What were the terms granted to other cities in the progress of that campaign? What the terms refused to this? What the grammatical meaning of the terms actually granted? What the meaning, compared with the state of things in Charles the Second's reign, to which by these terms reference is specially made? What the understanding, at the time, of the Parliament of England and of the Parliament of Ireland, on the one hand? What the understanding of King James himself?

"In the summer of 1691 the English army in Ireland swept the kingdom, and approached Limerick. As they advanced, they took every fortress and every city which resisted; so that, at last, Limerick alone remained to the cause of James II. Now, in endeavouring to explain the sense in which the disputed articles of the treaty of Limerick are to be understood, I ask, in the first place, what were the general terms intended to be granted by the government in Ireland to those who in the progress of the war might voluntarily submit? Those terms are to be found in the declaration of the Lords Justices, dated 7th July, 1691; and that declaration is, within two years after its date, recited at full length by Story, himself a party in the war, as being that upon which the articles of Galway and Limerick, and all the Irish capitulations were afterwards founded.'* After promising to re

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*Story's Wars in Ireland, 4to. 1693, vol. I. p. 117-20.

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store the forfeited estates to those who shall come in peaceably, they state, and lest those who are to take benefit by this proclamation may be apprehensive of being prosecuted for exercising their religion, though their Majesties have sufficiently manifested to the world by the rest and quiet not only Roman Catholics of this kingdom, but those of England have enjoyed under their government, may be sufficient to remove any such apprehensions, we are commanded further to publish and declare, and we do hereby publish and declare, that as soon as their Majesties' affairs will permit them to summon a Parliament in this kingdom, they will endeavour to procure them such further security in these particulars as may preserve them from any disturbance on account of their religion.' This, then, was the general boon held out to the Roman Catholics to induce them to submit to William and Mary: that is to say, their Majesties would not invoke the penal laws against them; would, so far as they had the means, give to them rest and quiet in the exercise of their religion and (as neither a dispensing nor a legislating power existed in the crown singly) would endeavour to procure from the supreme authority of Parliament such further security in these particulars as might preserve the Roman Catholics from any disturbance on account of their religion. Slight as, according to this construction, the advantage appears to us, its value must be measured by a

comparison, not with our own situation to-day, but with that of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, at that time, generally, before this declaration, and with that of those Roman Catholics in particular who did not submit to it, and who were accordingly left to make, as they could, their own terms afterwards.

"Let us see, then, what was the condition. of those who declined to accept these terms, and continued accordingly to resist the government.

"No man continuing to resist the government had under this proclamation any right to any terms whatever. It will be remembered, that, in the preceding year, when the army of William approached Waterford, then perhaps the fourth city in the kingdom, and the garrison demanded as a condition of their surrender the freedom of a private exercise of their religion, that article was distinctly refused.* The same took place in the fort of Duncannon, and both surrendered without any security whatever even for this humble privilege; a sufficient proof, first, of the value which both parties attached to what we should now call so moderate a claim; and, secondly, of the strength of the English party, and of the weakness of those who had resisted them.

"The army approached Galway, then the second city in the kingdom. As it threatened a long

* See Story, vol. i. p. 109; and Leland, vol. iii. p. 575.

defence, the besiegers consented to grant terms superior to those which had been obtained by Waterford.* Similar terms were granted to the fort of Buffin's Island in the mouth of the Shannon. By the articles of Galway, the private exercise of their religion was secured to the Roman Catholics in the garrison and in the city: the Roman Catholic lawyers were admitted to such liberty of practice as they had in Charles the Second's time, and the estated gentlemen (a phrase explained in a proclamation of the Lords Justices a few months afterwards to mean gentlemen of one hundred pounds per annum,) were permitted to carry a gun and a brace of pistols.

"The north and east of Ireland had now submitted to the English; Sligo at least alone in the north-west held out; and Sligo, I think, was taken while the army was before Limerick. The authority of James had a partial and divided influence in the six counties, Limerick, Cork, Kerry, Clare, Sligo, and Mayo; but the real and almost entire strength of his cause was centered in the city of Limerick itself. I am willing to admit that De Ginckel was empowered to

Art. x. That the names of the Roman Catholic Clegy of the town of Galway be given to the General on or before Tuesday next; and that they, as well as the laity of the town, shall have the private exercise of their religion without being prosecuted on any penal laws for the same, and that the said Clergy shall be protected in their persons and goods. -Story vol. ii. p. 168. See. Postea, p. 93.

bring the war to a conclusion on almost any terms; but it will be conceded, on the other hand, to me, that King James describes his own garrison to have been at least equally anxious to capitulate.*

"The terms eventually granted by De Ginckel will be best understood by the terms refused by him.

"On the 23d of September, 1691, the garrison of Limerick, after an unsuccessful sally, asked for a cessation of hostilities; and on the 27th of September sent out their proposals, which were these: 1. An act of indemnity for all offences whatsoever, without reference to their date or quality. 2. Restoration of all Irish Catholics to the estates possessed before the Revolution. 3. A free liberty of worship, and one priest to each parish. 4. Irish Catholics to be capable of bearing employment, military and civil, and to exercise professions, trades, and callings, of what

On the surrender of Galway in the preceding month, 20th July, 1691, Tyrconnel, after making all preparations for the defence of Limerick, "despatched an express to St. Germains to beg either a speedy succour or leave to make conditions for themselves." (King James's Memoirs, ii. 459.) He goes on, "But the enemie pressed too hard to give any great hopes they (the Irish) could wait the relief which was to come from a country so remote; they made my Lord Tyrconnel apprehend the army would capitulate in spite of his teeth; and many persons of distinction were so much inclined that way as had like to have brought it about even before the enemie apeared in sight of the town." (ii. 460.)