y alderman, Major-General
Browne.(648)

(M302)

On the 7th June information was brought to the City that Charles had been
forced to flee from Oxford, and the Common Council was asked to render
assistance in the reduction of the king's stronghold.(649) As long as
Charles was at large, not only was the prospect of an end of the war more
than ever remote, but the safety of London itself was threatened. It was a
time for Essex and Waller to forget all past differences and to strengthen
each other in a joint attack upon the royalist army wherever it may be
found. Instead of this the two generals went different ways; Essex marched
westward, leaving Waller to pursue Charles as best he could. To make
matters worse, disaffection again appeared in the ranks of Waller's
army.(650)

(M303)

That the city trained bands had done good service in their day no one will
deny, but the time was fast approaching when it would be necessary to
raise an army of men willing to devote themselves to the military life as
a profession. For permanent service in the field the London trained bands
were not to be relied on. "In these two days' march," wrote Waller (2
July) to the Committee of Both Kingdoms, "I was extremely plagued with the
mutinies of the City Brigade, who are grown to that height of disorder
that I have no hope to retain them, being come to their old song of Home!
Home!" There was, he said, only one remedy for this, and that was a
standing army, however small;--"My lords, I write these particulars to let
you know that an army compounded of these men will never go through with
your service, and till you have an army merely your own, that you may
command, it is in a manner impossible to do anything of importance."(651)
The junction of his forces with those under Browne, who had been
despatched (23 June) to protect the country between London and the
royalist army, served only to increase the general discontent. "My London
regiments," he wrote (8 July), "immediately looked on his [_i.e._
Browne's] forces as sent to relieve them, and without expectation of
further orders, are most of them gone away; yesterday no less than 400 out
of one regiment quitted their colours. On the other side, Major-General
Browne's men, being most of them trained band men of Essex and
Hertfordshire, are so mutinous and uncommandable that there is no hope of
their stay. They are likewise upon their march home again. Yesterday they
were like to have killed t