more ready to join with them than oppose them, as previous
experience had shown. Finally, the privateers, if denied the freedom of
Jamaican ports, would not take to planting, but would resort to the
islands of other nations, and perhaps prey upon English commerce.[188]

Footnotes:

[Footnote 119: Venables was not bound by his instructions to any
definite plan. It had been proposed, he was told, to seize Hispaniola or
Porto Rico or both, after which either Cartagena or Havana might be
taken, and the Spanish revenue-fleets obstructed. An alternative scheme
was to make the first attempt on the mainland at some point between the
mouth of the Orinoco and Porto Bello, with the ultimate object of
securing Cartagena. It was left to Venables, however, to consult with
Admiral Penn and three commissioners, Edward Winslow (former governor of
Plymouth colony in New England), Daniel Searle (governor of Barbadoes),
and Gregory Butler, as to which, if any, of these schemes should be
carried out. Not until some time after the arrival of the fleet at
Barbadoes was it resolved to attack Hispaniola. (Narrative of Gen.
Venables, edition 1900, pp. x, 112-3.)]

[Footnote 120: Gardiner: Hist. of the Commonwealth and Protectorate,
vol. iii. ch. xlv.; Narrative of Gen. Venables.]

[Footnote 121: Gardiner: _op. cit._, iii. p. 368.]

[Footnote 122: _Cf._ the "Commission of the Commissioners for the West
Indian Expedition." (Narrative of Gen. Venables, p. 109.)]

[Footnote 123: _Cf._ American Hist. Review, vol. iv. p. 228;
"Instructions unto Gen. Robt. Venables." (Narrative of Gen. Venables, p.
111.)]

[Footnote 124: _Cf._ Narrative of Gen. Venables, pp. 3, 90;
"Instructions unto Generall Penn," etc., _ibid._, p. 107.

After the outbreak of the Spanish war, Cromwell was anxious to clear his
government of the charges of treachery and violation of international
duties. The task was entrusted to the Latin Secretary, John Milton, who
on 26th October 1655 published a manifesto defending the actions of the
Commonwealth. He gave two principal reasons for the attempt upon the
West Indies:--(1) the cruelties of the Spaniards toward the English in
America and their depredations on English colonies and trade; (2) the
outrageous treatment and extermination of the Indians. He denied the
Spanish claims to all of America, either as a papal gift, or by right of
discovery alone, or even by right of settlement, and insisted upon both
the natural and trea