Orange and Green - G. A. Henty (the reader ebook TXT) 📗

out with the honours of war, with their arms and baggage, and to make their way unmolested to Limerick. The Prince of Wirtemberg was strongly in favour of these terms being granted, but Marlborough peremptorily refused. While a sharp dispute took place between the two officers, and before any conclusion could be arrived at, the tide rose, and the regiments drawn up ready to cross the river could no longer pass.

The firing then recommenced on both sides. Notwithstanding the efforts of the besieged to repair the injury to their wall, the breach daily increased in size. Wirtemberg moved his forces round from the north side, to take their share in the assault, and at low tide the English and Danes advanced against the breach. Under a heavy fire from the walls, they struggled through the marshes and entered the river, which, even at low tide, reached to their shoulders. Suffering heavily from the fire, they pushed forward until they nearly reached the breach. Here the Duke of Grafton, who commanded the British column, fell dead, with many officers and men; but the rest maintained their order, and were about to make a dash at the breach, when the governor, accompanied by Lord Tyrone, raised the white flag.

After a short parley, it was agreed that the garrison should become prisoners of war, but were to be protected in their persons and private property. The city was to be preserved from any injury, and the citizens and their property were to be respected.

Captain Davenant's troop had remained idle, during the siege, as there was no work for cavalry. They were quartered near an infantry regiment, which had been raised by MacFinn O'Driscol from among his own tenantry, and was commanded by him. O'Driscol was a relation of Mrs. Davenant, and the two commanders were often together. Both felt that the city must speedily fall, unless the Irish army moved down to its relief; but they agreed that, if it surrendered, they would make an effort to escape with their troops, for they had no faith in the observance of any terms of capitulation which might be made.

Accordingly, as soon as it was known that the governor had surrendered, and that the gates of the town were to be handed over to the British, O'Driscol and Captain Davenant formed up their commands, and, opening one of the gates, marched boldly out. The exact terms on which the garrison had surrendered were not known, and Marlborough and Wirtemberg were near the breach, arranging for the troops to take possession of the gates on that side. Consequently, the besieging forces opposite the gate from which the little column had marched out supposed that, in accordance with the arrangement, they were coming out to lay down their arms. They therefore stood aside as the column passed, being far more intent upon the plunder they expected to gather, in Cork, than on anything else. As, a few minutes later, the gates were opened and the troops poured into the city, no further thought was given to the little force which had marched out; and the five hundred infantry, and the troop of horse, were safe from pursuit before the news of the audacious ruse they had practised reached the ears of the generals.

Inside the town, the articles of the treaty were at once violated. The troops entered the town in crowds, and, incited, as in Dublin, by a mob calling themselves Protestants, they proceeded to plunder the houses and assault the Catholic inhabitants. The governor, M'Carty, was wounded. The Earls of Tyrone and Clancarty, with difficulty, made their escape from the mob. Many were killed, and a great destruction of property took place, before Marlborough and Wirtemberg entered the town and put a stop to the disorder, which inflicted great discredit upon them, as they had made no arrangements, whatever, to ensure the safety of the inhabitants, which they had solemnly guaranteed.

It was now October, and Marlborough at once set about the investment of Kinsale. On the very evening of the day he entered Cork, he sent off five hundred horse towards that town, and the next day marched thither himself at the head of his infantry. The works of Kinsale consisted of two forts, both of considerable strength, called the Old Fort and Charles's Fort. They were well supplied with stores and provisions for a siege. On the approach of the besiegers, the governor set fire to the town and retired to the forts, and, in answer to the summons to surrender, replied that "it would be time enough to talk about that a month hence."

Marlborough ordered General Tettau to cross the river in boats, with eight hundred picked men, and to carry Old Fort by storm. The assault was made with great determination and bravery; but the works were strong and stoutly defended, and the British were about to fall back, discomfited, when fortune came to their assistance. Some loose powder ignited and fired the magazine, by which more than two hundred men of the garrison were killed, and the works seriously injured. After this disaster, the governor abandoned the fort and withdrew, with the survivors of its garrison, to Charles's Fort. Marlborough at once commenced the siege of this position, but for fifteen days the place resisted all his efforts. The heavy loss, however, which the garrison had suffered by the explosion in Old Fort, rendered them unable, by sallies, to interfere with the works of the besiegers. These were carried on with great vigour, for Marlborough feared that the approach of the wet season would put a stop to his operations.

When, therefore, the governor offered to surrender, on the terms of his being permitted "to march away with his garrison, their arms, baggage, and all the honours of war, taking with them all persons who wished to accompany them, together with their property, to Limerick," Marlborough at once granted the terms demanded.

