On the 11th February a petition was presented to the House of Commons by "divers of his majesty's loyal subjects," offering to assist at their own charge in putting down the Irish rebellion, provided that they might have such satisfaction out of the rebels' estates as should be thought reasonable.[512] The suggestion was[pg 164] readily accepted, and a scheme for opening a public subscription passed through both Houses in a week. The mayor lost no time in setting a subscription on foot in the city.[513] The companies, to whom application had been made a month before for contributions of bread and corn, were now desirous to know if they could limit their relief to those sufferers on what was or had been their own estates in Ireland, and not have it distributed among all his majesty's distressed subjects in that country. The Common Council declined to undertake to answer this question, but recommended each company to appear before the parliamentary committee appointed for the purpose and make its own conditions.[514]
The following day (3 March) the City was informed that an Act of Parliament was already in preparation for settling 2,500,000 acres of land according to the votes of both Houses, unto which his majesty had given his royal assent.[515] The companies were subsequently (19th March) invited to provide ordnance for the protection of Londonderry.[516]
The militia ordinance, 31 Jan., 1642.
Meanwhile the struggle that had been going on between the king and parliament as to who should have control over the fortresses and the trained bands or militia of the kingdom, resulted in the Commons drawing up an ordinance conferring power in each county upon persons, to be afterwards[pg 165] named, to raise an armed force for the suppression of rebellions and invasions (31 Jan.).[517] This "militia ordinance"—as it was called—caused no little dissatisfaction in the city as trespassing upon the authority of the lord mayor, and a petition against it was drawn up by a certain section of the inhabitants and presented to both Houses of Parliament. The same was printed and circulated together with the king's message to the Houses against the ordinance.[518]
The Common Council uphold the ordinance, 17 March, 1642.
The Common Council were determined, however, to stand by parliament. They passed a resolution disclaiming the petition against the militia ordinance, and ordered other petitions to be drawn up and presented to both Houses,[519] congratulating them on the steps they had taken "for the safety of his majesty, the parliament and the kingdom," which would meet with ready submission on the part of the petitioners, and thanking them for the honour they had done the City in allowing it to nominate those persons to whom its militia should be committed.[520] Gurney, the royalist mayor, did not preside at the court which sanctioned these petitions, being absent from illness, so it was said.
Commissioners for the city's militia, 4 April.
On the 4th April a militia commission appointed by parliament for the city was read before the Common Council, the commissioners being authorised to raise and train forces, appoint and remove officers, and do other things necessary for the suppressing of rebellions and resisting invasions.[521] It was suggested[pg 166] that six colonels and thirty-four captains should be set over the trained bands, which had been recently increased to forty companies, each 200 strong.[522] The pay of the officers was guaranteed by the Common Council.[523] A stock of gunpowder was laid up in the city ready for any emergency, and the livery companies were called upon to make a return of the arms stored in their several halls.[524]
A muster in Finsbury Fields before both Houses of Parliament, 10 May, 1642.
On the 10th May a grand review of all the trained bands of the city, with their new officer Skippon at their head, was held in Finsbury Fields in the presence of both Houses of Parliament, the members of which were hospitably entertained on the ground at the City's expense.[525]