nihil for the Affairs of the State and those of the Army spent all and that all was not sufficient In the Reign therefore of King Edward II. Maurice Fitz Thomas Earl of Desmond as his Ancestor was the first of English Race that took part with the Irish against his Native Country Men he being now Commander in Chief of the Army against the Scots then Invading Ireland he only changed the name of the Ancient Irish Custom called Bonaught but began to practice the thing it self under the names of Coigne and Livery and Pay that is he and his Army took Horse Meat and Mans Meat and also Money at their pleasure without any satisfaction so much as of a Bill And this afterwards proved the general fault of all the Chief Commanders in this Kingdom for finding the advantage of this way of proceeding they begun to oppress the Poor English heavily who rather than endure it would give them a part of their Land to have the rest free which Land so given the Lords put Irish Tenants upon and incouraged them in several particulars that so they might pay their Rent And then the Kings of England not being at leisure to attend the War in their own Persons they could do no less in Honour than give a great part of the Land to those that Conquered it But those Scopes of Land given at first to the English Adventurers were generally too large and the Priviledges so great that they begun to set up for themselves no fealty being reserved to the Crown by the Tenants but only to their Lords which first made them Proud and then Contentious Upon which account to strengthen their Parties they Allyed themselves with the Irish and drew them in to dwell amongst them and not having English Tenants enough for their Lands they were obliged to take Irish By living amongst whom and having their Servants and Nurses generally of such they and their Children by degrees became of the same stamp and having no other means to pay or reward the Irish that were of their Faction they suffered them to take Coygne and Livery from the English Freeholders which Oppression was so intolerable as that the better sort were forced to quit their Free-holds and flye into England never returning more though Laws were made in both Kingdoms to remand them and the rest that remained soon became degenerate and meer Irish Then the English Lords finding the Irish Exactions to be more profitable than the English Rents and Services and loving the Irish Tyranny which was tied to no Rules of Law or Honour better than a just and lawful Seigniory did reject and cast off the English Laws and Government and some with the Irish Customs assuming their very Names also which Customs of theirs were all Enemies to the English Interest in this Countrey Whether it was that called Tanistry What Tanistry signifies that is when any of their Chieftains or Heads of Factions died then the Goods of the whole Sept or Family were to be divided a-new nor did the Sons always succeed but such of the Kindred as could purchase the Election by strong hand by which there cou'd be no encouragement either to Build or Plant or indeed to have any thing but from hand to mouth since they knew not who might reap the fruits of their Labour For tho' it 's said the Irish received the Christian Faith above twelve hundred years ago and were lovers of Musick Poetry and all kinds of Learning Possessing also a Countrey abounding with all things necessary for the life of Man yet did they never build Reasons why the Irish did not improve their Countrey formerly Houses of Brick or Stone before the time of King Henry II. some few poor Religious Houses excepted and when afterwards they saw the English build Castles they only did it for their Chiefs and not for themselves nor endeavoured they to imitate the English in any sort of Improvements which being against all common Sense and Reason must needs be imputed to their Customs in making all their Possessions incertain and wou'd have hindred the improvement of their Countrey to the Worlds end if those Customs had not been abolish'd by the Law of England The Irish had also Cosherings Visitations and Progresses Cosherings made by their Chief and his Followers among his Tenants Sessings for his Horses Dogs and Boys Cuttings Tallages and spendings at his pleasure which made him an absolute Tyrant and his Vassals poor Slaves Add to these their Fosterings the Irish of all Fosterings People having the greatest inclination to Nurse other Mens Children because Fostering amongst them is always reputed a stronger alliance than Blood and when once they have Nursed a Child in any Family they think themselves so near Related thereto that they are obliged to perform whilst they live all the faithful Services in their Power and from whence ever after they expect a Supply of what Necessaries they have occasion for and as often as they have a mind to call for them Then they had Gossipred or Compaternity which tho' by the Canon-Law a Spiritual affinity yet no Nation ever made so Religious account of it as the Irish Now these and many other such like Customs made strong Parties and Factions whereby the Great Men were enabled to oppress their Inferiours and to oppose their Equals Besides which their frequent Divorces their Promiscuous Begetting of Children and neglect of Lawful Matrimony were no small Temptations for vitious Minds to degenerate and fall into the like Extreams Those were the Irish Customs which the English Collonies did embrace after they had rejected the Civil and Honourable Laws of England which especially fell out in the later end of King Edward the Second and the beginning of King Edward the Third proving of very Fatal Consequence to the English Interest in that Kingdom the degenerate English being always harder to subdue than the Natives for tho' their Minds and Manners were alter'd yet they had so much English Blood left in