The garrison of Londonderry was now reduced from 7,000 to 5,700 men; and these were driven to such extremity of distress, that they began to talk of killing the popish inhabitants and feeding on their bodies; Kirke, who had hitherto lain inactive, ordered two ships laden with provisions to sail up the river, under convoy of the Dartmouth frigate; one of these called the " Mountjoy," broke the enemy's boom, and all the three-after having sustained a very hot fire from both sides of the river-arrived in safety at the town, to the inexpressible joy of the inhabitants.

The army of James was so dispirited by the success of this enterprise, that they abandoned the siege in the night, and retired with precipitation, after having lost about 9,000 men before the place. Kirke no sooner took possession of the town, than Walker was prevailed upon to embark for England, with an address of thanks from the inhabitants to their majesties for the seasonable relief they had received.

THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE.

TOBIAS SMOLLETT.

King James trusted so much to the disputes in the English parliament that he did not believe his son-in-law would be able to quit that kingdom, and William had been six days in Ireland before he received intimation of his arrival: this was no sooner known than he left Dublin under the guard of the militia, commanded by Luttrel, and, with a reinforcement of 6,000 infantry which he had lately received from France, joined the rest of his forces, which now almost equalled William's army in number, exclusive of about 15,000 men who remained in different garrisons. He occupied a very advantageous post on the bank of the Boyne, and, contrary to the advice of his general officers, resolved to stand battle. They proposed to strengthen their garrisons, and retire to the Shannon, to wait the effect of the operations at sea. Louis had promised to equip a powerful armament against the English fleet, and send over a great number of small frigates to destroy William's transports, as soon as their convoy should be returned to England; the execution of this scheme was not at all difficult, and must have proved fatal to the English army, for their stores and ammunition were still on board; the ships sailed along the coast as the troops advanced in their march; and there was not one secure harbour into which they could retire on any emergency. James, however, was bent on hazarding an engagement, and expressed uncommon confidence and alacrity. Besides the river, which was deep, his front was secured by a morass and a rising ground; so that the English army could not attack him without manifest disadvantage.

King William marched up to the opposite bank of the river, and as he reconnoitred their situation was exposed to the fire of some field pieces, which the enemy purposely planted against his person; they killed a man and two horses close by him, and the second bullet rebounding from the earth, grazed on his right shoulder, so as to carry off part of his clothes and skin, and produce a considerable contusion. This accident, which he bore without the least emotion, created some confusion among his attendants, which the enemy perceiving, concluded he was killed, and shouted aloud in token of their joy; the whole camp resounded with acclamation, and several squadrons of their horse were drawn down towards the river as if they intended to pass it immediately and attack the English army. The report was instantly communicated from place to place until it reached Dublin; from thence it was conveyed to Paris, where, contrary to the custom of the French court, the

people were encouraged to celebrate the event with bonfires and illuminations. William rode along the line to show himself to the army after this narrow escape. At night he called a council of war, and declared his resolution to attack the enemy in the morning. Schomberg at first opposed his design, but finding the king determined, he advised that a strong detachment of horse and foot should that night pass the Boyne at Slane Bridge and take post between the enemy and the pass of Duleck, that the action might be the more decisive; this counsel being rejected, the king determined that early in the morning lieutenant-general Douglas with the right wing of the infantry, and young Schomberg with the horses, should pass at Slane bridge, while the main body of the foot should force their passage at Oldbridge, and the left at certain fords between the enemy's camp and Drogheda. duke perceiving that his advice was not relished by the Dutch generals, retired to his tent, where the order of battle being brought to him, he received it with an air of discontent, saying, it was the first that had ever been sent to him in that The proper dispositions being made, William rode quite through the army by torchlight, and then retired to his tent after having given orders to his soldiers to distinguish themselves from the enemy by wearing green boughs in their hats during the action.

manner.

ance.

