disgraceful state of affairs in Ireland. He placed the Government in the
hands of the Queen, assisted by a Council of nine, with Danby for her
chief minister, Admiral Russell to advise her on naval, and Marlborough
on military affairs, and then crossed to Belfast. Fortunately the two
objects of the Jacobites proved incompatible; the threatened invasion so
roused the national spirit, that domestic insurrection became
impossible. While William advanced southward, and the Irish army,
reinforced by a considerable number of French under Lauzun, fell back
behind the Boyne, a great French fleet under Tourville appeared off the
Needles. Torrington, the English commander, had been reinforced by a
Dutch squadron, yet shrunk from the encounter, and retreated towards the
Straits of Dover. The Queen and her Council sent peremptory orders to
fight. Jealous of Russell, afraid of risking a great battle with
superior numbers, Torrington unwillingly obeyed. With shameful policy,
he sent the Dutch squadron forward to bear the brunt of the danger, and
left it almost unsupported, till, after exhibiting their usual stubborn
bravery, the Dutch were compelled to fall back with their shattered
ships, and Tourville swept the Channel unopposed. Almost at the same
time as the news of this disgraceful defeat reached London, tidings
arrived that the allies, under the Prince of Waldeck, had been beaten by
Luxemburg at the battle of Fleurus. But the very misfortunes which
seemed falling upon the nation roused its spirit. The Lord Mayor offered
the Queen at once £100,000, 10,000 Londoners, well armed for immediate
purposes, and six regiments of foot and two regiments of horse, to be
raised at once, without cost to the Crown. The same temper was visible
throughout England, and suddenly, after three days of depression, hope
was again raised in the national mind by the news of the battle of the
Boyne.
[Sidenote: Battle of the Boyne. July 1, 1690.]
James had determined to make a stand behind that river, which separates
the counties of Louth and Meath, falling into the sea at Drogheda. The
position was a fairly strong one; the ground rose immediately from the
river, and some of William's generals scarcely liked to venture upon an
attack. But he felt that some great blow was necessary to retrieve the
disasters of the last year, and he gave orders for crossing the river at
once. Early in the morning of the 1st of July the English began to
advance. Young Schomberg was sent some miles up the river, to cross at
the bridge of Slane, and thus turn the left flank of the Irish army. His
success in this movement alarmed Lauzun. There was a narrow passage at
Duleek, four miles south of the Boyne, where two carriages could
scarcely pass between impassable bogs. If Schomberg could secure this
pass the Irish would be enclosed in a trap. It was necessary at any
price to avoid this danger; Lauzun therefore marched to oppose him,
taking with him all the French troops, leaving the Irish alone to hold
the river. William commanded the left wing, formed entirely of horse. He
fought his way across the river not far above Drogheda. In the centre
Schomberg led the main body of the infantry across the fords of Old
Bridge. The Irish infantry which should have opposed him, thoroughly
demoralized by a year spent under lax discipline and in habits of
plunder, fled at the first onset. The cavalry, who had been more
carefully drilled under command of the traitor Richard Hamilton, strove
in vain to restore the day. For half an hour the struggle in the bed of
the river was fierce. The leader of the Protestant refugees was killed,
and Schomberg himself, while rallying these troops, and calling out to
them, "Come on, gentlemen, there are your persecutors," also fell. But
William, having crossed with the left wing, now came up on the flank of
the Irish, and the passage was secured. The Irish cavalry were left
entirely unsupported by the infantry. Fighting bravely, and with
considerable loss, they were slowly driven from the ground. Their leader
Richard Hamilton was taken prisoner. James, whose personal courage it
had been usual to praise, turned early from the fight and fled towards
Dublin. The rout of fugitives hurried through the pass of Duleek,
covered by the French infantry, who had been resisting young Schomberg's
flank attack all the day. William is said to have been slack in the
pursuit; Schomberg's death, and his own exhaustion, after having been
thirty-five hours out of the last forty on horseback, may have been the
cause of this. On neither side was the loss very great. Of the English
about 500 are said to have been killed, of the Irish 1500; but they
were chiefly cavalry, the only trustworthy Irish troops.
[Sidenote: James's final flight.]
James, having reached Dublin, summoned the Lord Mayor and principal
Catholic citizens to the castle. Forgetful of his own speedy flight, he
upbraided the Irish for cowardice, and vowed he would never more command
an Irish army. He then at once took flight again, hurried to Waterford,
and thence by Kinsale to France. Lauzun and Tyrconnel, with the remains
of their army, also thought it desirable to evacuate the capital, which
William entered in triumph. For a short time he thought of returning to
England, for news of the defeat of Beachy Head and of the battle of
Fleurus had reached him, and his presence in London seemed necessary.