their Veins as gave them English Courage and Resolution whereby the Fitz Geralds and Earl of Desmond's Rebellions were worse than those of meer Irish Then Sir John Davis proves out of several Records that in former times most of the Inhabitants were not the King's Tenants but derived their Titles from the Irish and English Noblemen who kept an awe and dependance upon them for tho' the Kings of England were formerly owned as Lords of Ireland yet the Lords of Irish Lords formerly stiled Kings Ireland Ruled as Kings and were so stiled by the Kings of England themselves as appears by the Concord made between Henry 2. and Rotherick O Connor King of Conaght in the Year 1175 Recorded by Hoveden in this Form Hic est finis Concordia inter Dominum Regem Angliae Henricum filium imperatricis Rodoricum Regem Conactae scilicet quod Rex Angliae concessit praedicto Roderico Legeo Homini suo ut sit
Rex sub eo paratus ad servitium suum ut homo suus c. And King Henry the II. making William Fitz Audelm his Lieutenant of Ireland he hath it thus in his Commission Archiepiscopis Episcopis Regibus Baronibus omnibus fidelibus suis in Hibernia salutem King John also granted divers Characters unto the Irish Lords under the Title of Kings and so did Henry the III d. unto a Petty-King of Thoumond Rex Regi Thoumond Salutem c. Those Governed the People by their Brehon Laws they made their own Magistrates and Officers they Pardoned and Punished all Malefactors and made War and Peace one with another without Controulment After which several Attempts were made and Rebellions more or less broke out in every King's Reign And to omit those of Perkin Warbeck and others in the Reign of Henry 7. The Rebellion of Fitz Gerald and the rest of that Faction in King Henry 8th's time in the Year 1535. cost England Forty Thousand Pounds a Summ reputed so great in those days and so much disturbed that blustering Prince that he called the appeasing this Rebellion a New Conquest and put the Question to his Council how Ireland should be managed to bear the Charge of its own preservation and whether by Act of Parliament every Man's Estate should not be made liable to contribute its proportion or wehther by Virtue of this New Conquest the King might not seize on all the Estates of that Kingdom Temporal and Spiritual Cox 242. But tho' this wou'd not do yet he found out another A Statute against Absentees way to make a Statute against Absentees whereby a great part of the County of Carlow was taken from the Duke of Norfolk and other Lands from other great Men and from some Monasteries in England that held Land in Ireland for that by the absence of these and the neglecting their own private Estates whereby the Irish daily gained ground they brought the Publick into danger However this Rebellious Spirit continued in Ireland all Queen Elizabeth's time even to the ninth of King James the First as Sir John Davis observes but if he had lived in our days he wou'd have seen good reasons to say it was always the Genius of the People And one Mr. Lawrence has since that endeavoured to prove that Ireland was never intirely subjected to the Crown of England nor the Lands properly called the King's Lands until the Act of Settlement passed in the 12th Year of King Charles the Second for before this the Chief Inhabitants in all Cities and Towns were Papists as Sheriffs Justices of the Peace c by which means that Party was wonderfully encouraged and strengthened and besides the Irish before the late Rebellion were by far the greatest Proprietors tho' afterwards they enjoyed not much above a fifth part of the whole that is in propriety by which means and the industrious Management of some of the Chief Governours the English Interest was very far advanced in this Country before the death of King Charles the Second for tho' some Clouds arose before yet the Sun shone pretty clear till the Death of that Monarch made it more than Twilight with the English of that Country and then the late dark Night of Confusion approached so suddenly that it gave them no time to set things in Order till they cou'd not in a manner see where they were a going This put a full stop to the Carreer of all their Prosperity for a great many considerable Buildings and other Improvements in and about Dublin and other places in the Kingdom being pretty far advanced at that Juncture they were left off very abruptly the Workman throwing away his Tools and the Husbandman neglecting his Plow at the News as if they had then foreseen their approaching Misery and were amazed to find the Irish arm so fast on all hands by which they were assured that other sorts of Weapons than they had used for the Country's improving were soon like to grow more in fashion and that to the undoing of what themselves had so honestly endeavoured to make up So that the Irish were not then nor indeed are as yet so subdued as that no further Storm may ever be feared to arise from that corner And certainly the not thorowly endeavouring to make Ireland bear the Charge of its own preservation has in all Ages been very much to the disadvantage of Ireland shou'd be put into a Condition to bear its own Burden England But to carry this no higher than the Year 1595 the time of Tyrone's Rebellion which Cambden in his Annals tells us cost 1198717 l. to suppress Or if we compute the Charge of its first Conquest and the suppressing the several Rebellions from that time till this of Tyrone's to cost but double as much as this did as they needs must since before that Ireland never enjoyed seven Years peace at one time Then I say long e're this all those Rebellions had been forgot and the Trade and Product of Ireland more than trebly recompenced England for her former Blood and Treasure But as the Degenerate English grew more and more in love with the Irish and their Customs and so took their part