History of the "Scotch Irish."--Irish Rebellion of 1599.--Essex sent against Tyrone.--Makes a humiliating truce.--Tyrone breaks the truce and over-runs Ulster.--Rebellion suppressed by Mountjoy.--Tyrone carried to London.--Pardoned by Elizabeth.--Raises a new Rebellion in connection with Tyrconnel.--Conspire to seize Dublin.--Discovered, and Tyrone and Tyrconnel flee.--Lands in Ulster forfeited.--Scotch Presbyterrians emigrate to Ulster under the patronage of James the Frst.--Conspiracy of the Irish.--Massacre of Protestants in 1641.--Cromwell crushes the rebellion.--James the II. persecutes the Presbyterlans.--Macaulay's description of James.--Scotch Presbyterians flee to Ireland.-The Prince of Orange invited to England.--Accepts and sails for England with a large force.--James flees to France,--Determines to pass over into Ireland.--Finds an obstacle in the Scotch Presbyterians.--They oppose him.-Derry.--Grant of sequestered lands to London and London companies.--They fortify Derry and Coleraine.--Name of Derry changed to Londonderry.--A description of it.--Its public square and buildings.--Cathedral, its cupola turned into a battery.--Defence of in 1689. Siege of Derry.--Antrim marches against the city.--The Apprentice boys close the gates.--The troops retire.--Other troops sent.--Mountjoy and Lundy received into the city.--Mountjoy recalled.--Lundy conspires to surrender the city.--Rev. George Walker.--His Regiment.--Gen. Hamilton with a large army arrives opposite the city, and crosses.-Cols. Cunningham and Richards arrive with a reinforcement.--Lundy contrives to send them back.--King James marches from Dublin.--Lundy proposes to surrender.--The people rise and the garrison fire upon the troops--King James' army.--Lundy deposed and escapes.-Walker and Baker made Governors.-- City invested.--Supplies arrive, but cannot come up to the city.--Gen. Kirke.--Suffering from sickness and famine.--Gen Kirke succeeds in sending supplies to the city.--The Irish raise the siege and retire in disorder.--Gratitude of King William.--His exactions and oppressions.--The Scotch Presbyterians determine to emigrate to America.
The "Scotch Irish" having been of the first to settle this town, and having for so long a period controlled its affairs, it seems highly proper that something of their history and the causes of their emigration to this country, should be given in this place.
Their history commences in the reign of James the First of England, in 1603. England for centuries had exercised sovereignty over Ireland, but it was uncertain and precarious. So much so, that even as late as the prosperous reign of Queen Elizabeth, in 1599, the entire power of England was near being subverted in Ireland. In that year, the Earl of Essex was sent with a powerful army to suppress a rebellion headed by the Earl of Tyr Owen, or Tyrone, as he is commonly called. In this expedition, the British forces were unsuccessful and it was terminated by a humiliating truce with the rebel Earl. In a short time after the departure of Essex, the treacherous Tyrone violated the truce, subdued the entire province of Ulster, and having received a body of troops from Spain, threatened the complete subversion of the British power in Ireland. In this posture of affairs, the Earl of Mountjoy was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland as successor to the Earl of Essex, and by his energy and skill soon brought the affairs in Ireland to a happy issue. He led his army immediately into the province of Ulster, routed Tyrone and his Spanish allies in a pitched battle, took the rebel Chief, prisoner, and carried him to London. Through a mistaken policy, Tyrone was pardoned and returned to Ireland; where he soon crowned his treachery by raising a new rebellion in concert with the Earl of Tyrconnel. Their object was to seize upon the castle of Dublin, but their plot was discovered and the conspirators took to flight. Tyrone, Tyrconnel and many others fled to Spain, and the principal leaders and rebels being absent, the rebellion was readily crushed. To make sure work, the property of the rebels was attainted, and by this means some two million acres of land, covering six Counties in the Province of Ulster, became the property of the crown--and almost completely depopulated. To operate as a check upon the rebellious spirit of the Irish, James the First conceived the design of colonizing these crown lands with protestant and loyal subjects. A Scot, King James very naturally looked to Scotland for colonists. But it was some time before he could put his plan in execution. The people of Scotland did not readily accede to the wishes of their sovereign in this particular, as the emigration to Ireland was looked upon as a calamity. At length such inducements were offered by the government, that a respectable colony emigrated from Argyleshire in Scotland, and settled in the Province of Ulster in 1612. These were Scotch Presbyterians. In the next twenty years, many ministers of the same sect, with their congregations, emigrated to Ulster, and the province under the influence of their energy and enterprise, began to flourish. This intrusion of protestants upon the