A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon: For the Use of Schools and CollegesLord, John
History
A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon: For the Use of Schools and Colleges
Lord, John
Europe -- History; History, Modern
Ulster was now safe, and the discomfiture of James was rapidly
effected. Old Marshal Schomberg was sent into Ireland with sixteen
thousand veteran troops, and, shortly after, William himself (June 14,
1690) landed at Carrickfergus, near Belfast, with additional men, who
swelled the Protestant army to forty thousand.
[Sidenote: King James in Ireland.]
The contending forces advanced to the conflict, and on the 1st of July
was fought the battle of the Boyne, in which Schomberg was killed, but
which resulted in the defeat of the troops of James II. The
discomfited king fled to Dublin, but quitted it as soon as he had
entered it, and embarked hastily at Waterford for France, leaving the
Earl of Tyrconnel to contend with vastly superior forces, and to make
the best terms in his power.
The country was speedily subdued, and all the important cities and
fortresses, one after the other, surrendered to the king. Limerick
held out the longest, and made an obstinate resistance, but finally
yielded to the conqueror; and with its surrender terminated the final
efforts of the old Irish inhabitants to regain the freedom which they
had lost. Four thousand persons were outlawed, and their possessions
confiscated. Indeed, at different times, the whole country has been
confiscated, with the exception of the possessions of a few families
of English blood. In the reign of James I., the whole province of
Ulster, containing three millions of acres, was divided among the new
inhabitants. At the restoration, eight millions of acres, and, after
the surrender of Limerick, one million more of acres, were
confiscated. During the reign of William and Mary, the Catholic Irish
were treated with extreme rigor, and Ireland became a field for
place-hunters. All important or lucrative offices in the church, the
state, and the army, were filled with the needy dependants of the
great Whig families. Injustice to the nation was constantly exercised,
and penal laws were imposed by the English parliament, and in
reference to matters which before came under the jurisdiction of the
Irish parliament. But, with all these rigorous measures, Ireland was
still ruled with more mildness than at any previous period in its
history, and no great disturbance again occurred until the reign of
George III.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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