CHAPTER XIV.

THE WINTER OF 1690.

Before his departure from Ireland, the Prince of Orange deputed the civil government of the country to two lords-justices—Porter and Coningsby—who lost no time in entering on the duties of their office. Scarcely were they installed in it, when a flood of proclamations was issued against the "papists" who lived within their jurisdiction; and all devised, with the most "diabolical ingenuity," to plunder and exterminate. One of these assessed the Catholic inhabitants to make good any losses sustained by their Protestant neighbors, whether arising from accident or from causes incident to a state of warfare; another proclaimed that no more than ten Catholics should assemble in a body, and that the priest of any parish, where a larger assembly should take place, incurred the penalty of transportation; a third declared that the families of such as had been killed or taken prisoners in the service of King James, should forthwith remove behind the Shannon, or be treated as enemies and spies; and a fourth, that any family having a member within the lines of the Irish army, should either procure his recall, or remove thither by a certain day. The Protestant population were also ordered within the English lines, and a general exodus from both sides of the river immediately took place. The sufferings consequent on this disruption, it is painful to contemplate. Thousands of the young and infirm crossed the river never to return to their homes, while the men were driven to swell the ranks of the Rapparees and wring their subsistence from the country.

In the mean time seizures and confiscations kept pace with the proclamations, until a million and a quarter of acres, valued at four millions sterling, were appropriated in advance of all legal proceedings. "The manner in which the lords-justices and the Castle party did their work," says Taylor, "is an edifying example of the mode by which the forms of law have been so often prostituted to sanction injustice in Ireland. They indicted the Irish gentlemen who possessed any estates, of high treason in the several counties over which they had jurisdiction, and then removed them all, by certiorari, to the Court of King's Bench in Dublin. By this ingenious contrivance, those who were to be robbed lost all opportunity of making their defence; indeed, in most cases they were ignorant of being accused, and the Irish government was saved the trouble of showing how the Irish people could be guilty of high treason for supporting the cause of their rightful monarch against a foreign invader."

Commissions were also issued for raising large bodies of militia, to be equipped and disciplined on the plan of the English army; and the northern Protestants, who were considered as well adapted to predatory warfare, were furnished with the arms of Schomberg's soldiers who had died, or who had been killed in the preceding year, and sent forth, under the name of Protestant Rapparees, against those of the same class who followed the fortunes of the Jacobite army. This was all fair enough in war, but it is worthy of remark that those who exclaimed most loudly against the moderate taxation of King James, as ruinous to the country, now voted away sums that would lead one to think they believed the resources of the country inexhaustible. The militia of the country in a short time became good soldiers, and did great service to William by holding the garrisons in the rear of his regular army, and recruiting it when necessary; but the "Protestant Rapparees" entirely failed in the object proposed, for, unable to cope with their wily enemies, they soon turned to plunder indiscriminately on their own account, and, instead of increasing the forage or supplies of the English army, they wasted wherever they passed, and caused a dearth which afterwards greatly embarrassed its movements.

Still the affairs of William were of a serious and perplexing nature, both in England and on the continent. Party strife ran high in the British Parliament, and the Princess Anne, whether touched by remorse or excited to revenge, was known to hint at the necessity of recalling her father to the throne, while the continued success of Marshal Luxemburg, since the battle of Fleurus, had reduced the "Allies" to great extremities, and threatened the very existence of Holland as a European power. Several times since his accession, William was compelled to pass over to the continent to reassure his favorite subjects, and to take counsel with the members of the coalition against the increasing power of France. His visits on those occasions were necessarily hurried and unsatisfactory; the successful termination of the Irish war, alone, could grant him a respite from his manifold cares, and accordingly Ginckle, who had succeeded the Count de Solmes in command of the army, was ordered to continue afield through the winter, and press it to an issue, either by treaty or by force of arms. To put the result beyond peradventure, his force was strengthened by accessions from every available quarter: the militia and northern reserves were called into service; several regiments reached him from Scotland; and the Dutch Guards, who had been recalled to England with the Count of Solmes, were replaced by a body of British infantry, the dragoons of Colonel Mathews, and the cavalry of the Count of Schomberg, until a force of over 50,000 men were at his command, while abundance of stores and ammunition arrived daily at every port from Cork to the capital.

