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communication with each other (which they had "not confidence to engage in), send to the king, "that if he were ready with any force from abroad, "or secure of possessing any port within, they would (that is, either of them would), engage, with the 66 power that was under their charge, to declare for his majesty. But neither of them daring to trust “the other, the king could not presume upon any port; so he wished them to reserve their affec"tions to his majesty till a more proper season to "discover them, and to prosecute the voyage to "which they were designed, from which he was not "without hope of some benefit to himself; for it

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was evident Cromwell meant to make some enemy, "which probably might give his majesty some "friend."

Charles's printed letter1 makes mention only of Penn's offer on this occasion, which was not confined to "any port within," as will appear from a memoir presented by the Marquess of Ormonde to the Duke of Neuburg, at Dusseldorff, on the 15th of June, 1655; the object of which memoir was to induce the Duke of Neuburg to move the King of Spain to afford to Charles the benefit of some of his sea-ports.

1 I regret, that the collection in which this letter is contained (the title of which I do not remember), is in the same predicament with the tracts mentioned in a note to vol. i. p. 353.

2 For some account of this prince, his court, and his relations with Spain, see CLARENDON's History, b. xiv. vol. iii. p. 543, &c. 8vo.

"Memoir presented by the Marquess of Ormonde to the Duc de Neuburg at Dusseldorff, on June 15, 1655.

(EXTRACT.)

"It is, by the concurrent testimony his majesty receives from all places (amongst which the letters from the Barbadoes seem a good evidence), conceived, that it is now manifest, that the design of Cromwell, in the fleet commanded by Penn, is to fall upon the Spaniard in the West Indies; which (besides his conjunction with France, that is now out of question) must oblige the King of Spain to a war with the rebels, except he be contented to let them at least share with him in those dominions, which cannot be imagined.—

"Let the present success of the English fleet be what it will in the West Indies, if Cromwell be not able to send constant and full supplies thither, the design must come to nothing, how prosperous soever the first entrance upon it chance to be; and if the King of Spain will give that assistance and countenance to his majesty, as will be very agreeable to the carrying on of his own affairs, his majesty will be able to give Cromwell too much to do in the three kingdoms, to leave him at liberty to attend those remote expeditions. Besides the power the king hath in the navy and amongst the seamen, and in this particular fleet under Penn, where (besides the common soldiers and mariners) there are many principal officers who have served his majesty, and whose affections will dispose them to receive any orders from the king: all which will appear, as soon as his majesty hath the liberty of ports, to encourage the resort of his ships and seamen to his service: which, whensoever he shall have, Cromwell will hardly adventure the setting out any great fleets, well knowing how ill affected the seamen are to him."1

1 CARTE'S Collections, &c. 8vo. Vol. ii. p. 53.

Oldmixon, with the confidence which ignorance of a fact often inspires into a prejudiced and positive mind, says, "Lord Clarendon seems to have been in some hopes that Penn and Venables would have

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run away with the fleet and army, and have set up "the royal standard, which is said without the least reason or fact, and might have been built upon as "much from a dream, as from any authority he had for "it." Clarendon, however, on this occasion, had the authority of reason and fact on his side, so far at least as regarded the sea-general; the truth of which did not depend on the knowledge and privity of Oldmixon.

Whilst Penn's fleet was equipping at Portsmouth, great activity, attended with equal secrecy, was observed in the exiled court. A letter of intelligence, sent to Secretary Thurloe, dated 6th of October, 1654, thus imparted: -"The Lord of Ormonde hath some great matter in hand; being to get money. I do "not yet hear what hath been concluded; they say "it is a great business, if it come to pass, and can "be done."

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38 ships and 2 ketches, 1 hoy, 1 dogger-boat.

N.B. Those captains marked with an asterisk, had commanded ships in the Downs' fleet, in 1653; some of the others had probably been lieutenants, promoted on that occasion, as Capt. Tubb; see vol. i. p. 535.

Besides this fleet, another strong fleet was equipped, to proceed to the Mediterranean, under the command of General Blake, to whom was joined Col. Edward Mountagu, now created general at sea.1

1 Colonel Edward Mountagu (afterwards the first Earl of Sandwich) was the only surviving son of Sir Sidney Mountagu, youngest brother of the first Lord Mountagu, and first Earl of Manchester. He had distinguished himself as an officer in the army of the parliament (for which, at the age of eighteen, he had raised a regiment of a thousand men at the beginning of the civil war), and also

The fleet remaining at home, was under the command of Vice-Admiral Lawson.

Previously to his taking the command of the fleet, General Penn preferred a claim, in the form of a petition, of indemnification for injuries sustained in his Irish, estate; in consequence of which representation, the following order was passed by the Protector in council, on the 1st of September:

"On consideration of the petition of Gen. William Penn, one of the admirals at sea; Ordered, by his highness and the council, that, as a mark of favour to him, and in consideration of his sufferings in an estate of his wife's in Ireland, lands in Ireland yet undisposed of be set forth to him and his heirs, of three hundred pounds per annum value, as the same were worth in the year 1640; and that, for empowering the lord-deputy and council to set forth the same accordingly, an ordinance to be brought in."

And, on the 4th of December, Cromwell himself addressed the following letter to the lord-deputy and council in Ireland:

"MY LORD AND GENTLEMEN,

"Ourself and council having thought fit, in consideration of the great losses sustained by General Penn and his wife by the rebellion in Ireland, and as a remuneration of his good and faithful services performed to the commonwealth, to order that lands of the value of 300l. a-year, in Ireland, as they were let in the year 1640, be settled on General Penn and his by his talents for public business; he had been made a member of Cromwell's new privy council; and now, in his thirtieth year, he first entered the naval service, as a general of the fleet. His father, Sir Sidney, purchased of Sir Oliver, uncle of the Pretender, Hinchinbrook, the ancient seat of the Williams, alias Cromwell; with which family, Edward Mountagu was associated by ties of the closest friendship.