them by the influence of Sydney, his lordlieutenant; in short, that he was so wholly dependent on his Parliaments, both of England and of Ireland, that he could not venture to thwart their one great policy, purpose, and passion-to crush Papists; der of the forfeited estates, and very much by conversions, or pretended conversions of Catholics who had recanted their faith to save their property or their position in society, and who generally altered or disguised their family names when these had too Celtic a sound. The Irish Protes-and that such opposition on his part would tants also prided themselves on having saved the kingdom for William and "the Ascendency;" and having now totally put down the ancient nation under their feet, they aspired to take its place, to rise from a colony to a nation, and to assert the dignity of an independent kingdom. have cost him his crown. That was unfortunate for him; inasmuch as the actual conduct which these headstrong supporters of his obliged him to adopt, has cost him more than a crown, his reputation for good faith. It was in February of this year, 1692, Even in this Parliament of 1692 the that the massacre of Glencoe befell in a spirit of independence ventured to show remote valley of the Highlands of Scotland. itself. Two money-bills, which had not King William, we are assured, did not originated in Ireland, were sent over from wish to perpetrate this iniquity, any more England to be passed, or rather to be ac- than to break the Treaty of Limerick; cepted and registered. One of these bills but certain wicked advisers in Scotland was for raising additional duty on beer, forced him to do the one deed, just as his ale, and other liquors; and this they furious Protestants of Ireland obliged him passed to an amount not exceeding to commit the other. In Scotland it was £70,000; but grounding their action upon the wicked Master of Stair, together with the alleged urgency of the case, and de- the vindictive Marquis of Breadalbane, claring that it should not be drawn into who planned the slaughter; and Stair, a precedent. This was on the 21st of Oc- the Secretary for Scotland, presented to tober, 1692. Much constitutional dis- the king, in his closet, and then and there cussion took place upon this occasion; induced his majesty to sign a paper in and honourable members stimulated one these words: "As for MacIan of Glencoe, another's patriotism by recalling the rights and that tribe, if they can be well distinand prerogatives of the ancient kingdom guished from the other Highlanders, it of Ireland. So, a few days after, on the will be proper for the vindication of public 28th of October, the House of Commons justice, to extirpate that set of thieves." rejected altogether the second English And this order was directed to the Combill; which was to grant to their majesties mander of the Forces in Scotland. What the produce of certain duties for one year. was intended, therefore, was military exeOn the 3rd of November Sydney prorogued cution, without judge or jury, to be inParliament with a very angry speech; and flicted upon unarmed and unsuspecting at the same time required the clerk to country-people, with their wives and chilenter his formal protest against the dan-dren. The crime, or alleged crime, was gerous doctrine asserted in the Commons resolutions, and haughtily affirming the right and power of the English Parliament to bind Ireland by acts passed in London. After two prorogations, this Parliament was dissolved on the 5th of September, 1793. Not only did King William give his royal assent to the laws of exclusion made by this Parliament, but he did not make any proposal or any effort to gain for the Irish Catholics those "further securities," as engaged by the Treaty of Limerick, which were to protect them from "all disturbance" in the exercise of their religion. Yet this was but a trifling matter compared with what the same king did in the course of the next following Parliament, that convened in 1695. It is often alleged, on his behalf, that he was provoked and distressed by the furious bigotry and violence of his Irish Protestant subjects; and that he even endeavoured to moderate having been late in coming in and giving their submission. The king did not read the order above cited, says Archbishop Burnet, but he signed it; and says his eloquent eulogist, Macaulay, "Whoever has seen anything of public business knows that princes and ministers daily sign, and indeed must sign documents which they have not read; and of all documents, a document relating to a small tribe of mountaineers, living in a wilderness, not set down on any map, was least likely to interest a sovereign whose mind was full of schemes on which the fate of Europe might depend." Yet the order was not a long one; about three seconds, if his majesty could