London and the Kingdom Volume II Part 22

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)

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The House at once (11 Aug.) communicated with the Common Council, who pledged themselves, with G.o.d'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 hors.e.m.e.n or footmen," the same to be repaid by a.s.sessments 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)

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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.

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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)

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For some days following the battle of Worcester the streets of the city were filled with Scottish prisoners of every degree pa.s.sing 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed off with a laugh, was wanting in fulfilment, for he lived to witness the Restoration and to earn the universal hatred of his countrymen.

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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 G.o.d." 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.

CHAPTER XXVII.

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The attempt made to cripple the carrying trade of the Dutch by the pa.s.sing of the Navigation Act (Oct., 1651) found little favour with the merchants of the city. What they of all things desired to see was free trade in the port of London; and to this end they presented a pet.i.tion to the Council for Trade, and appointed (9 Dec.) a committee to maintain it "with the best reasons they could."(1063)

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This Act failed in its purpose, and only led to retaliation and war. In the spring of the following year (1652) the fleet was got ready to put to sea. On the 26th March the Council of State wrote to the mayor and aldermen and Militia Committee of the city(1064) asking that certain bra.s.s guns laid up at Gresham College and other places in the city should be forthwith delivered to the ordnance officer, as the guns formerly used in the fleet during the late wars had been dispersed among various garrisons.

By way of postscript-as if an afterthought-the council added: "As there is a pretension of right made to such guns on behalf of the city we shall be ready to receive and consider any claim which they shall make to them; and if it appear that they belong to the city we will take care, after the service is past to which they are designed, that they are either restored or satisfaction made according to their value." In May it was found that the store of gunpowder in the Tower was likely to run short owing to a breach of contract, and again application for a.s.sistance was made to the City, who were asked to lend such gunpowder as lay in the Companies'

halls.(1065) In March of the following year (1653) the request for guns in the City's magazines to be delivered to the ordnance officers for the public service was repeated,(1066) and by November they were all in the custody of the lieutenant of the Tower.(1067) By that time a victory had been gained over the Dutch admirals Tromp and De Ruyter off Portland (18 Feb., 1653) by Blake and Monk, the latter having for a time exchanged land service for the sea. This success was the more welcome inasmuch as Blake had previously suffered a signal defeat (28 Nov., 1652) at the hands of the Dutch admirals and had himself been wounded. Moreover Tromp had been so elated at his victory that in bravado he had fixed a broom to his masthead, in token of his resolution to sweep the sea of English vessels.

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The example set by parliament of opening a subscription for those wounded at sea was followed by the Common Council of the city. Each member of the court was ordered (4 March) to take steps to "collect the benevolence of the inhabitants in money and old linen, for relief of the wounded soldiers and mariners which G.o.d hath made instrumental in the late great success of the Commonwealth at sea against the Dutch." In reporting to the court the total amount thus gathered (1,071 9_s._ 5_d._) Alderman Fowke intimated that it was the express wish of many of the contributors that the widows and children of those that had been killed should share in the charity. To this the court agreed.(1068) The money was despatched to the fleet by the hands of Alderman Tichborne, and gratefully acknowledged by the admirals Deane and Monk in a letter addressed to the lord mayor (2 April).(1069) Two months later Deane was dead, having been killed in another engagement with the Dutch, when the English fleet again came off victorious. For this success a general thanksgiving at St. Paul's was voted by the Court of Aldermen, who were invited to attend the public funeral of the late gallant admiral.(1070)

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A few weeks before the Long Parliament was so rudely "interrupted" by Cromwell (20 April, 1653) it raised the ire of the Common Council of the city by the action of its commissioners, sitting at Haberdashers' Hall, who had prosecuted and fined certain inhabitants of the ward of Farringdon Within for having contravened the Act touching election of officers upon the Treasonable Engagement.(1071) A deputation from the court was ordered to wait upon the commissioners and to get some explanation of their conduct and to report the result of their interview. The commissioners a.s.sumed a very haughty tone. They were, they said, entrusted with full powers to deal with such matters by parliament, but expressed their intention to "be tender to pa.s.se severe sentence upon any well affected citizen. For that they have power to doe it or not to doe it." This was not at all to the mind of the Common Council, who thereupon resolved (4 March, 1653) to ask parliament to explain who were promoters and abettors of the Treasonable Engagement, and whether the citizens were to be considered as promoters and abettors for having obeyed the orders of the militia authorised by parliament in manning forts and appearing in arms, as they so often had done, in defence of parliament as well as of themselves.(1072) Before any answer was given to this awkward question the Long Parliament had ceased to exist, to be succeeded by another of a very different character.

