Page:VCH Herefordshire 1.djvu/467

 POLITICAL HISTORY Parliamentary Commissioners *°^ were appointed for the county and five for the city, but the management of affairs was far from satisfactory. In 1648 George Thorne was sent into Herefordshire by the House of Commons as a ' soHcitor for sequestrations,' and his report disclosed much maladministra- tion and corruption. About April, 1648, the county sequestrations were suspended by an order from Goldsmiths' Hall, this having already been done a twelvemonth before as regards the hundreds of Huntington, Ewyas Lacy, and Wigmore. They were shortly resumed, and on 4 September, 1 649, seven new commissioners were added,*^' most of whom had resigned or were displaced in 1651. About March, 1652, four were discharged for unsatisfactory accounts, and four sub-commissioners appointed to be the acting men.*"* The military charges on the county also were heavy. On 14 February, 1646—7, Parliament passed an ordinance for taxing it j(^6oo a week for the maintenance of the forces in it.*"^ On 22 June, 1647, the county was charged with £168 2s. 2^. as its share of a general levy of jr6o,ooo a month for the pay of the army, in addition to which money was exacted in composition for free quarter.*"" These heavy contributions served to increase the differences which, after the conclusion of the first civil war, arose between the army and the civil authorities. While Herefordshire was in the hands of the king, the manage- ment of affairs in the Parliamentary interest was entrusted to the standing committee for the county and city of Gloucester, which also supervised the counties of Glamorgan, Brecon, Radnor, and Pembroke, where as yet Parliament had no established hold. But after the capture of Hereford city a separate committee was established for the county to carry on the civil and ecclesiastical administration. One of its leading members was Sir Robert Harley, and between this committee and the military governor. Colonel Birch, considerable friction arose on the subject of pecuniary exactions. The com- mittee sympathized with Parliament in their desire to reduce the numbers of the army. On i March, 1 646—7, Hereford city was ordered to be disgarrisoned,*" and on i 5 June the governorship of the castle was committed to Colonel Samuel Moore with 160 men.*"^ It was also arranged on 26 March that Birch, on receipt of two months' pay for his men and some pay in advance, should send over to Ireland by Chester a force of one thousand foot and three or four hundred horse. This arrangement, however, fell through : the money was not forthcoming, in spite of the efforts of Harley and the other members of Parliament. The men also were unwilling. They distrusted Birch on account of his Presbyterian leanings, and perhaps also because of his position as a landowner in the county and member of Parlia- ment for Leominster. In the middle of July they broke into open mutiny. On the ground that they were hindered from communicating with the rest of the army, they seized upon Birch and his brother. Major Samuel Birch, Hereford Castle, >r2,ooo in money, and various stores. Birch only obtained "* For the names of the sequestrators appointed between 1643 and 1653 see Webb, Mem. i 2C-6 • ii, 3°7- "" Com. Joum. Sept. 1649. «' Webb, Mem. ii, 406-10. "* Lords Joum. 13, 14 Feb. 1646-7. "^ Webb, Mem. ii, 291. "' Com. Journ. i March, 1646-7. 397
 * ™ S.P. Dom. Chas. I, dxv, 82 ; Com. Journ. 15 June, 1647 ; Lords Joum. 15 June, 1647.