Irish Documents #3

IRISH DOCUMENTS #4

Invitation to the Prince of Orange, 1688 [at The Jacobite Heritage] [optional]

The Declaration of Right [at Avalon] [optional]

**Richard Cox, Hibernia Anglicana (1688-9) [In 1688, following the unexpected birth of a son to James II, a number of English political leaders invited William of Orange to take the throne; William invaded; James fled to France; after some negotiations Parliament declared William and his wife Mary joint monarchs. The pressure on William III to send a force to Ireland grew intense after James II landed in Ireland in March 1689. The following tract is by an English MP, later attorney general of Ireland.]
To Their Most Excellent Majesties William and Mary, by the Grace of God, King and Queen of England, Scotland, France and Ireland; Defenders of the Faith, &c.
    I should not presume to lay this treatise at Your Royal Feet, but that it concerns a Noble Kingdom, which is one of the most considerable Branches of Your Mighty Empire.
    It is of great Advantage to it, that it is a Subordinate Kingdom to the Crown of England; for it is from that Royal Fountain that the Streams of Justice, Peace, Civility, Riches and all other Improvements have been derived from it.... And yet Ireland has been so blind in this Great Point of its true Interest, that the Natives have managed almost a continual War with the English, ever since the first Conquest thereof; so that it has cost Your Royal Predecessors an unspeakable Mass of Blood and Treasure to preserve it in due Obedience.
    But no Cost can be too great where the Prize is of such Value; and whoever considers the Situation, Ports, Plenty, and other Advantages of Ireland, will confess, That it must be retained at what rate soever; because if it should come into an Enemy's Hands, England would find it impossible to flourish; and perhaps difficult to subsist without it.
    To demonstrate this Assertion, it is enough to say, That Ireland lies in the Line of Trade, and that all the English Vessels that sail to the East, West and South, must, as it were, run the Gauntlet between the Harbours of Brest and Baltimore. And I might add, That the Irish Wool being transported, would soon ruine the English-Clothing-Manufacture....
    But it is needless to tell your Majesties, That Ireland must not be separated from England; or to solicit your speedy Reduction of that Kingdom, since the loss of it is incompatible with Your Glory; and to suffer the Ruin of four hundred thousand Irish Protestants, meerly for their adherence to Your Majesties and their Religion, is inconsistent with your Goodness....

Irish Act repealing Act of Settlement (1689)
Whereas the Roman Catholic subjects of this kingdom have for several years, to the apparent hazard of their lives and estates, under the royal authority defended this kingdom, until at last they were overpowered by the usurper, Oliver Cromwell, in which quarrel many of them lost their lives, and divers of them...did transport themselves into foreign parts, where they faithfully served under his late Majesty and his present Majesty, until his late Majesty was restored to the crown; and whereas the said usurper hath seized and sequestered all the lands, tenements and hereditaments of the said Roman Catholics within this kingdom, upon the account of their religion and loyalty, and disposed of the same among his officers and soldiers and others his adherents.... Be it therefore enacted...that the said two several Acts...commonly called the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, and...Resolution of Doubts...be and are hereby absolutely repealed, annulled and made void....
And be it further enacted...that all attainders and outlawries for treason or any other offence, and also all treasons and other offences whatsoever upon account of pretence of the rebellion mentioned or expressed to have begun or arisen in this kingdom on the 23rd day of October 1641...be and are hereby made void....

