it of no officer
of higher rank than colonel, with the exception of Fairfax, the
commander-in-chief. In addition it was voted that no commission should be
granted to any member of the lower house, or to any individual who refused
to take the solemn league and covenant, or to any one whose conscience
forbade him to conform to the Presbyterian scheme of church government.[1]

The object of these votes could not be concealed from the Independents.
They resolved to oppose their adversaries with their own weapons, and to
intimidate those whom they were unable to convince. Suddenly, at their
secret instigation, the army, rising from its cantonments in the
neighbourhood of Nottingham, approached the metropolis, and selected
quarters in the county of Essex. This movement was regarded and resented
as a menace: Fairfax, to excuse it, alleged the difficulty of procuring
subsistence in an exhausted and impoverished district.[a] At Saffron Walden
he was met by the parliamentary commissioners, who called a council of
officers, and submitted to their consideration proposals for the service of

[Footnote 1: Journals of Commons, iv., Feb. 15, 19, 20, 23, 25, 26, 27;
March 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. On several divisions, the Presbyterian majority was
reduced to ten; on one, to two members. They laboured to exclude Fairfax,
but were left in a minority of 147 to 159.--Ibid. March 5. "Some," says
Whitelock, "wondered it should admit debate and question" (p. 239).]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. March 21.]

Ireland; but instead of a positive answer, inquiries were made and
explanations demanded, while a remonstrance against the treatment of the
army was circulated for signatures through the several regiments. In it the
soldiers required an ordinance of indemnity to screen them from actions
in the civil courts for their past conduct, the payment of their arrears,
which amounted to forty-three weeks for the horse, and to eighteen for the
infantry; exemption from impressment for foreign service; compensation for
the maimed; pensions for the widows and families of those who had fallen
during the war, and a weekly provision of money, that they might no longer
be compelled to live at free quarters on the inhabitants. This remonstrance
was presented to Fairfax to be forwarded by him to the two houses. The
ruling party became alarmed: they dreaded to oppose petitioners with swords
in their hands; and, that the project might be suppressed in its birth,
both houses s