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23-762: When the Scottish army entered England by invitation of the English Parliament in January 1644 the Parliamentary Committee of Safety was replaced by an ad hoc committee representative of both kingdoms which, by parliamentary ordinance of 16 February, was formally constituted as the Committee of Both Kingdoms. The English contingent consisted of seven peers and 14 commoners. Its object was the management of peace overtures to, or making war on,

46-602: A new army commanded by Edward Massie . On 21 July, eight peers and fifty-seven Independent MPs left London and took refuge with the New Model; on 6 August, the army occupied the city, dissolved the committee and issued a list of Eleven Members who they wanted removed from Parliament. Attribution Committee of Safety (England) The Committee of Safety , established by the Parliamentarians in July 1642,

69-684: The Committee of Both Kingdoms . The Presbyterians in the House of Commons set up a new committee of safety, to coordinate defence of London and Parliament from the New Model Army which was advancing on London with demands that the Presbyterians did not wish to meet. When it became clear that the populace did not support them, the committee was dissolved and the Presbyterians fled. There were two committees of safety in 1659. The first

92-583: The Army, under the Command of his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax " to Parliament on 8 June making their concerns known, and also the constitution of the Army Council so that Parliament would understand that the discontent was army-wide and had the support of both officers and other ranks. This Engagement was read out to the army at a general meeting on 5 June. A few weeks later, there was another meeting while

115-648: The Committee of Both Houses. On 9 January 1644 the Estates of Scotland sitting in Edinburgh arranged for a special commission to go to London with full powers to represent the Scottish Estates. The special commission had four members: The four Scottish commissioners presented their commission from Scottish Estates to the English Parliament on 5 February. On 16 February, so that the two kingdoms should be "joined in their counsels as well as in their forces",

138-478: The English Parliament passed an ordinance ( Ordinance concerning the Committee of both Kingdoms ) to form a joint "Committee of the Two Kingdoms" to sit with the four Scottish Commissioners. The ordinance named seven members from the House of Lords and fourteen from the House of Commons to sit on the committee and ordained that six were to be a quorum, always in the proportion of one Lord to two Commoners, and of

161-698: The King. It was conveniently known as the Derby House Committee from 1647, when the Scots withdrew. Its influence long reduced by the growth of the army's, it was dissolved by Parliament on 7 February 1649 (soon after the execution of Charles I on 30 January) and replaced by the Council of State . A sub-committee on Irish affairs met from 1646 to 1648. The sub-committee spent, in Ireland, money raised by

184-485: The New Model was owed more than £3 million in unpaid wages; led by Holles, Parliament ordered it to Ireland, stating only those who agreed to go would be paid. When regimental representatives or Agitators supported by the Army Council demanded full payment for all in advance, it was disbanded but the army refused to comply. In response, Holles and his allies formed a new Committee of Safety and attempted to raise

207-593: The Scottish Commissioners meeting with them two were to be a quorum. The seven members appointed from among the House of Lords were: The fourteen members appointed from the House of Commons were: David Masson states that the Earl of Essex, the Lord General, was opposed to the formation of the committee as it was constituted because "there can be no doubt that the object was that the management of

230-524: The army was camped at Thriplow Heath near Royston , the soldiers refused the offers made by Parliament, and the agitators demanded a march towards London and the "purging" of the House of Commons, which did not happen. Subsequent events are part of the general history of England. Gradually the agitators ceased to exist, but many of their ideas were adopted by the Levellers , who may perhaps be regarded as their successors. Gardiner says of them, "Little as it

253-466: The army, were supported by many of the officers, who showed their sympathy by signing the Declaration of the army . Fairfax, Cromwell and other generals succeeded to some extent in pacifying the troops by promising the payment of arrears for eight weeks at once; but before the return of the generals to London parliament had again decided to disband the army, and soon afterwards fixed the 1 June as

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276-498: The authority of the speaker . The members of the last committee were: Agitators The Agitators were a political movement as well as elected representatives of soldiers, including members of the New Model Army under Lord General Fairfax , during the English Civil War . They were also known as adjutators . Many of the ideas of the movement were later adopted by the Levellers . Agitators , or adjutators ,

