Ireland, Historic and Picturesque

by Charles Johnston

These liberal elements in England selected as their champion Prince William of Nassau, before whose coming the English king found it expedient to fly to France, seeking and finding a friend in that apostle of absolutism, Louis XIV. We have already seen how the interests of the feudal lords of Ireland, with the old Norman families as their core, drew them towards the Stuarts. The divine right of the landowner depended, as we saw, on the divine right of kings; so that they naturally gravitated towards the Stuarts, and drew their tenants and retainers after them. Thus a considerable part of Ireland was enlisted on the side of James II, and shared the misfortunes which presently overtook him--or in truth did not overtake him, as the valiant gentleman outran them and escaped. Nothing is more firmly fixed in the memories of the whole Irish people than a good-natured contempt for this runaway English king, whose cause they were induced by the feudal lords to espouse. We shall follow the account of an officer in the Jacobite army in narrating the events of the campaigns that ensued.

James, having gained courage and funds from his sojourn at the court of Louis XIV, presently made his appearance in Ireland, relying on the support of the feudal lords. He landed at Kinsale, in Cork, on March 12, 1688, according to the Old Style, and reached Dublin twelve days later, warmly welcomed by Lord and Lady Tyrconnell. The only place in the country which strongly declared for William was the walled city of Derry, whence we have seen the Puritan forces issuing during the wars of the preceding generation. James, this officer says, went north to Derry, in spite of the bitterness of the season, "in order to preserve his Protestant subjects there from the ill-treatment which he apprehended they might receive from the Irish," and was mightily surprised when the gates were shut in his face and the citizens opened fire upon him from the walls.

James withdrew immediately to Dublin, assembled a Parliament there, and spent several months in vain discussions, not even finding courage to repeal the penal laws which Queen Elizabeth had passed against all who refused to recognize her as the head of the church. James was already embarked on a career of duplicity, professing great love for Ireland, yet fearing to carry out his professions lest he might arouse animosity in England, and so close the door against his hoped-for return.

Enniskillen, on an island in Lough Erne, dominated by a strong castle, was, like Derry, a settlement of Scottish and English colonists brought over by the first of the Stuarts. These colonists were up in arms against the grandson of their first patron, and had successfully attacked his forces which were besieging Derry. James, therefore, sent a small body of troops against them; but the expedition ended in an ignominious rout rather than a battle, for the Jacobite army seems hardly to have struck a blow. The Irish leader, Lord Mountcashel, who manfully stood his ground in the general panic, was wounded and taken prisoner.

The armies of James, meanwhile, made no headway against the courageous and determined defenders of Derry, where the siege was degenerating into a blockade, the scanty rations and sickness of the besieged being a far more formidable danger than the attacks of the besiegers. James even weakened the attacking forces by withdrawing a part of the troops to Dublin, being resolved at all risks to protect himself.

So devoid of resolution and foresight was James that we only find him taking means to raise an army when Schomberg, the able lieutenant of William, was about to invade the north of Ireland. Schomberg landed at Bangor in Down in August, 1689, and marched south towards Drogheda, but finding that James was there before him, he withdrew and established a strongly fortified camp near Dundalk. James advanced to a point about seven miles from Schomberg, and there entrenched himself in turn, and so the two armies remained; as one of Schomberg's officers says, "our General would not risk anything, nor King James venture anything." The long delay was very fatal to Schomberg's army, his losses by sickness and disease being more than six thousand men.

Early in November, as winter was already making itself felt, James decided to withdraw to Dublin; as our narrator says, "the young commanders were in some haste to return to the capital, 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 campaign without any advantage, vainly expecting that his Protestant subjects of England who were in the camp of Schomberg would come over to him. And now the winter season, which should 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 sickly soldiers, to bury the dead, and put the few men that remained alive and were healthy into winter quarters of refreshment, took the field early in spring, before Tyrconnell was awake, and reduced the castle of Charlemont, the only place that held for James in Ulster, which was lost for want of provisions; and the concerns of the unfortunate James were ill-managed by those whom he entrusted with the administration of public affairs."

We come thus to the spring of 1690. Derry was still holding out valiantly against the horrors of famine and sickness, the blockade being maintained, though nothing like a determined storm was attempted. A little of the courage shown by the apprentices of Derry, had he possessed it, might have revived the drooping fortunes of the fugitive English king. It seems, however, that even Schomberg's withdrawal to Carrickfergus failed to arouse him to more vigorous and valiant measures. It is clear that he was ready to abandon his Irish allies, hoping by their betrayal to gain favor with his "subjects in England," whom he confidently expected to recall him, as they had recalled his brother Charles thirty years before. James found an able lieutenant in Tyrconnell, who thoroughly entered into his master's schemes of duplicity; and it is fairly clear that these two worthies, had occasion offered, would have betrayed each other with a perfectly good grace.