have spared so long a time from meditating on the fate of Europe, would have shown what fate he was decreeing to the MacDonalds of Glencoe. It seems he could not give so much of his leisure, so the order was sent; and accordingly, the king's troops, have first quar tered themselves amongst the simple peo- instead of giving them the cold steel, ple, in the guise of friends, and partaken three-fourths of the MacDonalds of Glenof their mountain hospitality; and having coe escaped the slaughter, but only to taken the precaution, as they believed, to perish in the snowy mountains for want guard all the outlets of the valley, arose of food and shelter. Such, and so sad before dawn one winter's morning, and may be the effects of evil counsels upon butchered every MacDonald, man, woman, the minds of benevolent monarchs, who and child, whom they could find. A few are too deeply occupied in revolving prodetails of this performance may be inter-jects on which the fate of Europe might esting; they are given by Lord Macaulay, an author who was certainly not disposed to exaggerate their atrocity: depend. Another event befell in the summer of this year, 1692, which deserves record. "But the orders which Glenlyon had On a July morning, about the time when received were precise, and he began to the Protestant Parliament in Dublin was execute them at the little village where devising cunning oaths against Transubhe was himself quartered. His host, In- stantiation and Invocation of Saints, të verriggen, and nine other MacDonalds, drive out its few Catholic members, Pawere dragged out of their beds, bound trick Sarsfield, and some of his comrades, hand and foot, and murdered. A boy just fresh from Limerick, had the deep twelve years old clung round the cap-gratification to meet King William on the tain's legs, and begged hard for life. He glorious field of Steinkirk. Sarsfield and would do anything: he would go anywhere he would follow Glenlyon round the world. Even Glenlyon, it is said, showed signs of relenting: but a ruffian, named Drummond, shot the child dead. "At Auchnaion, the tacksman, Auchintriater, was up early that morning, and was sitting with eight of his family round the fire, when a volley of musketry laid him and seven of his companions dead or dying on the floor. His brother, who alone had escaped unhurt, called to Sergeant Barbour, who commanded the slayers, and asked as a favour to be allowed to die in the open air. 'Well,' said the sergeant, I will do you that favour for the sake of your meat which I have eaten.' The mountaineer, bold, athletic, and favoured by the darkness, came forth, rushed on the soldiers who were about to level their pieces at him, flung his plaid over their faces, and was gone in a mo ment. "Meanwhile Lindsay had knocked at the door of the old chief, and had asked for admission in friendly language. The door was opened. MacIan, while putting on his clothes and calling to his servants to bring some refreshments for his visitors, was shot through the head. Two of his attendants were slain with him. His wife was already up and dressed in such finery as the princesses of the rude Highland glens were accustomed to wear. The assassins pulled off her clothes and trinkets. The rings were not easily taken from her fingers: but a soldier tore them away with his teeth. She died on the following day." Berwick were then officers high in command under Marshal Luxembourg, when King William at the head of a great allied force, attacked the French encampment. The attacking force was under the banners of England, of the United Provinces, of Spain, and of the Empire: and it had all the advantage of effecting a surprise. The battle was long and bloody, and was finished by a splendid charge of French Cavalry, among the foremost of whose leaders was the same glorious Sarsfield, whose sword had once before driven back the same William from before the walls of Limerick. The English and their allies were entirely defeated in that battle, with a loss of about ten thousand men. Once more, and before very long, Sarsfield and King William were destined to meet again. King James was at this time residing at the palace of St. Germain-en-laye, near Paris, upon a pension allowed him by Louis XIV., and waiting on the result of the war between France and the Allies. As William had now become very unpopular in England, it was believed by the advisers of the exiled monarch that a suitable "Declaration" issued from St. Germains, and promising, as the Stuarts were always ready to promise, such reforms and improvements in administration as should conciliate public opinion in England, might once more turn the minds of his British subjects towards their legitimate dynasty, and open a way for his return to his throne. His great counsellor on this occasion was Charles, Earl of