**Broadsheet pub. by William Brown (London, June 1690) [Protestant Account of the Battle of the Boyne.]
        Great and Glorious News from Ireland. Being a Full and Particular Account, of a most Terrible and Bloody Fight, which was on Wednesday last, June 2d. Between the Royal Army, Commanded by His Majesty, King William; and the whole French and Irish Army, Commanded by the Late King James, which hapned on a Plain About Nine Miles from Dublin; with the Killing of the Dukes of Berwick, and Tyrconnel, and Six Thousand of the Enemy on the Spot; and the Taking of Seven Thousand Prisoners. With the Manner of King William's Taking the City of Dublin.
        The Irish having Planted two small Pieces at the Pass of the River Boyne, played very briskly upon our Men, killed five or six of them; and of the Shot unhappily Grazed on King William's Shoulder, tearing his Cloaths, &c. A particular Account of which, I suppose, you have heard already.
By Seven of the Clock in the Evening, we raised a Battery against the Enemies, and continue to ply briskly on them, till it grew dark; during which, we dismounted one of their Guns: By the next Morning, our Main Body were come up, and were drawn up into several Wings, by the General Officers, and by Eight of the Clock, (thanks be to God) His Majesty mounted His Horse; after which, he gave Order to Count Schonberg, with some Squadrons of Horse, to Ford the River, which they did forthwith.
        The Irish Horse and Dragoons, which were on the other side of the River, disputed the Pass for some time; but the Body of our Horse notwithstanding, forced their way, after which the Irish Horse ran, leaving the Foot to the Mercy of our Forces, who fell in with them pell-mell, some of which made one Shot, but the greater number threw down their Arms without Firing, most of which were either Killed or taken Prisoners; with their Artillery and other Plunder very considerable. A Dissenter which came into our Camp, gives an Account, that one Shot made from our Battery (before mentioned) went through King James his own Tent, and Killed Seven Men.
        The Irish Horse and Dragoons, with what Food escaped, ran to their main Body near Dunshaughlin, who were Posted on advantagious Ground, by the late King James, and his Generals, the Dukes of Tyrconnel and Berwick, Brigadier Hamilton, and two French Generals, resolving there to stay 'till our Army came up and Fight them. Our whole Army having passed the River on Wednesday Morning, His Majesty, King William, accompanied with the Prince of Denmark, the Dukes of Schonberg and Ormond, and several other General Officers, Advanced with His whole Army towards the Enemy, and between Ten and Eleven in the Morning, our Advance Guards discovered the Enemy drawn up in Battalia, between Dunshaughlin and Curdiff, about nine Miles from Dublin.
        Our Army made their regular Approaches towards the Enemy, the King in Person, accompanied with the Prince of Denmark, Commanded the main Body, and about Twelve of the Clock the Fight began, which the Enemy Maintained for some time very briskly; but after about three Hours, they having lost many of the Great Officers, and most of the French, in the Left Wing, being cut off, their Horse gave way; which, our Army perceiving, pressed on them with so great Fury, that in a little time they broke their Ranks; for which they immediately Fled, taking their way towards the County of Kildare, leaving the Foot to the Mercy of our Army, who pursued the Victory with great Slaughter, killing between Six and Seven Thousand of the Enemy, and taking great Numbers Prisoners.
        Amongst other great Officers that were Slain, were found the Dukes of Berwick and Tyrconnel, and the Lord Dungan; and among the Prisoners was Brigadier General Richard Hamilton, and other great Officers.
        Care being taken to secure the Prisoners, and Night coming on, our Army stayed to refresh themselves, and the next Morning advanced towards Dublin, where they arrived the same Evening, finding no opposition; King James having a little before drawn out of that City all his Forces to joyn his Army at Navan, except Six Hundred, who hearing of the Defeat of their Forces, and the approach of our Army, ran towards the County of Wicklow, doing before hand what other Mischief that little time would permit.

A Jacobite Narrative of the War in Ireland, 1688-1691, ed. J.T. Gilbert (Dublin, 1892). [This anonymous account covers the attempt of James II and Irish Catholics to reassert their position, their defeat at the Battle of the Boyne, William's occupation of Dublin, and the establishment of the Protestant Ascendancy. The author began with the restoration of Charles II in 1660.]

It pleased Almighty God, after a long exile, to bring back Charles the second to the throne of his ancestors.... There is nothing now to be seen or heard but joys and jubilees throughout the British empire, for the royal physician is come to heal the three bleeding nations, and to give them the life of freeborn subjects.... The first thing the king did...was to go about performing the promise he had made...to pardon all his subjects except such as the present parliament of England should think fit to leave out of the amnesty.... We may reasonably believe that a great many members of this parliament were of the old leaven; and therefore we charge the king with a remarkable imprudence for leaving the lives and fortunes of his good subjects to the arbitration of such a parliament. And here is the first false step.... The king knew who of his people were culpable and who innocent before he left their destinies to the discretionary judgment of an assembly of men...who had made no scruple to murder his royal father, banish himself and his family, destroy the loyalists, and especially the whole Catholick people of Ireland, for adhering to the king's interest....

