to
confer with representatives of the several livery companies on the matter.
Although Bradshaw’s letter had desired a speedy reply, it was not until
the 9th May that a report was submitted to the Court of Aldermen. This
report, which had received the assent of the companies, recommended that
counsel should forthwith be instructed to assert the rights of the City
and the companies to the towns and lands originally conveyed by letters
patents of the 30th March, 1613, to the Irish Society.(1003)
(M516)
When Cromwell returned to England at the end of May (1650), having all but
stamped out the rebellion in Ireland, he was met at Hounslow Heath by a
huge concourse of people, including many members of parliament and the
chief officers of the army. At Hyde Park, where it is said that the lord
mayor and the militia awaited him, although no directions to that effect
appear in the City’s Records, he was received with a volley of
artillery.(1004) He had returned at the express desire of parliament, who
required his services in Scotland. No time was lost. On Wednesday, the
26th June, an Act was passed constituting him "commander-in-chief of all
the forces raised or to be raised by the authority of parliament within
the Commonwealth of England,"(1005) in place of Fairfax, and on the
following Saturday he set out for the North.
(M517)
Two days before parliament thus transferred the command of the army from
Fairfax to Cromwell, Charles II had landed in Scotland and Fairfax had
displayed some scruples in opposing the Scots, who, as he declared, had a
right to choose their own form of government. Not so Cromwell. He saw the
danger that was likely to arise from such a concession, and he resolved
forthwith to make an attempt on Edinburgh. He was, however, out-manœuvred
by Leslie and forced to fall back upon Dunbar. There he was fortunate
enough to utterly rout the Scottish forces (3 Sept.) by one of those
dashing cavalry charges for which his "Ironsides" were famous.
(M518)
This victory, which contributed more perhaps than anything else to
establish the Commonwealth, was celebrated in the city by a public
thanksgiving. A "convenient dinner" was ordered by the Common Council (12
Sept.) to be provided for that day, to which Major-General Harrison,
Major-General Skippon, the lieutenant of the Tower, and others were to be
invited. The City’s latest acquisition, the New Park at Richmond, was laid
under contribution for venison. The dinner was not on this occasion paid
for out of the City’s cash, owing probably to the low condition of the
Chamber, but was defrayed by the payment of ten shillings by each alderman
and five shillings by each commoner.(1006) The names of those who refused
to observe the day of thanksgiving were afterwards ordered to be taken and
certified by the mayor to parliament.(1007)
(M519)
A few weeks later (22 Oct.) the city forces and those of Middlesex to the
number of 8,000 mustered in Hyde Park, where they were addressed by the
Speaker and members of the House. Before the end of the month a contingent
of recruits from London was on its way to join the army in Scotland, "but
near half of them," we are told, "ran away in their march, and listed
themselves in the garrisons of Newcastle and other garrisons by the
way."(1008)
(M520)
At Michaelmas Andrews was once more elected mayor. The proceedings of the
committee appointed a twelvemonth ago to enquire into the mode of electing
the mayor of London have not come down to us. Possibly the committee made
no report, for a new committee was nominated a few days before Andrews was
re-elected, "to consider what may be the most right and fitt way for
electinge of all that are wont to bee by the Comon Hall."(1009) On the
26th September (1650) a report on the subject was laid before the Common
Council, and consideration adjourned.(1010) On the 14th October, the court
having considered the report, came to the following resolution:—(1011)
"That it apeareth to them by the auncient charters of this citty that the
lord maior and sheriffs of this citty are eligible by the comons and
citizens of this cittie and that the eleccon of the lord maior and
sheriffs was aunciently by severall persons chosen out of the wards joyned
with the Common Councell. And that the same waye is most convenient still
to bee continued."