Middleton, a Scotchman. On the 17th Over thirty persons were killed there of April, 1693, this famous Declaration that morning, but owing to the "blun- was signed and published. It promised, der," as Macaulay calls it, of commencing on the part of James, a free pardon to all the massacre with a volley of musketry, his subjects who should not oppose him son as he was meet the Engle in battle, to pay much team ang exalt fra King 104 They had bad enough of ligh Seat the Borse Water. A poetice of them soon had their wish; d protect and defend the firse ther Luxembourg ir King William Leunéta Church in a beer possessios a ved the grass to grow under their and poses; that be voi DX as horses' boufs. On the 1th of July, in Toute the Test Act: that he would leave this year. 1533, they were in presence it to the Lezature to define the erest aran on the bank of the little river Lanof the depending power: and that be dim and close by the village of Neerals the Ast of Settlement in winden. The English call that memorIre and The Declaration, then, was an able battle by the first name, and the appen to his English subjects exclusively: French by the second. It was near Liege and to propitiate them, he promised to in the Netherlands, that famous battleware the inth people whoy at their ground which had seen, and was again to nergy-to undo all the measures in favour see so many bloody days. This time it of relations liberty and common justice was the French who attacked the Ailies which had been enacted by his Irish Par- in an intrenched position. After heavy llament of 1649, and to leave the hillers artillery firing for some time, the French of the confiscated estates, his own deally made a desparate attack on the village of enemies in Ireland, in undisturbed posses- Neerwinden; and the Duke of Berwick, sion of all their spolls. It is asserted. at the head of some Irish troops, led the Ps, in the Life of King James, that onset, supported and followed by the left bo arruggled against committing himself wing of the French army, commanded by to auch unqualified support of the Protes- Montchevreuil. The slaughter in the tant interest, but he was finally induced to village was tremendous, and here Berwick aign the document as it stood. It was was taken prisoner. This first attack sent to England, printed, and published, failed, and after a furious struggle the but produced no effect whatever of the French and Irish were forced back. A kind intended. It did produce, however, fresh division, under the Duke de Boura great and just indignation among the bon, renewed the attack, and was again Irish soldiers and gentlemen who had lost repulsed; but as this was the important all their possessions, and encountered so point, Luxembourg resolved to make a many perils to vindicate the right of this final struggle for it, and the chosen forces cowardly and faithless king. Serious dis-of King Louis, led on by his renowned content was manifested among the Irish household troops were launched in a reregiments then serving in the Netherlands sistless mass against the village. A third and on the frontiers of Germany and time it was entered, and a third time there Italy; and we find that the treacherous was a scene of fearful carnage in its Modaeton, his Scottish and Protestant streets. Among the French officers in alviser, who had led the king into this this final struggle was Patrick Sarsfield.* act of ingratitude, as useless as it was King William fought his army to the last; base, made great efforts to sooth the feel- but Neerwinden being gone, the key of ings of these fine troops. A letter is ex- the position was lost, and at length the tant from Lord Middleton to Justin Mac-whole English and allied army gave way Carthy, then in active service in Germany, all along the line. The pursuit was furiendeavouring to explain away the ob- ous and sanguinary, as the Allies kept noxious points of the Declaration, and soliciting MacCarthy's influence to pacify other officers. In this letter Secretary Middleton has the assurance to say "The king promises in the foresaid Declaration to restore the Settlement, but at the same time declares that he will recompense all those who may suffer by it, in giving them equivalents."