against England The Charges encreased to more prodigious Sums and they generally make use of it as a great Argument for what they did of late that it was the Blood and Treasure of their Ancestors that first gained that Kingdom to the English Interest and therefore tho' they differed in Opinion yet it was very unreasonable that they should be quite excluded from sharing in the Government with those that were of a much later Date But this Objection is of an older standing than either the former War or this last for we are told that so great Heats have arose formerly between the English of Birth and the English of Blood in Ireland that they held different Parliaments and endeavoured by all means Possible to ruine one another But 't is observ'd by very Learned Men in this Kingdom that tho' the English have often fallen out amongst themselves and there were generally found in many places of the Kingdom such of English extraction as would joyn with the Irish against England yet the People of the Pale were always firm and Loyal to the Crown and the greatest strength that England had against the Irish Nation for which they were often plentifully Rewarded 'till in the Year 1641 they all broke loose which they say was occasioned thus Tho since the first Conquest of Ireland there have been continued feuds in that Kingdom between the People of both Nations upon the account of Interest yet when the Reformation was once set on foot the Breach was widned upon that account it being what the Natives of that Country have always endeavoured to destroy and with it the English Interest there but finding this a very difficult Task by reason that the old English of the Pale tho' many of them were of
much more so to others especially in an Age wherein so many Learned and Great Men have brought our Language to so great Perfection But all the hopes I have is That the most Learned Men are aptest to put the most favourable Construction upon a private man's Endeavour and will be ready to pardon a great many Defects in one that means well and as for all the Censorious men in the world I shall not be much concerned at what they say ERRATA PAge 1. l. 6. for 1690. read 1689. p. 27. l. 10. for Coltiers r. Cottiers p. 28. in the Marg. dele A List of Their Majesties Army p. 42. l. 2. dele a p. 46. l. 10. for have r. having p. 50. l. 29. for Raparees r. Raparee p. 53. l. 4. dele here p. 57. l. 15. for drawn on r. drawn up p. 90. l 10. for Handshot off r. Head shot off ibid. l. 32 for terrible r. terribly p. 109. l. 30. for in these r. these p. 116. l. 20. r. necessaries p. 126. l. 29. for 1000 r. 10000. p. 151. l. 13. for went r. going p. 162. in the Marg. for Monks r. Mackay ' s. p. 165. l. 16. for litera r. literae p. 181. l. 19. for bene r. breve p. 187. l. 17. for Connor r. Connel p. 191. l 25. for amounted r. mounted p. 215. l. 16. the word being misplaced p. 249. l. 5. for Commader r. Commander p. 254. l. 15. for Account r. which Account p. 260. l. 32. for each r. reach p. 292. l. 8. r. Major-Generals ibid. l. 11. r. Boats p. 295. l. 29. dele Sir p. 318. l 31. before the word Kingdom add King or p. 324. l. 35. for Conversation r. Conversing There are some other small Errors in Pages Months or Names which the Reader may please to Correct as he finds them THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. A Brief Account of the Cause of the War Page 2 The State of the Protestants in that Kingdom 3 The late King lands there from France Ibid. Protestants routed at Drummore Ibid. An Irish Parliament called 4 Derry Besieged and Relieved 4 5 The Irish beat at Croom-Castle Ibid. Duke Schonberg lands in August 1689. 6 Carigfergus surrendred with the Articles of Surrender 7 Newry burnt by the Irish 9 Our Army march to Dundalk Ibid. And encamp there nigh Ten weeks 10 Sligo taken by the Irish Ibid. A Party of the Irish repulsed at Newry Ibid. The Battel of Cavan 14 The Danes land in Ireland Ibid. 5000 French Foot land at Kinsale 15 Charlemont surrendred 16 CHAP. II. HIS Majesty lands in Ireland 18 Our Army marches towards the Boyne 20 His Majesty 's narrow escape the day before the Battel Ibid. The Battel at the Boyne 22 The Number of the Dead 23 The late King quits Ireland 25 Our Army march to Dublin 26 His Majesty's Declaration to the Irish 27 A List of our General Officers 28 And of those belonging to the Irish Page 30. The Number of men in both Armies 31 Lieutenant-General Douglass sent with a Party to Athlone ibid. A Commission granted by the King to secure Forfeited Goods 32 Wexford Waterford and Dungannon Fort surrendred to his Majesty 34 35 Limerick besieged 36 Some of our Guns surprized 37 A Fort taken then an Attack made upon the Town 38 His Majesty raises the Siege and returns to England 39 40 CHAP. III. THE French Forces quit Ireland 41 Bi r besieged by the Irish 42 Count Solm's Answer to the Duke of Berwick's Letter 43 Lieutenant-General Ginckle made Commander in Chief Ibid. Lords Justices begin their Government 44 Earl of Marlborough sent into Ireland Ibid. Cork and Kinsale surrendred 45 The Irish attempt our Frontiers 46 Part of our Army move towards the Shannon 48 Rapparees in the Bog of Allen 49 Those people serviceable to the Irish Interest and how 50 My Lord Tyrconnel returns from France 51 Sarsfield made Earl of Lucan 55 The Irish defeated at the Mote of Greenoge 57 Several Adventures with the Rapparees and Parties of the Irish Army 58 59 60 c. Some of our Regiments take the Field at Mullingar 68 CHAP. IV. THirty Rapparees killed 72 Major Wood defeats a Party of the Irish 73 Several Skirmishes between the Irish and Militia 74 75 Some of our Sea-men and Militia join and march into the Enemies Quarters 77 Monsieur St. Ruth lands in Ireland to command their Army 78 Our great Officers take the Field at Mullingar 80 CHAP. V. THE Fortifications at Mullingar contracted Page 