confiscated lands of the rebels soon excited the most intense hatred in the bosoms of their Irish neighbors. Those who had been ruined in their estates, waited only a convenient opportunity for revenge. At length, in the succeeding reign, when a severe contest was raging between Charles the First and his parliament, the, Irish leaders entered into the most sanguinary measures for revenge, and to recover their estates. Religious bigotry soon led the Irish people into the measures of the conspirators. Their sanguinary project was nothing less than the massacre of the entire protestant population of Ireland. This bloody design was carried out in part in 1641, when some 40,000 protestants were massacred in different parts of Ireland. In Dublin the conspiracy was discovered in season to prevent the massacre, but not in season to notify the protestants in other parts of the country. This formidable rebellion was completely crushed by the energy of Cromwell, who very little to his credit, visited upon the catholics, the same cruelties they had practiced upon the protestants. Cromwell by his severity, so completely crushed the spirit of rebellion in Ireland, that in the succeeding reign of Charles the Second, they were perfectly quiet. Still there existed the most unrelenting spirit of hatred betwixt the Irish Catholics and the emigrating protestants, who occupied the lands of which they had been despoiled. During the reign of Charles, his brother James, a bigoted Catholic, was Viceroy of Scotland. The Scotch Presbyterians were the peculiar objects of his hatred and persecution. After he came to the throne, forgetting that he was the sovereign of a protestant kingdom, he determined to make his own religion the established religion of the kingdom, and prosecuted his design of persecution against the presbyterians with renewed determination and energy. To accomplish his design, he had recourse to the most injudicious and unjustifiable measures. In utter disregard of justice and law, he trampled upon the civil and religious rights of his subjects. The historian Macaulay thus truthfully and graphically describes this despot.
"When fortune changed, when he was no longer afraid that others would persecute him, when he had it in his power to persecute others, his real propensities began to show themselves. He hated the puritan sect with manifold hatred, theological and political, hereditary and personal. He regarded them as the foes of Heaven, as the foes of all legitimate authority in church and state, as his great-grandmother's foes and his grand-father's, his father's and his mother's his brother's and his own. He, who had complained so loudly of the laws against Papists, now declared himself unable to conceive how men could have the impudence to propose the repeal of laws against the Puritans.1 He, whose favorite theme had been the injustice of requiring civil functionaries to take religious tests, established in Scotland, when he resided there as Viceroy, the most rigorous, religious test that has ever been known in the empire.2 He, who had expressed just indignation when the priests of his own faith were hanged and quartered, amused himself with hearing Covenanters shriek and seeing them writhe while their knees were beaten flat in the boots.3 In this mood he became king, and he immediately demanded and obtained from the obsequious Estates of Scotland, as the surest pledge of their loyalty, the most sanguinary law that has ever in our islands been enacted against Protestant Nonconformists.
With this law the whole spirit of his administration was in perfect harmony. The fiery persecution which had raged when he ruled Scotland as Vicegerent, waxed hotter than ever from the day on which he became sovereign. Those shires in which the Covenanters were most numerous were given up to the license of the army. With the army was mingled a militia, composed of the most violent and profligate of those who called themselves Episcopalians. Pre-eminent among the bands which oppressed and wasted these unhappy districts were the dragoons commanded by James Graham of Claverhouse. The story ran that these wicked men used in their revels to play at the torments of hell, and to call each other by the names of devils and damned souls.4 The chief of this Tohpet on earth a soldier of distinguished courage and professional skill, but rapacious and profane, of violent temper and of obdurate heart, has left a name which, wherever the Scottish race is settled on the face of the globe, is mentioned with a peculiar energy of hatred. To recapitulate all the crimes by which this man, and men like him, goaded the peasantry of the Western Lowlands into madness, would be an endless task."5
Such cruel persecutions drove many of the presbyterians from their country to seek safety in other lands. Large numbers fled to Ireland, and joined their friends there. Among these were many of the immediate ancestors of the "Scotch Irish" who came to this country in 1718--and settled in Londonderry in the following year. But while James was playing the tyrant, and exulting in the exercise of arbitrary power, there were causes in operation destined soon to produce his overthrow.
