THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND (1688-1691) RICHARD TALBOT, EARL OF TIRCONNELL. THE IRISH HOME LIBRARY. / IU Jacobite War in Ir^la^I (i 688- 1 69 41 if By CHARLES'.^'KELLY, Al IN*-.KIN0 - ' JAMES'S I J EDITED BY GEORGE NOBLVCOUNT PLUNKETT, B.L., M.R.I.A.. AND THE REV. EDM. HOGAN, S.J., F.R.U.I., Todd Professor of the Celtic Languages, Royal Irish Academy. jmsTfvKr rwTWBw xfmsWr il HffglAul LULL? M M^ SECOND EDITION. DUBLIN: SEALY, BRYERS AND WALKER (A. T. & C , L.), 94, 95 & 96 MIDDLE ABBEY STREET. 1894. - DUBLIN: PRINTED BY SEALY, BR VERS & WALKER (A. T. ft C L.) 94, 95 & 96 MIDDLE ABBEY STREET. PREFACE. HIS work, indispensable to the Irish historian, is now for the first time put before the Yf general public and in a readable form. The two previous editions, made by Crofton Croker and J. C. O'Callaghan from independent manuscripts of uncertain dates, or dates later than that of our copy, were published for the Camden and Irish Archae- ological Societies, and are hard to be got ; as they preserved the fictitious names and the peculiar spelling of the manuscripts, they could not be read with comfort by the Irish at home and abroad, for whose in- formation and entertainment this Home Library is intended. IV PREFACE. For the sake of our readers we have modernized the spelling, and, with the help of the Key appended to our MS., we give the real names of persons and places ; thus translating into plain English the " amusing pedantry " peculiar to that period, or rather imposed on the author by the necessities of the time.* We have not meddled with his statement beyond adding a few needed words in brackets. In illustration of our text we append some brief notes which are taken almost entirely from contem- porary documents, such as the Southwell and Dumont MSS., Clarke's Memoirs of James II., Macpherson's State Papers, * The following sentence, though one of the easiest, may be quoted to illustrate the crabbedness of the original manuscript. " Nisias having landed in the north of Cyprus, took the town and strong castle of Agidos, and advanced w th his army near the city of Tremithus ; but finding that Amasis was got there before him w ,h a numerous body of horse and foot, he retired hastily toLodron where he fortify'd his Camp, having the province of Lapithia behind him and the conveniency of the sea to furnish him w th provisions out of Cilicia," Cannon-balls and bullets appear as " arrows ; " ar- tillery (including mortars) ashrams and other batter- ing engines." Tribune stands usually for Colonel ; centurion f or Captain j legion for regiment; bishops are flamens ; lawyers, gownmen, &c. The Keys to the various MSS. deal only with names, and are all inaccurate in some particulars. Careful re- search, however, has enabled us to enter the names correctly. PREFACE. v Story's Wars of Ireland, the Memoires de Berwick,* etc. The Manuscript which we print was not known to previous editors; it is now at Clon- gowes Wood College, but in 1756 it was in the library of " the Dublin Residence of the Society of Jesus/' as is shown by a Latin entry on the fly-leaf. Thus it is older than the five other copies at present in evidence. It consists of thirty-three pages of foolscap, closely written in a clear and beautiful hand. It is more free from errors, crisper and more direct in language than the other MSS. Colonel O'Kelly's narrative is itself its best recommendation ; it contains the recollections and reflections of a man who took an active part in the stirring events which he records, and who is pronounced to be " a sincere patriot " by Crofton Croker, who was himself a man of Williamite sympathies. It is moreover confirmed on several impor- tant points by the Tirconnellite account, " A Light to the Blind." O'Kelly's work indeed has the distinction of being the only statement of the views held * Among our references M 0C" and " C n stand for O'Callaghan and Croker, "B." for Berwick, and " G." for the Light to the Blind, recently issued as "A Jacobite Narrative" by Dr. J. T. Gilbert, F.S.A. A 2 VI PREFACE. by the Old Irish or "Nationalists" during the war. That he was a competent witness of the occurrences of his time may be inferred from a short sketch of his career, which we give all the more readily as he is passed over in Mr. Webb's Irish Biography, and in Allibone's Dictionary. Charles 0' Kelly was born at the Castle of Aughrane, in the Co. of Galway, in 1621, and died there in 1695. He studied in Bel- gium, under the celebrated Vernulseus, fought on the Irish side against Cromwell, and afterwards served as an officer in the French and Spanish armies. At the Res- toration he returned to his estates in Ireland, which were secured to him under the Act of Settlement ; and in the Parliament of 1689 was M.P. for the County of Roscommon. Though in his 68th year, he was com- missioned to raise a regiment of infantry and defend Conn aught against the Enniskilleners; but he was defeated at Boyle, and barely escaped with his life. He was appointed to guard the Castle of Lough-glin, but was compelled to surrender on account of the defection of Balldearg O'Donnell and the superior forces of the Williamites. At Limerick he warned Sarsfield against Clif- ford, but without avail ; and though desired by Sarsfield and other leading men to in- PREFACE. Vll tervene while the treaty was under considera- tion, he was excluded by the " Peace Party." After the capitulation of Limerick he re- tired to his Castle of Aughrane, wrote his recollections of the war, and, it is said, a memoir of his whole life.* In spite of his years O'Kelly was, like most of the Old Irish, full of fight and wanted to carry on the war, and thus beat the Williamites or get better terms from them ; and in the light of subsequent events, O'Xelly seems to have been right. He was convinced of this, and hence, while sketching rapidly the incidents of the contest, he enters fully into the character and motives of the leading Jacobites who were opposed to his views. As he was particularly severe, and perhaps unjust, to Tirconnell (and somewhat to Lady Tirconnell) we think it proper to give the reader, as an antidote, a bare outline of Tirconnell' s life. Richard Talbot was born about the year 1622 at Carton in the County of Kildare, became a colonel in the French army, joined the Ormond Party in Ireland, and fought against Owen Roe O'Neill, was * These details are taken from our text and O'Callaghan's sketch of him. Vlll PREFACE. wounded at the assault of Drogheda, but was saved by a Cromwellian officer, and escaped to Flanders, where he entered the service of the Duke of York (afterwards James II.), with whom he returned to England at the Restoration. He was known as "fighting Dick Talbot." He is described by Berwick as above the ordinary stature; and Anthony Hamilton says that he was " possessed of a pure and brilliant exterior ; his manners were noble and majestic ; no one at Court had a better air." Yet he was o^er-ready to speak bold and offensive truths, and to do good offices for his countrymen ; and he was sent to the Tower for threatening Ormond on account of the injustice of the Act of Settlement. He was too good a mark to miss the attention of Titus Oates, from whose toils he escaped by timely flight. Returning to the English Court in 1684, he was made Lieutenant-General by King James, and in the following year a peer of Ireland, with the title of Earl of Tirconnell. In 1686 he became Viceroy of Ireland. In that position, to the great discontent of the Protestant party, he showed fair play, if not favour, to his Catholic countrymen. That his conduct of the war was a failure PREFACE. IX may be admitted, and is to be attributed to the infirmities* of his age of sixty- seven or seventy years, and to the difficulties of a position, in which he had to humour the French, and to reconcile the interests of the Old Irish, the Anglo-Irish and the King. We are enabled to give a facsimile of the remarkable portrait of Tirconnell in our National Gallery, by the courtesy of the Curator, Mr. Armstrong. In support of O'Kelly's strictures on James and his counsellors and allies wc may add, that, as in this narrative, so in other documents of the time, James appears variable and irresolute, intent on trifles, and in his policy (when he has a policy) more anxious to satisfy his enemies than his friends. He was under the influence of Melfort, his negligent Secretary of State. The Irish in- sisted on the dismissal of the favourite, only to see his power over James renewed, at the French Court, This Scotchman was eager for a Jacobite descent on Scotland, and his own papers show that he often urged upon James that the war in Ireland was a waste of force and money. * To King James he seemed " an old and infirm man," to Berwick he appeared to have grown 11 heavy and timorous." X PREFACE. James fled from Ireland ; Tirconnell followed ; de Lauzun and his troops were re- called while James was in France. These and many other circumstances seem to con- firm the supposition of the Old Irish that the King and his advisers meant to surrender Ireland to William. An intimate friend of Berwick's, the great Frenchman Montesquieu, says that "England looked on the war as her main business, while France engaged in it out of good nature. The English [and their allies], who had no desire for civil war at home, overwhelmed Ireland. The French officers were of the same mind as those who sent them, being bent on three things only — landing, fighting and returning home. Time has proved that the English judged more wisely than we."* * See Appendix. CONTENTS. Page LANDING OF JAMES IN IRELAND ... ... 4 DERRY ... ... ... ... ... 4 IRISH PARLIAMENT OF 1689 ... ... ... 5 MOUNTCASHEL AT ENNISKILLEN ... ... 7 LANDING OF SCHOMBERG ... ... •*... II D'AVAUX AND ROZEN RECALLED ... ... 1 5 MOUNTCASHEL SENT TO FRANCE ... ... l6 ARRIVAL OF DE LAUZUN ... ... ... l6 LANDING OF WILLIAM ... ... ... 1 7 JAMES ADVANCES FROM DUBLIN ... ... 17 THE IiOYNE... ... ... ... ... 19 JAMES LEAVES IRELAND ... ... ... 20 WILLIAM IN DUBLIN... ... ... ... 26 SURRENDER OF WATERFORD AND KILKENNY ... 26 FIRST SIEGE OF LIMERICK ... ... ... 29 SARSFIELD SURPRISES THE CONVOY ... ... 30 TIRCONNELL AT GALWAY ... ... ... 32 WILLIAM RETREATS FROM LIMERICK ... ... 35 WILLIAM LEAVES IRELAND ... ... ... 35 TIRCONNELL, DE LAUZUN, AND THE" FRENCH TROOPS LEAVE IRELAND ... ... 33, 35 BERWICK ... ... ... ... ... 36 MARLBOROUGH ... ... ... ... 43 CORK TAKEN ... ... ... ... 44 xn CONTENTS. KINSALE TAKEN THE OLD IRISH SEND DEPUTIES TO FRANCE THE STATE OF CONNAUGHT ... THE BRASS MONEY ... TREACHERY... TIRCONNELL'S RETURN ARRIVAL OF A FRENCH FLEET, WITH D'USSON AND I*E TESSE ST. RUTH ... GINKELL LOSS OF ATHLONE ... KALLDEARG O'DONNELL COUNCIL OF THE IRISH AT BALLINASLOE AUGHRIM ... DEATH OF ST. RUTH SURRENDER OF GALWAY DEFENCE OF SLIGO ... DEATH OF T1RCONNELL— HIS CHARACTER SECOND SIEGE OF LIMERICK ... CLIFFORD'S TREACHERY THE TREATY THE WILD GEESE APPENDIX ... Page 44 50 56 58 62 65 72 72 74 77 81 S3 84 $7 93 96 97 101 103 106 108 113 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. Health to the Reader. ■ N my youthful travels in Europe, I met an old manuscript in the French language, containing a brief history of the last war and conquest of Ireland, which I H|l brought along with me, and laid **£%* up among my books without W '^? taking further notice of it at that time. But of late I began to consider that some of our present transactions here in Europe seem to carry no small resem- blance with several passages in that history, which gave me the curiosity to translate it out of French into Latin. And perhaps I had the vanity to believe that my labour would not be ungrateful to others, and especially to you, courteous reader, to whom I now present it. The author was Colonel Charles O'Kelly, commonly called the Irish Patriot for the singular love he bore his country. His extraction, by the father, of an 2 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. ancient Irish family, and by the mother * of an old English race, made him equally concerned for both ; and his being an eye- witness of the most memorable actions that happened in Ireland in his own time, renders the authority of his writing unquestionable. He compiled this short treatise soon after the conquest of his country, and in his old age ; lest the fates, by cutting of the thread of his life, might dis- able him to leave a more copious relation to posterity, as he designed. He was bred, in his younger years, in that part of the Netherlands which owned the Spanish power, and conse- quently retained the Catholic Faith. There he studied rhetoric under the famous Professor of Eloquence,Vernula3Us,t in whose learned school it was a common practice to extol the worth, and celebrate the memory, of those brave heroes of former times, who generously postponed all that could be dear to them in this world, to the glory and wel- fare of their country. And this, being often inculcated by the renowned master, wrought a virtuous emulation in his disciples * His father was John O'Kelly, 8th lord of the Manor of Screen, County of Gal way ; his mother was Ismay, daughter of Sir William Hill. t O'Kelly studied in the forgotten Irish College of St. Omer's, in the Low Countries (0 % C). Ver- nulseus — properly Nicholas de Vernulz : born at Robelmont (Luxemburg), 1583; died in 1649 ; was Professor of Oratory in the University of Louvain, Royal Historiographer, etc. THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 3 to imitate the example of these great men; but particularly left such, a deep impression in the soul of ;the author (Colonel O'Kelly), that it could never be rooted out, having retained it to his dying day ; always preferring the interest of his country (next to the true worship of Almighty God) before all other considerations. And though he wanted power to prevent the fatal conquest, for which no man could be more sensibly afflicted, he had, however, this com- fort in the common calamity, to make it appear to the world, even by this brief epitome, that the loss of Ireland cannot be justly imputed to the cowardice or infidelity of the natives, but rather to the wrong politics of a weak Prince, influencing some of the noblemen and chief officers, whilst the generality of the Irish wanted neither re- solution nor courage to defend their dear country, and, what they held much more dear, the religion of their ancestors. It was about the latter end of autumn when William of Orange invaded England, and it was mid-winter when poor King James II. was forced to make his escape into France. The season being then fitter for consultation than action, he stayed there with his virtuous Queen till towards the beginning of spring, when, taking leave of her, and of King Louis XIV., who furnished him with a consider- able sum of money,* he was wafted over in a * 500,000 crowns. 4 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. stately French fleet * into Ireland, where he was received with all the demonstrations of a real and hearty welcome, that could be expected from the best of subjects, and the most zealous professors of the true Faith, all degrees, ages, and sexes unanimously concurring to express their unfeigned joy. The Viceroy, Tirconnell, with a gallant troop of the nobility, met him near Cork, and conducted him with great pomp and magnificence to the capital city of Dublin. The whole of Ireland owned at that time the authority of James, except the city of Derry, inhabited by an English colony, which, to- gether with some particular places in Ulster, declared for Prince "William ; but Derry was blocked up by Richard Hamilton and those troops which Tirconnell sent to reduce the rabble in that place before the King's arrival, t James, without any stay in Dublin, though the season was very bitter, posted away to the camp before Derry, J in order to preserve his Protestant subjects there from the ill-treatment which he apprehended they might receive from the Irish ; and he went * Of 37 men-of-war, 13 attendant vessels, of 2,223 guns and 13,205 seamen (C.) Berwick says 30 war- ships. James landed at Kinsale on the 12th of March (O.S.), and reached Dublin on the 24th of March (Palm Sunday, G.), 1688-9. t Ad error. Hamilton had defeated the Williamites (the "Break of Dromore," March 14th), and had advanced on Coleraine ; but Derry was as yet un- attacked. X Where he arrived on the 18th of April. THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 5 there with an assured confidence, that they would, upon his arrival, immediately submit and receive him with open arms into the city ; but he was a little surprised when, in- stead of submission, they shot a shower of cannon-balls against him, which wounded some of his attendants [one of his staff was killed dead by his side] ; and it was not then doubted but they aimed chiefly at his royal person. James, now finding his mistake of the good opinion he conceived of his subjects in Derry, retired back to Dublin, where he convoked the states of the kingdom, and spent in vain consultations the whole summer season, which might be better employed to go on more vigorously with the siege of Deny, the only considerable place in Ireland that owned the authority of William. [The Parliament met on the 7th of May, and was prorogued on the 18th of July.] In this convention of the states James could not be persuaded to abrogate the iniquitous laws, which were enacted by Queen Elizabeth against the Catholic Faith and the spiritual jurisdiction of the Pope, lest it might alienate from him the hearts of his Protes- tant subjects in England, whom he always courted. And it was not without some regret that he consented to abolish the unjust de- cree of his brother, Charles II., which con- firmed to the English rebels the lands of the loyal Irish, formerly given them by Oliver Cromwell and his regicide English senate, 6 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. when, after murdering Charles L, they declared against Monarchy and set up a commonwealth.* And it is much doubted to this day, if Count d'Avaux, Ambassador of France, had not warmly interposed, re- minding James often of his engagement to Louis XIV., to redress the injustice done tG his Irish subjects, whether any other con- sideration would prevail with the King to restore to the loyal Irish the inheritance of their ancestors, which they lost in the service of the kings his father and brother — though the late English proprietors were at that very time in open hostility against him. But as he stood altogether in need of the friendship and assistance of France,, he could not well deny abolishing that unlawful decree ; nor could Louis XIY. in honour see the Irish unjustly deprived of the benefit thereof, as being guarantee for the perform- ance of a former treaty between King Charles I. and the Catholics of Ireland [the Peace of 1648-9]. King James, however, was so intent upon following the advice of his favourites, not to act anything in favour of the Irish, or for the re-establishment of the Catholic worship, that might dissatisfy his Protestant subjects in England (who, as they [the favourites] * Charles II. had conveyed to James himself close on 170,000 acres of land in Ireland, confiscated from the Regicides, whom Cromwell had rewarded at the cost of the native proprietors. In his Memoirs, James shows his hesitation to repeal the Act of Settlement, on the plea of policy. THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 7 believed, would undoubtedly recall him, if he continued his wonted moderation), that pursuant to this maxim he would not admit the Catholic Bishops to take their places in the assembly of the states, though he allowed it to four Protestant Bishops;* all the rest of that stamp being gone into England to join with William, and for whom these also declared as soon as he appeared with any power in Ireland. So that whoever con- siders the different behaviour of this Prince in the temple and senate, would take him for a serious Catholic in the one, and a true Protestant in the other, f About this time, Justin McCarthy, Lord Mountcashel, was sent by King James into Ulster, with a reinforcement of four regi- ments* to reduce the rebels of Enniskillen. This young nobleman was a Peer of Ireland, •Anthony Dopping, Bishop of Meath (who was also proxy for the Protestant Primate) ; Thomas Otway, Bishop of Ossory (also proxy for the Bishop of Waterford); Edward Wettenhall, Bishop of Cork and Ross, and Simon Digby, Bishop of Limerick and Ardfert. Dr. Dopping argued in James's Parliament against the repeal of the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, and, under William, against the keeping of the Treaty of Limerick ! + James, writing (in 1691) about the movement in England for his restoration, says that the proposals of his friends " permitted him to live a Catholic in devotion, but to reign as a Protestant in Govern- ment." X He had 3 regiments of foot, 2 of dragoons, and some cavalry — 3,600 men — "all the troops the King could draw together at that time," says James. Tirconnell had sent about 3,000 of the best Irish troops to England. 8 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. lineally descended from the ancient Kings of Minister. He was the first Lieutenant- General of the Irish army, a man of parts and courage, wanting for no quality fit for a complete officer, if he were not somewhat short-sighted. Enniskillen is a town situated in an island in the midst of a spacious lake (Lough Erne), which, after a long course, disburthens itself by a narrow channel into the Atlantic. The town itself is of no strength, but the castle is an old fabric, held impregnable before the invention of so many formidable new engines. It was the ancient seat of the noble family of Mac Guire, who were time out of memory absolute lords of that large territory on both sides of the lake. This town and castle were, at this time, possessed by the Protes- tants of Ulster, for the most part of Scottish extraction. They were a numerous and warlike people, giving no small disturbance to the King's party in that province, and thereby hindering the army before Derry to press the siege with that vigour which was requisite to gain a place of such consequence. Lord Mountcashel being commanded to re- duce those rebels, attacked a strong castle (Crom) within one hundred and sixty furlongs to Enniskillen; but wanting [sufficient ?] rams and other warlike instru- ments, and understanding [by report] that the enemy, strongly reinforced out of England, were advanced to relieve it, he retired into an advantageous ground [half THE JACOBITE WAB IN IRELAND. i) a mile from Newtown-Butler], where lie placed his troops in very good order to re- ceive the English. But his men were raw and newly raised, so that the cavalry, headed by Colonel Anthony Hamilton, Commander-in-Chief under Lord Mount- cashel, upon the enemy's first appearing, [at Lisnaskea], shamefully ran away, with- out striking a blow. And the foot abandoned thus by the horse, and being told that the general was killed, soon followed the example.