85 A Stratagem of the Irish to get Horses Ibid. The Irish Army march towards Athlone 86 Our Army Besieges Ballimore 87 Its Scituation described ibid. The Fort surrendred 91 Its Fortifications improved ibid. Our Army joined by the Duke of Wertenberg nigh Athlone 94 That Town Attacked with the manner of it 95 The English Town taken Batteries against the Irish Town 98 A Design to pass the Shannon frustrated 100 The Enemy burn our Close Gallery 102 A Councel of War held 105 The Town Stormed 107 The Number of the Dead 108 A part of our Army left in the Country and why 110 What happened in other Places of the Kingdom during this Month ibid. CHAP. VI. THE Irish Army Removes 114 The Dead buried at Athlone ibid. The Irish resolve to give us Battel 115 Irish Prisoners sent towards Dublin 117 The Lords Justices Declaration to the Irish ibid. The Enemy's Camp and Posture at Aghrim described 122 Monsieur St. Ruth's supposed Speech to the Irish 123 The Battel of Aghrim 127 The number of the dead on both sides and of the Irish Prisoners 136 Instances in former Battels wherein the Irish have been routed with little loss to the English 142 An Account of some Irish Prophecies 145 Loughrea deserted by the Irish 148 Portumna Surrendred ibid. Our Army marches towards Galway 259 The Town Besieged 160 The Articles of Surrender with their Majesties confirmation of them 165 Our Army returns towards Limerick 174 An Account of what happened in other places of the Kingdom during this Month 174 175 CHAP. VII SEveral fresh Regiments ordered towards the Camp to recruit the Army 179 Brigadier Leveson sent with a Party towards Nenagh A Treaty with Balderock O Donnell 182 Our Army marches to Cariganliss 186 News of the death of my Lord Tyrconnell 187 Irish Lords Justices Act after his death 188 An Order about the Rates of Provisions 186 Another prohibiting the Buying of Cattel without the General 's License ibid. Our Army approaches Limerick 188 Ireton's and Cromwell's Forts taken 189 A Party sent to Castle Connell 190 Our Ships come up the River near the Town 191 Brigadier Leveson sent into Kerry 193 A brief Account of what happened in other places of the Kingdom during the Month of August 195 CHAP. VIII OUR Bombs set the Town on fire 240 The Irish design a Sally but are repulsed ibid. Brigadier Leveson routs a Party of the Irish in Kerry ibid. A Design to pass the River 205 A new Battery
being done with the Duke's consent who took Mackarty for a man of Honour the Governor was acquitted The beginning of January our Regiments being all very thin and it appearing a little difficult to recruit them in England most people being then out of humour for the loss of their Relations and Acquaintance nor altogether that number of Voluntiers appearing then as formerly therefore several Regiments were broke one into another and the supernumerary Officers continued at half-pay till Provision could be made for them in other Regiments Sir Tho. Gower being dead my Lord Drogheda's Regiment was broke into his and his Lordship made Collonel of it my Lord Roscommon's Regiment was broke also into Collonel Earl's and Collonel Zanchy's formerly my Lord Lovelace's Sir Henry Inglesby's and Collonel Hambleton's of Inniskilling were broke into other Regiments and about the 12th 16th and 20th most of the Officers designed for that Service went from Lisburne towards England for Recruits to the Army January the 18th A Proclamation was published strictly forbidding Cursing Swearing and Prophaneness in Officers or Soldiers under the Penalties enjoined in the Articles of War and his Grace's utmost Displeasure but neither this nor yet the Judgments of God then hanging upon us for those and a great many other sins had that effect that the General and other good men heartily wished for and no doubt of it the Debaucheries in Armies are the high-way to Ruin since those both obey and fight best that are the most sober The 22 d. Brigadier Stuart went with a Party of Five hundred Horse and Foot towards Dundalk destroying several Cabins amongst the Mountains where the Irish used to shelter themselves and his Party brought in a considerable Prey at their return The 25th the General went from Lisburne in order to visit our Frontier Garisons and appointed stores of Bread Cheese Shooes and other Necessaries at several places especially at Armagh the Metropolis of the whole Island On the 11th of February a part of our Army being The Irish Army in motion drawn together to attend the Enemy's Motion who we understood were then in a Body towards Dundalk The General himself went to Drummore and so to Loughbritland in order to give the Enemy Battel if they advanced our Men and Horses having recovered by this time from their late Diseases to a Miracle Sir John Laneir and Brigadier La Mellionere advanced with a Party towards Carlingford but returned with an Account that there were only three Regiments at Dundalk as formerly but the Design of the Irish lay another way For whilst the Duke was abroad on that side Collonel Woolsley had notice that the Enemy were resolved to fall upon Belturbet where he then commanded to which purpose they had already crouded a Garison of theirs called Cavan eight miles from Belturbet at what place they expected a greater Force in a day or two but Collonel Woolsley to be before-hand with their visit marched from Belturbet on the 12th about Four in the Afternoon with Seven hundred Foot and Three hundred Horse and Dragoons hoping to surprize the Enemy next Morning early but he met with so many Difficulties in his march that instead of being at the Place before day as he designed it was fair day-light before he came near it the Enemy had also taken the Alarm and were so far from being surprized that instead of the usual Garison which we only as yet expected there the first thing that our men saw was a Body of