A letter from Fairfax, dated at Kingston the 19th November,(829) threatening to quarter 1,000 men on the city to assist the municipal authorities in getting in arrears of assessments due to the army, created no little alarm in the city. Whilst the Common Council was deliberating on the matter news was brought that the Earl of Northumberland and a deputation from both Houses were waiting without the Council Chamber desiring to speak with some members of the court. A similar intimation to that contained in the letter of Fairfax had been made to parliament, and both Houses were anxious to urge upon the city the extreme importance of anticipating such a step as that which Fairfax threatened by getting in the arrears of assessments as speedily as possible. This the council expressed itself as very willing to do if parliament would relieve the collectors of certain pains and penalties recently imposed on them, which had only served to render them the more unwilling to execute their duties.(830) (M411) A little respite was granted(831) whilst the municipal authorities drew up a reply to Fairfax.(832) They expressed great regret if the arrears due from the City to the army, or anything else connected with the City, should be the cause of the army continuing so long in the vicinity of London, to the great prejudice if not to the ruin of many. They were doing all they could to get in the arrears, and they called the general’s attention to certain proposals which they were about to submit to parliament. They concluded by assuring Fairfax that the City was determined to remain faithful to parliament and the kingdom, and at the same time to cultivate good relations with the army. (M412) The City’s proposals, which were submitted to parliament on the 22nd November, met with little favour in the House of Commons. The deputation presenting them was somewhat bluntly informed that parliament had done what it had judged fit in the matter of the City’s arrears; that it was much dissatisfied with the slowness with which they were being got in; that the City was setting a very bad example to others which might have ill consequences; that the commands of parliament were expected to be obeyed, and that prompt measures ought to be taken by the City to carry them out.(833) (M413) Two days later (24 Nov.) Fairfax wrote to the City from Windsor,(834) whither the army had removed as soon as the king’s escape (11 Nov.) from Hampton Court did away with the necessity of its presence in the immediate neighbourhood of London, informing the authorities that as parliament had raised an objection to his sending troops to the city for the purpose of getting in arrears, he was content to wait and see the result of parliamentary action in the matter and whether the City’s recent promises bore fruit or not. Should the result prove unsatisfactory, he doubted not the consequences would be sad, "and that not more to the parliament, kingdom or army than to the city itself."