mbus on its shores. Many years after that we find its Spanish settlers
oppressing all the English that fell into their hands. This was the case,
in fact, all through the West Indies, English seamen being put in the
stocks, sent to the galleys, or murdered outright.

It took the sturdy directness of Oliver Cromwell to put an end to these
outrages. He sent word to the Spanish minister that there must be a stop
put to the practices of the Inquisition and to the restriction of free
navigation in the West Indies. The minister replied, that to ask for these
two things was "to ask for his master's two eyes," and that no such thing
could be allowed. Cromwell's reply was to the point:

"I know of no title that the Spaniards hath but by force, which by the
same title may be repelled. And as to the first discovery--to me it seems
as little reason that the sailing of a Spanish ship upon the coast of
India should entitle the king of Spain to that country as the sailing of
an Indian or English ship upon the coast of Spain should entitle either
the Indians or the English to the dominion thereof. The Spaniards have
contravented the Treaty of 1630. War must needs be justifiable when peace
is not allowable."

This reply was certainly one marked by sound logic and good sense. It was
the rule of force, not of right, that lay behind all claims to dominion in
America, and this rule could be set aside by superior force. So Cromwell
sent out a great fleet under command of Admiral Penn,--father of William
Penn, the settler of Pennsylvania,--with a land force commanded by General
Venables. The first attempt was made upon Hispaniola. Failing here, the
fleet sailed to Jamaica, where the Spaniards surrendered on the 11th of
May, 1655. They tried to take it back again shortly before Cromwell's
death, but did not succeed, and Jamaica has remained an English island
from that day to this.

This is about all we need say by way of preface, except to remark that
many settlers were sent to Jamaica, and the island soon became well
peopled and prosperous, Port Royal, its principal harbor, coming to be the
liveliest city in the West Indies. It was known as the wickedest city as
well as the richest, and when an earthquake came in 1692, and Port Royal,
with the sandy slope on which it was built, slipped into the sea with all
its dwellings, warehouses and wealth, and numbers of its people, the
disaster was looked upon by many as a judgment from heaven. There i