the Enemy's drawn up in good order and judged to be about Four thousand It was rather therefore a surprize upon us than them however we fought and routed The Battel of Cavan them killed Brigadier Nugent with several other Officers and about Three hundred Soldiers taking Twelve Officers and Sixty private Men Prisoners burnt the Town and returned with a good Booty having lost Major Trahern Captain Armstrong and Captain Mayo with about Thirty private Men and double the number wounded And to let the Enemy see that we were ready Sir John Lanier goes to Dundalk with a Party for them on all sides Sir John Lanier marched again on the 15th towards Dundalk with a Party of One thousand Horse Foot and Dragoons he came before the Place early next Morning which the Enemy had fortified very regularly And placing some of his men near the Works on the North-east Side towards the Bridge he sent a Party of Collonel Leveson's Dragoons cross the River who took Bedloe's Castle an Ensign and Thirty men surrendring themselves Prisoners In the mean time another Party marched in at the South-west End of the Town and burnt most of what was left without the Works in which Service we lost a Lieutenant and two or three Dragoons our Men returning with a Prey of Fifteen hundred Cows and Horses The beginning of March landed the Duke of Wertenberg The Danes land in Ireland with Six Thousand Danes being proper men very well Cloathed and Armed On the 12th Colonel Callimot with a Party endeavoured to burn the Wooden Bridge at Charlemont which he set fire to and killed about Twenty of the Enemy lost his own Major with about Six men and so returned March the 14th Five thousand French Foot under 5000 French land in Ireland Count Lauzune and the Marquess de Lery landed at Kinsale in order to join the Late King's Army for whom in exchange Major-General Macharty and near the same number of Irish were sent into France our English Fleet then attending the Queen of Spain made this Undertaking more easie to the French April the 6th Collonel Woolsley with a Party of Seven hundred men attacked the Castle of Killyshandra seven miles from Belturbet where the Enemy had a Garison of One hundred and sixty men commanded by one Captain Darcy after some Mines were fixed and a brisk Assault or two made upon their Works in which we lost Eight men the Besieged surrendred and we left a Garison of One hundred men in the Place Nigh which time a great many Recruits as also Collonel Cutt's Collonel Babington's with a Danish Regiment of Horse landed at White-House April the 18th Sir Clousley Shovell went into the Bay Sir Clousley Shovell takes a Frigat out of the Bay of Dublin of Dublin and brought from a Place called the Salmon Pool a Frigat of Sixteen Guns and Four Pattereroes loaden with Hides Tallow some Plate and other Rich Moveables designed for France the Late King and several of his Irish Regiments marching as far as Rings-End where they were all Witnesses of so wicked an Action as they called it done on so good a Day it being Good-Friday May the 2 d Lieutenant-Collonel Mackmehon with Relief put into Charlemont about Four hundred men Ammunition and some small quantities of Provisions got into Charlemont in the Night but our French and other Regiments posted thereabouts watched him so narrowly that though he made two or three Attempts yet he could not
get out again And the second Week in May several English a Brandenburg and Three Dutch Regiments landed By which time also all our Recruits were compleated and the Regiments Cloathed so that we had now an Excellent Army all over-joyed with the Assurance that His Majesty in person designed to make that Campaign in Ireland A part of our Army also begin to take the Field and Encamp almost round Charlemont Cannon and Mortars were sent up that way too in order to force old Teague O Regan the Governour from his Nest if he would not quit it otherways but their Provisions being spent and no hopes of Relief appearing on the 12th of May the Governour desired a Parley and after some time it was agreed That his Garison should march out with their Arms and Baggage which they did Charlemont surrendred on the 14th being about Eight hundred besides two hundred Women and Children four Companies of Collonel Babington's Regiment taking possession of the Place We found Seventeen Pieces of Cannon one large Mortar Eighty three Barrels of Powder with some Fire Arms and other useful Materials in the Castle The same day that Charlemont was surrendred Collonel Woolsley and Collonel Foulks with Twelve hundred men went to a Castle called Bellynacargy in which the Enemy had Two hundred men this was scituate in a small Lough so that our men were forced to march up to their middles in water to make their Approaches the Enemy fired smartly upon us killed us Two Captains an Ensign and Seventeen men and wounded Forty three but when they saw us resolved to have the Place they hung out their White Flag and agreed to march away without their Arms. A Ground Plot of the STRONG FORT of CHARLEMONT in IRELAND With the Town River Marshes Boggs places adjacent ct CHAP. II. His Majesty lands in Ireland Our Army takes the Field The King marches towards the Boyn His Majesty's narrow Escape the day before the Battel The Battel of the Boyn The number of the Dead The Late King quits Ireland Our Army marches to Dublin His Majesty's Declaration to the Irish A List of our General Officers and of those belonging to the Irish Army The number of men in both Armies Our Army divides Lieutenant-General Douglass marches with a Party towards Athlone A Commission granted by the King to secure forfeited Goods Wexford secured Clonmell quitted Waterford and Dungannon-Fort surrendred to His Majesty The King intends for England and sends some Forces thither But returns to the Camp Limerick Besieged Some of our Guns surprized A