* Whereupon brave Mountcashel, being left alone in the field, his horse killed under him, and he himself grievously wounded, was taken prisoner and carried all bloody into Enniskillen, where he lay long under cure; but, before he was fully recovered of his wounds, he made his escape [in December, 1689] after a strange * Hamilton was wounded, and his second in command was shot dead. O' Kelly seems to mix up the skirmish at Lisnaskea and the Battle of Newtown-Butler, which took place the same day, and between the same forces. (Macaulay says the Enniskilleners under Wolseley were 3,000). Story, the Williamite chaplain, attributes the rout at Newtown- Butler to "a fatal mistake in the word of command amongst the Irish " — i.e.> that an order to " face to the right," was repeated as '* to the right-about, and so march." Other accounts make the order, " to wheel to the left," etc Hamilton and Lavallin were tried by court-martial three wee^s after, Hamilton being acquitted ; Lavallin, a Cork man of good family, was sentenced to be shot, though he protested to the last that he gave the order as he got it from Hamilton, •' and many believed his protestation." (G.) B2 10 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. and wonderful manner, to the universal joy of all Ireland. This was the first defeat given to the Irish, which filled all people with such a terror, that Sarsfield, a young captain, beloved by the soldiery, command- ing at that time some troops about Sligo [at Bundrows, near Ballyshannon] to defend that part of Connaught from incur- sions out of Ulster, upon the first notice of this overthrow, quitted Sligo, and never rested until he marched to Athlone, leaving the Province of Connaught exposed to the enemy.* James all this while made but a slender preparation to reduce Derry, and the other few places that held against him, having disbanded the new-raised troops, when he should rather send them to rein- force his army before Derry, which, for want of sufficient supplies, could not take the city. And, upon the assurance of an inva- sion out of England, under the conduct of Schomberg, a great captain, they were * Sarsfield had sent to Melfort, Secretary of State, for at least two troops of horse ; but no heed was given to his request. (G.) D'Avaux writes, thatTir- counell sent Sarsfield into Connaught with a hand- ful of men, where by his credit he raised 2.000 men , and saved the whole province for James. The King himself savs that Tirconnell had advised him to spare the little money he had, " against any sudden occasion," and u to find means to make the forces subsist for some little time longer," viz., by making their equipment and maintenance a charge upon their officers (as we may conclude from a note of Melfort's). THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 11 ordered to quit the siege, and march straight to Dublin, where King James was now, somewhat of the latest, giving out commis- sions to raise more men in order to oppose the invasion. Schomberg, having landed in the Isorth of Ireland [at Bangor, Co. Down, August 13th (O.S.), 1689], took the town and strong castle of Carrickfergus, and advanced with his army near the city of Drogheda; but finding that King James was got there before him [on the 10th of September] with a numerous body of horse and foot, he retired hastily to Sunderland [C], near Dundalk, where he fortified his camp, having the Province of Ulster behind him, and the conveniency of the sea to furnish him with provisions out of England. King James, at the head of a gallant army, advanced towards him, and pitched his Royal camp within sixty furlongs to that of Schomberg, who made a defensive war all that summer, not one appearing out of his trenches, though often provoked by King James, who, by his neglect to attempt forcing the English camp (especially about the latter end of the campaign, when it was slenderly manned), lost a fair opportunity of putting an end to the war of Ireland,* and perhaps * u But," eays the French Protestant, Dumont, " our General would not risk anything, Dor King James venture anything." Schomberg writes to William that the Jacobites lack bread " for such a gathering of people who thought that immediately there would have been a battle." 12 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. to that of England, where the King's sub- jects (if Schoinberg were defeated in Ireland) would be encouraged to fall upon the Willianiites, and declare for King James. Another oversight committed l>v the captains of James, was to give Schomberg the honour of decamping last [early in [November, 1G89] ; whereas, if they had stayed a little longer (which they might well do), having Drogheda and Dublin at their back, and three parts of Ireland behind them, from whence they might be continu- ally supplied with all necessaries, it is probable that the army of Schomberg would moulder away; the one-half of them being .already consumed by diseases, which hunger and cold, and the change of climate engendered among them.* But the young commanders were in some haste to return to Dublin, where the ladies expected them with great impatience ; so that King James, being once more persuaded to disband the new levies and raising his camp a little of the soonest, dispersed his men too early into winter quarters, having spent that cam- paign without any advantage, vainly ex- pecting that his Protestant subjects of England who were in the camp of Schom- berg, would come over to him. And now the winter season, which should * Schomberg's loss was, according to Macaulay, 6,000 (others say up to 10,000) in the camp at Dun- dalk, the hospital at Belfast, on the road, and on the sea. THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 13 be employed in serious consultations, and making the necessary preparations for the ensuing campaign, was idly spent in revels, in gaming, and other debauches unfit for a Catholic Court. But warlike Schomberg, who, after the retreat of James, had leisure to remove his sickl} r soldiers, to bury the dead, and put the few men that remained alive and were healthy, into quarters of re- freshment, took the field early in the spring, before Tirconnell was awake, and reduced the Castle of Charlemont, the only place that held for James in the Province of Ulster, which was lost for want oj provisions ; * and the concerns of unfortunate James were ill- managed by those whom he entrusted with the administration of public affairs. The rumour that spread of William's coming in person to invade Ireland that summer, encouraged Ids party there to endure the last extremity, in hopes of seeing now a speedy end to the war. But it did not so much alarm James, who seemed as if he were resolved, in case William had not come over that season, to make no great effort to expel the English out of Ireland. This resolution was believed to proceed from a wrong maxim of State, which his evil counsellors prompted him to embrace, that the only way to recover England was to lose Ireland ; for they persuaded him that Ireland being once reduced, the English would Sir Teague O'Regan and his garrison of 800 men marched out with arms and baggage. 14 THE JACOBITE WAE IN IRELAND. immediately recall him, as they formerly brought in his brother, Charles II. ; but this was a favour he could not hope for, whilst he headed an Irish or a French army ; and so, like the dog in the fable, he must let go the substance to snatch at the shadow. It is the greatest misfortune that can bef al a Prince to mistake his true interest. The least trip of this kind occasions a fall, which is not so easily recovered ; and every material transaction grounded upon the fallacy of wrong measures, gives a dangerous, if not an incurable wound. A monarch who rules several kingdoms, different in humours and professions, must keep them, if possible, in such a balance, that neither of them shall be capable to suppress the rest. And this maxim ought to be more carefully observed by Princes who come to succeed, not in a masculine line, in the throne of that king- dom which pretends to be master. Charles I. was not mistaken in his politics when he raised a Catholic army in Ireland to counter- poise so many new anti-monarchical sects, which began in his time to spring up in England ; and if it was the true interest of King Charles, though a zealous Protestant, to act after this manner, certainly it was much more the interest of James, a Catholic Prince, to preserve the Irish nation, of whose loyalty and assistance he might be always secure, and not to expose them to be worried by his and their merciless enemies. His father, Charles, though he understood it was THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 15 his true interest to continue the Irish army, yet the poor Prince had not the courage or constancy to keep it on foot, but was soon prevailed upon to disband them, thereby exposing himself naked to the mercy of his treacherous subjects. The tragical end of that unfortunate King should be an everlasting warning to all Princes, not to confide too much in the good nature of rebellious sub- jects ; and a man might rationally conclude, that, of all mankind, James should be most concerned to shun that rock on which his father formerly made such a memorable shipwreck. But it seems that neither his father's misfortunes, nor his own late experi- ments, could make him alter the fond opinion he once conceived of the ^ood affection of his English subjects, nor the unhappy resolution, which many believed he took, to lose Ireland in order to recover England. However, this grand design, communicated only to a few favourites, must be carried on so cleverly as not to be perceived by Louis XIV., or. the old Irish ; whereupon James made it his business to get Count d'Avaux, the French Ambassador, and M. de Rosen (a brave cap- tain, recommended to him by Louis XIV.), both removed out of Ireland.* Because, as * Count d'A-vaux's letters to Louis XIV. detail the cUily struggles of James's cause in Ireland. Conrad de Rosen (a Livonian) became a Marshal of France in 1703. James bitterly resented his harsh expedient before Deny. 16 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. the first was a man of profound judgment, and the other could not be endured by Tirconnell, in regard that he was more knowing in the art of war than the Captain General, they could not well hope to com- pass their design, if these two great men continued in the kingdom. At the same time Tirconnell got himself rid of Lord Mountcashel, who was to command the 6,000 young soldiers sent into France, in exchange for so many of the veteran army which were come from thence under the command of Count de Lauzun, who had a double character of Ambassador and Cap- tain.* And indeed Mountcashel, who could not endure Tirconnell's haughty humour, was not displeased to go serve in France, under the great King Louis XI Y. King James and Tirconnell, now left to themselves, had leisure to concert in private with those of the Cabal, the fittest methods that could be taken to perfect their secret project. De Lauzun was soon gained to be * The three Irish regiments commanded by Mountcashel — his own, Clare's, and Dillon's — num- bered between five and six thousand men. Matthew O'Conor describes them as "old and dis- ciplined "; King James, as "of the best Irish troops." The after-fame of " Mountcashel's Brigade" needs no comment here. In exchange for these, Louvois sent a like number to Ireland, but of worthless troops, of whom over a third were " mer- cenaries of all nations, Swiss, Italians, and Ger- mans " (O'Conor). This ill-clad, ill-armed and disorderly body some five months later deserted Limerick before its first siege. THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 1 7 of their opinion, though we may reasonably suppose that the bottom of the design was not discovered to him, because it was so much against the interest of the King, his master. Whilst they were in those close consulta- tions, they had an assurance of William's landing in Ulster [at Carrigfergus, the 14th of June] with great forces, not only out of England and Scotland, but also out of the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Ger- many; and that having joined those troops which Schomberg had in readiness before him, he made up a formidable army. Whereas King James had at that time but a slender one, having the winter before, by the advice of Tirconnell, or rather by his orders, for he was in effect the King of Ire- land, disbanded forty legions, newly raised, because they were for the most part com- posed of the old Irish race, for whom Tirconnell seemed to have no great inclina- tion, believing them more dangerous than William himself. James, however, ad- vanced from Dublin, on the 16th of June, 1690, with these few forces, to meet an enemy that had double his number, and whose troops were in much better order and discipline. But he possessed himself of an advantageous post between the Province of Ulster and that of Leinster ; and though it might be well defended against a far more numerous army than that of William, yet King James quitted it upon William's advance, and retired in great journeys to 18 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. Drogheda, where he pitched his camp, re- solved to wait there for the enemy and give him battle. The Irish army was not a little dis- heartened by this sudden retreat of James; for as nothing animates the Irish more than to be led on to assault, so nothing can discourage them more than to retire from an enemy. And this is common to all new- raised troops, but particularly to such as are not so well officered, which was too much the case here ; for Tirconnell employed very few but creatures of his own, though never so unfit to command. But we must confess that the measures taken all along by James were no way agreeable to the rules of true prudence and good politics, or to the ancient and modern maxims of war; for, as it is a received principle among conquerors to hasten the decision of the quarrel by battle whilst their army is fresh, hearty, and numerous, so it is the known interest of those who are upon the defensive to follow contrary methods, and to delay coming to a general engage- ment, until the invaders may be had at a cheap rate, when fatigues, diseases, and other incommodities, which they are to expect in an enemy's country, will make them notably decay, both in courage and number, and when they are so harassed that they may be easily defeated without any great hazard. Besides, a victory which is obtained without bloodshed and loss of men, brings THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 19 more reputation to the General, for it is wholly attributed to his own conduct; whereas his captains and soldiers must share with him in the glory of gaining a battle. It was, therefore, the interest of James not to fight at that time, but to retire to Dublin and join the rest of his troops left for the guard of that city, where he might have three parts of the kingdom at his back to furnish him with all necessaries; whilst William had only the province of Ulster, which was then ruined and laid desolate, to furnish him with provisions, much of which he could not then expect out of England, as both the English and Dutch fleets were about that time defeated by the navy of Louis XIV., which gave him the absolute dominion of the seas. Notwithstanding all these reasons which should oblige King James to prolong the war, he was fatally resolved, and that without staying for all his forces, to put his title to three kingdoms upon the event of one day. James encamped upon the Leinster side of the river Boyne, which anciently divided that province from Ulster. It was fordable in several places, and no trench was cast up for the defence of those fords. "William no sooner arrived than he pitched his camp on the Ulster side of the same river. The first day was spent in discharging from both camps the great engines of war commonly used to batter the walls of towns and castles, which destroyed a great many men and 20 THE JACOBITE WAG IN IRELAND. horses in William's camp. But these engines were sent away that night to Dublin, and James ordered his men to pull down their tents and prepare for a march, which was no sooner done than countermanded. This irresolution of the King discouraged the army, who, next day, being the first of July, was furiously attacked by the Williamites, who, after a hot dispute, forced a passage over the river; and fresh supplies pouring after them, the Jacobite troops, coming down in small parties to support those who guarded the river, were still beaten back.* Whereupon James, in- stead of commanding the whole army, which was then drawn up, to advance, ordered them to march on to Dublin, exposing them to be all cut off by the enemy, who pursued them in the rear. He rode before, with a select party of horse for his guard, and arriving that night at Dublin, he went off next morning by break of day, and never stopped till he came to the seaport town of Kinsale, 100 leagues distant from the place of battle, where he no sooner arrived than he got on board a French vessel, which, he found in the harbour, and, setting sail for France, he was the first man that brought into that country the unwelcome news of his unhappy defeat. But before he left Dublin [July * The Irish cavalry *' charged and re-charged ten times." (B.) The sole weapons of the greater part of the Irish foot were iron- tipped staves. The Jacobite lost about 1,000 men. (B.) THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 21 2nd] he ordered the officers there to disperse their men and make the best conditions they could for themselves.* The courage and valour of King James, whereof he gave a thousand demonstrations by sea and land, made the world conclude that this flight was not altogether occasioned by an act of pusillanimity, but proceeded rather from a wrong maxim of state. For, after arriving in France, he was so far from soliciting any succours from thence to sup- port the war in Ireland, that he told Louis XIV. all the island was lost, and the people in no condition to be relieved. And, indeed, some runaway French, who fled out of Ireland along with James, to palliate their own flight, gave out very confidently that the Irish in the day of battle forsook their king, and the auxiliary French forces, who were all cut in pieces ; and it is likely they might believe it was so, for they did not stay to be witnesses of that honourable retreat which the French foot and the Irish cavalry made along to Dublin. The few English courtiers who stayed with the Queen in France, to justify the flight of their King * O'Callaghan disputes the accuracy of this statement. The author of " Light to the Blind " says that James wrote to Tirconnell from Kinsale, empowering him . . . ''to use his discretion, either to make peace with the Prince of Orange, or continue the war." In his Memoirs James says he wrote to Tirconnell that he hoped " to send more succours." He admits that hiB departure was the result of panic, yet he wonders why Tirconnell l( pressed it with so much earnestness." 