ing was effected at a point to the west of San Domingo,
and the army, suffering terribly from a tropical sun and lack of water,
marched thirty miles through woods and savannahs to attack the city. The
English received two shameful defeats from a handful of Spaniards on
17th and 25th April, and General Venables, complaining loudly of the
cowardice of his men and of Admiral Penn's failure to co-operate with
him, finally gave up the attempt and sailed for Jamaica. On 11th May, in
the splendid harbour on which Kingston now stands, the English fleet
dropped anchor. Three small forts on the western side were battered by
the guns from the ships, and as soon as the troops began to land the
garrisons evacuated their posts. St. Jago, six miles inland, was
occupied next day. The terms offered by Venables to the Spaniards (the
same as those exacted from the English settlers on Providence Island in
1641--emigration within ten days on pain of death, and forfeiture of all
their property) were accepted on the 17th; but the Spaniards were soon
discovered to have entered into negotiations merely to gain time and
retire with their families and goods to the woods and mountains, whence
they continued their resistance. Meanwhile the army, wretchedly equipped
with provisions and other necessities, was decimated by sickness. On the
19th two long-expected store-ships arrived, but the supplies brought by
them were limited, and an appeal for assistance was sent to New England.
Admiral Penn, disgusted with the fiasco in Hispaniola and on bad terms
with Venables, sailed for England with part of his fleet on 25th June;
and Venables, so ill that his life was despaired of, and also anxious to
clear himself of the responsibility for the initial failure of the
expedition, followed in the "Marston Moor" nine days later. On 20th
September both commanders appeared before the Council of State to answer
the charge of having deserted their posts, and together they shared the
disgrace of a month in the Tower.[120]

The army of General Venables was composed of very inferior and
undisciplined troops, mostly the rejected of English regiments or the
offscourings of the West Indian colonies; yet the chief reasons for the
miscarriage before San Domingo were the failure of Venables to command
the confidence of his officers and men, his inexcusable errors in the
management of the attack, and the lack of cordial co-operation between
him and the Admiral. The difficulties