On the following day (8 June) the City presented another petition to parliament praying that the army might be paid off as speedily as possible; that the king, who had recently been carried off from Holmby House by a troop of cavalry under Joyce, might be disposed of in such a way as to allow the parliaments of England and Scotland free access to him; and thirdly that, seeing the danger of the times, an ordinance of the 17th January, 1645, authorising the City to raise cavalry in their own defence and to apprehend disaffected persons, might be revived. The House, which was guarded at the time by a city regiment, could scarcely do otherwise than comply with the prayer of the petitioners.(757) (M365) Three days later (11 June) a letter was brought to the city by "two messengers that looked like soldiers," signed by Fairfax and twelve others, informing the civic authorities of the army’s approach to London.(758) The City was asked to believe that such action on the part of the army was only directed against those who were endeavouring to engage the kingdom in a new war. As Englishmen, if not as soldiers, the writers desired only "the peace of the kingdom and liberty of the subject, according to the votes and declarations of parliament." They desired no alteration of the civil government, nor to hinder Presbyterianism. When once the State had settled a matter there was nothing for it but to submit or suffer; they only wished that every good citizen and every peaceful man might be allowed to enjoy liberty. "These, in brief," continued the writers, "are our desires, and the things for which we stand, beyond which we shall not go; and for obtaining these things we are drawing near your city, professing sincerely from our hearts we intend not evil toward you; declaring with all confidence and assurance that if you appear not against us in these our just desires to assist that wicked party that would embroil us and the kingdom, nor we nor our soldiers shall give you the least offence." It was true, they went on to say, that a rich city like London offered a tempting bait for poor hungry soldiers, but the officers would protect it with their last drop of blood from the soldiery provided no provocation were offered by the citizens themselves. Their men valued their own high character above any wealth, and the citizens would act like fellow subjects and brethren by using their influence with parliament on their behalf. On the other hand, "if after all this you, or a considerable part of you, be seduced to take up arms in opposition to or hindrance of these our just undertakings, we hope by this brotherly premonition, to the sincerity thereof we call God to witness, we have freed ourselves from all that ruin which may befall that great and populous city, having thereby washed our hands thereof." (M366)