22 THE JACOBITE WAE IN IRELAND. did not spare calumniating the Irish, whom they trumpeted about to be the greatest villains and traitors in the world, having not only abandoned their Prince and left him exposed to the enemy, but also immediately submitted to William, and owned his authority. This calumny, so artfully spread abroad, made such a noise in France, that the Irish merchants who lived there since the con- quest of Oliver Cromwell, durst not walk abroad or appear in the streets, the people were so exasperated against them ; and no other relation coming out of Ireland to con- tradict it, for Tirconnell, who was no stranger to the plot, put an embargo on all ships, to hinder any account from thence into France, that might gainsay what was told there upon the arrival of James. Louis XIV. himself, who never hitherto wanted true intelligence, finding no account of the Irish affairs con- trary to these relations, confidently averred by persons of unquestionable credit, had no reason to misbelieve it ; and consequently giving all the island for lost, he judged it to no purpose to send relief to a people who were not capable of any. He therefore ordered the admiral of his victorious fleet to bring out of Ireland his own troops, and such of the Irish army and nobility as had a mind to retire from bondage. But to return to our folorn army on the river Boyne : though they were abandoned by their chief, the cavalry however, with THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND 23 the assistance of 6,000 French foot, made a brave retreat, fighting and marching day and night till they came to Dublin, where, finding neither King nor Captain-General, nor indeed any prime officer, and under- standing that James left orders that every man should shift for himself, they were in a great consternation. But the death of Schomberg, killed upon the first onset, both hindered them from being hotly pursued, and gave them time to retire leisurely to Limerick. And indeed 'tis admirable how every individual person, both officer and soldier, came thither without any orders, and even without the conduct of any of their chief commanders, as if they had been all guided to Limerick by some secret instinct of nature. In a week's time after the battle, the appearance there was so considerable, that Tirconnell and Count de Lauzun, the French General, were equally surprised. The first was concerned lest such a sudden rally might hinder (at least delay) the execu- tion of that design which was hatched in the Cabinet ; the other was no less troubled that so many of the French appeared, after he had written to France, and perhaps to King Louis XIY. himself, that they were all cut off to a very few. And the contrary being now made evident (for they did not lose six men that day), he had reason to apprehend that it might bring his credit and sincerity into question in the Court of France ; so that these two great men, being 24 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. of one resolution, though for different ends, were linked together in a friendship which promised to be everlasting. Count de Lauzun longed so much to be back in his own country, that he could not endure to hear of prolonging the war in Ireland ; and it is probable that some of his captains, who longed to breathe the sweet air of France, despairing of the country, believed it im- possible to preserve it. Tirconnell nourished this humour, because it favoured his design not to oppose William in the conquest of Ireland. For the more speedy effecting that work, he omitted nothing that might encourage William to advance and dis- courage the Irish to resist. He shipped away his wife, an English lady,* with all his own wealth, and the King's treasure, into France, where she gave out, pursuant to her instructions, that all Ireland was lost, save the cities of Limerick and Gal way, which could not hold out long ; that the Irish had no army ; and that the nation, for the most part, submitted to William. All this was done in order to fortify King James's rela- tion of the present state of Ireland, and to keep Louis XIV. in the dark from the true knowledge of their condition; and it was hoped that by this artifice the country would really be lost before the French King should come to know whether or no they were capable of being relieved. On the other * Frances Jennings, sister to Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 25 side, no endeavours were omitted by Tir- connell to persuade the Irish that it was folly to expect any relief from Louis XIV., who had his hands so full that he was not able to assist them, and that no visible way was now left for self-preservation but to treat with William, who likely, at that time, would give them any conditions, that he might be at liberty to join with the rest of the Confederates [the Allied Powers], in order to attack France on all sides. But the generality of the Irish nation were of another sentiment, not expecting the per- formance of any treaty with the English, who infringed so often the public faith. In a grand Council at Limerick, it was then concluded to dispatch two persons of quality into France, to signify their present condi- tion, and their resolution to defend the country, not doubting but Louis XIY. would powerfully support them, as it was his true interest to give William work in Ireland. It was also resolved in that Council that Sarsfield, the darling of the army, should command in chief next to the Captain- General. When these results were made known to Tirconnell, for he was not that day at Council, he seemed to like neither. He said it did not belong to the Council to send deputies abroad : that it was his prerogative ; and that he would send when and whom he thought fit. As for Sarsfield, he could not endure to hear of his prefer- ment. 26 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. William, in the meanwhile, having slowly advanced to Dublin, was joyfully received there by the English inhabitants, who were numerous in that city since Oliver Cromwell conquered Ireland, which was 38 years before the invasion of William.* From Dublin he marched his army to "Waterford, which was [on the 25th of July] surrendered with- out opposition, by order from the Captain- General, as the commanding officer there did allege. He also reduced the strong fortress of Kilkenny, for want of a sufficient garrison to defend it, which was often repre- sented by the Governor : but it was not Tir- oonneirs design to harass too much "William's army, for he believed that noth- incr would sooner break the obstinacy of the Irish than to behold an uninterrupted course * William, from his camp at Finglas, Co. Dublin, about a week after the battle of the Boyne, issued a declaration for ppaop on conditions which no honourable nation could arcept, for he proposed to exclude from amnesty M the desperate leaders of this rebellion." — Story explains that "this Declara- tion was narrower than His Majesty's royal inten- tions, on purpose to comply with the English proprietors of that country." (He adds, that notwithstanding: such Proclamations the Jacobites remained obstinate, and the "Williamite troops were ar>t to forget the Conditions.) A day or two later, William, from his camp at Crumlin, issued a Commission " to enquire into, seize, and secure all Forfeitures to the Crown by the general rebellion of the Irish Nation." The Commission " had the misfortune to be much censured afterwards " for their indiscriminate plundering «nd "the small returns made into the Exchequer " THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 27 of success on the other side. Upon "William's march from Dublin to "Waterford, he sent a part of his forces to reduce Athlone, on the river Shannon, which, rising from the mountains of Ulster, runs up towards Mun- ster, and twenty leagues heyond Limerick, disburthens itself into the main sea, dividing Connaught from the provinces of Leinster and Munster. This tract of land between the Shannon and the sea may be justly called the citadel of Ireland, which has always been a refuge to the inhabitants of the other pro- vinces to retire into, when they were over- powered by the enemy. Lieutenant-General Douglas, the captain who led "William's forces to take the town and castle of Athlone, after ten days vain attempt upon the place, having intelligence of Sarsfield's coming, with a considerable party from the camp near Limerick, to relieve it, retired hastily by night, and went by great marches to join William. It was remarkable Tirconnell could not dissemble the dissatisfaction he received by this retreat of Douglas; and having ordered back to Limerick most of the troops that came with Sarsfield, he com- manded him, however, with a very incon- siderable party, to follow and observe the enemy's motions; whilst in his absence he contrived all the means that art could invent to draw the captains of the army, among whom he had a great many creatures of his own, and the members of the Council, who were, for the most part, of his choos- 28 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IBELAND. ing (for lie did what lie pleased with James), to condescend to a treaty with William, as the best expedient that could be then fixed upon for self-preservation. To induce them the more thereto, and to dishearten altogether the Irish troops, who were raw men not acquainted with sieges, from undertaking the defence of Limerick, Count de Lauzun, the French General, hav- ing viewed all the outworks and fortifications thereof, which indeed were not fully finished, he publicly declared the place was not ten- able ; and next day, as if he despaired of its defence, he marched to Gal way,* encamping his veteran troops under the walls of that town. But all these discourage- ments, which were designedly concerted be- tween Tirconnell and Count de Lauzun, could not divert the Irish infantry from their former resolution to expose their lives for the defence of Limerick, which was of so great importance for the preservation of Ireland. William made no great haste to Limerick, to give Tirconnell the more time for compass- ing his design to bring the Irish to a general condescension for a treaty. But when he found matters well disposed, most of the prime commanders being already gained, he advanced near the town. Whereupon Sars- field being sent for, and arriving at Limerick, * Lauzun (says James) carried off a groat quantity of ammunition, etc, from Limerick. THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 29 he was much, surprised to find such a change iu the general officers, who, however, durst not act anything contrary to the sentiment of the officers in command of regiments, who were for the most part of Sarsfield's resolution to continue the war. So that upon his arrival the scene was altered ; the defence of Limerick resolved upon, and all the infantry ordered to man the place, ex- cepting three legions appointed to guard some fords near the town, on the river Shannon, the men-at-arms and light horse encamping near the city on the Connaught side. On the ninth of August, and the fortieth day after the engagement on the river Boyne, William appeared with his victorious army, and began the fatal siege of Limerick. Next day after, Tirconnell, without con- sulting the rest of his captains, ordered the legions who guarded the fords to withdraw from thence, and march all along to Galway, whereby William had the passage left open to send part of his army on the Con- naught side of the river, and surround the city on all sides ; and in effect, some of his cavalry having got over, next morning made a show as if they would besiege Limerick on that side also. But, though they returned back the same day, they did, however, so alarm the Irish horse camp, that Tirconnell and his inseparable Count de Lauzun re- tired in great haste over night, and rode all the way to Galway, leaving the horse 30 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IEELAND. encamped half way between that town and Limerick. Whilst they were at Galway they gave out that Limerick could not hold above five or six days, and that the Irish soldiers were so cowed that they would never defend it. As for Galway, they declared openly it was no place tenable, and yet both these towns were held impregnable in former times. Whilst every artifice was thus attempted to induce the Irish to a speedy submission, they were not a little surprised to hear of Sarsfield's fortunate success in defeating the convoy coming to William's camp from Dublin, and destroying the great battering engines, the provisions, and all other instruments of war ; which gave such spirits to the Irish that they laid aside all thoughts of capitulating. It was much taken notice of how Tir- connell and Count de Lauzun, with all their partisans, were crest-fallen upon this news ; for the French saw that it delayed their return, and Tirconneirs creatures were very sensible that it ruined their project. They made it therefore their business to vilify and iiclicule that brave action, saying it was folly to think that an accident so inconsider- able in itself could hinder the loss of Limerick, or contribute to the preservation of Ireland ; that the advantageous Articles which might now be obtained from William, before the surrender of Limerick, could not be reasonably expected after the loss of that place, which must infallibly happen THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 31 within a few days; and that the French troops being resolved to go off, it was to be feared that the Irish, losing Limerick, and deserted by their allies, would get no otner conditions but mercy.* This was indus- triously spread among the nobles and cap- tains of the army, who indeed had good reason to be dissatisfied with the proceedings of de Lauzaun and his French troops ; for, instead of assistance and encouragement, they daily disheartened the people ; and the irregularities they committed in their march and quarters were so exorbitant, that it must needs alienate from them the hearts of the Irish. But Sarsfield and his party were not wanting to represent to the people that there was no danger of losing Limerick, when it was not besieged on both sides; that William was not powerful enough to sur- round it; that the disorders of the French troops were purposely tolerated, to make the Irish weary of them, whereby they might have an honourable pretext to quit the kingdom ; and that Tirconnell designedly connived at it, because by ruining the country the people were rendered unable to maintain a war ; and he hoped, besides, that this rude behaviour of the French would make the inhabitants of Ireland incline the * Tbe u Light to the Blind " professes to give Tirconnell's reasons in favour .of capitulation; and says further, that the French troops would not remain "now that the King was gone." James writes that Lauzun and the French wanted any excuse for their desertion of Ireland. 32 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. sooner to a treaty with the English, from whom they might expect milder usage. Some zealous Irish, as well of the nobles and officers of the army, as also some holy bishops, knowing that if William prevailed he would suppress Catholic rites, were of opinion that the only way to preserve the true worship of God, the service of James, and the interest of the nation, was to lay Tirconnell aside, and to enter into a mutual league and association among themselves, for these salutary ends. This expedient, which the most knowing Irish looked upon as the best they could take to rescue the country from the arms of William, and the treachery of their own governors, was not, however, approved by Sarsfield, who either wanted resolution to go on with so great an under- taking (though no man doubted of his personal courage), or perhaps did not think it justifiable in him to depose the Viceroy of Tames, and enter into a new association without the King's author'ty. So that t us project unhappily fell to the ground, which occasioned the loss of Ireland. Tirconnell having now convoked all the general officers at Galway, produced to them (but it was under the seal of secrecy) a letter from James, contain- ing his orders to such of the army as were willing to repair to him, to take this opportunity of the French fleet, which then rode in that harbour, dispensing the rest from their oath of fidelity, and giving THE JACOBITE WAE IN IRELAND. 33 them free liberty to submit to "William, and make the best conditions they could for them- selves.* Some of Tirconnell's party having hereupon declared their willingness to go oft', Sarsfield stood up and said, that this letter was grounded upon misinformation of the present state of affairs ; that if the King were rightly informed how the case stood in Ireland, where they had a considerable army resolute to hold out to the last man, and how feasable it was to defend that part of the kingdom which lies between the river Shannon and the sea, until they were re- lieved out of France, His Majesty would, instead of inviting thorn to leave the countiy, rather encourage them to stay and defend it; and that, for his part, he was resolved not to be imposed upon by any such artifice to abandon his country or the King's interest in Ireland. And most of the colonels having declared the same resolu- tion, Tirconnell was forced to pass by the proposal for that time. Whilst they were in these hot disputes at Galway about quitting the country, letters came from the governors of Limerick to Tirconnell, with an account that the enemy, haviug gained the outworks, got near the * Owing to the refusal of Louis XIV. to help Ireland at this time, James was forced, he says, to send empty ships, to withdraw the French ; and (on the 24th July) he sent Tirconnell a pass into France, and asked him to appoint a commander in his place, or to make the best terms he could with the enemy if he preferred to remain in the country. C2 34 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. town wall, which they furiously battered with their rams, and other new invented engines, that were terrible to the besieged; and therefore it was requisite the cavalry should advance to relieve the town in case of danger. Tirconnell finding that, upon this alarm, Sarsfield was resolved to march straight to Limerick, believed it his interest to head the army in person, in order to prevent any brave attempt that might be made contrary to his design. Count de Lauzun . too, leaving his French forces encamped under the walls of Galway, went along with Tirconnell as a volunteer, for it seems they could not live asunder. Xever was a town better attacked and better defended than the city of Limerick. William left nothing unattempted that the art of war, the skill of a great captain, and the valour of veteran soldiers could put in execution to gain the place; and the Irish omitted nothing that courage and con- stancy could practice to defend it. The continual assaults of the one, and the fre- quent sallies of the other, consumed a great many brave men both of the army and garrison. On the 19th day, William (after fighting for every inch of ground he gained), having made a large breach in the wall, gave a general assault which lasted for three hours ; and though his men mounted the breach, and some even entered the town, they were gallantly repulsed and forced to THE JACOBITE WAR IK" IRELAND. 35 retire with, considerable loss. William re- solving to renew the assault next day, could not persuade his men to advance, though he ottered to lead them in person. Where- upon, all in a rage he left the camp, and never stopped till he came to Waterford, where he took shipping for England; his army in the meantime retiring by night from Limerick. The raising of this siege was so great a disappointment to Tir council's design, that he could not, with all his cunning, dis- semble his resentment. But what surprised all men was the sudden resolution he took to go along with Count de Lauzun into France, when all the world expected he would make use of this happy "advantage to recover Waterford, and perhaps all the province of Leinster. 'Tis true that his going off did not displease the generality of the nation, who did not like his design of subjecting the country to the power of William, and to the mercy of the English, their sworn enemies. But yet there wanted not some, even of the Irish Catholics, who coveted nothing more than to submit to William. These were men of New Interest, so called because they purchased from usurpers the inheritance of their own countrymen, which Oliver Cromwell and the rebellious Parliament of London for- merly distributed amongst the English. And these lands being all restored to the ancient proprietors by a late decree of 36 THE JACOBITE WAU IN IRELAND. Parliament, convened by James in the city of Dublin upon his first arrival in Ireland, the coveting purchaser, preferring their private gain before the general interest of religion and country, were for submitting to a government which they very well knew could never allow that decree. These, how- ever, were the men advanced by Tirconnell to all beneficial offices of the kingdom, with- out regard to merit or capacity for their employments; for to be a creature of Tircoimell's was the only qualification requisite in those days to make a complete captain or an able statesman. Before he took shipping for France he established a new form of government in his absence, never before heard of in Ireland. Twelve senators were named to manage the civil affairs, the major part being New Interest men, without whose concurrence the rest could not act. He chose the Duke of Ber- wick, a natural son of James, to command the army; and as his youth gave him but little experience, he appointed a select council of officers to direct him, among whom Sarsfield was the last in commission ; and it is probable he had not named him at all, but that he dreaded the army would revolt to him, if he were discontented, which might dash in pieces the Yiceroy's project. The Yiceroy's reasons for going off in such a juncture were variously reported. He gave out himself, and his creatures spread it abroad, that he was sent for by James to THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 37 give the King of France a true account of the present state of Ireland, King Louis having declared, that the several relations given him of affairs there were so various and clashing, that he resolved to suspend his belief till Tirconnell himself came in person to inform him. But it seemed improbable to most men that Louis XIV. would expect so great a warrior as Tirconnell was esteemed by those who were not thoroughly acquainted with him, should, in the heat of a campaign, abandon his army, having a victorious enemy against him in the field, only to ^ive the King of France a true account of the Irish affairs, which might be done by letter, or by a trusty friend or Messenger; or about which King Louis might send some person of credit to consult him in Ireland, without obliging him to quit a country where his presence was held so necessary. The despatch that came to him out of France, which he met at sea and sent to the new senate, making no mention of his being sent for or expected there, but to the contrary, encouraging him to a vigorous defence, and assuring him of a speedy relief from the French King, shows the fallacy of this reason. Others, who pre- tended to penetrate a little further, were of opinion that Tirconnell was on fickle terms in France, and perhaps with James himself, for having advised him to that shameful retreat he made out of Ireland, in hopes it might induce the nation (who indeed 38 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IBELAND. were much discouraged at the King's flight) to a more speedy compliance with the design. And now that the unexpected defence of Limerick seemed (at least for a while) to overthrow their project and thwart their policy of covering hereafter their own great oversights, under the specious pre- text of that false calumny of treachery and cowardice, which they endeavoured all along to cast upon the poor Irish, he judged it of absolute necessity to appear in person in the French Court, in order to take further measures to continue King Louis still in the dark as to the true state of Irish affairs, without which blind it was not possible to compass their design. Indeed he had reason to hope that when he appeared on the place (and the truth is, he was a man of good mien and stately presence), the French King would give more credit to the Viceroy's relation, supported by the King himself,, than to idle reports or letters from private hands, when nothing appeared that was authentic to the contrary. Besides, by ordering the Duke of Berwick and the new senate to suffer no person of quality to come out of Ireland in his absence, he seemed to prevent any opposition that might be given him in France. It was however admired by some, how he could have the confidence to appear in that court, after acting so barefaced against the interest of King Louis, which was, to cut out such work for William in Ireland as would keep him T&E JACOBITE WAE IN IBELAND. 