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 agreed to see him and Tyrconnel every day at four o'clock. Finding Tyrconnel apathetic, Lauzun exerted himself to cheer him, and on 20 May reported that he was in better heart (, vi. 107). Dover received a passport for Flanders before the end of June, ‘but I think,’ Lauzun wrote, ‘Lady Tyrconnel will keep him in Dublin while we are away’ (ib. vi. 111). Tyrconnel was with the rearguard of James's army during the retreat from Dundalk, and the defence of the passes over the Boyne was entrusted to him. On the day before the passage of the river the historian George Warter Story [q. v.] saw him riding along the opposite bank with Sarsfield, Berwick, and others. In the fight next day French officers noticed that he was lethargic from illness and unable to decide anything, but Lauzun expressly says that he fought bravely at the head of his regiment of horse (ib. vi. 119). When James had quitted the field, Tyrconnel retreated in good order along with the unbroken French troops. It is said that when the fugitive king reached Dublin, he complimented Lady Tyrconnel on the running powers of her husband's countrymen, and that she retorted ‘that his Majesty had the advantage of them.’ In consequence of urgent letters from Mary of Modena, Tyrconnel strongly advised James to return to France, which he did with the utmost precipitation (, ii. 406).

From Kinsale James wrote to Tyrconnel, leaving Ireland in his hands with power either to make terms or to carry on the war. Tyrconnel and Lauzun rode to Dublin together with the bulk of the defeated army, and from thence by Kilkenny to Limerick, where they arrived a few days later. Tyrconnel issued a proclamation ordering all troops to rendezvous at Limerick on pain of death (, Diary). The Irish party accusing him of treachery, Sarsfield and Henry Luttrell proposed to arrest him; but this plan was frustrated by Berwick, who was to have had the supreme command in his place. On the other hand, Tyrconnel suspected the Irish leaders of wishing to make separate terms for themselves (, vi. 124). He had sent his wife to France with all the money he could scrape together. Agreeing with Lauzun that Limerick was untenable, he withdrew to Galway with the French troops, while Boisseleau and Sarsfield remained to reap the glory of successful resistance. The siege of Limerick was raised on the last day of August, and Tyrconnel then returned to settle the command of the town upon Brigadier Dorington, and to make preparations for a future campaign. On 12 Sept. he sailed from Galway with Lauzun, Boisseleau, and their men, leaving Berwick in command of the troops. The Irish party, who were now at open war with Tyrconnel, sent agents to counteract his influence with James and with the French government.

Tyrconnel got first to France, and succeeded in gaining the confidence both of James and of Louis XIV, in spite of Justin Maccarthy and other Irishmen. He had heard on the road that Sarsfield and his friends were in good repute at Versailles, and that it would be therefore vain to attribute the late disasters to them, as he and Lauzun had agreed to do. He accordingly feigned illness, and allowed Lauzun to go on alone and tell the preconcerted story. The latter added that Tyrconnel had been the life of the cause, and the only support of French interests in Ireland. Having thus gained a certificate to character, Tyrconnel proceeded to attribute the loss of Ireland to the desertion of the French troops and by implication to Lauzun, who narrowly escaped imprisonment (Macariæ Excidium, p. 78). Tyrconnel was afterwards said to have declared that an Irish captain could live on bread and water (ib. p. 111). It was believed by some that Tyrconnel used French money, originally given for the Irish service, to administer judicious bribes at the French court. To James's English advisers he represented that he was of English extraction, that he had an English wife, and that he alone was fitted to keep Ireland in connection with the English crown. In the end he was appointed lord lieutenant, and returned to Ireland with about 8,000l., some arms and stores, and a promise of French officers to follow. He landed at Galway in the middle of January 1690–1, and went thence to Limerick. He had brought an earl's patent for Sarsfield, and the two men were on rather better terms after this. He took steps to prevent news arriving from France, lest he should be undermined by the Irish agents who arrived there after his departure (ib. p. 110). In March he cried down and suppressed the brass money which had done so much to make the government of James odious. Certificates were given to those who brought in the base coin, in order that they might be paid when the king should enjoy his own again. About the same time St. Ruth arrived to take the supreme military command, but his commission did not render him independent of Tyrconnel in his capacity of viceroy. Making the most of this, Tyrconnel appeared in the field as commander-in-chief, to the intense disgust of Sarsfield and the other Irish officers. It was he,