s and given to their rivals in
Holland; and the saints believed that the failure of the expedition to
Hispaniola was a sufficient proof that Heaven condemned this breach of the
amity between the two states. It was to little purpose that Cromwell, to
vindicate his conduct, published a manifesto, in which, having enumerated
many real or pretended injuries and barbarities inflicted on Englishmen by
the Spaniards in the West Indies, he contended that the war was just, and
honourable, and necessary. His enemies, royalists, Levellers, Anabaptists,
and republicans, of every description, did not suffer the clamour against
him to subside; and, to his surprise, a request was made[a] by some of the
captains of another fleet collected at Portsmouth, to be informed of
the object of the expedition. If it were destined against Spain, their
consciences would compel them to decline the

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1657. March 2.]

service. Spain was not the offending party; for the instances of aggression
enumerated in the manifesto[a] were well known to have been no more than
acts of self-defence against the depredations and encroachments of English
adventurers.[1] To suppress this dangerous spirit, Desborough hastened to
Portsmouth: some of the officers resigned their commissions, others were
superseded, and the fleet at length sailed[b] under the joint command
of Blake and Montague, of whom the latter possessed the protector's
confidence, and was probably employed as a spy on the conduct of his
colleague. Their destination in the first place was Cadiz, to destroy the
shipping in the harbour, and to make an attempt on that city, or the rock
of Gibraltar. On their arrival,[c] they called a council of war; but no
pilot could be found hardy or confident enough to guide the fleet through
the winding channel of the Caraccas; and the defences of both Cadiz and
Gibraltar presented too formidable an aspect to allow a hope of success
without the co-operation of a military force.[2] Abandoning the attempt,
the two admirals proceeded[d] to Lisbon, and extorted from the king
of Portugal the ratification of the treaty formerly concluded by his
ambassador, with the payment of the stipulated sum of fifty thousand
pounds. Thence they returned[e] to Cadiz, passed the straits, insulted the
Spaniards in Malaga, the Moors in Sallee, and after a fruitless cruise
of more than two mouths, anchored[f] a second time in the Tagus.[3] It
happened, that just after their a