39 in action there, and divert him from giving the Confederates that powerful assistance which he promised, and they wanted. For it was unlikely that the Xing of France, the most knowing monarch in the world, should be ignorant of the transactions in a country so near him as Ireland, and in whose con- cerns he had so great an interest ; or that he could be a stranger to Tirconneirs embargo on the ships, which was so public that it could not be concealed, no more than the design of it, which was easily understood. But Tirconnell, relying altogether on the great influence he had upon James, and having gained Count de Lauzun to confirm his relation, he believed himself armed with all necessary precautions to succeed in his enterprise. Upon the arrival of the inseparable friends, Tirconnell and Count de Lauzun, in the kingdom of France, the former re- ceived letters from his correspondents at court, whereby he understood that it was to no purpose to hope that he might lay the blame of past miscarriages on the nation of Ireland, who, by their gallant defence of Limerick, acquired such a reputation in the French court, that he must not think of justifying himself that way; and that no other was now left but to impute all the fault to Count de Lauzun and his French troops. Tirconnell, having received this advice on the road, feigns himself indisposed, and altogether unable to continue his 40 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. journey ; but he earnestly pressed de Lauzun to hasten before him to court, and tell the story which was formerly concerted between them ; that when he came up he would con- firm it ; and so, after many reciprocal endearments and protestations of inviolable friendship, they parted. Deluded de Lauzun, making" all the speed he could to give both Kings an account of the present condition of Ireland (as it was formerly agreed upon by the two friends), told that it was a lost country, not to be retrieved ; that the nation for the most part readily sub- mitted to the Prince of Orange, to which they were generally inclined ; that those few who held out and defended Limerick were influenced by Tirconnell, who was the life of the cause, he alone having hitherto preserved the interest of James in the kingdom of Ireland ; so that de Lauzun omitted nothing that might be said in commendation of his friend's conduct and courage, not doubting" when Tirconnell came to tell his story, but he would give the like character of de Lauzun. But here the Irish courtier outwitted, or rather betrayed, the French courtier; for Tirconnell no sooner arrived than he told both Kings that, though the affairs of Ireland were desperate, yet something more might be done for the in- terest of their Majesties, if the French troops could be persuaded to stay at Limerick, or indeed to act anything for the service of James, or the interest of Louis XIY. THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 41 Poor de Lauzun was thunderstruck at this unkind return from his dear comrade, but it was not in his power now to gainsay the first account he solemnly gave of Tir- connelFs bravery; and King Louis was so much dissatisfied with his behaviour in Ireland, that had not the earnest interposi- tion of James and the entreaties of Queen Mary prevented it, his apartment would be certainly prepared in that dungeon where he had it formerly, for his presump- tion to pretend to a great lady of the royal blood.* Tireonnell, notwithstanding this good success of his first essay at court, had a hard game to play when he began to negotiate with the able and knowing ministers of France, who could not be strangers to his proceedings all along in Ireland ; but some of those (especially of the second rank) were also gained by degrees — by what coloured arguments was best known to themselves. For it was not then doubted but the King's gold, which Tireonnell sent before him into France, was bountifully distributed to gain friends at court — which shows the weakness of human forecast, that that which purposely was laid out by Louis XIV. to continue the war in Ireland, and thereby give powerful diversion to the common enemy, should be * " Mademoiselle," Duchess of Montpensier (daughter of Gaston Duke of Orleans, Louis's uncle). Berwick says of Lauzun that he showed in Ireland "neither capacity nor resolution.'' 42 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. now employed to corrupt his own servants to act against the interest of their master ! Some were of opinion that his lady's former acquaintance with Louvois, the great favourite and chief minister of Louis XIV., was of no small advantage to him at that time. To gain the favour of the English courtiers who were then about James, he confidently imparted to them his design, and the reasons he had for it; he owned himself an Englishman by extraction; that his lady was one by birth; and that whilst ho continued in any power in Ireland he would maintain there the English interest, and neither suffer it to be lost nor separated from the Crown of England, as the Irish would have it. This ingenuous declaration of Tirconnell gained him the friendship of most of the English in that court, who were not wanting to render James somewhat jealous of Louis XI V., as if he designed to conquer Ireland for himself; and that therefore he should follow the advice of Tirconnell, who knew best how to disappoint the French King of his intention. But to secure himself from any opposition out of Ireland, he got James to command the Duke of Berwick to suffer no person of quality to cross the seas in Tirconneirs absence; and having thus confirmed James in his former resolution of losing Ireland, in order to re- cover England, and having only demanded of Louis a very inconsiderable help of a few arms, and a small quantity of provisions, THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 43 (without calling for any other aid of men or money), which same was not to come till within three or four months after, he hastened his preparations to return to Ireland. The French fleet which wafted Tirconnell and de Lauzun was not as yet out of the bay of Galwav, when the young Duke of Berwick, at the head of 4,000 foot, 2,000 men-at-arms and as many light horse, passed the river Shannon, into the province of Leinster, where he attacked the castle of an English knight [Sir Lawrence Parsons : Birr Castle], to which he applied his rams and other battering engines, though it might be easily gained without any such trouble. But upon an alarm of the enemy's advance to relieve the place, though with a party much inferior to his forces,* he suddenly decamped, contrary to Sarsfield's advice, and never stopped till he crossed the Shannon back again, retiring with his troops into Connaught, having b}- that successless attempt, and his shameful retreat, dis- couraged the army and disheartened the whole Irish nation. About this time William sent into Ireland a reinforcement of fresh troops, under the command of Lord Churchill (Duke of Marlborough). He was uncle by the mother to the Duke of Berwick, for- merly a bosom friend of King James, from *Jacobite and Williamite accounts generally agree that the relieving force was much the larger. 44 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. whom he deserted upon William's first land- ing in England, and so perfidious that he designed to betray the poor King, and deliver him up into his enemy's hands. Lord Churchill, who now commanded all the English army in Ireland, being encouraged by the Duke of Berwick's retreat into Connaught, and the departure of the French troops, assaulted the city of Cork, which he took without much opposition, though it was sufficiently provided with all necessaries to sustain a long siege. But the misfortune of the governor was such that he gave up the place without even securing conditions for the garrison (as the English pretended), who were all made prisoners of war, and barbarously treated.* The Duke of Grafton, a natural son of Charles II., was killed during the attack; he commanded William's navy and was an inveterate enemy to his uncle James, and of the Irish nation, whom he mortally hated on account of the Catholic worship, whereof they were as zealous professors as he was a violent asserter of the Protestant sect. From Cork the army marched straight to Kinsale, ten miles from thence. They entered the town without any resistance, the governor's orders to burn it being unfortunately delayed by the officer who had it in charge; till the * The garrison held out for five days — till they were short of powder. Articles of surrender were signed. THE JACOBITE WAJt IN ICELAND. 45 enemy came and possessed it, which was no small help towards carrying the fort; for the season was so cruel and bitter, being in the latter end of autumn, that Lord Churchill could not possibly keep the field. But now, having lodged Ids men within the town, he sent detachments daily from thence to attack the new fort, which was valiantly defended by Sir Edward Scott, an Irish knight and a brave commander, who held out for twenty days, hoping in vain to be hourly relieved by the Duke of Berwick. At length the governor, when he saw no likelihood of succour, and that the walls were all battered about his ears, more than two parts of the garrison being cut off, he surrendered the place upon very honourable conditions (his lady riding out in her coach upon the breach), and came to Limerick to give the Duke of Berwick an account of the action. But certainly, next to Limerick, the new fort of Kinsale was the place best defended in Ireland during the war. It might be easily understood by the young general's (Berwick's) behaviour that he acted all along pursuant 10 the instructions of Tirconnoll, who, to make him the more observant of the rule he left him, did not fail to assure him that it was both the in- terest and absolute order of James to act after that manner; and it is probable that Colonel Maxwell, John Hamilton, and Colonel Sheldon, the English and Scottish directors left by Tirconnell to guide the 46 THE JACOBITE WAB, IN IRELAND. youth (for he would not trust him to the management of Sarsfield or any Irish com- mander), were not wanting to put him in daily mind of his lesson. These considera- tions occasioned a great meeting at Limerick of the nobility, Bishops, and prime officers of the army, who having called to their assistance the learned gownmen then in town, demanded their opinion touching the present form of government left by Tir- connell, and they all answered that the power he left was not legal ; for that by the ancient constitution and the fundamental laws of the land, Ireland must be governed by a King or a Viceroy, or at least by a Deputy or two vested with the royal authority; and there being no King, Yiceroy, or Deputy now in the kingdom, the government was there- fore unhinged, and the nation at liberty to choose what form they thought most con- venient for self-preservation. It is probable that Tirconnell himself was not ignorant that his new mode of dividing the power was with- out law or precedent; but he considered if he made choice of the Duke of Berwick for his deputy (and he dare not name any other, whilst the son of James was in Ireland), the King\ who had a fond affectioi for the youth, mig'> furt^r pleasure were known, provided he would admit a select council of officers, to be named by the colonels, without whose advice and consent he should act nothing relating to the war; and two able persons of quality in every province to be chosen to assist him in the management of civil affairs. And in fine that agents should be despatched imme- diately from the nation to give James a true account of transactions since he left Ireland, of their present condition, their resolutions, and their wants. Those proposals were made to the Puke of Berwick on the last day of September (O.S.) and in the third vear of the war (1690). He answered, as he was prompted by his tutors, that he knew the power left by Tirconnell was not legal, but that he would accept of no authority from the nrmv or nation: saving that he micrht 48 THE JACOBITE WAB IN IRELAND. command the army as Lieutenant- General by virtue of a former commission from James ; that he wondered the officers would presume to meet without his orders — and he commanded them to disperse, and return to their respective quarters. He was told by the deputies, there was no such thing as a General now; and, indeed, there was no army, James having already discharged them of their allegiance and given them liberty to shift for themselves ; and if they were left at liberty to submit to the enemy, sure they had the same freedom to defend themselves, and if the Duke of Berwick would not accept the chief command upon these terms, they were obliged, by the law of nature, to take the best and most proper methods they could fix upon for self-preservation. But Berwick gave them no other answer that day; though next morning, after he consulted his directors, Sarsfield found him more pliant. He then was satisfied to have a council of officers for the direction of the war ; to admit two out of each province to manage civil affairs ; and to consent that agents might be immediately despatched into France, by whom he would write to James. Sarsfield, believing that nothing now was left undone to the satisfaction of all parties, and knowing that his presence was necessary at Athlone to watch the enemy's motions thereabouts (for they had a design of passing the Shannon, and making incursions into THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 49 Connaught), he took his leave of the Duke of Berwick and the rest of his friends in Limerick. Sarsfield was no sooner gone than Berwick began to fall back" from his promise to sign the address (which the agents were to bring with them into France, and present to James in behalf of the nation), if it did not expressly contain that they were satisfied with Tir- connell's conduct hitherto, which he knew very well wduld never be inserted, as their design was to impeach Tirconnell and dis- cover his mismanagement both to James and the French King. But the Duke of Berwick believed that the rest of the officers, following the example of Sarsfield, would soon retire to their several posts; that the Bishops and nobles would also return home ; and so he might have an opportunity to spin out the time and delay perfecting the matter as long as possibly he could, in hopes that winter, now drawing on, might put a stop to the agents and keep them in Ireland, until some new orders came from James, and perhaps a commission to himself to command as Viceroy — which would put an end to all disputes about that legality of power, which was then pretended to be wanting in Tirconnell's new model of government. This unexpected tergiversa- tion of the young man highly incensed the nation. Sarsfield was sent for, and a final resolution taken to set up another D 50 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. form of government, excluding Berwick and all Tirconnell's creatures. Happy Ireland, if that resolution were executed ! But Colonel Maxwell, a cunning Scotchman, finding that the Irish were now in good earnest, advised Berwick by all means to comply with their desires, and him- self despatch beforehand agents into France, to give James a private account how matters were carried on in Ireland ; so that Sarsfield no sooner arrived at Limerick than he found the scene altered, and the Duke of Berwick quite a different man from what the late expresses he received represented him ; for he signed the address and credentials for the agents, composed of a Bishop and three officers of the army ; he consented that two Bishops and eight noble- men, to be named by the provincial meet- ings, should be added to the twelve already appointed by Tirconnell for the manage- ment of civil affairs; and that he would admit all the general officers to be of his council of war, though Tirconnell stinted the number to a few privados of his own. All which was assented to by Berwick without any seeming reluctancy, though nothing of it performed, only what related to the agents, which was solemnly done upon the place.* But that being once * The Deputies were — the Catholic Bishop of Cork, Dr. John Molony; the brothers Colonel Simon and Brigadier Henry Luttrell ; and Colonel Nicholas Purcell. With these, Berwick sent the Scotch Brigadier Maxwell to explain matters THE JACOBITE WAB IN IBELAND. 51 perfected, the assembly broke up, Sarsfield and the rest of the good patriots not doubt- ing but that the principal point being gained, immediately upon the agents' arrival into France, a speedy course would be taken by King Louis XIV. to enable the nation to defend themselves and reduce their civil and military affairs into so good a posture, that the design of Tirconnell would be rendered ineffectual. The agents immediately got on board a vessel then riding in the harbour, and ready to set sail ; but they were so long retarded by contrary winds that the winter was far advanced be- fore they arrived in France, and at the same time they landed at St. Malo, Tirconnell was ready to set sail from another port on his return to Ireland; but they were not many furlongs at sea, when a courier arrived from France, bringing from James to the Duke of Berwick the above-men- tioned order, procured by Tirconnell, that no such persons should be suffered to go out of Ireland. In the King's letter, brought by the same courier, he declared that his subjects of Ireland could not give greater proofs of their fidelitj' to him than by their ready submission and obedience to Tir- connell, and by their exact observance of his orders, Nothing more unwelcome than this declaration could come from James to secretly to the Kin?, and prevent the return of Henry Luttrell and Parcel] . (£.) 52 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. the generality of Irish Catholics ; for it was as clear as the light of the sun, that Tir- connell employed all along his utmost efforts to bring them under the English yoke, and it appeared now that James was still of the same resolution; but they hoped that their legates would make him more sensible to his true interest. The Irish agents made all the possible haste they could to Court; but Colonel Maxwell was there before them, and gave James what account he thought fit of all transactions. When they arrived they got a cold reception from James, who looked on them as mutineers, and as such they were first threatened with imprisonment; but upon further consideration, lest the nation of Ireland, resenting so public an affront, might be tempted to enter into a strict league with "William against France, it was resolved to use them more mildly. James, in person, presented them to Louis XIV. as legates from the Catholics of Ireland ; though it is believed he left noth- ing unattempted that the authority of a Prince could do with his subjects, to make them decline their intended prosecution against Tirconnell, or saying anything in the French Court to his prejudice, or the derogation of his government in Ire- land. Nay, Queen Mary herself, whom people judged more sensible of her true interest than James, was heard to say, she knew no reason, when the King and she THE JACOBITE WAB IN IRELAND. 53 were satisfied with Tirconnell's conduct, why the Irish should dislike it. But the agents considered they had the concerns of a nation to look after, and that though the King, out of a false maxim of state, were convinced that it was his interest to let William conquer Ireland, in hopes it might facilitate his own restoration to England, yet it would be a great hardship on the Irish to sacrifice their lives, their estates, and fortune, the religion of their ancestors, and all that was dear to them in this world, tlirough a vain presumption that their ruin would re-enthrone James in England, whilst they and their posterity should be reduced to an inevitable necessity of endur- ing a perpetual bondage, or rather of being extirpated root and branch; for that was known to have been always the design and result of the English. The agents, therefore, thought themselves obliged by the indispensable law of nature, honour, and conscience, to take other methods, as well for their own as for the preservation of those who employed and entrusted them, by giving to both Kings a true account of the present state of Ireland, of the nations inalterable resolu- tion to hold out to the last, and how easy it was to recover the whole island from "William, or at least to keep him so employed there, as to disable him from giving any considerable assistance to the Confederate Princes against France — and in fine, that 54 THE JACOBITE WAS IN IBELAND. it was the true interest of James to proceed in such a manner in Ireland as might enable him to enter sword in hand into England, and as a conqueror re-establish the ancient worship of the Catholic Faith, and secure his royal prerogative from being hereafter invaded by his inconstant Pro- testant subjects, who, by the principles of their new religion, were sworn enemies to monarchy. They represented to King Louis in particular, that the nation of Ireland, upon the assurances he gave them of his royal protection, were encouraged to declare in favour of James against the Prince of Orange ; that, in consequence, they drew the whole force of William (which might be otherwise employed against Louis) upon themselves; that, as their country was thereby made the miserable seat of war, they thought the French King was bound in honour, as well as interest, to support them powerfully in maintaining a quarrel which they chiefly undertook upon his en- couragement. It is natural to think that, through respect for James, the Irish agents forbore grating too much upon TirconneH's conduct, since the engagement on the Boyne ; for, if all his proceedings from that day were unravelled, it would not only dis- abuse King Louis (who was hitherto kept in the dark), but would also convict poor James, perhaps, of some ingratitude towards his best ally. ButJ they were unwilling to expose the weakness of their King, who was THE JACOBITE WAE IN IEELAND. 