Nor did the complete reduction of the country, judging from the relative numbers, the condition of both armies, and the territories occupied by them, seem an end either distant or difficult to accomplish. Three of the four provinces were virtually under the sway of General Ginckle; the coast from Kinsale, eastward to Derry, was under the control of his fleet; his army lay extended through the centre of the island, within a day's march of the Shannon, the possession of any pass on which would break the Irish line of communication, and open up the remaining province to the progress of his arms; and to this was his attention now directed as the speediest manner of terminating the war, which had become so irksome to his sovereign.

Warned by the reverse of the British arms before Athlone and Limerick, that an assault in force at any one point of the Irish line, would be attended with hazard and delay, he devised a simultaneous attack along its whole extent, as the more speedy and efficacious. It would keep the enemy, who were not half his number, divided among many garrisons, weaken them at some point, and give him the advantage of selecting that for his most determined assault, which should be found the least capable of resistance. For this purpose, he established his bases of operation at Cork, Roscrea, Mullingar, and Enniskillen; the first threatening that part of the southern province still in arms for King James, and each of the other three commanding one or more important passes into the still unconquered territory. That part of his army at Enniskillen was commanded by Kirke and Douglas; that at Mullingar, by Brewer, Lanier, Earle, and others; that at Roscrea and its environs, by Count Nassau and the Prince of Wurtemberg; and that at Cork, by Tettau and Scravenmore,—none of them varying far from 10,000 men, with strong detachments at several intermediate points, while he himself established his headquarters at Kilkenny, holding a strong reserve in hand, to be directed north or south as necessity should require. The campaign was to be first inaugurated by Tettau on the south and Douglas on the north. The former was to move against the interior of Cork and Kerry, and, wasting the country on his way, to threaten Limerick, in order to divert attention from the movements on the river above it. The latter was to proceed against Sligo, and, having captured it, to assail Lanesborough from the west, while Brewer, from his quarters at Mullingar, was to threaten it on the east. The investment of the latter place was to be the signal for a general movement along the whole line from Kilaloe, northward, when, if any one point were carried, the whole army was to concentrate round Athlone, which once reduced, Limerick should be evacuated, or the whole country westward to Galway left open to his march. The plan was well designed, the generals able and experienced, the army in the finest condition; and nothing was wanting to success but the time opportune for a general movement.

On the other hand, the fall of Cork and Kinsale were succeeded by a period of great distress within the Irish lines. The exterminating policy of the lords-justices had filled the province with a helpless population, enhancing the price of provisions and lessening the resources of the army. The brass coin of King James, in which the soldiers received their pay, was greatly depreciated within their own boundaries, while throughout the other three provinces it was decried, and had become utterly worthless.56 A derangement of trade with France also intervened, and disasters followed each other in quick succession. A few days after the fall of Kinsale, a vessel freighted with salt and other necessaries, anchored under the guns of the fort, and the captain, believing it still held by the Jacobite troops, only discovered his mistake when she was actually in possession of a boarding party from the enemy. Another, laden with ammunition and clothing for the troops, struck on a rock coming up the Shannon, and became a total wreck, and all on board perished. Almost coincident with those events; one Long, an English captain, who had been for some time a prisoner in Galway, aided by some disaffected inhabitants, made his escape, and seizing a French frigate of twelve guns, doubled the northern coast and reached Carrickfergus in safety with his prize. In the mean time the expedition promised by the French Government was unaccountably delayed, until hope seemed illusory, and the necessity of an accommodation with the enemy was intimated in the civic councils of the nation.

Through all these troubles Berwick and Sarsfield never faltered in their duty. The camp and the council alike demanded their attention. In both they seemed ubiquitous, and their exertions alone saved the Jacobite cause from utter prostration at this critical period. At length, after several weeks had elapsed, commerce began to revisit the coast; the immediate necessities of the army were relieved; the efforts of Tyrconnell were manifested in something more tangible than promises; arms and ammunition, as a first instalment of his good faith, arrived at Galway, coupled with assurances that the French king had at last accorded that consideration which the importance of their cause demanded, and appeals to their loyalty and patriotism to hold out until his arrival. The effect was soon observable: the despondence of the people gave way to hope; the discontent of the council was for a time allayed; and the generals turned their undivided attention to military affairs—Berwick to store the magazines, put the troops in order, and guard the different posts; and Sarsfield, with a few thousand available troops, to organize the Rapparees and direct their movements in frustrating the designs of the enemy.

