[Footnote 1:  Of the flight of James, Clarendon makes no mention in his History.  He even seeks to persuade his reader that the duke was compelled to leave France in consequence of the secret article (iii. 610, 614; Papers, iii.  Supplement, lxxix), though it is plain from the Memoirs of James, that he left unwillingly, in obedience to the absolute command of his brother.—­James, i. 270.  Clarendon makes the enmity between himself and Berkeley arise from his opposition to Berkeley’s claim to the mastership of the Court of Wards (Hist. 440; Papers, Ibid.); James, from Clarendon’s advice to Lady Morton to reject Berkeley’s proposal of marriage.—­James, i. 273.  That the removal of Berkeley originated with Mazarin and was required by Fuensaldagna, who employed Lord Bristol and Bennet for that purpose, appears from Cromwell’s letter to the cardinal (Thurloe, v. 736); Bristol’s letter to the king (Clar.  Papers, iii. 318), and Clarendon’s account of Berkeley (ibid.  Supplement, lxxix).  See also ibid. 317-324; and the Memoirs of James, i. 366-293.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1656.  Sept. 1.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1656.  Dec. 5.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1656.  Dec. 13.] [Sidenote d:  A.D. 1656.  Dec. 16.] [Sidenote e:  A.D. 1657.  Jan. 13.]

We may now return to England, where the Spanish war had excited general discontent.  By the friends of the commonwealth Spain was considered as their most ancient and faithful ally; the merchants complained that the trade with that country, one of the most lucrative branches of British commerce, was taken out of their hands 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