55 imposed upon by his favourites to act against his true interest, to serve their pri- vate ends ; and what was a still greater mis- fortune, was that past miscarriages seldom made him more wary for the future. It was probable, however, that Louis Xiy., notwithstanding all these precautions used by James and Tirconnell, was not altogether a stranger to the design of giving up Ireland to William, nor to the reasons they alleged for it, viz., lest the old Irish, with the French assistance, should recover the country and keep it to themselves ; but to avoid giving James any occasion of jealousy (an imperfection incident to all weak princes), he seemed to credit Tir- connell's relation, confirmed by the King, and for that reason refused giving the Irish agents that powerful succour which they called for, and which he believed necessary ; though, on the other hand, not to dis- courage them altogether, he assured them that whatever St. Ruth, a captain of great conduct and experience (whom he recom- mended to James, tq command his Irish army), after arriving in Ireland, and inform- ing himself upon the spot, should judge necessary for carrying on the work, he (Louis) would not fail despatching it immediately. "Whilst things were in this agitation in the French Court, that part of Ireland which owned the authority of James was most lamentably governed between the 56 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. Duke of Berwick, Sarsfield, and the new senateo The entire province of Connaught, and those territories in Minister which bordered upon Limerick, and were naturally fortified by deep rivers and inaccessible mountains, did not stoop to the Orange yoke; so that the men and cattle of the other provinces came for shelter into this part of Ireland ; as they were in great numbers, especially those of Ulster, they were burthensome to the inhabitants where- ever they came.* But this was nothing to the disorders daily committed by the army. For all the forces of Ireland, now driven into Connaught and other places of f atness,t lived at discretion without order or discip- line. The Duke of Berwick minded his youthful pleasures more than the conduct of his troops ; the commissioners left for civil affairs pretended they had no power to regulate the soldiery; and Sarsfield, who * Besides theee creaghts or herdsmen, there were the cattle-drovers who followed James's army. But the overcrowded refuge of the Irish was soon to gather in a more helpless multitude. On the 26th of July, 1690, two Williamite Proclamations were published — one "forbidding all Papists to dwell within ten miles of the Frontiers," and the other ■■ commanding all the wives, children, and dependents of any of the Irish in King James's army, or of those who had been killed or taken in that service, to remove beyond the Shannon by such a day, or else to be proceeded against as enemies and spies." " And accordingly most of them went," Story says, •' having a guard to conduct them to our Frontiers." + O'Callaghan gives " fastness," a better reading. THE JACOBITE WAB IN IEELAND. 57 no doubt meant well, gave out bo many clas hin g orders, which related as well to the civil (wherein he had no authority), as to the military government, that it did not a little contribute to increase the confusion. But the most intolerable oppression of all was the unlimited power assumed by the storekeepers and their subalterns (who were ordinarily the worst men they could find) to seize upon the corn, cattle, butter, leather, tallow, wool, linen, and indeed, every com- modity, goods and utensils, that could be named in a man's house or land, without any privilege to the nobles, or even to the holy Bishops; though little of this was brought into the King's stores, as was pre- tended, but almost all converted by these harpies to their own use. These cater- pillars coming out daily in swarms to search in all places both above and under ground, were ever escorted by a party of soldiers, and that commonly by Sarsfield's orders; for he was so easy that he would not deny signing any paper that was laid before him. This indeed, was held to be the greatest grievance of the nation under that government, during which no man could be secure of, nor even pretend to, any property ; though to speak the truth it was not only the present case of the Irish, during the short administration of the Duke of Berwick and the Commissioners, but it was so all along in Tirconnell's reign, and even before James quitted the country; for, as d2 58 THE JACOBITE WAR Itt IRELAND. I said before, lie had only the name of a king, and Tirconnell the power. Another grievance, nay, that which was generally believed to be in a great measure the occasion of the ruin of the Irish, and of the disorders of their government, was the abundance of copper money which was coined by the King's orders, and which produced so many inconveniencies in the country, that it merits a more particular relation, and deserves to be traced up to its source. When James arrived in Ire- land, which was about the middle of the first month of the second year of the war, (March, O.S., 1689), he found the country very bare of gold and silver, the English, who had all the wealth of the kingdom in their hands, having transported their effects into England. James was not very fond of spending in haste the stock of money which Louis XIV. freely granted for the support of the war in Ireland, lest it might oblige him to call for more; a thing he would gladly avoid, foreseeing, that by being too far engaged to any foreign prince in that manner, the reimbursement of such vast sums must exhaust his treasure, when he came to the possession of his kingdoms, which he soon expected by the voluntary submission of his deluded subjects. He was therefore advised by a Scottish privado,* to make use of this copper coin to serve his present turn in Ireland; adding that this * Melfort, according to Sir Richard Cox. THE JACOBITE WAB IK IBELAND. 59 method would enable him to employ a good part of his gold to keep in heart his friends in Scotland, and gain others in England, which, he represented, was of greater con- sequence than the affairs of Ireland; and that, matters being once settled there, he might recall this coin again, and recom- pense the losers. But though d'Avaux, the French Ambassador, and the nobles of Ireland assured James that if he laid out the money he brought from France, it would by circulation come back again into his treasury (the Irish Parliament having already freely granted a subsidy of £20,000 a month)* nevertheless the Scotch advice prevailed. Accordingly, a considerable part of the gold was sent into that country, and the remainder being reserved by James for a dead lift, the copper money was re- solved upon, and the mint set to work in the sixth month of the second year (August [properly June], O.S., 1689). On its first appearance abroad, the Pro- testants in Dublin showed a reluctancy to receive it, but they were soon forced into a compliance. Elsewhere it passed pretty * To be levied on lands, James found it necessary (in April, 1690) to raise as much more, on chattel property, by Proclamation — but even this amount, and the grants from Louis, left him still impecu- nious, with an unpaid army. MacPherson says, under the heading, July, 1689, " James's troops had neither arms nor pay." Writing in October, Schomberg contrasts the copper -paid Jacobites with the well-paid Williamites. The pay of the Irish privates was one penny a day. 60 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. well in the beginning ; the people who were hitherto scant of money being glad to have any coin current among them to advance trade, which was dead in the country. But when it came to be coined in such plenty that the merchants, who could not use it in foreign countries, raised the price of their outlandish (foreign) ware to an unreason- able rate, and that the country people following the example, began to raise the price of their commodities also, and in fine that the French troops, who were paid in silver, seemed to reject it, then, and not be- fore, it began to decline. But what under- valued it most, was the little esteem the great ones about court shewed for it: Tir- conneH's lady commonly giving double the quantity of brass for so much silver. This made the inferior sort to vilify the coin, which became so despicable, especially after the defeat of James on the river Boyne, that the commodity which might be purchased for one piece of silver would cost twenty in brass; and yet Tirconnell and those who governed under him extorted from the country people their goods at the King's rate, when paid in silver. But the oppression that the poor Irish merchants lay under in the cities of Limerick and Galway from the Tircon- nellites was most insufferable. A factor, who had his goods ready to be shipped on board a vessel hired for that purpose, must have the affliction to behold his warehouse THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 61 broke open, and all the intended freight, which he acquired with so great pains and expense, snatched from him in a moment; for which he had the value given him in copper according to the King's rate (or perhaps a ticket for it), which would not yield him the price of a shoe-buckle in any foreign country. And though this plunder was daily committed under pretence of supplying the King's stores, yet the misfor- tune was that nephews and nieces, the friends and favourites of Tirconnell, got the greater part of the spoil. The town* of Gal way can bear witness that this was commonly done by his own orders, when he was there to take shipping for France. If an outlandish vessel came in by chance (for few would come in designedly into a land where no other coin was used but copper), the whole cargo was immediately seized, and the owners must stay until their ship were loaded again with the country pro- visions or commodities, which were to be plundered from the natives. This unhappy management made all neighbouring nations shun that part of Ireland which was reputed an infamous den of robbers, and a receptacle of pirates. It was the common opinion that this pitiful project of the copper coin was purposely advised by some who designed the total ruin of Ireland ; for it might easily be foreseen that it would quickly destroy all commerce, wherein chiefly consists the wealth of any country surrounded by the sea. 62 THE JACOBITE WAK IN ICELAND. About the beginning of November (O.S.), 1690, Sarsfield happily discovered a dan- gerous correspondence and private treaty between some of the Irish senate and the enemy. These were to cross the river Shannon, and the conspirators were to order it «o, that the cities of Limerick and Gal- way should be delivered up to them. Upon this discovery Sarsfield posted to Limerick to give the Duke of Berwick an account of the treachery. He showed him a list sent to him from Dublin, of the traitors' names ; and though the Duke of Berwick owned the receipt of such another list from James, which came to him out of London, he could not, however, be persuaded to secure the conspirators, because they were all Tir- connelFs friends. And it was by much ado that he was prevailed upon to dismiss Lord Biverston from his office of Secretary, and to take the government of Galway from his brother-in-law (Colonel Alexander Mac- Donnell) — a good commander, 'tis true, raised by merit from a private soldier to the rank of a colonel, generally deemed an honest man, true to his country, and zealous for the Catholic worship, and for whose removal there was no other motive but that he was allied to Lord Riverston, who was really esteemed by a great many. He was indeed nobly descended ; but his greatest merit was the friendship of Tirconnell, who made him Secretary of State and "War, though perhaps unfit for the employment. The THE JACOBITE WAE IK IBELAltt). 63 Duke of Berwick however, to please Sara- field, and appear more careful of the Irish interest, appointed him Governor of Galway and of the whole province of Connaught, which contributed greatly to the defence of that province against the enemy's incur- sions. Sarsfield hereupon, having left a good Deputy and a sufficient garrison at Galway, came to Athlone, and secured all the posts thereabouts winch were most ex- posed. About this time several emissaries were employed by Tirconnell's friends in the senate, among the nobles and leading officers of the army, to remind them of the imminent danger they were in, if they did not timely accept of the conditions offered by the Prince of Orange; and that as for Louis XIV., it was a folly to think if he were able to relieve them, he would be alto- gether so unmindful of it these five months past, since the defeat of the Boyne. This argument seemed plausible to several under- standing men, who knew it to be the true interest of King Louis to send such consider- able succours to the Irish as might encourage them to hold out, and hinder "William from falling upon France; but it was a convincing one to all those who were ignorant of the measures taken both in France and Ireland to keep Louis from the knowledge of the true state of affairs ; so that a great many began to hearken to the proposal, whereof some, out of a sordid avarice, preferring their private interest to 64 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. that of the public, and others out of an in- veterate hatred to the old Irish race, lest they might be restored, by the recovery of Ireland, to their ancient grandeur; and some, really believing there was a necessity for it, resolved to make their own con- ditions, and submit to William. How- ever it is certain that the enemy was encouraged to attack the Shannon in the midst of winter, when the earth was all covered with snow, or likely they would not attempt it in that cruel season, when no part of the river was fordable (they who had been repulsed the summer before, when they had a victorious army and every ford was passable), if they did not expect some friends on the Connaught side to hand them over. They made a show then, as if they designed to force a passage at Lanesboro' and another at Jamestown, 100 furlongs higher; but were prevented in both places by the vigilance of Sarsfield, who ordered those posts to be well manned, and the country to appear in arms for the defence of the line. The truth is the season was too rigid to continue long in the field, and the indefatigable pains of Sarsfield discouraged their party (if any they had in Connaught) to declare for them. These disappointments made them resolve to retire, with the loss of some men, and a great many horses, with- out gaining any other advantage by their attempt but the plunder of a few islands on the river, to compensate in some manner THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 65 for the damage they sustained by that un- seasonable expedition. The enemy no sooner retreated than Denis Daly, a mem- ber of the long robe, a man of great know- ledge in the law, and one of Tirconnell's chief confidants, was confined by the Duke of Berwick, and (on the 10th day of January, O.S., 169?) sent prisoner to the citadel of Galway, on suspicion of keeping private correspondence with the common enemy. 'Tis true he appeared too much for the new sect ; but Ms deliverer was near at hand : for in a few days after hi9 confinement he had the good fortune to hear of Tirconnell's landing at Limerick. And he was no sooner arrived than he made use of his pre- rogative to enlarge Denis Daly, and restore him, without any further trial, to his former station and dignity. Lord Eiverston was also restored to his place in the senate; but as for that of Secretary he only officiated for a while in the absence of Sir Richard Nagle, a man of the robe too, a person of ability and parts, and generally believed an honest man. As those who were weary of the war, and willing enough to submit once more to the English yoke, were overjoyed at the happy return of Tirconnell, so on the other side, nothing could be more displeasing to the braver Irish, who were resolved not to out- live the loss of their liberty, than the arrival of a man who made it his business all along to deprive them of the greatest bless- 66 THE JACOBITE WAS IN IEELAND. ings they could reasonably hope for upon earth. For they believed that the suppres- sion of the ancient worship, and the per- petual bondage of the country, would be the fatal consequences of that submission which Tirconnell designed ever since the defeat of the Boyne; and though perhaps he did not really intend so much mischief to his native country and the religion of his ancestors, it was however the general opinion that it could not possibly be avoided, if the nation was once compelled to acknowledge the Protestant government of England. Tis true that he came better prepared to manage a treaty, than to continue the war ; for the chief Irish gownmen who fled into France after the battle of the Boyne, were now returned with their patron into Ireland ; but he brought with him no soldiers and very few arms, little provision, and no money. It was confidently said that he did not bring, in all, above a fortnight's provi- sion, for the garrisons of Limerick and Galway, and perhaps he thought this same twice enough to perfect conditions which he had reason to believe were already con- cluded. "Not is it unlikely, but tbat he wisely considered, if he brought more, the stubborn Irish might hold out till they were powerfully relieved out of France, whuh would spoil the great project and dash it to pieces. He also thought to nick the time, when his friends, whom he left behind, were to order it so, that he should find the THE JACOBITE WAIl IN IRELAND. 67 enemy before him in Connaught, and the people in such a consternation that they would readily accept of any conditions he should think fit to make for them ; yet it may be charitably supposed that he did not question but the English would exactly perform the capitulation; which, if they had, it was the first time they observed any conditions stipulated with the Irish, for which reason those who were sensible of this truth could not endure to hear of a treaty. When Tirconnell left the French Court, there was no talk, nor even expectation, of any agents from Ireland; but being at Brest ready to set sail, he understood that they landed at St. Malo and proceeded directly to court. He did not doubt but they were purposely come to impeach his conduct; whereupon hq despatched a courier to James letting him know that it concerned him, both in honour and interest, to suppress this solemn embassy, and punish the agents for their presumption. And he no sooner landed in Ireland than he gave strict orders that all passengers coming out of France should be examined and narrowly searched for letters, which, if any they had, should be immediately brought to Sir Richard Nagle, who, after perusal, was to order them to be kept, or given to the persons they were addressed to, as he should think fit. It was also ordered, under severe penalties, that no man whatsoever should presume to go out of the kingdom without 68 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IBELAND. Tirconnell's licence, and delivering all the letters he carried abroad, to be first perused by the Secretary, and then stopped, or sent away, as he thought most convenient. As for the letters coming from the French Court into Ireland, by the ordinary way of couriers, when they were arrived at Brest, the seaport town in France which corres- ponded with Ireland, they were brought to the primecivil magistrate there (whom Tirconnell gained beforehand), and by him transmitted in one bundle, and under cover, to Tirconnell, who by this method stopped all manner of free correspondence between the* two kingdoms; so that those of one country could have no notion of what was transacted in the other, but such as he was pleased to give them. And no doubt he made the right use of this great advantage, to let his friends at court know that these pretended agents were men of no interest in the country, and were employed only by Sarsfield, and some few inconsiderable per- sons of his faction; that the Duke of Ber- wick and the major part of those who, to avoid a greater inconvenience, signed their credentials, have, since Tirconnell's arrival, when the restraint they lay under was taken off, retracted their former signatures. And it is not improbable but some such instru- ment was drawn up, and many hands put to it, perhaps of some who never saw the thing; for it was known that Tirconnell never stumbled at such shams to gain his THE JACOBITE WAE IN IBELAND. 