His trampling upon the civil and religious rights of his subjects disgusted men of his own party and of his own religious views. The Pope even was displeased at his tyrannical measures. At length people of influence and distinction began to look about them for an antidote to this tyranny and oppression. Their thoughts were turned to William, Prince of Orange, the nephew and son-in-law of James, he having married Mary the eldest daughter of that monarch. After some considerable negotiation, seven of the principal men of the realm, Shrewsbury, Devonshire, Danby, Lumley, Compton, Russell, and Sidney signed a formal invitation to Prince William to make a descent upon England. Thus invited, the Prince with a fleet of 500 sail of ships of war and transports--and an army of 14,000 men set sail for England,--where he landed November 5, l688, and made declaration of his object to be, to restore the church and the state to their rights. He was immediately joined by people of all parties, whigs and tories, and among the latter many high in the confidence of the unfortunate James. Even his own daughter Anne, with her husband, the Prince of Denmark, deserted him and went over to the Prince of Orange.
In this position, surrounded as usual with bad advisers, disaffection and defection staring him in the face, King James determined upon taking refuge in France, first having sent his wife and child there. The throne thus left vacant, was offered by the Parliament to the Prince of Orange, who accepted it in conjunction with his wife, and they were duly prodaimed king and queen of England. His catholic subjects still adhered to James in Ireland, where the army under Tyrconnel was steadfast in his interests, and the Earl was straining every nerve to sustain the power of his master. On the other hand, the presbyterian and protestant Irish were equally zealous for the new king. But the catholics were by far the most numerous and had a powerful army in their interests. Under these circumstances, James with the advice and assistance of the French king, determined to make Ireland the theatre of a war for the recovery of his throne. His plan was well arranged. He was to pass over to Ireland with the troops furnished by Lewis, join forces with Tyrconnel, march immediately and attack the protestant forces at Ulster, then pass into Scotland, where he was to have been joined by a large force of partisans under the direction of Graham of Claverhouse. There a descent upon England was comparatively easy,--and a battle with William would decide his fate. The plan looked feasible. With his many friends in Ireland, large numbers of Highlanders devoted to his interests in Scotland, and still a large number of English either openly his friends or vacillating betwixt him and his competitor--his prospects were far from forbidding or desperate. But an unforeseen obstacle met him in his successful march to the north of Ireland, and disconcerted his well laid plans. The "Scotch Presbyterians" in Ulster of Londonderry, threw themselves within the walls of Enniskillen, and Londonderry, and determined to defend them to the last extremity. To determine was to execute. They closed their gates against the forces of king James, and in spite of force and famine held these fortresses till reenforcements arrived, and the besieging forces were obliged to retire in dismay.
Derry was one of the principal counties occupied by the protestants in the north of Ireland. Its capital was the city of Derry, situated upon the west bank of the Foyle. Derry was granted to Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, by Edward II., in the early part of the fourteenth century. During the reign of Elizabeth, when rebellion was rife in Ireland, Perry became an important military post. Upon the flight of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, some of their followers marched upon Derry, took it by surprise, put the garrison to the sword, and murdered Sir George Powlet, its Governor. This was in 1606. Upon the suppression of the rebellion, James immediately set about colonizing the lands of the rebels, that had been forfeited to the crown, as before related. The Scotch were good farmers and good soldiers, but they were poor, and had not the means of fortifying their town, against the attacks of their catholic neighbors, in case of war or rebellion. This was necessary to be done. Accordingly, James hit upon the expedient of engaging "the great companies in London" in his plan of colonizing the forfeited lands, and building defences. He granted to the city of London and those companies, two hundred and ten thousand acres of land upon condition that they should undertake to plant their lands and build and fortify Coleraine and Derry.
