TAXATION AND FINANCE. l6l 



direct taxation over the rest. On December i, 1645, the levy 

 on the Eastern Association is as follows : 



j. d. s. d. 



Norfolk 7070 o o Suffolk 7070 o o 



Norwich 366 o o Cambridgeshire 2171 6 8 



Essex 75 Isle of Ely 728 13 4 



Lincolnshire 2070 o o Huntingdonshire 1020 o o 

 Hertfordshire 2432 10 o 



As the power of Parliament extended, first by the battle of 

 Marston Moor (July 2, 1644), which entailed the loss of the 

 North, and Naseby (June 14, 1645), which practically put an 

 end to all the king's military power, the system of associating 

 counties for mutual defence and assessment was extended. 

 The statutes and ordinances of the Long Parliament and of 

 Cromwell's own assemblies are full of financial measures, as 

 may be seen for example in Scobell's Abridgement, and, as far 

 as they are preserved, in the original Acts. Thus in 1657 

 there was published by authority of Parliament ' A Book of 

 Values of Merchandise imported, according to which Excise 

 is to be paid by the first buyer.' 



The security of the Commonwealth, the safety of Oliver's 

 person, and the need for providing against the activity of the 

 Royalist party, made it necessary that a considerable army 

 should be kept on foot, the navy for the time being maintained 

 in the highest state of efficiency. Under the articles signed by 

 Cromwell on 16 Dec. 1653, which constituted him Lord Pro- 

 tector, the army was fixed at 20,000 foot and 10,000 horse. 

 To maintain this force and the navy, 120,000 a month was 

 raised by county assessments. The cost of the Protector's 

 civil government was about 200,000 a year, and besides this 

 direct levy, there were customs and excises probably amount- 

 ing to nearly as much as was levied by the assessment. One 

 of the latest of these assessments was that of 1657, which was 

 ord.iincd for three years, England being rated at 35> o 

 Scotland at 6000, and Ireland at 9000 a month ; Scotland 

 and Ireland being now included in the Parliament of the Com- 

 monwealth. This reduction in the English charge seems to 



VOL. v. M 