But when he heard of the courageous spirit showed by the nation, and
knew that the only use Tourville had made of his victory was to attack
and burn Teignmouth, thus still further exasperating the people, he felt
that the crisis was over, that he might remain to complete his victory.
[Sidenote: Siege of Limerick.]
[Sidenote: William returns to England. Sept. 6.]
[Sidenote: Marlborough's success in the south.]
He gradually conquered the country as far as Limerick. There the Irish
stood at bay. In the eyes of the French commander nothing could be more
useless than the attempt to defend the city. "The walls could be knocked
down with roasted apples," said Lauzun. He consequently withdrew his
troops, and the Irish were left to themselves, under the command of
Sarsfield, the only Irish general who seems to have possessed any
military character, and vain though their hopes seemed to Lauzun, the
defence of the city was successful. The want of artillery at first
checked the proceedings of the besiegers. A daring raid, headed by
Sarsfield, destroyed the convoy which was bringing up the siege train.
The artillery was buried and exploded, and Sarsfield's party returned
unhurt. Then came the heavy rains which occur at this season in Ireland;
the country around the town became a marsh. A final vigorous assault
proved unsuccessful, and the siege was raised. This check was somewhat
balanced by the success of an expedition planned and commanded by
Marlborough, which had landed in the south, and in five weeks had
conquered both Cork and Kinsale. William returned to England in
September, intrusting the government to three Lords Justices, and the
management of the war to Ginkel. But no further military operation of
importance took place till May in the following year.
[Sidenote: St. Ruth comes from France.]
[Sidenote: Siege of Athlone.]
The northern and eastern part of the island was in the hands of the
English, and brought under some sort of government by the Lords
Justices. In that part trade and industry had revived. In the Irish
portion of the island, into which the Celtic inhabitants had crowded,
there was wild confusion and much distress. Gangs of robbers infested
the country, the soldiers were little better themselves than robbers.
The currency of James's brass money entirely ruined trade. As usual in
Ireland, jealousy of race began to show itself. In the Councils of
Regency and of War, to whom the management of James's affairs were
intrusted, men not of Irish blood had considerable influence; they were
therefore involved in constant quarrels with the purely Irish party.
Some order however began to show itself when Tyrconnel returned from
France, accompanied by a French general of ability called St. Ruth. St.
Ruth devoted himself with extreme energy to discipline the crowd of
disorderly bandits whom he had to command, and prepared as well as he
could to oppose the advance of Ginkel, who, seconded by Tollemache and
Mackay, moved in the beginning of June from their headquarters at
Mullingar. The French generals, both now and before, had been of opinion
that Athlone was the right spot for the Irish to make a stand. It lay
almost in the middle of the island, half on one side, half on the other
of the Shannon, separating the provinces of Leinster and Connaught.
Ginkel determined that he would take this place, which seemed to him to
be the key of the Irish frontier. It was a work of no common difficulty.
St. Ruth thought the attempt absolutely hopeless. "His master," he said
of Ginkel, "ought to hang him for attempting to take the town, mine
ought to hang me if I lose it." The half of the town upon the English
side of the river was taken on the 19th, but the real difficulty yet
remained. The narrow bridge which joined the two towns was gallantly
defended. There was a ford lower down, but it was almost impassable.
During the rest of the month the efforts of the besiegers were in vain.
At last want of supplies compelled them either to succeed or to retreat.
A gallant assault on the ford, which was almost up to the necks of the
men, proved successful; to the astonishment and anger of St. Ruth the
town was taken (June 30).
[Sidenote: Battle of Aghrim. July 12, 1691.]
In spite of the advice of Sarsfield and the rest of the Irish generals,
who wisely wished to employ their undisciplined troops in a partisan
warfare, St. Ruth determined to fight. He fell back about thirty miles
from Athlone, to the hill of Aghrim, where his troops occupied rising
ground, covered along its whole front by a deep bog; while along the
bottom of the firm ground ran enclosures, which were turned into
breastworks. Against these difficulties Ginkel marched. But the Irish,
now well posted and well commanded, showed such firmness, that it seemed
probable they would make good their position, and evening was already
drawing on, when at length Mackay, with the English and Huguenot
cavalry, succeeded in passing the bog, and placing his troops on the
flank of the Irish army. At this critical moment St. Ruth was killed.
