So well concerted were the prince's measures, that, in three days,
above four hundred transports were hired; the army quickly fell down
the rivers and canals from Nimeguen; the artillery, arms, stores, and
horses, were embarked; and the prince set sail from Helvoet-Sluice,
with a fleet of near five hundred vessels, and an army of above fourteen
thousand men. He first encountered a storm, which drove him back: but
his loss being soon repaired, the fleet put to sea under the command
of Admiral Herbert, and made sail with a fair wind towards the west of
England. The same wind detained the king's fleet in their station near
Harwich, and enabled the Dutch to pass the Straits of Dover without
opposition. Both shores were covered with multitudes of people, who,
besides admiring the grandeur of the spectacle, were held in anxious
suspense by the prospect of an enterprise, the most important which,
during some ages, had been undertaken in Europe. The prince had a
prosperous voyage, and landed his army safely in Torbay on the fifth of
November, the anniversary of the gunpowder treason.
The Dutch army marched first to Exeter; and the prince's declaration was
there published. That whole county was so terrified with the executions
which had ensued upon Monmouth's rebellion, that no one for several days
joined the prince.
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