King James, at the call of the Irish majority, left his French retreat, and sailed from Brest with a fleet provided by King Louis, which saw him in safety to memorable Kinsale, where he landed on March 12, old style, 1689. He was accompanied by about 1,200 veteran troops, French and Irish, with a sprinkling of royalists, Scotch and English, and several officers of high rank, including Lieutenant-General De Rosen, Lieutenant-General Maumont, Major-General De Lery, Major-General Pusignan, Colonel Patrick Sarsfield, afterward the renowned Earl of Lucan, and the king’s two natural sons, the Duke of Berwick and Grand Prior Fitzjames. There came with him also fifteen Catholic chaplains, most of whom could speak the Gaelic tongue, and these gentlemen were very useful to him on a mission such as he had undertaken. The progress of the ill-fated monarch through Ireland, from Kinsale to Dublin was, in every sense, a royal one. The Irish masses, ever grateful to any one who makes sacrifices, or who even appears to make them, in their behalf, turned out in all their strength. A brilliant cavalcade, headed by the dashing Duke of Tyrconnel, escorted the king from town to town. His collateral descent from King Edward Bruce, freely chosen by Ireland early in the fourteenth century, was remembered. James was, therefore, really welcomed as King of Ireland. The Irish cared nothing for his British title. If the choice of the majority of a nation makes regal title binding, then James II was as truly elected King of Ireland, in 1689, as Edward Bruce was in 1315. And we make this statement thus plainly, because it will enable non-Irish and non-Catholic readers to understand why Catholic Ireland fought so fiercely and devotedly for an English ruler who had lost his crown in the assertion of Catholic rights and privileges. There was still another cause for this devotion of the majority of the Irish people to King James. He had consented to the summoning of a national Irish parliament, in which Protestants as well as Catholics were to be represented in due proportion, and this decision on his part made many of the Episcopalian Irish either neutral in the civil conflict or active on his side. The number of such persons as were comprised in the latter class was comparatively insignificant—just enough to mitigate the curse of absolute sectarianism in the contest. The Dissenting or non-conforming Irish were, almost to a unit, hostile to the Jacobite cause.
BOOK IV
CHRONICLING IMPORTANT EVENTS IN IRELAND FROM THE ARRIVAL OF JAMES II IN THAT COUNTRY UNTIL THE DEPARTURE OF THE DUKE OF BERWICK TO FRANCE AFTER THE FIRST SIEGE OF LIMERICK, IN 1690
CHAPTER I
King James in Ireland—Enthusiastic Reception of Him by the Irish People—Military Operations
NOTHING could exceed the enthusiasm with which the Irish people welcomed King James. In the cities and towns, flowers were strewn in his path, corporation officials turned out in their robes of state, and speeches of welcome were delivered in English or read in Latin. The entry into Dublin was a magnificent spectacle. The whole city was in gala dress, and the different trades paraded before him. Harpers played at the triumphal arches under which he passed. Beautiful young girls, costumed in pure white, and coroneted with wreaths, danced the ancient Irish national dance, known as the Rinka, in the progress of which flowers were profusely scattered by the fair performers. The religious orders were out in force, a great cross being borne at their head. The viceroy, lord mayor, and members of the corporation, on horseback or in carriages, made up an imposing part of the procession. When he reached the Castle, the sword of state was presented to him by the Lord Lieutenant, and the Recorder handed him, according to an old custom, the keys of the city. “Te Deum” was sung in the Chapel Royal, one of the architectural creations of the Duke of Tyrconnel. From the flagstaff on the tower of the Castle itself, floated an Irish national flag, with a golden harp upon its folds; and on this broad ensign were inscribed the inspiring and sadly prophetic words, “Now or Never! Now and Forever!” Wherever the king appeared in public, he was greeted with enthusiastic shouts, in Gaelic, of “Righ Seamus!—Righ Seamus, Go Bragh”! (“King James—King James, Forever!”)
The military situation of King James’s adherents in Ireland could not be called encouraging when he took up his residence in Dublin. As usual, arms and ammunition were scarce. Some 30,000 men had volunteered to fight for Ireland, and there were not more than 20,000 stand of arms, all told, to place in their hands. And of this small supply, fully three-fourths were antiquated and worthless. While there were, nominally, fifty regiments of infantry enrolled, the only serviceable regiments of horse were those of Galmoy, Tyrconnel, and Russell. There was one regiment of dragoons, and of cannon only eight field-pieces had been collected. The two best-equipped bodies of Irish troops were the command of General Richard Hamilton, in Ulster—about 3,000 men; and that of General Justin McCarthy, Lord Mountcashel, in Munster—slightly more numerous. Derry and Inniskillen held out for William of Orange, and notwithstanding some successes of General Hamilton in the North, there seemed no immediate prospect of reducing them. The stubborn attitude of Inniskillen delayed the junction of Mountcashel’s and Hamilton’s forces, which had been ordered by the Duke of Tyrconnel, commander-in-chief of the Irish army, with General De Rosen as his second in command. The smaller places occupied by the Williamite forces were abandoned as being untenable, and the little garrisons fell back on Londonderry, which had now become the main objective of the Jacobite army. The military governor, Lundy, was suspected of being, at heart, a Stuart sympathizer, but he was soon virtually superseded, first by Governor Baker and afterward by the celebrated Rev. George Walker, rector of the living of Donoughmore, to whom history awards the glory of the long, desperate, brilliant, and successful defence of Derry against the armies of King James. It is a pity that the ability and bravery displayed by Dr. Walker have been made causes of political and religious irritation in the north of Ireland for upward of two centuries. Lundy, when his authority was defied, escaped from the city at night, in the disguise of a laborer, and cut no further figure in Irish history. Before his flight, King James’s flatterers in Dublin had persuaded him to advance against Derry in person and demand its surrender. Tyrconnel opposed the idea in vain. He well knew that Lundy was in correspondence with Hamilton and De Rosen for the surrender of the city. It is quite probable that Derry would have finally surrendered, on honorable terms, had James taken Tyrconnel’s advice; but, with his usual fatuity, the obstinate king took the advice of the shallow courtiers, and did actually present himself before the walls of Derry and demand its unconditional surrender! The reply was a cannon shot, which killed an officer at James’s side. The king retired with precipitation, and the citizens sent after him the “Prentice Boys’” shout of “No surrender!” Mortified by his rather ignominious failure, James retired to Dublin, and summoned Parliament to meet on the lines already indicated.