With singular folly, his friends concealed his death, not only from his
men, but also from his generals. Sarsfield had been ordered to remain
immoveable with reserves till St. Ruth ordered his advance, as the order
did not come Sarsfield did not move, and the victory of the English thus
became complete. The Irish army broke up, and was pursued with
relentless cruelty; 6000 or 7000 Irish are said to have been put to
death as they fled. The plain beyond the field of battle was so studded
with white corpses, that it was described as looking like a pasture
covered with flocks of sheep.
[Sidenote: Second siege and capitulation of Limerick. Oct. 3.]
[Sidenote: End of the Irish war.]
This battle completed the conquest of Ireland. The fall of Galway
immediately followed, and Ginkel proceeded to attack for a second time
the city of Limerick. The chances were now all in favour of the English,
while the Irish were thoroughly disheartened by their late defeat.
Ginkel's army was well supplied, and all hope of succour was cut off
from the besieged by an English squadron which occupied the Shannon.
Under these circumstances a capitulation was granted, the terms of which
were fairly favourable to the Irish. By the military treaty, all
officers and soldiers who desired it were conveyed to France, under
command of their own generals. By the civil treaty, the Roman Catholics
were promised the enjoyment of such privileges as they had enjoyed in
the reign of Charles II. To all who took the oath of allegiance a
perfect amnesty was promised. It is to the disgrace of England that this
treaty with regard to the Catholics was not kept. For the time, however,
Ireland was completely subdued, and the English supremacy established so
firmly, that for more than a century, in spite of the difficulties which
more than once beset the English Government, no outbreak of the Irishry
against the Englishry was even suggested.
[Sidenote: Revolution completed in Scotland.]
In Scotland, at length, the establishment of the Government was equally
complete. The members of the factious Club had gone so far as to make
common cause with the Jacobites. But in the Parliament which met in
1690, under the management of Melville as Lord High Commissioner, the
Government succeeded in obtaining a majority. The union among its
opponents was at once dissolved. A general acquiescence met the
re-establishment of the Presbyterian form of Church government, and no
further difficulties of importance were to be apprehended. William could
now turn his attention to the affairs of England and of the Continent.
[Sidenote: Jacobite plots in England.]
[Sidenote: Preston's plot thwarted.]
In England, from the middle of 1690, the Jacobite intrigues continued.
The lenity shown by William, after the abortive efforts of the Jacobites
during the threatened French invasion, encouraged further conspiracies.
It seemed certain that William's presence would be required abroad, and
that again during his absence an opportunity would be offered for
striking a blow against the Government. In December 1690, a meeting was
held of the leading Jacobites, and it was determined that Preston should
be sent to St. Germains. He was to beg James to return to England,
bringing with him a sufficient French force to secure his success, but
at the same time, in the name of the Jacobites, he was to intreat him to
allow the Protestant religion to remain undisturbed, and to rule in
strict accordance with law. Besides this general letter, separate papers
were intrusted to Preston, especially one from the nonjuring Bishop
Turner, apparently in the name of Sancroft and his brother Bishops. He
also took with him notes as to the most vulnerable points of the coast.
But the captain of the ship which was engaged to take him over thought
it wiser to inform Lord Caermarthen what he was doing, and just as the
messengers thought they were safe out of the river, a vessel of
remarkable swiftness belonging to Lord Caermarthen's son suddenly
appeared alongside, and they were discovered hidden among the gravel
which formed the ballast of their vessel.
[Sidenote: William's successful policy abroad.]
[Sidenote: First crisis of the war over.]
The capture of Preston, and the disclosure of the Jacobite plot, allowed
William to go abroad, leaving the complete investigation of the treason
to his ministers in England. On the Continent his diplomacy had been
singularly successful. He had brought together a great coalition, and
had succeeded in winning the Duke of Savoy, whom the King of France had
reckoned among his allies, and whose territory closed the passage of the
French to the Spanish dominions in Italy. Success would have cemented
the coalition, and induced Denmark and Sweden, which were still
wavering, to join it. But in rapidity of action a coalition is seldom a
match for a single power, and Louis was able to forestall the action of
the allies, and capture the important fortress of Mons, in spite of all
William's efforts to relieve it. But this first success, though damaging
to the coalition, produced no very important military events; the
advantages of the French both in Spain and Italy were counterbalanced by
the disasters which befell their allies the Turks in Hungary, and the
main armies in Flanders under William and Luxemburg were content merely
to watch each other. The first crisis of the war was in fact over. The
centre of the coalition was William; his strength was derived from his
position as King of England; deprived of that position, he would have
lost most of his influence, and the only chance of depriving him of it
had been the success of the Irish. It was in Ireland, therefore, that
the real crisis of the war had arrived. The defeat of James at the Boyne
in 1690, and of St. Ruth at Aghrim almost exactly a year after, had thus
rendered all hopes of destroying William's position futile. Once again,
in the following year, the same critical situation of affairs arose.
