had been passed than any feeling of an actual benefit. James II. had submitted to the orders of the Prince of Orange; he had left London; and the troops of the conqueror occupied the town. The war was over, the revolution accomplished. The only thing to be done, to secure in the hands of William and of his friends all the profits of the victory, was to sanction it by legal acts. That must be the work of a parliament. rather their opinion that a danger | demanded of them. They readily presented themselves at the place of their meeting, and were scarcely seated before they found their house surrounded by the riotous mob uttering imprecations and threats of vengeance against those who should dare to vote contrary to the interests of William of Orange. They made no resistance to the presence of this popular power, which the same William had been once able to make so terrible for the De Witts, and the address was decreed. Then this provisional parliament was dissolved, and those of its members who had already finished their bargain with the powers that were spread themselves throughout the country to take part in the new elections. In the meanwhile William appointed to places, maintained in places, transferred places, imposed five millions of taxes on London, and forbade all political discussion by decrees running in his name alone. The Lords in the town, uniting with those of the army, took upon them formally to recognise in the prince the supreme right of convoking the Commons, and, what was of the utmost importance to the gainers of the day, the right of giving places and raising taxes. To proceed with more regularity, the members of the two last houses which had sat under the Stewarts were assembled, and an address similar to that of the Lords was THE SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY. (Reid's History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.) A.D. 1689. THE small but fortified city of Derry was the only refuge that remained to the Protestants of Ulster, and every preparation was now made by their enemies to wrest it from them. King James, who had arrived in Dublin in the end of March, set out for the north on the 8th of April, at the head of twelve thousand men and a considerable train of artillery. On the following day he arrived at Armagh; thence he proceeded to visit the garrisons at Dungannon and Charlemont, where he spent a few days. He reached Omagh on the 14th, and from this place he sent forward his troops to force the passage of the river Finn, above Strabane, at the bridge of Clady, in order to gain the side of the Foyle on which Derry is situated. Through the traitorous neglect of the noted Lundy, the Protestant forces stationed at this important pass being unsupported, were compelled to give way. A few days afterwards, King James and his army advanced to St. Johnston, within five miles of Derry, and immediately placed the city in a state of blockade. The progress of events during this memorable siege, which dates its commencement from the 18th of April, is so well known, that the more remarkable incidents alone need be noticed. The first movement of Lundy and his council was to take steps for the surrender of the town to King James, and articles for this purpose were actually drawn up. But the great body of the soldiers and the inhabitants, headed by a gallant Presbyterian officer, Captain Adam Murray, were so indignant at this base proposal of a surrender, that the project was defeated, and Lundy was compelled to fly from the town in disguise. The resolute men of Derry now prepared for an obstinate defence of the city. Major Baker and the Rev. George Walker of Donoughmore, near Dungannon, were chosen joint governors, the one in the military and the other in the civil department. The garrison was found to consist of about seven thousand men and three hundred and fifty officers, who were formed into eight regiments, and appointed to their respective stations on the walls and bastions. An accurate account was taken of the provisions and other stores, and above a thousand of the aged and infirm, with women and children, took protection and retired from the town. Seventeen Episcopalian clergymen, mostly curates, and eight Presbyterian ministers, remained in the city. Of the colonels and field officers, the majority were Episcopalians, but by far the smaller number of the captains and inferior officers were of that persuasion; while among the soldiers and inhabitants there were fifteen Presbyterians for one Episcopalian. Though this proportion is somewhat reduced by the High Church writers, yet all accounts concur in representing an overwhelming majority of the defenders of Derry as members of the Presbyterian Church. The Cathedral, being the only place of worship within the walls, was occupied by both parties on the Sabbath-the Episcopalians in the morning, and the Presbyterians afterwards; "the latter, entering at twelve, had two sermons there every afternoon, besides two or three other meetings in other parts of the city. In their assemblies there were, every Lord's Day, considerable collections for the relief of the poor people and the sick and wounded soldiers, who had otherwise perished for any care that was taken of them; and they had the use of the cathedral every Thursday." After the completion of these arrangements, no event of importance occurred during the remainder of the month of April, with the exception of two vigorous and successful sallies under Adam Murray, now a colonel, who slew the Marquis de Maumon, a favourite general that had accompanied James from France. Το counterbalance this loss, the fort Culmore was, two days afterwards, surrendered by Captain William Adair to General Hamilton, who immediately placed a strong garrison therein, and cut off all communications with the city by water. Never before did such important results depend on the capture of so small a city; seldom has so untenable and ill-supplied a place been defended with such obstinate valour. During the month of May no event of importance occurred in the progress of the siege. On the 23d of that month the governors