THE SIEGE OF LIMERICK.

The city of Limerick, at the time of William's invasion, consisted, as it does at the present time, of three distinct divisions, or towns. One of these was on the right bank of the Shannon, in the County Clare; one on the left bank, in the County Limerick; and the third on King's Island, which is formed by the branching of the river about a mile above the city. The part on King's Island was known as the Englishtown; that on the Limerick side was designated the Irishtown, and two bridges connected that on the Island with the other two sections,—one bridge leading to each.41 Holding a commanding position between the most fertile portions of two loyal provinces, and standing at the head of ship navigation, the military advantages of this city could scarcely be overrated; but the well-known loyalty of the people, the great difficulties that beset the king, and the exhausted state of his exchequer, through every phase of this war, had caused it to be neglected; and its defences were not at all in keeping with its strategic importance. It had, according to the Duke of Berwick, on his arrival there after the Battle of the Boyne, "no other fortification than a wall without ramparts, and a few miserable towers without ditches." But the month that had since elapsed had not been wasted; the old walls had been strengthened, and such new works devised as were allowed by the means at the disposal of the generals. The troops worked with a will corresponding to the exigency, the people shared their means cheerfully with them; and the gallant defence made during the preceding war against the arms of General Ireton, imparted hope and courage as the crisis drew near. The cursory view of this period to which these pages are limited, will not admit of a more minute detail of the disposition which had been made to meet the impending contest, than the following imperfect summary: A covered way had been constructed round the wall, to protect the soldiers in passing from point to point; St. John's Gate—the principal one of the city—which opened towards the south-east, had been strengthened on the outer side by a redoubt and some angular palisades filled with earth, and on the inner side by a fort called "The Black Battery;" a bastion had been erected near the bridge connecting the English and Irish town; and an earthen fort constructed on King's Island, the guns of which flanked the counterscarp, and raked the eastern front of the wall as far as the main gate. A tower on the southern angle of the wall mounted three guns; the redoubt opposite St. John's Gate mounted two; there were two on the bastion near the bridge, and the fort on King's Island, probably mounted two more.42 Eight thousand infantry manned those works; some regiments of dragoons occupied the island; the rest of the cavalry were disposed on the Clare side of the river, some below the city, at Annabeg, and some in the direction of O'Brien's Bridge, above it,—the branch of the river that separated the towns was easily fordable, and there were many fords on the main channel between that and Kilaloe.

When the Prince of Orange reviewed his army at Finglass, before his departure from Dublin, it was 40,000 strong; and after his junction with Douglas at Caherconlish, it is estimated, on good authority, as "38,000 effective men."43 The disparity in numbers between it and the Jacobite army was very great; but in resources, appointments, and artillery, it was still greater, and such as to leave little doubt of William's success.

On the 8th of August, this army appeared within view of the city, on the eastern side, while de Lausun, who had, during the interval, occupied the position already indicated, on the western side, decamped, and marched his command to Galway, whence he shortly after sailed for France. On the 9th, William approached the city slowly and cautiously, bearing the Irish outposts before him, and took up his position between St. John's Gate and King's Island, within cannon range of the wall. His lines were soon extended to the right and left; the latter position being occupied by the Danes, who are said to have expressed great satisfaction at the sight of an old Danish fort that had escaped the changes of seven centuries, and reminded them at once of the sway of their ancestors over the island—and, mayhap, of the king by whose valor their power had been eventually overthrown.

Tyrconnell was still commander-in-chief of the Irish army, but the military conduct of affairs within the city mainly devolved on Sarsfield and the Duke of Berwick; and as William sat down before their walls, the latter requested Tyrconnell to place the cavalry at his disposal, and that he would cross the Shannon, make a circuit of the country in William's rear, destroy his magazines and supplies up to Dublin, and so reduce him to the necessity of decamping. In referring to this proposition in his Memoirs, the Duke says: "As all the towns in the country were open, and without defence, I was morally certain of succeeding in my enterprise; and as to getting back, which was objected, the knowledge I had of the country had already suggested to me by what means it might be effected. I had no doubt of making my way into the North, and returning to our quarters by Sligo." But Tyrconnell, fearing to part with all his cavalry at such a critical moment, represented to him that it would leave the river between Limerick and Kilaloe exposed, and as they were the only protection against a flank movement of the enemy in that direction, he discountenanced the adventure.

