Read Online Born Fighting by James Webb - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: James Webb
Tags: Fiction
Ads: Link
II, receiving him with great fanfare in France and providing him with extensive military supplies, financing, and a large contingent of French soldiers in an effort to help him regain his throne.
James then left for Ireland, arriving in March 1689 and setting up a regency in Dublin as a first step toward ousting William of Orange. In May, England reacted to this and other provocations by declaring war against France, and sent an eight-thousand-man army to do battle with the French in Flanders. The forces under James were now viewed by the English not only as an army rebelling in Ireland, but also as wartime allies of the French. And in that sense the situation in Ireland became a replay of Hugh O’Neill’s rebellion of almost exactly a hundred years before, with the French taking the place of the Spanish in their desires to flank England by creating a second front on the island.
As Churchill wrote, in Ireland, James “was welcomed as a deliverer. He reigned in Dublin, aided by an Irish Parliament, and was soon defended by a Catholic army which may have reached a hundred thousand men. The whole island except the Protestant settlements in the North passed under the control of the Jacobites, as they were henceforth called. While William looked eastward to Flanders and the Rhine the eyes of his Parliament were fixed upon the opposite quarter. When he reminded Parliament of Europe they vehemently drew his attention to Ireland. The King made the time-honoured mistake of meeting both needs inadequately.” 59
Those loyal to James II had been active during his brief reign and had engaged in military pursuits even prior to his arrival in Ireland from France. When James became king, he had appointed Richard Talbot, the earl of Tyrconnell, as his lord deputy in Ireland. Tyrconnell came from long-established Anglo-Irish stock and was charged with bringing Catholics to positions of importance in Ireland. He had focused on the legal system and especially the military, which became the “cutting edge of the policy of Catholicization.” 60 This allowed Tyrconnell not only to eliminate Protestants from key positions in the army, but also to station Catholic-dominated troops in almost every key location in Ulster. Unlike the rebellion of 1641, this action was legal, under the imprimatur of the Crown. Thus, even as the English Parliament sought to oust James II from the throne, Catholic military strongholds dominated the cities and towns of the Ulster Plantation.
In late 1688, as William approached from Holland, a nationwide revolt against James had broken out in England. But in the Catholic parts of Ireland, similar revolts had broken out to protest against William. By early 1689, William’s usurpation of James was still unaccepted in Catholic Ireland, while the Protestant areas were refusing to support James’s regency in Dublin. The province fell into chaos as Tyrconnell declared them rebels and rampaged though the countryside. Protestants “in the line of march of the army pulled down their houses, burnt and destroyed what they could not take with them, and fled to the fortified towns” of Enniskillen, Coleraine, and especially Londonderry. Between the punitive acts of Tyrconnell’s army and the scorched earth policies of the colonists themselves, Londonderry County became so desolate that, in the eyes of one French officer, it was “like traveling through the deserts of Arabia.” 61
Wild rumors were flying about Catholic intentions. A widely circulated letter predicting a replay of 1641’s massacres created a panic. Soon the city’s usual population of 2,000 had burgeoned to 7,000 soldiers and as many as 30,000 refugees. The standoff at Londonderry quickly became the focal point of the revolt, on both sides. As the months passed, a large force of Irish and French troops gathered outside the city’s stone walls, calling for its capitulation.
Londonderry—historically and more properly known as Derry, still a sore point
James then left for Ireland, arriving in March 1689 and setting up a regency in Dublin as a first step toward ousting William of Orange. In May, England reacted to this and other provocations by declaring war against France, and sent an eight-thousand-man army to do battle with the French in Flanders. The forces under James were now viewed by the English not only as an army rebelling in Ireland, but also as wartime allies of the French. And in that sense the situation in Ireland became a replay of Hugh O’Neill’s rebellion of almost exactly a hundred years before, with the French taking the place of the Spanish in their desires to flank England by creating a second front on the island.
As Churchill wrote, in Ireland, James “was welcomed as a deliverer. He reigned in Dublin, aided by an Irish Parliament, and was soon defended by a Catholic army which may have reached a hundred thousand men. The whole island except the Protestant settlements in the North passed under the control of the Jacobites, as they were henceforth called. While William looked eastward to Flanders and the Rhine the eyes of his Parliament were fixed upon the opposite quarter. When he reminded Parliament of Europe they vehemently drew his attention to Ireland. The King made the time-honoured mistake of meeting both needs inadequately.” 59
Those loyal to James II had been active during his brief reign and had engaged in military pursuits even prior to his arrival in Ireland from France. When James became king, he had appointed Richard Talbot, the earl of Tyrconnell, as his lord deputy in Ireland. Tyrconnell came from long-established Anglo-Irish stock and was charged with bringing Catholics to positions of importance in Ireland. He had focused on the legal system and especially the military, which became the “cutting edge of the policy of Catholicization.” 60 This allowed Tyrconnell not only to eliminate Protestants from key positions in the army, but also to station Catholic-dominated troops in almost every key location in Ulster. Unlike the rebellion of 1641, this action was legal, under the imprimatur of the Crown. Thus, even as the English Parliament sought to oust James II from the throne, Catholic military strongholds dominated the cities and towns of the Ulster Plantation.
In late 1688, as William approached from Holland, a nationwide revolt against James had broken out in England. But in the Catholic parts of Ireland, similar revolts had broken out to protest against William. By early 1689, William’s usurpation of James was still unaccepted in Catholic Ireland, while the Protestant areas were refusing to support James’s regency in Dublin. The province fell into chaos as Tyrconnell declared them rebels and rampaged though the countryside. Protestants “in the line of march of the army pulled down their houses, burnt and destroyed what they could not take with them, and fled to the fortified towns” of Enniskillen, Coleraine, and especially Londonderry. Between the punitive acts of Tyrconnell’s army and the scorched earth policies of the colonists themselves, Londonderry County became so desolate that, in the eyes of one French officer, it was “like traveling through the deserts of Arabia.” 61
Wild rumors were flying about Catholic intentions. A widely circulated letter predicting a replay of 1641’s massacres created a panic. Soon the city’s usual population of 2,000 had burgeoned to 7,000 soldiers and as many as 30,000 refugees. The standoff at Londonderry quickly became the focal point of the revolt, on both sides. As the months passed, a large force of Irish and French troops gathered outside the city’s stone walls, calling for its capitulation.
Londonderry—historically and more properly known as Derry, still a sore point
Similar Books
