Produced by Martin Robb
In the Irish Brigade:A Tale of War in Flanders and SpainBy G. A. Henty.
Contents
Preface.Chapter 1: Fresh from Ireland.Chapter 2: A Valiant Band.Chapter 3: A Strange Adventure.Chapter 4: At Versailles.Chapter 5: A New Friend.Chapter 6: An Ambuscade.Chapter 7: In Paris Again.Chapter 8: To Scotland.Chapter 9: An Escape From Newgate.Chapter 10: Kidnapping A Minister.Chapter 11: On the Frontier.Chapter 12: Oudenarde.Chapter 13: Convalescent.Chapter 14: A Mission.Chapter 15: Treachery.Chapter 16: Captured.Chapter 17: An Old Friend.Chapter 18: War.Chapter 19: In Search of a Family.Chapter 20: Gerald O'Carroll.
Preface.
The evils arising from religious persecution, sectarian hatred,ill government, and oppression were never more stronglyillustrated than by the fact that, for a century, Ireland, whichhas since that time furnished us with a large proportion of ourbest soldiers, should have been among our bitterest and mostformidable foes, and her sons fought in the ranks of our greatestcontinental enemy. It was not because they were adherents of thehouse of Stuart that Irishmen left their native country to takeservice abroad, but because life in Ireland was rendered well-nighintolerable for Catholics, on account of the nature and severityof the laws against them, and the bitterness with which those lawswere carried into effect.
An Irish Catholic had no prospects of employment or advancement athome. He could hold no civil appointment of any kind. He could notserve as an officer, nor even enlist as a private, in the army. Hecould not hold land. He was subject to imprisonment, and evendeath, on the most trifling and frivolous accusations broughtagainst him by the satellites of the Irish Government. Not onlycould he not sit in the parliament of Dublin, but he could noteven vote at elections. It was because they believed that thereturn of the Stuarts would mean relief, from at least some oftheir disabilities, and liberty to carry out the offices of theirreligion openly, and to dwell in peace, free from denunciation andpersecution, that the Irish remained so long faithful to theJacobite cause.
It was not, indeed, until 1774 that the Catholics in Ireland wereadmitted to qualify themselves as subjects of the crown, and notuntil the following year that they were permitted to enlist in thearmy. Irish regiments had enlisted in France, previous to theConvention of Limerick; but it was the Irish army that defendedthat town, and, having been defeated, passed over to France, thatraised the Irish Brigade to the position of an important factor inthe French army, which it held for nearly a hundred years, bearinga prominent part in every siege and battle in Flanders, Germany,Italy, and Spain. A long succession of French marshals andgenerals have testified to the extraordinary bravery of thesetroops, and to their good conduct under all circumstances. Notonly in France did Irishmen play a prominent part in militarymatters, but they were conspicuous in every continental army, andtheir descendants are still to be found bearing honoured namesthroughout Europe.
Happily, those days are past, and for over a hundred years thecourage and military capacity of Irishmen have been employed inthe service of Great Britain. For records of the doings of some ofthe regiments of the Irish Brigade, during the years 1706-1710, Iam indebted to the painstaking account of the Irish Brigade in theservice of France, by J. C. O'Callaghan; while the accounts of thewar in Spain are drawn from the official report, given in Boyer'sAnnals of the Reign of Queen Anne, which contains a mine ofinformation of the military and civil events of the time.
G. A. Henty.
Chapter 1: Fresh from Ireland.
A number of officers of O'Brien's regiment of foot, forming a partof the Irish Brigade in the service of France, were gathered in ahandsome apartment in the Rue des Fosses, on the 20th of June,1701, when the door opened, and their colonel entered with a youngofficer in the uniform of the regiment.
"I have asked you here, gentlemen all," he said, "to present toyou a new comrade, Desmond Kennedy, who, through the good officesof the Marshal de Noailles, has been appointed, by His GraciousMajesty, to a cornetcy in our regiment.
"Now, gentlemen, I have known, and doubtless you can all of yourecall, instances where the harmony of a regiment has beengrievously disturbed, and bad blood caused, owing to the want of aclear understanding upon matters connected with a family; whichmight have been avoided, had proper explanations been given at thecommencement. I have spoken frankly to Mr. Kennedy, and he hasstated to me certain particulars, and has not only authorized me,but requested me to repeat them to you, feeling that you had aright to know who it was that had come among you, and so to avoidquestioning on matters that are, of all others, prone to lead totrouble among gentlemen.
