Note 212 — Chapter IX

The earliest proof that the Commons gave of their intention to take the militia into their hands was immediately upon the discovery of Percy's plot, 5th May 1641, when an order was made that the members of each county, etc., should meet to consider in what state the places for which they serve are in respect of arms and ammunition, and whether the deputy lieutenants and lord lieutenants are persons well affected to the religion and the public peace, and to present their names to the house, and who are the governors of forts and castles in their counties. Commons' Journals. Not long afterwards, or at least before the king's journey to Scotland, Sir Arthur Haslerig, as Clarendon informs us, proposed a bill for settling the militia in such hands as they should nominate, which was seconded by St. John, and read once, "but with so universal a dislike, that it was never called upon a second time." Clarendon, i. 488. I can find nothing of this in the Journals, and believe it to be one of the anachronisms into which this author has fallen, in consequence of writing at a distance from authentic materials. The bill to which he alludes must, I conceive, be that brought in by Haslerig long after (7th Dec. 1641), not, as he terms it, for settling the militia, but for making certain persons, leaving their names in blank, "lords general of all the forces within England and Wales, and lord admiral of England." The persons intended seem to have been Essex, Holland, and Northumberland. The Commons had for some time planned to give the two former earls a supreme command over the trained bands north and south of Trent (Journals, Nov. 15 and 16); which was afterwards changed into the scheme of lord lieutenants of their own nomination for each county. The bill above mentioned having been once read, it was moved that it be rejected, which was negatived by 158 to 125. Commons' Journals, 7th Dec. Nalson, ii. 719, has made a mistake about these numbers. The bill, however, was laid aside, a new plan having been devised. It was ordered (31st Dec. 1641) "that the house be resolved into a committee on Monday next (Jan. 3), to take into consideration the militia of the kingdom." That Monday (Jan. 3) was the famous day of the king's message about the five members; and on Jan. 13 a declaration for putting the kingdom in a state of defence passed the Commons, by which "all officers, magistrates, etc., were enjoined to take care that no soldiers be raised, nor any castles or arms given up, without his majesty's pleasure, signified by both houses of parliament." Commons' Journals; Parl. Hist. 1035. The Lords at the time refused to concur in this declaration, which was afterwards changed into the ordinance for the militia; but 32 peers signed a protest (Id. 1049), and the house not many days afterwards came to an opposite vote, joining with the Commons in their demand of the militia. Id. 1072, 1091.