218 Measures of the Earl of Tyrconnel.

It may easily be supposed that measures like these would excite considerable alarm among the protestants, who would see in them a probable course of events most disastrous to their interests. Many who possessed property fled with it from the country, for they knew not how soon it might otherwise pass into other hands. Tyrconnel acted with extreme haughtiness and imprudence, but he gained the confidence of the catholics, and was prevailed on by them to go over to England, in the hope that he might prevail upon the king to repeal the act of settlement; and notwithstanding the dreadful confusion of property which must have followed from that repeal, Tyrconnel was so far successful as to obtain the king's promise in favour of it. Nor was this all, for in 1686 he returned to Ireland as lord-lieutenant, a measure which tended in no small degree to alienate from the king the affections of his protestant subjects in Ireland. Every elevation of a catholic to place or power was what they would naturally look upon with distrust, because it implied a systematic adherence to principles which threatened their destruction. Independently of this general distrust of catholics, however, Tyrconnel was peculiarly obnoxious to the Irish protestants, and they regarded his nomination to the lord-lieutenancy with feelings of more than ordinary indignation. They knew he had the most unbounded influence over the king's mind, and they knew also that he was entirely devoted to the interests

Obsequiousness of the Protestants. 219

of the catholics; they had little reason, therefore, to expect any thing very propitious to their own welfare.

James was enthusiastically bent upon establishing his own religion in Ireland with all liberty, splendor, and efficacy; but he fell a victim to his enthusiasm, both as it related to that country and to England. The protestants in Ireland had long been impressed with the danger which threatened them, and they were in open opposition in the north a considerable time before the abdication of James. They organised themselves, appointed their own officers, had regular meetings, chose governors of counties, nominated councils and committees to transact their affairs, and assumed all the appearance, and exercised all the functions, of a regularly formed body hostile to the throne, and avowing their hostility. This formidable force had considerably augmented and gained strength several months before the landing of William. But Dr. Lesley draws a very curious and significant picture of the convenient and mutable loyalty of the protestants at this period. "Before the association in the north of Ireland, September, 1688, they prayed for King James. The begin ning of March following they proclaimed the Prince of Orange king, and prayed for him. The 15th day King James's army broke their forces at Dromore, in the north of Ireland, and reduced all but Derry and Enniskillen. Then they prayed again for King James, that God would strengthen

220 Tyrconnel raises an army in favour of James.

him to vanquish and overcome all his enemies. In August following Schomberg went over with an English army; then, as far as his quarters reached, they returned to pray the same prayer for King William; the rest of the protestants still praying for victory to King James and for the people; and yet now they tell us that all that while they meant the same thing: four times in one year praying forwards and backwards point blank contradictory to one another."

When James, acting partly from his own pusillanimity, and influenced partly by the insidious counsels of others, abdicated the throne of England, he did not consider himself as having foregone all claims to the crown of Ireland; neither did his catholic subjects there think that he had. The protestants in the north, indeed, seem to have taken it for granted that he must abdicate; for they arrayed themselves in open rebellion against him before that event took place. Meanwhile Tyrconnel summoned the loyal part of the nation to unite in defence of their king against the usurper, as William was then called, and against the northern rebels. An army of about 30,000 men was soon formed, officered almost wholly with catholics. Their hopes were still kept up by the repeated assurances of James that he would come over and head them in person. Louis XIV. at whose court the exiled and unfortunate monarch was residing, offered him a French army to assist him in reasserting his rights, but

Proceedings of James in Ireland.

201

he declined the offer with the noble declaration, "that he would recover his dominions by the assistance of his own subjects, or perish in the attempt." He sailed from Brest with a strong armament, having 1200 of his own subjects on board, aud landed at Kinsale in the month of March, 1689. From thence he proceeded to Dublin, where he was received as king with great pomp and solemnity. 'Addresses," says Leland, "were instantly poured in upon him from all orders of people. That of the protestant established clergy touched gently on the distraction of the times and the grievances they had experienced. He assured them of protection; he promised to defend, and even to enlarge their privileges. But his fairest declarations were received with coldness and suspicion, when all the remaining protestants of the privy council were removed, and their places supplied by D'Avaux, Powis, Berwick, the Bishop of Chester, and others of his zealous adherents. He now issued five several proclamations: by the first he ordered all protestants who had lately abandoned the kingdom to return, and accept his protection, under the severest penalties; and that his subjects of every persuasion should unite against the Prince of Orange. The second was calculated to suppress robberies, commanding all catholics, not of his army, to lay up their arms in their several abodes. A third invited the country to carry provisions to his troops. By the fourth he raised the value of

222

William lands in Ireland.

money. And the last summoned a parliament to meet at Dublin on the 7th day of May, and which did meet, and sit from that day to the 12th of July, and then adjourned to the 12th of November following."

son.

There is no part of Irish history more familiar, perhaps, to every reader than that which embraces the events consequent upon James's landing in the country. It is well known that Schomberg arrived with an English army of 40,000 men, which was afterwards headed by William in perHe sailed from England about the middle. of June, 1690, and landed at Carrickfergus, where he was received with all imaginable demonstrations and acclamations of joy. Here he joined the relics of Schomberg's army, and his whole force, which included a very great proportion of foreign mercenaries, amounted to about 36,000 men. The whole amount of James's force was about 45,000 men. Of these he kept 30,000 with himself, and distributed the rest through the different fortresses of the country. From Carrickfergus he proceeded to Belfast, and from thence to Drogheda, where he arrived in six days. James meanwhile had abandoned the passes between Newry and Dundalk, where the local advantages were such that he might have disputed every inch of ground. He repassed the Boyne, and encamped on the south side of it. Here he summoned a council of war, and deliberated as to the best mode of procedure, whether he should