son also from his aldermanry and with him four other
aldermen,(943) viz., John Gayer, Thomas Adams, John Langham and James
Bunce--the same who had undergone impeachment in 1648. Bunce was a special
object of aversion to the Council of State, who later on (14 April, 1651)
ordered an Act to be prepared declaring all who had correspondence with
the enemies of the Commonwealth, "and especially with James Bunce, late
alderman of London," guilty of high treason.(944)

(M482)

The times were so much "out of joint" that it was no easy matter to find
well-to-do citizens willing to undertake an office which had become so
unenviable, and many paid fines varying in amount from L400 to L1,000
rather than serve.(945) By paying a fine for not taking upon himself the
duties of an alderman a man could generally, upon petition, be relieved
from serving as sheriff.(946)

(M483)

Meanwhile the continued presence of the soldiers of Fairfax in the city
was becoming more and more burdensome. Scarcely a day passed without some
disturbance arising between the soldiers and the civil guardians of the
peace. Occasionally there was bloodshed, and twice within a very few days
appeal had to be made to the general himself to restrain the plundering
and roystering habits of his men.(947) It is not surprising if, bearing in
mind the horrors that the military occupation of the city had recently
brought upon the inhabitants, the Common Council rejected a proposal (17
April) that the custody of the Tower should be placed in the hands of a
national guard in preference to the city's own trained bands.(948)

(M484)

A series of royalist successes in Ireland now engaged the attention of
Cromwell, recently appointed (15 March) lord-lieutenant of that country,
but nothing could be done without money. More than a year ago (16 Feb.,
1648) an ordinance had been passed for raising money for Ireland, but in
the city it had been almost treated as a dead letter--"in divers wards no
assessment at all, and in most very little paid in." The civic authorities
had recently (22 March, 1649) been reminded of their remissness in this
respect by a letter from the Council of State, who threatened to enforce
their ordinance if the City could not be brought to execute it from a
sense of duty.(949)

(M485)

Three weeks later (12 April) a deputation from parliament, including
Cromwell himself, appeared before the Common Council and desired a loan of
L120,000 upon the secur