CHAPTER XII. 1685-1701. Reigns of James II. and William III.—Irish Anomalies. -English Injustice.—Battle of the Boyne.-Forfeitures. -Vindication of William from the Orangemen.-The glorious memory" of Titus Outes proposed instead.— Judge Scroggs's Wig.— Rapparees. — Relatives of the Rock Family. 66 AMONG the many anomalous situations in which the Irish have been placed by those "marriage vows, false as dicers' oaths," which bind their country to England, the dilemma in which they found themselves at the Revolution was not the least perplexing or cruel. If they were loyal to the King de jure, they were hanged by the King de facto; and, if they escaped with life from the * Among the persons most puzzled and perplexed by the two opposite Royal claims on their allegiance were the clergymen of the Established Church; who, having first prayed for King James as their lawful sovereign, as soon as William was proclaimed took to praying for him; but again, on the success of the Jacobite forces in the north, very prudently prayed for King James once more, till the arrival of Schomberg, when, as far as his quarters reached, they returned to praying for King William again. King de facto, it was but to be plundered and proscribed by the King de jure afterwards. Hac gener atque socer coeant mercede suorum.—VIRGIL. “In a manner so summary, prompt, and high-mettled, "Twixt father and son-in-law matters were settled." In fact, most of the outlawries in Ireland were for treason committed the very day on which the Prince and Princess of Orange accepted the crown in the Banqueting-house; though the news of this event could not possibly have reached the other side of the channel on the same day, and the Lordlieutenant of King James, with an army to enforce obedience, was at that time in actual possession of the government. So little was common sense consulted, or the mere decency of forms observed by that rapacious spirit, which nothing less than the confiscation of the whole island could satisfy; and which having, in the reign of James I. and at the Restoration, despoiled the natives of no less than ten millions six hundred and thirty-six thousand, eight hundred and thirty-seven acres, now added to its plunder one million, sixty thousand, seven hundred and ninety-two acres more, being the amount, altogether (according to Lord Clare's calculation), of the whole superficial contents of the island! Thus not only had all Ireland suffered confiscation in the course of this century, but no incon siderable portion of it had been twice and even thrice confiscated. Well might Lord Clare say, "that the situation of the Irish nation, at the Revolution, stands unparalleled in the history of the inhabited world."* Yet this is the period which our Orangemen have the face to celebrate!-and the day, which brought such ruin upon Ireland, is to be marked for ever among the Fasti of her Calendar, instead of being, if possible, erased from recollection for ever, as the fatal day of Pharsalia was by the Romans, beyond the power even of chronology to ascertain its date : "Tempora signavit leviorum Roma malorum, Of all her days of sorrow, this alone Was left by Rome, even to herself unknown. James was not fitted by nature for either of the tasks which he undertook,-neither for reducing a free people to slavery, nor for raising an enslaved race to freedom. He was in his true element at St. Germain, touching for the King's evil, and endeavouring in vain to make good Catholics of * “And if” (he as truly adds) "the wars of England, carried on here from the reign of Elizabeth, had been waged against a foreign enemy, the inhabitants would have retained their possessions under the established laws of civilized nations."-Speech on the Union. the Calvinist grenadiers and dragoons that had deserted to him. * Under such a leader, the ill-fated Irish, encumbered and distracted by English feuds, and strong only in hate, had but little chance against a people proud in the new exercise of their sovereign will, and under a chief so brave and so self-possessed as William. It was one of my ancestors (a Corporal Rock of the brave Sarsfield's regiment), who, after the battle of the Boyne, spoke those well-known words, so pregnant with the feelings of mortified bravery, and so fully doing justice to both leaders, -"Change kings, and we'll fight it over again with you!" + Unequal as was the conflict that ensued, the Irish, when disburdened of their king, fought it out manfully, and, had the common faith kept with enemies been observed towards them, would have derived from the struggle no ordinary advan * Prefixed to Count Hamilton's Zéneyde there is a description of the court of St. Germain, at once melancholy and diverting. One of the groupes in this picture is "Un père jésuite, grand convertisseur, entre un grenadier et un dragon Anglais, tous deux deserteurs, mais qui me parurent plus fidèles à Calvin qu'au prince d'Orange.” + It is said to be the same witty corporal that invented the celebrated toast, "To the little gentleman in velvet,” meaning the mole that threw up the hill over which Crop (King William's horse) stumbled. tages; as the Articles of Limerick, solemnly ratified under the great seal of England, guaranteed to the Catholics those two essential rights, liberty of conscience and security of property. But, as if every compact between England and Ireland were to be read, like witches' prayers, backwards,-those very articles, on the faith of which the whole nation finally submitted, were not only grossly violated in every particular, but followed up, without any further provocation from the Catholics, by a system of the most odious persecution that ever disgraced the bloody annals of bigotry. The consummation of this iniquitous code was reserved for the subsequent reign, but its beginnings were prompt and rapid in the present; and the acts for disarming Papists, for banishing all the regular clergy out of the kingdom, for preventing their intermarriage with Protestants, etc. etc. show the spirit in which the articles of Limerick were acted upon, even during the lifetime of him, who had pledged his royal honour to their fulfilment. In justice, however, to William, as well as to the shame of those who still employ his name as a watch-word of persecution, it should never be forgotten that his own principles were completely adverse to the intolerant measures thus forced upon him. Before his expedition to England, he wrote |