That notwithstanding his care and directions therein, the House is informed that some of his Forces are quartered much nearer than that; and To desire him to take course that his former Orders, touching the quartering of his Forces no nearer than Twenty-five Miles, may be observed.’
TO HIS EXCELLENCY SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX, GENERAL OF THE PARLIAMENTS ARMY: THESE
Sir,—This enclosed Order I received; but, I suppose, Letters from the Committee of the Army to the effect of this are come to your hands before this time. I think it were very good that the distance of Twenty-five Miles be very strictly observed; and they are to blame that have exceeded the distance, contrary to your former appointment. This Letter I received this evening from Sir William Massam[1] a Member of the House of Commons; which I thought fit to send you; his House being much within that distance of Twenty-five Miles of London. I have sent the Officers down, as many as I could well light of.
Not having more at present, I rest, your Excellency’s most humble servant,
The troubles of the Parliament and Army are just beginning. ‘The order for quartering beyond twenty-five miles from London, and many other ‘orders,’ were sadly violated in the course of this season. ‘Sir W. Massam’s House,’ ‘Otes in Essex,’ is a place known to us since the beginning of these Letters.
The Officers ought really to go down to their quarters in the Eastern Counties; Oliver has sent them off, as many of them as he ‘could well light of.’
The Presbyterian System is now fast getting into action: on the 20th May 1647, the Synod of London, with due