(M521)
The matter was not allowed, however, to rest here. Petitions were sent in
by the livery companies, and debate followed debate until the 7th
December, when the court put a stop to further discussion by ordering that
"this busines shalbee wholey laid aside."(1012) A year later (4 Nov.,
1651) the Common Council passed an Act much to the same effect as the
above resolution. Elections in Common Hall were thenceforth to be by the
aldermen, common councilmen and "a like number of other honest men" of
each ward, and not by the companies.(1013)
(M522)
Although the kingly office as forming part of the Constitution had been
declared by parliament to be abolished immediately after the execution of
Charles, emblems of royalty might still be seen displayed in the city and
elsewhere many months afterwards. On the western façade of St. Paul’s, for
example, there remained statues of James and of Charles. These the Court
of Aldermen had been ordered to remove (31 July, 1650). They were further
ordered to see that the head of Charles’s statue at the Royal Exchange was
struck off, the sceptre in the effigy’s hand broken, and an inscription
set up hard by proclaiming the abolition of tyranny—_Exit Tyrannus Regum
Ultimus_—and the dawn of liberty. On the 14th August the entire statue was
ordered to be removed.(1014) This was done, and on the following day a
certificate to that effect, under the hand of the Town Clerk, was
forwarded to the Council of State.(1015) Nevertheless there were many
places, many churches and companies’ halls in the city, where the royal
arms and portraits of the late king had been allowed still to remain, and
these the Council of State directed the mayor and aldermen in December to
search for and cause to be removed.(1016) In February, 1651, the Court of
Aldermen showed greater activity in the matter, and the lord mayor was
directed to issue the necessary precept for the removal of all
"monarchichal armes."(1017)
(M523)
In the meantime, oppressed as the citizens were with constant demands on
their purses, they contributed what they could toward the relief of the
sick and poor of the army in the North,(1018) and on the 7th March, 1651,
their efforts were rewarded by a letter of thanks from the lord general
himself.(1019)
(M524)
To such an extent were they ground down by taxation (the city alone being
assessed at a fifteenth of the whole kingdom) that a petition was ordered
to be laid before parliament on the subject a fortnight later (24
March).(1020) Whilst acknowledging the care bestowed by parliament in
managing the affairs of the nation at the least possible charge, and
declaring their willingness to bear their share in defraying expenses with
the rest of the nation, the petitioners prayed for a more equitable amount
of taxation than that which they had hitherto been called upon to bear.
The reasons they gave were (1) the losses which merchants had sustained
within the last few years by the interruption of foreign trade, vessels
belonging to citizens of London having been constantly seized by Prince
Rupert and others who roamed the seas for piratical purposes, and (2) the
withdrawal of the wealthier class of citizens to the suburbs of London,
where houses were increasing, and where taxation was less than in the
city.
(M525)
Before the House found time to take this petition into consideration(1021)
it had granted (8 April) authority to the Council of State to raise out of
the militias of the several counties a force of horse and dragoons not
exceeding the number of 3,000 horse and 1,000 dragoons. The civic
authorities lost no time in representing to parliament that the City had
always been exempt from the charge of providing horse. They were ready,
however, to bear their proportion of the necessary charge with the rest of
the kingdom.(1022) Later on they became more complaisant, and expressed
their readiness to furnish the number of horse demanded "in respect of the
pressing occasions and necessities now lying on the Commonwealth,"
notwithstanding the proportion laid on the City was greater than that
imposed on any other part of the nation. It was stipulated that the City’s
assent was not to be drawn into a precedent for the future.(1023) The
Council of State, on the other hand, would not for a moment allow that the
City had been called upon to contribute more than its just proportion.
London was a large place, they said, where many opportunities arose for
outbreaks, and where there was not always a force at hand to put them
down. They doubted not there were many well-affected persons within
London, Westminster, the Hamlets and Southwark, able and willing to lend
their horses, with well-affected riders, for the prevention of mischief,
and they recommended that such should be encouraged.(1024)
(M526)
In June (1651) another attempt at retrenchment was made by the City. A
committee was appointed "to examine what profits or perquisites have been
received by the lord mayor and sheriffs or belong to their places, and how
they came so to belong or to be received" whilst another committee was
appointed "to consider how the service, honour and attendance of the lord
mayor and sheriffs of this city may be continued with all befitting
abatement of diet and all other charges."(1025) The result of the enquiry
was to cut down the profits and perquisites hitherto attaching to the
office of lord mayor to such an extent that when John Kendricke was
elected to the chair on the following Michaelmas-day (29 Sept., 1651) he,
being without sufficient private estate, represented to the Court of
Aldermen (2 Oct.) that he could not undertake the office "upon such terms
as never any had done before him, the ancient perquisites and late
allowances made in consideration thereof being wholly taken away."(1026)
He was afterwards prevailed upon by his brother aldermen to change his
mind and accept office, declaring that he did so "for the city’s quiet and
peace, and in hope and expectation of all due and fit
encouragements."(1027)
