BOOK I. 1691 Irish have been rash enough to lean, was contented that they should make a brief diversion for him, whatever might be the consequence to themselves. One more campaign was thus inevitable, with fresh bloodshed and fresh expense. Ginkel's army assembled in May at Mullingar; Mackay brought reinforcements from Scotland; Sir Richard Cox sent some spare regiments from Cork; and Ginkel advanced to Athlone, at the beginning of June, with 18,000 men. The bridge was broken; the Irish were strongly posted on the Connaught side. There were divided counsels in Ginkel's camp and a talk of retreat. It happened that the spring had been dry; the river was unusually low, and could be crossed by wading a short distance off. At six o'clock in the evening of 30th June, when the Irish were in no suspicion of an attack, Mackay waded over with 2,000 men. Covered by the smoke of the muskets, he seized the end of the bridge and repaired it; and before dark the whole army had crossed. The castle capitulated; the Irish fell back among bogs and streams upon Aghrim Hill, five miles from Ballinasloe, and prepared for the final battle which was to decide the fate of the country. At last they appeared really conscious of the greatness of the stake which was being played for. They were commanded by St. Ruth, a distinguished French officer and a profound and passionate Catholic. Masses were said and prayers offered in all the regiments. St. Ruth addressed the officers as if they were Crusaders engaged in mortal conflict with hell and heresy. Remembering the disgrace of the Boyne, they took a solemn oath not to forsake their colours, and to their honour it must be said that most of them kept their word. Not without reason does the anni III. 1691 versary of the battle of Aghrim keep so fresh a hold CHAP. on Irish memory. If the conquerors look back upon it with pride, that day' was also the only one on which the Irish people fought on their own soil, for their own nationality, with the courage which so uniformly distinguished them under other flags and on other fields. Sunday, the 12th July, dawned thick and hazy; a damp fog lay spread over the marshes, which did not lift till late in the afternoon. At half-past four, with five hours of daylight remaining, the mist blew off and the English advanced. English properly they were not. English regiments were intermixed with Danes, French Huguenots, Scots, Dutch, Brandenburghers, and Anglo-Irish Protestants, the fitter to try an issue which, however disguised, was an episode in the long European struggle for liberty of conscience. The battle was long doubtful. The ground was trenched in all directions, and the ditches were lined with Irish sharpshooters, who stood their ground bravely, and again and again Ginkel's columns, rushing forward to close with them, were driven back in confusion. Once St. Ruth believed the day was his own, and he was heard to swear that he would hunt the Saxons into Dublin. Almost immediately after he was killed by a cannon ball. The Huguenot cavalry, led by Henri de Ruvigny, executed a charge, behind which the English infantry rallied. At last, late in the evening, the Irish gave way, broke up, and scattered. Few or no prisoners were taken, and few were reported wounded. Those who escaped 1 July 12, 1691. I. BOOK escaped, those who were overtaken were made an end of. Seven thousand men were killed before darkness and rain ended the pursuit. 1691 The wreck of the defeated army divided; part went to Galway, part to Limerick, where the last act of the drama was to be played out. Galway's turn came first. Whether William did or did not make the offer before the battle, which Sir Charles Wogan says he did, that he had instructed Ginkel to wind up the war on conditions easy to the Irish, became evident in the articles of surrender which were allowed to Galway. An English fleet was in the bay, and commanded the approaches from the sea. The town might have been completely invested by land, and compelled to surrender at discretion. Obviously this was not William's desire. The French regiments, and such of the garrison as preferred to continue the struggle, were allowed to march away to Limerick, with drums beating and flags flying. The governor, mayor, sheriff, burghers, freemen, all the inhabitants, or reputed inhabitants, for the word was construed with the utmost latitude, received a free and complete pardon for all offences which they had committed since the accession of James the Second. The officers of the regiments which capitulated, whether present or absent, were secured in the possession of the whole of such estates as they had enjoyed under the Acts of Settlement. Catholic gentlemen within the walls were permitted to retain their arms; Catholic barristers there were allowed to continue to practise. The priests of the town received protection for person and property; and a and a promise was given that their religious services, so long as they were conducted in private, should not be interfered with by the penal laws. Cromwell 'meddled with no man's conscience,' but declared 'that the mass should not be allowed where the English Parliament had power.' William, though himself nominally a Calvinist, had unbounded faith in the principles of toleration, and believed that the Irish temperament was capable of being conquered by generosity. The surrender of Galway carried with it the submission of Connaught. Limerick remained. It had baffled William the year before. The season was waning, the summer wet, and there had been no second massacre of Drogheda' to show that resistance might be dangerous. Ginkel approached at leisure. Tyrconnell, who was in the town, either worn out by fatigue, sick with disappointment, or else poisoned, for this too was suggested, died before he came under the walls, advising the Irish to make peace with so liberal a conqueror, and not to sacrifice themselves any longer to French ingratitude. The fleet came round from Galway and sailed up the Shannon. The same terms were offered which Galway had accepted; but there was a hope for more extended concessions; and Sarsfield,' who had succeeded St. Ruth in command, undertook the defence. Either Ginkel was purposely slow, or else was culpably careless. He arrived before Limerick at the end of August. For three weeks he left Sarsfield's communications open with the county of Clare, and it was not till 22nd September that the town was 1 Patrick Sarsfield, created Earl of Lucan by James the Second. The Sarsfields were an old AngloNorman family of the Pale. Patrick, father of Sarsfield who commanded at Limerick, was one of the Catholic proprietors who were restored to CHAP. III. 1691 BOOK I. 1691 completely invested. A parley was then demanded, and Sarsfield named his conditions. He demanded almost the very concessions which were mentioned by Sir C. Wogan-a general indemnity; a confirmation to the Irish owners of all the estates throughout Ireland, which they had held before the revolution; religious liberty, with a priest in every parish, recognised by the law; the admissibility of Irish Catholics to all employments, military and civil; a full and entire equality with Protestants in every right and privilege, with a promise that the stipulations accepted by Ginkel should be confirmed by an Act of Parliament. It was obviously impossible that terms such as these could be conceded. William himself might have consented, and an Irish Parliament, elected like that which had met two years before at Dublin, might have been found to ratify them. But the conduct of the Irish in that Parliament had proved that between them and the Protestant settlers there could be nothing, if they were in a position of equality, but an internecine war. Nor could any English Parliament have listened to an arrangement which would have left the settlers at the mercy of their enemies; the revolt absolutely unpunished; and the English taxpayers burdened with the cost of a reconquest, which at any moment might have to be repeated. Ginkel replied, that although he was a stranger to the laws of England, he was certain that what Sarsfield asked for could not be granted. He had Sarsfield at his mercy, but he declined to push his advantage. In return he drew himself, as a sketch of what might be allowed, the celebrated Articles of Limerick, round which so many heartburnings were to rage. |