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cannon shot and scientific engineering of the most accomplished artillerists in Europe at the time! Molleneux, with a judicious eye to the consequences, tells the world that but 700 were killed on his sidel "since the beginning of the siege "

King William took a view of the havoc that was made, and sighed as he beheld the effects of that power which is stronger than fire-the power of freemen fighting against slavery-for a cause immeasurably dearer than life. Kirk's regiment acted throughout with their usual savagery.2

A Council of War being called, where, as is said, the following reasons among others being urged, William thought fit to give the order for raising the siege :

First, "That the rain that had fallen, and in all probability was likely to fall, would in a little time so moisten the ground about Lymerick, that it would be impossible to draw off the cannon and heavy baggage.

Secondly, "That the river Shannon began so to swell, that if they did not suddenly pass the same, the communication with the other part of the army would be cut off.

Thirdly, "The watery season would undoubtedly bring the country distemper on our army, and so more dye of it than by the hand of the enemy; in the same manner they did the last campaign of Dundalk.

Fourthly, "That the garrison of Lymerick being very numerous, if they abide any assault (which on account of the weather must be made with great disadvantage), we should lose a great many men.'

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The soldiers were in hopes that William would give orders for a second attack, and seemed resolved to have the city, or lose all their lives; but this was too great a risk to run at one place; and they did not know how his ammunition was gone, especially by the former day's work. They continued however their batteries; and then a storm of rain and other bad weather began to threaten, which fell on Friday the 29th in good earnest; upon which William calling another Council of War, concluded the safest way was to quit the siege, without which they could not have secured their heavy cannon, which they drew off from the batteries by degrees, and found much difficulty in marching them five miles next day. Sunday the last of August, all the army drew off; most of the Protestants that lived in that part of the country taking the opportunity of removing further from Limerick with the army; and "would rather leave their estates and all their substance in the enemies' hands, than trust their persons any more in their power." Harris, too, speaks of the wet season and a scarcity of ammunition, as the occasion of the raising of the siege. The heavy baggage and cannon were sent off, and the next day the army decamped, and marched towards Clonmel. The apologists of William have endeavoured to throw the cause of the failure on the weather, not on the bravery of the soldiers, citizens and women of Limerick.

The Duke of Berwick in his memoirs states that the enemy lost two thousand men in the assault. There were ten thousand of William's picked soldiers, including the Brandenburghers, the Danes, &c. engaged in it; because

Molleneux's Diary of the Siege of Limerick, p. 26.

2 Kirk's cruelty was proverbial. His soldiers were called Kirk's Lambs-he had been engaged in long and sanguinary wars in Africa; and his soldiers were ever ready to execute his bloody orders. Graham in his History of Ireland states that Kirk's regiment-the 2nd regiment of foot-had the device of a lamb, which it bears to this day, and that the soldiers were called lambs long before the period in question.

3 Storey.

4 This is a calumny of the Williamite writers.

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according to Dalrymple, William, in coming to Ireland, did not repose faith in his English soldiers to fight against King James, and hence he supplied his with an enormous number of Danes, who Storey says, "looked lusty fellows,"-Brandenburghers, and mercenaries who were ready to enlist for the highest pay, and fight against the liberties of a nation with which they had no sympathy.' Brigadier Talbot displayed great courage and address in the assistance he gave Sarsfield in repelling the assault. Though it is stated by Storey that houses were set on fire, and tremendous damage done to the city during the siege, nevertheless, from the examination of John Rider, referred to in O'Callaghan's Macaria Excidium, "there were but few houses and a little hay demolished in Lymerick during the siege, they," adds he, "having covered their hay with raw hides." Rider bore arms in the city during the siege. Harris, the historian of William, is candid enough to add to the numbers given by the Duke of Berwick, and to say, that on that eventful 20th of August, 1690, there were twelve field officers, 46 captains, 100 subalterns, and 1531 soldiers of William's army killed and wounded !2

There never yet was a more signal or a more glorious victory on the part of the Irish. A ray of hope appeared to dissipate the deadly gloom that

1 Dalrymple (Memoirs, p. 474) says, "The forces which sailed with William, or joined him in Ireland, amounted to 66,000 men. But distrusting English soldiers to fight against one who had been lately King of England, he took care that more than one-half of his army should consist of foreigners. For he had 10,000 Danes, 7,000 Dutch and Brandenburghers, and 2,000 French Protestant Refugees, and superiority in general officers, three-fourths of whom had been foreigners or Dutch officers, was still greater. He carried with him the Prince of Denmark, mor from a fear of leaving him behind, and to lessen the odium of going to fight against his wife's father, by dividing that odium, than to do honour to the prince, (Duchess of Marlborough) whom he would not permit to go in a coach with him. For a similar precaution he carried with him a number of English nobility and men of fashion as volunteers, or rather as hostages. But Clarendon's son, Lord Canterbury, who was in the Prince of Denmark's service, refused to attend his master, (Clarendon's Diary) under pretence that he could not with honour serve in a country, where he must have run to see that Regiment which the King had taken from him, commanded by another; but in reality to expose the King for not showing that delicacy to James, which he, who was more distantly allied to him, seemed to feel. But though the Duke of Ormond had the same excuse of honour, to plead from the station of his former Regiment, he attended the King, perhaps to conceal the defection which he already meditated."

