“There is something in that, I admit, Kennedy.  It seems to me that, in this war, it would be much better if the Spaniards and Portuguese had both remained at home, and allowed the French and us fight it out with the English and Dutch.  The battles would have been small, but at least they would have been desperately fought.”

“But it would be absurd, Moore, for us to lay down our lives in a struggle in which those principally concerned took no part whatever, and which was of no great interest either to us or to the English.  After the way in which Louis was ready to throw over Spain and Philip at the beginning of the year, the Spanish alliance can be of no great advantage to him, and I do not think that even Philip’s orders would induce a Spanish army to march across the frontier to assist France.  Therefore, as Louis can gain nothing by the Spanish alliance, why should he weaken himself by sending forces here to maintain Philip on the throne?”

“But with the Archduke Charles here, he would have an enemy on his frontier.  Philip might not assist him, but Charles would be actively hostile.  The English and Dutch troops would be pouring into the peninsula, and we should have another Flanders in the south of France.”

“Well,” Desmond said, after a pause; “the best way I can see out of it is for both Philip and Charles to withdraw, and allow the Spanish to elect a Spaniard for their king; or, if they could not agree to that, which I don’t suppose they could do, choose some foreign prince belonging to a petty state which stands altogether aloof from European affairs, and seat him on the throne.  If, again, they would not accept him, England and France should mutually agree not to interfere in the affair, and let the Spaniards indulge in civil war as long as it pleases them.”

Moore laughed.

“It might be a good solution, Kennedy, but there is no more chance of Philip or Charles renouncing their pretensions, or indeed of the French on one side and the allies on the other permitting them to do so, than there is of the world becoming an utopia, where war shall be unknown, and all peoples live together in peace and amity.”

“Well,” Desmond said, “for my part, I am sick of fighting in quarrels that do not concern me, and when this campaign comes to an end I shall, if possible, rejoin Berwick.  The cause of the Stuarts is not advanced, in the slightest, by what is taking place in Spain, and if I am to fight, I would rather do so where victory would benefit us.”

“I don’t know that you are not right,” the other assented.  “It certainly seems a pity that the best blood of Ireland should be spilled, in Flanders and Spain, in the service of a foreign country.  To my mind, the terms of the surrender of Limerick were disadvantageous both to Ireland and England.  England has gained a number of inveterate foes who, with good and wise treatment, might now be fighting in her own ranks.  Ireland has lost her best blood, men who were her natural leaders, and belonged to the old families, whom all respected.”