88 THE COMMONWEALTH 
Stornoway, in the island of Mull, in the Orkneys, and in 
Shetland, Colonel Cobbett being ordered to ‘‘make a compleate 
conquest.” 1 Cromwell’s chief fear was that the Dutch 
might attempt an invasion of the Lewis; Lilburne, however, 
thought it much more likely that they would concentrate 
their attack upon Shetland, where was “their constant 
correspondence going and coming.” Since the Dutch some- 
times had as many as “ 1800 saile in and about Birssie Sound 
in Shetland,” he was of opinion that a fort upon the Sound 
would prove a great obstacle to the Dutch fishers and 
traders, particularly if he could have the support of a few 
vessels of war.2 As a result of these representations, the 
Council of State gave orders for the establishment of forts 
at various points on the Shetland islands, granting £4000 
towards the cost of these and other fortifications in Scotland.? 
Although Lilburne, with the small body of troops at his 
command, was hard put to it to secure the safety of his 
numerous garrisons, and although the English fleet was so 
fully employed in conflict with the Dutch in the Channel 
that Middleton could send supplies to the Scottish royalists 
at pleasure,* the Dutch were likewise too much occupied in 
the great struggle to render any efficient aid to the royalist 
rising, and the measures taken by the Council sufficed to 
avert the fear of invasion. 
The Treaty of Westminster, April 1654, ended this war, 
and enabled the Dutch fishing fleet again to put to sea, but 
frequent complaints were still made of outrages committed 
by armed vessels on both sides. In September, 1656, an 
incident took place which is typical of the intolerant methods 
practised by both Dutch and English. The Dutchmen 
engaged in the herring fishery near Yarmouth were ordered 
1 Scotland and the Commonwealth, Firth, pp. xlix, 186-189, 202, 221, 275; 
Act, Parl. Scotland, vol. vi. 2, p. 908. 
2 Ibid. pp. 226-7. 8 Ibid. pp. 228 n., 258. 
4 Ibid. pp. 238, 290, 308. 
