"To my mind," he went on, after he had seen the troop quartered, in some
houses which formerly belonged to the Protestants, but were now used as
barracks--"in my opinion, we are wasting precious time. We ought not to
allow the enemy to go into winter quarters. Our best season is just
coming on. We can stand the wet far better than they can, and we ought
not to give them a moment's rest, but should keep our army together, and
beat up one garrison after another; threaten the strongest places; compel
them to keep constantly on the move; and, before the spring, completely
wear out and exhaust those whom we cannot conquer. If England found that
she had the whole work to begin over again, she would think twice before
she went further.

"These petty German princes would not find their men so ready to embark
in a quarrel, with which they have no concern, when they learned that all
who had done so had laid their bones in the swamps of Ireland, and,
without his mercenaries, William would find it hard to gather an army,
for the English themselves have no heart whatever in the war. If we
remain inactive all the winter, and enable them to retain their foothold
everywhere, fresh reinforcements will arrive in the spring, and so, bit
by bit, all Ireland will be won.

"It is disheartening in the extreme, after seeing the enemy retire,
repulsed and utterly disheartened, from Athlone and Limerick, to allow
them unmolested to rest and gather strength again. If we could but get
rid of the French, there would be some hope for us. They have scarce
fired a shot, since the war began, and yet they assume superiority over
our generals. They thwart us at every turn. They not only refuse to
combine in any action, but they prevent our doing so.