nd multitudes of the English,
Scottish, and Irish royalists, who had been transported thither as
prisoners of war. When they reached Hispaniola, Venables numbered ten
thousand men under his command; and, had the fleet boldly entered the
harbour of St. Domingo, it was believed that the town, unprepared for
resistance, must have immediately submitted. But the greater part of the
army was landed[b] at a point about forty miles distant, the expectations
of the men were disappointed by a proclamation, declaring that the plunder
was to be considered the public property of the commonwealth; the length of
the march, the heat of the climate, and the scarcity of water added to the
general discontent, and almost a fortnight elapsed before the invaders were
able to approach[c] the defences of the place. Their march lay through a
thick and lofty wood; and the advance suddenly found itself in front of a
battery which enfiladed the road to a considerable distance. On the first
discharge, the men rushed back on a regiment of foot; that, partaking in
the panic, on a squadron of

[Footnote 1: See in particular Blake's letters in Thurloe, iii. 232, 392,
541, 611, 620, 718; iv. 19. He complains bitterly of the bad state of the
ships, and of the privations suffered by the men, from the neglect of the
commissioners of the navy. The protector's instructions to him are in
Thurloe, i. 724.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1654. Jan. 29.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1654. April.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1654. April 25.]

horse; and, while the infantry and cavalry were thus wedged together in
inextricable confusion, the Spanish marksmen kept up a most destructive
fire from behind the trees lining the road. After a long effort, the wood
was cleared by a body of seamen who served among the infantry, and darkness
put an end to the action, in which not fewer than a thousand men had
fallen. In the morning the English retired to their last encampment, about
ten miles from the town.

Here Venables called a council of officers, who, having previously sought
the Lord, determined[a] to "purge" the army. Some of the runaways were
hanged; the officer who commanded the advance was broken, and sent on board
the hospital ship to wait on the sick; the loose women who had followed the
army were apprehended and punished; and a solemn fast was proclaimed and
observed. But no fasting, praying, or purging could restore the spirits of
men humbled by defeat, enfeebled by disease, and reduced t