With the battle of La Hogue the success of James became hopeless, and
though the war continued for many years, there is no other point in it
which can really be called critical.
[Sidenote: James's hopes upheld by the treason of the ministry]
[Sidenote: and of Marlborough.]
The causes which led James still to cherish hope, and which induced him
to persuade Louis to contemplate that invasion of England to which the
battle of La Hogue put an end, are to be found in the conduct of the
Jacobite party in England: for while William's attention was constantly
turned to the Continent, treason found its way among his own immediate
ministers. Uncertain even yet of the stability of the new Government,
three of the greatest among them determined to be safe on either issue.
Admiral Russell, and Godolphin, head of the Treasury, succeeded in
obtaining written pardons from James; and Marlborough, whose previous
treachery might have been supposed unpardonable, made such a show of
repentance, that he obtained the same favour, promising in exchange,
when he should be in command of the English troops, to bring them over
to the enemy. But even the treachery of Marlborough partook of the
greatness of his character. His views reached far beyond this
commonplace act of treason. He was already devising plans by which the
fate of England and of Europe should be in his own hands. As his schemes
were not yet ready, though the opportunity he had mentioned to James
arose in Flanders, he contrived to excuse himself from performing his
promise. But before long circumstances led him to believe that he might
carry out his treacherous plans in a way more in accordance with his
own wishes. The session of Parliament had been a somewhat stormy one.
The immense emoluments of place-holders had excited the anger of the
Opposition, and although the extreme measures suggested, which went so
far as to cut down all official salaries to £500, had destroyed all
attempts at wholesome reform, there was much continued discontent
against the Court. There had been bitter quarrels also between the Upper
and Lower Houses upon new arrangements of the Treason Law which had been
suggested, and all parties seemed to be combined in mistrust and dislike
of the favours lavished on foreigners. This state of affairs seemed to
open the way for Marlborough's intrigues. In fact, years of rivalry and
several bloody wars, coupled with constant outrages on one side or the
other on distant colonies, had rendered the Dutch at least as hateful to
the English as the French; nor was the feeling diminished by seeing many
of the greater and more lucrative offices in the hands of members of the
hated nation. By working on this feeling, Marlborough hoped to induce
Parliament to petition the King to discharge all foreign troops, a line
of conduct which at a subsequent period was actually followed. Once rid
of these troops (and he thought it impossible that William, situated as
he was, could withstand a formal Parliamentary request), Marlborough
relied on his own ability to induce the English army, which was very
jealous of William's liking for his own Dutch troops, to further his
views. The absolute authority which his wife exercised over the Princess
Anne enabled him to secure her adhesion to his plans. She wrote friendly
and repentant letters to her father. With the army at his command, and
with the Protestant heiress inclined to favour his projects, Marlborough
would declare for James, and secure his return without the danger of
foreign invasion, without the shedding of a drop of blood. Such at least
was the story he told the Jacobites. Men who knew his character
mistrusted him. It was more likely, they thought, and this seems to have
been his real plan, that he would declare not for King James, but for
Princess Anne herself. He would thus become indirectly the ruler of
England, and as such the head of the European coalition, and the arbiter
of Europe.
[Sidenote: Marlborough is deprived of his offices. Jan. 10, 1692.]
[Sidenote: The Queen's quarrel with the Princess Anne.]
Luckily for William, even the Jacobites looked with suspicion on the
scheme; Bentinck received information of Marlborough's treachery. The
King, placed on his guard, stripped him of all his offices; and when
Anne, who knew well the reason of his disgrace, persisted in ignoring it
and in bringing the Duchess of Marlborough to Court, the spirit of the
Queen was roused, and a bitter quarrel broke out between the sisters.
The full details of the plot were not at the time known, and a false
plot, invented and brought to light by a wretched informer of the name
of Fuller, gave Marlborough an opportunity of ostentatiously clearing
his character. He was thus regarded as a martyr to the jealousy of
William, and to an unreasonable dislike of her sister on the part of the
Queen.
Although for the time the danger of Marlborough's treason seemed to have
been escaped, it was undoubtedly the knowledge of its existence, and of
the feeling prevalent among William's other ministers, that encouraged
James still to retain hopes of success in England.
[Sidenote: Massacre of Glencoe. Feb. 13.]