"Beyond the fact that he is a Kennedy, and that his father had tofly from Ireland, two years after the siege of Limerick, owing toa participation in some plot to bring about a fresh rising infavour of King James, he is unacquainted with his family history.He has never heard from his father, and only knows that he madefor France after throwing the usurper's spies off his track, andthere can be little doubt that it was his intention to takeservice in this brigade. There have been several Kennedys in theservice, and I have little doubt that this young gentleman'sfather was the Murroch Kennedy who joined the third regiment,about that time, and was killed a few months afterwards at thebattle of Breda. His death would account for the fact that his sonnever received a letter from him. At the time when he leftIreland, the child was some two years old, and, as communicationwas difficult, and the boy so young, Murroch might very well haveput off writing until the boy grew older, not thinking that deathmight intervene, as it did, to prevent his doing so.
"This is all simple and straightforward enough, and you will, I amsure, have no hesitation in extending the hand of friendship tothe son of a gallant Irishman, who died fighting in the ranks ofthe Irish Brigade, exiled, like the rest of us, for loyalty to ourking.
"Still, gentlemen, you might, perhaps, wonder how it is that heknows no more of his family, and it was that this question mightbe disposed of, once for all, that I am making this statement toyou on his behalf. He was not brought up, as you might expect,with some of his father's connections. Whether the family were soscattered that there was no one to whom he could safely entrustthe child, I know not, but, in point of fact, he sent him to oneof the last houses where a loyal gentleman would wish his son tobe brought up. We all know by name and reputation--I and yourmajors knew him personally--the gallant James O'Carroll, who died,fighting bravely, at the siege of Limerick. He was succeeded inhis estate by his brother John, one of the few Irishmen of goodfamily who turned traitor to his king, and who secured thesuccession to his brother's possessions by becoming an ardentsupporter of the usurper, and by changing his religion.
"Why Murroch Kennedy should have chosen such a man as the guardianof his son is a mystery. Whether they had been great friends inearlier times, when John O'Carroll professed as warm an attachmentto the Stuart cause as did his brother James, or whether Kennedypossessed such knowledge of O'Carroll's traitorous dealings withthe Dutchman as would, if generally known, have rendered him sohateful to all loyal men that he could no longer have remained inthe country, and so had a hold over him, Mr. Kennedy can tell usnothing. He was brought by his nurse to Castle Kilkargan, and wasleft with John O'Carroll. It is clear that the latter accepted thecharge unwillingly, for he sent the child to a farm, where heremained until he was eight years old, and then placed him withthe parish priest, who educated him. The lad visited at the housesof the neighbouring gentry, shot and rowed and fished with theirsons. O'Carroll, however, beyond paying for his maintenance, allbut ignored his existence, showing no interest whatever in him, upto the time when he
furnished him with a letter of introduction tode Noailles, except that he made him a present of a gun, as soonas he became of an age to use one. He never attempted to tamperwith his loyalty to King James, and in fact, until he sent for himto ask what profession he would choose, he never exchanged tenwords with him, from the time that he was brought to the castle.
"We can each form our own theory as to the cause of such strangeconduct. He may have given a pledge, to Murroch, that the boyshould be brought up a loyalist, and a true son of the church. Itmay have been that the loyalty of the boy's father formed sounpleasant a contrast to his own disloyalty, and apostasy, that hedisliked the sight of him. However, these theories can make nodifference in our reception of Desmond Kennedy, as a gentleman ofa good family, and as the son of a loyal adherent of the king; andas such, I think that I can, from what I have already seen of him,assert that he is one who will be a good comrade, a pleasantcompanion, and a credit to the regiment."
The subject of these remarks was a tall and handsome young fellow,some sixteen years of age. He was already broad at the shoulders,and promised to become an exceedingly powerful man. He had stoodsomewhat behind the colonel, watching calmly the effect of hiswords on those whose comrade he was to be, for he knew howpunctilious were his countrymen, on the subject of family, placingas much or even more value than did the Scots, on points ofgenealogy, and of descent from the old families. His frank openface, his bearing and manner, did as much to smooth his way as didthe speech of his colonel, who, when he had been introduced tohim, two days before, had questioned him very closely on thesubject of his family. It had almost been a matter of satisfactionto Desmond when he heard, from the colonel, that the officer whohad fallen at Breda was probably the father of whom he had noremembrance; for, from the time he attained the age of boyhood, ithad been a grief and pain that he should never have heard from hisfather, who, it now appeared, had been prevented by death fromever communicating with him.
