we lay under? After the landing of the army, the first action Duke Schomberg fell upon was the making himself master of Carrickfergus and of the country about, which he accordingly effected. As to the rest of his conduct there, we have all the reason in the world to believe that so great a General knows well on what grounds he has gone; and the event will prove how much it will conduce to the happy determination of the affairs of Ireland, that the General delayed to enter into any further action the last summer, and that he has put his army in winter quarters.”
Schomberg also discharged the duties of a chief Governor of Ireland. He found under the nominal monarchy and real martial law of James the Second that desolation reigned, towns and villages were crumbling to ruin, trade and traders were paralyzed. But the historian, surveying the state of the northern province at the date of the army going into winter quarters, could report a welcome change. “Ulster now enjoyed comparative tranquillity. Since the arrival of Schomberg the inhabitants had begun to return to their homes, security and good order were generally restored, and the usual occupations were resumed in the towns and throughout the country.”[1] The Protestant clergy, the majority of whom were Presbyterians, returned from their retirement or from exile. With regard to the latter ministers of Ulster, the king gave to their deputies, the Rev. Patrick Adair, the Rev. John Abernethy, and Colonel Arthur Upton, the following royal letter to be delivered to the Duke:—
“To our Right Trusty and Right Entirely Beloved Cousin and Councillor, Frederick, Duke of Schomberg, General of our Land Forces.
“Right Trusty and Right Entirely Beloved Cousin and Councillor, we greet you well. Whereas some ministers of the Presbyterian persuasion have humbly besought us in behalf of themselves, their brethren, and their congregations in the province of Ulster in our kingdom of Ireland, that We would take them under our gracious protection, and as an assurance thereof that We would please to recommend them to you or other our Chief Governor or Chief Governors of our kingdom for the time being — and We being entirely satisfied of the loyalty and fidelity of our said subjects, and commiserating the sufferings and calamities they have of late lain under, which We are desirous to put an end to as far as We can contribute towards it, We have thought fit to grant their request, and accordingly We do hereby recommend to you in a particular manner the said ministers and their congregations, requiring you to give them that protection and support that their affection to our service does deserve, and to shew them all fitting countenance that they may live in tranquillity and unmolested under our government. And so We bid you very heartily farewell. Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 9th day of November 16S9, in the first year of our reign.
“This is a true copy of the Letter written to the Duke of Schomberg.
The Jacobite army was the first to go into winter quarters. Schomberg followed their example, sending the sick by sea, and taking the body of his army by land to Lisburn as headquarters, and to the surrounding towns and villages. He had still to defend himself against unfavourable criticism. He wrote to his sovereign from Lisburn, 27th December 1689, “I have made many reflections on what your Majesty had the goodness to write to me on the 20th, and without tiring you with the state of my indisposition, I can assure you that my desire to go to England arises only from that cause, and the physicians' opinion that the air and the hot waters will cure me of the ailment which my son informed you of. There are people in England who believe that I make use of this ailment as a pretence; that is not true. I confess, Sir, that, without the profound submission which I have for your Majesty’s will, I would prefer the honour of being permitted to be near your person to the command of an army in Ireland, composed as that of last campaign was. If I had risked a battle, I might have lost all that you have in this kingdom, not to speak of the consequences which would have followed in Scotland, and even in England. . . . What most repels me from the service here is that I see by the past it would be difficult for the future to content the parliament and the people, who are prepossessed with the notion that any English soldier, even a raw recruit, can beat above six of the enemy.”[3]
Not only as a soldier and a tactician, but as a disinterested man, old Schomberg was pre-eminent. He could say to the king, from Lisburn, 30th December, “I have saved you since I came hear, £3000 on the artillery, and the same sum on the contingent money, as the accounts indicate. As I do not love to pillage, I do what I can to prevent others, who think of nothing else.” He also did a great act of
