devolves Ginckel. Athlone taken, BOOK I. About the beginning of June 1691, general 1691. Ginckel, being now reinforced by a considerable Command body of troops from Scotland under general on General Mackay, took the field, and immediately directed his march to Athlone, taking in his way the town of Ballymore, which was fortified and garrisoned as a sort of advanced post, and on the 18th sat down before Athlone. The town is divided into two parts by the Shannon, over which is a bridge: that part which is situated to the eastward of the river was soon carried by assault; but the chief strength of the besieged lay in the fortifications on the Connaught or Irish side, defended by a castle which could not be approached but by forcing the passage of the river; and several vigorous attempts were made, though unattended with success, to gain possession of the bridge. This somewhat disheartened the troops: a council of war was held on the 30th, to determine whether it would not be advisable to raise the siege. On which the generals Mackay, Tollemache, Rouvigny, &c. urged that no brave action could be performed without hazard, and gave it as their opinion that · the attack on the bridge should be given up, and the passage of the river attempted at a ford a little below the bridge; and they offered themselves to head the troops which should be destined to the service. General Ginckel, who well knew what wonders military enthusiasm can perform, acceded 1691. to an offer which a too considerate commander BOOK L would have deemed romantic and impracticable. The fords of the Shannon are few and dangerous. That in question was only wide enough for twenty men to march abreast. The bottom was rocky, the stream flowing with prodigious rapidity, and rising in the shallowest part nearly breast-high. On the opposite shore was a bastion raised to defend the pass. In order to deceive the enemy, the troops were not drawn out till six o'clock, the usual time of relieving guard; and on ringing the church bell, the customary signal, a detachment of grenadiers, supported by six battalions of infantry, commanded by the prince of Wirtemberg, the generals Mackay, Tetteau, and Tollemache, who served that day as a volunteer, entered the water by twenties, to the astonishment of the Irish, who immediately began a very heavy fire from all their forts and batteries. General Sarsfield communicating in haste to M. St. Ruth, now commander in chief of the combined armies of French and Irish lying at the distance of a few miles from the town, that the English were actually attempting the passage of the river, and demanding immediate succours-St. Ruth treated the intelligence very lightly, and affirmed the thing to be impossible. They dare not make such an attempt," said he, "and I so near! I would give 1000 pistoles to find it true." Sars BOOK I. field, amazed at the vanity and incredulity of this 1691. commander, told him, "he would find English courage capable of attempting any thing." Unappalled at the dangers which surrounded them, the assailants gradually advanced forward, in the face of a most tremendous fire; and having at length forced their way and gained the opposite bank, the rest of the army soon followed on pontoons, and planks thrown across the broken arches of the bridge. The Irish, seized with consternation, scarcely attempted resistance; and in half an hour the town was in possession of the besiegers, with the works, which remained entire towards the enemy's camp. St. Ruth now made a late and vain attempt to dislodge the English: but the cannons of the garrison were by this time turned against him; and on that very night he decamped with his whole army without beat of drum, and took a new and very strong position in the neighbourhood of Aghrim, resolving there to risk the fate of a general engagement. Victory of The Irish camp was extended two miles on the ridge of a hill, with a morass in front, passable only by a narrow central path, crossed by the river Suke, and defended at the extremity by the castle of Aghrim; on their left were steep hills rising among swamps; and on the right was a pass defended by two old forts about a mile from the morass, the interval being occupied by many small enclosures lined with musqueteers. General Ginckel, having viewed the enemy's position, declared his determination to attack them, for that a retreat must be attended with loss and disgrace. St. Ruth, on his part, perceiving the preparations made for that purpose, exerted all the efforts of an able commander to counteract them, making an harangue to his troops well calculated. to produce upon minds so gross and barbarous, a very powerful effect. "He told them how successful he had been in suppressing heresy in France, and bringing over a vast number of deluded souls into the bosom of the church. That for this reason his master had made choice of him before others to establish the church of Ireland on such a foundation that it should not henceforward be in the power of hell or heretics to disturb it; and that all good Roman-catholics depended on their courage to see those glorious things effected. He confessed that matters did not entirely answer his expectation since he came among them, but that still all might be recovered. That he was informed the prince of Orange's heretical army was resolved to give them battle; that now or never was the time for them to recover the lost honors, privileges, and estates of their ancestors; that they ought now to remember they were no mercenary soldiers; their all being at stake, and their design to restore a pious king to his throne, BOOK I 1691. BOOK I. 1691. to propagate the holy faith, and extirpate heresy. And lastly, to animate their courage, he assured them of king James's love and gratitude, of Louis the Great's protection, of himself to lead them on, of the church to pray for them, and of saints and angels to carry their souls into heaven." He closed his speech with a strict order to give quarter to none, especially not to spare any of the French heretics in the prince of Orange's army. He took likewise the most ellectual way possible to infuse courage into the Irish, by sending their priests among them, to animate them by all the methods they could think of; and especially, as the most powerful and expressive, making them swear on the sacrament never to forsake their colors. About eleven in the morning of the 12th of July (1691), being Sunday, the English army advanced to the edge of the morass with a view to force the passes, which were defended by the enemy with surprising and enthusiastic resolution. No ground, after several hours' contest, being gained, a feint was made on the enemy's left; on which large reinforcements being sent by St. Ruth to that quarter, to the weakening of the right and centre, the passes after much effusion of blood were ultimately forced. No sooner, however, had the English obtained firm footing on the other side of the morass, and begun to |