Through the preceding events of the war, the Rapparees had played no insignificant part. The torch of the invader had rendered them homeless and reckless, and, thrown on their own resources, they took up this wild life, and wrung their subsistence from the enemy with a daring hand. From the Shannon to the eastern coast, wherever a tribute could be levied, or a British detachment ambushed, there were the stealthy Rapparees wresting a reprisal or wreaking a revenge. Neither toil nor privation seemed to affect them, nor could danger deter them from their purpose. Death, swift and certain, was their doom when captured, and that they dealt as swiftly and surely in their turn. Unable, through want of regular arms and discipline, to meet large bodies of the enemy in the field, they divided into small bands, and traversed the country in all directions. All the by-ways of the land were known to them; they came and went like shadows; and wherever they passed, there was a hostage or a victim. No position of the enemy, however guarded, was safe from them, and frequently in the dead of night, when his camp seemed most secure, the skies would be suddenly lit up by the blaze of his tents, and horses and other booty secured in the confusion, and borne with a noble disinterestedness to the headquarters of the Jacobite army. In fine, the Irish Rapparee was an Irish patriot, and a devoted one,—as brave and devoted as the Chouan of La Vendée. He fought without pay; suffered without murmur, and gave his life for a country that scarce holds his name in grateful remembrance.

Such were the men that Sarsfield now called to his aid, and for this purpose, he "let loose,"—says the English historian of the war,—"a great part of the army to manage the best for themselves that time and opportunity would allow them, giving them passes to signify what regiments they belonged to, so that in case they were taken they might not be dealt with as Rapparees, but soldiers.... Keeping a constant correspondence with one another and also with the Irish army, who furnished them with all necessaries, especially ammunition."

These soldiers now extended along the whole frontier, and in a short time established communication between the Rapparees and the regular army, while Sarsfield, with a small force, took the field, to profit by every diversion they might create in his favor.

Each army having thus adopted its plan of action, a furious desultory war soon raged along the whole lines, from north to south. The Rapparees, under the guidance of the soldiers sent among them, formed in two lines: one of these moved along between the English army and the eastern coast, harassing the militia in its rear, and ravaging the country up to the gates of Dublin; while the other hung around its encampments, interrupting communication, disconcerting its movements, destroying its forage, and driving large herds of cattle beyond the Shannon. Their courage and hardihood were surprising. They now attacked larger bodies of the enemy, and raids and skirmishes, terminating in loss of life on both sides, were of daily—almost hourly, occurrence. If the enemy lost less in men—as we are assured he did, on the testimony of his own annalist—he paid the balance in booty, for to this the attention of the Rapparees, even in the heat of battle, was principally directed. An instance or two of their manner of proceeding will better illustrate their service at this time than pages of general detail.—As the English army extended northward, pursuant to its design against the Irish quarters, the regiment of Lord Drogheda occupied Kilcormack Castle, in the King's County, as an escort to the supplies daily arriving and passing on northward. The forage growing scarce around that station, the commander, Colonel Bristow, billeted his men on Balliboy, a few miles distant, in a plentiful district, and scoured the country in all directions. After a few days the town was well stored with provisions for the winter, and the greatest vigilance was exercised against a surprise from the Rapparees, who were reported to be about in the neighborhood. From a steep hill behind the town, which commanded a view of the country around, a constant lookout was kept up through the day; and every evening, before retiring to rest, the hedges and brushwood were searched, and the guards doubled through the night. Notwithstanding all this vigilance, the Rapparees got within the lines and concealed themselves in the hedges around the town; where they remained three days without food, and exposed to the severity of the weather. At length, on the third night, when the very quiet that prevailed awakened suspicion, a lieutenant and twenty men were sent out, who beat up all the hedges, and even those where the Rapparees lay concealed, without detecting any sign of them; and retired for the night free from apprehension. In half an hour more the town was fired at both ends; this was a signal to the Rapparees at a distance, who flocked in from all directions. The soldiers were driven to the hill, where a fight raged all night between them and one body of the Rapparees; while another, in their sight, rifled the town, brought off a large booty of provisions and horses, and secured them before morning. The next day they attacked Philipstown, but were repulsed and driven through the country; when turning on their pursuers, they killed one hundred and twenty of them, returned and laid the town in ashes, and killed two hundred more, sent against them. No place was free from their assaults:—Clonmel, Cashel, Mountmellick, and Mullingar, were attacked by them in such quick succession, that the British soldiers were kept marching and countermarching to meet assaults either feigned or real, until the winter set fairly in, and the grand movement of Ginckle seemed yet as remote as ever.

