Sentence:  For that the Protestants were then on the winning <WSD>hand</WSD>, it must needs be plain; who, notwithstanding the miss of those forces, which at their landing here mastered without difficulty great part of Wales and Cheshire, yet made a shift to keep their own in Ireland. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A side; part, camp; direction, either right or left.