The Battle of the Boyne. 217 by showing himself again on horseback, and riding in review through their lines. The 1st of July is a day which will never be forgotten in Ireland. The morning was clear. Soon after four o'clock, William was again on horseback, and began to put his troops in motion. One brigade he sent up to cross Slane Bridge and turn the enemy's left flank, a movement which had a most decisive influence on the ultimate fortune of the day; for Lauzun, seeing that a single regiment of dragoons, which James had sent to hold the brigade in check, was repulsed and routed, led his French troops and a cavalry regiment, commanded by the celebrated Sarsfield, to encounter it; and thus the best soldiers in James's army were removed from Oldbridge, where the real struggle was to take place, and the defence of that allimportant ford was left to the Irish regiments, which, under the best generals, were but little to be depended on, and which were now under no better guidance than that of James himself, with Lord Tyrconnel and Hamilton, who had been beaten at Newton Butler. Hamilton did, indeed, behave with most conspicuous courage. At first it seemed as if Schomberg's division, which comprised the whole main body of William's army, would be suffered to cross the river without opposition, for, the moment that it reached the centre of the stream, all the Irish infantry regiments fled, without venturing to cross swords with the enemy, or even to fire a single shot, but throwing away their colours, and even their arms, that no such encumbrances might delay their flight.' But the cavalry 1 The Duke of Berwick (vol. I., p. 75), says, "Nous ne perdions qu'environ mille hommes, et il n'y eut que les troupes de M. Hamilt on et les miennes qui combattirent." was composed of better materials, and Hamilton, putting himself at their head, plunged into the river, and for some time maintained a desperate fight with the regiments of French refugees, in whom Schomberg, not unnaturally, placed great reliance. Had Lauzun been at hand to support Hamilton as he deserved, his valour might have had an important influence on the result of the battle. The commander of the Frenchmen, a noble countryman of their own, M. la Caillemotte, was struck down, and Schomberg thought the moment so critical as to require his personal exertions. Without waiting to put on his cuirass, he plunged into the river, to supply la Caillemotte's place. "Come on," he cried to his men, who had wavered on seeing their leader's fall; come on, gentlemen, there are your persecutors !" and he plunged into the fight. 66 William had lately made him a Knight of the Garter, and he wore his blue ribbon on this day. Whether, as some accounts state,1 Hamilton's men mistook him for William himself, and singled him out as the special mark for their utmost exertions, or whether, as others report, in the confusion some of his own soldiers shot him from behind, is uncertain, but he fell dead. Luckily, William himself came up at the moment on the southern side of the river. He had had a second narrow escape, for the tide was flowing when he crossed, and was running with such strength as to carry his horse off his legs. But at last he landed safely, and galloped at once to the scene of action. His dangers were not yet over. Hamilton's troopers, though now attacked on both sides, still fought stoutly; friend and foe I The Duke of Berwick, ib.-"Schomberg fut tué par un exempt et quelques gardes-du-corps, lesquels le prirent, à cause de son cordon bleu, pour le Prince d'Orange." The Battle of the Boyne. 219 were mingled together, and in the height of the struggle an Enniskillen dragoon put a pistol to William's head. The King calmly put it aside with his hand. "What," said he, "do you not know your friends?" He was recognized, and with a loud cheer the dragoons closed round him to protect him for the future, and pressed on the enemy with a resolution that became men who had such a leader. At last, after performing prodigies of valour, Hamilton himself was severely wounded, and taken prisoner, and with his capture the battle was over. James himself had taken no part in the battle, contenting himself with watching it from a hill in the rear during its earlier conflicts; but, when the French regiments began to make their way through the stream, and William came up on his side of the river, he was seized with alarm lest his retreat should be cut off, and fled with precipitation to Dublin. The loss on both sides was very slight. The defeated army did not lose above 1,000 men, for indeed the greater part of it ran away without even coming to blows. Those who fell on William's side did not exceed half that number; but the deaths of M. la Caillemotte and of Schomberg might fairly have been reckoned to make the loss of the two armies equal. Another man who had lately made himself a great reputation had also fallen, but without being so much regretted by the conqueror. Walker, whose exhortations and example had roused the citizens of Derry to their noble resistance, had lately been rewarded with the Bishopric. Certainly his place was no longer with an army; but he had acquired a taste for fighting, and had marched, uninvited and unwished for, to the Boyne. He had plunged into the river with Schomberg, and had fallen by a chance shot. But, when his death was reported, it produced no comment from William, who had no fancy for seeing civilians, and much less parsons, interfering in soldiers' work, but a half-indignant inquiry, "What took him to the ford ?" which, had he survived, would have been felt as more than half a reproof. CHAPTER XI. James returns to France-William arrives in Dublin-He is repulsed from Limerick by Sarsfield - He returns to England-The Earl of Marlborough reduces Cork and Kinsale-The French regiments are withdrawn-The Rapparees-General St. Ruth takes the commandWilliam goes with Marlborough to Flanders-General Ginkell commands in Ireland-Ginkell takes Athlone--The Battle of Aghrim Galway surrenders-Sarsfield throws himself into Limerick-The two treaties of Limerick-Many of Sarsfield's soldiers emigrate with him to France. JAMES fled with such speed, that he reached Dublin that very evening. The next morning he summoned the Lord Mayor, and some of the principal citizens who adhered to him, and announced to them his intention to return to France without delay. The loss of the battle he attributed to the cowardice of the Irish troops, and declared that he would never command an Irish army again; but they, when they heard his denunciation of them, threw the blame with quite as much justice on himself. "Complaints of cowardice," they said, "came ill from him who had been the first to fly," and "if the English would only change Kings with them, they would fight the battle over again." It is certain, however, that James himself had not originally been a coward. In the battle of the Downs, he had led a brigade of Irish royalists against the English division with a gallantry which had earned the praise of |