The Protestants round Limerick had not doubted the success of the besiegers, never questioning the ability of an army, commanded by a king, to capture a place like Limerick.  The misery of this body of fugitives was terrible.  They had abandoned their homes to pillage and destruction, and knew not whether they should ever be able to return to them again.  They had, on the arrival of William, torn up the letters of protection, which the Irish generals had given to all who applied to them, and, having thrown in their fortunes with him, dared not remain among the country people, who had suffered so terribly from the exactions and brutality of William’s army.  Not only had they to endure wet, hunger, and fatigue in the retreat, but they were robbed and plundered, by the army which should have protected them, as if they had been enemies instead of friends.

William himself left his army, as soon as he broke up the siege, and pushed straight on to Waterford, and the troops, relieved from the only authority they feared, and rendered furious by the ill success which had attended their operations, broke out into acts of plunder and insubordination which surpassed anything that they had before perpetrated.

The siege of Limerick brought the campaign to a close, and, so far, the Irish had no reason to be disheartened.  They had besieged and nearly annihilated the army of Schomberg at Dundalk.  They had fought a sturdy battle on the Boyne, and had proved themselves a match for William’s best troops.  They had decisively repulsed the attacks upon Athlone and Limerick.  Half the troops William had sent to conquer the country had fallen, while their own losses had been comparatively small.

The sole fruit, of all the efforts of William, had been the occupation of the capital—­a great advantage, as it gave him a point at which he could pour fresh troops into Ireland, and recommence the war in the spring with new chances of success.  When the British army reached Callan, some of the arrears of pay were distributed among the troops, and the army was then broken up, and the troops went into winter quarters.

William had returned at once to England, and sent over some new lords justices to Dublin.  These were received with delight by the townspeople, who had suffered terribly from the exactions and depredations of the foreign troops quartered there, and were, indeed, almost in a state of starvation, for the country people were afraid to bring in provisions for sale, as they were either plundered of the goods as they approached the city, or robbed of their money as they returned after disposing of them.  As the only possible check to these disorders, the justices raised a body of militia in the town, to cope with the soldiery, and the result was a series of frays which kept the city in a state of alarm.

By the time that Limerick beat off the assault upon its breach, Walter Davenant was quite convalescent.  Rumours of the ill treatment of the Protestants who accompanied the retreating army circulated in Limerick, and Mrs. Conyers congratulated herself warmly that she and her daughter were safe under the protection of the Irish troops, instead of being in the sad column of fugitives.