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Kells, Killybegs, Lifford, Limavady, Lis- more, County of Londonderry, London- derry, Longford, Monaghan, Newtown, Tallow, Thurles, Tipperary, and Tulsk. James, dressed in the royal robes and bearing the crown on his head, opened the proceedings in person, and his speech was responded to by a unanimous vote of confidence. Large subsidies were voted, and the utmost alacrity was shown in the effort to establish his authority firmly in Ireland, and help him to re- gain the English crown. Thirty-five Acts were passed; the principal were the fol- lowing : Enacting that the Parliament of England could not bind Ireland ; repealing the Acts of Settlement and Explanation ; declaring liberty of conscience and the equality of all religions ; encouraging the settlement of strangers and others in Ire- land ; prohibiting the importation of Eng- lish, Scotch, or "Welsh coals ; for the ad- vance and improvement of trade, and the encouragement and increase of shipping and navigation; for vesting in the King the goods of absentees ; discontinuing the celebration of 23rd October as a thanksgiv- ing day. '97' By far the most important was An Act for the Attainder of Divers Rebels, and for Preserving the Interest of Loyal Subjects, under which about 2,515 landed proprietors, mostly Protestants, were, from one cause or another, attainted or declared guilty of treason, and deprived of their estates. The Bishop of Meath (Dr. Anthony Dopping) and other members made courageous and eloquent appeals against the passage of this Act. A mea- sure which gave great umbrage was the establishment of a mint, and the coinage of a quantity of brass into shillings and half- crowns of a nominal value of .£965,375 — perhaps one hundred times its intrinsic worth. Archbishop King, in his State of the Protestants of Ireland, gives a recital of he consequences of the enfor- ced circulation of this money. [These pieces were occasionally current in Ire- land until 1861 — the half-crowns "pass- ing" as bad pence, and the shillings as bad half-pence.] Parliament was pro- rogued the 20th July. The computed force of his army at this period, in gar- rison and the field, was 42,432 men. The siege of Londonderry was raised the end of July, and the same day James's troops suffered a signal defeat at the hands of the Enniskilleners at Newtownbutler. On 13th August the Duke of Schomberg landed at Bangor with 10,000 men in the service of William III., but was not able to penetrate farther south than Dundalk, where he established his winter quarters. 262
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He wisely declined giving battle to James, who moved north at the head of about 20,000 men. Some brilliant exploits of Sarsfield in Conuaught — sweeping the English out of Sligo and securing Gal- way — ended the campaign. The winter of 1 689-' 90 was spent in Dublin by James to no good purpose. Macaulay says : " Strict discipline and regular drilling might, in the interval between November and May, have turned the athletic and enthusiastic peasants who were assembled under his standard into good soldiers. But the opportunity was lost. The court of Dublin was, during that season of inac- tion, busied with dice and claret, love- letters and challenges." "We are told that Avaux, the French minister, adjured James to pay more strict attention to affairs ; but his appeals were neglected. On the 27th March a French army of 6,000, under Count Lauzun, was landed at Cork and Kinsale from a squadron of thirty-six ships of the line, besides transports ; and early in April a large supply of stores was landed. Lauzun found no preparation made for his troops in the south, and marched north to Dublin. James sent to Louis XI"V, five Irish infantry regiments, under Lord Mountcashel and Colonels O'Brien, Dil- lon, Butler, and Fielding. They were landed in France early in May, and formed the nucleus of the Irish Brigades. Lauzun was now appointed Commander-in-chief of the Irish army, with apartments in the Castle. Finding the funds in the Trea- sury at a very low ebb, he waived drawing his pay, which had been fixed at .£10,000 a year. The campaign was inauspiciously opened for James on 12th May, by Schom- berg's capture of Charlemont fort, after a brave defence by Teigue O'Regan. On the 14th June "William III. landed at Carrickfergus, with a large force, chiefly foreign Protestants, and joined Schomberg. On the 1 6th James marched north to meet him, at the head of about 25,000 men. He was at Dundalk on the 22nd, but fell back as "WUliam marched south, at length taking up a position on the Boyne, where a decisive battle was fought on Tuesday, ist July. James, with some 30,000 men, held the south side of the river near Donore, two miles above Drogheda, which was gar- risoned by his troops. "William, with 36,000 men, proposed to force the shallow passage. He was superior to James, not only in number of men, but in discipline of his troops, in material, and in artillery. At the last moment James appeared anxious to avert an engagement, which was, however, pressed upon him by his Irish officers. In the dispositions for the