69 point. He recalled the copper coin, though he brought with him no silver to pay the soldiers who lived at discretion upon the country; such as were quartered abroad and those in garrisons being supplied out of the stores; but country and stores were now near exhausted, to which he was no stranger. Notwithstanding all Tirconnell's pre- cautions, he could not obstruct Sarsfield's receiving a letter from the agents; for a French commander landing at Gal way, in the last month of the third year (February, O.S., 169 J), and finding Sarsfield there, he delivered him a letter from the agents, and rode post the same day to Limerick to give Tirconnell the despatch he brought him from James. In the agents' letter all Tir- connell's proceedings at court were lively represented, and among the rest that notable saying of his, that an Irish army can live upon bread and water. The same letter gave great hopes of a speedy and powerful supply of all necessaries to carry on the war, in consequence of their remonstrances to the King of Franco; and that St. Ruth, a man of great esteem there, would come over to command the Irish army, without any dependance upon the Yiceroy. The contents of this letter (whereof copies were industriously distributed among the army and gentry), did not a little rejoice the generality of the Irish ; but the Tirconnell- ites were so much nettled at it that they 70 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. endeavoured to make people believe it was forged by some of Sarsfield's friends, to asperse Tirconnell; whereas it was well known that the French officer who brought it, landing at Galway at noon day, and all the people flocking to the Governor to learn the news, Sarsfield no sooner received the letter than he got it publicly read, in a great assembly of nobles and officers, to the unspeakable joy and satisfaction of the whole auditory ; so that the attempt to make it pass for a sham was vain and ridiculous. Tirconnell, on the other side, seemed to be well pleased with the despatches he re- ceived, which assured him, as he averred, that St. Ruth was to command under him, as de Rosen did formerly, and that the superintendence of all affairs, both civil and military, was still in his hands. Before the receipt of that packet, he was observed to be much dejected ; he courted Sarsfield's friendship with all the earnestness imagin- able, protesting a real and cordial amity of his side, but now he looked big again after his usual manner; for he was naturally proud and arrogant, high and insolent. He came from Limerick to Galway, where the garrison received him with all the decorum that was due to the King's Lieuten- ant ; and he was really welcome to most of the citizens, because he was the great patron of the New Interest men, of whom that town had more than all the rest of Ireland. He was accordingly regaled by the chief magis- THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 71 trates, and nothing was seen during his abode there (even in that holy time laid aside by the Bishops to fast and pray) but balls and banquets, bonfires and public re- joicings, as if the English were quite driven out of Ireland, and a glorious peace re-established in the Nation. But what is more remarkable is that Tirconnell and his friends lived at this rate when the soldiers of the army wanted bread, the common sort of people ready to starve, and, indeed, the whole Nation reduced under the greatest hardships that mortals could suffer. Never was the arrival of man more passionately longed for in this world than that of St. Ruth by the generality of the Irish ; but he stayed so long that the most confident began to stagger. In this general affliction, and the greatest consternation imaginable, it was amazing to behold the countenances of the Tirconnellites, who seemed to kindle fires of joy in their hearts, when the whole Nation was almost reduced to the last despair. For they did not doubt but that now their long- wished for project would be happily compassed, without blemish to James, or any blame to Tir- connell, because hunger must at last con- strain the obstinate Irish to hearken to the treaty so often proposed; and the loss of the country would be justly imputed to the neglect of Louis XIV. to send timely relief to starving people. But when all men were despairing in good earnest, the French 72 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. fleet appeared upon the coast, and on the 9th. of May (O.S.), 1691, St. Ruth, accom- panied by the Chevalier de Tesse and D'Usson, two lieutenants-general and two of the agents, arrived at Limerick. Upon the first appearance of the French fleet, Tirconnell was observed to be much out of countenance; but finding by the King's letters, and by private intelligence from his friends at court, that the commis- sion of St. Euth did not empower him to com- mand the army independent of the Viceroy, that he brought no money, and no more arms than Tirconnell himself called for, though a far greater quantity of provisions, he began to take heart again and re- solved to appear in person at the head of the army. To enable the troops to take the field out of hand he issues an order for the levying of ten talents in silver, in order to buy flesh meat for the soldiers; St. Euth having brought a vast quantity of corn and meal to supply jhem with bread. This money was to be raised in the province of Connaught and the other districts which acknowledged the authority of James ; though it was not unknown to Tirconnell that one half of that money could not be had in all that part of the kingdom, now that the brass coin was recalled; but that the country might furnish the army with beeves enough (to buy which the levy was pre- tended), without giving such a public evidence to the world that St. Euth brought THE JACOBITE WAK IN IRELAND. 7H no money out of France. The well- affected Irish were not ignorant of Tir- conneH's design by this project, which could be no other but to make the nation sensible that the great King Louis XIV., after so many assurances of royal succour, sent them now a captain without money, which all mankind knows to be the true sinews of war. He further expected, and he had no less than reason, that it would altogether discourage the foreigners in William's army to desert to that of James, where no pay was to be had ; and those ends which he proposed by the boasted levy being once obtained (for the nation was now satis- lied, and the enemy knew full well, that St. Ruth brought no money), he declined calling for what he was sensible could not be got, and accepted of 10,000 beeves which the country freely offered. But the greatest obstacle that could be given to St. Ruth in his design, was the want of boats to carry his provisions upon the river Shannon from Limerick to Athlone, where the army was to rendezvous. These boats should have been provided the winter and spring before, when Tirconnell was revelling away the time between Limerick and Gal way, and this wilful neglect occasioned the loss of Ireland ; for having but six boats in all, what they carried in one load was consumed by the garrison of Athlone, and the neighbouring troops, before the second load could arrive. This disappointment gave no small affliction B 74 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. to St. Ruth, who rested neither night nor day, but gallopped between Limerick, Ath- lone, and Lanesboro', ordering the country horses, and the spare horses of the cavalry, to be employed in carrying the provisions ; and yet, notwithstanding all his pains, it was the 20th day of June (O.S.), 1691, and the forty-second after his landing in Ireland, before he could conveniently bring a con- siderable body of men together. This delay of the Irish army gave a further opportunity to Baron Ginkell, general of "William's forces in Ireland, to gather his troops, who were dispersed in the provinces of Ulster, Leinster, and Munster, and begin the cam- paign with the attack of Ballimore, which he took without opposition on the 8th of June (O.S.), the governor and garrison being made prisoners of war.* This fort, in the province of Leinster, ten miles dis- tant from Athlone, and as many from Lanesboro', was lately built by Sarsfleld's orders to cover both places, and afford the Irish a conveniency of making incursions from thence into Leinster. Ginkell arriv- ing the 19th day at Athlone, and having battered with his rams and other engines the walls of the town on the Leinster side of the river, he took it by assault on the 20th, whereof the news came overnight to St. Ruth, who lav at Ballinasloe, twelve miles * TJlick Burke, th* o-o^rnor, refused to surrender but the fort was destroyed. THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 75 from Athlone, whither he marched next day with 1,500 horse and foot, pitching his camp within twenty furlongs of the place. It was greatly wondered by some that Tirconnell, who was not ignorant how un- grateful his presence must have been to the major part of the army, should presume to appear in the camp ; and on the other side it was no less admired by a great many, who were not fully acquainted with the transactions in France, how St. Ruth could endure it. But the truth is, St. Ruth did not imagine that Tirconnell, who was to content himself solely with the management of civil affairs, would intermeddle with the military government, James having assured him that he would write to Tirconnell to that purpose; though it was not fit, as he said, to insert anything in the commission then given to St. Ruth, that might seem to affront the King in the person of the Vice- roy. But either Tirconnell received no such orders from James, or if he did, he concealed it; for he and his creatures confidently averred that St. Ruth was to command the army under the Viceroy; and to demon- strate the same to all people, as also to confirm his faction among the soldiers, who otherwise would be altogether dis- heartened by Sarsfield's more numerous party, it was resolved, in a private consult of his own friends, that he should come and head the army in person. By these unexpected proceedings St. Ruth found to 76 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. his regret, though somewhat of the latest, that he was more credulous than wary in his transactions with James. But his ardent zeal for the true worship of God, to- gether with the regard he had for the in- terest of the King his master, and the commiseration imprinted in his generous soul for the afflicted Irish, made him lay aside all other considerations, and suppress the resentments he might justly conceive for particular affronts — preferring the public good, and the attaining these happy ends he proposed to himself, before any private advantage of his own, with an unalterable resolution to endure anything rather than abandon the glorious cause he took in hand. But Sarsfield and his friends were so in- censed at the confidence of Tirconnell to appear in the army, that they joined in a remonstrance protesting against him, which all the colonels, to a very few, confirmed with their signatures ; though Tirconnell was not idle on his side, but employed emissaries to make a party for himself. The castle of Athlone is seated in the pro- vince of Connaught, and near the kingdom's centre, on the right hand of the river Shannon. The town on the Leinster side was better built than that in Connaught; but the garrison burned it in July (O.S.), 1690, when Lieutenant- General Douglas came to attack the place. Both towns com- municate by means of a stone bridge near the castle, on the south side of which the THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. il river is fordable for two or three furlongs. A trench was indeed lately made there on the Connaught side of the river, to hinder any attempt that way ; but it was not fully completed when Ginkell possessed himself of the Leinster town and bank, where he raised several batteries, and planting his rams and other terrible new-invented engines, he furiously battered the castle and the trench along the river side, never ceasing night or day till he reduced the Connaught town to ashes, and levelled both casth* an J trench with the ground * St. Ruth relieved the place constantly from the camp with three or four legions commanded by a general officer, the cavalry being ordered every day to bring in faggots to make up the breaches. But because the several attempts made by the English army to force a passage over the bridge and ford were always ren- dered ineffectual, by the gallant resistance of the legions daily sent from the camp to de- fend the place, St. Ruth and his French captains believed that the design of Ginkell to pass the river there would prove vain, if not impossible ; and it was this overmuch confidence that made him fatally delay the timely demolishing the rampart on the Con- naught side of the town, whereby those of the camp might march in a body to Athlone, to support the troops guarding the passage. * " Which had cost us," says Story, " 12,000 cannon bullets, 600 bombs, nigh 50 ton of powder, and a great many ton of stones shot out of our mo r tare." 78 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. But when he perceived that Ginkell was obstinately fixed upon that plan, he ordered at last that the rampart should be pulled down ; and this order, given on the 29th day in the evening, being unfortunately neglected that night by d'Usson, who had it in charge, was the woeful occasion of that unexpected misfortune which happened next day. For Ginkell having, on the 30th of June (O.S.), 1691, detached 8,000 men of the best troops in his army to attack the ford, they passed the river and entered the town without any opposition, surprising the Irish legions who guarded the passage, by the neglect or treachery of Colonel Maxwell,* who com- manded that day in Athlone ; and they no sooner entered the place than, possessing themselves of the rampart which surrounded the Connaught town, they took up the draw- bridge, which hindered any relief to come to Athlone out of the Irish camp. Here fell the renowned Colonel Arthur MacMahon, one of the chief noblemen of Ulster and a stout captain. That the place was betrayed by Colonel Maxwell may easily be conjectured by these convincing circumstances: — 1. One of his men having swam over the Shannon that afternoon, no sooner came to Ginkell, and delivered him a private message, than * Story attributes some heroic acts to Scotchmen of Maxwell's regiment. He also says that Maxwell, being made prisoner ere the town was taken, " was confident they (the Irish) would beat us out again." THE JACOBITE AVAR IN IRELAND. 79 the party was immediately detached out to attack the river. 2. "When the soldiers called to Colonel Maxwell for bullets, he would give them none, but asked them whether they would shoot against the birds of the air. 3. He ordered the men to lie down and take their rest, saying there would be no action till night; so that, when the enemy entered, the soldiers for the most part were asleep, and few or Done in their posts. 4. When the first man of the enemy mounted the breach, he (Maxwell) boldly asked him, " Do you know me?" Whereupon Maxwell got quarter, and all the rest were put to the sword; this it seems being the signal to distinguish the betrayer from others ; and it is supposed that Ginkell commanded these who were upon the attack to use the officer well who should put that question. This Colonel Maxwell was a Scotchman by birth, and, as he pretended, a Catholic ; he was of mean extraction, and one of Tirconnell's creatures, without whose countenance it is unlikely he durst venture playing such a prank in Ireland. Sarsfield accused him a few days before in the General's presence ; and it is certain it was not prudently done, after giving him such a public affront, to entrust him with the com- mand of a post of that importance.* But it * According to Berwick, Maxwell having asked for reinforcements at the breach, received from St. Euth the insulting answer, that if he was afraid, another general officer would be sent in his stead 80 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. seems Tircoimell would have it so ; and St. Ruth did not think fit to disoblige the Viceroy. This wonderful success of Ginkell to force a passage over the Shannon, even at Atklone, and within sight of the Irish camp, astonished all men, especially those who were not acquainted with the intrigue. It bred a general consternation over all Ireland, that a gate should be opened into Connaught, which was the last refuge of the nation, and made the thinking men give all for lost ; but none was more sensibly afflicted than brave St. Ruth, who owned that though he ordered the rampart to be demolished, he was how- ever to blame to entrust it to another, saying he should see it done himself.* If we judge by outward demonstrations, Tirconnell was as much concerned as any other ; and he had no less than reason. For this loss must be chiefly attributed, first to his neglect to make timely provision of boats and horses to carry thither the bread from Limerick, which hindered St. Ruth from being with the Irish army at Dublin, before the English could gather to a head; for he arrived in Ireland about the beginning of May (O.S.), and June began before Ginkell took the field. Secondly, had not Tirconnell countenanced and supported Colonel Maxwell, 'tis likely * Colonel Felix O'Neill lays the blame on the French engineers, to whom the order was given. King James shows how d'Usson disputed St. Euth's authority in Athlone. (O'C) THE JACOBITE WAK IN IRELAND. 81 this disaster liad not happened so soon. But now that the job was done, he made the right use of that plausible pretext, then seasonably offered, of the officers declaring against him, to quit the camp and return to Limerick; having gained, however, a prin- cipal point before he went off, which was to get d'Usson (one of the lieutenants come along with St. Ruth out of France, but not so much a friend to him as to Tirconnell), to be sent to Galway to command there in chief ; for he could not endure to approve of the resolution formerly taken to send Ball- dearg O'Donnell thither. This O'Donnell was the presumptive heir to the second Prince of Ulster, who, in Queen Elizabeth's time, quitting Ire- land, retired into Spain, where dying without any issue, his brother succeeded, who also died, leaving only one son, who was taken away in the flower of his age. So that this young O'Donnell being next of kin, went into Spain, where he was received by that king and established in the dignity and employment formerly held there by his kinsman. He had served several years in the Spanish war against France ; and when he understood of "William's inva- sion, and the retreat of James into France, he earnestly solicited the Spanish court for a permission to quit that service, in order to serve his own king and country; but not being able to obtain it, by reason that James and the Irish were then strictlv leagued with e2 82 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. Louis XIV., he left Spain without staying for a licence which he well knew could not be granted, and arrived at Kinsale much about the time that James came thither after the engagement on the Boyne. The King recommending him to Tirconnell, he gave him the command of the new levies raised by the inhabitants of Ulster, who were then retired into Connaught, but afforded, him neither arms nor maintenance. And observing soon after that O'Donnell grew popular among the old Irish, and especially with the natives of Ulster (who superstitiously be- lieved him to be the person meant by an old oracle, who was to deliver Ireland from the English yoke), Tirconnell took from him some of the new regiments, whom he incorporated in the standing army, leaving him and the rest without any manner of subsistence but what they were forced to extort from the country. He also encouraged the nobles of Ulster, and even the officers of his own brigade, to oppose him, in order to suppress his aspiring mind, and render him contemptible to the people. But his chief aim was to breed jealousies between him and Brigadier Gor- don O'Neill, descended from the first Prince of Ulster; for he apprehended, and perhaps with reason, that if the forces of Ulster, all composed of old Irish, were united together, they might easily obstruct his design to reduce Ireland under the jurisdiction THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 83 of William, in order to preserve there the English interest, which was held so sacred, not only by the English, but even by some natives of Ireland, deriving their extraction from thence, of whom Tirconnell was one, that they preferred it before the true worship of the Almighty. O'Donnell was at that time posted with his new-raised men at Jamestown, to defend the river Shannon on that side, and when Ginkell forced a passage over at Athlone, he (O'Donnell) had orders sent him in all haste to march straight to Galway. But to satisfy Tirconnell and those of his party (who loudly declared that to en- trust a person of his credit among the ancient Irish with a place of that consequence, was in effect to abrogate the royal authority in Ireland), the first orders were countermanded and he was bid to disperse his men into several posts for the defence of the western parts of Connaught. Tirconnell, having gained this point, no sooner arrived at Limerick than he de- spatched his secretary into France, with heavy complaints against Sarsfleld and the factious colonels of the army, criminating St. Ruth himself, as if he were leagued with Sarsfield and the old Irish, to the vast pre- judice and perhaps total overthrow of the Kind's interest in that kingdom, if not oppor- tunely prevented. In the meantime St. Ruth, who retired to Ballinasloe, called a great council of his captains to consult how to dispose of the army, now that Athlone was 84 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. lost, and the passage open for the enemy to advance into Connaught. Some were of opinion to stay, and maintain the ground wherein they were encamped; for, having the advantage of the river Suck, which, rising in a mountain towards the centre of Connaught, falls into the Shannon some sixty furlongs below Ballinasloe, they might hinder Ginkell from passing that river, which was the shortest way he could take to Galway. St. Ruth appeared much inclined to this opinion, being too sensible of the affront he received at Athlone, and longing for an opportunity to wash away that stain by some notable action. But Sarsfield and most of the captains gravely represented that the army of Ginkell was more numerous and much better disciplined, being composed for the most part of veteran troops, whom William drew to his service not only out of Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands, but also a considerable party of Protestants out of France, bred up in arms and inured to war ; * that to hazard a battle against them with the Irish army, inferior in number and discipline, ill clad and not well fed, having no pay, and much discouraged for the loss of Athlone, was to endanger the whole king- * The army under St. Kuth at Augbrini was entirely Irish. The English or rather the allied army in Ireland was so composite that Dumont says he found some difficulty in keeping his detach- ment under control, "being made up of nearly all the nations of Europe." However, his lieutenant spoke French, and his cornet, Flemish and German. THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 85 dom ; that it was more advisable to man the cities of Galway and Limerick with most of the infantry, and crossing the Shannon with the rest, and with all the cavalry, to march into the province of Minister and Leinster; that if Ginkell would besiege Galway, it was likely that place, being well manned, would keep him long in play; whereby the Irish might have time enough, after the taking and plundering of Dublin (a rich city with- out any strength), to return to the relief of Galway; that, if Baron Ginkell would quit that design and follow them, they might easily repass the Shannon by the conveniency of Limerick, and so preserve the province of Connaught from being over-run for that season; and that when the succours which they daily expected out of France were arrived, they might then take other measures. This being the general opinion, and in all probability the most rational, St. Ivuth could not well oppose it; however, he stayed for some days encamped there, observing the enemy's motions, riding continually to take cogniz- ance of the ground thereabouts ; and coming to Aughi'im, some sixty furlongs from the place where he then encamped, he liked the situation so well, that he removed his army thither, pitching his camp on the hill of Aughrim, and judging that post to be very advantageous, he resolved, contrary to the former determination, to stay there and fight Ginkell. 