"His majesty has his virtues, and, with good counsellors,
would make a worthy monarch; but among his virtues military genius is not
conspicuous. I should be glad, myself, if Lauzun and the French would
also take their departure, and let us have Mountcashel's division back
again from France. If we are left to ourselves, with our own generals,
Sarsfield and Mountcashel, we can tire out this continental riffraff that
William has gathered together. The dissensions caused by French
interference have been our ruin, so far; leave us to ourselves, and we
shall do. The Irish today have proved their fighting qualities; and, if
proper use is made of the resources and difficulties of the country, I
defy them to conquer us. I feel more hopeful now than I have done since
the first day we took the field."
"Do you think we shall fight another battle before Dublin, father?"
Walter asked.
"I have no idea what the generals will decide, Walter, but I should
imagine that we shall march to the west. We had a strong position today,
but in the open field, at present, we could not hope to cope with
William's superior numbers and great artillery train. His guns were
little use to him yesterday; but on level ground they would tear our
ranks to pieces, without our being able to make any return.
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