(M527)
Ever since the passing of the Act of Parliament of the 28th February,
1649, the relations between the court of Aldermen, including the lord
mayor for the time being, and the court of Common Council had become more
and more strained. It had become a common practice whenever the Common
Council made a proposition distasteful to the mayor and aldermen for his
lordship and such aldermen as happened to be present to break up the court
by taking their departure. Mention has already been made of two occasions
(viz., 13 Jan., 1649, and 14 June, 1650) on which the mayor and aldermen
took this method of expressing their dissatisfaction with the Common
Council. They took the same course again on the 2nd July, 1651.(1028)
(M528)
The aldermen complained of other encroachments on their rights and
privileges by the Common Council, and determined to lay their case before
the Council of State. They objected (1) to the commons increasing the
number of members sitting on committees, and making a quorum without any
alderman being present; (2) to the commons taking upon themselves to
appoint the executive officers of the mayor and sheriffs, and abolishing
perquisites whereby the mayor, aldermen and sheriffs were rendered unable
to fulfil their duties; (3) to the assumption by the commons of control
over the city’s lands; and (4) the limitation of the right of aldermen to
draw upon the Chamber.(1029) The government endeavoured to arrange matters
by the appointment of a committee (8 Oct.) to confer with representatives
from the Courts of Aldermen and Common Council, and, failing an agreement,
to lay the whole matter before parliament for final determination.(1030)
The livery also petitioned parliament against the innovations introduced
by the recent Act of Common Council (4 Nov., 1651), depriving them of
their right of election in Common Hall.(1031)
(M529)
When the Common Council was about to hear a report by their own committee
upon this subject of "perquisites and incroachments," they directed the
Common Sergeant to desire the lord mayor and aldermen to withdraw. This,
however, they declined to do.(1032)
(M530)
In February of the next year (1652) the question of allowances to be made
to the mayor and sheriffs was referred to another committee, with the
result that in the following June the court voted an allowance to lord
mayor Kendricke of £1,500, the same to be reduced by £100 for succeeding
lord mayors, and an allowance of £600 to each of the sheriffs present and
to come. Neither mayor nor sheriffs were to be allowed "standing
houses."(1033) The matter, however, was by no means settled. On the 13th
August the court reverted to the old system of perquisites, and resolved
"that the succeeding lord mayors and sheriffs of this city shall have
allowances from this city towards the maintenance of their public charges,
and that those allowances shall be the ancient perquisites
themselves."(1034) This was followed a month later (15 Sept.) by another
resolution to the effect that future sheriffs should have no allowances
from the city other than the perquisites.(1035)
(M531) (M532)
The election of a successor to Kendricke on Michaelmas-day in the person
of Simon Edmonds was made the occasion of fixing the amount of profits the
new mayor was to enjoy from the various offices of package, scavage,
metage and others.(1036) Edmonds, like his predecessor in office, had
reported to the Court of Aldermen soon after his election that he could
not undertake the charge of the mayoralty without those "encouragements
and allowances" which former lord mayors had enjoyed.(1037) Finding that
Edmonds could not be brought to accept their terms,(1038) the Common
Council discharged him from service (19 Oct.) on the plea of old age and
ill-health, but fined him £600.(1039) The Court of Aldermen subsequently
discharged him from his aldermanry.(1040)
(M533)
John Fowke, who succeeded to the mayoralty in place of Edmonds,(1041)
always insisted upon his right to know for what purpose a Common Council
was required before he would accede to a request to summon one,(1042) and
upon quitting office he made a speech in Common Hall reflecting upon the
proceedings of the Common Council. His speech was referred to a committee,
with instructions to consider at the same time his grievances and to
endeavour to bring matters to a peaceful issue.(1043) The committee
presented their report to the council on the 24th October (1653). Fowke,
who still occupied the mayoralty chair, got up and left the court as soon
as the report had been read.(1044) He was found by the committee to have
been guilty of various misdemeanours, such as withholding the common seal
and refusing to allow leases to be stamped with it, appointing his own son
to various places, making an open assault upon the custom-house and
seizing the rights and profits of the city to his own use.(1045) Thereupon
the court resolved to appeal to parliament—not the Rump, for that had been
sent to the right about(1046) by Cromwell six months before (20 April,
1653), but to "Barebones parliament," the parliament composed of
Cromwell’s own nominees—to take in hand Fowke’s conduct and to restore to
the citizens those rights of which he had deprived them.(1047) Nothing
appears, however, to have come of the petition. On the 22nd September
(1653) the Common Council resolved that Fowke’s successor should enjoy
"all the perquisites and profits which any lord mayor hath enjoyed for
twenty years last past, before the yeare of our Lord one thousand six
hundred and forty and nine."(1048)
(M534)
The difficulty of finding an alderman willing to undertake the office of
mayor under the new regulations was as nothing compared with that of
getting men to serve as sheriffs and aldermen, and the Chamber of the city
was largely benefitted by the payment of fines for discharge from
service.(1049) One concession the court of Common Council made to the
sheriffs, and that was to relieve them of the payment of certain fee-farm
