of Affairs and well it had been had it been Demolished that very day in which 't was Delivered to the English However it being then thought of great Concern to the Nation in respect of our Streights Trade we maintained for that end a strong Garrison in it and had at last something of Trade but enlarging our Borders a little further in the Countrey than the Moors were willing to give us leave we drew down all their Force upon us who with Numerous Armys invested the Place and assisted by some Wicked Renegades press'd it very vigorously For the relief whereof the brave Earl of Ossery designing was taken sick and Dyed as much lamented as 't was possible just as he was entering on the Voyage Hither then was Admiral Herbert sent with a Fleet under his Command to assist our People there And action enough he found both by Sea and Land attending him by Sea in a very smart Rencounter with several Turkish Men of War most or all of which were there Taken Burnt or Stranded after a Desperate Resistance But by Land the Service was if possible yet warmers for upon some Sally and other action between the Moors and the Town the Admiral not only drew his Ships near the Shoar firing incessantly on the Infidels and doing thereby very good Service but also I ended a good number of Seamen who Sallied with the Garrison against the Besiegers and gave the Black Gentlemen such Entertainment as they never before met with in their Lives throwing themselves into and over all their Lines and Trenches and piercing into the very Heart of their Camp afterwards Retreating again though not without loss yet with Incomparable Bravery and much Honour being favour'd by the Spanish Horse who really stood to it to some purpose or else they had probably been very ill dealt with by the Enemy After business there dispatch'd the Admiral 's returned with his Fleet for England continuing in the same Station till King James his Reign All Europe rung of King James's Famous Declaration for Liberty of Conscience about this time published to the World and of those methods he used in porsuance thereof to get all those Laws Repeal'd which were inseperable Obstacles to the same Officers Civil and Military were every where Canvass'd and now was the time when this King who is Notorious for having never been worse than his word was resolved to requite all the old Faithful Servants to the Crown and him He was indeed resolved to have two Strings to his Bow to alter the Government as hath been said both Civil and Military That if he cou'd not by the Gown he might by the Sword obtain his Desires Nay so fully bent were they on these Pernicious Councils that some of the fam'd Regulators themselves have no Blush to say though 't is hoped they may to read this since they are yet alive That if the Parliament wou'd not Repeal the Penal Laws the King had another way and Forty Thousand Men should do it without him To this end Sea-Officers were attackt as well as those at Land and among many other great Men and great Favourites for the Truth is the Court had then small respect of Persons Vice-Admiral Herbert lost his place and kept his Honour being proof against all the Insinuations that could be made to oblige him to betray the Nation And some time after left his Ungrateful Master for good and all and betook himself to the Court of the then Prince of Orange together with other Nobler Lords for indeed that then seemed the English Court and Whitehall one of the old Irish Kings Tendragee or some of their Forlorn Mountains In whose Court at the Hague he remain'd till the happy Fate of England required the Princes presence here with whom he came into the Quality of an Admiral Whatever has happen'd since 't is Notorious no man cou'd be better beloved by the Seamen than he was at that time His Health was drank by Sea and Land and the Prince of Orange himself was seldom named but Admiral Herbert was with him whose Letter after the Princes to the English Fleet may be supposed to have had no small Influence on them both to prevent their Engaging the Dutch and hasten their joyning the Princes as many of 'em afterwards did And indeed so memorable a piece of History is that Letter of his that it ought not to be omitted in a piece of this Nature and one of the very Original Printed Letters sent then to some Officer in the Fleet coming to our hands we shall here verbatim insert the same TO ALL Commanders of Ships and Seamen in His Majesty's Fleet. Gentlemen I Have little to add to what His Highness has exprest in general Terms besides laying before you the Dangerous way you are at present in where Ruine or Infamy must inevitably attend you if you do not joyn with the Prince in the Common Cause for the defence of your Religion and Liberties for should it please God for the Sins of the English Nation to suffer your Arms to prevail to what can your Victory serve you but to inslave you deeper and overthrow the true Religion in which you have Lived and your Fathers Dye of which I beg