wrote to Edinburgh and London, that the long-promised supplies of ammunition and provisions might be speedily transmitted. A few days afterwards, Major-General Kirk, with three regiments of foot and several ships of war, sailed from Liverpool; it was the middle of June, however, before he reached Lough Foyle, and when he did arrive, he made no effort to afford relief. Had he promptly and resolutely proceeded up the river, there can be no doubt he would then have reached the city in safety. But he suf- | elties and oppressions of conti nental warfare, had recourse to an inhuman expedient to ensure, as he supposed, the immediate surrender of the city. He caused all the Protestants who could be collected within ten miles, not men merely, but helpless women and children, to be driven under the walls, and to be kept there without shelter, protection, or food, until the terms of capitulation, which he had dictated, should be accepted by the garrison. This unprecedented barbarity, however, was unavailing; the governor threatened to execute the Irish prisoners in the city, and erected a gallows on a conspicuous part of the wall; De Rosen relented; and on the 3d of July these wretched fugitives were permitted to return to their plundered homes. fered himself to be deterred by exaggerated reports, not only of the strength of the enemy's works at Culmore and other parts of the river, but also of obstructions in the channel, caused by a boom thrown across, and by sunken boats laden with stones, although the boom was not completed till some days after the arrival of the fleet, while the latter statement was wholly without foundation. The inactivity of Kirk, notwithstanding the signals of urgent distress repeatedly made by the garrison, was most discouraging. But the news of the violent proceedings of James and his parliament in Dublin-which had commenced its sittings on the 7th of May, and in a few weeks had attainted above two thousand Protestants, and restored to the Romanists all their In the meantime, Kirk still forfeited estates, to the utter ruin kept his squadron at anchor, of the Protestant possessors-con- without making the least attempt firmed the defenders of Derry in towards the relief of the besieged. their resolution to maintain their He had, indeed, sent the Bonadcity to the last extremity. James, venture frigate, under Captain sensible of the importance of Hobson, to Ballyshannon, to asspeedily reducing it, despatched certain the condition of the garrifrom Dublin Marshal De Rosen, son at Enniskillen, which still at the head of a considerable rein- held out against the enemy; and forcement, with peremptory orders on the 7th of July he despatched to push forward the operations to Lough Swilly a part of his fleet against the city with the utmost with six hundred men, under vigour. He reached the camp Lieutenant-Colonel William Stewbefore Derry on the 18th of June, art, to form an encampment on and from this period the siege was the island of Inch, with the view closely pressed, and the garrison, of affording protection to the Proalready beginning to suffer under testants of the surrounding disscarcity of provisions, were harass-tricts of Donegal, and of keeping ed by frequent bombardments. open his communication with De Rosen, habituated to the cru- Enniskillen, On the 10th this who after his escape from Down had joined the armament of Kirk, the Irish forces were compelled to retire, with the loss of several officers and above two hundred men. At night, Echlin, who lost only a Lieutenant Cunningham, removed his men into the island, and abandoned Ramullan to the enemy; but the duke, disheartened by the warm reception he encountered, retreated to his quarters at Castlefinn, having committed many outrages on the Protestants of the intervening district. The works on Inch were soon completed. Sixteen pieces of cannon were planted on several batteries and redoubts, while two vessels, with five guns and a company of five-and-thirty men in each, lay constantly on the strand. The island thus fortified afforded a seasonable refuge to the Pro detachment landed on Inch, and under the chief engineer, Captain Richards, some temporary works were thrown up on the strand, where, at low water, the island is accessible from the mainland. The enemy were on the alert, and stationed there three troops of horse, which frequently attempted to impede the progress of the works, but without success. Soon after his arrival, Colonel Stewart sent a small party, under Captain Robert Echlin, with Lieutenants Pigot and Hart, to disperse a body of the Irish collected at a "cow-camp" at Tully, about six miles distant; and a few days afterwards a boat was carried to Lough Fern, near the same place, to relieve a Mr. Cunningham and a body of forty Protestants, who had taken refuge in a small island in that secluded lake. Captain Echlin, having effected these ob-testants of the extensive and popujects, returned with his party in safety, and quartered his men in the town of Ramullan. Soon after, the colonel having received intelligence that the Duke of Berwick, with a considerable force, was on his way from Castlefinn towards Lough Swilly, sent orders to Echlin to remove his party into Inch; but before these orders could be complied with, the duke, at the head of fifteen hundred horse and foot, on the 18th of July, attacked Ramullan. The streets having been hastily barricaded, the horse were unable to penetrate into the town, and the men being judiciously posted, under Captain Henry Hunter, lous districts adjoining Lough Swilly, who fled thither to the number of twelve thousand. On the 20th of July, Kirk arrived at the island from Lough Foyle with the remainder of the fleet, and immediately despatched two vessels, with ten experienced officers and a supply of arms, for the garrison of Enniskillen, under the direction of two gentlemen from that town who had arrived in the Bonadventure on her return to the fleet a few days previously. Scarcely had he sent off this supply when he received intelligence by land from Derry which induced him to weigh again in the afternoon; and with the Swallow |