stacks of bad corn at the price of good, by seizing the golden opportunity of real or pretended insurrection to fire one's own house or barn. The second edict declared that no one should be protected who had a son in the enemy's quarters an ingenious conversion of the old "punishing the sins of the fathers upon the children," by making the parent answerable for his offspring, which has not since been thought worthy of imitation. A third proclamation ordered that no more than ten Catholics should assemble in a body; and sentenced the priest of the parish where such an assembly should be held to transportation.

Ginckle was honoured with the intense hatred of the castle faction, for his resistance to their dreadful system of slaughter and confiscation, which, in plainer terms, he looked upon as nothing better than murder and robbery. He solicited the lords-justices to issue a proclamation, promising protection and security of person and property to the Irish, on their submission; but the desire of forfeitures was too strong; they encountered his request with equivocation and delay; and, finally, answered him with a flat refusal. Fearing, however, the royal displeasure, they graciously permitted him to issue a proclamation in his own name, offering to grant reasonable terms to all in arms on their immediate submission. The Irish were not such fools as to be duped by this illusive promise; they saw at once how matters stood, and resolved to persevere in their resistance.

At this time most of the Irish leaders were sincerely anxious for an accommodation; they were disgusted with James, and justly indignant at the treatment they had received from the court of France; they entertained, besides, a high respect for the character of William and his military officers, whom they never confounded with the malignant Cromwellians. But in this, as in several other instances,

a wretched faction stood between the throne and the people, depriving the sovereign of the allegiance of valuable subjects, and robbing the nation of the blessings that flow from a paternal government.

CHAPTER XIV.

The Siege of Athlone-The Battle of Aughrim.

A. D. 1691.-The defeat of the English army at Athlone and Limerick convinced Louis that his ally had too soon despaired of Ireland; and, anxious to protract the war, he sent thither some officers, a small sum of money, and a good supply of military stores. In adherence to the line of miserable policy which he had previously pursued, he only made such exertions as would serve to protract the war, and could not be persuaded to send such a force as must have driven the English army to their ships. Ten thousand men, a force which the French king could well afford, would have given him possession of Ireland; but, with unusual and unwise caution, he refused to risk a sufficient armament until it was too late. The wretched James could not resist the opportunity of insulting his devoted subjects, even in this the crisis of their fate. Though the retrieval of his affairs was owing to the exertions of the gallant Sarsfield, he would not intrust him with the command of the army, but conferred it on St. Ruth, a French general of some reputation. Such an insult to the favourite hero of the Irish was poorly compensated by the title of Earl of Lucan which he conferred on him. Sarsfield was disgusted; and the conduct of St. Ruth by no means tended to sooth his irritated feelings. The French general was un

questionably possessed of great military talents; but, as unquestionably, he greatly overrated their importance. From the very outset he seriously believed that the terror of his name would be sufficient to conquer Ginckle; and he did not discover his mistake before this stupid vanity had nearly ruined his cause. The manners of St. Ruth were far from conciliating; he treated the Irish generals with supercilious contempt, and, when they presumed to offer advice, pursued a line of conduct opposite to that which they recommended, from a pure spirit of obstinacy. To the Irish ladies he behaved in that style of affected gallantry then fashionable at the French court, but which the native Irish have ever regarded with detestation. The time that should have been spent in preparing for the campaign was wasted by St. Ruth in balls, festivals, and idle reviews. A chief cause of his negligence was his having found the Irish army so much better organized than he expected, and his firm persuasion that the line of the Shannon was impregnable. Had he paid the slightest attention to its defence, he might, behind it, have defied all the strength of England. The Irish officers could scarcely suppress their indignation at "being thus pestered with a popinjay;" and in some of their letters written about this period, we find them bitterly complaining of the hard fate which bound them to the service of a monarch that they despised, because the sovereign to whom they were anxious to tender their allegiance could not in return secure them in life and estate.

Ginckle's preparations for the ensuing campaign showed how deeply he was impressed with its importance; he obtained considerable reinforcements from England, an additional train of artillery, and an abundant supply of military stores; he drew in most of his garrisons, and even brought all his soldiers from Dublin, to strengthen his army for the ap

proaching struggle. The lords-justices and the castle faction complained bitterly of being left thus exposed to danger; but Ginckle had too much reason to be offended by their obstinate adherence to their plan of protracting the war for the sake of confiscations to regard their remonstrances; and would probably not have been sorry to learn that the Wicklow mountaineers had rushed upon Dublin in his absence, and fairly removed for ever those great obstacles to an honourable peace. The Irish garrisons east of the Shannon were easily subdued; but the treatment of the prisoners presented a question of some little difficulty. It had not yet been settled whether the Irish were enemies or rebels; and, consequently, it was not determined whether their lives should be spared when they were taken. Ginckle in most but not in all cases leaned to a merciful decision; but his Cromwellian auxiliaries were never troubled with any scruples. Though the Irish were not rebels against the king, they were rebels against their tyrannical oligarchy; and therefore they hanged them on every occasion without ceremony. Such has been the conduct of the same parties in every subsequent instance. The troops of the line sent to quell any of those insurrections against local misgovernment, which have been, with strange perversion of language, denominated "Irish rebellions," have generally behaved to the peasantry with the utmost tenderness; but in no case has there been even the semblance of mercy in the conduct of the Irish militia and yeomanry.

Contrary to the advice of the Irish leaders, St. Ruth had fortified the English town of Athlone on the eastern bank of the Shannon. It had been resigned as defenceless in the former campaign by Grace; and the imperfect repairs which it now received were insufficient to sustain the heavy fire of the English batteries. On the 18th of June, Ginckle appeared before Athlone, and advanced towards the

town, driving in the Irish skirmishing parties which had been sent to annoy rather than interrupt his march. He opened a heavy fire from a battery of ten guns on the English town, and soon effected a practicable breach. After a fierce resistance the place was taken by assault; but the garrison retreated into the Irish town, and broke down the bridge behind them.

The loss which he had sustained in obtaining even 、this partial success filled the English general with anxiety. He immediately sent for additional reinforcements; and in the mean time erected several batteries, from which he poured an overwhelming fire on the devoted Irish town of Athlone. Notwithstanding their vast inferiority in weight of metal, the Irish returned the fire with great spirit. Night brought no respite to the toils of either besiegers or besieged. It was midsummer; the weather was singularly fine, and in the clear sky the extreme of evening almost touched the morning's dawn. Athlone was soon a heap of ruins. Tower, battlement, and rampart, fell in succession before the storm of shot and shells incessantly hailed from the English batteries. But the garrison retired not from these ruins, and defended the shapeless mass of broken fortifications as fiercely as if they had been perfect defences. An attempt was made to turn the Irish position, by forcing a passage at Lanesborough; but the pass was too well guarded to render success at all probable. Ginckle saw that his only hope was to force a passage by the bridge. He erected a breastwork and covered gallery on his side of the bridge, and directed all the fire of his batteries on the works which the Irish had erected at their extremity. The heat of the weather made the wattles and woodwork at the Irish side as dry as tinder. They took fire by the bursting of a shell; and under cover of the smoke the English workmen hasted to lay beams and planks across the broken arch. The work was