The advent of winter now put a stop to regular operations; but a war of skirmishes continued, and the British, in their quarters, were greatly straitened for forage and provisions. In Dublin, the work of confiscation went on merrily. The greater part of the Catholic proprietors of the town were thrown into prison. The various indictments against country gentlemen, followed by the confiscation of their property, were hurried through the court with the merest shadow of legal form; for, the defendants being absent and unacquainted with what was being done in Dublin, it was only necessary to recite the accusation to find the accused guilty, and to pass sentence of confiscation--all this being the work of a few minutes only.

Nothing could be done, however, to carry the sentences into effect, for William's troops still possessed only the ground the troops stood upon, and the towns they occupied. Outside those limits, the whole country was against them. The Earl of Marlborough had returned to England, immediately after the surrender of Kinsale; and General Ginckle, who had now succeeded to the command, determined to harass the enemy, and to increase the resources at his disposal by an expedition into the southwest of Ireland, which, covered by Cork and Limerick, had hitherto been free from the presence of any English troops. He therefore pushed a strong body of cavalry and infantry westward from Cork and Kinsale; and these succeeded in making themselves masters of Castle Haven, Baltimore, Bantry, and several other castles on the line of coast. The district was wild and mountainous, and the passes might have been easily held against the advance; but the peasants had not been organized for resistance, and no serious opposition was encountered.

Colonel O'Driscol, a cousin of MacFinn O'Driscol, and Captain O'Donovan, two of the principal proprietors of the neighbourhood, soon arrived upon the spot, and assembled a large irregular force, consisting chiefly of mounted peasants; and with these they soon cooped the invaders up in the castles they had taken. O'Driscol next attempted the recovery of his own Castle Haven, which was strongly defended, and stood on a cliff overhanging the sea; but his wild peasants were ill adapted for such work, and they were repulsed by the English garrison, and O'Driscol himself killed. But another force was advancing from the north. MacFinn O'Driscol, with his regiment, pressed forward along the line of Bandon river, besieged and captured Castle Haven, and expelled the English garrisons from Baltimore and Bantry.

General Tettau had also marched out from Cork with several regiments of infantry and dragoons, with the intention of penetrating into Kerry; but the enemy's light troops harassed him night and day, wasted the country, and defended every pass; and he was obliged to return to Cork, without having accomplished anything. All this time Ginckle was urging upon the lord justices, who were now the real ruling party in Ireland, to issue a proclamation offering pardon and security for person and property to all who came in; urging that it was impossible that he could ever subdue the country, while the whole population had everything at stake in opposing him.

He was supported by King William, who was most anxious to bring the struggle to an end; but the lord justices, and the Protestant party at Dublin, who were bent upon dividing among themselves the property of the Catholics throughout Ireland, turned a deaf ear to the arguments of Ginckle, and their friends in London had sufficient power to prevent the king from insisting upon his own wishes being carried into effect.

After taking part in the operations in Kerry, Captain Davenant's troop returned to Limerick, around which city the greater part of the Irish army were still encamped.

Chapter 13: A Dangerous Mission.

"Walter," Captain Davenant said to his son one day, when he returned from a council in which he had taken part, at the quarters of General Sarsfield, "I have a mission for you in Dublin. It is necessary, in the first place, to communicate with some of our friends there, and in the second to ascertain, as far as we can, the plans of the enemy during the next campaign. There are few of us here who would not be readily recognized in Dublin; therefore, when there seemed a difficulty in selecting someone to undertake the duty, I said that I thought you would be likely to succeed better than most.

"You have not been any time in Dublin, and I question whether a single person there would be likely to recognize you. You will, of course, be in disguise, and your youth will be in your favour. I don't say there is no danger in such an undertaking, but I do not think the risk is greater than that which you have frequently run. I was sure you would readily undertake the mission, and I thought I could answer for your intelligence as well as your discretion."

"I will undertake it, certainly, father, if you think me capable of it," Walter said. "It is dull enough here, now that the wet weather has thoroughly set in, and I shall really like the adventure. When am I to set out?"

"Tomorrow. Your instructions, and the letters you are to carry, will be drawn up tonight, and you can set off after breakfast. I shall ride with you, with a part of the troop, until you are past the point where you are likely to fall in with any body of the enemy's cavalry. After that you will, of course, shift for yourself. We think you had best travel on foot, dressed as a peasant. In that way you will attract no attention, and pass through towns occupied by the enemy without questioning."

"I think, father, I will take Larry with me, if you have no objection. He would be the real thing, and could do most of the talking. Besides, sometimes it is very useful to have someone to send with a message, or to put on guard when one went in anywhere."

"Take him, by all means, Walter, and, indeed, I agree