[9] "L.J.," Vol. 5, p. 129. It was on June 9 that the Lancashire members were directed by the Commons to go down ("C.J.," Vol. 2, p. 615), and they must have started almost immediately. Several letters were received before the end of the month both from them and from Sir W. Brereton. On Saturday, July 16, a report from the Committee and Deputy Lieutenants was received by the House of Commons, and referred by them to the Committee for the Defence of the Kingdom. ("C.J.," Vol. 2, p. 676.)
[10] "C.W.T.," p. 14. "Discourse," p. 6. Rigby wrote a long letter giving an account of the meeting to the Speaker from Manchester on June 24. He calls the majority of the 400 adherents of Lord Strange "popish recusants." The "Discourse" implies that a majority of the meeting were in favour of the King. Cf. "L.J.," Vol. 5, p. 166.
[11] For Rigby's Letter to the Speaker, v. "C.W.T.," p. 329. He suggests that for so small an amount of powder it was not worth while to use force; but it was a sufficient reason that he did not know where the powder had been taken. On July 26th it was ordered by both Houses that the removal of magazines might be resisted by force. ("L.J.," Vol. 5, p. 242. "C.J.," Vol. 2, pp. 692, 693.)
[12] The Committee's Letter to Lenthall on June 25 ("C.W.T.," p. 16) states that Lord Strange took 30 barrels of powder and some match from Liverpool. The "Valley of Achor" ("C.W.T.," p. 111) implies that this was all the magazine in Liverpool. The report that Strange was intercepted at Liverpool by Mr. Moore ("C.W.T.," p. 332) is probably false.
The Manchester petition and answer are given at length in the "Valley of Achor" ("C.W.T.," p. 111). No other places are mentioned except Manchester, Warrington, Preston and Liverpool, and apparently the royalists secured all these except the first-named. Cf. A Copy of a Letter from Chester, etc., 669, f. 6 (78), where it is stated that Strange armed his troops at Chester with arms sent by the Parliament for service in Ireland.
[13] "C.W.T.," pp. 16 and 112. Cf. "Hist. MSS. Com.," Vol. 5, p. 32; and also a letter from Richard Radcliffe to Sir John Gell, July 1. 1642: "Lord Strange threatens to procure aid from the King; but we think His Majesty has not much to spare." ("Hist. MSS. Com.," Vol. 9, app. 2, p. 391.)
[14] "L.J.," Vol. 5, p. 166. Sir William Brereton (1604‑1661) was the son of William Brereton of Handforth, Cheshire, and of Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Richard Holland of Denton. He was the Parliamentarian Commander-in-Chief in Cheshire, and was concerned in all the military operations in that county. But he was also a Deputy Lieutenant for Lancashire, having close relations with the leaders there. There is a notice of Brereton, by Mr. T. F. Henderson, in the "Dictionary of National Biography."
[15] "L.J.," Vol. 5, p. 174. Cf. a further letter to the Speaker in "H. L. Cal." ("Hist. MSS. Com.," rep. 5, p. 31), written on June 24, in which Brereton states that Lord Strange is prepared to enforce his Commission of Array when Parliament does the Militia Ordinance. He desires further instructions, for the Commission cannot be stopped without violence, which "once begun may not be so easily composed."
[16] This "Journal" is given in "C.W.T.," p. 24. The writer seems well informed and fairly impartial.
[17] The chief authority for this skirmish is a tract called "The Beginning of Civil Warres in England, etc." ("C.W.T.," p. 24). It is a circumstantial account giving the times at which the battle began and ended and the number killed on both sides. But nevertheless it is almost certainly an entire fabrication. None of the main authorities mention it; and if any skirmish occurred at all on July 4 it would certainly have been mentioned in Lord Strange's impeachment. Cf. also "C.W.T.," pp. 27 and 331. The "Victoria County History of Lancashire," referring to this date, says: "Doubt has been cast on the truth of this report," but this statement is not strong enough (Vol. 2, p. 235).