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"Praise-G.o.d Barebone, Esquire," who gave a nick-name to the next parliament, was a leatherseller of London, and was summoned by Cromwell to sit as member for the city. "I, as commander-in-chief of the armies of the Commonwealth," wrote Cromwell to him, "summon you ... to appear at the council chamber, Whitehall, on 4th July, and take upon you the said trust for the city of London."(1073) The rest of the members of this Puritan parliament were for the most part also Cromwell's nominees. It was destined to be short lived. It attacked the law and the Church and threatened the universities. To save the last mentioned inst.i.tutions the city of London intervened and received the thanks of the university of Oxford.(1074) Afraid of their own acts, which they felt were displeasing to Cromwell, they agreed to dissolve parliament and to transfer their powers to the man from whom they had received them. This took place somewhat suddenly and unexpectedly on the 12th December.

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On the 16th Cromwell was solemnly installed as Lord Protector, the lord mayor, the aldermen and the Recorder being invited to be present, and in due course his new t.i.tle was proclaimed in the city.(1075) The lord mayor, Thomas Vyner, happening to be a goldsmith, the Council of State commissioned him to supply two services of plate for the use of the "Lord Protector and his lady."(1076)

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Having recognised the new order of things and caused the Lord Protector to be proclaimed at the Old Exchange and other places in the city,(1077) the Common Council proceeded to ask him to a banquet to be given in his honour at Grocers' Hall.(1078) The invitation was accepted, and the dinner took place on the 8th February, 1654. The entertainment was given in right royal style, the mayor and his brother aldermen riding out in state to meet his Highness, who exercised the privilege of his new position by knighting the chief magistrate of the city on his departure.(1079)

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In July (1654) when there was some talk of sending the city's Recorder, William Steele, to Ireland on affairs of State, the Common Council addressed a pet.i.tion to the Lord Protector praying him not to deprive the city of the services of so excellent an officer, and one who was likely to prove particularly useful both to the city and the whole Commonwealth in the forthcoming parliament,(1080) the first parliament under the Protectorate and one of the very few parliaments to which the city sent as many as six burgesses.(1081)

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This parliament, like its predecessor, was of short duration, lasting little more than five months. One other parliament and no more was summoned by Cromwell (17 Sept., 1656). It was before this parliament that Alderman Sir Christopher Pack (the only member for the city, so far as we have any authentic record), brought forward (23 Feb., 1657) his famous "remonstrance," desiring the Protector to a.s.sume the kingly dignity and to restore the House of Lords. The question whether the "remonstrance" should be read was answered in the affirmative by a majority of nearly 100 after some hours' debate.(1082) Before it was taken into consideration a day was appointed for prayer and fasting and to seek directions from the Lord.(1083) The proposal was particularly obnoxious to the army, and Colonel Pride had no difficulty in obtaining a large number of signatures against it.

After many days' debate, in the course of which the t.i.tle of the "remonstrance" was changed to that of "pet.i.tion and advice,"(1084) the doc.u.ment received the a.s.sent of the Commons, and on the 31st March a copy of it engrossed on vellum was presented to the Protector at Whitehall in the presence of the whole House. Its main feature was the creation of a second House, the members of which were to enjoy their seats for life and exercise some of the functions of the former House of Lords. Cromwell was asked to a.s.sume the t.i.tle of king with the right of naming his own successor. The kings.h.i.+p after considerable hesitation he declined (8 May): "I cannot undertake this government with the t.i.tle of king. And that is mine answer to this great and weighty business."(1085) The rest of the terms he accepted, and on the 28th June he was again installed as Lord Protector in the presence of the mayor and aldermen, the mayor to the left of the Protector bearing the civic sword, with the Earl of Warwick to the right bearing the sword of state.(1086) On the 1st July public proclamation was made in the city with great solemnity.(1087)