When William had made the necessary disposition of his forces, he sent a regular summons to the governor—de Bo?sselau—for the surrender of the city, but to this a polite answer was returned through his secretary, to the effect, that he could not comply with the demand; that he was there to defend the city for King James; and that he was resolved to do it, in such a manner as to win the respect of his master, the Prince of Orange. William lost no time in putting this resolution to the test, and had soon made all the dispositions for a regular siege. His main body rested nearly opposite to St. John's Gate, with the Danish troops well extended, encircling the city round on the south and south-west; and his right towards King's Island, with a division opposite to the bridge that connected it with the Irish town. Batteries were soon constructed, bearing on those different points, and, establishing his headquarters in Ireton's tower, which commanded a view of the entire front, he opened a fierce and incessant cannonade. The spirited reply of the besieged soon convinced him that they had set their minds on defending their city to the last extremity, and that the siege would be protracted and desperate. The batteries on King's Island were particularly troublesome; the guns there being so well served, that they did great execution on his right and centre, and after a short time, the former was compelled to withdraw from the river, and the latter to shift ground and heighten its defences. Finding, after a bombardment of two days, that he had inflicted no serious damage, William relaxed his fire on the wall, directed his mortars against the interior of the town, and dispatched orders to Clonmel to hasten up his battering train and pontoons, which had been conveyed by the fleet to Waterford, and were now on their way to his camp.

This intelligence being communicated to the governor by a French officer who had deserted from William, Sarsfield conceived the bold design of intercepting the convoy, destroying the train, and compelling the abandonment of the siege. With this intent, he opened the matter to the deputy; but the latter, being in continual fear of disasters, discountenanced the project, as he had that of Berwick. But Sarsfield, insisting with great earnestness, Tyrconnell at last yielded his assent, and placed eight hundred horse dragoons at his command. From those he selected five hundred men, and having secured the service of some Rapparee guides, to whom all the by-ways of the country were known, he held them in reserve until night would favor his departure without the knowledge of the enemy. The exploit was both difficult and dangerous:—over thirty miles of country, traversed by innumerable small rivers, lay before him; two branches of the Slieve-Phelim mountains stretched across his route; and in order to avoid suspicion, and keep the enemy unapprised of his absence, it was necessary to shun the highways and traverse the least frequented parts of the country. The enemy's scouts were thrown out for several miles to the east; his cavalry were foraging in all directions through the day; and the least inadvertence would cause the failure of the undertaking, and cut him off from the city, or perhaps entail the destruction of his entire command.