8Q THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. Aughrim was then a mined town, and the castle was not muck better, situated in a bottom on the north side of the hill, where the Irish army encamped. The direct way from Ballinasloe was close by the castle, but there was another way about, on the south- east side of the hill. The rest of the ground fronting the camp was a marsh, passable only for foot. Tha army of Ginkell appeared in c ight of Aughrim on the 12th July (0.«.), The Irish army, composed of about 10,000 foot, 2,000 men-at-arms, and as many light horse [dragoons, 0'C], were soon drawn up by St. Ruth in two lines ; the cavalry on both wings flanking the foot ; and having placed Chevalier de Tesse' on the right wing of the horse, and Sarsfield on the left, and giving their several posts to the rest of the chief commanders, St. Ruth obliged himself to no certain place, but rode constantly from one side to another to give the necessary orders where he saw occasion. Ginkell being now come up at so near a distance that his guns and other battering engines might do execu- tion, he ordered them to be discharged, and as he had a vast number of them he made them play incessantly upon the Irish army, hoping by that means to force them from the hill, which was of great advantage. But the Irish, encouraged by the presence and con- duct of St. Ruth, kept their ground and beat the English as often as they advanced THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 8? towards them. The fight continued from noon till sunset, the Irish foot having still the better of the enemy ; and St. Ruth, observ- ing the advantage of his side, and that the enemy's foot were much disordered, he was resolved, by advancing with the cavalry, to make the victory complete, when an un- lucky shot from one of the terrible new engines, hitting him in the head, made an end of his life, and took away the courage of his army. For Ginkell, observing the Irish to be in some disorder, gave a notable con- jecture that the general was either killed or wounded, whereupon he commanded his army to advance. The Irish cavalry, dis- couraged by the death of St. Ruth, and none of the general officers coming to head them in his place, they gave back, and quitted the field. The foot who were engaged with the enemy, knowing no tiling of the general's death or the retreat of their cavalry, con- tinued fighting till they were surrounded by the whole English army ; so that the most of them were cut oft 2 , and no quarter given but to a very few ; the rest, by the favour of the night then approaching (for St. Ruth was killed about sunset) made their escape.* * King James says : "The Irish behaved with great spirit. . . • Tbey convinced the English they had to do with men no less resolute than themselves. Never assault was made with greater fury nor sus- tained with greater obstinacy. The Irish foot repulsed the enemy several times, particularly in the ■ centre. They evenlookeduponthevictory as certain." Col. Maurice Keating explains the subsequent con- fusion. "St. Ruth," he says, "communicated with no 88 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. In this battle Lord Galway, a most hopeful youth, son of the first peer of Connaught (the Earl of Clanrickarde), Colonel MacGuire, and Colonel Charles Moore, the chief men of two illustrious families in Ulster and Lein- ster, Brigadier Henry O'Neill, grandchild of Sir Phelini O'Neill, and Colonel Maurice Council, all stout officers, with many more brave heroes, gloriously fell with arms in hand, fighting to the last breath for the ancient faith and the liberty of Ireland. Gordon O'Neill was mortally wounded and left for dead in the field ; but being happily known by some Scottish officers of his re- lations (for his mother was daughter to one of the chief peers of Scotland), he was care- fully attended by thera, until God was pleased to restore him to life and health ; and being by the treaty of Limerick released from his imprisonment, he followed King James into France. Such was the issue of that famous engage- ment of Aughrim, so glorious to Ginkell, and so fatal to St. Ruth and the Irish, who lost there the flower of their army and nation * The sensible regret of this public one. . . . His whole arrangements were confined to his own head ; and Sarsfield, who succeeded to the command, was in utter ignorance of whab was foing on about him, except of that which imme- iately concerned his own post. Of course, on the fall of St. Ruth everything was at a stop, the officers waitiug for orders, and no one to give them." {Defence of Ireland. Dublin, 1795.) * King James says, u The Irish lost 4,000 men. The loss of the English was not much iuferior." Captain Parker (Williamite) says, M We had above 3,000 THE J \COBTTE WAR IN IRELAND. 89 disaster and the dreadful prospect of the unavoidable consequences of such a defeat filled all Ireland with grief and despair. And though every man's particular loss seemed to exhaust their whole stock of tears, yet none was more generally lamented than brave St. Ruth ; for, in the opinion of all people, if he had lived but an hour longer, the Irish would be victorious that day ; and in case he were worsted, had he outlived the defeat no man would despair but he would soon retrieve it. Never was general bettor beloved by any army, and no captain was ever more fond of his soldiers then he. It is admirable how such a strong sympathy could be produced in so short a time ; for that was but the one- and-twentieth day since he first headed the army. But his innate courage.the affability of his temper, and above all, his ardent zeal for the Catholic cause, gained him of a sudden the hearts of all Ireland. And on the other side he was no less affectionately inclined towards the nation, admiring the constancy of their resolution to maintain a war upon such unequal terms, having so formidable a killed and wounded." — " The English pursued for four miles, but disgraced all the glories of the day by giving no quarter." (Dalrytnple.j Story, no dispassionate witness of the battle, writes of St. Ruth, that " we must allow him to be very brave in his person, and indeed considerable in his conduct, since he brought the Irish to fight a better battle then ever their nation could boast of before :" and this struggle forces him to the conclusion that u the child as yet unborn may curse the occasions of so much blood spilt, and treasure lost, as has been expended in their suppression." 90 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. power against them, and without receiving any considerable aids out of France. So that with St. Ruth died all the hope and good fortune of Ireland ; for from that^ hour they never thrived, nor even attempted anything that was great and glorious. After this notable victory at Aughrim, Ginkell only wanted the reduction of Limerick and Galway to complete the conquest of the whole kingdom. Galway is the head city of Connaught, not much above a day's journey from Aughrim. It is built upon a neck of land between the sea and the Corrib river, which comes out of a great lake rising from high mountains in the west of Connaught, twenty-four miles from Galway, and separa- ting that part of the country from the rest of the province. As there is no passage thither but by boats over the lake, or across the stone bridge at Galway, the town, which has the sea on the south, the river and the lake on the west and north, lies exposed to an attack only on the east side, where Ginkell encamped on the 19th of July (0. S.) ; and that night he gained an outwork upon the hill, very near the walls, by the treachery of an officer who deserted from thence to the enemy. Galway was not well manned at that time, by reason that the resolution once taken to divide most of the foot between that place and Limerick was altered, and that since the battle none got thither but a few Connaught soldiers, who escaped from Aughrim to the number of six or seven hundred men. Indeed after the defeat of the army, O'Donnell was ordered to march THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAJH5. 91 straight to Galway with what men he could g ither together (his brigade, to please Tir- connell, being formerly dispersed between several posts, and at a great distance) ; but he was prevented by the enemy, who next day, after their arrival before Galway, crossed the river in boats, and planting their bridge without any opposition, passed over a part of the army into Western Connaught, besieged the town on that side, and thereby hindered O'Donnell from entering into it that way, as he designed ; for he could not pretend to do it any other way, as he had no conveniency to relieve it by sea. The town of Galway did not only want men for its defence, but was also destitute of warlike engines, which are requisite in a besieged place ; yet the greatest want of all was resolution and union : for, had the townsmen been united and resolute, they were numerous enough, with the assistance of the garrison, to defend the town, and thereby »ive the Irish army time to recruit and put themselves in a posture to relieve the city ; and though they should fail in that design, the Galway men, however, could not miss getting as good conditions the last day as they got at first, and much more to their credit. But they were divided into factions, and the most prevalent at that time was the New Interest men, who longed for a change of government to re-establish the Cromwellian settlement, confirmed by Charles II., but reversed by James. They concealed their arms, and would not lend them to the soldiers who wanted them ; much less would they make 92 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. use of any themselves to defend their country. In the meantime one of the civil officers, the son of an Englishman, professing the Protestant doctrine, made his escape to the camp of Ginkell, by the contrivance, as it was then believed, of the first civil magistrate, [the Mayor, Arthur Ffrench] who was secured upon it, and likely would suffer, had not the enemy come so suddenly to attack the town. This spy gave Ginkell an exact account of all things; how the work on the hill was not fully finished ; the town ill- manned, and ill-furnished with other necessa- ries ; the citizens weary for the most part of the present government, and longing to be under the command and jurisdiction of W illiam. He added that if the place was once surrounded before the arrival of O'Donnell, who was sent for in all haste, they could not hold out long without the assistance of the townsmen, who, as he assured, would give none. Upon this information, which Ginkell received at Aughrim three days after the battle, he advanced straight to Galway. D'Usson,who commandedin chief, was a great friend of Tirconnell's, and the governor [Lord Dillon] was his nephew ; which occasioned a report among the people, that they did not much dislike the townsmen's inclination to treat with Ginkell ; nor is it improbable that those who were for a treaty and submission to William were the more encouraged to propose it, because they knew very well that their acting after that manner would be countenanced by Tircon- THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 1*3 nell, and perhaps no way displeasing to King James himself. It seems they had some ground to think so ; for James wrote after- wards to d'Usson, giving him thanks for his moderation at Gal way, and for his early surrender of the place before the garrison or inhabitants should be reduced to any hardships. It is certain that the same day the English passed the river — which was the next day after they appeared before the town — those of Gal way beat a parley and began to capitulate.* The treaty held for six days, though the articles for the sur- render of Gulway were concluded the second day ; but they expected Tirconnell's result upon the propositions made by Ginkell for a general capitulation, which was brought to Limerick by the governor's brother-in- law, who, as some people averred, after delivering his message there, endeavoured to persuade his friends in the army to accept of the advantageous offers made by Ginkell, which lost him the friendship of Sarsfield, and the esteem of those who resolved to continue the war and to hearken to no con- ditions. By the capitulation of Galway, all persons submitting to King William were to enjoy their estates, as formerly in the reign * One of the besiegers, Feilding, says that they made "small advances" in the daylight, but at night they drove the Irish out of a small fort. He also says that d'Usson was for holding out. {Southwell MSS.) Story's account makes it plain that Gal- way was betrayed. James writes that Lord Clan- rickarde and others were in such ha6te to make terms for themselves that they would not wait the coming up of the enemy's cannon. 94 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. of King Charles II. ; the officers and soldiers were at liberty to march to Limerick, or join William's army, or return to their own homes. On the 26th of July (O. S.) 1691, and fifteen days after the battle, the garrison marched out of Galway,* and the English entered the town. Some of the officers and a few soldiers joined with the enemy ; others retired home; but the greatest number went with d'Usson and the governor to Limerick, where they gave Tirconnell an account of their proceeding, which he easily approved of. The loss of Galway, without any resistance, was seconded with the desertion of O'Donnell, who being forced to make a large circuit about the lakes, and to mnrch through moun- tains almost impassable, was no sooner come within ten miles of Galway, than he found that not only the town was besieged on that side, but that the treaty of surrender was already concluded, which put him into no small perplexity. He had, it seems, a friend in the English camp, by whose procurement. Ginkell wrote him a letter, importing his willingness to serve a person of his honour and worth, who behaved himself so well in the Spanish service ; and reminding him of the ill treatment he received since he came into Ireland, and of the opportunity which now offered to be revenged of his enemies, * The Williamite Colonel R. Levesen writes to Blathwayt, his Secretary-at-Wnr, that the garrisc n marched out " in a miserable condition, clothed with rags and not half armed. They are gone towards Limerick, where if they are admitted they will soon eat their heads off." {Southwell MSS ) THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 95 and advance his own fortune. This letter being communicated by O'Donnell to the colonels and chief officers of his party, who were generally ill armed and worse discip- lined, it was resolved among them to continue that treaty until they got out of the neigh- bourhood of Galwav, and then they might take what future measures they should think most convenient for their own advantage. It happened that O'Donnell had an English gentleman in his service, who came with him out of Spain; and this Englishman had a brother an officer, and in good esteem in William's army ; he was sent to the English camp under a pretence of visiting his brother, but in reality to keep the treaty on foot. O'Donnell in the meanwhile retiring with bis forces out of the mountainous country, and finding by letlers from Limerick that the loss of Galway was attributed to his delay to come timely thither, and being be- sides too mindful of the affronts he received from Tirconneli, and his present wants rendering him desperate, he entertained the treaty in good earnest. But before it was perfectly concluded, he went to the relief of Sligo, a seaport town between Connaught and Ulster ; which being blocked up by the enemy and reduced to some hardships for want of provisions, they capitulated to surrender the place within 15 days, if they were not relieved. But O'Donnell coming before that town and resolved to relieve them,* whatever they might do, the Governor * O'DoDnell was already in the pay of. Ginkell. [crc.) ( .M> THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. (Sir Teague O'Regan) and garrison declared that they were succoured, and consequently discharged of their former engagement ; which forced the enemy to retire back again into Ulster. O'Donnell, by his trimming behaviour in this transaction, gave cause enough to 6uspect his fidelity, and appre- hending a design of his own men to secure his person, he retired by night out of Sligo ; and, notwithstanding all the demonstrations to the contrary made to him by a special friend, Colonel Charles 0' Kelly (the writer) whom he accidentally met on the road, and for whom he seemed to have a great esteem, he hastily concluded the treaty that very day, and thereby revolting from his natural Prince, he unhappily joined with the sworn enemies of his country. The forcing of a passage over the river Shannon at Athlone, the victory of Aughrim, and the taking of Gal way without a stroke, which in the last war before held out for nineteen months, as they made the name of Ginkell worthily gloriousamonghis own party, so did Tirconnell's seasonable though coactive retreat render him as great and as fortunate, in the opinion of his own friends, who did not spare extolling above measure his wisdom, his conduct, and above all, his good fortune, to have retired before such accumulated mis- fortunes happened to his country. After the battle, he immediately despatched an emissary to King James, representing that all was lost, and that it was impossible to retrieve Ireland by any other means at present, but by an earlv submission to William. D'Usson, THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 97 who longed to be back in France, and was a great confidant of Tirconnell's, wrote much to the same effect to the French court. He was besides suspected by some not to be very zealous in the cause ; being, as people said, but a late convert from the Protestant to the Catholic faith. But, be that as it will, Tirconnell, in the meanwhile continuing a private treaty with Ginkell, which he ex- pected to conclude on the return of his courier ' out of France, kept in heart his party, who longed for an end of the war, arid reposed all their hope and trust in his management. But he failed their expectation ; for, having on the 11th of August (O.S.) dined with d'Usson, with whom he was very merry and jocose, he retired in the afternoon to his chamber, where he was suddenly seized with a terrible fit of an apoplexy, which took away his speech and feeling, and died on the 14th day. His death was much lamented by his friends, and no less by the English, who cried him up for an honest man and a lover of peace. They gave out that he was poisoned by Sarsfield and the French com- manders. He was the eighth son of a private gentleman [Sir William Talbot, barrister*] who made his fortune by practising the law; about the 1 8th year of his age, he followed the war in the reign of Charles the First, and in some years after he was made standard-bearer to his own nephew, an emi- nent commander of the Irish army. When * Richard Talbot " was a younger son of the family of Cartown, county Kildare, whose father was created baronet by James I." (G.) 98 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. Oliver Cromwell conquered Ireland, he went with the rest into Spain, and from thence to the Netherlands, where by the means of his brother, a religious man, and afterwards Archbishop of Dublin (Dr. Peter Talbot), he was presented to King James, who received him into his service, and made him one of his bedchamber. When the royal family was restored, he lived with bis master at court, and by his favour, and his own industry, he acquired a considerable estate in Ireland. As soon as King James came to succeed his brother Charles II. in the throne, he made him a peer of Ireland, and Lieutenant-Gene- ral of the army there, which was at that time composed of Protestants; but Tirconnell shifted them by degrees, placing Irish officers and soldiers in their stead, whereby he became the darling of the nation. In a little time after he was made Viceroy of Ireland ; and then he began to change his principles, and was observed to be less kind to his country- men, whom no man undervalued more, once he had got all the power into his own hands. This change was partly attributed to the avarice of his wife, an Englishwoman by birth, and partly to the advice of those whom he chiefly consultedin the management of public affairs, and who were unhappily concerned in the New Interest. After William's invasion, when King: James came into Ireland, he made him Captain General of the Irish, ad- vanced him to the highest dignities that a subject could be capable of, and gave him a vast estate fit for a Prince. After the battle of the Boyne he longed for nothing more than THE JACOBITE WW It, IN IRELAND. 91> the laying down of arms, which he held necessary for preserving the English interest in Ireland ; and upon that account he was certainly no friend to the ancient Irish. He was a man of stately presence, bold and reso- lute, of greater courage than conduct, naturally proud and passionate, of moderate parts, but of an unbounded ambition. In his private friendships he was observed to be inconstant, and (as some did not spare to accuse him) even to those by whose assistance he gained his point, when he once obtained his own ends. The design of submitting to "William did not die with Tirconnell, but was eagerly pur- sued after his death ; for the gownmen he brought with him out of France succeeding in the government, by a particular commis- sion from King James, and as it was generally believed they were to follow Tirconneirs method, his friends and creatures, who were numerous in the camp and city, did importu- nately press for a conclusion of the treaty begun by Tirconnell, and with the order and approbation (as they gave out) of James himself. As for the French Lieutenant- General d'Usson, he longed to be in his own country ; and his colleague the Chevalier De Tesse, though brave in his person, and honest in his principles, yet acted nothing but by the approbation of d'Usson, who was the first Lieutenant- General of the army. Colonel Sheldon and Lord Galmoy were true Tircon- nelites,so that Major-General JohnWauchop, a Scotchman by birth, but zealous enough for the Catholic religion, and seemingly 100 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. then no less zealous for the Irish interest, was the only general officer Sarsfield had to rely upou. 