the English Court at that
time meant to interpret it with the same limitations. Windsor, indeed,
was not only instructed to force the Spanish colonies to a free trade,
but was empowered to call upon the governor of Barbadoes for aid "in
case of any considerable attempt by the Spaniards against Jamaica."[160]
The efforts of the Governor, however, to come to a good correspondence
with the Spanish colonies were fruitless. In the minutes of the Council
of Jamaica of 20th August 1662, we read: "Resolved that the letters from
the Governors of Porto Rico and San Domingo are an absolute denial of
trade, and that according to His Majesty's instructions to Lord Windsor
a trade by force or otherwise be endeavoured;"[161] and under 12th
September we find another resolution "that men be enlisted for a design
by sea with the 'Centurion' and other vessels."[162] This "design" was
an expedition to capture and destroy St. Jago de Cuba, the Spanish port
nearest to Jamaican shores. An attack upon St. Jago had been projected
by Goodson as far back as 1655. "The Admiral," wrote Major Sedgwick to
Thurloe just after his arrival in Jamaica, "was intended before our
coming in to have taken some few soldiers and gone over to St. Jago de
Cuba, a town upon Cuba, but our coming hindered him without whom we
could not well tell how to do anything."[163] In January 1656 the plan
was definitely abandoned, because the colony could not spare a
sufficient number of soldiers for the enterprise.[164] It was to St.
Jago that the Spaniards, driven from Jamaica, mostly betook themselves,
and from St. Jago as a starting-point had come the expedition of 1658 to
reconquer the island. The instructions of Lord Windsor afforded a
convenient opportunity to avenge past attacks and secure Jamaica from
molestation in that quarter for the future. The command of the
expedition was entrusted to Myngs, who in 1662 was again in the Indies
on the frigate "Centurion." Myngs sailed from Port Royal on 21st
September with eleven ships and 1300 men,[165] but, kept back by
unfavourable winds, did not sight the castle of St. Jago until 5th
October. Although he had intended to force the entrance of the harbour,
he was prevented by the prevailing land breeze; so he disembarked his
men to windward, on a rocky coast, where the path up the bluffs was so
narrow that but one man could march at a time. Night had fallen before
all were landed, and "the way (was) soe difficult and the night so