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In due course writs were issued to more than sixty persons-many of them members of the House of Commons, whilst others were men of the lower orders, Puritan officers or parliamentary supporters of Cromwell-to form a new House, a "Peerage of fact," not of descent.(1088) Among them was Glyn, the city's late Recorder, now a chief justice; two city aldermen, viz., Christopher Pack, the prime mover in the restoration of the second House, and Robert Tichborne, who, in honour of his promotion, it may be, presented in the following year a silver bason and ewer weighing 110 ozs.

to the City for the use of the lord mayor and his successors.(1089) Colonels Pride and Skippon, soldiers of fortune who had done good service both in parliament and on the field, also found seats among Cromwell's new peers, as also did John Hewson, erstwhile a shoemaker and still a member of the Cordwainers' Company, which honoured him with a banquet at which special dishes, we read, were provided for "my lord Hewson."

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The new House was not a success. It soon began to give itself the airs of the hereditary House of Lords and fell foul of the Commons. Cromwell saw no other course open but to dissolve his second Protectorate Parliament, which he did on the 4th February (1658).

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On Friday, the 12th March (1658), the civic authorities were sent for to Whitehall, where they were informed by Cromwell that Charles meditated an invasion, and that Ormond had recently been engaged in enlisting support for the royalist cause in and about the city. They were asked to put the city into a state of readiness for the suppression of tumult and disorder if any should arise, and to place the militia in trustworthy hands.(1090) The warning came just in time, for the Common Council had that very day given orders for the sale of broken carriages, guns and other war material stored at Gresham College, the Leadenhall and in the Guildhall Chapel, and for the proceeds to be paid into the Chamber.(1091) On the 15th the Common Council appointed a committee to draw up a representation or pet.i.tion expressing the City's thanks to the Protector for the favour thus shown to them.(1092) On the 16th the doc.u.ment was presented to the court for approval, and on the following day carried by a deputation to Cromwell.

Its terms were very flattering. After alluding to the blessings which had accompanied the Protector's government and the recent news that "the old restless enemy" was preparing to execute his wrath against G.o.d, his highness and the nation, the citizens concluded by a.s.suring him that his enemies would be considered the City's enemies and his friends its friends.(1093) The deputation was instructed by the Common Council to disavow to Cromwell a certain pet.i.tion which had been addressed to him purporting to come from "divers citizens and inhabitants in and about the city of London," and to humbly desire his highness not to look upon any pet.i.tion as the pet.i.tion of the city of London except such as came from the Common Council in the name of "the mayor, aldermen and commons of the city of London in Common Council a.s.sembled."(1094)

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So pleased was Cromwell with the City at this critical time that he conferred the honour of knighthood upon the lord mayor (Richard Chiverton) and upon John Ireton, a brother of Henry Ireton, his own son-in-law and fellow campaigner, now deceased.(1095)

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Thanks to the Protector's caution and advice a royalist _emeute_ in the city, in which Dr. Hewet, a preacher at St. Gregory's by St. Paul's, was implicated, and for which he and Sir Henry Slingsby lost their heads, was prevented, the ringleaders being arrested on the eve of the outbreak. It was remarked at the time that the apprentices engaged in this rising were for the most part "sons of cavaliers, or else such debauched fellows that their masters could not rule or govern them."(1096) On the 6th July the mayor, aldermen and sheriffs, with the city's Recorder, Sir Lisleborne Long, waited on the Lord Protector to congratulate him upon "the deliverance of his person, the city and the whole nation" from the dangers of the late conspiracy.(1097)

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Cromwell's days were fast drawing to a close, although scarce sixty years of age. The death of his favourite daughter in August of this year cast a gloom over his mind and affected his health, and within less than a month he followed her, dying on the 3rd September-his "fortunate day," as he called it-the day of Dunbar and of Worcester. The lord mayor and city officers were allowed each nine yards of mourning cloth, and eighty other persons of the city four yards each, as on the demise of a sovereign.(1098) On the 4th Richard Cromwell was proclaimed in succession to his father at Westminster and in the city, four heralds attending the mayor on that occasion.(1099)

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