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Title: Loyalist Myths Author: Gregor Kerr Date: 7/7/97 Language: en Topics: Britain, nationalism, Ireland, sectarianism, myths Source: http://struggle.ws/talks/king_billy.html Notes: a talk by Gregor Kerr at WSM Open Meeting 7/7/97
It is often said that history is written by the victors. It is probably
more true to say however that history is written by the rulers or by
those with ambition to rule. In this talk I want to look at the events
of a period of Irish history which has had a profound effect on the
events of the three centuries since and which is the source of many of
the sectarian myths which people - especially those in the Six
Counties - are still suffering the consequences of. Over three hundred
years ago two contenders for the English throne fought their way around
Ireland. Nationalist historians extol the virtues of the "Patriotic"
Irish forces and their French allies which fought with King James II in
defence of Catholicism and Ireland. Unionist politicians and historians
on the other hand praise the memory of King William of Orange and his
great victory at the Battle of the Boyne in defence of "Civil and
Religious Liberty". The truth however is vastly different.
The Orange Parades on and around the twelfth of July have long been a
bone of serious contention and indeed a source of sectarian conflict in
the Six Counties. Members of the Orange Order demand their unalienable
right to march the Queen's highway, as their forefathers before them
have done, in commemoration of the victory of King William of Orange at
the battle of the Boyne - a victory (as the Orangemen see it) for
religious and civil liberty. Nationalists, on the other hand, see the
Orange Parades as nothing more than a coat-trailing exercise designed to
keep the Catholic population in their place and to pound forward the
message that Northern Ireland is an Orange state and that nationalists
are and will always remain second class citizens in that state.
It is interesting in this context to look back at the events of just
over 300 years ago and to analyse exactly what was involved in the war
between William of Orange (King Billy as he is popularly known) and
James II of England. This war - popular mythology would have us
believe - was a struggle to defend the Protestant religion against the
Roman Catholic Church. In reality, however, the Williamite War - in
Ireland - was effectively a war between two factions for mastery over
the Irish people. And far from being a war to defend Protestantism
against the Catholic Church, William of Orange counted among his allies
none other than the Pope of Rome - the head of the Roman Catholic
Church!! The Pope and King Billy were in fact political buddies engaged
in a bitter European power struggle in which Ireland's people - both
Catholic and Protestant - were mere sacrificial pawns.
England - and even more so Ireland - were for William of Orange (the
ruler of Holland) simply useful tools in his campaign to free Holland
from French domination. James II of England had fled to France and to
the protection of Louis XIV following an unsuccessful attempt to give
all chief state offices in England to Catholic aristocrats. An alliance
composed of wealthy landowners and merchants and the Church of England -
alarmed by James' actions - invited his son-in-law, the ruler of
Holland - William of Orange - to take over!
On November 5th 1688, William landed in England and James found himself
deserted by his army, navy, court functionaries, the Law, the Church,
the City and even his own family. Fearing for his life, he fled to
France and the safety of the Court of Louis XIV. William and his wife
Mary were installed as joint monarchs of England after they had agreed a
Bill of Rights and an Act of Settlement (which limited the royal
succession exclusively to Protestants, even marriage to a Catholic being
a disqualification).
In order to understand the effects of all this on Ireland, we must first
of all understand what was going on in Europe at the time. We must ask
why did William, a Dutchman, come to England, and why did James seek
political asylum in France? Louis XIV, autocrat of France and supreme
representative of feudalism in Europe, was busily engaged at the time in
spreading French dominance in the western world. In the struggle to
achieve control Louis required allies, and to upset the balance of power
he needed England on his side. James' flight to France was thus mutually
beneficial for both the French monarch and the deposed English monarch.
James saw his alliance with Louis as a means whereby he could
re-establish his dominance at home whereas Louis saw the potential of a
re-installed James in terms of his own efforts to dominate Europe.
William of Orange, on the other hand, was fighting for the independence
of Holland against Louis and as such was very interested in having
England on his side. Thus William's view of the throne of England was
its usefulness in defending the national independence of Holland.
