Fleetwood promises a free parliament.
By the 19th matters were accommodated between Fleetwood and the City. A parliament was to be summoned which should be free from military influence or interference. The Common Council, on hearing of the success of the committee appointed to confer with Fleetwood, were so satisfied with the manner in which it had carried out its duties that they authorised[pg 360] it to continue to confer with his lordship from time to time as it should see cause for prevention of all misunderstandings between the city and the army.[1121] The action of the mayor, the common council and the committee in the matter was much canvassed, however, by a certain section of the community, and they were accused of betraying the rights and liberties of the city. A "declaration" was therefore drawn up in vindication of their conduct.[1122]
A fresh committee appointed, 22 Dec., 1659.
On the 22nd a fresh committee was appointed to consult for the peace and safety of the city as well as to consider what answers should be sent to Monk, to the officers at Portsmouth and to Lawson, who was in command of a squadron in the Thames, all of whom were opposed to the army in London and in favour of a parliament.
Recommendation of the committee, 23 Dec.
No time was lost; on the following day (23 Dec.) the committee reported to the Common Council recommending, among other things, that six regiments of trained bands should be at once called out and placed under the command of officers, whose commissions should be under the common seal of the city; that commissioners should be appointed to confer with Haslerigg, Morley, Walton and Vice-Admiral Lawson touching the safety of the city and the peace and settlement of the nation, and "in due time" to give an answer to General Monk's letter; and that the commissioners should be authorised to propound the convening of a free parliament according to the late "declaration" of the court. These recommendations being approved, commissioners were there[pg 361] and then appointed, and instructions drawn up for their guidance.[1123]
Nomination of officers for the trained bands, 24 Dec., 1659.
The next day (Saturday, 24 Dec.) the Common Council was busy nominating officers of the trained bands. It also ordered the city's chains and posts to be set up in the several precincts, and the gates, portcullises and posterns to be looked to; but the council afterwards changed their minds on this matter, and the order was countermanded before the court rose.[1124]
The royalists' hopes centred in the city.
The revival of the city's militia was a welcome sign to the royalists. "What does the city?" wrote secretary Nicholas from Brussels about this time. "We know they talk of setting up a militia of their own, and that some of them say, as they helped to drive out the father, they will help to bring in the son."[1125] And again, a few days later, "The city should be made to understand how much their interests are concerned to suppress the illegal and boundless authority usurped by the army which cannot be done but by force, and by no force so well as that of the city and counties adjacent; for if the army shall ... get again to be absolute masters in London, no citizen or inhabitant there will be secure of anything they possess longer than it pleases the soldiery, which will soon make the citizens their absolute slaves." Once more, "The city cannot be secure," he repeats, "if the army continue their quarter and soldiers still among them, nor can any[pg 362] parliament be free whilst awed by an army.... Until it [the army] shall be made to obey orders from a power superior to it, there can be no security or peace, either in city or country."[1126]