This proposition was agreed to, and an agreement signed with the crown, January 28, 1609. They set about their work immediately, and under their auspices, the Scotch Presbyterians emigrated from Argyleshire. Derry was found to be well situated, being upon a peninsula in a Lake or Bay upon the River Foyle, called Lough Foyle. It was surrounded by water on three sides, and on the fourth was easily fortified. The work of colonization and fortification commenced in earnest, and in 1615 a new charter was granted the corporations and Derry took the name of Londonderry. The name of the County was also changed to Londonderry. In 1636, the city had increased so in power and population, that Charles became suspicious of the power thus in the hands of the Londoners, and a suit was commenced against them in the noted Star Chamber and their estates were sequestered. In the year following, their lands were leased by Agents of the Crown. In 1640, the Parliament declared the sequestration illegal and all consequent proceedings null and void, and in 1655 their legal rights were restored to the Londoners. In 1662 Charles II, granted them a new charter,--and under this, city and colony began to thrive and attained unusual prosperity. The city, built almost entirely of freestone, is situated upon a gentle eminence in an oval form, in the centre of which is a public square called the Diamond, which is reached by four streets extending to the four gates of the city. Upon the Diamond were the public edifices, a Church and Market House, all splendid buildings of freestone. The wall surrounding the city is of the same material. The solid construction of the walls and houses of Londonderry, accounts in part for the success with which it has sustained two memorable sieges. In 1649, the time of a great rebellion, it resisted the united strength of the Irish insurgents, when the whole kingdom was in their hands except this city alone, and the Capital, Dublin. But its noblest defence was forty years later, in the time of the Revolution of 1689, when it successfully withstood a siege, accompanied with the severest famine, against a numerous army, for one hundred and five days! As the immediate ancestors of those "Scotch Irish" who settled Londonderry and Manchester, as well as some of those settlers themselves, nobly took part in "the siege of Derry," we doubt not we shall be readily pardoned for giving some account of that siege in this place.
The protestants of Ireland had discovered that James intended to enter Ireland, and for a time at least, to make that the theatre of war in his attempt to recover his throne. This they discovered through the arrangements made by Tyrconnel. The Earl who had been feigning friendship for William that he might the better assist James, in whose interest he had ever been, had lately commenced raising new troops and issuing commissions. This foreboded rebellion or the near approach of James. They determined to prepare for either event, and upon the circulation of a report that the catholics intended a general rising an Sunday the 9th day of December 1688, they commenced making preparations for defence. At length, on the morning of the 9th of December, they received the astounding intelligence, that a regiment of Tyrconnel's newly raised troops were on their way, under the command of Lord Antrim to occupy their city, and that two companies of the approaching troops were within two miles of the city. This reliable information came from Mr. George Phillips, formerly Governor of the city, a protestant and a fast friend to William. He advised his friends in the city to close their gates and by no means to admit Antrim within their walls. They had made but little progress in their preparations for defence, and this news filled them with consternation. And well it might, for they had but a few pieces of caution, and those were indifferently furnished; their garrison was composed of undisciplined troops, and they were furnished with but a scanty stock of provisions. While all was in confusion, some advising one thing and some another, two companies of Antrim's troops made their appearance upon the east bank of the Foyle, opposite the city, and their officers immediately crossed the river and demanded that the gates should be opened for the admission of their troops. Some were in favor of their immediate admission, while others were strongly opposed to granting their request. While this altercation and debate was going on within the city, the soldiers became impatient of delay, and suspecting that the gates might be closed against them, they took to the boats and crossed the river, without waiting for orders.--Some apprentices to the manufacture of linen, hearing the discussion among the officers of the city, and perceiving the soldiers crossing the river, with more decision and resolution than their masters or the officers of the city, ran to the guard, seized the keys, drew up the bridge, and locked the gate of the city next to the river. They their with equal promptness fastened the remaining three gates. The die was cast. The resolution of these 'Prentice Boys' as they were called, decided the fate of the city, and very probably the fate of James the Second and William and Mary. The opinion soon became general that the city should be defended at all hazards. The soldiers outside the gates became still more impatient and urgent for admission. They were peremptorily ordered to retire, but they paid no attention to the request, and continued nursing their wrath and indignation. Upon this one of the citizens cried out in a loud voice, "bring about a great gun here," which command had the desired effect. Antrim's soldiers being new recruits did not care to wait for the bringing about "a great gun" and they recrossed the river, in the utmost disorder.--Thus the siege commenced December 7, 1687. The day following, the soldiers of Antrim became panic struck, by a discharge of cannon from the city, and the sight of some boys going through mimic evolutions upon the opposite side of the river, and made a precipitate retreat. The cowards thought the boys playing upon the river's bank, the advance of a sortie about to be made from the town, and the report of two guns, fired as a mark of joy at the reception of good news from King William, as the commencement of a cannonade, under cover of which the troops were to cross the river and attack them. Soon after some two or three hundred cavalry and a company of infantry came into the city from the country, but then, the effective force of the city and immediate neighborhood did not amount to more than a thousand men, and among them not an engineer to direect their operations. Added to this, there were not more than six or seven barrels of powder in the magazine; their muskets some twelve hundred in number; were out of repair and of their cannon, not more than twenty were fit for service. With such preparations, there was little prospect of effectual opposition to the forces of James.
