Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/321

 one of the ‘commissioners for ordering and managing the affairs of the admiralty and navy.’

So long as the war with Holland lasted Penn had acquiesced in Cromwell's usurpation of the supreme power. But when peace was happily concluded, he resolved to address the legitimate sovereign; and in the summer of 1654 wrote to the king, offering the services of the fleet about to be placed under his command, if he could name any port in which it might assemble. Charles could not then dispose of any such port, and directed him to proceed on his voyage and wait for a more favourable opportunity (, ii. 14). On 9 Oct. he was formally appointed general and commander-in-chief of the fleet designed and prepared for America, and was directed, in conjunction with General Robert Venables [q. v.], in command of the troops embarked in the fleet, ‘to assault the Spaniard in the West Indies,’ either in St. Domingo, Porto Rico, Cartagena, or in such other places as, after consultation with those ‘who have a particular knowledge of those parts,’ shall be judged more reasonable. The fleet sailed from Spithead on 25 Dec. 1654, and arrived at Barbados on 29 Jan. 1655. There they remained for two months, regulating the affairs of the island, enlisting additional men as soldiers, and forming a regiment of seamen, of which the vice-admiral, William Goodsonn [q. v.], was appointed colonel. The expedition sailed from Barbados on 31 March, and, after touching at Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis, and St. Christopher's, came on 13 April in sight of the city of St. Domingo, and landed about thirty miles to the westward of it. After a delay of ten days the army, numbering in all about seven thousand men, marched against the city, and on the 25th was ‘shamefully repulsed.’ With that, however, Penn seems to have had nothing to do. He had brought the soldiers to the landing-place, had reinforced them with a regiment of seamen one thousand strong, and had kept them supplied with provisions and military stores. For the delay, the repulse, and the determination to re-embark, Venables and his staff were alone responsible; and though a persistent attempt was afterwards made to throw the blame on Penn, and the want of cordial co-operation, which has led to much misrepresentation (, Transactions at Sea, p. 392), the original letter of Gregory Butler (, ii. 50), one of the commissioners, and the ‘Journal of the Swiftsure’ (ib. ii. 88), conclusively disprove the injurious statements.

On 3 May the fleet sailed from Hispaniola, and on the 10th entered the harbour of Jamaica, Penn leading in the Swiftsure; for after the miscarriage of Hispaniola he was heard to say ‘he would not trust the army with the attempt if he could come near with his ships.’ The troops landed the same night, and the next day took possession of the town without opposition. On the 17th the whole island surrendered, and Penn, after waiting a month for the establishment of order, sailed for England on 27 June with the principal part of the fleet, leaving the command of the remainder with Goodsonn. On 31 Aug. he arrived at Spithead, on 3 Sept. was ordered to take the ships round to Chatham, and on the 11th to attend the council the next day. He accordingly attended on the 12th, delivered a narrative of the proceedings of the fleet, and was examined touching its state and condition and the natural qualities of Jamaica (, iv. 28). On the 20th, having examined Venables, who had also returned to England, the council advised that they should both be committed to the Tower, which was done at once.

The cause of this arrest has never been made clear. On the face of it, it was for returning home without leave. It has been said that they were sent out expressly to capture Hispaniola and had not done so. But their instructions show that this was not the case. It has been said that Cromwell was furious at a comparatively small island being the only result of a costly expedition; but this is improbable, for his proclamation regarding it shows that he was well aware of its value. Granville Penn thinks that the Protector had information of Penn's having written to the king, but the arrest was made on the advice of the council, who certainly had no such information, and it does not appear that Venables had made any overtures. It is, perhaps, most likely that the council gathered from their evidence that the relations between them had not been so cordial as the good of the service demanded, and judged that a short imprisonment would correct the bitterness of their tempers. It was only for a few weeks, and on Penn's making an abject submission (Cal. State Papers, Dom. p. 396) he was released on 25 Oct., and retired to the estate in Munster, which had been conferred on him in 1653, and there he remained in secret correspondence with the royalists until the eve of the Restoration.

In May 1660 he was with Mountagu in the Naseby at Scheveling (, 22 May), though in what capacity is not apparent. That he was not a mere passenger, as is supposed by Granville Penn, is clear from