after that she is emptied of her provisions, and of no further use for this service in those parts; you are therefore hereby authorised and required to give order and direction, that such of the said victualling Dutch bottoms as the said General Penn shall name unto you, after that she is emptied of her provisions, and no further to be employed in those parts for carrying on this present design, be delivered to the said General Penn, to be disposed of by him as he shall think fit.1

It is well known, that the army made their first attempt on the island of Hispaniola, where it sustained a very disgraceful repulse. To soften the effect of that intelligence at home, and at the same time to secure the general design of the instructions, by "gaining an interest in that part of the West "Indies in the possession of the Spaniard," it was determined by the commissioners to attack the island of Jamaica; which object, was accomplished with little or no resistance from the shore. Commissioner

This instruction was afterwards fulfilled, as appears from the following document appended to the copy.

"Jamaica.

"By the commissioners appointed for ordering and managing the affairs in America.

"In pursuance of an additional instruction directed unto us by his Highness the Lord Protector, &c.

"We do by these presents order, that the ship the Catherine, which he, the said General William Penn, hath made choice of by name, be delivered unto him as aforesaid, requiring all those that are any ways concerned herein to take notice hereof, there being no present occasion for employing the said ship in this service any longer. Dated the 30th of May, 1655.

Butler, who was in the particular confidence of Cromwell, and was sent by him as his spy on both the generals, thus reported to him their arrival at that island.

"On the 10th of May, we came into the harbour of Jamaica, General Penn leading the way with his own ship; for, after the miscarriage at Hispaniola, I have privately heard him say, 'he would not trust the army with the attempt, if he could come near with his ships;' and, indeed, did, in the Martin galley, run in till she was aground before their breast-work in the bottom of the harbour, at the time when the boats were to land, which was done without any opposition, though much might have been expected.'"1

2

A manuscript journal of that expedition, contained in the British Museum, gives the following account, both of the arrival and the landing.

"9th, Wednesday.-This day we came fair under the shore of Jamaica, and all our army did prepare to land; but the commissioners of the army did declare unto the soldiers, that those which were not willing to fight, they did desire them to stay aboard; and many did accept of their proffer very willingly."

"10th, Thursday.- From ten o'clock at night to this morning we kept fair by the shore, and now we made all sail we could to get into the easternmost harbour; but before we could get in it fell calm, so that we were forced to come to an anchor half a league to the eastward of the harbour, in five fathom water; but within half an hour it sprung up a fresh gale at east. We weighed, and stood into the harbour, and

1 BUTLER'S letter will be presently given at length.

came to an anchor in forty fathom water; but the general commanded the Martin to run up into the harbour as far as possibly he could, and all the small ships and vessels to follow her; which was done. The Martin came to an anchor within shot of the fort, which was very angry with him; and firing at her very hot, and she at them again, but did little hurt on either side. Here were two other forts, of very small account, did keep popping at them with muskets, thinking to fear us. Our general, and General Venables, made all the haste they could up to the Martin, and went aboard of her; most part of our soldiers lying round the Martin in boats, ready to land. Our general commanded the boats to follow us with the men, and commanded the master to run the ship ashore as near as possible he could to the fort, which was done; and firing some guns into this fort, and the boats following us with the soldiers, our seamen run the boats fast aground close under the fort, and the soldiers leaping into the water to wade ashore.

"The enemy, seeing our resolution, did not stand to give any resistance, but ran, leaving thirteen guns mounted. This gave our army great encouragement; but our army did not follow the enemy, but did draw up in battle, and then resolved to stay, until their general did come ashore to them; for some were much troubled that he did not land with them. For all the time that the army was landing, he was walking about the Martin, wrapped up in his cloak, with his hat over his eyes, looking as if he had been studying of physic, more than like the general of an army. come by us in their boats, they did shout forth into a halloo, which is a custom at sea, throwing up their caps and hats; but General Venables did not give them so much as one look to encourage them, but pulled his hat more over his eyes, and did look another way. Many of his commanders did take notice of it. But our general did call to them, giving them encouragement, telling them the enemy did run. But General

And when the army did

Venables, seeing the enemy all fled from their forts, and none there to oppose our army, did desire a boat, saying he would go ashore; and our general, being both ready and willing, knowing his business to be there and not here, at this time, gave command presently for a boat to carry him ashore to the army, where he found them all drawn up; where they did resolve to encamp this night, and to take the day before them to march up to the town, it being six miles from the place of landing."

It is to be observed, in explanation of the deportment of the land-general, thus graphically represented, that, besides bodily illness, caused by fatigue and climate in the late unsuccessful attempt on Hispaniola, besides mortification and dejection of spirits from that failure, and entire mistrust of his army in the present adventure; he had embarrassed his feelings by bringing Mrs. Venables with him on this expedition, who was then on board the fleet, receiving the enemy's fire from the forts: for, until the debarcation of the troops, the Spaniards kept up a brisk fire on the ships.

As the proceedings at Hispaniola have hitherto been, not merely left in a state of entire obscurity, but shamefully perverted in all our histories; the army at home, of that day, having been careful to charge the naval commander with the causes of their brethren's dishonour, and he as careless to vindicate himself from a charge which the consciousness of its utter and notorious falsehood made him regard, at the time, with silent contempt; I shall at length illustrate all that obscurity, and rectify all the per· version, by presenting to the reader the series of

every day's occurrence, from the first landing of the troops on that island, until their final departure from thence; together with some other principal documents relating to the chief naval command of the expedition, copied from the original manuscript journal kept on board the Swiftsure, from the departure of the fleet, in December 1654, to the return of its commander to England, in September 1655. And though some of the matter may appear tedious to many readers, I shall nevertheless use the opportunity I have here created for myself, by producing every thing that has any relation to that misrepresented expedition.

Campbell, in his "Lives of the Admirals, or Naval "History," compiled and published in 1750 (a century after the events), affirms, that "the only just "and genuine account of this expedition is to be "found in Burchett's Naval History, which was "drawn up at the time, from the examination of "Penn, Venables, and their superior officers;"1 and he adds, in page 202, "all these facts the reader will "find in the copious detail of this voyage published

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by Burchett;" and, in page 203, he charges himself with the responsibility for all falsehoods, by asserting, "the facts are indisputable."

Burchett's account of this event is comprised in ten folio pages, in which no authority whatever is quoted or referred to. But, so far is Burchett from affirming that his account was " drawn up at the time," that is, in 1655, that he only says, "I have thought it neces

1 Vol. ii. P. 195.