In the month of January, Tyrconnel sent orders to Lord Mountjoy and Colonel Lundy, to march immediately from Dublin with six companies of troops, and take possession of Londonderry. The Earl gave this peremptory order, aware of the importance of that fortress in a military point of view and to be sure of carrying his point, he detached a body of troops, a large portion of whom were protestants, under a popular leader and who, of course he thought, would be more likely to be received into the fortress. In this he conducted with shrewdness. Mountjoy and Lundy both had the confidence of the protestants, but the latter undeservedly, as he was a mere tool of Tyrconnel, and sent with Mountjoy as a foil in any arrangements unfavorable to the cause of James. The people of Londonderry hearing of the approach of these troops, determined to shut the gates against them, but after farther deliberation, such was their distrust of their preparations for defence, and such their confidence in Mountjoy and Lundy, that upon the arrival of the troops before the city, they made a compromise, with their leader, by which it was stipulated that Lord Mountjoy and Colonel Lundy with two protestant companies, might come within the walls of the city, while the other four companies should retire to quarters at some distance from the walls. It was further stipulated, that the garrison should be entirely Protestant, and that all citizens should retain their arms. The last provision was the more necessary as the Irish population in the neighborhood all went armed,--if with no other weapon, with the skein knife. Lord Mountjoy entered the city and Governor Phillips resigned his authority to him, who requited this confidence in his every act. Under his judicious administration everything began to assume a different aspect. The fortifications were repaired and strengthened, the guns were mounted, the muskets were repaired, and every measure taken to put the city in a position to withstand a siege.
But in the midst of this preparation, Mountjoy was recalled and the command of the city left in the hands of Lundy. Tyrconnel was displeased with Mountjoy's conduct, but in Lundy as a commander, he had a willing tool.
The people of Londonderry upon their first closing their gates against the troops of Antrim, had sent a messenger to London to inform King William of the step they had taken and to ask supplies of arms and munitions of war. The King gratified at the stand they had taken, promised supplies of all kinds, and orders were given to that effect. But they did not arrive till near the last of the month of March, when eighty barrels of powder, and two thousand stand of arms arrived for their use, and much to their gratification, as they soon expected to have use for them, as the army of Tyrconnel had already marched into Ulster under Hamilton, and had laid siege to Coleraine, a large town some thirty miles to the north-east of Londonderry, built by the Protestants. Meantime Col. Lundy had made such disposition of affairs as clearly showed he was in the interest of James, and would be glad of the opportunity of surrendering the city to him. He had not as yet committed any act that would demand his deposition. Still his motions were strictly watched, and in a short time his treachery was fully exposed.
Rev. George Walker, Rector of the parishes of Donaghmore and Erigal Keeroge, entered most warmly into the cause of King William. Although far advanced in years, yet he had raised a regiment, and early in March led it into Londonderry. He brought the news that the Irish army was approaching Londonderry. Col. Lundy affected not to believe this report, and made no preparation for defence. However, within three days, the army of Gen. Hamilton appeared upon the opposite bank of the Foyle, but was prevented from landing by the height of the water. Had Lundy not been a traitor, he might have prevented the passage of the troops, but he made no attempt to oppose their crossing, and on the 15th of March they passed the Foyle without opposition. About the 15th of April troops and supplies arrived from England, and on that date the Governor of Londonderry was informed, that two well appointed regiments had arrived in Lough Foyle, under command of Colonels Cunningham and Richards, and were waiting his orders for their embarkation. Upon this information, a counci of war was held, which under the influence of the treacherous Lundy, came to the conclusion that the defences of Londonderry were imperfect, and that the place with the addition of the two regiments in waiting, would be untenable, against the force approaching under Gen. Hamilton. Upon this result of the deliberations of the council, the commanders of the regiments thought it not advisable to disembark their troops, or even to land the ammunition sent for the use of the city.