The soldiers sent into the interior of Cork and Kerry also performed signal service to the Irish cause. Mounted upon the small surefooted horses of those mountainous districts, they traversed the country in all directions; organized the farmers and Rapparees; established lines for running the produce of the country to the general depot at Limerick; and then attached themselves to the forces of Colonels McCarthy and O'Driscoll, who still held the country against the incursions of the enemy. This Colonel O'Driscoll was a brave and intrepid soldier. He commanded a regiment of his own tenantry at the siege of Cork; but having no faith in English treaties, he refused to accede to the terms of Marlborough, and, at the head of his regiment of four hundred men, fought his way through the English lines, and reached the open country to the north-west of the city. Here he learned that his son, or kinsman(?), "young Colonel O'Driscoll," had been slain in an attempt to retake Castlehaven, which had been captured by the British; and that the country around was despoiled, and the people flying in dismay to the mountains. Burning with revenge, he marched rapidly along the line of the Bandon, passing through Ballineen and Inniskeen; scattering several English settlements as he passed; and turning westward, bore directly for Castlehaven, took it by storm, and put the whole English garrison to the sword. Other places were retaken in quick succession, his force increasing with each success; and being joined by Colonel McCarthy, they attacked the forces of Tettau, under Eppinger, Cox, and Coy, again drove them from the interior, and the reduction of the country was, for that time, abandoned.

By these and other movements, too numerous to specify in detail, the British general was kept in a state of alarm, and his object frustrated, until the last days of December. The 29th of that month was at last fixed by Ginckle for a simultaneous advance along his whole line, every thing being considered in proper train, and the enemy's apprehension being removed by the lateness of the season. Douglas, from Enniskillen, directed his march on Sligo. The regiments of Kirke, Lanier, Lisburn, Lord Geo. Hamilton, Brewer, "and several other regiments, with tin-boats for crossing the river," marched under Kirke and Brewer, from the north and east, against Lanesborough. A party of the militia was also ordered from Dublin, "and those in the country were ordered to be up on all hands." Drogheda's, Col. John Hamilton's, and others, under Bristow, were ordered from Birr to Lanesborough; and a strong force from Kilkenny and Roscrea were to attempt the river at Portumna and Banagher. Tettau at the same time was to renew his campaign in the south, by throwing a strong body against each of the counties:—"And now," says Story, "if they had been all pushed forward at one time, it had been a great advantage to our affairs next campaign. All things seemed to favor the attempt, especially the weather—better had never been seen for the season."57

On the 29th, Tettau was joined by Brigadier Churchill, Sir David Collier, Colonels Cox, Coy, and Matthews, with their respective forces, and on the 30th attacked and captured Scronolard. But the country for several miles around having been burned, and its provisions carried off, they were unable to penetrate farther, and retraced their steps after a series of assaults, in which they lost many men, and the campaign was pronounced impracticable for the winter.

The expedition against Sligo was not more fortunate. Douglas had scarcely cleared his quarters at Enniskillen, when he was met by the enemy, and after a succession of bewildering skirmishes for several days, he concluded to go no farther:—"as the ground was too difficult, and had been made more so." Then turning his steps towards Jamestown, he was forced to retreat after a severe encounter, in which he suffered greatly in men, and, harassed by the Rapparees, retraced his way to the north, "giving out" that it was no use to take Jamestown, as the country beyond it was too difficult to advance, even if the town were in his possession.