'Tis believed these two wrote more comfortably into France than was sug- gested by the Viceroy, and that they engaged to hold out to the J last extremity in hopes of a powerful relief from thence of men, money, and other necessaries to prosecute the war, which if timely sent had certainly preserved Ireland, and hindered such a powerful rein- forcement to join the Confederate army against France. Ginkell, on the other side, applied all his thoughts to complete the con- quest of Ireland ; and perhaps he was not altogether without hopes but that the assist- ance of the Tirconnellites might render it more easy. For he was no stranger to the several factions and dispositions of the Irish army, which being pretty well recruifed by that time (having destroyed all the forage on the Munster side of the town), upon Ginkell's approach retired with their forces into the city, where they kept most of the infantry, posting the rest on the fords of the river Shannon, and the cavalry on Connaught side, at so near a distance that they might be daily furnished from the town with provi- sions, whereof there was a vast quantity still left. The intention of Ginkell was to batter and destroy the houses of Limerick, and make the whole city a heap of rubbish ; he also proposed by his proximity to counten- ance the Tirconnellites, and perhaps enable them to act something that might compel the rest of their headstrong countrymen to lay down arms, and it seems he was not mis- taken in his measures. THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 101 He appeared before Limerick on the 25th of August (0. S.), and pitching his camp on the same ground where William pitched his the year before, he placed his cannon and other battering engines, which played furiously night and day without inter- mission, reducing that famous city almost to ashes. No memorable action, however, happened till the night between the 15th and 16th of September (O. S.), when he made a bridge of boats over the Shannon, which, being ready by break of day, he passed over with a considerable body of horse and foot on the Connaught side of the river, without any opposition. This so alarmed Sheldon, who commanded the cavalry at that time, that without staying for orders, he immediately retired to a mountain a good distance from Limerick,* and marched with such preci- pitation and disorder, that if 100 of the enemy's horse had charged him in the rear, they would in all likelihood defeat his whole party, though he had near upon 4,000 men- at-arms and light horse ; for the man, if he was faithful, wanted either courage or con- duct, and the party were altogether dis- couraged to be under his command. But Ginkell did not advance far, and after show- ing himself on that side the bridge, he returned back into his camp the same day. Yet Sheldon never rested till he came, about midnight, 15 miles from the Shannon, * The Earl of Westmeath (writing to Harris, the Williamite historian), says that he was with Sheldon, three miles from the bridge, when Ginkell crossed. Nevertheless, Sheldon ran away. F 2 102 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. and encamped in a fallow field where there was not a hit of grass to be had : as if he had designed to harass the horses by day and starve them by night. Nor was it doubted if the city of Galway, and other towns garrisoned by the enemy, had not lain in his way, that he would ever stop till he came to Sligo, which was 100 miles from Limerick. This Sheldon was an Englishman by birth, and a Catholic. He was brought into Ireland by Tirconnell in the first year of the reign of King James, and by him made a captain of a company of men-at-arms. He advanced him afterwards to be his lieutenant-colonel to command his legion during his absence ; and by his uncon- trollable power with James, he procured for him a commission to be one of tte general officers, though still a lieutenant-colonel; and got his commission dated before that of Sarsfield, whom he designed to suppress. In fine, Sheldon was the person who, by Tirconnell's private orders, marched the horse into Connaught, when William raised the siege from Limerick, which rendered at that time Sarsfield' s design to pursue the enemy ineffectual. What project he might now have by so disorderly a retreat was not known by many, and perhaps he himself could not tell. Before day he had orders from d'Usson and de Tesse to return to Limerick, which he observed, and arrived there in the afternoon. They were there encamped in a strong ground, the city on their right hand, and a strong pass on the left, and no horse could come to attack them THE JACOBITE WAR IK IRELAND. 103 any other way. In this situation they con- tinued but three days, when they were fatally commanded to march into the country for the conveniency of forage ; whereas they had a sufficient quantity of oats within Limerick to feed all their horses for two months to come, and the enemy could not keep the field for half that time. Before they marched from thence, Colonel Robert Clifford, who commanded at the pass where the enemy made their bridge and pass- ed over the Shannon, was examined before a council of war ; there it was proved that the officers who went the round that night, gave him notice at several times that the enemy were working at the bridge ; but he always told them there was no such thing ; so that Jhe light horse who were posted near, to sustain the infantry guarding that pass, had not timo to bring home their horses next morning, or to save any part of their luggage : the alarm coming so hot and so sudden, that it w r as well they saved themselves, and got off with their lives. Colonel Robert Clifford protested himself innocent as to any treachery, though he could not deny but he was guilty of an unpardonable neglect.* This Colonel Clifford was an Irishman by birth (his grandfather being of a noble family in England, and come into Ireland in Queen Elizabeth's days) and professed for that neglect confined in the castle, and I believe if the Articles were not inado, he must of course be condemned by court- martial." 104 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. the Catholic doctrine. He was vain and very airy, of shallow parts, and of no great conduct ; and though it cannot be positively averred he was a traitor, yet it was not prudent in Sarsfield to entrust him with such a post, for he not only knew him to be a creature of Tirconnell's, to be malcon- tent, and very unfortunate in all his under- takings ; but he, Sarsfield, was also earnestly desired, the very morning before that fatal night, by a gentleman named Colonel Charles O'Kelly (the writer) for whose opinion he always seemed to have a great value, either to come in person from Limerick to command at those passes, or if he could not come himself, to send Colonel Wauchop thither : otherwise that the enemy would come over and besiege the town on both sides. But it looked as if there had been some fatality in the matter. On the 20th day about noon the horse decamped, and stayed that day within six miles of Limerick, Next day they marched ten miles further, encamping behind a strong pass ; but to their discouragement, they were still commanded by Colonel Sheldon, of whom they had no great hope ; d'Usson, the Chevalier de Tesse, Sarsfield, and Colonel Wauchop, all staying in Limerick, notwithstanding all the demon- strations made to Sarsfield [among the rest, by the writer], that it was now necessary for either him or de Tesse to head the cavalry. But it was for that time left trust- ing to Colonel Sheldon. Ginkell, under- standing that the Irish horse removed to THE JACOBITE WAR IIST IRELAND. 105 such a distance, passed the river on the 23rd day with the greatest part of his cavalry, and a considerable body of foot, by the con- veniency of Clifford's bridge (for it was so called in the English camp) : and having cut off the Irish out-guards, he encamped half-way between Limerick and the Irish horse camp, whereby be hindered all com- munication between them and the town. On the 24th [23rd], the captains within Limerick sent out a trumpet, desiring a parley with some of the general officers in the English camp, and after a short con- ference between them, a cessation of arms was agreed to by both parties for three days, whereof Colonel Sheldon had notice given him that very day, and over night he received half-a-dozen safe-conducts signed by Ginkell ; they came in blank to Sheldon, and he filled them up with the names of the deputies, who next morning went to Limerick.* * M The 2oth, Lieutenant Gen. Sheldon, the Lords Galmoy, "WeBtmeath, Dillon and Trimleston, Mac- Guire the Titular [Catholic] Primt/te, the Titular Archbishop of Cashel, Sir Theobald Butler, and several more of the Irish officers, came from their Horse Camp,'* etc. (Story). The Catholic clergy, Story says, " mightily insisted " on the terms of the proposals of the Irish (eent out on the 27th) by which they required complete amnesty, the resto- ration of all estates held before the war, "liberty of worship, and one priest to each parish," civil equality with Protestants, and the maintenance of the Irish army, "in case they be willing to serve their Majesties [William and Mary] against France or any other enemy." GiDkell answered that these proposals were against English law, M and dis- 106 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. The Treaty began on the 26th day of September, and continued till the 3rd of October (O.S.), and then it was concluded to the satisfaction of some, and to the sensible affliction of others. But what raised the admiration of all people, and begat an astonishment which seemed universal over all Ireland, was the sudden, unexpected, and prodigious change of Sarsfield, who appeared now the most active of all the commanders to forward the treaty, and took most pains to persuade the colonels and captains to a compliance : representing that there was but a small quantity of pro- visions left, and no expectation of any supply out of France till next spring ; that if they rejected the conditions now offered, they were to hope for none, when their provisions were all spent ; and that there- fore the necessity to capitulate at present was absolute and unavoidable. The autho- rity of Sarsfield, and the opinion which all the world conceived of his untainted loyalty and zeal for his country, expressed upon several occasions, made them approve of whatever he proposed, though with a great deal of reluctancy and with equal regret. And indeed in this particular instance we may clearly see the inconstancy of all worldly affairs, the uncertainty of our honourable to himself " — and he proceeded to raise a new battery. — Giukell settled the final conditions, and with William's Lords Justices (who, according to Harris, suppressed a Proclamation they had prepared, offering better terms) sealed the delusive " Treaty." THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. 107 greatest hopes, and the folly of relying too much upon any human support; for Sarsfield, in whom the Irish nation reposed their greatest confidence, and who, as they all believed, would be the last man to hearken to a treaty, was now the most earnest to press it on ; a mystery which requires some fur- ther time to unriddle ! 'Tis true, it was moved by Sarsfield, and by the first Bishop of Con- naught (the Catholic Archbishop of Tuam), that Colonel Charles O'Kelly, who was then in the horse camp, and in whom the nation reposed great confidence, should be sent for, and consulted with, about managing the Treaty. But it was answered by some, who had a mind to conclude it upon any terms, that, if he came, there would be no agreement, and for that reason he was not called upon, though Sarsfield assured the Chief Bishop, that nothing should be done but by the advice of Colonel O'Kelly. The Articles of the Capitulation were not so warily drawn, but room was left for captious exceptions ;* neither was there any article made for as- suring the true worship, or securing the clergy : no condition had for prisoners, or the orphans of these who were slain in the service of their prince and the defence of their country. The officers and soldiers * Story tells how the engrosser of the Articles, when copying the rough draft, omitted certain terms which extended immunity to all those under Jacobite " protection " in Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, and Mayo. He adds, that " it was prudence not to deny it " when the French fleet arrived ; and so " Their Majesties were afterwards pleased to condescend to " the correction. 108 THE JACOBITE WAR IN IRELAND. were at liberty to join with William, where they were fairly promised as good enter- tainment as the rest of his troops, or to be transported into France, where they were sure of a reception suitable to their merit.* And now, alas ! the saddest day is come that ever appeared above the horizon of Ire- land; the sun was darkened and covered over with a black cloud, as if unwilling to behold such a woeful spectacle ; there needed no rain to bedew the earth ; forthe tears of the dis- consolate Irish did abundantly moisten their native soil, to which they were that day to bid the last farewell. Those who resolved to leave it never hoped to see it again ; and those who made the unfortunate choice to continue therein, could at the same time have nothing in prospect but contempt and poverty, chains and imprisonment, and in a word, all the miseries that a conquered nation could * A few days after the u flight of the Wild Geese " from Limerick, an order was issued for the expul- sion of all Irish Catholics from the Williaraite ranks, u upon pain of having such regiments broke, where any such were found " (Story). Though William tried to restrain the zealots of his * Irish " and English Parliaments, yet even in his life-time they violated the Limerick Conditions, in letter and spirit. When Sir Theobald Butler and others appealed, in 1703, against the passing of the unnatural " Act to Prevent the Further Growth of Popery," on the ground that the act constituted a violation of the Articles of Limerick (which had been confirmed by Statute), these powerless lawyers were met with the double answer, that Parliament could not be stayed from passing any measure for the public safety ; and that the Papists could secure their rights by — conforming ! THE JACOBITE WAli IN IRELAND. 10i) naturally expect from the power and malice of implacable enemies. Here might be seen the aged father, whom years and infirmities ren- dered unfit to travel, giving the last embraces to his only son ; brothers parting in tears, and the dearest comrades forcibly divorced by a cruel destiny, which they could not avoid. But nothing was more dismal than the sad separation of man and wife : for though the husbands were assured not only of a conveni- ency to transport their wives and children, but also of a maintenance to be established for them in France ; yet when the ablest men were once got on shipboard, the women and babes were left on the shore, exposed to hunger and cold, without any manner of pro- vision, and without any shelter, in that rigorous season, but the canopy of heaven, and in such a miserable condition, that it moved pity in some of their enemies. The lamentable cries of this poor forlorn troop, when the fleet, that carried away their fathers and husbands, was under sail and gone out of sight, would beget compassion in wolves and tigers, and even in creatures that were insensible. Some of them had the whole length of Ireland to traverse before they came to their former habitations, which were then possessed by the enemy; they had neither victuals to eat, nor money to buy them ; and their plundered countrymen, among whom they were to travel, and from whom they might expect some relief, had not wherewithal to feed themselves.* * The foreign soldiery in pari icular had plundered the country without pity, and almost without 110 THE JACOBITE WAR IN ICELAND. This woeful revolution filled with grief and astonishment all the nations of Europe, who were equally concerned and surprised to behold the most warlike of nations (accord- ing to the testimony of one of their greatest adversaries) an -\ a people heretofore undaunt- ed in adversity, so shamefully to lay down their arms and so freely undergo that servile yoke, which by former experiments they found insupportable. But that the most zealous Catholics of the universe should con- clude a peace with the sworn enemies of the true Faith, without conditions for their clergy, or obtaining any security for their free exercise of the divine ceremonies, is a mystery that surpasses the weak capacity of man to comprehend ! What the reason might be for these prodigious transactions, and what performance the conquered Irish, either living in a voluntary exile abroad, or in a forced bondage at home, have hitherto received, after so many large promises on both sides, must be the work of another time, and very likely of another pen ; the public calamity of my countrymen, of my unfortunate countrymen in general, and the lamentable condition of some particular restraint. Hardly any crops had been sown ; and the cattle were mostly consumed by the armies. Dalrymple shows that from the want of provisions in Ireland, "William was forced to withdraw his troops " as fast as transports could be got for them." Peace being established, the machinery of the law was employed to confiscate the property of James's adherents in Ireland, to the value of about two millions sterling. THE TACOniTE WAR IX IRELAND. Ill i'riends, added to the incommodities of old age, rendering me unable to pursue the rem- nant of a woeful history, that requires ink mixed with the writer's tears ; and the foun- tain of my weak eyes hath been drained up already by the too frequent remembrance of thp slaughter at Aughrim, and of the sad separation at Limerick. APPENDIX. Except for some service at the Boyne (mainly in retreat) his French troops were of little use to James. A few French officers saved France from positive odium in Ireland. Strange to say, William owed much more to his French con- tingent. Michelet shows that it consisted largely of " old soldiers of Turenne," and that 736 of the officers throughout the Wiiliamite army were French, including Schomberg* Ruvigny, Cambon, Goulon, &c. The army of many nations which William headed at Dundalk consisted (according to the Wiiliamite writer, Chevalier) of 62 squadrons of cavalry and dragoons, and 52 battalions of in- fantry — in all, from 40 to 50,000 men. Other writers confirm this estimate ; one Huguenot describing them as " the best and finest troops," and as being " splendidly equipped." 114 APPENDIX. D'Avaux reports to Louis XIV. that after James's arrival in Ireland the Irish army com- prised 22 companies of guards, 35 regiments of infantry, 3 of cavalry, 3 of dragoons, &c, numbering about 35,000 men. The Ambassador says that the Irish recruits were "the finest men you could see anywhere, hardly any of them less than about six feet high, and the pikemen and grenadiers nearly all above six feet." The French officers remarked the fearless character of these poor fellows. Though ill-trained or un- trained, and unpaid, they usually respected the Jacobite " Protections " accorded to Protestants — in contrast to the Williamite soldiers, who, as Story shows, plundered friend and enemy alike. King James says that he had at the Boyne but 20,000 men, " in a great measure newly- raised, half-disciplined, half-armed," and without the sinews of war. This number may not include the French; so that he had in all possibly 25,000. (Berwick says 23,000.) In the matter of artillery, William had at the Boyne at least 50 pieces of cannon, besides several mortars, while the Irish had but 1 2 field APPENDIX. 115 pieces (of which 6 were ordered to the rere before the battle). It is difficult to decide the relative numbers of the armies at Aughrim. The Irish probably were from 15 to 20,000, the Williamites from 20 to 30,000. At the first siege of Limerick, when William was forced to withdraw his troops by night, the garrison consisted of 20,000 ill-armed Irishmen. He had brought against the city "38,500 effective men" (according to the Vittare Hiber- nicum), and forty cannon and mortars. The Williamite loss was probably about 3,000 (killed and wounded) ; the Jacobites lost about half that number. At the second siege, Gink ell played not less than sixty pieces of cannon and nineteen mortars against the city, night and day, for weeks. Story estimates the loss of life in Ireland during the war as at least one hundred thousand, " besides treble the number that are ruined and undone." WORKS BY Rev. EDMUND HOGAN, S.J. 1. Description of Ireland in 1598 : based on an old MS. of Clongowes-Wood. It gives the names of the Chieftains, Noblemen, and Gentlemen ; the extent of their " Countries '* and Military Power, etc. Also a full record of the events of that memorable year. 4to, 400 pp. 2. The Irish War Of 1641. By an Officer of Clot- worthy's Regiment. Edited from MS. of Clongowes- Wood. i2mo, 172 pp. 2s. 6d. 3. Life, Letters, and Diary of F. Henry FitZSimon, a celebrated Irish Jesuit of the 16th Century. It contains his Correspondence with the Irish Catholics about the Persecution of the years 1605-6-7. Illustrated by Letters of Irish Jesuits and English Officials. 8vo, 300 pages. 5s. 4. Ibemia Ignatiana, or Lives of the Irish Jesuits, from AN. 1547 to 1607, and their Letters on Irish Affairs during that time. Latin. 4to, 272 pp. 21s. 5. The Latin-Irish Patrician Documents from the Book Of Armagh, and 100 Irish Glosses from that MS., which was written in the year 807. Second Edition, with a Vocabulary of about 3,300 words. 200 pp. 1 os. 6d. 6. Cath Ruis Na Rig For Boinn, with Preface, Translation, and Vocabulary. Also a treatise on Irish Neuter Substantives, and a supplement to the Index Vocabulorum of Zeuss' Grammatica Celtica. (Todd Lecture Series, Royal Irish Academy). 7. Distinguished Irishmen of the Sixteenth Century. 8. Irish Phrase Book. 9. Todd Lectures of the Year 1892. 10. Todd Lectures of 1893. 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