From October 1690 till May 1691, no military operation on a large scale was attempted in that kingdom.  The area of the island was, during the winter and spring, not unequally divided between the contending races.  The whole of Ulster, the greater part of Leinster and about one third of Munster had submitted to the English.  The whole of Connaught, the greater part of Munster, and two or three counties of Leinster were held by the Irish.  The tortuous boundary formed by William’s garrisons ran in a north eastern direction from the bay of Castlehaven to Mallow, and then, inclining still further eastward, proceeded to Cashel.  From Cashel the line went to Mullingar, from Mullingar to Longford, and from Longford to Cavan, skirted Lough Erne on the west, and met the ocean again at Ballyshannon.68

On the English side of this pale there was a rude and imperfect order.  Two Lords Justices, Coningsby and Porter, assisted by a Privy Council, represented King William at Dublin Castle.  Judges, Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace had been appointed; and assizes were, after a long interval, held in several county towns.  The colonists had meanwhile been formed into a strong militia, under the command of officers who had commissions from the Crown.  The trainbands of the capital consisted of two thousand five hundred foot, two troops of horse and two troops of dragoons, all Protestants and all well armed and clad.69 On the fourth of November, the anniversary of William’s birth, and on the fifth, the anniversary of his landing at Torbay, the whole of this force appeared in all the pomp of war.  The vanquished and disarmed natives assisted, with suppressed grief and anger, at the triumph of the caste which they had, five months before, oppressed and plundered with impunity.  The Lords Justices went in state to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral; bells were rung; bonfires were lighted; hogsheads of ale and claret were set abroach in the streets; fireworks were exhibited on College Green; a great company of nobles and public functionaries feasted at the Castle; and, as the second course came up, the trumpets sounded, and Ulster King at Arms proclaimed, in Latin, French and English, William and Mary, by the grace of God, King and Queen of Great Britain, France, and Ireland.70

Within the territory where the Saxon race was dominant, trade and industry had already begun to revive.  The brazen counters which bore the image and superscription of James gave place to silver.  The fugitives who had taken refuge in England came back in multitudes; and, by their intelligence, diligence and thrift, the devastation caused by two years of confusion and robbery was soon in part repaired.  Merchantmen heavily laden were constantly passing and repassing Saint George’s Channel.  The receipts of the custom houses on the eastern coast, from Cork to Londonderry, amounted in six months to sixty-seven thousand five hundred pounds, a sum such as would have been thought extraordinary even in the most prosperous times.71