rents due from sheriffs for the time being.(1050) Nevertheless the
shrievalty became so unpopular that an order had to be passed against
aldermen who had not already served as sheriff resigning their gowns for
the purpose of avoiding service.(1051)
(M535)
Notwithstanding Leslie’s defeat at Dunbar, there still remained a strong
royalist army in Scotland, which, in August of the following year, was
pushed on into England with the hope of raising an insurrection in favour
of Charles before Cromwell could overtake it. As soon as this sudden
movement became known Cromwell wrote (4 Aug.) to parliament to gather a
force together with all possible speed to hold the enemy in check until
his arrival.(1052)
(M536)
The House at once (11 Aug.) communicated with the Common Council, who
pledged themselves, with God’s grace, to adventure their lives and
estates, and to use their best endeavours in the defence of parliament and
the Commonwealth against the king of Scotland and all who should invade
England on his behalf.(1053) The City’s Records are again provokingly
meagre at this period, yielding us but scanty information on matters which
must have deeply affected the citizens in general. From other sources,
however, we learn that three regiments of volunteers were formed in London
and its suburbs for the special purpose of serving as a guard to
parliament. The powers of the Committee for the Militia of the City were
enlarged, and the number of members increased by fifteen individuals,
among whom was Lieutenant-Colonel John Fenton, who had been removed from
the Common Council by order of parliament. The militia throughout the
country was called out, and a month’s pay ordered to be advanced by "each
person who finds horsemen or footmen," the same to be repaid by
assessments authorised by parliament. Anyone joining the Scottish army or
inducing others to join, anyone found with papers or declarations of the
Scottish king in his hands, or discovered inciting to a breach of the
peace, was declared to be a traitor, and as such would be executed. Within
the late lines of communication strict supervision was to be kept over all
houses. Lodgers’ names were to be taken and registered; servants and
children were to be allowed out of doors only at certain hours. The
execution of these and similar orders was entrusted to the lord mayor and
the rest of the Committee for the Militia of the City in conjunction with
the Commissioners for the Militia of Westminster, the Hamlets and
Southwark, who were required to meet and sit daily for the purpose. A
troop of horse was to be forthwith despatched to meet the invaders, the
men to be mounted on horses lately seized in London and its neighbourhood,
the proprietors of which were to receive tickets for payment of their
value in case any of them should be "lost or spoiled."(1054)
(M537)
On the 25th August a letter (dated 16 Aug.) from Charles, addressed "to
our trusty and well-beloved the lord mayor, aldermen and sheriffs of our
city of London," was read before parliament. The character of the letter
was such that the House ordered it to be publicly burnt by the common
hangman at the Exchange on the following day.(1055) A copy of it was
afterwards burnt (2 Sept.) at the head of every regiment of the trained
bands on the occasion of a muster in Finsbury Fields in the presence of
Lenthall, the Speaker, the lord mayor and the sheriffs, amid shouts and
acclamations.(1056) On the same day Charles, who had recently (22 Aug.)
set up his standard at Worcester, and all his aiders and abettors were
denounced by parliament as rebels and traitors.
(M538)
On the evening of Wednesday, the 3rd September—the anniversary of his
victory at Dunbar Cromwell made himself master of Worcester after "as
stiff a contest for four or five hours" as he declared himself ever to
have seen;(1057) and Charles was driven forth to wander up and down the
country with a price put on his capture,(1058) until, by the aid of still
faithful friends, he managed to slip over to France. A day for solemn
humiliation (23 Sept.), as well as a day for public thanksgiving (2 Oct.,
afterwards changed to 24 Oct.) was set aside by parliament for deliverance
from threatened danger,(1059) whilst the City not only appointed a day for
thanksgiving (16 Oct.) for the "several victories" obtained by the
parliamentary forces, but kept the anniversary of the battle of Worcester
by performing "the exercise of that day in Laurance Church."(1060)
(M539)
For some days following the battle of Worcester the streets of the city
were filled with Scottish prisoners of every degree passing on their way
to the Tower or to the new artillery ground at Tothill Fields. Among those
conveyed to the Tower were the Earls of Cleveland and Lauderdale. As they
passed along Cornhill in their coaches, with a guard of horse, the Earl of
Lauderdale was addressed by a by-stander—"Oh, my lord, you are welcome to
London! I protest, off goes your head as round as a hoop!"(1061) The
ill-timed jest, which the earl passed off with a laugh, was wanting in
fulfilment, for he lived to witness the Restoration and to earn the
universal hatred of his countrymen.
(M540)
On Friday, the 12th September, Cromwell himself reached London, being
brought on his way by the Speaker, the Lord President and many members of
parliament and Council of State, as well as by the lord mayor, sheriffs
and aldermen of the city, amid shoutings and vollies of ordnance and
muskets. The modesty and affability of the Lord General was much marked.
Of the part he had himself taken in the battle of Worcester he seldom made
mention, but of the gallantry of the officers and soldiers he was full of
praise, "and gave (as was due) all the glory of the action unto God." On
the 16th he and his companions in arms received the thanks of the House,
and were afterwards entertained by the City.(1062) Cromwell’s sword was
now sheathed never to be drawn by him again; the rest of his life was
devoted to work requiring weapons of a different kind.