CHAPTER XXIV. THE BESIEGED CITY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 136, 10 December 1875, Page 6

CHAPTER XXIV. THE BESIEGED CITY.

t'ive days later the troops of the usurper William put themselves before the place. Days of sorrow for Limerick, though ended by a treaty alike advantageous and honorable, had its terms been kept by the English. Alas, for the horrors and calamities of war, when famine and carnage walk hand-iu.-h.and through the land, laying desolate and ravaging- its fairest sxiots. When rapine and sacrilege, and wholesale murder are perpetrated, and made just in tlie eyes of those who commit them, because it is the time of war. There were brave women in Limerick, whose youth, and strength, and health had passed away, for even middle age was on the wane. In the midst of the horrors, when terror-stricken women pressed their little ones to their bosoms, and the young and the tender wailed for bread, she was in the midst of them. Bombarding had commenced, shells were falling thick and fast, churches and houses became a wreck to the fury of the assailants, and many till then a flourishing 1 homestead was laid in ruins. In one of these doomed houses was Catherine O'Neill, speaking words of comfort to a knot of helpless women and still more helpless babes. Thick and fast came the dropping shells, and in this house the cousin of Sarsfield met her death, with some half-dozen of her female friends and their helpless children clustered around her. Sarsfield beheld the forts taken, and their condition desperate, yet ho had the courage to insist on, and the dexterity to obtain articles not only fox the security of the people of Limerick, but also for the whole of Ireland. Cousultrng the houor aud advantage of his royal master Janies, in getting leave for his men to go, and even ships to transport them into France, should they still desire to follow his fortunes and adhere to his service, which with those who had gone previously, clinging to the fortunes of the ex-king, brought from first to last nearly 30,U00 men into the kingdom or" France, 13,000 men chose al once rather to undergo exile from their native land, than submit to the government of the Dutch monarch. Nowhere, indeed, had the ill-fated James more staunch supporters than his Irish subjects. But vainly can we attempt to describe the embittered feelings of the Earl of Lucan and his faithful followers, when, a very few days later, the dawn of the early morning showed them a French fleet on the coast, comprising eighteen ships of the line, with 30,000 arms, and also stores of provisions and ammunition. Assistance so near, and yet they had been compelled to yield. The feeling in the mind of Lucan and the more intrepid and earnest - of his followers was, that but for impatient and factious men like s Luttrell, the kindly aid of the magnificent Louis would not have » proved ineffectual.