I

c Hap.XXXIV.

from the I. of James I. to the Revolution,

*655. General Venables, being, at Length, somuch weakened by the Flux, that thePhysicians despaired of his Life, and theOfficers of the Army having unanimous-ly pitched upon him* in Case he reco-vered, as the only fitting Person to re-pair to England, to acquaint the Protec-tor with their miserable Condition, be-ing in great Want of all Things, as wellfor Support of Life, as otherwises hedesired General Penne and Colonel But-ler, one of the Commissioners, to cometo him, in order to the Opening, thesealed and ultimate Instructions, whichtwo Days afterwards they consented todo; When, with their Concurrence, heresigned his Command to Major GeneralFortejcue, as he had Power from thep Protector,. by the aforesaid sealed^ Or-

V e nne > and ders to do, in Cafe of any Inability;hnthTi™' J ^ nc * ^ >enne ^ oon ^fter thought it conveni-Q %n >and s cut, either upon the Score of Sickness*h Qtn r e etu m or otherwise, to resign, in like Manner,the Command of the Fleet to Vice-Ad-n>iral Goods on', So that both of themcame home, where, when they arrived,K they were committed to the Tower.However, before their Commitment,they were called before Oliver, and hisCouncil, were both of them, (andmore especially Venables ) were severelyreprimanded, for leaving the Servicescommitted to their Charge, without Au-thority so to do, as was then alledged.Venables, notwithstanding his very badState of Health, was not permitted toabide, for some Time, in his own Lodg-ings, but was very severely dealt with;

For, as the Protector insisted on it, that 1655.he should own his Fault, in leaving theArmy, and throw himself on his Cle-mency ; So he, judging he had commit-ted no Crime, but that being render’dincapable by Sickness, to continue inthose Parts longer, without an inevitableHazard of his Life, and the Protectorhaving, in such Case, impower’d theCommissioners, to commit his Charge tosome other fitting Person, was not wil-ling to be his own Accuser; And tho’even Penne himself assured him, that hewould not, in the Manner that was ex-pected, own himself guilty of a Fault,yet, (for Reasons best known to himself,and thro' the Persuasions of others nearthe Protector’s Person) he made his Sub-mission, beforeVenables could be prevailedwith to do it, and thereupon was dis-charged of his Imprisonment some Timebefore the other was. The Part of theFleet which sternained abroad, togetherwith such of the Land Forces, as werenot thought necessary to remain at Ja~maica, was brought Home by Vice-Admiral Goodson. (0)

The War being, by this Expedition, Englishdeclared against Spain, all the Effectsbelonging to the Englijh Merchantsthat Kingdom were seized, by Order ofthe King, as well there, as in all his o-therDominions, to the very great Loss ofthe Nation: But a yet more considerableLoss was that of the Spanijh Trade,which by this inconsiderate War, waslaid open to the, Dutch,

CHAP.

At last, th ^Spaniards grew weary of their“ hard Quarters in the Mountains, which did not" at all agree with their riotous Way of living at“ St. Jago’s ; And despairing to be able to dis--" lodge the Englijh, who began also to find them" out in their Lurking-Places, they retired to“ Cuba , leaving the Molattoes and Negroes, in

the Woods, to harrass the Enemy, and keep“ Possession of the Island, till they should re-“ turn.

“The Viceroy of Mexico commanded them" to return to Jamaica , and ordered the Go-“ vernment of Cuba, not to let them stay there,“ sending them Word, that he would supply them“ with Men and Ammunition, to recover what“ they had lost. Accordingly they came back,“ and scattered themselves up and down, in single“ Families, that they might be able to subsist the“ better, and prevent being discovered bv theCt Englijh. But this miserable Course of Life" killed several of them, and there came no more“ than five Hundred Soldiers to their Assistance,H who also refused to joyn with them, when they

“ saw the weak Condition they were in, and re-“ treated to the North of the Island, fortifying“ themselves in a Place called St, Chereras , wait-“ hig for a Re-ir.forcement,

“ In the mean Time, the Englijh possessed" themselves of all the South and South-East“ Parts of the Island, A Regiment was seated“ about Port Morant , to plant and settle there,“ and others in other Places, over whom Colonel“ Doyly was lest Governour, with between two“ and three Thousand Men, Land-Forces, and“ about twenty Men of War, commanded by“ Vice-Admiral Goodvjin,” Bafnage gives muchthe fame Account.

In this Account, Mention is, indeed, made ofa Treaty begun, but not that it was concluded, asthe former Account fays,

(0) Whitlocft fays, that the Protector was socareful to lose no Advantage of what he had gotFooting in, that, in the Beginning of July, hesent Major Sedgwich, with twelve Ships, and Co-lonel Humphries, with his Regiment, as Suppliesto those at Jamaica .

Wbitlock.