The officers received him cordially. They had little doubt that hewas the son of the Murroch Kennedy, of Dillon's regiment,although, after they separated, some wonder was expressed as tothe reason why the latter had committed his son to the care of sonotorious a traitor as John O'Carroll.
Desmond had been specially introduced to two of the younglieutenants, Patrick O'Neil and Phelim O'Sullivan, and these tookhim off with them to their quarters.
"And what is the last news from Ireland? I suppose that theconfiscations have ceased, for the excellent reason that they haveseized the estates of every loyal gentleman in the country?"
"That was done long ago, in the neighbourhood of Kilkargan, and,so far as I know, everywhere the feeling is as bitter as ever,among those who have been dispossessed, and also among the tenantsand peasantry, who have found themselves handed over to themercies of Dutchmen, or other followers of William. At Kilkarganthere was not that grievance; but, although they had still one ofthe old family as their master, they could not forgive him fordeserting to the side of the usurper, nor for changing hisreligion in order to do pleasure to William. Certainly, he canhave derived but little satisfaction from the estates. He seldomshowed himself out of doors, never without two or three armedservants, all of whom were strangers from the north, and he wasoften away, for months together, at Dublin."
"And what did you do with yourself?"
"I fished, shot, and rode. I had many friends among the gentry ofthe neighbourhood, who would, doubtless, have shown less kindnessthan they did, had it not been for the neglect with whichO'Carroll treated me. His unpopularity was all in my favour.
"However, I have one good reason for being obliged to him, sinceit was through him that I obtained my commission. He told me that,in his young days, he had been at a French college with the duke.They had been great friends there, and he thought that, in memoryof this, de Noailles would procure me a commission."
"I suppose the real fact was, Kennedy, that he was glad to get ridof you altogether?"
"I think that is likely enough. He certainly raised no objection,whatever, to my going abroad, and seemed to think it natural thatI should choose the Irish Brigade, here, in preference to theBritish service. He said something unpleasant about its not beingsingular that I should be a rebel, when I always associated withrebels, to which I replied that it seemed to me that I couldhardly be blamed for that, seeing that my father had been what hecalled a rebel, and that I had little choice in the matter of myassociates; and that if I had been educated at a school inEngland, instead of by good Father O'Leary, I might have had othersentiments. He replied that my sentiments were nothing to him, oneway or the other. He was glad to wash his hands of me altogether;and, at any rate, if I went to France, I could drink the health ofKing James every day without his being involved in my treason."
"It almost looked as if he wished you to grow up a rebel, Kennedy,or he would hardly have placed you in the charge of a priest. Hemay have reckoned that if there was another rising, you might joinit, and so be taken off his hands, altogether."
"Whatever the reason was, I have certainly cause for satisfactionthat he removed me from the care of the farmer's wife, with whomhe at first placed me, and arranged with the priest to take chargeof me altogether. O'Leary himself had been educated at Saint Omer,and was a splendid fellow. He was very popular on the countryside,and it was owing to my being with him that I was admitted to thehouses of the gentry around, whereas, had I remained in thefarmhouse in which O'Carroll first placed me, I should only haveassociated with the sons of other tenants."
"It looked, at any rate, as if he wished to make a gentleman ofyou, Kennedy."
"Yes, I suppose my father had asked him to do so. At any rate, Iwas infinitely better off than I should have been if he had takenme in at Kilkargan, for in that case I should have had noassociates, whatever. As it was, I scarcely ever exchanged a wordwith him, until that last meeting. He sent down, by one of hisservants, the letter to the Duc de Noailles, and a bag containingmoney for my outfit here, and for the purchase of a horse,together with a line saying that he had done his duty by me, andhad no desire to hear from me in the future. I was inclined tosend the money back to him, but Father O'Leary persuaded me not todo so, saying that I must be in a position to buy these things, ifI obtained a commission; and that, no doubt, the money had beengiven me, not for my own sake, but because he felt that he owed itto me, for some service rendered to him by my father."
"It was an ungracious way of doing it," O'Sullivan said, "but, inyour circumstances, I should have taken the money had it come fromthe old one himself. It is, perhaps, as well that it should havebeen done in such a manner that you may well feel you owe no greatgratitude towards such a man."
"And how did you get over here?"