2 Dean Storey (Impartial History of the Affairs of Ireland, pp. 129-130) estimates the killed at 500, and the wounded at 1000, and gives the following list of the officers killed and wounded at he attack, in the five English Regiments that were on duty, as it was taken exactly the next day :

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hung upon the fortunes of Ireland; and the name of Sarsfield became synonymous with everything that was agreeable to the heart of the nation.'

De Burgho relates that William, in his haste to decamp, left a vast number of men sick and disabled in hospital. He was asked by such of the generals as dared to approach him, what was to be done with the sick and wounded. De Burgho gives the reply-with fury in his eyes, and rage consuming him, roaring out, he said, "Let them be burned,"-" let them be set fire to;" and forthwith the hospital was enveloped in flames.

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1 The following verses by Thomas Stanley Tracey, Esq., A.B., Sch. T.C.D., contain an allusion to the locality, as well as to the principal events of the Siege:

SARSFIELD'S DEFENCE OF LIMERICK.

There's a deathless tree on the ancient lines

Where the old Black Battery stood;

"Sword, shot, and shell are best to tell
The wrongs of injured men-

With leaves still bright as the fame of the fight No craven King, no traitor friends,

That dyed them once in blood.

The heroes are dead, but the tree still lives;
And still, as the night-wind grieves,

Immortal memories wake again,

That slept beneath its leaves.

And warriors' ghosts from the battered walls
Cry forth in Fancy's ear-

For ever curs'd be these foreign dogs,
What demon brought them here?
But we drove them out in the olden time,
And we'll drive them out again;
Listen to how your father's fought
When Sarsfield led our men.

The blood rushed back to many a heart
On that eventful day;

When Sarsfield from the hills returned,-
The lion from his prey;
Little the slumbering foe had dreamed
The Shannon's fords were passed,-

Shall spoil our sport again;

Up with your strong and bloody hands,
"O'Brien and O'Neill,

And dig the graves of these foreign slaves
With a shower of Irish hail."

A thousand iron mouths of death

Their fierce replies combined,

And the stormers reeled from the fiery breach
Like chaff before the wind;

To the trenches driven, with ranks all riven,
In the sweep of that deadly shower,-
Sarsfield hath wished on a foreign field,

He had died in that glorious hour.

The green flag streamed, the death-shower
teemed,-

The fatal bridge was passed;
There was hardly one in that fierce sortie
But had crossed it for the last :

Red ran the flood with women's blood,
Who fought with Limerick's sons,

But bloodhounds staunch were Sarsfield's dogs, Their glorious names shall never die,

And dragged them down at last.

Quick as the lightning flash reveals
The ravage of the storm,

His eye had scanned the patriot band,
And seen their ranks reform ;-
"Now pay them back, my boys," he cried,
"In honest Irish coin,
The long-due debt that Ireland owes
These braggarts of the Boyne!

While ever that river runs.

Three times the furious foe came on,

But met and beaten still,

Their souls went down to their last parade,
With their friends of Keeper Hill.

The sun set on two bleeding hosts,
And red with a soldier's shame,

KING WILLIAM with two thousand ghosts,
Left Limerick to its fame!

2 De Burgho's Hibernia Dominicana.

The citizens and garrison treated such Protestants as remained within the walls, after the discomfiture of William, with consideration and clemency; they permitted them to betake themselves, in such numbers as they chose, to such places outside as they might select for their residences. The want of provisions within the city, the enormous rates which were charged for the ordinary necessaries of life, and the absence of supplies commensurate with the wants of the garrison and of the citizens, rendered it essential that the number inside should be reduced as much as possible, and for this reason, if for no other, the Protestants were allowed to depart. The money in circulation was the inferior brass or gun money of James; and £10 in that coin was the cost of a barrel of wheat; £9 a barrel of malt; £3 a quart of brandy; 2s. 6d. a quart of ale; salt £1 per quart; 30s. a pair for men's shoes; and everything else in proportion.1 Storey admits that things were not so bad as they were reported; but that they were bad enough is indisputable.

During the time he spent in camp before Limerick, William fared right well. About the fourteenth of September, Sarsfield, with a part of the Irish army, marched over the Shannon at Banagher bridge, and besieged the castle of Birr-the marks of the balls may yet be seen in the castle of that town-which was ably defended by a company of Colonel Tiffin's foot. But Major General Kirk marching towards it with a party of William's army, Sarsfield raised the siege and marched off."

