Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-07-20
The Battle of fine Boyne.

1t is surprising that reminders of the
battle OF the Boyne are unpleasant to
Roman Catholic Irishmen. Not only.
was it the finishing blow to the Ro-
manist dynasty of the Stuarts but the
conduct of the Irish supporters of King
James was anything but creditable to
them. On the morning of July II
(new styie), 1890, thirty thousand
French and Irish soldiers, with a
|sprinkliHg of otherinationalities, COM
posing the army of the deposed mon
|arch, were strongly intrenched on the
south side of the Boyne, while Will
liam's forces, numbering about $4,000,
were posted on the northern bank
The latter were made up of English,
French, Huguenots Danes and loyal
Irish. William had been slightly
wounded in the right shoulder by a
C nnon ball on the preceding day, bnt
IN spite of this, and contrary to the adj
vice of .the veteran Marshal Schom-
berg, precipitated an attack. Crossing
the river at different places, wading
|oftenup to their arm pits, the Protest
ant soldiers carried everything before
them. The Irish infantry opposed to
them showed the white feather at once
at10 .cOttOlC1C0 ON0Iy
Richard HamiltOn's Irish cavalry be-
haved much better, though their con-
duct was unequal. AT times during
the day they broke in disorder, but
subsequently showed considerable gal
laDtry. . The loss of the vanquished
was about fifteen hundred men; that of
their cOhquerors was only about one
third of that number. The smallness
of the losses, considering the strength
of the eOpposing armies, showed that the
fight was much less hotly contested
than the majority of combats of like
importance. The most serious blow
to the yietors was in the death of
Schomberg, who was surrounded by
theenemy, and killed, while crossing
the river to rally the Huguenots, who
had suffered a temporary repulse. The
ablest Of the Irish leaders, the gallant
Sarsfed, was kept from an active par
ticipation in the fight by being detail
to guard the cowardly James.
Fora long time after the defeat at
the Boyne, Irish valor was held in poor
|repute. The conduct ofthe Catholics
was regarded as proving them destitute
of soldier qualities That this was a
mistaken conclusion there is no doubt,
for the Irish have since repeatedly
prove their valor and their military
prowess. They need, however, good
officers and careful discipline, and !, it
has been observed that they fight bet
ter under English officers than. under
Irish. 4 The men whoIHed before the hosts
of King William had been demoralized
by months of plundering and foraging, :,
and while gathered into companies and
regiments were really nothing but an
armed mob. The potentate for whom
they were fighting kept himself in the
background, while William, the most
phlegmatic and coIdest of men in civil
life, was full of enthusiasm in the field.
His ardor was contagious, and the
humblest ofhis followers could not re-
sist the Influence of his example. ~,
After all, every sensible Irishman
will be grateful that the wretched
James was beaten ION that day. A
pensioner on France, his success would
have been that of Louis XIV. So gen
orally was this fact recognized that
Spain, Austria, and even the pope
himself were saddened at a false report
of Williams death from his wound, and
proportionately rejoiced when the story
was coutradicted, and the defeat of
James and French supporters announ-
ced .f4 - 81 ...---l