"There are few names more worthy to be inscribed in the roll of honour than that of Patrick Sarsfield, who may be quoted as a type of loyalty and patriotic devotion. In the annals of Irish history he stands as a parallel to Pierre du Terrail, Chevalier de Bayard in those of France, and may be equally accounted 'Sans peur et sans reproche,' the fearless and irreproachable knight; in his public actions firm and consistent; in his private character amiable and unblemished. . . . (At the end of the war) William III. would gladly have won his services, and offered to confirm him in his rank and property; but he listened to no overtures, and left his native country attended by thousands of that gallant body, who, under the title of the Irish Brigade, filled the continent of Europe with their renown." [Footnote 204]
[Footnote 204: "Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, a Biography;" Dublin University Magazine for November, 1853; the writer, John William Cole, Esq., formerly captain in the Royal Fusiliers. Mary, sister of the earl, was married to Colonel Rossiter, County Wexford, and to a lineal descendant of theirs, the gentleman just mentioned, we are indebted for the only life of Sarsfield yet given to the world. He could find but scant materials, though it is supposed they might be made available if the living representative of an old family of the Pale would take the trouble of a search among the archives of his house. Mary Sarsfield's great granddaughter was the wife of Lieutenant (afterward colonel) James Cockburn, who was on the personal staff of General Wolfe on the memorable day at Quebec. His portrait (to the right of General Moncton's) was introduced by West into his picture of the "Death of Wolfe." He afterward commanded the Thirty-fifth in the American war of Independence. Colonel Cockburn's daughter, Margaret, married Thomas Cole, Esq., of Callan, in the county of Kilkenny, major in the King's Fencibles. Our authority the issue of this marriage could not resist the martial impulses of his race; so he smelled powder along with Rev. R. Gleig at Washington and New Orleans and elsewhere. Since he laid aside the "spurtle blade and dog-skin wallet," he has usefully employed his leisure hours in literary composition of a healthful character. We suspect the papers in the University Magazine on ancient military tactics illustrated by plans of battles to be his. Among his other productions are biographies of General Vallancey, Tyrone Power, and other Irish theatrical celebrities.]
In his Military Memoirs of the Irish Nation, Mathew O'Connor speaks thus of his military qualifications:
"As a partisan and for a desultory warfare, he possessed admirable qualifications; brave, patient, vigilant, rapid, indefatigable, ardent, adventurous, and enterprising; the foremost in encounter, the last in retreat. He harassed his enemy by sudden, unexpected, and generally irresistible attacks, inspiring his troops with the same ardour and contempt of danger with which his own soul was animated. . . . No general was ever more beloved by his troops."
A SIEGE INCIDENT OR TWO.
Whatever William might have felt on being made acquainted with the loss of his cannon and ammunition, he said very little on the subject. He was one of those whose fixed purpose is not to be set aside for defeat or check. With his battering-train augmented by two great guns and a mortar from Waterford, he continued to pound the walls day after day. The trenches were relieved at midnight till the following unlucky mistake occurred, all the particulars of which are not very intelligible to civilians:
"Monday 18th August at night the trenches were relieved by Lieut.-General Douglas, My Lord Sydney, and Count Nassau, as major-generals, and Brigadeer Stuart. We made our approaches towards the fort outside the wall, and Lieut.-General Douglas's and Brigadeer Stuart's regiments were posted towards the right. It was dark when they went on, and they did not perceive the enemy to be so near them as they really were. [What brought the enemy outside their walls?] for there was at that time scarce twenty yards distance between them. They were ordered to lye down upon their arms which they did, and a great part, both of the officers and soldiers, fell asleep. The enemy perceived this, and attacked them, which presently put them into a confusion, and several of them gave ground, but presently recovered themselves and fired, but did not know at what. The Danes to the left took our own men for the enemy sallying, and so fired upon them; they believed the Danes to be the Irish; and so returned the compliment. The Irish fired upon both, and they at one another. This confusion lasted nigh two hours, in which several men were killed; nor did the king or any body else know what to make of it. At last our men found their mistake, and the Irish were beat in, crying 'quarter' and 'murder' as they used to do. After this his majesty ordered the trenches to be relieved in the day, and our men marched always in and out in the very face of their cannon."
If truth lies in a well, it is a pity she should make choice of a muddy one, where her contours and lineaments are so admirably confused. Hear another version by John Banim, the novelist, from what, if any, authority we know not:
"While day after day the battering, at this one point continued, the garrison made a midnight sortie upon the besiegers. Taken by surprise, and thrown into such confusion as to be unable to discern friend from foe, they attacked each other, and the Irish [{715}] having retreated unperceived, so continued until the morning light showed them their mistake and the shocking havoc that resulted from it."
Our chaplain did not much relish that classic and severe style of composition which critics assigned to a great historical work. Moreover he was ever as ready as Homer to introduce a gossiping or traditional episode, and repose his pen from the dry or terrible details of the main course of events.