The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1871-07-20


manned and bloody bodies of the
victims of the riot"
The following short history will
explain the cause OF difference be-
tween the two factions:
"The battle of the Boyne, which the
belligerent Protestant and Catholic
Irish are SO anxious to fight over
again, occurred on the 1st of
July, 1890, on the Boyne river,
purling stream in the southern part OF
Meath county, Ireland. tits formed
by the confluence of brooks running
from hillsides, and four miles below
Drogheda, it falls into the Irish sea.
The Catholic James II. had been
driven from his kingdom, and the
Protestant William of Orange was
upon the English throne. James
had broken faith with his English
Protestant supporters by doing ev-
erything his weak brain could devise
to re-establish the Catholic faith in
the Kingdom, and relied for support
upon his co-religionists, who did not
then number one one-hundreth part
of the nation. The difficulties aris-
ing from the religious squabbles In
cited by his conduct, the struggle
between himself and Parliament for
supremacy, the awful terror with
which the judiciary under
the Infamous Jefferies inspired
the people, and finally the invitation
of the Protestant nobility of the
kingdom to William of Orange to
come over and become King of
England, constitute the chief causes
of the English revolution of 1888, in
November of which year William
landed in England at the head of
$4,000 men. James was abandoned
by the army and the people, and
took his solitary flight to France.
Parliament declared his flight abdi-
cation and the crown was settled
upon William and Mary, she being
James daughter, the succession, how
ever, being assigned after Mary to
her sister Anne, the next oldest
daughter of the refugee King. Then
the Highland clans of Scotland and
the Irish Catholics took up arms in
favor of James while that poltroon
was rusticatlng in France. Louis
XIV, also espoused his cause and
furnished him with fleet with which
he timidly set sail for Ireland in the
spring of 1859. In June of the fol-
lowing year William set out for Ire
land after pititul bemoaning of the
chances that thus made the interests
of his wife and her father antagonis-
tic ; and two days later James was
on his way to the Irish camp pitched
on the frontier OF Leinster. Under
both monarchs a motley army was
collected, expressing Catholicy and
Professionalism rather than genuine
love of land or hope of military glory.
With William were Protestants of
England, Ireland and almost every
spot on the continent the bulk of
James army was French and Irish.
James desired a pitched battle be-
tween Leinster ard Ulster. But as
William marched forward, James re.
treated until the ralley of the Boyne
was reached, ami, on the banks of
the beautiful river, the Orange and
the Green decided to end the issue.
James had PROBABLY 10000 men, but
they appear tohave been very poor
stuff. Macauhy says their ordinary
way of fighting was to discharge
their pieces olce and then run away
bawling "qurler" and murder"
Their ineficency in that struggle
was certainly not owing to coward
ice, for they have been on almost ev-
cry battle. fld of Europe among the
best Eighties, and their record in our
own rebellion is not eclipsed by that
of any otbsr nationality. But they
had been viciously trained that
they weregood for nothing as steady
soldiers, md starvation and misery
do not PIT backbone in men. James
hlmselfTas greater coward than
any solder in his command.
At dg break on the first of July
both amies were in motion. On the
morning of the previous day William
had heakfasted on the grass, and
grou of Irish officers, looking over
the dream which was not at that
port two hundred feet wide, discov
erd the royal colors and sent shot
epOughiover to wound William in
The arm, fill the English with dismay
md craze the allied French and Irish
with delirious JOY, for they believed
the victory already won. But de-
spite his wound William remained
nineteen hours in the saddle, and on
the morning of the 1st reviewed his
troops, who were wild with enthusi-
asm.
The struggle began at once and
was soon ended. Against the advice
of his Generals, William determined
to attack his foes, and compel por-
ton of his army to make march
through the river. The water reach
ed to the mems arm-pits. While
this movement was attracting the at
tention of the waiting Irish, William
prepared to pass the river above
Drogheda with the centre of his ar
mp. As the English infantry breast
ed the stream, shouts OF exultation
arose from their foes on the opposite
bank, but the moment the English
men touched the shore, the whole
Irish line broke in disorder, fled under
the very eyes of the brave Tyrconnel,
who stood aghast with establishment,
and the victory was already accord
ed to the Protestants. Whole regi-
ments of the Irish fled like sheep,
"throwing away arms, colors and
"cloaks and scampered off to the hills
"without striking blow or firing a
"shot."
That was the battle of the Boyne.
No wonder the Orangemen cling to
it's glory; no wonder the Irish Cath
olcs become fiends under the re-
proach of it's memory"
A