Fort taken An Attack upon the Town Our men draw off His Majesty raises the Siege and returns to England ALL People were now big with hopes of His Majesty's coming for Ireland who left Kensington the Fourth of June 1690. took Shipping at Hylake His Majesty Lands in Ireland on the 12th and on the 14th being Saturday he landed about Four in the Afternoon at Carigfergus from whence being upon the Road to Belfast he was met by the General Major-General Kirk and a great many more Officers of the Army that were there expecting His Majesty's Landing And that Evening landed his Highness Prince George the Duke of Ormond Earl of Oxford Earl of Portland Earl of Scarborough Earl of Manchester my Lord Overkirk my Lord Sidney with a great many other Persons of Quality some of them Officers in the Army and others Voluntiers The two following days His Majesty was attended by most of the Nobily Clergy and other Gentlemen inhabiting that part of the Kingdom He was presented also with an Address from the Episcopal Clergy and another from several Presbyterian Ministers both which His Majesty received very graciously The King stayed at Belfast till Thursday the 19th and having set out a Proclamation to encourage all People of what Persuasion soever to live peaceably at home His Majesty went to Hilsburrough giving Ordes for his Army to take the Field And on the All our Army takes the Field 22th His Majesty Encampt at Loughbritland with that part of the Army which had their Rendezvouz there and never laid out of the Camp except upon his Journey from Caruck to Dublin after that during his stay in Ireland That Morning a Party of Two hundred Foot and Dragoons going from Newry towards Dundalk to discover the Enemy who ere this had taken the Field and then lay encamped there our men fell into an Ambuscade of about Four hundred of the Irish at a narrow Pass upon a Bog nigh a place called the Four-mile House by which we lost Twenty two of our Party and Captain Farlow with another Officer were taken Prisoners but the Enemy did not gain much by this Attempt for they lost more in number than we did Captain Farlow was the first who gave the Late King a certain Account of King William's being in Ireland for till then he would not believe it June the 27th our whole Army joined at Dundalk making in all about Thirty six thousand though the World called us at least a third part more The Irish at our approach hither had removed to the Boyn And on Sunday the 29th our Army marched beyond Ardee which the Enemy had fortified much after the same manner as they had done Dundalk and early next morning our whole Army moved toward the The Army marches to the Boyn Boyne making their Approaches very finely After some time His Majesty sent down small Parties of Horse to discover the Ways and then rid towards the Pass at Old Bridge having a full view of the Enemy's Camp as he went along His Majesty stopt some time at Old Bridge to observe the Enemy's Posture and then going a little further His Majesty alighted to refresh himself and sate nigh an hour upon the Grass during which time the Enemy brought down two Field-pieces under Covert of a small Party of Horse and planted them at the Corner of a Hedge undiscovered and when His Majesty the Prince and the rest were mounted again and riding softly the same way back their Cannonier let fly and at the second Shot was so near the killing His Majesty His Majesty's narrow Escape from a Great Shot as that the Bullet slanted upon his Right Shoulder took away a piece of his Coat and struck off the Skin which might have been a fatal Blow to his Army and Kingdoms too if the Great Creator of the World who orders and governs all things had not been at his Right Hand where he always is and I hope will be as well for the defence of His Majesty's Sacred Person as the good of those he has undertaken to protect The Enemy then fired those two Pieces as fast as they could charge and discharge doing some damage amongst our Horse that were drawing up before them which made the King give Orders for his Horse to rein a little backwards and have the advantage of a Rising Ground between them and the Cannon About Three a Clock
there be very severe Laws against it and often put in Execution yet Robbing Plundering or Stealing are accounted but small Crimes amongst the Natives if not done to their Lords or Followers for what they could purchase formerly they thought it clear Gain and Castles built to secure it which thievish Spirit is not as yet quite banished that part of the Country nor scarce any other part of the Kingdom And though this sort of People have been always observed to have dexterous Faculties at more kinds of Mischiefs than Stealing yet it 's no new Complaint That by long Vse it is grown to a mischievous Custom in Ireland that Rebels and Malefactors might with the Money they had gotten by Pillage and Plunder when they set Places on fire procure for themselves Protections and escape without Punishment Cox Vol. 1. p. 415. Brigadeer Leveson at his going into Kerry found the whole Country up in Arms against him my Lord Merion's and my Lord Bretta's Horse being there to assist the Rapparees About a Mile above Limerick there lies a small Island in the Shannon called St. Thomas's Island where formerly stood a Chappel dedicated to that Saint but now ruinous though at present there are two or three small Houses in the Island and some little Inclosures Here the Irish had kept several of the Protestants belonging to the City under a Guard for some time past and now they were released by Major Stroud who kept Guard at Anighbegg with a Party of the County of Cork Militia the Irish Captain and some others of their Guard coming off also with them But what can be a greater Testimony of a rapacious Humour than this for some of the Militia stripp'd their Fellow-Protestants of what the