at the news of his
accident should not dispirit his men. He showed himself everywhere, rode
through the camp, was as agreeable as it was in his nature to be; and
thus made capital of what might have been a cause of disaster. In the
meantime James did all that was possible to secure a defeat. At one
moment he decided to retreat, at the next he would risk a battle; then
he sent off his baggage and six of his field-pieces to Dublin, for his
own special protection; and while thus so remarkably careful of himself,
he could not be persuaded to allow the most necessary precaution to be
taken for the safety of his army. Hence the real marvel to posterity is,
not that the battle of the Boyne should have been lost by the Irish, but
that they should ever have attempted to fight at all. Perhaps nothing
but the inherent loyalty of the Irish, which neither treachery nor
pusillanimity could destroy, and the vivid remembrance of the cruel
wrongs always inflicted by Protestants when in power, prevented them
from rushing over _en masse_ to William's side of the Boyne. Perhaps, in
the history of nations, there never was so brave a resistance made for
love of royal right and religious freedom, as that of the Irish officers
and men who then fought on the Jacobite side.
The first attack of William's men was made at Slane. This was precisely
what the Jacobite officers had anticipated, and what James had
obstinately refused to see. When it was too late, he allowed Lauzan to
defend the ford, but even Sir Nial O'Neill's gallantry was unavailing.
The enemy had the advance, and Portland's artillery and infantry crossed
at Slane. William now felt certain of victory, if, indeed, he had ever
doubted it. It was low water at ten o'clock; the fords at Oldbridge were
passable; a tremendous battery was opened on the Irish lines; they had
not a single gun to reply, and yet they waited steadily for the attack.
The Dutch Blue Guards dashed into the stream ten abreast, commanded by
the Count de Solmes; the Londonderry and Enniskillen Dragoons followed,
supported by the French Huguenots. The English infantry came next, under
the command of Sir John Hanmer and the Count Nassau. William crossed at
the fifth ford, where the water was deepest, with the cavalry of his
left wing. It was a grand and terrible sight. The men in the water
fought for William and Protestantism; the men on land fought for their
King and their Faith. The men were equally gallant. Of the lea
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