299-543: The committee were Lord Wharton and Henry Vane the Younger, and Lord Warriston for the Scots. The committee had to accommodate several factions within its ranks, and jealousies and personal animosities between some of its members, such as Waller and Essex. It was also subject to control by Parliament (though the need to pass legislation or resolutions through both Houses meant that the committee could control matters day by day without much interference). Its greatest achievement

322-508: The date on which this process was to begin. Again alarmed, the agitators decided to resist; a mutiny occurred in one regiment and the attempt at disbandment failed. Then followed the seizure of King Charles I by Cornet Joyce . The Agitators, with two officers from each regiment and the Generals formed a new body called the Army Council which after a meeting near Newmarket, Suffolk on Friday 4 June 1647 issued " A Solemne Engagement of

345-597: The king with them despite the furious objections of the English. In July, the Committee presented Charles with the Newcastle Propositions, which included his acceptance of a Presbyterian union between the kingdoms. Once Charles rejected the terms, it left the Covenanters in a difficult position; keeping him was too dangerous since many Scots, regardless of political affiliation, wanted him restored to

368-421: The throne. On 28 January 1647, they handed Charles over to Parliament in return for £400,000 and retreated into Scotland. The committee was now dissolved but its English members continued to sit as the Derby House Committee, dominated by Holles and moderate MPs, many of whom were Presbyterian. Internal political conflict was exacerbated by economic crisis, caused by the war and a failed 1646 harvest. By March 1647,

391-660: The war should be less in Essex's hands than it had been". The Committee met in Derby House at three o'clock every day of the week—including Sundays. Attendance in 1644 was patchy, since before the enactment of the Self-denying Ordinance , many of the members of the committee had commands in the field. Warwick, for example, was the Lord High Admiral . The more active and influential members on

414-459: Was largely in arrears, refused to accept either alternative, and eight of the cavalry regiments elected agitators, called at first commissioners, who laid their grievances before the three generals, and whose letter was read in the House of Commons on the 30 April 1647. The other regiments followed the example of the cavalry (nicknamed Ironsides ), and the agitators, who belonged to the lower ranks of

437-545: Was only a temporary expediency and was dissolved two weeks later when on 19 May a new Council of State was appointed. The last Committee of Safety was set up on 26 October 1659 by the high command of the New Model Army just before the Restoration . It was set up in response to the Rump Parliament which the day before tried to place the commander of the army Charles Fleetwood as chief of a military council under

460-605: Was set up on 7 May, on the authority of the Rump Parliament , to replace the Lord Protector Richard Cromwell 's Council of State . It initially had seven members Charles Fleetwood , Sir Arthur Hesilrige , Sir Henry Vane the Younger , Edmund Ludlow , William Sydenham , Richard Salwey , and John Jones . Two days later on 9 May four more men were appointed to the committee John Lambert , John Desborough , James Berry and Thomas Scot . It

483-467: Was the establishment of the New Model Army , and the maintenance of this army and other forces in the field until King Charles was defeated in 1646. The Committee provided a continuity of policy and administration which the King could not match. On 27 April 1646, Charles left Oxford and surrendered to the Covenanter army outside Newark . A few days later, they withdrew north to Newcastle , taking

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506-750: Was the first of a number of successive committees set up to oversee the English Civil War against King Charles I , and the Interregnum . The initial committee of safety consisted of five members of the House of Lords: the Earls of Essex , Holland , Northumberland and Pembroke and Viscount Saye-and-Sele , and ten members of the House of Commons: Nathaniel Fiennes , John Glynn , John Hampden , Denzil Holles , Henry Marten , Sir John Merrick , William Pierrepoint , John Pym , Sir Philip Stapleton , and Sir William Waller . It sat until 1644 when Parliament and their new Scottish allies agreed to replace it with

529-564: Was the name given to representatives elected in 1647 by the different regiments of the English Parliamentary army. The word really means an agent, but it was confused with "adjutant," often called "agitant," a title familiar to the soldiers, and thus the form "adjutator" came into use. Early in 1647 the Long Parliament wished either to disband many of the regiments or to send them to Ireland . The soldiers, whose pay

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