Meantime, King James was advancing from Dublin with an army, fifteen thousand strong, and now was within a few miles of the city, and under the perfidious influence of Lundy, the council on the 17th of April, determined upon the surrender of the city, upon promise of idemnity for the past. King James at once assented to this condition, as he thought it would readily remove the only obstacle to his passing into Scotland and uniting with the forces of Claverhouse, impatient of his delay. Accordingly on the 19th of April, the royal forces were drawn up in order, upon an eminence, in plain view, and under the guns of the city, to receive the surrender and submission of the city. But King James was destined to a different reception from what he anticipated. The people of Londonderry had become infuriated at the treachery of Lundy, and elated by the arrival of Capt. Murray with a company of cavalry, as well as incited by his words and example, they marched to the walls, and inspired the soldiers with such enthusiasm, that they opened a furious fire of cannon and musketry upon King James' army, and obliged him to retreat to Johnstown in disorder. In spite of this turn of affairs, Lundy still persevered in his attempts to surrender the city. But the people had now the complete control of affairs within the city, and determined to depose the Governor, and overawe his council. Lundy seeing that the people were in earnest, did not wait for any overt act on their part, but forthwith made his escape in disguise, 'dressed as a porter, with a load of match upon his back." Rid of this incumbrance, the people forthwith chose the Rev. George Walker and Major Baker as joint Governors of the city. These gentlemen would not accept the office until it had been offerd to Col. Cunningham, the next in rank to the deposed Governor; but he refused to accept the office, and with Col. Richards went on board their ships and returned to England, where they were deprived of their commissions. Governors Walker and Baker entered upon their duties with zeal and energy. The die was cast, and they must make the best defence possible against the army of King James, until the promised succor should come from England. Their situation was desperate. The ordinary population of the city could not have gone beyond ten thousand. There was but little more than an ordinary supply of provisions. The whole area within the walls was only about two thousand feet in its largest diameter, and six hundred feet in its smallest. Yet such had been the rush to the town of the people in the neighborhood for protection, at the approach of the royal army, that the small city at this time contained seven thousand soldiers and twenty thousand men, women and children. Aside from the probability of famine, there was danger that in the approaching hot weather, so many people crowded upon so small a space, and deprived of their usual air and exercise, would beget some fearful epidemic. But added to this was a positive evil of the greatest import. The most bitter feuds existed betwixt the people in the city. They were made up of Episcopalains and Dissenters, and at such a time they were so filled with sectarian animosity, that they came near having an open rupture. However these disturbances were quelled by the ministers, and all united for the common defence of Protestantism.
The siege was commenced on the 20th of April in earnest by the royal army under Gen. Hamilton, numbering twenty thousand men. The city was completely invested on every side, except next the river. The batteries were soon in opperation, and the most impetuous assaults were made upon the walls, but the assailants were usually repulsed with loss. The besieged were not however content with acting upon the mere defensive; they made several sorties and always with the most decided advantage. At length by the middle of June, an alarming epidemic broke out in the city, from want of pure air and water, as well as from a scarcity of provisions. The people were dispirited, and says Dr. Smollet, "they were even tantalized in their distress; for they had the mortification to see some ships which had arrived with supplies from England prevented from sailing up the river by the batteries the enemy had raised on both sides, and a boom with which they had blocked up the channel. At length a re-enforcement arrived in the Lough, under the command of Gen. Kirke, who had deserted his master, and been employed in the service of King William. He found means to convey intelligence to Walker, that he had troops and provisions on board for their relief, but found it impracticable to sail up the river; he promised however, that he would land a body of forces at the Inch, and endeavor to make a diversion in their favor, when joined by the troops at Inniskilling, which amounted to five thousand men, including two thousand cavalry. He said he expected six thousand men from England, where they were embarked before he set sail. He exhorted them to persevere in their courage and loyalty, and, assured them he would come to their relief at all hazards. These assurances enabled them to bear their miseries a little longer, though their numbers daily diminished. Major Baker dying, his place was filled with Col Michelburn, who now acted as colleague to Mr. Walker.