Irish had left them as they conducted them from the Island to our Camp which I would not have said but that I had it from the Mouths of those very People that were so served who during their stay in Town with other Protestants of all sorts had shewed the greatest Affection and Compassion imaginable to those of our Army that were Prisoners there but now the Scene was altered and all the shift that themselves could make for some days was to make up little Places to creep into amongst the Fascines that lay on heaps by the General 's Quarters till our Waggons carried them farther off into the Countrey This Night Major General Talmash commanded in the Major General Talmash commands in the Trenches Trenches by whose Diligence and Example the Works were run nearer and much strengthned though the Enemy fired very briskly all Night and did us some Damage The Battery raised by the Troopers was also improved lying between Nassaw's Fort and the other Battery and eight Guns brought down to it but this being judged also too remote from the Town the Guns were never planted But it 's now time to leave the Camp a little and look backwards to see what was done in other parts of the Kingdom during this Month of August And first at What hapned in other Parts of the Kingdom this Month. Dublin there was great care taken to procure as many Horses as could be got for the necessary Occasions of the Army Provisions likewise of all sorts and Ammunition were sent up continually and the Harvest being now almost ready and very few Hands being left to take care of that Corn which the Irish had sown in several places of Connaught the Lords Justices therefore order a Proclamation to be published August the fourth That whereas since the Battel of Aghrim and the Surrender of Galway the Farmers Cottiers and other Inhabitants of Connaught had withdrawn themselves so that there were not Hands sufficient to get in the Harvest It was therefore proclaimed That all Farmers Cottiers and Under-Tenants following the Enemies Camp that should within fifteen days return to their Habitations in Connaught and apply themselves to the bringing in the Harvest they should not only quietly and peaceably enjoy their several Farms as they formerly did c. but should be fully and absolutely protected if not guilty of private Murder And that all Persons that would mow the Grass and reap the Corn upon the Land of such Absentees as would not return themselves should have one half of such Corn and Hay to their own proper Use and be protected in the quiet and peaceable Possession thereof behaving themselves as good Subjects and bringing the other half to some convenient Place upon the Farm for the King's Service But how good soever the Design might be I heard of little Effect this Proclamation had for several of the Irish last Spring had plowed and sown their Lands in Connaught hoping we would never come thither and those that did not plow expected to come over and get enough on our side the Shannon but when they were disappointed in both these they would yet go along with the Crowd in hopes of returning again in a small time And it 's observable that there have not been so many Marriages for many Years before amongst the Irish as was last Winter in Limerick Galway and all Connaught over whether it was out of confidence that they should certainly be Masters of the Kingdom after all or else that they were crowded into a narrower Compass and so had the more Opportunities of Courting I leave others to judg August the fourth Sir Albert Cunningham's Dragoons being left at Galway when the Army moved from thence march'd now to Portumna and Athenree and a hundred Foot detached under Major Smith to Loughrea By Letters from Cashell August 5. the Government had notice that great Heats and Debates arose daily amongst the great Officers in the Irish Army and that some Persons endeavouring to get off for France were forced back again and the Ship taken wherein the Goods belonging to Monsieur Saint Ruth the late General were on board and that several Ladies were forced ashore in Kerry or obliged to return to Limerick and that a Privateer brought into Rye a Prize of six Guns and six Patereroes bound from Limerick to France having several Passengers on board amongst the rest my Lord Abercorne who was killed in the Fight as were several more killed and wounded on both sides What Letters and other Papers they had could not be recovered for they threw them over-board Nigh this time Colonel Mitchelburn with his own Regiment and a Party of the Militla invest Sligo and Terms were proposed but not agreed to as is already said Part of the Virginia Fleet being seventy two Sail of Merchant-Ships came into Kinsale Bay on the twelfth of August under the Convoy of the Experience and the Wolf forty Sail more of them being gone to Bristol August the 13th three Leagues West of Cape Clear a French Man of War met with 14 English Merchant-Men homewards bound from Antego Mevis and Monserat and took two of them the rest escaping into Cork and Baltimore Havens Two of our Men of War