The

At six o'clock in the morning, general Douglas, with young Schomberg, the earl of Portland, and Auverquerque, marched to Slane bridge, and passed the river with very little opposition. When they reached the further bank they perceived the enemy drawn up in two lines, to a considerable number of horse and foot, with a morass in their front, so that Douglas was obliged to wait for reinforcements. This being arrived, the infantry was led on to the charge through the morass, while count Schomberg rode round it with his cavalry, to attack the enemy in flank. The Irish, instead of waiting the assault, faced about, and retreated towards Duleck with some precipitation; yet not so fast but that Schomberg fell in among their rear, and did considerable execution. King James, however, soon reinforced his left wing from the centre; and the count was in his turn obliged to send for assistAt this juncture, king William's main body, consisting of the Dutch guards, the French regiments, and some battalions of English, passed the river, which was waist high, under a general discharge of artillery. King James had imprudently removed his cannon from the other side; but he had posted a strong body of musketeers along the bank, behind hedges, houses, and some works raised for the occasion; these poured in a close fire on the English troops before they reached the shore; but it produced very little effect. Then the Irish gave way, and some battalions landed without further opposition; yet before they could form, they were charged with great impetuosity by a squadron of the enemy's horse, and a considerable body of their cavalry and foot, commanded by general Hamilton, advanced from behind some little hillocks to attack those that were landed as well as to prevent the rest from reaching the shore; his infantry turned their backs and fled immediately; but the horse charged with incredible fury, both on the bank and in the river, so as to put the unformed regiments in confusion. Then the duke of Schomberg passed the river in person, put himself at the head of the French protestants, and pointing to the enemy :-" Gentlemen," said he, "those are your persecutors." With these words, he advanced to the attack, where he himself sustained a violent onset from a party of the Irish horse, which had broke through one of the regiments and were now on their return. They were mistaken for English, and allowed to gallop up to the duke, who received two severe wounds in the head; but. the French regiment now sensible of their mistake, rashly threw in their fire on the Irish while they were engaged with the duke, and instead of saving, shot him dead. on the spot. The death of this general had well nigh proved fatal to the English.

army, which was immediately involved in tumult and disorder; while the infantry of king James rallied and returned to their posts with a face of resolution. They were just ready to fall on the centre when king William, having passed with the left wing, composed of the Danish, Dutch, and Inniskillen horse, advanced to attack them on the right they were struck with such a panic at his appearance, that they made a sudden halt, and then facing about retreated to the village of Dunmore. There they made such a vigorous stand that the Dutch and Danish horse, though headed by the king in person, recoiled; even the Inniskilliners gave way, and the whole wing would have been routed, had not a detachment of dragoons, belonging to the regiment of Cunningham and Levison, dismounted, and lined the edges on each side of the ditch through which the fugitives were driven; there they did such execution on the pursuers as soon checked their ardour. The horse which were broken had now time to rally; and returning to the charge, drove the enemy before them in their turn. In this action, general Hamilton, who had been the life and soul of the Irish during the whole engagement, was wounded and taken; an incident which discouraged them to such a degree, that they made no farther efforts to retrieve the advantage they had lost. He was immediately brought to the king, who asked him if he thought the Irish would make any further resistance, and he replied, "On my honour I believe they will; for they have still a good body of horse entire." William, eyeing him with a look of disdain, repeated, "Your honour, your honour!" but took no other notice of his having acted contrary to his engagement, when he was permitted to go to Ireland on promise of persuading Tyrconnel to submit to the new government. The Irish now abandoned the field with precipitation; but the French and Swiss troops that acted as their auxiliaries under De Lauzun, retreated in good order, after having maintained the battle for some time with intrepidity and perseverance. As king William did not think

proper to pursue the enemy, the carnage was not great; the Irish lost 1,500 men and the English about one-third of that number; though the victory was dearly purchased, considering the death of the gallant duke of Schomberg, who fell, in the eighty-second year of his age, after having rivalled the best generals of that time in military reputation. He was the descendant of a noble family, in the Palatinate, and his mother was an Englishwoman, daughter of lord Dudley. Being obliged to leave his country on account of the troubles by which it was agitated; he commenced a soldier of fortune, and served successively in the armies of Holland, England, France, Portugal, and Brandenburg; he attained to the dignity of mareschal in France, grandee in Portugal, generalissimo in Prussia, and duke in England. He professed the protestant religion; was courteous and humble in his deportment; cool, penetrating, resolute, and sagacious; nor was his probity inferior to his courage. This battle also proved fatal to the brave Caillemote, who had followed the duke's fortunes, and commanded one of the protestant regiments. After having received a mortal wound, he was carried back through the river by four soldiers, and though almost in the agonies of death, he with a cheerful countenance encouraged those who were crossing to do their duty, exclaiming, “À la gloire, mes enfants, à la gloire." "To glory, my lads; to glory! The third remarkable person who lost his life on this occasion was Walker, the clergyman, who had so valiantly defended Londonderry against the whole army of king James; he had been very graciously received by king William, who gratified him with a reward of £5,000, and a promise of further favour: but his military genius still predominating, he attended his royal patron in this battle, and being shot, died in a few minutes. The persons of distinction who fell on the other side were the lords Dongan and Carlingford; sir Neile O'Neile and the marquis of Hocquincourt. James, himself, stood aloof during the action on the hill of Dunmore, surrounded

with some squadrons of horse, and seeing victory declare against him retired to Dublin without having made the least effort to reassemble his broken forces; hal he possessed either spirit or conduct, his army might have been rallied and reinforced from his garrisons, so as to be in a condition to keep the field, and even to act on the offensive; for his loss was inconsiderable, and the victor did not attempt to molest his troops in their retreat; an omission which has been charged on him as a flagrant instance of misconduct. Indeed, through the whole of this engagement, William's personal courage was much more conspicuous than his military skill.