King James having returned to Dublin, to be present at the parliament, the command of his army devolved upon the French General Rosene, who was exasperated at such an obstinate opposition by a handful of half starved militia. He threatned to raze the town to its foundation, and destroy the indabitants, without distinction of age or sex, unless they would immediately submit themselves to their lawful sovereign. The Governors treated his menaces with contempt, and published an order that no person on pain of death, should talk of surrendering. They now consumed the last remains of their provisions, and supported life by eating the flesh of horses, dogs, cats, rats, mice. tallow, starch, and salted hides, and even this loathsome food began to fail. Rosene, finding them deaf to all his proposals, threatened to wreak his vengeance on all the Protestants of that country, and drive them under the walls of Londonderry, where they should be suffered to perish by famine. The bishop of Meath, being informed of this design complained to King James of the barbarous intention, entreating his Majesty to prevent its being put in execution. That Prince assured him that he had already ordered Rosene to desist from such proceedings. Nevertheless, the Frenchman executed his threats with the utmost rigor. Parties of dragoons were detached on this cruel service. After having stripped all the Protestants for thirty miles round, they drove these unhappy people before them like cattle, without even sparing the enfeebled old men, nurses with infants at their breasts, tender children, women just delivered, and some even in the pangs of labor. Above four thousand of these miserable objects were driven under the walls of Londonderry. This expedient, far from answering the purpose of Rosene, produced quite a contrary effect. The besieged were so exasperated at this act of inhumanity, that they resolved to perish rather than submit to such a barbarian. They erected a gibbet in sight of the enemy, and sent a message to the French General, importing that they would hang all the prisoners they had taken during the siege, unless the protestants whom they had driven under the walls should be immediately dismissed. This threat produced a negotiation, in consequence of which the protestants were released, after they had been detained three days without tasting food. Some hundreds died of famine or fatigue; and those who lived to return to their own habitations found them plundered and sacked by the papists, so that the greater number perished for want, or were murdered by the straggling parties of the enemy; yet these very people had for the most part obtained protection from King James, to whom no respect was paid by his generals."
In July the most intense suffering existed. People were reduced to eating the meanest food to sustain life, and it was seriously supposed that they would have to resort to the eating of the dead. Many died from actual starvation. Horses, dogs, cats, rats and mice commanded the highest prices, and were eaten with avidity. The following is the tariff of prices:
Horse flesh, each pound, one shilling and eightpence.
A quarter of a dog, fattened by eating dead bodies, five shillings and sixpence. A dog's head, two shillings and sixpence.
A cat, four shillings and sixpence.
A rat, fattened by eating human flesh, one shilling.
A mouse, sixpence.
A pound of greaves, one shilling.
A pound of tallow, four shillings.
A pound of salted hides, one shilling.
A quart of horse-blood, one shilling.
A horse pudding, sixpence.
A handful of seawreck, twopence.
The same quantity of chickenweed, one penny.
A quart of meal, when found, one shilling.
A small fluke taken in the river could not be purchased for money, and was to be got only in exchange for meal.6
At length such was the sickness and severity of the famine, that the most hardy and sanguine began to despair. The people were dying by scores, and the garrison had become reduced to four thousand four hundred and fifty-six men. The reports of the commissary's department showed that there was not more than two days' provisions on hand for the garrison, and there was no prospect of relief. In this state of things, Gen. Kirke, who had remained inactive thus far, determined to make the attempt to succor the city. Accordingly, on the 28th of July, he ordered two ships laden with provisions to proceed up the river under convoy of the Dartmouth.
The Rev. Mr. Graham thus describes the scene:
"Immediately after divine service, the ships in the Lough were seen to approach the distressed city, now in the last extrem-ity to which famine and disease could reduce it. The defenders of the city discharged eight pieces of cannon from the steeple of the cathedral, and slowly waved their crimson flag, to signify the extremity of their distress. With a fair wind, a favorable tide to facilitate the approach of relief before their eyes, NOW OR NEVER was the simultaneous cry of the feeble and emaciated multitude on the walls. The ships approaching were the Mountjoy, of Londonderry, Captain Micah Browning, commander, and the Phoenix, of Coleraine, Captain Andrew Douglass, master. They were both laden with provisions, and were convoyed by the Dartmouth frigate, commanded by Captain Leake. The enemy fired incessantly on the ships from the fort of Culmore, and from both sides of the river, as they sailed up, and returns were made with the greatest bravery and effect. They passed the fort without sustaining any material injury, and the expectation of the besieged rose into transports of joy, which were almost instantaneously succeeded by despair, when the