you as a Friend to consider the Consequences and to reflect on the Blot and Infamy it will bring on you not only now but in all after-Ages that by your means the Protestant Religion was destroy'd and your Country depriv'd of its Ancient Liberties and if it pleases God to Bless the Princes Endeavours with Success as I do not doubs but he will consider then what their Condition will be that oppose him in this so good a Design where the greatest Favour they can hope for is their being suffer'd to end their Days in Misery and Want Detested and Despised by all good Men. It is therefore and for many more Reasons too long to insert here that I as a true Englishman and your Friend exhort you to joyn your Arms to the Prince for the defence of the Common Cause the Protestant Religion and the Liberties of your Countries It is what I am well assured the Major and best part of the Army as well as the Nation will do so soon as convenience is offer'd Prevent them in so good an Action while it is in your power and make it appear That as the Kingdom has always depended on the Navy for its defence so you will yet go further by making it as much as in you lies the Protection of her Religion and Liberties and then you may assure your self of all Marks of Favour and Honour suitable to the Merits of so Glorious an Action After this I ought not to add so inconsiderable a thing as that it will for ever engage me to be in a most particular Manner Your Faithful Friend and Humble Servant AR. Herbert Aboard the Leyden in the Gorce What effect this handsome Letter had upon the Fleet has been already observed and
An Impartial ACCOUNT Of Some REMARKABLE PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF ARTHUR EARL of TORRINGTON TOGETHER With some Modest REMARKS ON HIS Tryal and Acquitment London Printed for Robert Fowler 1691. THE PREFACE IT is not perhaps very easie to find any one Person beneath the degree of a Sovereign Prince whose Name has for this last Year at least made greater noise in Europe than my Lord Torrington's the subject of this present History We have seen Mercuries and Gazetts publick and private Letters and even some whole Books and Pamphlets fill'd up with little else than his History and censures upon his Actions relating to the late Fight at Sea between the Fleet of the French Dutch and English all which different Nations have given some Accounts thereof and yet they have all been received by the Publick with great satisfaction and greediness It may not therefore 't is hoped be less acceptable to publish a Short and Impartial Account of the entire Life and Actions of that Noble Lord as far as the Memoirs thereof have come to Hand which we promise to perform with as much Decency and Faithfulness as is possible relating only meer matter of Fact grounded for the most part on publick Prints and Authentick Instruments or at least the Attestations of such as have been personally present in the Actions hereafter mentioned Indeed a good Historian ought to be the greatest Trimmer in the World as he must be if Truth and he are together for that is generally divided and one party monopolizes her Accordingly tho' perhaps never was there yet Writer who did not really lean more to one Party than another nor would it look other than ridiculous for him who is engaged in this present Design to pretend an Exemption from that common Fate of all Mankind He 'll yet engage thus much that no Man shall by what he here writes discover what Party he favours he resolving with as much Justice and Calmness as possible according to all Reflections and Refinings on matter of Fact usual with the most of Writers to relate that bare and naked as he has receiv'd it and where the Relators differ truly to represent what is pretended on either hand leaving the Reader upon the whole to make what Judgement he thinks fit of what is here fairly laid before him By His Humble Servant c. THE LIFE of the E. of TORRINGTON The INTRODUCTION NOthing in the whole course of Nature generally speaking can be more uncertain and variable than the Fortunes of great Men. There was reason enough for that ingenious wish of a very good Man God help poor Kings for if ever their subordinate Ministers have such a weight of business on their Shoulders and it's success so doubtful and uncertain and the Prince too must be reflected on for the Misfortunes or Crimes of those he employes he has sure such a weary Life on 't that he rather ought to be Pity'd than Envy'd But the best is supposing Fortune frowns at one time ten to one but from her very natural inconstancy she continues not long in that temper but smiles again as merrily as ever and then those who are her Favorites are so to all the World and whether or no the people think God loves 'em because they love good Fortune as a late Philosopher tells us 't is certain they themselves do so most of Mankind having a touch of the Turkish Religion and Policy if a Man prospers he 's brave and deserves Preferment if