away, they proclaimed his throne empty, without even the form of a trial, and soon after they voted the foreign prince into the empty seat. The Tories, who had joined in the invitation, withdrew in alarm, and it was accordingly left to the Whigs to complete the "glorious revolution."

The Whig and Tory aristocrats took care to turn the event to their own advantage. They then laid the foundation of that monopolizing power which has lain so heavy on this country ever since. It is true they curtailed the power of the monarch; but all the power of which they deprived him, they retained in their own hands. The revolution was one mainly for the benefit of the aristocracy. William got a good slice of the cake, and they divided the rest among themselves. The political and religious tyranny of the Stuarts was, it is true, put an end to-namely, governing without parliaments, levying taxes without the usual forms of voting them by the house of commons, and forcing the people to join in a system of religion to which they could not conscientiously give their assent. But the great defect of the revolution was, that it kept all political power as much out of the hands of the people as before, and left the power of governing in the hands of an exclusive class, whose interests were diametrically opposed to those of the industrious portion of the community. The tyranny of the crown was checked; but the tyranny of the aristocracy reared itself in its place. The government was still irresponsible to the mass of the people: taxes were still levied without the consent of the nation: the community had still no security against the wanton abuse of power by the ruling few. The king could no longer victimize the nation; but the united aristocracy of Whigs and Tories could do so whenever they chose. In short, the despotism of One was now at an end; but it had extended itself into a despotism of hundreds. Monarchy in England was henceforward a cypher; but aristocracy was politically omnipotent. The revolution of 1688, therefore, may have been a "glorious" one to the Whig and Tory aristocracy; but it certainly was not so to either the English, Scotch, or Irish people.

CHAPTER XXIII.

The Revolution of 1688-Its consequences to England and Ireland-Excitement in Ireland-Panic of the Protestants-Derry shuts its gates on the HighlandersSchemes of Tyrconnel-King James lands at Kinsale-His measures of Government-Siege of Londonderry-Brave defence of the Citizens-Cruel threat of General Rosen-The Garrison relieved, and the Siege raised-The Enniskilleners -King James's Irish Parliament-Its acts-James's absolutism - Administration of Justice-Military affairs.

The révolution of 1688 was of a very different import to Ireland, from what it was to the people of Britain. Though the expulsion

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of James from the English throne was justified on the ground of constitutional right and privilege, Ireland felt that she had no interest in the transaction. What was the English constitution to Ireland? It was associated with crime, and oppression, and confiscation. It was a cruel and relentless enemy; and as it grew in strength and vigour, Ireland knew the change only by its increased energy in persecution. While successive revolutions, in which the best blood of England had been freely shed, had endeared the constitution to the Englishman, and made him cling to it with an honour and a pride, the Irishman hated it as his unceasing enemy and oppressor. What were the privileges of parliament to Ireland? Ireland had no representatives; its parliament was a name-a mere close corporation of aristocracy, and even those were overruled by the English parliament, which invariably legislated for Ireland in a spirit of hostility and rancour. And if the British constitution had no claims on the Irishman's support, the protestant religion had still less. Protestantism was associated in the mind of almost every Irishman with rapine and murder and sacrilege-with ruined homes and desecrated altars-with savage persecution for conscience sake-with a whole century of ruin and strife, of oppression and insult, of confiscation and massacre. It was not, therefore, to be expected that Ireland should hail the revolution of '88, for the maintainance of constitutional principles and the defence of the protestant religion, with feelings at all akin to those with which it was regarded by the mass of the English and Scotch natives.

