appealed to the treaty.  Each construed it as suited his purpose, and each complained that the other had violated it.  Sarsfield was accused of putting one of his officers under arrest for refusing to go to the Continent.  Ginkell, greatly excited, declared that he would teach the Irish to play tricks with him, and began to make preparations for a cannonade.  Sarsfield came to the English camp, and tried to justify what he had done.  The altercation was sharp.  “I submit,” said Sarsfield, at last:  “I am in your power.”  “Not at all in my power,” said Ginkell, “go back and do your worst.”  The imprisoned officer was liberated; a sanguinary contest was averted; and the two commanders contented themselves with a war of words.130 Ginkell put forth proclamations assuring the Irish that, if they would live quietly in their own land, they should be protected and favoured, and that if they preferred a military life, they should be admitted into the service of King William.  It was added that no man, who chose to reject this gracious invitation and to become a soldier of Lewis, must expect ever again to set foot on the island.  Sarsfield and Wauchop exerted their eloquence on the other side.  The present aspect of affairs, they said, was doubtless gloomy; but there was bright sky beyond the cloud.  The banishment would be short.  The return would be triumphant.  Within a year the French would invade England.  In such an invasion the Irish troops, if only they remained unbroken, would assuredly bear a chief part.  In the meantime it was far better for them to live in a neighbouring and friendly country, under the parental care of their own rightful King, than to trust the Prince of Orange, who would probably send them to the other end of the world to fight for his ally the Emperor against the Janissaries.

The help of the Roman Catholic clergy was called in.  On the day on which those who had made up their minds to go to France were required to announce their determination, the priests were indefatigable in exhorting.  At the head of every regiment a sermon was preached on the duty of adhering to the cause of the Church, and on the sin and danger of consorting with unbelievers.131 Whoever, it was said, should enter the service of the usurpers would do so at the peril of his soul.  The heretics affirmed that, after the peroration, a plentiful allowance of brandy was served out to the audience, and that, when the brandy had been swallowed, a Bishop pronounced a benediction.  Thus duly prepared by physical and moral stimulants, the garrison, consisting of about fourteen thousand infantry, was drawn up in the vast meadow which lay on the Clare bank of the Shannon.  Here copies of Ginkell’s proclamation were profusely scattered about; and English officers went through the ranks imploring the men not to ruin themselves, and explaining to them the advantages which the soldiers of King William enjoyed.  At length the decisive moment came.  The troops were ordered to pass in review.  Those who wished