he does not he 's all the Rogues in the World and deserves the Bowstring Thus to bring all to the Point a few days since we cou'd never hear a certain great Man's name mention'd but with a Curse or two or at least a hearty wish at the end on 't whereas now he 's found innocent of what he has been charg'd with not a Coffee-house but is full of his Compurgators and Defenders and every one is ready to pay him as much Civility and Compliments as the Ships did in his triumphal return to London Tho' nothing more likely than that had his Fate been otherwise than thus prosperous some of those very Persons wou'd have been as forward as any to have thrown up their Hats when they stood round his Scaffold Much like the pleasant account that Roman-Oldham I mean as Juvinal gives us of that great Favourite Sejanus when he fell all the weight and fury of the people fell after him or rather upon him whereas had he had success in his Enterprise Hac ipsa Sejanum diceret hora Augustum Somewhat like the Reverse of which we have just seen practised in the case before us Tho' after all it must be confest that such mean affections as these only touch at least so strongly the weak and base Vulgar be they the great or small while a Man of true worth stands intrepid and-unmov'd when himself is in danger and after having made a calm and sober judgment of Persons and Things is never alter'd by circumstances foreign to the Essence of the Cause which may afterwards happen Had those thoughts been met with in any other place then the Introduction to my Lord Torrington's Life I yet fancy they are so natural on the Subject any one wou'd have guest 'em design'd for that purpose But we must leave building the Porch and conduct the Reader into the House wherein tho' we shant pretend to shew him what wou'd be neither worth his while nor ours every Closet Cellar and particular Corner yet we 'l endeavour to pass by no considerable or beautiful part of it without his view I mean take care to inform him in all the most remarkable and notable transactions of My Lord Torrington's Life tho' omitting smaller Circumstances not so well worthy notice especially since there is matter enough before us of such a nature as will scarce fail of giving very good direction and entertainment to the curious Reader The Family from whence he there took his Original was Genteel if not Noble and had some Estate belonging to it being related to a Noble Lord of the same name What fortune his other Brothers had is not much to our purpose to enquire nor some unhappy circumstances which concern'd a nearer Relation The actions of his own Life being only our immediate Province Suffice it therefore that the way he pitch'd upon to enlarge his Fortunes and make 'em equal to his mind was Sea-Service which had rais'd so many brave Men to Honours and Estates and to which he it seems had a more particular inclination than any other way of Life In pursuance of which Resolution by the favour of the then Duke of York who profess'd a more than ordinary kindness to him till on the Test business he serv'd him as he did all the rest of his Friends He had his desire and after having pass'd the Rudiments of that Art under experienc'd Teachers obtain'd himself a Commission And the first he had if I am not
the Event sufficiently declared for had the English fallen upon the Dutch in their Passage hither they might at least have in all probability have ruin'd the Expedition if not the Fleet there being so vast a number of Transport Vessels c. Most of which in a sharp Fight must have been unavoidably Destroyed But Providence had it seems design'd better things for the English Nation For at this time the then Prince of Orange Embark'd with his Army for our Deliverance on a vast number of Vessels Men of War Tenders Transport Ships and all no less than Seven Hundred Sail Commanded by Vice Admiral Herbert Not to mention what relates not immediatly to his Life as the Storm which disordered 'em at their first setting out and the consequences thereof known to all Europe two things only may deserve a particular remark in this Affair On the happy mistake of the Princes Fleet as we find it related in the Account given of that Expedition Which tells us that the second Night after their setting out in the middle of the Night an Advice-Boat brought an Account that the English Fleet consisting of Thirty Three Sail lay to the Westward of Theirs Upon which the Prince Fired a Gun which caus'd a great Consternation in the whole Fleet they having then a brisk Easterly Wind concluding themselves in great danger But the small Advice Boats Crusing for a more certain Account of the English soon brought VVord that instead of the English Fleet which the former Advices had Allarmed them with it was only Admiral-Herbert with part of their own Fleet which had been Sailing seperated some hours from their main Body on whose Arrival any one may guess whether they were pleas'd a Signal of Joy being immediately given