At this juncture, if Newcastle could have thrown his whole force upon the Associated Counties in concert with an advance of the King from the West after the capture of Bristol (July 26), the issue of the war might have been different. But his Yorkshire levies objected to leaving Hull unsubdued in their rear. So, after dallying unaccountably during August, he laid siege to that town on September 2—a fatal error, for it was impossible to reduce it by blockade, as the Parliament commanded the sea. On land, however, they were in woeful plight. The town of King’s Lynn, in the very heart of the Association, revolted against them in August; and the Earl of Manchester, newly appointed General of the Eastern Army, laid siege to it and took it on September 16. But all the commanders were in dire straits for money; and the reasons for adding Lincolnshire to the six Associated Counties by an ordinance of September 20 were probably in part financial. The weekly assessment for the county was fixed at £812, 10s., though in the following year this was raised to £1218. The cruelty of such a tax upon Royalists, who were perhaps secretly supplying the King with funds and yet had to pay this tax or suffer sequestration of their estates, is evident enough. Those landlords who were absent with the King did not escape, for the money was exacted from their tenants who were to deduct it from the rent. The ordinance was to be administered by a county committee sitting either at Lincoln or Boston, and consisting at first of 70, afterwards of 105 members. But the practical work was done by a “standing committee,” which might meet anywhere—five to be a quorum and fresh members to be summoned every fortnight.