rebellion. The King landed at Kinsale, on the
12th of March, 1689, attended by some Irish troops
and French officers. He met Tyrconnel in Cork,
created him a duke, and then proceeded to Bandon,
where he received the submission of the people who
had joined the rebellion. On his arrival in Dublin,
he summoned a Parliament and issued proclamations,
after which he proceeded to Derry, according to the
advice of Tyrconnel. Useless negotiations followed;
and James returned to Dublin, after having confided
the conduct of the siege to General Hamilton.
If that officer had not been incomparably more humane
than the men with whom he had to deal, it is probable
that the ’Prentice Boys of Derry would not have
been able to join in their yearly commemoration of
victory. The town was strongly fortified, and
well supplied with artillery and ammunition; the besiegers
were badly clad, badly provisioned, and destitute of
almost every thing necessary to storm a town.
Their only resource was to starve out the garrison;
but of this resource they were partly deprived by the
humanity of General Hamilton, who allowed a considerable
number of men, women, and children to leave Derry,
and thus enabled its defenders to hold out longer.
Lundy, who urged them to capitulate to King James,
was obliged to escape in disguise; and Major Baker,
assisted by the Rev. George Walker, a Protestant clergyman,
then took the command. According to the statements
of the latter, the garrison amounted to 7,500 men,
and they had twenty-two cannon, which alone gave them
an immense advantage over the royal army. So
much has been already said and written, and sung of
the bravery of the Derry men, that nothing more remains
to say. That they were brave, and that they bravely
defended the cause which they had adopted, there is
no doubt; but if polemics had not mingled with politics
in the encounter, it is quite possible that we should
have heard no more of their exploits than of those
other men, equally gallant and equally brave.
The Enniskilleners, who have obtained an unenviable
notoriety for their merciless cruelty in war, occupied
the King’s troops so as to prevent them from
assisting the besiegers. Several encounters took
place between the Derry men and the royalists, but
with no other result than loss of lives on each side.
On the 13th of June, a fleet of thirty ships arrived
from England with men and provisions; but the Irish
had obtained the command of the river Foyle, and possession
of Culmore Fort at the entrance, so that they were
unable to enter. De Rosen was now sent by James
to assist Hamilton. He proposed and carried out
the barbarous expedition of driving all the Protestants
whom he could find before the walls, and threatening
to let them starve there to death unless the garrison
surrendered. His plan was strongly disapproved
by the King, it disgusted the Irish, and exasperated
the besieged. The next day they erected a gallows
on the ramparts, and threatened to hang their prisoners