while he sent a detachment of sailors in long-boats into the harbour, and burned every ship that lay there. The coasts of the Mediterranean, from one extremity to the other, rung with the renown of the English valour; and no power, Christian or Mahometan, dared to oppose the victorious Blake. The other fleet commanded by Admiral Penn, and which had four thousand troops on board, under the direction of general Venables, sailed for the West Indies; where Venables was reinforced with near five thousand militia, from the islands of Barbadoes and St. Christopher. The object of the enterprize was the conquest of Hispaniola, the most valuable island in the American archipelago. The commanders accordingly resolved to begin with the attack of St. Domingo the capital, and at that time the only place of strength in the island. On the approach of the English fleet, the intimidated Spaniards abandoned their habitations, and took refuge in the woods; but observing that the troops were imprudently landed at a great distance from the town, and seemed unacquainted with the country, they recovered their spirits; and falling upon the bewildered invaders, when exhausted with hunger, thirst, and a fatiguing march of two days, in that sultry climate, they put the whole English army to flight; killed six hundred men, and chased the rest on board their shipss1. In order to atone for this failure, Penn and Venables bent their course to Jamaica, which was surrendered to them without opposition: yet, on their return to England, the protector, in the first emotions of his disappointment, ordered them both to be sent to the tower. But Cromwell, although ignorant of the importance of the conquest he had made, took care to support it with men and moneys2; and Jamaica became a valuable accession to the English monarchy. 51. Burchet's Naval History. Thurloe, vol. iii. 52. Id ibid. No No sooner was the king of Spain informed of these unprovoked hostilities than he declared war against England, and ordered all the ships and goods, belonging A. D. 1656. to the English merchants, to be seized throughout his extensive dominions. The Spanish commerce, so profitable to England, was cut off, and an incredible number of vessels fell into the hands of the enemy. Nor were the losses of the Spaniards less considerable. An English squadron being sent to cruize off Cadiz for the Plate-fleet, took two galleons richly laden, and set on fire two others, which had run on shore53. This success proved an incentive to a bolder though a less profitable enterprize. Blake having got intelligence, that a Spanish fleet of sixteen sail, much richer than the former, had taken shelter among the Canaries, immediately steered his course thither; and found them in the bay of Santa Cruz, in a very strong posture of defence. The bay was secured by a formidable castle, and seven inferior forts in different parts of it, all united by a line of communication. Don Diego Diagues, the Spanish admiral, had moored his smaller vessels near the shore, and stationed the larger galleons farther out, with their broadsides to the sea. Rather animated than intimidated by this hostile appearance, Blake, taking advantage of a favourable wind, sailed full into the bay, and found himself in the midst of his enemies. After an obstinate dispute, the Spaniards abandoned their galleons, which were set on fire, and consumed with all their treasure; and the wind fortunately shifting, while the English fleet lay exposed to the fire of the castle, and of all the other forts, Blake was enabled to weather the bay, and left the Spaniards in astonishment at his successful temerity 54. 53. Thurloe, vol. iv. These 54. Burchet, ubi. sup. This was the last and greatest action of this gallant naval commander, who died in his way home. He was, by principle, an inflexible republican, and zeal for the interests of his country only made him A. D. 1657. These vigorous exertions rendered Cromwell's authority equally respected at home and abroad and to his honour it must be owned, that his domestic administration was as mild and equitable as his situation would permit. He again ven. tured to summon the parliament; but not trusting, as formerly, to the good will of the people, he employed all his influence to fill the house with his own creatures, and even placed guards at the door, who permitted none to enter but such as produced a warrant from his council. A majority in favour of the protector being procured by these undue means, a motion was made for investing him with the dignity of king; and, notwithstanding the opposition of the republicans, a bill to this purpose was voted, and a committee appointed to reason with him, in order to overcome his pretended scruples. The conference lasted for several days; and although Cromwell's inclination, as well as his judgment, was wholly on the side of the committee, he found himself obliged to refuse so tempting an offer. Not only the ambitious Lambert, and other officers of the army, were prepared to mutiny