Mountjoy, repelled by the boom, was run aground, and the enemy, who had crowded in multitudes to the water-side, raised a loud huzza, as they launched their boats to board her. The terror which prevailed in the city at this moment, is not to be described. The multitude on the wall stood petrified in the silent agony of grief too great for utterance; a faint and shrill cry from a few women and children alone broke the silence, as it added to the horrors of the scene. The pallid indications of fear suddenly disappearing, were succeeded by a darkness of color, like that which marks the countenance seen by the light of sulphurous flames. All features gathered blackness, and the general despondency was at its greatest height, when the Mountjoy fired a broadside at the enemy, rebounded from the shore, and the reaction of the vessel, aided by the sudden swell of the rising tide, floated her again into deep water in the channel. Captain Douglass, of the Phoenix, was at this time warmly engaged as he passed up on the breaking of the boom by the gallant Browning, who while his vessel lay aground, was killed by a musket ball from the enemy, which struck him upon the head, as he stood upon the deck with his sword drawn, encouraging his men to the contest. King William afterwards settled a pension upon the widow of this gallant man, and in the presence of the court, placed a gold chain about her neck. Four of Browning's gallant crew shared his fate, just as the vessel got afloat; and then the Dartmouth opened a heavy, well directed fire upon the enemy's batteries, diverting them so from both vessels, that, amidst a desponding yell from the crowds on each side of the river, they sailed up slowly, indeed, by a reason of a failure in the wind after they had passed Culmore, but steadily and majestically, to the utter confusion of their baffled enemies. It was ten o'clock in the night when they anchored in the ship-quay, upon which a general shout of acclamation was raised by the soldiers on the walls, and reiterated several times, while two guns were fired from the steeple, to give notice to the fleet of the safe arrival of the relief."7 This opportune relief was received with joy and transport by the distressed people of Londonderry. And well it might have been, for their provisions had become reduced to "nine lean horses, and a pint of meal to a man," and the garrison had become reduced to four thousand and three hundred, of whom, one fourth part were unfit for service. By sickness and famine, the garrison had lost near three thousand men during the siege of one hundred and four days, or nearly thirty a day! Yet from the time of the deposition of Lundy on the 18th of April, to the 28th of July, the word surrender had not been lisped within the walls of Londonderry! On the night of the 28th of July, finding the city replenished with supplies, the royal army fled from the walls in disorder, having lost nine thousand men and one hundred officers since they invested the city. This successful defence of Londonderry disarranged the entire plan of King James, and may be considered the first link in the grand chain of successful events closing at "Boyne water" and Aghrim, that passed the throne of England frqm King James to King William.
Such were the men, and the fathers of the men, who settled Londonderry, Harrytown-Derryfleld. They had be tried, most severely tried, yet never flinched in the path of duty. Such constancy has seldom been witnessed--more steadfast and persevering, never. But their sufferings availed them but little. True, William and his Parliament, at the time looked upon the defence as one of great importance, besides specific grants made to them, every man who bore arms within the city during the siege was exempted from taxation throughout the British dominions. But their services were soon forgotten. As pertinently and beautifully says a writer,8 "never were a people more unfortunate after all their effort than were these brave Presbyterians? They had held the troops of King James in check, while they defended successfully the last stronghold of King William in Ireland; and until Claverhouse had been attacked and destroyed in Scotland. They had freely mingled their blood with the waters of the Boyne. They had consecrated the 'billowy Shannon,' that 'river of dark mementoes,' by the sacrifice upon its banks, of their dearest friends, before the gates of Limerick and Aithlone. The had, in short, expelled James and his allies from the land, and were looking with great confidence for something like tolerance in religious belief and religious worship, from William of Nassau and his Protestant wife. But they were doomed to the sorest disappointment, and ultimately became so disgusted with the calculating and selfish policy of William, his unreasonable and unjust demands of rents and tythes, as well as with the exactions and persecutions of the Anglican church, which now came to be regarded by them, as little better than the Roman Catholic, that they determined, once and forever, to abandon their country, and seek refuge in the wilds of America."
1His words reported by himself. Clarke's life of James II, i. e56 Orig. Mem. Return
2Act. Part. Car. II. August 21, 1681. Return
3Burnet, i. 583; Wodrow, III. v. 2. Unfortunately the Acts of the Scottish Privy Council during almost the whole administration of the Duke of York are wanting. Return
4Wodrow, III, ix. 6. Return
5See Macauly, vol.1, pages 390, 391. Return
6Siege of Derry, pages 213, 214. Return
7Siege of Derry, pages 217, 218, 219, 220. Return
8I. 0. Barnes Esq's. Address. History of Bedford, 33-4. Return
Chapter 8