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death he could not prevent the ensuing defeat. After the fall of Gal way and Sligo, Limerick remained the last hope of the Irish party. De Ginkell invested the town on 25th August. When, on Tirconnell's death, D'Usson, the senior officer, assumed command, Sarsfield attended to all the details of the defence, the repairs of the fortifications, and the supply of provisions, forage, and ammunition. " His vigilance and activity admitted of no relaxation ; and his ardour inspired the troops with confidence." "'^^ The siege lasted four ■weeks, and the garrison and inhabitants again made a vigorous defence. Several attacks were repulsed, and the city would have held out much longer than it did, but for the treachery of Henry Luttrell. So late as the 1 7th September it was seriously debated by De Ginkell and his officers, whether the siege should not be abandoned for the surer but more tedious operations of a blockade. A parley was beat by the besieged on the 23rd September, and the Treaty ' of Limerick was signed on 3rd of October, by De Ginkell and the Lords- Justices, on behalf of William III., and by D'Usson, Sarsfield, and six other generals, on behalf of the French and Irish. Under the provisions of the treaty, all persona were accorded liberty to leave Ire- land for the Continent, with theii- house- hold goods, plate, and jewellery, and to proceed in regiments, parties, or otherwise, to ports of embarkation ; seventy vessels of 200 tons each, and two men-of-war, were to be provided and provisioned for their transport ; liberty was accorded to take away 900 horses ; the sick and wounded were to be tended, and after- wards permitted to join their comrades in France ; and the garrison of Limerick were to march out with all the honours of war, taking away eight pieces of ord- nance and half the ammunition in the city. The civil articles, afterwards practi- cally violated, provided : " That the Eoman Catholics of this kingdom shall enjoy such privileges in the exercise of their religion as are consistent with the laws of Ireland, or as they did enjoy in the reign of King Charles the Second, and their Majesties . . will endeavour to procure the said Roman Catholics such further security in that particular as may preserve them from any disturbance upon the account of their said religion." The soldiers and inhabitants in the districts of Limerick, Cork, Kerry, Clare, Sligo, and Mayo, who submitted, were secured their estates as they held them in the reign of Charles II. The full text of the treaty wiU be found in Story's Wars of Ireland. The
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terms are such as would have been accorded only to a still powerful people assisted by able allies, capitulating after a prolonged and heroic resistance. " De Ginkell," says Story, " was resolved to do all things possible to prevent the Irish going in so great numbers out of the kingdom, as being a strengthening of our adversaries, and weakening of ourselves ;" but when the appointed day came, and the soldiers were called upon to decide finally, mainly through Sarsfield's influence, out of 15,000, but 1,000 entered William's service, while about 2,000 elected to go to their homes. In- cluding the French troops, 19,059 of the Irish army were conveyed to France, re- viewed by King James at Brest, and drafted into the armies of Louis XIV., principally as additions to the Irish Brigade. Many deserted on their way to the Irish seaports ; and no doubt there is much truth in the sad picture drawn by Macaulay, of what took place at the ports where the Irish troops embarked, leaving large numbers of women and children behind : " Some women caught hold of the ropes, were dragged out of their depth, clung till their fingers were cut through, and perished in the waves. The vessels began to move. A wild and terrible wail rose from the shore, and excited unwonted compassion in hearts steeled by hatred of the Irish race and of the Romish faith." But the his- torian omits to mention that this suffer- ing was said by Irish contemporary writers to be due mainly to the absence of some of the stipulated transports. Sarsfield re- fused all solicitations to remain in Ireland. True to his religion and to King James, he accompanied his fellows-in-arms to France, where he was given command of the second troop of Irish Guards. In 1692 he ad- dressed more than one letter to De Ginkell regarding the delays in carrying out the provisions of the treaty to which they had mutuallyattachedtheirnames. In the same year Sarsfield joined the French army in Flanders. He commanded his Guards at the battle of Steenkirk, and was compli- mented by the French commander, Mar- shal Luxembourg, for his share in the action. In the following March he was created Marechal-de-Camp. His career was terminated by a wound received at the battle of Landen, where he commanded Luxembourg's left wing, 19th July 1693. On withdrawing his hand from his breast, as he lay on the ground, and finding it covered with blood, he is said to have ex- claimed : "Ob, that this was for Ireland !" He died on 23rd July, of his wounds, or rather of a fever consequent on them, at the town of Huy, whither he had been re- 46s