"There was no great difficulty about that. In spite of theactivity of the English cruisers, constant communication is keptup between Ireland and France, and fortunately I had, a short timebefore, made the acquaintance of one of your officers, who wasover there, in disguise, gathering recruits for the Brigade."
"Yes, there are a good many agents in Ireland engaged in thatwork. There is no difficulty in obtaining recruits, for there isscarcely a young Irishman who does not long to be with hiscountrymen, who have won such credit out here, and many abstainfrom joining only because they do not know how to set about it.The work of the agents, then, is principally to arrange means fortheir crossing the channel. It is well that the supply is steadilykept up, for, I can assure you, every battle fought makes veryheavy gaps in our ranks; but in spite of that, three freshregiments have been raised, in the last year, partly by freshcomers from Ireland, and partly by Irish deserters fromMarlborough's regiments.
"But I am interrupting your story."
"Well, after leaving Mr. O'Carroll, and making my preparations, Ipaid a visit to the cottage where the officer was staying, indisguise, and told him that I wanted to cross. He gave instructionsas to how to proceed. I was to go to a certain street in Cork, andknock at a certain door. When it was opened, I was to
say, 'The seais calm and the sky is bright'.
"'Then', he said, 'you will be taken in hand, and put on board oneof the craft engaged in the work of carrying our recruits acrossthe water. You will be landed at Saint Malo, where there is anagent of the Brigade, who gives instructions to the recruits as tohow they are to proceed, supplies them with money enough for thejourney, and a man to accompany each party, and act as interpreteron the way.
"I carried out his instructions, crossed the channel in a luggerwith thirty young peasants, bound also for Paris, and, on landingat Saint Malo, took my place in the diligence for Paris; having,fortunately, no need for an interpreter. On my presenting myletter to the Marquis de Noailles, he received me with greatkindness, and treated me as a guest, until he had obtained me acommission in your regiment.
"Now, when are we likely to go on active service?"
"Soon, I expect," O'Neil said; "but whether we shall be sent tothe Peninsula, or to Flanders, no one knows. In fact, it is likelyenough that we shall, for the present, remain here; until it isseen how matters go, and where reinforcements will be mostrequired. It is but ten months since we came into garrison, inParis, and we may therefore expect to be one of the last regimentsordered off.
"For my part, I am in no particular hurry to exchange comfortablequarters, and good living, and such adventures as may fall to thelot of a humble subaltern, for roughing it in the field; where, ashas been the case ever since the Brigade was formed, we get a gooddeal more than our fair share of hard work and fighting."
"I should have thought that you would all have liked that,"Desmond said, in some surprise.
"Enough is as good as a feast," the other said; "and when you havedone a few weeks' work in trenches, before a town you arebesieging; stood knee deep for hours in mud, soaked to the skinwith rain, and with the enemy's shot coming through the parapetevery half minute or so; you will see that it is not all fun andglory.
"Then, too, you see, we have no particular interest in thequarrels between France and Germany. When we fight, we fightrather for the honour of the Irish Brigade, than for the glory ofFrance. We have a grudge against the Dutch, and fight them asinterested parties, seeing that it was by his Dutch troops thatWilliam conquered Ireland. As to the English troops, we have noparticular enmity against them. Cromwell's business is an oldstory, and I don't suppose that the English soldier feels anyparticular love for Queen Anne, or any animosity against us. Andafter all, we are nearer in blood to them than we are to theGermans, Austrians, or Spaniards, for there are few, even of ouroldest families, who have not, many times since the days ofStrongbow, intermarried with the English settlers. At any rate,there are still plenty of adherents of King James in England andScotland. We speak the same language, and form part of the samenation, and I own that I would rather fight against any foreignfoe than against them."
"So would I," Desmond said heartily. "Our only point of differenceis that we don't agree as to who should be king. We want aCatholic king, and the majority of the English want a Protestantking. We have fought on the subject, and been beaten. Next time,we hope that we may succeed. If the king were to land in Englandagain, I would fight heart and soul in his cause; but whether theFrench beat the English, in the present war, or the English beatthe French, will not, as far as I can see, make much difference toKing James; who, Father O'Leary tells me, is, in his opinion,supported here by the French king from no great love for himself,but because, so long as James has adherents in Ireland, Scotland,and England, he is able to play him off against the EnglishGovernment."
The other young men laughed.