* There was no such promise in the Declaration, and his correspondent must have known it; but, in truth, the Irish troops in the army of King Louis, the fierce exiles of Limerick, were at that time too busy in the camp and the field, and too keenly desirous to • The letter is in Macpherson's Collection. tolerable order, and fought every step of the way. In the army of William was the Duke of Ormond, and in the wild confusion he was unhorsed; but the French soldier who brought him down espied on his finger a precious diamond, and saved his life as being certainly a prisoner of rank. He was soon after exchanged for Berwick. At length the flying army of William arrived at the little river Gette; and here the retreat was in danger of becoming a total rout. Arms and standards * It does not seem certain that Berwick and Sarsfield had any Irish regiments under their com mand at Landen. O'Connor (Military Momoir) says that Sarsfield fell in leading a charge of French troops. were flung away, and multitudes of fugitives were choking up the fords and bridges of the river, or perishing in its waters, so fiercely did the victors press upon their rear. It was here that Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, who had that day, as well as at Steinkirk, earned the admiration of the whole French army, received his death-shot at the head of his men. It was in a happy moment. Before he fell, he could see the standards of England swept along by the tide of headlong flight, or trailing in the muddy waters of the Gette-he could see the scarlet ranks that he had once hurled back from the ramparts of Limerick, now rent and riven, fast falling in their wild flight, while there was sent peeling after them the vengeful shout, "Remember Limerick !” SYDNEY, the lord-lieutenant, became exceedingly unpopular with the people of the English colony in Ireland, in consequence of his continued assertion of the supreme powers of the British Parliament, and his opposition to the assertion of this new Anglo-Irish nationality. But his unThe victory of the French was com- popularity was still greater on account of plete; and after two such defeats, so his known repugnance to still further and closely following each other, the affairs of more searching penal laws against the King William went badly for a time. Catholics. He was soon, therefore, reThere was, therefore, a certain mildness called, and the island was ruled for a time and mercy observable in the administra- by three lords-justices, Lord Capel, Sir tion of Ireland towards the Catholics; for Cyril Wyche, and Mr. Duncombe. Beas Lawless has justly observed, "The tween these three, serious differences of rights of Irishmen and the prosperity of policy soon manifested themselves; the England cannot exist together-a melan- two latter being in favour of a continuance choly truth which the events of the of the toleration, and of showing some present day only contribute to confirm, slight regard to the rights of the Catholic and which is still left to the enlightened people under the Treaty of Limerick ; English Government of future days to re- while Capel, as Harris confesses, was fute. The lights of history cannot be desirous of doing all in his power to inextinguished, nor her powerful voice fringe that treaty. The intrigues of the silenced. The conclusions we have drawn intolerant party finally prevailed so far as are irresistible, and the idle violence which to procure the appointment of Capel as attempts to punish their publication only | lord-lieutenant; and in 1695 he sumimpresses those truths more deeply on the mind. The glories of William and of Anne-the victories of Marlborough, and the universal conquests of Chatham, have been the most disastrous epochs of Ireland. Never was the heart of our country so low as when England was the envy and the terror of her enemies. The sounds of English triumphs were to her the sounds of sorrow-the little tyrants who ruled her were inflamed with courage, and urged on with increased rancour-the unhappy Catholics of Ireland, who always constituted the nation, were doomed to be again insulted and tortured with impunity." Accordingly, it will soon be seen that the apparent gentleness used at this time towards the ancient Irish nation, was destined to be of short continuance. moned a parliament, the second of this reign. In the meantime King William and his allies had been prosecuting the war against France with varying success, but on the whole, the advantage had rested with the French, at least, in the campaigns by land. In 1695, however, the tide began to turn in the Netherlands; and on the 26th of August, in that year, the town and fortress of Namur, one of the strongest places in Europe, defended by Marshal Boufflers, was surrendered to the allies after an arduous siege. For the first time, since first there were marshals of France, a French Marshal delivered up a fortress to a victorious enemy. There was high rejoicing in England over this great event; it was, therefore, an event of evil omen for Ireland. During the three years preceding the meeting of this parliament, there had been continual complaints made by the Protestant " Ascendancy," of the favers shown to "Papists," and the consequent discouragement and depression of the Protestant interest. The great theme of discussion but the ingenuity of this parliament in Ireland at that day was whether, and found means of