It is because William - a Protestant - came to England at the invitation
of the Whigs to help them defeat James - a Catholic - that the
Williamite war has since been described as a struggle to defend the
Protestant religion against the Roman Catholic Church. However the
historical realities of the alliances formed in Europe at the time
explode this Orange-Unionist-Protestant myth. In fact Catholic Spain was
one of William's main allies in the fight against the spread of French
dominance. And - wait for it - the Pope - as temporal monarch of Italy -
was a fervent supporter of William's claim to the English throne and a
military ally in the fight against Louis and France. When William and
his army arrived on English soil, he brought with him a Papal blessing
and a banner proclaiming the support of Italy and the Pope!!
The maintenance of Protestant England's independence thus coincided with
William's interests which in turn coincided with the interest of
Catholic Spain and the Pope himself. For Ireland the story was somewhat
different. Whoever won the power struggle between William and James the
mass of Irish people stood to lose. The events in Ireland during James'
attempts to win back the English monarchy proved that neither William
and his allies, including the Pope, or James and his ally Louis XIV were
in the slightest bit interested in the welfare of the Irish people.
In Ireland the accession of the Catholic James II to the throne of
England had excited great interest among the Catholic landlord class.
This loyalty to James was purely economic in base with many of them
hoping that the Cromwellian settlements would be revoked enabling them
to return to ownership of lands which they, or their ancestors had owned
in pre-Cromwell times ( having, of course, robbed them from Irish people
in a previous settlement). Over two-thirds of Ireland's good arable land
was at the time owned by less than one-sixth of the total population,
the land-owning minority being almost completely members of the
Protestant landlord class. Thus the Catholic landlord class welcomed
James, the Protestant landowners feared him and for the mass of Irish
people whoever won nothing was likely to change.
In Ireland the struggle known as the Williamite Wars was effectively a
fight between two factions of landlordism to decide which of them should
have the right to exploit the Irish people. As James Connolly was to
write in "Labour in Irish History" in 1910
"Éall the political struggles of the period were built upon the material
interests of one set of usurpers who wished to retain, and another who
wished to obtain, the mastery of those landsÉ"
In March 1689, James II landed at Kinsale in Co. Cork with a small army
comprised of French and Irish troops to launch his bid to win back the
English crown. James had in fact little or no interest in Ireland but
hoped to use it as a landing post to get to Scotland. On 7th May James
called together a parliament to meet in Dublin - a parliament which,
because it declared that the English parliament was incompetent to pass
laws for Ireland, was to become known as the "Patriot Parliament".
The extent of the parliament's "patriotism" soon became clear however.
The problems of the Irish people as a whole were ignored completely as
this parliament quickly set about the task of attempting to secure
ownership of the lands of Ireland for the landlords assembled in
parliament and to prevent further displacement by other adventurers from
England. The landlord class who controlled the parliament used the
occasion to carve up Ireland for themselves, ignoring the mass of people
and leaving them landless. To quote Connolly again:
"The so-called Patriot Parliament was in reality, like every other that
sat in Dublin, merely a collection of land thieves and their lackeys;
their patriotism consisted in an effort to retain for themselves the
spoils of the native peasantry; the English influence against which they
protested was the influence of their fellow thieves in England hungry
for a share of the spoilÉ"
William of Orange sent his first battalion of troops to Ireland on
August 13th 1689 and William himself arrived over on 14th June 1690.
With an army of 36,000 men he left Belfast on the march to Dublin.
Despite the myth, the actual Battle of the Boyne was of little
significance as it did not end the war. Indeed we should also remember
that, despite the fact that he was supposedly fighting for England and
Protestantism, the English parliament was extremely reluctant to give
William the army he needed to conquer Ireland saying that he had plenty
of Dutchmen anyway. So when William did cross the Boyne on July 1st
1690, he had an army consisting of the riffraff of Europe's mercenaries.
His army was made up of Dutch, Danes, Swedes, Prussians and French
Huguenots plus a few English, Scottish and Ulster regiments.
