WEEK'S ANNIVERSARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 234, 3 October 1931, Page 8

WEEK'S ANNIVERSARY.

OCTOBER 3.—THE TREATY OF LIMERICK.

(Copyrighted.) Tavo hundred and forty years ago, on October 3, 1691, the Irish city of Limerick, which is situated on the banks of the River Shannon, was the scene of the signing of the famous treaty, under which the Irish nation acknowledged the supremacy of William 111. and Mary, who thus became the undisputed sovereigns of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

After William had won his decisive victory at the Battle_of the Boyne in the preceding year, he had besieged Limerick, but, owing to the destruction of a considerable portion of his artillery and the arrival of bad weather, he was compelled to abandon the siege for the time being, and returned to England, leaving the completion of the war in Ireland in the hands of General Ginckel, the most capable of his Dutch commanders.

The war dragged along until the following summer, when, on July 12, Ginckel routed the Irish troops at the Battle of Aughrim, and General' Sarsfield, who was the 'bravest and the ablest of ex-King James' military leaders, established himself in Limerick with the remnants of his army. Thus Limerick became the last stronghold of the Jacobites, and within its walls were contained the whole strength and hope of their cause. The advance guard of Ginckel's victorious army arrived outside the city on August 25, and then began a strenuous siege of several weeks duration. The garrison maintained a brilliant and vigorous defence, but the arrival in the river of a squadron of English warships and a series of reverses showed Sarsfield that the capture- of the city was only a question of time, and he, therefore, arranged an armistice, during which the terms of the treaty were discussed and settled. The treaty stipulated that the Irish should be allowed to retain their arms; property and estates, that all attainders and outlawries should be annulled, that no oath except one of allegiance should be required from the Irish, that all who wished to leave the country would be-allowed to do so, and that those who remained would be secured in the free exercise of their religion.

The articles of the treaty were highly creditable, both -to the wisdom and moderation displayed by William and his advisers, and also to the great valour of the Irish garrison, which had enabled it to secure such favourable terms. The gallant SarsfieM and about ten thousand of his soldiers, who were permitted to march out of the city with all the honours of war, embarked for Prance, where they enrolled themselves under the banner of Louis *XIV., in whose service they gained great renown as. "The Irish Brigade" of the French army.

The signing of the Treaty of Limerick brought the war in Ireland' to a -conclusion, and tranquillity was restored to the country after a long series of devastating hostilities, but unfortunately the most important article in the treaty, from •the Irish point of view, namely, that which promised absolute freedom of religious worship to the Roman Catholics, was afterwards flagrantly violated by the passing of a number of oppressive penal law's. This violation led to the creation of a spirit of hatred and hostility to the English Government, which continued to exist all through the 18th and 19th centuries, and which is to be found throughout a large section of the country oven at the present day.