ithdrew and established a
strongly fortified camp near Dundalk. James advanced to a point about
seven miles from Schomberg, and there entrenched himself in turn, and so
the two armies remained; as one of Schomberg's officers says, "our
General would not risk anything, nor King James venture anything." The
long delay was very fatal to Schomberg's army, his losses by sickness
and disease being more than six thousand men.

Early in November, as winter was already making itself felt, James
decided to withdraw to Dublin; as our narrator says, "the young
commanders were in some haste to return to the capital, where the ladies
expected them with great impatience; so that King James, being once more
persuaded to disband the new levies and raising his camp a little of the
soonest, dispersed his men too early into winter quarters, having spent
that campaign without any advantage, vainly expecting that his
Protestant subjects of England who were in the camp of Schomberg would
come over to him. And now the winter season, which should be employed in
serious consultations, and making the necessary preparations for the
ensuing campaign, was idly spent in revels, in gaming, and other
debauches unfit for a Catholic court. But warlike Schomberg, who, after
the retreat of James, had leisure to remove his sickly soldiers, to bury
the dead, and put the few men that remained alive and were healthy into
winter quarters of refreshment, took the field early in spring, before
Tyrconnell was awake, and reduced the castle of Charlemont, the only
place that held for James in Ulster, which was lost for want of
provisions; and the concerns of the unfortunate James were ill-managed
by those whom he entrusted with the administration of public affairs."

We come thus to the spring of 1690. Derry was still holding out
valiantly against the horrors of famine and sickness, the blockade being
maintained, though nothing like a determined storm was attempted. A
little of the courage shown by the apprentices of Derry, had he
possessed it, might have revived the drooping fortunes of the fugitive
English king. It seems, however, that even Schomberg's withdrawal to
Carrickfergus failed to arouse him to more vigorous and valiant
measures. It is clear that he was ready to abandon his Irish allies,
hoping by their betrayal to gain favor with his "subjects in England,"
whom he confidently expected to recall him, as they had recalled his
brother Charles thirty years