"For heaven's sake, Kennedy, keep such sentiments as these toyourself. It is a matter of faith, in our brigade, that we arefighting in the cause of King James, as against the Englishusurper. Now that William is dead, and James's daughter on thethrone, matters are complicated somewhat; and if the Parliamenthad settled the succession, after Anne, on her brother, theremight have been an end of the quarrel altogether. But now thatthey have settled it on Sophia of Hanover, granddaughter of Jamesthe 1st, and her descendants, subject to the restriction that theyshall be Protestants, the quarrel does not seem likely to behealed."
"This priest of yours must be a dangerous man," O'Sullivan said.
"Not at all. I can assure you, he is devoted to the king; but, ashe told me, there is no use in Irishmen always closing their eyesto the true state of things. He says that we must rely uponourselves, and our loyal friends in Scotland and England, but thathe is sure the king will never be placed on his throne by Frenchbayonets. A small auxiliary force may be sent over, but, in allthese years, Louis has made no real effort to assist him; and evenif, for his own purposes, he sent a great army to England, andplaced him on the throne, he would not be able to maintain himselfthere for a month after the French had withdrawn, for even arightful king would be hated by the people upon whom he had beenforced, by a foreign power, especially a power that had, forcenturies, been regarded as their chief enemy. If he had been inearnest, Louis would have sent over a great army, instead of a fewthousand men, to Ireland, when such a diversion would have turnedthe scale in our favour. As he did not do so then, he is notlikely to do so in the future. The king is useful to him, here, bykeeping up an agitation that must, to some extent, cripple thestrength of England; but, were a Stuart on the throne, he wouldhave to listen to the wishes of the majority of his people, andFrance would gain nothing by placing him there. Moreover, shewould lose the services of twenty thousand of her best soldiers,for naturally the exiles would all return home, and what is nowthe most valuable force in the French service, might then becomean equally important one in the service of Britain."
"I am glad that this priest of yours remains quietly in Kilkargan,for, if he were to come here, and expound his views among ourregiments, he might cause quite a defection among them. At anyrate, Kennedy, I should advise you not to take to propagating hisviews in the regiment. It would not add to your comfort, or ours,and there are a good many hot-headed men who would take up theidea that you had been infected by O'Carroll's principles."
"It would not be well for anyone to say as much to my face,"Desmond said. "Father O'Leary is loyal to the backbone, althoughhe has his own ideas as to the hopelessness of our obtaining anyefficient help from Louis. He thinks that it will be far better totrust to our friends at home, and that, even did Louis carry outhis promises, it would in the long run harm rather than benefitKing James."
"I am not saying that his view may not be correct, Kennedy. I amonly saying that the view would be a very unpopular one, among theBrigade. We are fighting for France because we believe thatFrance, in turn, will aid in placing our rightful king on thethrone, and if we once entertained the notion that Louis wasdeceiving us, that he had no intention of helping us, and that, ifhe did place James on the throne, he would alienate all hissympathizers at home, we should ask ourselves of what use was it,spending our blood in fighting the battles of France."
"At any rate, I will take your advice, O'Sullivan, and will keepmy lips sealed, as to Father O'Leary's views. As you see, by mypresence here, he has not convinced me, and as long as there is ahope that, by the aid of a French army, we may yet see our kingcome to his own again, I shall do my best to prove myself afaithful soldier of France. I have chosen my career with my eyesopen. A loyal Irishman cannot obtain employment, still lessmilitary employment, in his own country, and accordingly, we areto be found fighting as soldiers of fortune in every country inEurope. At least there is some chance that we may be benefitingthe royal cause by fighting for the country that gave King Jamesshelter, and rendered him armed assistance in his struggle withthe usurper, and will probably give aid, more or less efficient,when the next attempt is made. In other countries we are butsoldiers of fortune. In France we may regard ourselves as servingour own king by serving King Louis."
"Do you speak French well, Kennedy?" O'Neil said, changing theconversation abruptly.
"Yes. Father O'Leary took care of that, for I always said that Ishould ta
ke service abroad, as there was clearly nothing else todo for a living, and, consequently, he generally talked to me inthat language, and I speak it as well as I do English or Irish."
"You have not had much practice with the sword, I suppose?"
"Not so much as I could wish, though I never lost an opportunityof practising. There were several of the tenants who served in theregiment James O'Carroll raised. I used to practise with them, butI shall lose no time in getting the best instruction I can, here."