[In July 1660, Charles II declared] I hope I need not put you in mind of Ireland, and that they alone shall not be without the benefit of my mercy. They have shown much affection to me abroad, and you will have a care of my honour, and what I have promised to them.... But, it seems, the old design of ruining the Catholick nation of Ireland, at least in their fortunes, was not extinct by the king's oratory for them, nor by their monumental loyalty. Nay, the design was carried on with greater vehemency in the king's face...because the estates of the Irish were already in the possession of the Cromwellian brethren.... [Lord Broghill and Sir Charles Coote led a conspiracy, filled the prisons with Catholics, and sent Sir John Clotworthy to England to spread rumors] that it would be dangerous for the new English interest in Ireland (that is, for the usurped possessions of Cromwellian rebels) to have the Irish natives restored to their lands of inheritance. [The upshot was that the Catholics were left out of the amnesty and, by the Act of 1662, the Cromwellians were left in possession of the land they had been awarded in the 1650s.]

[What injustice!] Protestants of England and of Ireland being joined in an army under the conduct of Oliver Cromwell, fought on the land of Ireland for the government of England, that had put to death Charles the first, and kept in banishment Charles the second. This is owned. Against whom did they fight in the said Ireland? They fought against the native Catholicks.... Was it because the said Catholicks fought against the king?... On the other side...were a parcel of rascals, were murders of harmless people in Ireland in the year 1641, were notorious rebels to the present king, were atheists in their living, were pitiful, mean men in their extraction, and were not to be endured to raise head against their betters and a noble, ancient nation....

Thus at last was Ireland settled within the five first years of the king's restoration; thus the work of iniquity was completed; thus the Cromwellian rebels were established in their usurpations and robberies; thus an innocent nation was excluded from their birth-rights, being condemned before they were heard; thus, in fine, the greatest injustice was done that mankind from the first day of the creation to the present time hath seen, and done against the light of nature....

[The author now turned to the events of 1688.] As soon as the king [James II] came up to London on the 26th of November, 1688, from Salisbury, he wrote a letter to the...lord deputy...of Ireland , then at Dublin, letting him know how he was betrayed by his army; how he was abandoned by his people of England.... His excellency [lord deputy] was altogether for war...., and so 'twas decreed to levy forces out of hand, which was soon made known to the Catholick people throughout the kingdom. Here let us pause awhile, and examine the nature of this enterprise. The Catholicks of Ireland do undertake a war for the reinthroning their banished king. Why should they do this?... Catholick religion obliges us to duty towards our lawful sovereign, though he had often injured us, and though he were of a contrary belief.... Yet how are they able to assume this province [do this]? Money they have not, and their estates in land have been for thirty years before in possession of Protestants..... They also want arms, they want horses, they want other utensils of war. They are ignorant in the military art, as being debarred upon the account of their religion.... They are...destitute of warlike ships and other vessels.... And what is worse than this, they have a most potent enemy to deal with; for they are to stand against wealthy England, hardy Scotland, and the violent Protestants of Ireland.... Ireland in her present circumstances is in no way a match to the power of England.... Ah, would to God I were master of a meet talent in setting forth the commendation of this loyalty, of this zeal, of this compassion to their suffering prince....

[James II arrived in Ireland from France in February 1689, and entered Dublin on Palm Sunday, 24 March, his object being] to regain England, his principal kingdom, by the assistance of his Irish Catholick subjects. [Despite the weakness of the Irish Catholics, the result was by no means foregone.] For first, there were at least sixty thousand men of an army, of which a considerable proportion were veterans.... Their cavalry and dragoonry were not to be contemned.... Of battering cannon, and field pieces they had enough.... Of small arms they had some store; they had iron and artificers.... Horses and oxen for draught abounded. A collection of merchant ships [etc.] might have ben timely made...to transport the army into Scotland, which might march from there into England. To clothe and feed those forces there was an overflowing plenty in the country; for no land in Europe, for its extent, could show such flocks of sheep and so great stocks of black cattle. Corn was in redundancy. You may be convinced of all this by the vast exportation of slaughtered beef, of wool, of woollen manufacture, and of grain.... The province of Ulster produced linen sufficiently.... What shall I say of the butter, cheese, roots, fish and pork, of which there was abundance?...

[Why, then, didn't the Catholics prevail? Bad leadership, including the treachery of some commanders, who in some cases were bought off by the huge amounts of gold at the disposal of the Protestant forces. While James & the Catholic leaders dallied, William got together an army, which crossed the Irish Sea from Liverpool, landing in Ulster in August 1689, under the Marshal de Schonberg. After minor battles in the autumn of 1689, the invading forces wintered in Ulster; in the spring of 1790 they slowly resumed their progress south. William himself arrived in June to take command of his forces. The decisive battle came at the river Boyne. As always, James was irresolute.]