on such a revolution, but the protector saw himselfready to be abandoned even by those who were most intimately connected with him by family interest. Fleetwood, who had married his daughter, and Desborough his brother-in-law, actuated merely by principle, declared, if he accepted the crown, that they would instantly throw up their commissions, and should never have it in their power to serve him more55. serve under the usurper. Though past fifty years of age before he entered into military service of any kind, and near sixty before he commanded at sea, he raised the naval glory of England to a greater height than it had ever attained to in any former period. Cromwell, fully sensible of his merit, ordered him a pompous funeral at the public expence; and people of all parties, by their tears bore testimony to his valour, generosity, and public spirit. Life of Admiral Blake, by Dr. Samuel Johnson. Lives of the Admirals, vol. ii. 55. Thurloe, vol. vi. Ludlow, vol. ii. Burnet, vol. i. VOL. III. 30 Cromwell Cromwell having thus rejected the regal dignity, his friends in parliament found themselves obliged to retain the name of a commonwealth and protector: and as the government was hitherto a manifest usurpation, it was thought proper to sanctify it by a seeming choice of the people and their representatives. A new political system, under the name of an bumble petition and advice, was accordingly framed by the parliament, and presented to the protector. It differed very little from the instrument of government; but that being the work of the general officers only, was now represented as a rotten plank, upon which no man could trust himself with safety. Cromwell, therefore, accepted the bumble petition and advice, as the voluntary deed of the whole people of the three united nations; and was anew inaugurated in Westminster-hall, with great pomp and ceremony, as if his power had just taken its rise from this popular instrument56. Emboldened by the appearance of legal authority, the protector deprived Lambert and other factious officers of their commissions. Richard, his eldest son, a man of the most inoffensive, unambitious character, who had hitherto lived contentedly in the country, on a small estate, which he inherited in right of his wife, was now brought to court, introduced to public business, and generally regarded as heir to the protectorship. But the government was yet by no means settled. Cromwell, in consequence of that authority with which he was vested by the humble petition and advice, having summoned a house of peers, or persons A. D, 1658.' who were to act in that capacity, soon found that he had lost his authority among the national representatives, by exalting so many of his friends and adherents to the higher assembly. A decided majority, in the house of commons, refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of that other house, which he had established, and even questioned the legality of the authority by which it was constituted: as the humble 56. Whitlocke. Clarendon, petition petition and advice had been voted by a parliament, which lay under constraint, and was deprived by military force of a considerable number of its members. Dreading a combination between the commons and the male contents in the army, the protector, with many expressions of anger and disappointment dissolved the parliament 57. When entreated by Fleetwood, and others of his friends, not to precipitate himself into so rash a measure, he swore by the living God that they should not sit a moment longer, be the consequen ces what they might. This violent breach with the parliament left Cromwell no hopes of ever being able to establish, with general consent, a legal settlement, or to temper the military with any mixture of civil authority: and to increase his uneasiness, a conspiracy was formed against him by the millenareans in the army, under the conduct of Harrison and other discarded officers of that party. The royalists too, in conjunction with the heads of the presbyterians, were encouraged to attempt an insurrection. Both these conspiracies, by his vigilance and activity, the protector was enabled to quell; but the public discontents were so great, that he was under continual apprehensions of assassination. He never moved a step without strong guards: he wore armour under his clothes, and farther secured himself by offensive weapons. He returned from no place by the direct road, or by the same way which he went he performed every journey with hurry and precipitation he seldom lay above three nights together in the same chamber, and he never let it be known before-hand in which he intended to pass the night; nor did he trust himself in any that was not provided with a back-door, where centinels were carefully placed58. Equally uneasy in society and solitude, the protector's body began to be affected, by the perturbation of his mind, and his health seemed visibly to decline. He was seized with 57. Whitlocke. 58. Ludloe. Whitlocke. Bates. a slow |