Darkness had settled over camp and city as Sarsfield crossed the Thomond Bridge, and followed his Rapparee guides into the open country beyond. For some time he pursued his course northward, in order to avoid the road by the river, the cavalry of William being extended as far as O'Brien's Bridge; but when distance removed apprehension, he wheeled eastward at Fahy, urged his command to greater speed, and crossed the bridge of Kilaloe towards midnight. He then struck southward through Newport and Murruo, crossed the Dead River and its tributaries, and as morning dawned, ambushed in the mountain district, about two miles north of the route from Clonmel to Limerick. Here he threw forward his scouts in the direction of Clonmel, to watch the convoy and give timely notice of its approach; but the day passed on, and the night was somewhat advanced, when the lumbering train at last appeared, and halted at a short distance from the place of ambush. The men were now within seven miles of their own camp; the little chapel of Ballyneety, which stood near the roadside, offered a pleasant resting-place; and being in no apprehension of danger, they resolved to bivouac there for the night, and reach the camp early on the following morning. Having made their arrangements and lit their fires, they betook themselves to rest, and were soon wrapped in slumber around and within the walls of the ruin, when the Rapparees, who had watched them throughout the day, taking note of their numbers and disposition, repaired to the general and informed him that the hour had come, and the word was "Sarsfield." The assault that followed was a complete surprise to the enemy, who offered but an ineffectual resistance. In a few minutes over sixty of them were slain, the rest put to flight, and Sarsfield turned his attention to the main object of the expedition. The cannon, eight in number, were loaded to the muzzles and buried deep in the earth: around and over those were pressed the ammunition and ball: over them were laid the chests, wagons, and carriages: the tin boats were next destroyed and placed on top: a train was then laid, and the troop-horses, and all that was portable, were secured and started in advance: and last of all, Sarsfield, with his own hand, lit the train and retired. Then followed that terrible explosion, which is said to have shaken the earth for fifteen miles around, and startled the Prince of Orange in his camp. But, notwithstanding the precautions taken by Sarsfield, his movements had not been unobserved. An Irish Williamite, named Manus O'Brien, had met the detachment on its way towards Kilaloe, and divining that it was on some expedition of importance, hastened to the English camp, and requested an audience of the Prince. He succeeded after considerable delay, and communicated his intelligence; but the Prince, though suspecting at once the design of Sarsfield, looked on it as futile, and took no further notice at the time; yet, as the night waned, he sent out Sir John Lanier, with five hundred horse, to meet the convoy, and ordered the fords of the river to be well guarded to intercept the Irish troops on their return. The delay of O'Brien was providential. Lanier had got within a short distance of the place when he heard the explosion, and pressed on with the hope of intercepting the enemy, but only reached the ground as Sarsfield retired. Warned by the appearance of Lanier that it would be dangerous to return as he had come, he changed his course, passed to the east of the Keeper mountains, and holding his way through Upper and Lower Ormond, he, on the following evening, reached the town of Banagher,44 a distance of more than forty miles, where he halted to recruit his men, and returned through Galway and Clare without the loss of a man.45

This event roused the spirits of the besieged army, and mainly contributed to its final success. It also raised the fame of Sarsfield among the officers of rank, and left him without a rival in the affection of the soldiers. Known before only as a dashing leader of dragoons, he was from that day forward the idol of the populace, and through every change, or good or ill, his name has been a household word with his countrymen in every clime. Nor were the fame of this exploit and the successful defence of Athlone long in reaching King James; they were the first good tidings he had received since his departure, and they gave him assurance to press his suit at the French court. In due time Sarsfield was promoted to the rank of Major-General, and eventually created Earl of Lucan, Viscount of Tully, and Baron of Rosberry.

By this feat, which happened towards the morning of the 13th, William's operations were greatly impeded; but ever provident, he was still the master, and, not like his rival, the slave of circumstances. At the end of another week, the loss was supplied by a train still more formidable than that destroyed, nor did their loss cause the cessation of hostilities for a single day.

Two of the guns found among the débris at Ballyneety were still fit for use, and with these, his mortars, and field-train, he continued the bombardment, and by the 17th, he had pushed his lines of circumvallation close to the walls of the city. Nor were the besieged less active or determined in their resistance; every foot of the ground was dearly purchased, and no day went by without a sortie of the most desperate character. One of these, which occurred between the 17th and 20th, was of so novel a character as to demand a passing notice. As William's lines approached close to the walls, the fire from within was so fierce as to compel the soldiers to lie close within their trenches during the night. Those opposite the sally-port, between the bridge and St. John's Gate, were occupied by two regiments: the Blue Dutch and the British, between whom no very friendly feelings existed. The Irish, to whom this was known, taking advantage of the darkness, made a lodgement in one of the traverses, and threw in a stealthy fire on the Dutch. The latter seeing no enemy, and observing the British by the flash of the muskets, believed the fire came from them, and answered it by a deadly volley. This was immediately returned, and the two regiments commenced a murderous fire on each other, while the Irish, as occasion offered, directed a volley at each of them. After several had fallen victims to their own stupidity, the real cause was detected by one of the Engli............