The Treaty of Limerick

William of Orange, with his large and well-appointed army, marched promptly southward to confront his rival. The hostile forces met on the banks of the river Boyne. William's force, besides being far better trained and equipped, was also somewhat larger than that of James. Thirty-six thousand soldiers, comprising men of several nations, fought under William for what was regarded as the Protestant cause; while thirty thousand Irish and French supported the exiled Stuart. William, moreover, had forty cannon, while James had only twelve. On the other hand, James held the southern bank of the Boyne, and William was forced to lead his men across the river in the face of the Irish fire. The struggle was desperate and prolonged. The Irish fought with lion-like valor against superior odds. William himself most gallantly advanced into the river at the head of his men, while James witnessed the struggle from a safe distance. Although wounded, the new English king remained, throughout the battle, in the front of his forces. At last the Irish gave way, retreating by steady ranks. But the cowardly James, as soon as he saw that the battle had gone against him, hastily deserted his faithful soldiers, galloped off to Dublin, and was the first of the fugitives to enter its walls. The next morning he took ship for France (1690).

THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE.

The battle of the Boyne decided the fate of Ireland. It was the turning-point in the bitter struggle between the Irish and their foreign masters; between the Irish Catholics and Protestants; and between William of Orange and James the Second for the possession of the English throne. But, while it made the contest a hopeless one for the Irish, it did not bring the war to an immediate end. Under the valiant and fervent Sarsfield, the Irish continued a desperate, though hopeless, resistance. After the battle of the Boyne, Drogheda and Dublin fell into William's hands; but the Irish retired to the strongholds of Connaught and Munster, resolved to make an obstinate stand. Sarsfield, though now deserted by a large portion of his French allies, took up his position, with ten thousand Irish, at Limerick. William of Orange arrived before the town, and laid siege to it. Sarsfield, by a daring maneuver, intercepted and destroyed William's siege train. Then the English made a furious assault upon the town, and even entered at a breach they had made in its walls. But they were met with such sturdy bravery by its Irish defenders, that William, after a hot struggle of four days, was compelled to fall back defeated, and to give up taking Limerick until the following year.

The next stand of the Irish was made at Aughrim in the middle of the following summer (July, 1691). They were under the command of a French general, St. Ruth; and seemed on the point of winning a complete victory when St. Ruth was killed. This fatality deprived the Irish of their confidence, and they were driven from the field. Limerick and Galway now alone held out. Galway yielded to the English after the defeat at Aughrim, and the Irish garrison marched away to join their comrades at Limerick. Limerick was speedily again invested by the English troops. The only hope remaining to the Irish was that a French fleet with re-enforcements, which had been promised, would arrive in time to raise the siege. While they were anxiously awaiting this hoped-for succor, the besiegers captured the island upon which a part of Limerick stands. The brave Sarsfield was so discouraged by this event, that he resolved to come to terms with the enemy. Ginkel, the English general, agreed to a truce of three days. This period was occupied by negotiations for concluding a peace. Both sides were anxious that the war should come to a close. The Irish were nearly at the end of their resources, and had given up hope of the French fleet. King William was eager to withdraw his troops from Ireland, and to use them in his contest with France. The result of the negotiations was the treaty of Limerick.

By this famous treaty, concessions were made on both sides. King William agreed that the Catholics should have freedom of worship, and that an Irish Parliament should be called together to secure them in that freedom. He granted pardon to those who had defended the cause of James, on condition that they should take an oath of allegiance to William and Mary. Catholics were relieved from taking the oath of supremacy; that is, the oath acknowledging William and Mary as the supreme heads of the church. They were also allowed to keep the estates which they now held, to pursue such avocations as they pleased, and to carry arms. On the other hand, the Cromwellian colonists were confirmed in the possession of the estates they held at the time of the treaty. As for the Irish army, it was agreed that the soldiers should be permitted to choose between enlisting in William's service, and going abroad and entering the armies of foreign powers.

Scarcely was the ink dry on this treaty, when the French fleet, which the Irish had so anxiously awaited, showed its sails in the river Shannon. On board the fleet were three thousand soldiers and ten thousand muskets, with stores and ammunition. But Sarsfield was the soul of honor. He had signed the treaty, and it was too late to honorably retreat. He might now have turned round and, with the newly arrived Frenchmen, have defied Ginkel and the English. But he resisted the temptation, and stood manfully by his word. And now the Irish soldiers were called upon to make their choice between the English army and exile. They were drawn up outside Limerick; in all, twenty-three thousand. A certain point was designated, and the battalions were marched towards it. Those who preferred William's service turned off as they reached the point; those who wished to go abroad marched straight on. Almost three thousand turned aside to join the English army; the other twenty thousand, by marching forward, declared for exile.

In no long time these self-banished Irish soldiers were put on board ships and carried to France. The greater part of them enlisted in the French army, and were followed into the French ranks, from time to time, by others of their compatriots. In many a hard-fought battle afterwards, often against the English, the Irish legions fought under the French banners with heroic bravery. A great deal of Ireland's best blood had thus left the island. The Irish who remained were soon destined to be rudely awakened from their dream of peace and liberty.

The treaty of Limerick was treated by the English as if it did not exist. Many of its articles were perfidiously violated. The agreement to allow the Catholics freedom of worship was broken, by the imposition on members of Parliament of an oath, which compelled them to deny some of the most vital articles of their creed. So it was that Catholics were excluded from the Irish Parliament. Then an attack was once more made upon the lands still held by the Catholic Irish. More than a million Irish acres were confiscated, and were made over to the crown. A fourth part of this land, indeed, was restored by William to the Irish owners. A large portion of the rest he distributed to his friends and favorites.

But the Irish owners were not to be allowed to hold in peace the small amounts of land which William returned to them. The English Parliament passed a law by which the restored estates were again confiscated, and were sold at auction the money paid for them being added to the English treasury. Thus the Catholic owners, at the beginning of the century, though they still comprised nearly five-sixths of the population of Ireland, held less than one-seventh of the land. At this period, too, the condition of Ireland was, in some respects, as wretched and hopeless as it had ever been. In many parts of the country the planting of the land had been given up, and the people had resorted to the raising of cows, sheep, and pigs. Thus the population had become less industrious and thrifty. The importation of cattle from Ireland into England had then been forbidden, and this had reduced a large portion of the people to dire poverty. On the other hand, the linen and woolen industries had been encouraged in Ireland, and had given prosperity to some of the larger towns.

The wars had spread desolation far and wide through the country. Base coin had been forced by king James upon the Irish. The Tory outlaws continued their depredations upon the English settlements. The cattle of the English were mutilated, their barns were burned, and their houses were plundered. Still, the Protestants in Ireland were now supported by the strong arm of the crown.

The Irish Parliament was comprised solely of Protestants, and was in all things submissive to English power. All the officials in Ireland were Protestants. The Protestants, moreover, held six-sevenths of the Irish soil. But even these safeguards of Protestant ascendancy did not satisfy the English masters of Ireland. It once more appeared to be the resolute purpose of the English to suppress altogether the Catholic religion, and to deprive the Catholic Irish entirely of the land. This purpose was revealed in the infamous "Penal Laws," which were now sternly imposed upon the unhappy race.