for England with the Lords Justices and most of the Nobility and Gentry in and about Dublin went to Ringsend and there taking leave he went on board the Monmouth-Yacht which sailed next Morning for England The 6th several of the Transport-Ships that went with The Transport-Ships return from France the first of the Irish Forces to France returned to Cork having Landed the Men at Brest and the Week following about Twenty more came back to Dublin they all spoke well of the French Treatment of them in accommodating them with several Necessaries which they extreamly wanted but that the Irish did not find themselves so very welcome as they expected to have been though at their Landing an Express was sent to the late King to St. Germains to give him an Account of it he seemed to be very well pleased with their coming and sent the following Letter to Lieut. General Sheldon then the Officer in Chief with the Irish JAMES Rex HAving been informed of the Capitulation and Surrender of Limerick and of the other Places which Remained King James's Letter to the Irish to us in our Kingdom of Ireland and of the necessities which forced the Lords Justices and the General Officers of our Forces thereunto We will not defer to let you know and the rest of the Officers that came along with you that we are extreamly Satisfied with your and their Conduct and of the Valour of the Souldiers during the Siege but most Particularly of your and their Declaration and Resolution to come and Serve where we are And we assure you and Order you to assure both Officers and Souldiers that are come along with you that we shall never forget this Act of Loyalty nor fail when in a Capacity to give them above others Particular Marks of our Favour In the mean time you are to Inform them that they are to Serve under our Command and by our Commissions and if we find that a Considerable number is come with the Fleet it will induce Vs to go Personally to see them and Regiment them Our Brother the King of France hath already given Orders to Cloath them and furnish them with all necessaries and to give them Quarters of Refreshment So We bid you heartily Farewell Given at Our Court at St. Germaine the 27th of November 1691. But how good soever the Late King's Intentions towards Their Reception in France his Irish might be yet it was and is the French King who Orders every thing in his own Dominions as he Pleases nor had the French any good opinion of the Irish at their Landing as appeared by the Quarters of Refreshment assigned them which were at first only the Lanes and Hedges about Brest not admitting any of them into the City and at the same time this Letter was sent from the Late King there came Orders from his Brother of France to Reduce all or most of the Irish Officers the Colonels to Captains and the Captains to Lieutenants and Ensigns and the Subalterns to Sergeants or private Centinels and no wonder for what ever the Irish might hope for before their departure yet it was very improbable that they who only were put into such Posts in Ireland upon point of necessity because they could get no better should be continued so in France which is one of the most Warlike and Refin'd Nations in the World however this ill Treatment as the Irish took it to be did so exasperate them that several would gladly have returned into Ireland and offered largely for their Passage but were prevented by the strict Guards that were set upon them But they wrote to several of their Friends in Ireland giving an Account of their severe usage which made several Desert from my Lord Lucan that were not as yet gone as more would have done had he not soon after this Advice put them on Ship-Board One of those Letters sent from France after their first Landing since it gives a full Account of their Reception and Usage I think it worth my Pains to Transcribe SIR NEver People that left their All to come hither to Serve were so meanly received as those miserable Irish were here they have been much longer than necessary in Disimbarking them and will be at least Three days more though the Intendant has been pressed with great earnestness to take them a Shoar when they are Landed they lye in the Fields a Night or two at least before they are sent into their Quarters and then they get neither Money nor Cloaths and but little of any thing else The Major Generals are made Colonels the Colonels Captains the Majors Lieutenants and the Captains Serjeants and many of them but Private Men insomuch that as I pass along the Streets the Souldiers wish they had died in Ireland before they came here and many of the Officers express themselves to the same purpose and are extreamly dejected and melancholly some of them hope this will be Regulated tho' I see no great reason for it for this day there came a frivolous Complaint against some of Colonel Nugent 's Men and the Intendant threatned to break him for it and I do not doubt but he 'll be as good as his word in a short time For upon all occasions he uses their Officers with the greatest Insolence and Contempt imaginable Some of them having complained and told him they hoped to have been advanced here rather than thus reform'd he told them if they did not like it they might go back the Ships were in the Harbour that brought them tho' at the same time the Owners on Board the Transport Ships were ordered not to take any of them on Board again upon pain of Death This is all matter of Fact and a great deal more such usages they meet with too tedious to relate c. This News spreading abroad in the Country on Several desert that were not yet Shipt off Tuesday the 8th of December Colonel Mackdermot's and Colonol Brian Oneal's Regiments and a day or two after Colonel Foelix Oneal's who were part of the Irish Forces designed for France they quitted their design and refused to go on Board returning to Clare where some of them delivered up their Arms to Colonel Tiffin and went homewards in order to their living peaceably in the Country and the rest were subsisted as the other Irish Forces were Those that were now Embarquing had not much The Irish severely dealt withal at their Embarquing better usage on this side the Water for a great many of them having Wives and Children they made what shift they cou'd to desert rather than leave their Families behind to starve which my Lord Lucan and Major General Waughop perceiving they Publish a Declaration That as many of the Irish as had a mind to 't should have Liberty to Transport their Families along with themselves And accordingly a vast Rabble of all sorts were brought to the Water-side when the Major General pretending to Ship the