proceedings. Of the deputation the Roman Catholic Bishop of Cork
and the two Luttrells were members. In the ship which conveyed
them from Limerick to Brest they found a fellow passenger whose
presence was by no means agreeable to them, their enemy, Maxwell.
They suspected, and not without reason, that he was going, like
them, to Saint Germains, but on a very different errand. The
truth was that Berwick had sent Maxwell to watch their motions
and to traverse their designs. Henry Luttrell, the least
scrupulous of men, proposed to settle the matter at once by
tossing the Scotchman into the sea. But the Bishop, who was a man
of conscience, and Simon Luttrell, who was a man of honour,
objected to this expedient.80

Meanwhile at Limerick the supreme power was in abeyance. Berwick,
finding that he had no real authority, altogether neglected
business, and gave himself up to such pleasures as that dreary
place of banishment afforded. There was among the Irish chiefs no
man of sufficient weight and ability to control the rest.
Sarsfield for a time took the lead. But Sarsfield, though
eminently brave and active in the field, was little skilled in
the administration of war, and still less skilled in civil
business. Those who were most desirous to support his authority
were forced to own that his nature was too unsuspicious and
indulgent for a post in which it was hardly possible to be too
distrustful or too severe. He believed whatever was told him. He
signed whatever was set before him. The commissaries, encouraged
by his lenity, robbed and embezzled more shamelessly than ever.
They sallied forth daily, guarded by pikes and firelocks, to
seize, nominally for the public service, but really for
themselves, wool, linen, leather, tallow, domestic utensils,