"You may want it, Kennedy. We are not particularly liked by theFrench officers, because we are generally chosen to lead anassault, or for other desperate service. Duelling is, of course,forbidden, but that in no way prevents duels from being frequent.As for fighting in action, as far as I have seen or heard,swordsmanship does not go for a great deal. If you press on hardenough, and there are men following you, the enemy give way,generally, before it comes to hand-to-hand fighting. If, on theother hand, they are the more numerous, and hold their position inthe breach, it is the musketry that settles it. It is only whentwo officers happen to meet, in a fierce fight, that swordsmanshipbecomes of importance.
"We have a good school in the regiment, and there are severalfamous masters of fence in the town, so I should advise you togive a couple of hours a day, for a time, to making yourself afirst-rate swordsman. I have just left off. Our maitre d'armestells me I am too hotheaded ever to make a fine blade; but Ishould fancy, from the way you have been arguing, that you arelikely to be cooler than most of us in a fencing bout. It is thefault with us all that we are apt to lose our tempers, and indeedMaitre Maupert, who is the best teacher here, declines absolutelyto take any of us as pupils, saying that, while we may doexcellently well in battle, he can never hope to make first-classfencers of men who cannot be relied upon to keep their heads cool,and to fight with pointed weapons as calmly as they might fencewith a friend in a saloon."
"Well, I shall work hard to become a fair swordsman," Desmondsaid, with a laugh. "I suppose there is plenty of time to spare."
"Plenty. We have a couple of hours' drill in the morning, andafter that, except when you are officer of the day, you can spendyour time as you like. The colonel and two of his officers attendat the king's levees, when he is in Paris, but, as he spends thegreater portion of his time at Versailles, we are seldom calledupon for that duty."
A few days after Desmond's arrival, the colonel took him with himto Saint Germain, where James the 3rd, as his supporters calledhim, held a miniature court. The colonel presented Desmond as aloyal subject of His Majesty, and a newly-joined cornet in hisregiment.
The young prince was a lad of eighteen. He was surrounded by agroup of courtiers, who had accompanied or followed his fatherinto exile, and whose insistence upon treating him with therespect due to a monarch was in no slight degree galling to him,for, as he often declared to the few friends he had about his ownage, he had all the disadvantages of being a king, without any ofthe advantages.
He was at once taken with the appearance of Desmond Kennedy.
"Ah, Monsieur Kennedy," he said, after the ceremony ofpresentation had been completed; "I wish that I had all myfaithful subjects, of the Irish Brigade, across the water with me;and that I could put on a uniform like yours, and fight at theirhead for my rights."
"I would that you had, Sire. It would be a good day for us all;and believe me, that either in Ireland or Scotland you would soonfind yourself at the head of an army, many times more numerousthan our brigade."
"They all tell me that I must wait," the young prince said, with asigh, "but I have been waiting a long time now, and it seems nonearer than when I was a child. However, the King of France haspromised me that it cannot be much longer; and that, whenMarlborough is defeated, and his army driven back across the sea,he will send a fleet and an army to place me on my throne."
"We shall all rejoice, indeed, when that time comes, Sire; and Iam sure there is not a man in the Irish Brigade who will notfollow you to the death, and serve you as faithfully as many ofthem did your royal father."
"I hope you will come here often, Monsieur Kennedy. I am sure thatI shall like you very much, and I think that you would always saywhat you thought, and tell me the real truth about things."
"Sire!" one of the older men exclaimed, reproachfully.
"I mean no reflection on anyone, Dillon. You all say what I amsure you feel, but you have grown accustomed to waiting, and allthink of what is politic, and complain that I speak too frankly.Monsieur Kennedy comes straight from Ireland, and he is not oldenough, yet, to have learned to measure his words, and will not bealways afraid that anything he may say will be carried to theking.
"How I wish that the king would send me with Marshal Tallard!"
"That would never do, Sire. The English are your subjects, andthey would never forgive you, if you were to appear in the fieldwith a French army, fighting against them."
"But the Irish Brigade fight, Dillon?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, but they are in the service of France, and, bythe terms of the treaty of Limerick, were allowed to expatriatethemselves, and to enter the French service. We have, in fact,renounced our nationality, with the consent of the English, and,if taken prisoners, could only be treated as captured foes, andnot as traitors. Of course, when Your Majesty ascends the throne,we shall again become British subjects."