Count Solmes, who commanded in chief, was in Cashel at this time, where he received a letter by a trumpeter from the Duke of Berwick, then at Limerick, complaining that they had heard of a design of William, to transport the prisoners who had been taken at several places, to become slaves in the foreign plantations; and withal, threatening them with the French galleys. This was said to be a feint or stratagem of the Irish officers, to prevent their soldiers deserting, making them believe there was a contract to sell them all to Mons. Perara a Jew for so much bread. Count Solmes sent a reply to the Duke's letter, in which he denied the allegation, but threatened reprisals if wrong were done to the prisoners in the hands of the Irish. Soon after this Solmes went to England, and Ginkle was made Lieutenant-General, and Commander-in-Chief of the army, who went to his head quarters at Kilkenny.

During these events the castle of Nenagh was taken, and the town set on fire, notwithstanding a determined resistance on the part of the defenders and the people. During the siege Colonel Evans commanded the County of Limerick regiment of militia, and his life was saved by the merest accident.

1 Storey's Impartial History.

2 Thorpe's Catalogue of the Southwell MSS. (page 513) gives a curious letter said to have been written by one Captain Robert Taylor, and dated August 20, 1690, which tells what sort was the bill of fare which William was presented withal by the gallant Captain, and which was "all that this poor country can afford, and all that is left worth his Majesty's eating." Taylor doubtless had a keen eye to his own interests; but we are strongly of opinion that no French cuisinier could provide a daintier feast for Royalty than did Captain Taylor, under the circumstances, provide for William III. while he lay before Limerick. Here is the letter:

Letter of Captain Robert Taylor, August 20th, who sends to the Camp near Limerick, "all that this poor country can afford, and all that is left worth his Majesty's eating." The Captain and his wife appear to have been a most loyal pair; the viands they sent for the King's table were "one veale, 10 fatte weathers, 12 chickinges, 2 dussen of fresh butter, a thick cheese and a thinn one; 10 loaves of bread, a dussen and a half of pidgeons ; 12 bottles of ale, halfe a barrelle of small ale, some Kidnie beanes."

3 Cooke's History of Parsonstown gives a very good account of this siege.

A rapid retreat was now the order of the day with William. On Sunday the 31st of August, his soldiers decamped, blowing up a quantity of bombs and hand-grenades, which they could not carry with them; the next day he remained at Cahirconlish, and thence onwards to Waterford where he took shipping for England. Meantime Boisseleau gave vent to his feelings of jealousy by prophesying that when next William attacked Limerick he would be successful!

CHAPTER XXXIV.

EFFECT OF THE DEFEAT AT LIMERICK ON WILLIAM.-EFFORTS TO REPAIR HIS LOSSES. RENEWED EXERTIONS OF THE DEFENDERS.-ANOTHER MILITARY EXPEDITION SENT TO IRELAND.-PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS. - THE CAMPAIGN OF 1691.-LIMERICK AGAIN BESIEGED. THE SURRENDER.THE TREATY.

HAVING lost his hold on the country worth fighting for, William did not despair. He knew the agencies which were at work in every direction. Vacillation and treachery, he was conscious, would effect more for his purpose than great guns and the sword. On these, however, he placed no small share of reliance. He at once dispatched a powerful armed force to Ireland, including his own regiment of Fusileers, Brigadier Trelawney's, Princess Anne's, Colonel Hastings', Colonel Hale's, Sir David Collier's, Colonel Fitzpatrick's, one hundred of the Duke of Bolton's, and two hundred of the Earl of Monmouth's, with the marine regiments of Lord Torrington and Lord Pembroke. This force effected a landing at Cork on the 22nd of September. Cork fell, not being effective for defence since the invention of gunpowder. Kinsale also submitted, the garrison, 1200 strong, being allowed to march out with arms and baggage, having a party of horse to conduct them to Limerick.2 It was made a matter of imputation on France that Kinsale was not strengthened rather than Limerick, as by so doing one of the finest harbours in the world could be secured against England, and her trade with the western world damaged if not ruined. But in whatever light this may be viewed, it is indisputable that the Irish commanders had an intuitive knowledge that France was not faithful in the emergency, and that the course that had been pursued by her was not consistent with true friendship. The Irish now did what was possible for themselves. Limerick was put in a complete state of defence. Sarsfield employed the ablest engineering skill to repair what had been injured, and to strengthen every weak place. To this day evidences of his energy and skill, may be seen about those parts of the old walls against which William's cannon had vainly been directed, and which were again about to receive a fire not less concentrated, but equally ineffective. Where the breach had been made was set to rights by masonry, which is even now easily discernible. The walls were lined with enormous earth-coatings which made them completely bomb-broof. Mcanwhile a Privy Council was appointed by William's Government, early in

1 Windele's Guide to the South of Ireland. The year before Macgillicuddy, the Governor of Cork, made an ineffective resistance to William's troops. 3 Ibid.

2 Storey.

4 Storey admits that the defences were made by the very ablest engineers.

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