David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

“ Thus, both in the army and in general society a malcontent party was formed, to which Schomberg’s sullenness gave too much encouragement. One reason for his discontent appears in the Treasury Papers, which contain a memorial from the Duke of Schomberg to the Lord High Treasurer, asking for “his arrears due to him in the last war, during which time he was Commander-in-Chief of the forces of England. He was obliged to be the more pressing, by reason of the great expense he had been at for Her Majesty’s service in the expedition to Portugal.” ”

“ If, nevertheless, the Dissenters were dangerous, severity is not so proper and effectual a method to reduce them to the Church, as a charitable indulgence, as is manifest by experience, there having been more Dissenters reconciled to the Church since the Act of Toleration, than in all the time from the Act of Uniformity to the time of the said Act of Toleration; and there is scarce one considerable family in England in communion with the Dissenters. ”

“ In 1703, the Schomberg estates in France must have been forfeited again. This was the year of the Methuen Treaty with Portugal, which was signed on the 16th of May and ratified on the 14th of July. Great Britain and Portugal then joined the Emperor of Germany and the Duke of Savoy in the Grand Alliance against France, and began to take part in the War of the Spanish Succession. The Emperor Joseph’s younger son, Archduke Charles of Austria, was proclaimed King of Spain, and Britain’s great practical aim was to establish him at Madrid upon the Spanish throne. ”

“ To the English dukedom he succeeded on the death of the second duke, his brother, in Piedmont; he took his seat in the House of Peers on the 4th, and proved his brother’s will on the 19th of November 1693. His son, and apparent heir, Charles, Earl of Bangor, who was in his tenth year, thus became by courtesy the Marquis of Harwich. The family seem to have been in favour at court. The Duchess of Schomberg and Leinster was deservedly esteemed. ”

“ Accordingly, Schomberg called the attention of the new government to the grant of King William to his father and to his English heirs, and how the affectionate and grateful intentions of the illustrious monarch were in danger of miscarrying, owing to unintentional inaccuracy in writing. A bill was therefore introduced into Parliament to enable King George to revoke the Letters Patent of William III., and to substitute a new grant by which a female heir might inherit ”

“ One writes:— “The enemy’s successes gave no small uneasiness in England, and the Duke of Schomberg, finding his advice had not that weight it deserved with the Portuguese, was desirous to quit a losing game.” So another:— “Duke Schomberg being sick of his command in Portugal, where he found neither horses for mounting the confederate cavalry, nor anything else they had engaged to provide in order to enable the allies to enter upon action, and the Portuguese generals insisting on the command of the English and the Dutch, as well as their own troops, he desired to be recalled.” ”

“ The Patent, which followed nearly a year afterwards, bore that William and Mary granted to Mainhardt Comte de Schomberg, on account of his very many and distinguished services to them, for many years past, rendered in this kingdom and in parts beyond the sea, the state, grade, dignity, title, and honour of Baron of Taragh in the county of Meath, Earl of Bangor in the county of Down, and Duke of Leinster in the kingdom of Ireland. ”

“ His German name, Mainhardt, was translated by the French into Menard and Mesnart, and by the English into Maynard; and the various modes of spelling were further varied according to the writer’s guess. The French refugees spoke highly of him as a cavalry officer. One declares, “Count Menard de Schomberg is exceedingly experienced and skilful in the art of war — in charges, combats, and pitched battles — possessing courage, activity, and admirable energy — capable of successfully commanding not only a corps, but a great army.” ”

“ The Duke of Berwick wrote that Count Mainhardt, in thus fiercely revenging the death of the old Duke of Schomberg, was a better general than King William, who suffered the Irish to retreat without molestation. ”

“ The king, not venturing to place his sole reliance on native officers in the midst of Jacobite schemes and schemers, resolved that the chief command of the regiments on duty at home should be given to Ruvigny Viscount Galway in Ireland, and in England to Schomberg Duke of Leinster. ”

“ We did direct, authorise and command that, out of the rents issues profits and revenues from time to time arising and accruing in or by the General Letter Office or Post Office, or Office of Postmaster General, payment should be made unto the said Maynard, Duke of Schonberg and Leinster (who is also Marquis of Harwich, Earl of Brentford, of the Holy Empire, and Mertola, Baron of Teys, Grandee of Portugal, General of our Horse, and Commander-in-Chief of our Forces) and the heirs male of his body, the yearly sum of £4000. ”

“ On Tuesday night (Aug. 4) , his Grace the Duke of Schonberg lay in state in the Jerusalem Chamber in the greatest magnificence, and from thence was carried with all his trophies of honour and interred in the Duke of Ormond’s vault in King Henry’s the Seventh’s Chapel. The funeral service was performed by the Bishop of Rochester, his pall supported by his Grace the Duke of Kent, Duke of Roxburgh, Earl of Pembroke, Earl of Portmore, Lord Abergeveny, and Lord Howard of Effingham ”

“ It professes to proceed upon “an Act lately passed in our Parliament entitled, An Act to enable His Majesty to grant letters-patent to supply the defect in the Grant made by His Majesty King William the Third, unto Maynhard, Duke of Schonburg and Leinster, of the annual sum of £4,000 out of the Revenues of the Post Office until the sum of £100,000 be paid.” ”

“ And we do hereby, for us our heirs and successors, promise and declare, that as soon as the condition of our affairs will admit, we, our heirs and successors will pay and satisfy the principal sum of £100,000. ”

“ He is one of the hottest fiery men in England, which was the reason King William would never give him any command where there was action. He is brave but capricious, of fair complexion, &c.” ↑ As to the subsequent history of the pension, the Gentleman’s Magazine notes the death, on the 7th August 1751, of the Countess of Fitzwalter (formerly Dowager Countess of Holdernesse) , eldest daughter of the late Duke of Schomberg, and adds that the £4000 a-year out of the Post Office settled on her father and his heirs comes to the Earl of Holdernesse. ”

“ In 1711 he was a pall-bearer at the Earl of Rochester’s funeral, and in 1712 at Earl Godolphin’s. The 4th Horse was quartered in Dublin, and there the Marquis of Harwich died, 5th October 1713. The Duke was in his seventy-second year when this severe blow fell upon him. ”

“ By the help of Captain Robert Parker’s Military Memoirs (London, 1747) , and D’Auvergne’s Campaigne in the Spanish Netherlands, a.d. 1692 (London, 1693) , we can follow its track more accurately than other authors have done. “In the month of May 1692 (says Parker) , Lord Galway embarked at Waterford with twenty-three regiments of foot, of which ours was one. ”