Purging the army.
Just three months after his accession, James made Talbot Earl of Tyrconnel. The new peer was soon back in Ireland busying himself in remodelling the army, though Granard ostensibly remained at its head, much blamed for his complete surrender to the favourite. Monmouth’s invasion gave an excuse for disarming the Protestant militia; he was outlawed as in England, and the arrest of those who spread his declaration was ordered. Irish troops were sent to Ulster, and communications with Scotland were maintained by sea, with a view to frustrating Argyle’s expedition. In the meantime the cashiering of English officers and the substitution of Irish ones went on steadily. Soon after the failure of both the English and Scotch adventurers, Tyrconnel and Granard jointly reported that they had made many changes, but that those who lost their commissions were mostly somebody’s servants, ‘no officers and good for nothing, as most of the lieutenants and cornets of this army are at present.’ Colonel Justin MacCarthy asked for the dismissal of Captain Bingham, absent without leave, and the appointment of Thomas Nugent, who had served under him in France, and had lost an estate during the usurpation. One reason given for taking their arms from the militiamen was that they were often carelessly kept, and might get into bad hands. In the autumn the arms surrendered were accordingly stored at Dublin or Athlone for Leinster; at Cork, Kinsale, Limerick, Waterford, and Duncannon for Munster; at Galway or Athlone for Connaught, and for Ulster at Londonderry, Carrickfergus, and Charlemont. Tyrconnel knew where to find them when they were wanted for his own purposes later.[140]
Influence of Tyrconnel.
Tyrconnel, though as yet only a colonel, assumed the position of an Inspector-General, and everybody gave way to him because he was believed to represent the King’s views. Orders were given to get rid of all officers and soldiers who had served under Cromwell, upon which Ormonde remarked that there were indeed a few who, after serving Charles I. to the end, and Charles II. after Worcester, ‘took service in Ireland against the Irish barely for subsistence, and yet had served the Crown as long as it had a foot of ground to fight upon.’ To represent such men as Cromwellians was a cruel injustice, and some of them were among the best in the army. ‘This I take to be the case of one Quartermaster Benson in the Lord Blessington’s troop, and may be of more in the army.’ His representations were allowed no weight, and he believed that officers appointed by him were more certain to be cashiered than others.[141]
Clarendon made Lord Lieutenant.
Rochester as Lord Treasurer, and his elder brother Clarendon as Lord Privy Seal, seemed all-powerful for a time, since their royal brother-in-law was still anxious to conciliate the Church of England, and fidelity to that Church was the one point upon which the Hydes showed resolution. In other respects they were both very subservient, and the King hoped that the doctrine of Filmer’s foolish book would prevent them from ever asserting their independence. To get him out of the way, Sunderland had recommended Rochester for the Lord Lieutenancy, and for the same reason Rochester recommended Sunderland; but neither of them would go. In September, Clarendon was nominated, to the general joy of the Church party, but the best informed did not envy his position. He was not required to resign the Privy Seal, but Commissioners, of whom John Evelyn was one, were appointed to do the work during his absence in Ireland. Tyrconnel prepared to go to England, where he might undermine the Viceroy by his direct influence with the King. Even among those of his own religion, his schemes caused an uneasy feeling, and the gallant Colonel Grace, who became Governor of Athlone, put information which reached him from Ireland into Clarendon’s hands.[142]
Clarendon’s arrival, January 1686.
The new Lord Lieutenant left London on the 16th of December, escorted by the fashionable world in two hundred carriages, some of which went as far as St. Albans. He did not reach Dublin until January 9, his mode of travelling being leisurely in the extreme. At Coventry he met a servant of Sarsfield, who expressed surprise, the latest letters from England saying that his appointment to Ireland was cancelled. The same man announced that Tyrconnel was just leaving for England. Clarendon noted that the two Coventry churches were well filled, thanks to ‘executing the law upon the non-conformists in making them pay.’ He was sumptuously entertained at Chester and at St. Asaph, where he heard many stories about Tyrconnel. One of them was that he entered the church at Whitechurch where a Talbot was buried whom he claimed as ancestor. ‘This church,’ he said, ‘was in better order when you took it from us Catholics, but we shall have it shortly again, and then you shall pay for all.’ There was in those days no road over Penmaenmawr, and it was customary to send heavy vehicles by water from Chester or Neston. Sometimes the journey could be made from Conway by the sands, but on this occasion tides did not serve. To Clarendon’s great surprise his servants managed to drag the carriages over the mountains, the horses drawing in single file and four or five men shoving behind, ‘so that this journey will be famous, three coaches and a waggon having been brought over Penmaenmawr.’ Lord Bulkeley entertained the Lord Lieutenant at Beaumaris, the terrors of the Menai Straits were successfully overcome, and the sea-sick company reached Dunleary at last, in the early morning of January 9. The Primate sent his coach, and Clarendon was sworn in the same day, his head still swimming from the waves. ‘I have,’ he told the Council, ‘the King’s command to declare upon all occasions, that whatever imaginary (for they can be called no other) apprehensions any men here may have had, His Majesty hath no intention of altering the Acts of Settlement.’ Tyrconnel reached London on the same day, having purposely missed the Lord Lieutenant at Holyhead, though he thought it worth while to give out that he was most anxious to meet him. ‘Count Tyrconnel is come,’ says a London letter, ‘and kindly received as he can wish: played the devil on the road for horses.’[143]
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Just before Clarendon’s departure for Ireland, the French King took a step which profoundly affected the history of Europe, and of England and Ireland particularly. After having long been shamelessly infringed, the Edict of Nantes was formally revoked in October 1685. The Protestant Chapel at Charenton was pulled down by the mob of Paris. It was pretended that there were no longer any heretics in France, and that therefore the law which still partly protected them, was no longer necessary. In official correspondence, the reformed faith was known as the R.P.R. (religion prétendue réformée). Thousands conformed insincerely, but a vast number preferred expatriation at the risk of their lives, and carried their industry, their skill, and some of their capital into Holland, Germany, and England. The tale which these refugees had to tell fell upon no deaf ears, and great sums were subscribed for their relief, but James II. took care that as many as possible should remain unrelieved. The newspapers and gazettes controlled by the Court were silent on the subject of the persecutions, but private letters of news got into print, and the appearance of the fugitives in person was more eloquent than any article. The King could not prevent a great collection in their favour, but he directed that no one should benefit by it who would not take the Anglican sacramental test. Sincere French Calvinists were thus excluded from relief. This was the period of his reign when James, deceived by the slavish doctrines of some High Church divines, thought it possible to be a despot with the help of the Established Church. When he found that there were limits to what that Church would bear, he turned to the Nonconformists in the name of religious liberty. After the failure of his schemes, the victorious Protestants were guilty of grievous persecution, but they remembered that James was the ally of the King who had ruthlessly destroyed the religious liberties of his own subjects.[144]