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XXXI.

church, is hardly an English mile in circuit within CHAP. the wall, in which are four gates, whence run the four main streets, meeting near the summit of the hill, in a square called the Diamond, where stands the exchange. The highest point of the ground is near Bishop's gate, where in latter times has been erected a triumphal arch with an equestrian statue of king William the third. The wall was firm, and strengthened by bastions, but totally insufficient to resist the attacks of a regular army, particularly since the town is commanded by hills. The communication of the city with the county of its name, formerly maintained by a ferry, has been rendered more commodious, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, by a wooden bridge, constructed by Lemuel Coxe, an American artist, eleven hundred and sixty-eight feet long, forty broad, supported by upright piers fifty-eight feet in length, and furnished with a draw-bridge, twenty-five feet wide, for the passage of vessels.

1688.

On the first alarm of an invasion of England by Resistance the prince of Orange, Tyrconnel had withdrawn the of Derry. garrison of this town, a garrison agreeable to the citizens, as consisting of a well disciplined regiment, mostly protestant, commanded by lord Mountjoy, son of primate Boyle. Soon sensible of the oversight of leaving this post in the hands of the townsmen, the lord-deputy had sent thither the earl of Antrim's regiment, composed entirely of Romanists, Irish and Scottish Highlanders, twelve hundred in number. At the moment when the citizens had received intelligence of the intended massacre, and were deliberating

CHAP. liberating on measures for their safety, they were XXXI, alarmed to the highest pitch by a letter from Lima←

vady, a village twelve miles distant, giving them an account of the arrival there of the destined garrison on its march, a body of men of a terrible appearance, tall, ferocious in aspect, turbulent in demeanour, and followed by a disorderly crowd of women and children. In the midst of tumult, perturbation, and discordant counsels, when submission seemed to be the general design, when two officers had entered the city to provide quarters, and an advanced party appeared within three hundred yards of the ferrygate, nine young men of the populace drew their swords in a paroxysm of ardour, snatched the keys of the city, raised the draw-bridge, locked the ferrygate, were soon joined by numbers of their own rank, secured the other gates, and seized the magazine. The enthusiasm of the nine youths, communi» cated immediately to the populace, soon pervaded all ranks; and the citizens, reinforced by a conflux from the country, resolved on defence, choosing Philips for their governor, who had sent them the intelligence from Limavady. While Cairnes, the principal person among them, was commissioned to represent their situation in London, and to solicit succours from the prince of Orange, the magistrates and graver citizens addressed the lord-deputy, through the medium of Mountjoy, ascribing the exclusion of the king's troops to the ungovernable fury of the populace, frantic by the fears of massacre; and declaring their resolution to confine themselves to the defence of their lives against a

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XXXI

lawless rabble, without violating their allegiance. CHA P. On the arrival of Lord Mountjoy, and Lundy, his lieutenant colonel, with orders to reduce them, they agreed, after several conferences, to admit him on conditions. Stipulations were made that a free pardon should be granted in fifteen days; that, in the mean time, two companies only should be quar tered in the city; that the troops, afterwards admitted, should be composed of at least one half protestants; and that all should be left at liberty who might wish to remove.

associations.

A spirit of resistance appeared to be diffused from Protestant Derry through other parts of Ulster, where associa tions were formed under the direction of Mount-Alexander, Blaney, Rawdon, Skeffington, and other leaders. County councils were nominated, and a general council, which was to meet at Hillsborough in the county of Down, for the appointment of officers, and the general direction of affairs. In their publications they declared, that they had united for self-defence, and for the preservation of their religion; that they resolved to act in subordination to the government of England, and to promote the convention of a free parliament. At present they were left to their own resources, as no assistance could be procured from England. As Ormond, the great patron of the Irish protestants, was now dead, their applications were made through Clarendon, a man disagreeable to the prince of Orange, and therefore not admitted to his presence till after various delays, nor otherwise received than with coldness. When the prince at length was obliged

to

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CHA P. to receive a formal address. from the protestants of Ireland, unable in the midst of multiplied difficulties to afford them relief, he returned a concise and phlegmatic reply: "I thank you; I will take care of you."

Treachery of Hamil

Terrified, and admonished by his counsellors of the desperate state of James, Tyrconnel, through Tyrconnel. the medium of some protestants in Ireland, conveyed

ton and

intimations to London of his willingness to resign. Richard Hamilton, a catholic general, who had been sent into England to oppose the prince, and had become his prisoner, proposed to repair to the lorddeputy and to engage him to abdicate his government; promising in case of failure to return. This general had served with reputation in France, whence he had been ordered to retire, on account of some bold addresses, in the style of love, to the princess of Conti, the king's daughter, and had been hitherto accounted a man of honour; but, on his arrival in Dublin, he assured the chief governor that affairs in England had assumed a very promising aspect for the restoration of James, advised him strenuously to maintain his post, and remained to assist him in his military operations. Determined on adherence to James, Tyrconnel yet declared with such warmth to the protestant lords his resolution to submit to the prince of Orange, that Mountjoy was persuaded to accompany Rice, the chief baron, on an embassy to James in France, to represent to him the expediency of surrendering Ireland to the power then ruling in England. On his arrival in Paris, Mountjoy was committed to the prison of the Bastile,"

while

XXXI.

while Rice solicited succours for the Jacobites, or CHAP. partizans of James; and Tyrconnel, disavowing the stipulations which he had solemnly made, forced their few remaining arms from the protestants in the districts under his power, who were also plundered of their horses and other property, and insulted by the soldiery. A son of Sir William Temple, by whose advice the treacherous Hamilton had been sent by the prince into Ireland, was so violently grieved at the effects of his own mistake, that in a paroxysm of remorse he put an end to his existence.

of the pro

1689.

In Munster lord Inchiquin, in Connaught lord Proceedings Kingston, endeavoured, at the head of some incontestants. siderable forces, to support the protestant interest in these provinces; while the northerns with greater numbers, but little arms, ammunition, or skill, besieged unsuccessfully Carrickfergus, and proclaimed king William and queen Mary in the northeastern towns. Commanded to surrender their arms, and to dissolve their associations, by a proclamation signed by Lord Granard and some other protestant members of the council, as well as by catholics, and finding themselves threatened by general Hamilton, who marched against them with a formidable force, the northern protestants abandoned Newry, and retired gradually to Dromore, where they were overtaken by the enemy, and, flying from their superior arms and numbers, were pursued with slaughter. They gained Hillsborough; but quickly abandoning that post, and continuing their flight, they seemed totally broken, some escaping to Britain, others accepting protections from the Jacobite army.

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