"I trust that that may come soon, Dillon, and for your sake,rather than my own. When the time comes, you will not find mebackward, but this weary waiting tries me sorely, and, were it notfor those who have remained faithful to our cause, I would gladlyresign such chances as I have of succeeding to the throne ofEngland, and take a commission in the Irish Brigade."
Dillon and some of the elder men shook their heads.
"Can you wonder?" the young prince said, passionately. "Here isMaster Kennedy, who is younger than myself, though a free life andexercise have made him a man, in comparison to me. He has his lifebefore him. He will bear his part in many a pitched battle, and,doubtless, in many a private adventure. He is his own master, and,as long as he does his duty, there are none to say, 'you must notdo that; you must not say that; you must preserve your dignity;you must speak softly and discreetly; you must wait patiently.'
"I envy you, Master Kennedy. I envy you, from the bottom of myheart! Come often to see me. You will always be welcome;" and,turning abruptly away, he left the chamber hurriedly, to concealthe tears which filled his eyes.
His counsellors shook their heads solemnly, but Colonel O'Briensaid, warmly:
"What the king says is natural, for a man of his age; and, for mypart, it has increased my respect for him. I say it withoutoffence, but what could be duller than the life this lad leadshere? He has been brought up, literally, without a pleasure. Hislate Majesty, heaven rest his soul! was absorbed in his religiousexercises, and nothing could have been more trying, to a boy, thana court in which the priests and confessors were practicallysupreme. Since his father's death, things have been but littlebetter, and now I see that, at heart, the young king has plenty ofspirit and energy, I can feel that his life has been that of acaged hawk, and I am not surprised that he occasionally breaks outinto revolt against it. It would, methinks, do him a world ofgood, had he a few companions about his own age, like EnsignKennedy. I would even say that, although I can quite understandthat, as King of England, he could not well take a commission inone of our regiments, he might at least be placed with one of ourmost experienced and honoured colonels, in order to learn militaryexercises, and to mix with the officers as any other noblemanmight do, when attached to the regiment."
Murmurs of dissent arose among the counsellors.
"Well, gentlemen," the colonel went on, "I have no desire tointerfere with your functions, but, in my opinion, it is good thata king should also be a general. Did anyone think any the worse ofDutch William, that he was able to command his army, personally?None of us can believe that King James will ever succeed to theinheritance of his fathers, without fighting; and it
would bewell, indeed, that he should not appear as a puppet, but as onequalified to command. It was the fault, or rather the misfortune,of his father, that he was unfit to lead his troops in the field.Had he been able to do so, he would, in all probability, have diedKing of England, instead of as a fugitive and a pensioner of KingLouis. In one way, it grieves me to see that the young king feelshis position acutely; but, on the other hand, I am rejoiced to seethat he is in no way lacking in spirit, and that he longs to beout of his cage, and to try his wings for himself.
"Well, gentlemen, having had my say, I will take my leave of you,as duty calls me back to my regiment. I trust that the franknesswith which I have spoken will not be misunderstood."
So saying, with a bow to the courtiers he left the room, followedby Kennedy.
"They mean well," he said, after they had mounted, and ridden offat a gallop; "but it is a pity that these gentlemen, all loyal andhonourable men as they are, should surround the young king. Theysuited, well enough, to the mood of his father, who was alwayswanting in spirit, and was broken down, not only by the loss ofhis kingdom, but by the conduct of his daughters; and, what withthat, and his devotion to religion, he was rather a monk than amonarch. He believed--but most mistakenly--that he had a geniusfor politics, and was constantly intriguing with his adherents athome, notably Marlborough and other lords, from whom he obtainedfair words and promises of support, but nothing else. But thoughhe could plan, he did not possess a spark of energy, and was oneof the most undecided of men, though, like most undecided men, hecould be extremely obstinate; and, unfortunately, the more wronghe was, the more obstinately he held to his course.
"However, all this can make no difference in our devotion to theStuart cause. But I hail, with satisfaction, the prospect that, inhis son, we may have one to whom we may feel personally loyal; forthere can be no doubt that men will fight with more vigour, for aperson to whom they are attached, than for an abstract idea."
"I have heard Father O'Leary say the same, sir. His opinion wasthat, had the late king possessed the qualities that commanded thepersonal admiration and fidelity of his followers, and excitedsomething like enthusiasm among the people at large, he wouldnever have lost his throne; nor, could he have led his armies, asdid Gustavus or Charles the 12th of Sweden, would William ofOrange ever have ventured to cross to England."