William's army was slightly superior in numbers to James' and indeed the
most capable soldier on James' side - Patrick Sarsfield advised against
entering battle on the Boyne. James, however, overruled the advice, was
overrun and beat a hasty retreat to Dublin where he immediately set sail
for France, leaving the Irish people to suffer the consequences of his
actions.
William's victory at the Boyne was greeted with enthusiasm in Rome. The
Pope welcomed the victory of the "European Alliance" forces and
Pontifical High Mass was celebrated in thanksgiving for the deliverance
from the power of the Catholic Louis XIV and the Catholic James II.
Meanwhile King Billy marched on and on July 7th entered Dublin. In rapid
succession Drogheda, Kilkenny and Waterford surrendered but William's
troops were repulsed at Athlone.
James' army, under the command of Patrick Sarsfield had fallen back to
defend the line of the River Shannon. William laid siege to the city of
Limerick, and leaving his army under the command of baron de Ginkel,
King Billy left for England. The war between the two armies - both of
whose "leaders" had fled the country was to continue until October 1691
with significant battles taking place at Athlone, Aughrim Galway and, of
course, Limerick. On October 13th 1691 the Articles of Capitulation - to
become known as the Treaty of Limerick - were signed and King Billy's
victory was assured. Over 20,000 Irish men fled to France (becoming
known in history as the "Wild Geese") and entered the service of the
King of France where they formed the "Irish Brigade" and indeed it is
reckoned that over the next fifty years 450,000 Irishmen died in the
service of the King of France.
Thus an inglorious period of Irish history came to an end - a period
around which there have been more myths propagated than Hans Christian
Andersen or any other great storyteller could have dreamt of. It is a
period of Irish history which the history books portray variously as a
war between Protestantism and Catholicism or as one between the English
King Billy and Irish patriots supported by King James II and the French.
For a true perspective on these events, however, James Connolly's
"Labour in Irish History" explodes the myths and I would in conclusion
like to quote extensively from it.
"It is unfortunately beyond all question that the Irish Catholics shed
their blood like water and wasted their wealth like dirt in an effort to
retain King James upon the throne. But it is equally beyond all question
that the whole struggle was no earthly concern of theirs; that King
James was one of the most worthless representatives of a race that ever
sat upon the throne; that the "pious, glorious and immortal" William was
a mere adventurer fighting for his own hand, and his army recruited from
the impecunious swordsmen of Europe who cared as little for
Protestantism as they did for human life; and that neither army had the
slightest claim to be considered as a patriot army combating for the
freedom of the Irish race."
"The war between William and James (Connolly continues) offered a
splendid opportunity to the subject people of Ireland to make a bid for
freedom while the forces of their oppressors were rent in civil war. The
opportunity was cast aside, and the subject people took sides on behalf
of the opposing factions of their enemiesÉÉÉ. The Catholic gentlemen and
nobles who had the leadership of the people of Ireland at the time were,
one and all, men who possessed considerable property in the country,
property to which they had, notwithstanding their Catholicity, no more
right to title than the merest Cromwellian or Williamite adventurer. The
lands they held were lands which in former times belonged to the Irish
people - in other words, they were tribe-lands."
Finally from Connolly:
"The forces which battled beneath the walls of Derry or Limerick were
not the forces of England and Ireland but were the forces of two English
political parties fighting for the possession of the powers of
government; and the leaders of the Irish Wild Geese on the battlefields
of Europe were not shedding their blood because of their fidelity to
Ireland, as our historians pretend to believe, but because they had
attached themselves to the defeated side in English politics. This fact
was fully illustrated by the action of the old Franco-Irish at the time
of the French Revolution. They in a body volunteered into the English
army to help put down the new French Republic, and as a result Europe
witnessed the spectacle of the new republican Irish exiles fighting for
the French Revolution, and the sons of the old aristocratic Irish exiles
fighting under the banner of England to put down that Revolution. It is
time we learned to appreciate and value the truth upon such matters, and
to brush from our eyes the cobwebs woven across them by our ignorant or
unscrupulous history-writing politicians."