JACOBITE BALLAD.

OGILVIE OF INQUHARARITY.

WRITTEN AFTER THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE.

It was a' for our richtfu' king

We left fair Scotland's strand;

It was a' for our richtfu' king
We e'er saw Irish land, my dear,
We e'er saw Irish land.

Now a' is done that men can do,
And a' is done in vain :

My love, my native land, farewell;
For I maun cross the main, my dear,
For I maun cross the main.

He turn'd him richt and round about
Upon the Irish shore,

And ga'e his bridle-reins a shake,
With, adieu for evermore, my love,
With, adieu for evermore.

The sodger frae the war returns,
The sailor frae the main;
But I hae parted frae my love,
Never to meet again, my love,
Never to meet again.

When day is gane, and nicht is come,
And a' folk bound to sleep,

I think on him that's far awa’

The lee-lang night, and weep, my dear.
The lee-lang night, and weep.

THE POLITICIANS OF THE REVOLUTION IN 1689-93.

MISS STRICKLAND.

The foregoing stream of occurrences brings us down to the Christmas of 1689-90, an epoch equally marked with infinite anxieties to the protestant branch of the royal family reigning in England, and to their exiled father reigning in Ireland. The saying went throughout the British realm, that "if king James would give

some proper pledge for the security of the established religion, he could not be kept out of the government a single day." In truth, every description of plunderer, high and low, had seized on the finances with such vigorous activity, that in one twelvemonth only, the revenue which James II. had left perfectly clear and free from debt, was minus by three millions. What was worse, the English navy, leftby their sailor king the ruler of the seas, had sustained a scandalous defeat at Bantry Bay, not for lack of skill or bravery, but because the infamous peculators, who had been kept at bay by king James, now embezzled all the funds provided for food and ammunition. The merchant marine, which had been sedulously cherished by James, and carefully guarded in their voyages to his colonies and foreign factories by efficient convoys, had been so fearfully plundered by pirates and privateers since his deposition, that we care not to write down the enormous calculation. Dismal petitions were sent by the merchants, when the parliament of 1689-90 met, complaining of the cruel extortion of convoy money, especially forbidden by king James. The most guilty of the naval commanders was captain Churchill, the brother of lord Churchill, who had been the first to desert king James, and had made his market that same year of convoy money to such an enormous amount that, on the proof, the house of commons expelled him from his seat as a member, with infamy, and he was afterwards broken and deprived of his ship. Queen Mary exerted herself strenuously to prevent this act of justice, and we shall see her use her sovereign power to restore him; therefore it could not have been his punishment that aggravated the enmity borne to her by the Marlboroughs.

The war was carried on in Ireland in the same spirit of peculation; the soldiers sent to oppose king James perished with disease, because the contractors supplied them with rotten food and damaged clothing. The duke of Schomberg wrote piteous despatches from Ireland, on the iniquity of the Englishmen in office, especially if they were leaders in the house of commons. It is scarcely possible to withhold a smile at the naive pathos of some of the old veteran's complainings, or at the picture he draws of the peculations of the notorious general Kirke and the patriotic Mr. Harbord, declaring that "each knew the robberies of the other so well, they dared not audit the accounts." Harbord could not check Kirke's audacious robberies, he himself being paid every week for a regiment he had affected to raise ; "and," wrote Schomberg to William III., "I do assure your majesty that the existence of this fine regiment is limited to its standard, which leans in a corner of his dressing-room, and that is all he can show for it." Almost every army commissioner drew pay for a fictitious regiment; some who had numerous connexions to pension, appointed the regular officers; but others, only the standard, like Mr. Harbord. "Never," added poor Schomberg, after relating these enormities, "never did I see a nation so willing to steal."* William III. writhed under the consciousness that this corruption was sapping the foundations of his throne. One day he was discussing these troubles with his minister and confidant, Bentinck, whom he had lately created earl of Portland; they observed with consternation the appalling public defalcations which had impaired the revenue since the deposition of king James. Portland asked his royal friend " whether he believed that there was one honest man in the whole of Great Britain?" "Yes, there are many," replied king William with a sigh; "there are as many men of high honour in this country as in any other, perhaps more; but, my lord Portland, they are not my friends.” † This conviction did not prevent king William from disgracing himself by the

* Schomberg's despatches from Lisborne in Ireland, Dec. 30, 1689. Dalrymple's appendix, p. 83. No history ever illustrated the corrupt spirit of the revolution like the whole tenor of these letters.

+ Lord Dartmouth's notes. Portland told the anecdote to Dartmouth's father.