still further extending how far, the Articles of Limerick ought and improving the laws which already to be considered binding; and the parlia-made Catholics outlaws in their native ment. in 1692, had addressed the king, land. complaining of the restoration of certain There was no more factious opposition confiscated estates to Catholics in the five to the government; the parliament was counties specified in the articles; which obsequious, and readily passed all bills restoration was expressly stipulated for that were required at its hands. All it in the treaty ;* and further requesting asked was to have the Papists delivered his majesty "to have the articles of the up, body and goods, into the hands of the Treaty of Limerick laid before us [the Ascendancy. It will give an idea of the parliament], in order that we may learn grievances and oppressions which the by what means, and under what pretext, Protestants now plaintively represented they have been granted," etc. Consider- to parliament in petitions which poured ably over a million of acres had been ad-in from all quarters, if we mention that judged confiscated in consequence of the one of these petitions was from the mayor, last "rebellion," and of this land, about sheriffs, and Protestant aldermen of the one quarter had been restored to its right city of Limerick, complaining that " they owners in pursuance of the treaty. In were greatly damaged in their trade by short, the Irish nation," as the handful the great numbers of Papists residing of colonists called themselves, was suffer- there, and praying to be relieved therein.” ing under grievous distress and depression; An 1, in fact, those honest Protestants and a Mr. Stone, member of the Irish were relieved by express enactment. House of Commons, being examined at the Another petition, gravely presented_to bar of the English House, gave in his evi- parliament, was "A petition of one Eddence so sad an account of the sufferings ward Sprag, and others, in behalf of themof the Protestants, as produced a serious selves and other Protestant porters, in effect upon public opinion in England. and about the city of Dublin, complaining "There never was," he declared, "a that one Darby Ryan, a Papist, employed House of Commons of that kingdom of porters of his own persuasion." This greater property or better principles than petition was referred, like others, to the those which met under Lord Sydney's" Committee on Grievances." The grievadministration." He boasted of their ances of persecuted Protestants, however, loyalty and zeal for his majesty's service, were soon to have an end. and alleged that their opposition to the Catholics had been already excluded money bills had been occasioned by Lord from the legislature, from the corporaSydney's arrogance in insisting upon the tions, and from the liberal professions; supreme sovereignty of the English crown but we have seen that they could still and Parliament; and last, and worst of damage the trade of Protestant artificers all, he complained "that the Papists were in Limerick, and even compete with Proin actual possession of that liberty which, testant coal-porters in Dublin. The parif extended to Protestants, would have liament of Lord Capel was now about to prevented the necessity of rendering the take such order with them that it was Irish Commons obnoxious by the rejection hoped they would never trouble the Proof so many bills." In short, the pathetic testant interest any more. The first renarration of these pretended grievances quisite was to effectually disarm them. and oppressions had brought about, first, Accordingly, one of the first enactments the recall of Lord Sydney, and afterwards is entitled An Act for the better securthe appointment of Lord Capel as lord-ing the government by disarming the lieutenant. The comparative success of William's arms in the Netherlands contributed still more effectually to give a complete triumph to the Ascendancy party; and accordingly the Protestant colonists were highly gratified when Lord Capel, in opening the parliament of 1695, announced that the king was intent on a firm settlement of Ireland "upon a Protestant interest." It might have been supposed that Ireland was already pretty well settled in the interest of Protestants; See the Address in full, in MacGeoghegan: Sadlier's Edition. Papists."+ By this act, all Catholics within the kingdom of Ireland, were required to discover and deliver up by a certain day, to the justices or civil officers, all their arms and ammunition. After that day search might be made in their houses for concealed arms and ammunition; and any two justices, or a mayor, or sheriff, might grant the searchwarrant, and compel any Catholic suspected of having concealed arms, etc., to appear before them and answer the charge Commons Journals. |