on Board the General who soon after ordered Admiral Herbet and the other Admirals a Board him to Council And now indeed 't was time for the English Fleet were never no farther from 'em than the Buoy in the Nore VVhere the other considerable Remarks in this Voyage relating to Herbert comes in That those Arguments which he used with the English Seamen as it appears wrought so much with them that not the least attempt was made by the Fleet on the Prince as it passed by them tho' in more places than one particularly between Dover and Callis he drew it in a Line making as is said by those who saw it one of the most Glorious Sights that ever was beheld from the Cliffs of Callis or Dover From hence they stood away to the VVestward and upon the never to be forgotten and now doubly memorable Fifth of November in the as memorable Year Eighty Eight Landed at Torbay in Devonsheire without the least Opposition appearance of any Enemy where we leave the Prince to that glorious Fate attending him and which soon after fixed on his Head one of the brightest Crowns in Europe and return to the Vice-Admiral the more especial Subject of the present History and the Marrine Affairs with the Fate of the English Fleet so closely intermixed with his Life that they cannot be separated Among whom as has been already mentioned their Love to their Country and esteem for the Prince and his Admiarls wrought so strongly that the honest Seamen were so far from opposing their great design that as soon as opportunity was given they came in by whole Squadrons to asist in it Reading the Princes Declaration on Board most of their Ships the first that did it to their eternal Honour being the New Then in Plymouth Road Captain Churchil Cammander afterwards of the Pendenis unhappily lost on the Kentish Knock about a Twelve month since And indeed so Unanimous were the Seamen that if possible the Revolution was perform'd with more ease and less Blood among them then with us at Land there having not been that ever cou'd be heard of one Gun fired on the behalf of King James nor I think one Ship which stuck to his Party and but a very few Infamous Apostates and Renegades from their Country and Religion not many even of Private Persons which were not honest and firm to that Cause which all Europe was Embarkt in And over such a Fleet and such Men as these my Lord Dartmouth either laying down his Commission or being removed was Mr. Herbert then appointed Admiral And indeed 't was now high time our Fleet should be abroad for Ireland being wholly in the Enemys hand 't was not otherwise to be expected then that the French shou'd use their utmost Effects to give us there the strongest Diversion possible and to assist the Rebels with all their power Accordingly they set out from Brest in the Month of April 1688. with a Fleet of upward of Thirty Sail besides Fire-Ships and Tenders loaden with Arms Money Ammunition and Provision and some few Men most of 'em Voluntiers and some stragling English Refugees resolved to be crush'd with their Masters desperate Fortunes These ours being not abroad soon enough to attend 'em they Landed at a place called Bantry-Bay in Ireland which lies upon the _____ point of that Kingdom between _____ and _____ and takes its Name from a little Town so call'd scituated in the bottom of it The Bay it self is large and capacious and had room enough in it for the greatest Fleets either to Fight or run away the latter of which as the event stood the French were the most inclined to though they will pretend we have since that followed their example The Admiral himself was embarqued on the Elizabeth and had with him the Pendenis the Cambridge the Advice the St. David the Dartmouth the Antelope and the Portland with others to the number of in all The Dread-nought having been sent away and the Ruby Captain Froude Commander gone with a Prize to Milford-haven which by the Admiral 's order he took out of Cork-haven The publick account of the Bantre-bay Action dated the second of May 1689. from on board the Admiral is to this purpose That Admiral Herbert having refitted at Milford-haven the Damages which some of his Ships had sustained by ill weather on the Coast of Ireland intended to go directly for Brest but the Wind coming Easterly which might bring the French Fleet out he stood on the 24 th past over to Kinsale which he judg'd the likeliest way to meet them That accordingly on the 29 th our Scouts made signal that they discovered a Fleet keeping their Wind which made us likeise wkeep ours all night to hinder them from getting into Kinsale The 30 th they heard the Enemy was gone into Baltimore being 44 Sail whereupon ours bore away to that place but found there was no sign of them That in the Evening our Scouts got sight of them again to the Westward of Copeclear We steer'd after them and found they were got into the Bantre we lay off the Bay all night and the next morning by break of day stood in where we found them at Anchor That they