Here we will consider thus: either the king resolved at his encampment on the banks of the Boyne to fight the prince of Orange, in order to keep him beyond the river, the old Rubicon of the Pale, and the frontier of the corn country, or he resolved not. If he resolved, why did he not decamp early on Monday morning, before the prince of Orange appeared on the other side of the river...? If the king resolved to stand his ground, why did he not use the common rules of any military for the strengthening of an inferior army against a superior? by which means the inferior doth gain often the point, as we see in the experience of wars. There was at that time but a few narrow passes to be fortified on the Boyne.... The king by these obstructions given to the enemy's passage could have called to his succour fifteen thousand resolute men of the Catholick militia and volunteers out of the adjacent counties of Meath, Dublin and Kildare, some armed with swords, some with half-pikes, some with fire-arms, and some with scythes, which with skilful management would likely turn the balance to the king's side, considering how propense the people were at that time to fight against a most odious enemy, who came to devour their all. But, unfortunately, none of those courses was taken, which makes me fear that one of more of the king's counsellors were underhand intent upon the destruction of the nation....

[Otherwise, it would hard to explain the extraordinary failure to fortify the few places where the river might be crossed. Instead, James wished to retreat to the fortified town of Dublin, which would offer him a stronger position. If so, he ought to have moved out during the night--but he did not do that either. The result was that morning found him starting to move his army down the river. William observed him, concentrated his forces at a few points, and prepared to cross.] The king, observing the prince to attempt a trajection, commanded his army to halt and face to the enemy, which they did, and prepared themselves to fight upon the passage of the river. But alas! they were deceived in their expectation, for there was no battle, because they were not brought to combat. There was only a skirmish in passing the waters between a part of theirs and the whole army of Orange. And because this party did not keep all the hostile troops beyond the flood, the king's host must march away, and leave the pass to the foe....

The heat of this action lasted not above an hour, where you see that it was but a skirmish between nine regiments without cannon or entrenchment, and an army of thirty-six thousand choice men, for the defending and gaining a few passes upon a shallow river and, after the passes gained, there happened a running fight between a few regiments of horse with the help of a brigade of foot.... The loss on either side was not considerable as to the numbers of men, though the king...lost the province of Leinster and part of Munster, being open counties....

[Although the author did not think the defeat had been all that severe, after the Battle of the Boyne James fled to France. William's forces continued south, reaching Limerick in August. Their first assault was repelled, and though William wanted a second attack, his generals persuaded him to wait; he therefore left for England in September; after taking Cork, most of the English army went home as well. Returning to Ireland in June, they besieged and defeated the towns of Athlone and Aughrim. The decisive battle was the siege of Limerick.]

Now Limerick only remains in the possession of the loyalists, but that possession will not last long, because they are willing to part with it.... As the trajected [English] forces approached to the city, the governor of Limerick sent a small detachment of foot to the number of two hundred men...to skirmish with the advanced foot of the enemy.... This was a foolish management, for what end could it have?.... Why rather were not some pieces of cannon raised on the other side of the bridge...? Nothing of which was done, as if there were no enemy approaching.... To advance in our history: the town being now begirted on both sides, the garrison beat a parley on the twenty-fourth of September, to which the enemy complied, and so a cessation was made [i.e., without a fight].... We are now upon perclosing the war of Ireland, that unfortunate war to the Irish, unfortunate through the fault of some particular persons, though the generality bravely demeaned themselves, or were prepared to do it if brought to a trial....

Act concerning the Oath of Supremacy (1691). [The Act required a wide range of office-holders (including attorneys, teachers & fellows at universities, etc., as well as magistrates & other public officials) to take the following oath.]
        I, A.B., do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare, that I do believe, that in the sacrament of the Lord's supper there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary, or any other saint, and the sacrifice of the mass, as they are now used in the church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous. And I do solemnly declare in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do make this declaration, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words read unto me, as they are commonly understood by protestants, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatsoever, and without any dispensation already granted me for this purpose by the pope, or any other authority or person whatsoever, or without believing that I am or can be acquitted before God or man, or absolved of this declaration or any part thereof, although the pope, or any person or persons, or power whatsoever, should dispense with or annul the same, or declare that it was null and void from the beginning.
        [Further Oaths] I, A.B. do sincerely promise and swear, that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance, to their majesties King William and Queen Mary: So help me God, etc.
        I, A.B. do swear, that I do from my heart abhor, detest, and abjure, as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position, that princes excommunicated or deprived by the pope, or any authority of the see of Rome, may be deposed or murder by their subjects, or any other whatsoever.
        And I do declare, that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm: So help me God, etc.