been stragglers knowing themselves to be subjects of the Protectorate.[2] III.  THE WEST INDIES.  The Bermudas or Summer Islands had been English since 1612, and had now a considerable population of opulent settlers, attracted by their beauty and the salubrity of the climate; Barbadoes, English since 1605, and with a population of more than 50,000, had been a refuge of Royalists, but had been taken for the Commonwealth in 1652, and had been much used of late for the reception of banished prisoners; such other Islands of the Lesser Antilles as Antigua, Nevis, Montserrat, and the Virgin Islands, together with The Bahamas, to the north of Cuba, had been colonised in the late reign; and Jamaica had been Cromwell’s own conquest from the Spaniards, by Penn’s blunder, in 1655.  The war with Spain had given new importance to those West India possessions of the Protectorate.  They had become war-stations for ships, with considerable armed forces on some of them; and some of Cromwell’s best officers had been sent out, or were to be sent out, to command in them.  Of them all Jamaica was Cromwell’s pet island.  He had resolved to keep it and do his best with it.  The charge of it had been given to a commission consisting of Admiral Goodson, Major-General Fortescue, Major-General Sedgwick (the recaptor of Nova Scotia from the French), and Daniel Serle, Governor of Barbadoes; and Fortescue and Sedgwick, and others in succession, were to die at their posts there.  To have the rich island colonised at once with the right material was the Protector’s great anxiety; and his first thoughts on that subject, as soon as he had learnt that the Island was his, had issued in a most serious modification of his former offer to the New Englanders.  As they had refused to come back and colonise Ireland, would they not accept Jamaica?  “He did apprehend the people of New England had as clear a call to transport themselves thence to Jamaica as they had had from England to New England, in order to the bettering of their outward condition;” besides which, their removal thither would have a “tendency to the overthrow of the Man of Sin.”  They should be transported free of cost; they should have lands rent-free for seven years, and after that at a penny an acre; they should be free from customs, excise, or any tax for four years; they should have the most liberal constitution that could be framed:  only his Highness would keep the right of appointing the successive Governors and their Assistants.  The answer of the Massachusetts people, when it did arrive, was evasive.  They spoke of the reported unhealthiness of Jamaica, and they assured Ms Highness of their admiration, their gratitude, and their prayers.  The answer had not been received at the date we have reached (Sept. 1656), and the Protector still cherished his idea.  As it proved, the New Englanders were to remain New Englanders, and Jamaica was to be colonised slowly and with less select material.[3]