On the 29th August the City was asked by a committee of the House of Commons to send money, corn or biscuit to the value of £20,000 for the relief of the army in the north, and to take active measures for getting in all arrears of assessments due for the army of Fairfax.[896] But although the City so far acceded to this request as to take immediate steps for getting in arrears of assessments, recent events—and notably the successes of Cromwell and Fairfax at Preston and Colchester, as well as the seizure of London ships and interference with London trade—had rendered the citizens anxious that parliament should come to an understanding with the army.[897]
A city loan of £10,000 towards carrying out negotiations with the king, 4 Sept.
On the 4th September a deputation from parliament appeared before the Common Council and asked for a loan of £10,000, to be paid by weekly instalments of £2,000, to enable the House to proceed with negotiations with the king. The nature of the[pg 291] security to be given for the loan was practically left in the hands of the city provided it lay within the power of parliament. The request was unanimously granted, bonds under the city's seal being offered as security to those willing to make advances.[898]
Petition by the London "Levellers" against negotiating with the king.
The prospect of negotiations being opened at all with the king was distasteful to the radical party or "Levellers" in the city, and a petition was laid before the Commons on the 11th September calling upon them as the supreme authority in the realm to shake off all control exercised over them by the House of Lords, and to render kings, queens, nobles and all persons alike subject to the law of the land. The petitioners finally asked the House to consider seriously "whether the justice of God be likely to be satisfied or His yet continuing wrath appeased by an Act of Oblivion."[899]
Opening of the Treaty of Newport, 18 Sept., 1648.
This petition had little effect upon the House, and preparations were rapidly pushed forward. Fifteen commissioners were appointed, of whom Glyn, the Recorder, was one,[900] to go to Newport in the Isle of Wight for the purpose of opening negotiations with Charles, who was allowed to take up his quarters in that little town on parole. The commission held its first sitting on the 18th September, it being understood that negotiations were to continue for forty days and no more. They, however, continued to be carried on long after the allotted time.
Dispute in Common Council as to efficiency of guard supplied to parliament by the City, 4 Nov., 1648.
Early in November parliament was again pressed for money and was forced to apply to the City for a further loan of £4,000 to enable it to proceed with the "Treaty." It at the same time complained of the inadequate guard provided by the City for the protection of the Houses. The guard, it was said, consisted of hired men, and not citizens, who often quitted their posts when on duty. The subject led to an acrimonious debate in the Common Council. As soon as Alderman Gibbs, who was a member of the Militia Committee, began to suggest a remedy for the evil, he was interrupted by Philip Chetwyn, whose plain speaking had once before created trouble, and who now boldly charged the alderman and others with telling "many long stories to put the city in fear without cause." He declared that at a former council the alderman had acted in a similar way, "pretending that the city was in great danger of having their throats cut whereas there was no such cause." This speech brought other members of the council on their legs in defence of the alderman, who declared that this was not the first time that Chetwyn had done him wrong, and asked the court to right him. What he had said at a former council about the danger the city was in was nothing more than what the Militia Committee had authorised him to say, and this statement was corroborated by other members of the committee then present. Certain questions were thereupon put to the vote, when it was decided (1) that Chetwyn had done the alderman a wrong by his speech, (2) that what the alderman had spoken at a former council was warranted by the Militia Committee, and (3) that the action by the committee on[pg 293] that occasion had been for the safety of the city, which was then in danger.[901] On the 27th November the Militia Committee reported to the council the steps taken to satisfy parliament that better protection would be afforded to the Houses in the future.[902]
A declaration from the army, 30 Nov., 1648.