THE ISLES AND THE COMMONWEALTH. 349 



This news greatly dispirited the Royalists, who had 

 counted upon the Dutch resistance creating a situation 

 calculated to favour their projected campaign, if not, 

 indeed, upon the active assistance of the States. The 

 want of funds at the disposal of Glencairn also consti- 

 tuted a serious source of concern, while the tactics of the 

 enemy in waiting to be attacked, instead of assuming the 

 offensive, weakened the fighting ardour of the clansmen. 

 The result was that the army which had lately formed so 

 formidable a threat to the continued occupation of the 

 English, melted away, like snow when the rays of the sun 

 beat upon it. 



Meanwhile, Colonel Cobbet was making a long voyage 

 to Lewis, the weather being unfavourable. The protracted 

 passage, coupled with the general movement on foot for 

 driving the English out of the country, gave fresh courage 

 to the Lewismen, who were afforded ample time to 

 prepare for resistance. Lilburn reported to Cromwell, on 

 6th August, that the men in Lewis were up in arms to 

 fight Cobbet. A fleet of twenty or twenty-five Dutch 

 warships was reported to be on the north coast of Scot- 

 land, and it was believed that they were lying in wait for 

 Cobbet's fleet, in order to obstruct his passage to Lewis ; a 

 belief which may have been shared by the Lewismen 

 themselves. Whether these were phantom warships, or 

 whether Cobbet managed to elude them, he had no 

 encounter with Dutchmen during his voyage. When, on 

 1 6th August, the English fleet hove in sight off Storno- 

 way, it was found that the Lewismen had evacuated 

 their fort, the strength of the English being probably 

 greater than they had anticipated. The official report 

 assigns no reason for the sudden collapse of the antici- 

 pated resistance. With military terseness, Lilburn 

 merely states that the defenders quitted the fort and 

 the town of Stornoway, and fled to the hills. But 

 supplementary details are supplied in a letter dated at 

 Stornoway, 7th September, written, apparently, by one of 

 Cobbet's officers. He informs us that on the advance of 



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