Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 37.djvu/33

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Massue
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Massue

he had been duped. He at once withdrew into the Milanese, and was successful in intercepting the subsidy intended for the duke. During September he took part in the defence of Valenza, but after the recognition of the neutrality of the Italian peninsula on 7 Oct. he retired with the English contingent to Flanders, and on 11 Jan. 1697 returned to England. A present which the Duke of Savoy wished to make him of his portrait set in diamonds he declined. He had already forfeited his estates in France, and shortly before the peace of Ryswick he was deprived by Louis of a considerable sum of money which his father had entrusted to the care of President Harlay.

On 6 Feb. 1697 he was appointed by the king's command lord justice of Ireland ad interim. On 12 May he was advanced to the rank of Earl of Galway, and two days later he was joined with the Marquis of Winchester and Lord Villiers in a commission as lords justices of Ireland; but the latter being occupied as plenipotentiary at Ryswick, and the former being of little importance, the conduct of affairs rested chiefly with him and the lord chancellor, John Methuen [q. v.] On 31 May Galway and the Marquis of Winchester landed at Dublin, and were sworn in on the same day. Galway's government of Ireland from February 1697 to April 1701 marks an important period in the history of that country, for it was during his government that the parliament of England asserted its right to make laws binding on Ireland, and that the first acts of the penal code were passed. As the devoted servant of King William, Galway would have, preferred to steer an even and impartial course, and so far as his personal influence went it was exerted in moderating the violence of political and religious faction. But he was better fitted for the camp than for the council-chamber. His inability to speak English fluently naturally placed him at a disadvantage, and though his bearing was always courteous and conciliatory, his influence in affairs of state was really very small. His devotion to William's interest, his indifference to party politics, his high personal character, his perfect unselfishness, his discretion and tolerant disposition, were the chief reasons that influenced his appointment. For himself he seems to have liked Ireland and the Irish people. During his residence there, and in the intervals of official business, he devoted himself to the improvement of his estates. By the liberal encouragement he offered them to settle on his land he established a flourishing colony of protestant refugees at Portarlington. He also built and endowed two churches, in one of which the liturgy in French was used till the beginning of the nineteenth century, and two schools, which were for a long time the most fashionable in Ireland. He was extremely charitable, and though a protestant of a pronounced type, he was so far unwilling to reap any personal advantage from his religion that he not merely maintained the two grandsons of Lord Clanmalier at Eton, but expressed his intention of resigning their grandfather's estate to them on condition that they conformed to the law by becoming protestants. But in 1700 he was deprived of all his estates by the Act of Resumption. Personally he was not much affected by his loss, but William, who felt keenly for him, I gave him a pension of 1,000l. a year, and made him general of the Dutch forces, and colonel of the blue regiment of foot-guards. In April 1701 he obtained permission to retire from the government of Ireland. In July he accompanied Marlborough to Holland, and, after visiting the king at Loo, he was sent to the elector of Cologne on a diplomatic mission connected with the formation of the grand alliance. On his return to England, upon William's death, he took up his residence at a small house called Rookley, near Winchester, in the neighbourhood of his cousin, Lady Russell. He was troubled with gout, and, feeling himself growing infirm, he was anxious to retire from active employment, but in June 1704 he was appointed, with the rank of general, to succeed the Duke of Schomberg as commander of the English forces in Portugal.

He arrived at Lisbon on 10 Aug. At Almeida he inspected the troops, and, finding the commissariat defective, he opposed an autumn campaign in Spain. His opinion was overruled, but was justified by the speedy retreat of the army from want of provisions. During the winter he was busily occupied in preparations for a new frontier campaign in the spring, and in furnishing the Prince of Hesse with additional forces for the defence of Gibraltar. The campaign of 1705 opened with the invasion of Estremadura. Galway's plan for an immediate attack on Badajoz being rejected, the spring was consumed in the capture of Valenza and Albuquerque. In the autumn Badajoz was attacked, and on 2 Oct. the siege began under his direction, but while superintending the erection of a battery his right hand was shattered by a shot from the fortress. He was compelled to retire, and the command devolved upon Baron Fagel, who raised the siege. Fever and irritation at Fagel's con-