612 



BRITAIN. 



Britain. 



WILLIAM 



& MART. 



1689. 



Proceed, 

 ings of i he 



Scottish 

 padiament 



Civil war 

 excited in 

 Scotland 

 by Vis- 

 count Dun- 

 it". 



Battle of 



Killycran- 



kie. 



James 

 lands in 

 Ireland, 



March 14. 



English parliament had shewn. William had in- 

 structed his commissioner, the Duke of Hamilton, 

 (Dalrymple's Memoirs, p. 376.), to comply with 

 the various demands of the Scottish convention in 

 favour of popular rights ; but Hamilton, from in- 

 terested views, concealed from the boroughs the or- 

 ders which he had received in favour of liberty ; and 

 the minds of the nation were alienated by this treach- 

 ery, as well as by the king's refusal to proscribe and 

 exclude the whole of the Tory party, a measure 

 which the king saw would create a host of enemies 

 from despair. 



While the parliament was thus agitated, a civil war 

 was excited by the Viscount Dundee, under whose 

 new title and splendid achievements the cruelties of 

 Grahame of Claverhouse were for a while forgotten. 

 When the Scottish convention had declared for Wil- 

 liam, when Balcarras, and the other leaders of the 

 Tories, were secured in Edinburgh, Dundee, more 

 fortunate, escaped with fifty horse. He had left 

 behind him the Duke of Gordon in possession of 

 Edinburgh castle ; but, as that nubleman, despair- 

 ing of relief, and pressed by a siege, was reduced to 

 capitulate within a month, the cause of James in 

 Scotland depended now upon his sole conduct. Dun- 

 dee retired into the Highlands from the pursuit of 

 General Mackay, was joined by the Macdonalds, 

 surprized Perth, and levied contributions to the very 

 gates of the town of Dundee. Being joined by se- 

 veral of the mountain clans, he found himself, at one 

 period, at the head of 1700 men ; but, as the High- 

 landers, loaded with plunder, deserted in numbers, 

 he retired into the wilds of Lochaber, and waited the 

 arrival of succours from Ireland. When 300 re- 

 cruits arrived from that country, Dundee once more 

 called the Highlanders to his banners. With a force 

 exceeding 2500 men, he gave battle, at the pass of 

 Killycrankic, to Mackay, who, with considerably su- 

 perior numbers, was advancing from Blair. By a 

 rapid descent in thick and separate columns, the 

 Highlanders overpowered the thin lines of Mackay, 

 and would have scarcely left a man to report the de- 

 feat, had not the death of Dundee, in the moment 

 of victory, left the command in less vigorous hands. 

 Cannon, an Irish officer of indifferent abilities, suc- 

 ceeded him, whose forces, after a repulse by a single 

 regiment of the Cameronians, dispersed, and return. 

 ed to their homes. 



These events took place during the summer of 

 1689. In the spring of the same year, James ar- 

 rived from France at Kinsale in Ireland, where he 

 found Tyrconnel, the Lord Lieutenant, devoted to 

 him, and an army of 38,000 men in arms to support 

 his cause. It may naturally be asked, by what ne- 

 glect, on the part of William, the interests of the 

 late king were allowed to assume so prosperous an 

 aspect ? and, indeed, the delay in settling Ireland is 

 one of the parts of William's conduct which seem 

 kast to accord with the usual iprudence and energy 

 of his character. Since the period of James's flight 

 from England, the Irish Protestants had beheld the 

 increase of the Lord Lieutenant Tyrconnel's prepa- 

 rations with all the exaggerated terrors of an expect- 

 ed massacre by the Papists. The city of London* 



derry, however, shut her gates upon his forces, and 

 the whole of Ulster united in measures for their de- 

 fence, and for continuing their dependence upon 

 England. James was attended from France by a- 

 bout 2500 British and Irish followers, and 100 French 

 officers. His reception at Kinsale was cordial, and 

 his public entry into Dublin magnificent. About 

 10,000 Protestants gathered together around Lon- 

 donderry, and an increasing number rallied them- 

 selves at Inniskillen. 



Surrounded by the congratulations of Dublin, 

 James ordered a parliament to assemble on the 7th 

 May. Before it met, he quitted Dublin to lay siege 

 to Londonderry, a town whose memorable siege 

 will be described under a different article. (See 

 LONDONDERRY.) The relief of the garrison by 

 Kirke, gave a decisive blow to the fortunes of James, 

 while the example of the besieged raised the emula- 

 tion of the Irish Protestants. Six thousand of Tyr- 

 connel's troops were soon after defeated at Newton 

 Butler by a band of 2500 Inniskilleners ; and the 

 courage of the Protestants rose in every quarter. 



James's parliament, which assembled at Dublin, 

 could only vote him a revenue, they could not give 

 it. By forcing a coinage of brass money to pass for 

 fourteen times its value, he raised a temporary sup- 

 ply ; but, as France refused him pecuniary aid, his 

 adherents were supported by rapine ; and, to increase 

 his difficulties, the French auxiliaries were engaged 

 in perpetual quarrels with the Irish. At last, on the 

 12th of August, William's army, mounting to 

 10,000 men, arrived from England, under the com- 

 mand of the aged Duke of Schomberg ; and, land- 

 ing on the coast of Donaghadee, besieged Carrick- 

 fergus, and forced its garrison to capitulate. But 

 the campaign of Schomberg was both short and in- 

 decisive. Encamping -in a low and damp situation 

 near Dundalk, his troops were wasted by disorder. 

 The enemy, no less enfeebled by sickness, were for- 

 tunately little able to annoy them ; and, at the ap- 

 proach of winter, both armies retired into winter 

 quarters. 



In the space of little more than a year after Wil- 

 liam was upon the throne, he broke with that par- 

 liament, and dismissed that party, which had placed 

 him on it. Provoked at the hostility of the Whigs 

 in his first parliament, he determined to call another, 

 and to throw himself into the hands of the Tories. 

 In the new elections, the Tories generally prevailed. 

 The privy seal was taken from Lord Halifax, and 

 Lord Shrewsbury, resigned. After these changes, 

 William announced his intention of conducting the 

 war in Ireland in person. Leaving London on the 

 4th of June 1690, he arrived at Carrickfergus on 

 the 14th of the same month. As he advanced, the 

 Irish army abandoned Ardee, and fell back to the 

 south of the river Boyne, where they were joined by 

 James at the head of his French auxiliaries. Wil- 

 liam's forces, composed of English, French (French 

 Protestants), Dutch, Brandenburghers, Irish, and 

 Danes, amounted to 36,000 men. James, having an 

 army every way inferior, resolved, after much hesi- 

 tation, to give battle ; but took his measures rather 

 for securing a retreat than to make a determined do- 



flritaii 



WlI.LIA 



& MAR 

 168ft 



and ma] 

 his publ 

 entry ic 

 Dublin, 



He assei 

 blcs a p 

 liameiit 

 Dubliu. 



win; 



army 

 in Ire 



and ta 



..in 

 ftrgui 



Willia 



quarr 

 with 

 partial 



169" 



Heht 

 his at 

 in Ire 



June: 



