“These petty German princes would not find their men so ready to embark in a quarrel, with which they have no concern, when they learned that all who had done so had laid their bones in the swamps of Ireland, and, without his mercenaries, William would find it hard to gather an army, for the English themselves have no heart whatever in the war.  If we remain inactive all the winter, and enable them to retain their foothold everywhere, fresh reinforcements will arrive in the spring, and so, bit by bit, all Ireland will be won.

“It is disheartening in the extreme, after seeing the enemy retire, repulsed and utterly disheartened, from Athlone and Limerick, to allow them unmolested to rest and gather strength again.  If we could but get rid of the French, there would be some hope for us.  They have scarce fired a shot, since the war began, and yet they assume superiority over our generals.  They thwart us at every turn.  They not only refuse to combine in any action, but they prevent our doing so.

“Since the Boyne, our army has lain inactive and has done nothing, although they might have done everything.  All Ireland was open to them, on the day when William, with all his forces, sat down here before Limerick.  Why, they could have marched straight for Dublin and captured it, before William heard that they had crossed the Shannon.  They might have cut off his supplies from Waterford.  They might have starved him out in his camp here.  They have had the game in their hands, and they have allowed it to slip altogether through their fingers.  The only hope I have, now, is that before the spring the French will go.  It is but too clear that Louis has no intention, whatever, of helping us in earnest.  Had he chosen he could, any time during the last six months, have landed an army here, which would have decided the struggle.  Instead of that, he has sent five thousand men, and had in return as many of our best soldiers; and the officers he sent seem to have been furnished with secret instructions, not only to do nothing themselves, but to prevent us from doing anything.”

“Whom would you like to see in command, father?”

“I should not care much, Walter, so that it was one man.  I had rather have any soldier you might take at random from our army, so that he possessed a fair share of common sense, than the chaos which now prevails; but, of course, the man whom we would rather have is Sarsfield.  Whether he is a great general or not, we have no means of knowing, for he has never yet had the slightest opportunity of showing it; but I do not think, myself, that he has made the most of what chances he has had, save that one dash against the artillery convoy.  He has done nothing; and, as the cavalry are under his command, and he could, if he chose, snap his fingers at the pretensions of the French and act independently, I think he might have done far more than he has done.  Still, he is our most prominent leader, and he possesses the