"It was a bad business, altogether, lad. His cause was practicallylost, from the day that William set foot upon English soil. Hehad, in reality, no personal friends; and those who would haveremained faithful to the cause, were paralysed by his indecisionand feebleness. Charles the Martyr made many mistakes, but he hadthe passionate adherence of his followers. His personality, andhis noble appearance, did as much for him as the goodness of hiscause; while his son, James, repelled rather than attractedpersonal devotion. I trust that his grandson will inherit some ofhis qualities. His outburst, today, gave me hope that he will doso; but one must not build too much on that. It may have been onlythe pettishness of a young man, sick of the constant tutelage towhich he is subjected, and the ennui of the life he leads, ratherthan the earnestness of a noble spirit.
"Of course, Kennedy, I need not tell you that it would be well tomake no mention, to anyone, of the scene that you have witnessed."
"I shall certainly make no mention of it to anyone, sir. I amsorry, indeed, for the young king. His life must be a dreadfulone, conscious of the impossibility of breaking the bonds in whichhe is held, and knowing that his every word and action will bereported, by spies, to the King of France."
For three months, Desmond Kennedy worked hard at drill and swordexercise. He became a general favourite in the regiment, owing tohis good temper, high spirits, and readiness to join in everythingthat was going on.
He went over, several times, to Saint Germain. At first, theking's counsellors looked but coldly upon him, and he would haveceased to come there, had it not been for the unaffected pleasureshown by the king at his visits. In time, however, two of theprincipal men at the little court requested him to have aconversation with them, before going into the king's chamber.
"You will understand, Mr. Kennedy," one of them said, when theyhad seated themselves in a quiet spot in the garden; "that we,standing in the position of His Majesty's counsellors, are in aposition of great responsibility. His Majesty, as we admit is butnatural, chafes over the inaction to which he is condemned bycircumstances; and is apt, at times, to express his desire foraction in terms which, if they came to the ears of King Louis, aswe have every reason to believe is sometimes the case, would dohim and the cause serious injury. Naturally, we should be glad forhim to have companions of his own age, but it behoves us to bemost careful that such companionship should not add to ourdifficulties in this direction; and we should view withsatisfaction a friendship between the young king and one who, likeyourself, is nearly of his own age and, as we can see, full ofspirit and energy. In these matters the king is deficient; but itwould be better that he should, for the present, remain as he is,rather than that he should, in acquiring more manly habits, growstill more impatient and discontented with his position.
"We have naturally taken some little trouble in finding out howyou stand in your regiment, and we hear nothing but good of you.You are much liked by your comrades, pay the greatest attention toyour military exercises, and are regarded as one who will, someday, do much credit to the regiment; and we feel that, in mostrespects, your influence could not but be advantageous to theyoung king; but the good that this might do him would be more thanbalanced, were you to render him still more impatient than he isfor action. You may well suppose that we, exiles as we have beenfor so many years from our country, are not less impatient than hefor the day of action; but we know that such action must dependupon the King of France, and not upon ourselves. We would gladlyrisk all, in an effort to place him on the throne of England, torepair past injustices and cruel wrongs; but, were we to movewithout the assistance of Louis, instead of achieving that objectwe might only bring fresh ruin, confiscations, and death upon theroyalists of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Are you of ouropinion?"
"Completely so, sir. Of course, I know but little of what ispassing, save in the neighbourhood where I have been brought up;but I know that there, even among the king's most devotedadherents, there is a feeling that nothing can possibly be doneuntil France lends her aid, in earnest. The English army is farstronger than it was when we were last in arms, and when Williamhad to rely, almost entirely, upon his Dutch troops and Dutchgenerals; while the friends of the Stuarts are almost withoutarms, without leaders, and without organization."
"That is good, Mr. Kennedy; and, if we were to sanction KingJames's forming an intimacy with you, can I understand that wecould rely upon your not using your influence to add to hisimpatience for action, and discontent with his present position?"
"Certainly, sir. Being so recently from Ireland, I could assurehim that even his most devoted adherents, there, are of opinionthat no rising could be attended with success, unless backed byFrench arms, and especially by the aid of the Irish Brigade, whichhas already won such renown for itself, and whose appearance wouldexcite the greatest enthusiasm among all Irishmen."
"In that case, Mr. Kennedy, so far from throwing any difficultiesin the way of His Majesty seeking your companionship, we shallencourage him, and shall be glad to see you here, as often as yourmilitary duties will permit."