Nor were Brewer and Kirke up to time at Lanesborough. They found the "bogs" to the east all intersected by canals, which were fiercely disputed by the enemy, and when they at last reached the town, they found that the eastern half of it had been burned down, and the fort on the other side rendered impregnable:—"and after a few ineffectual attempts to cross the river, they also retired in despair."

The movements against Banagher and Portumna were also ineffectual; and the regiments of Bristow, Caulfield, "and others,"—about 2,000 strong,—which had been ordered to Lanesborough, by way of Mullingar, were attacked by 1,500 of the Rapparees and soldiers, and after a fierce fight of over five hours, were routed with great slaughter, and driven back on Mountmellick, leaving all their baggage and military stores in the hands of the victors.

Ginckle now drew in his lines, and retiring to winter-quarters, began to make extensive preparations for an early campaign in the spring. But he had scarcely retired when he was apprised of a designed attack on his whole line, and drew out his army to meet it. Nor were his precautions unnecessary; for no sooner had he made his disposition, than the Irish generals made a simultaneous advance against the principal posts approaching the river. But finding their movements anticipated on all hands, and some of their garrisons seriously threatened in their rear, they retired after a series of engagements that resulted in no advantage to either, and the British army also retiring, a temporary quiet succeeded. As it was hoped that this movement, which had been matured in secrecy by the Irish generals, would have resulted in great advantage to their cause, its failure filled them with indignation and alarm. They saw that they had been contending not only against the enemy on their front, but against treachery in their rear. A close inquiry revealed the fact that the English general had been in communication with members of the Irish Senate, and the treason being traced to Judge Daly and Lord Riverstown, they were arrested and conveyed in irons to Galway. These events ushered in the month of February: the r?le of the last year was repeated; active preparations along the English line, and great expectations along the other: but the Rapparees increasing in numbers and activity, continued their predatory warfare without cessation, "watching all opportunities of advantage," says Story, "killing our men by surprise in a great many places, but especially keeping correspondence with the protected Irish in all parts of the country. They stole away our horses, sometimes in the night, and often in the noonday, when our men least expected it; by which means they recruited their own horse considerably, and did us no small disservice; nor is it probable, unless they had made use of some such ways, they could have brought any body of horse into the field worth taking notice of in the succeeding campaign."

So ended this ominous campaign of General Ginckle. He began it with all the appliances of success:—a powerful army, a most superb artillery, supplies at will, and those powerful auxiliaries in the road of conquest—confiscation, extermination, and proscription, keeping pace with his military movements. It was directed against an enemy comparatively insignificant in number; wanting in every thing but courage, hardihood, and "good-will," and a disrupted population without arms or direct purpose. Yet day followed day, and month followed month, and still his object seemed farther from accomplishment, while his enemy grew bolder, more numerous, and more effective; until at last, driven to the defensive, he abandoned his purpose in despair, and retired with an army worn down by fatigue, and disheartened by continual disaster. Had the Irish generals, at this period, one-half the means at the disposal of Ginckle, there is scarce a doubt that their cause would have been crowned with complete success. But there is no use in idle speculation on what might have been; the events of the past are irrevocable, and the contrary is the record.

Such was the conduct of Sarsfield during the fall and winter of 1690; and it is to the admirable disposition of his force, and the capacity he displayed in conducting both the civil and military affairs of the nation at this trying period, rather than to the single affair of blowing up the enemy's train at Ballineety, that we are to look for the cause of his unbounded popularity, and the undying affection that his name still holds in every Irish breast.

No ample and digested record of that trying campaign, conducted by the Rapparees and soldiers, has ever been written, nor is it likely that it ever will be. The Irish historians pass it over by a few hasty allusions, and hurry from the Boyne to Limerick, and from Limerick to Aughrim, as if unwilling to more than glance at the terrific struggle for life and liberty that took place between them. What we do know of it, has to be accepted at the hands of a hired scribe, who, on his own acknowledgment, was obliged to alter and distort his notes which were taken at the time, in order to please his royal patrons three years later. But even from him, enough can be gleaned to show that there was manhood sufficient in the country, if properly directed, to restore the king his inheritance, and, that the only military mind capable of uniting and directing it to that end, was General Sarsfield.