Mark Talbot,
F. H. De La Forest, Susannel.’”
From the same authority we learn that “on December 22, my Lord Lucan, and the rest of the Irish great officers, went on board the transport ships [bound for France], leaving hostages at Cork for the return of the said ships.”
It is impossible to reconcile the circumstantial statement of the Williamite historian, Harris, in regard to Ginkel’s faithlessness, with the official document, signed by Sarsfield, as Earl of Lucan, which practically exonerates the Dutch general. Would Sarsfield have signed such a release if Ginkel had been guilty of the treachery ascribed to him by Harris? Story’s book was published a year before Lord Lucan fell in Flanders, and must have been read by that general and the officers who served with him at Limerick. One thing about the question is certain—if Sarsfield ever issued the proclamation, in conjunction with General Wauchop, ascribed to him by the English chaplain, he must have been grossly deceived by somebody. All writers of his own times, and of after times, describe Sarsfield as the soul of honor, but some have asserted that he was rather easy-going in business affairs, and a little too ready to sign any document placed before him.
We have been unable to find any contemporary confirmation of the romantic Irish tradition that the Treaty of Limerick was signed on the historic bowlder, now preserved by pedestal and railing near Thomond Bridge, on the Clare bank of the Shannon. But tradition is often more accurate than written history. Therefore, the Irish people having accepted the story through more than six generations, we accept with them the legend of “the Treaty Stone.”
CHAPTER III
The Irish Troops, as a Majority, Enter the French Service—King James Receives Them Cordially—His Testimony of Their Devotion and Courage
IMMEDIATELY after the signing of the treaty, it was fixed upon between De Ginkel and Sarsfield that, on October 6, the Irish infantry would march out of the King’s Island by Thomond Bridge, into the County Clare, and there and then make a choice of service with England or France. It was arranged that those who chose the former service were to turn to the left at a certain point, where an English flag was planted, while those who decided for France were to march straight onward to a more distant point marked by the French standard. They were, in all, about 15,000 men, and, quite naturally, the respective leaders awaited the result with burning anxiety. They were not left long in doubt. The first body to march was the Royal Irish regiment of Foot Guards, fourteen hundred strong, of which Mr. Story remarks wofully, it “seemed to go all entire [for France] except seven men, which the general was much concerned at, then my Lord Iveagh’s regiment of Ulster Irish came off entire to our side.” In all a little over 1,000 officers and men ranged themselves under the flag of King William, while nearly 13,000 mustered under the Fleur-de-Lis. A few days afterward, the Irish horse, now much reduced, made choice in the same fashion, and with about the same proportionate result. The same privilege was granted the outlying bodies of King James’s army, and all decided for France in the proportion of about ten to one. Of the Irish general officers, more or less under the suspicion of the army since the disasters of Aughrim and Annaghbeg, we find Generals Luttrell and Clifford, Baron Purcell, “and a great many more of the Irish nobility and gentry going toward Dublin,” which means that they made terms with the enemy.
It was well along in the month of December before the Irish soldiers who had volunteered to go beyond the seas were entirely transported to France. The foot, for the most part, sailed from Limerick, many of them in the returning fleet of Chateau-Renaud, and the cavalry from Cork, where occurred the tragical event we have already related. In all—including the capitulated troops from every Irish garrison—20,000 men from Ireland landed in the French ports, and these, together with Mountcashel’s Brigade, which had been in the French service since before the battle of the Boyne, made up a force of 25,000 veterans, who were mostly in the pay of King Louis, but all of whom were sworn to support King James in any effort he might put forth to recover his crown.