"It is enough, my soldiers," he exclaimed haughtily. "Resume your arms! Henceforth I will not do you the honour of seeking your approbation."
Hurried on by the secret advices of the Jesuits, by his religious enthusiasm (bigotry, if you will), and by the evil genius that has seemed to haunt his race since the days of the first Stuart, James rendered yet wider the breach between him and his army. He distributed catholic officers and soldiers throughout the different English regiments, "and many brave protestant officers, after long and faithful service, were dismissed, without any provision, to favour this fatal scheme." The quota of Irish troops joined him at London, and, on chapels being established for the celebration of mass, the murmurs of the protestants became loud and unrestrained, and a storm of indignation was raised, which in these days of toleration, we can only view with a smile.
The ill-advised appointment of the Pope as sponsor for the young Prince of Wales, the vile and unfounded rumours concerning whose birth the hapless king felt keenly, and the universal approbation with which the secretly dispersed manifestoes of the coming invader were received throughout the land, shewed James that his throne was crumbling beneath him. The brave old Earl of Dartmouth, who lay at the Gunfleet, with thirty-seven vessels of war, and seventeen fireships, in consequence of a storm, was unable to attack the armament of William, who arrived at Torbay on the 5th of November, and immediately landed his Dutch, Scots, English, and French troops, under their several standards.
James, who had no small share of courage and military skill, now threw himself entirely on that army, which he had spent so many anxious years in fostering, training, and disciplining. He dispatched his son, the famous Duke of Berwick, to take possession of Portsmouth, and prevent the inhabitants declaring for the invader, who was then on the march for Exeter; meanwhile he hurried to Salisbury plain, and placed himself at the head of twenty battalions of infantry and thirty squadrons of cavalry, with a resolution to defend his crown to the death: but, alas! the spirit of disaffection, disloyalty, and ingratitude had already manifested itself in the camp. The desertions were numerous and alarming, while sullen discontent and open mutiny so greatly marked the conduct of those who remained, that save a few of the Scottish regiments, James found none on whom he could rely.
Lord Colchester, son of the Earl of Rivers, with many of his regiment, were among the first who deserted to the standard of the invader; Lord Cornbury, son of the Earl of Clarendon, followed, with three regiments of horse.
Lord Churchill, who, from a page, had been raised by James to the peerage and a high military command, also betrayed the blackest ingratitude, by forming a plot to seize his royal benefactor, and deliver him as a bondsman to the Prince of Orange. Failing in this, he deserted with several troops of cavalry, and took with him the Duke of Grafton, a son of the late king. Many officers of distinction informed the Earl of Faversham, their general, "that they could not in conscience fight against the Prince of Orange," and thus, hourly, the whole English army fell to pieces.
The spirit of disaffection soon spread into the Scottish ranks. Douglas, the perfidious general, with his own regiment of Red Dragoons, openly marched off to William with the Scottish standard displayed, and their kettle-drums beating, a circumstance which deeply affected James, for this was a corps on which he had particularly relied; but the treason of Douglas was ultimately avenged by a cannon-shot on the banks of the Boyne. James was a Stuart, and naturally founded his hopes on the soldiers of the nation from whence he drew his blood.
A battalion of Scots' Foot Guards next revolted under a corporal named Kempt, and then every regiment went over in succession under their several standards, save a troop of Dundee's Guards, a corps of dragoons, and the Scots' Royals, fifteen hundred strong, which yet remained loyal and true.
These repaired to Reading, where the gallant nobles, Dunbarton and Dundee, by exerting all their energies, re-mustered ten thousand men in ten days.
The former, with his single regiment alone, offered to attack the Dutch, and by a more than Spartan example of heroism and rashness, to shame their faithless comrades.