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 before.  James found an able lieutenant in Tyrconnell, who thoroughly entered into his master’s schemes of duplicity; and it is fairly clear that these two worthies, had occasion offered, would have betrayed each other with a perfectly good grace.

Thus matters dragged on quite indecisively until June, 1690, when King William landed at Carrickfergus with a mixed force of English, Scottish, Dutch, Danish, Swedish and German troops, and joined his forces to the remnant of Schomberg’s army.  James, as we saw, had disbanded his army on breaking up his camp in the previous autumn, and had made no effective effort to get a new army together.  Nor could he have used a strong army, had he possessed one.  Nevertheless James marched north with such troops as were available, leaving Dublin on June 16th.  He took up a strong position on the borders of Ulster and Leinster, thus blocking William’s way south to the capital, only to abandon it again on the news of William’s approach, when he retired to Drogheda and encamped there.  He thus gave the whole advantage of initiative into the hands of his opponent, a brave man and a skillful general.