The army neglected.
The means of locomotion were of the poorest, and it was three weeks before Avaux could report that all the French officers had reached Dublin, except a few whom Boisseleau kept at Cork. James made the senior captain a lieutenant-colonel, the rest majors, the lieutenants were made captains, and fifteen cadets became lieutenants. Most of them were sent to Londonderry. When the arms came to be distributed they were found to be very bad, muskets of many patterns, and swords even worse. Louvois was a man of detail, and it seems likely that he purposely allowed refuse stores to go to Ireland. It took Stevens a fortnight to get from Bantry to Dublin, generally on foot, for it was seldom possible to hire a horse. Parliament was sitting, and but little attention was paid to military matters. The royal army, on the highest estimate, was about 50,000, but everything was expected from France, and there was talk of arms arriving sufficient for the host of Xerxes. A commission was what Stevens wanted, but he was too modest to apply to James. Lord Limerick, Maguire the Roman Catholic Primate, and the Duke of Powis, who had known him in prosperous days, all put him off with empty promises. More forward applicants had better success, and were not deterred by the divinity that hedges a king. Stevens was horrified to see an ensign pluck His Majesty by the sleeve because he had passed without noticing him, while he himself was not only not employed but almost starving. He sold every valuable he had, including his father’s rings and the silver hilt of his sword, ‘so that I might be truly said to live by my sword,’ though as yet no soldier. The only kindness he received was from a Protestant to whom he had been civil in Clarendon’s time and who volunteered to lend him 10l. The money was repaid, but the borrower deeply regretted that he had never been able to requite the kindness. When Londonderry was relieved, officers flocked to Dublin, and among them Usher, a captain in the Grand Prior’s regiment, who had travelled with Stevens from England and easily got a lieutenancy for him.[203]
FOOTNOTES:
[183] Bonrepaus’ letter of September 4, 1687, and Seignelay’s answer of September 29 in Lingard x. appx. IIII., and other extracts in appx. KKKK. Bonrepaus says: ‘Tyrconnel presse incessament le roi d’Angleterre pour que cela se fasse en moins de temps; et effectivement Sa Majesté Britannique y a envoyé [to Ireland] depuis huit-jours un vaisseau chargé de poudre, armes, et mortiers à bombe.’ Dangeau, January 11, 1686, and May 6, 1687. See also Macaulay, chap. iii. Bishop Cartwright’s Diary, August and September 1687. Barillon to Louis XIV., October 16, 1687, in Dalrymple, ii. 262.
[184] Seignelay’s instructions to Pointis, January 12, 1689, in Campana-Cavelli, doc. 529, and the report in the following month. ‘Quo magis nuda erant castra et fortilitia eo facilius prevideam eos posse ad obedientiam reduci.’—Archbishop King’s Autobiography.
[185] Pointis reported to Louis himself in Seignelay’s presence.
[186] Tyrconnel to James II. January 29,/February 8, 1689, in Campana-Cavelli, doc. 771. Abbé Melani to Grand Duke of Tuscany January 17/27 and February 18/28—‘buonissimo, ma non di quella elevatura che da principio aveva publicata la fama’—‘tranquilla et cosî insensibile’ that he would have stayed in France hunting and praying but for the ‘stimoli’ applied by Tyrone and the French Court, ib. docs. 728, 769. Dangeau’s Journal and Madame de Sévigné’s letters for January and February. On February 2/12 the latter writes: ‘La Reine d’Angleterre a toute la mine, si Dieu le voulait, d’aimer mieux régner dans le beau royaume d’Angleterre, où la cour est grande et belle, que d’être à St Germain, quoique accablé des bontés héroïques du Roi. Pour le roi d’Angleterre il y paroit content, et c’est pour cela qu’il est là.’ Vauban’s letter of February 15/25 is in Rousset’s Louvois, iv. 187.
[187] In his letter to Cardinal d’Este, his Queen’s uncle, at Rome, James says: ‘J’espère que Sa Sainteté croira que l’occasion qui se présente de détruire l’érésie avec une armée Catholique n’est pas de celles qu’on doit perdre, et qu’il n’épargnera pas les trésors de l’Église où j’expose si franchement ma propre vie,’ February 14/24, 1689. Campana-Cavelli, doc. 759. Writing to the Cardinal four days later Mary of Modena hopes the Pope’s acts will correspond with his words: ‘quali sole in questa congiuntura non ci bastano,’ ib. doc. 760. In the scarce Hist. de la Révolution d’Irlande arrivée sous Guillaume III., Amsterdam, 1691, attributed to Jean De la Brune is the following passage: ‘Malheureusement pour ce prince nous sommes dans un siècle où l’on comprend que deux et deux font quatre, et que ceux qui renversent et foulent aux pieds les droits et les libertés d’un état n’en sont point les protecteurs et les défenseurs.’ Leopold’s letter, March 30/April 9, is in Somers Tracts, x. 18, and Clarke’s Life of James II. Louis’s policy at this time is discussed by Lavisse, viii. 16. Rousset’s Louvois, iv. 152. For the Pope’s relations to James see Charles Gérin’s paper in Revue des questions historiques, 1876. Both Porter and Melfort were paid by Louis. Melfort took his orders from Croissy and corresponded with him weekly.
[188] Proclamations of February 2 and 25, March 1 and 7, 1688-9.
[189] Bennett’s Hist. of Bandon, chaps. xv. and xvi., besides the plain facts records interesting traditions. ‘During his stay at Cork Mr. Brady, the minister of the place and ten men from Bandon petitioned him (James) for pardon for that town, which he granted, saying, "You may now see you have a gracious king." And when the Earl of Clancarty and Duke of Berwick urged the destruction of that nest of rebels: to the first he said that he was a young man, and to the latter that he was a fool.... Two days after, notwithstanding the King’s pardon to those of Bandon, several were indicted at the assizes, insomuch that 30 or 40 of them fled by this opportunity and came to Bristol, being frightened at the bloody proceedings against one Mr. Brown, who was hanged, drawn, and quartered at the same assizes,’ Full and True Account of the landing of King James at Kinsale ... a letter from Bristol, April 1, 1689. See also a letter from Tyrconnel to MacCarthy, March 10, 1688-9, in Smith’s Hist. of Cork, ii. chap. vii. Exact Relation of the Persecutions, &c., sustained by the Protestants of Kenmare in Ireland, 1689.