It must also be borne in mind that James was one of the first English monarchs that conceded anything like religious liberty to the Irish people. He had granted a relaxation of the penal laws, which had before been kept in constant operation against them. He had thrown open the bench, the bar, the corporations, the army, and all posts of honour and emolument, to the honourable competition of the Roman catholics. Though the advancement of catholics to high office in the state was considered a great grievance in England, it was not so in Ireland: but rather a public recognition of the equality of catholics with protestants in the eye of the law, and a mark of public respect paid to the religious belief of the great majority of the people. Ireland experienced none of James's attempts at despotism, as England had done: James had done nothing to forfeit the allegiance of the Irish, but, on the contrary, had done a great deal, which no English monarch had ever done before, to attach them firmly to his interests. But James was expelled by the English parliament, and a foreign prince taken in his place. No notification of this change was made to the Irish nation. And were they, therefore, because the English parliament, which had ever oppressed them, chose to change their king,—were they to prove faithless to the monarch who had done so much for them, and in a fit of caprice, or with the submission of slaves, to bestow their allegiance on a foreign prince, whom they had been

led to regard as a usurper? Were they, when James at last threw himself upon their faith and loyalty for protection, to reject him as a pretender? No! They would have been less than men, if they had done this. So they rose in arms to resist the revolution, and in defence of their lawful king. Again they acted the part of loyal and faithful subjects, and again were they doomed to be sacrificed for their loyalty and their faithfulness.*

We now retrace our steps for a little, and again take up the thread of our history. The alarm of all parties in Ireland was very great, on the arrival of the intelligence that James had fled, and that William was likely to be raised to the vacant throne. The protestants feared the loss of their properties, while the catholics dreaded that they would again be plunged into the horrors of a civil war. Meanwhile, Tyrconnel acted with great policy. He strengthened and organized his forces, which were almost exclusively catholic, and kept the protestants in play, by pretending to negociate with the Prince of Orange. The alarm of the protestants, however, were suddenly raised almost to a pitch of phrenzy, by the artful propagation and extensive publication of a report that a general rising of the Irish was intended, and that an indiscriminate massacre of the protestants would take place, on a certain day. The utmost consternation immediately prevailed, and crowds of men, women, and children, rushed to the shore, imploring to be conveyed away from the daggers of the Irish. Tyrconnel sent messengers among them to allay their terror, but altogether without effect. The panic rapidly spread into the northern counties, and thousands fled to England and Scotland, or took shelter in the walled towns, leaving all their property and effects to the mercy of the Irish. Some of the protestants of Ulster, however, with greater spirit resolved to defend themselves, and with that view they took up arms and prepared for the coming struggle.

Sir Jonah Barrington puts the case of the Irish people, at this period, in the following terse and pithy style :

"James, a monarch de jure and de facto, expelled from one portion of his empire, threw himself for protection upon the loyalty and faith of another; and Ireland did not shrink frou affording that protection. She defended her legitimate monarch against the usurpation of a foreigner; and whilst a Dutch guard possessed themselves of the British capital, the Irish people remained faithful to their king, and fought against the invader.

"In strict matter of fact, therefore, England became a nation of decided rebels, and Ireland remained a country of decided royalists. Historic records leave that point beyond the power of refutation.......

"James was the hereditary king of both countries, jointly and severally. The third constitutional estate, only of one of them (England) had deposed him by their own simple vole but Ireland had never been consulted on that subject; and the deposition of the king of Ireland by the Commons of England could have no paramount authority in Ireland, or supersede the rights, and dispense with the loyalty of the Irish parliament. The Irish people had held no treasonable intercourse with William; they knew him not; they only knew that he was a foreigner and not their legal prince; that he was supported by a foreign power, and had succeeded by foreign mercenaries. But even if there was a doubt, they conceived that the most commendable conduct was that of preserving entire their allegiance to the king, to whom, in conjunction with England, they had sworn fealty. The British peers had showed them an example, and on that principle they fought William, as they had fought Cromwell; and again they bled, and again were ruined by their adherence to legitimate monarchy."-RISE AND FALL OF THE IRISH NATION, new ed., pp. 273, 275.

The city of Derry, or Londonderry, was the first to offer resistance to the Irish government, as we may still term the administration of Tyrconnel. This place was inhabited chiefly by Scottish presbyterian families and their descendants, and had lately been one of the chief places of resort for the fugitive protestants of the north. Tyrconnel had withdrawn the garrison from Londonderry, on the first intelligence reaching him of William's invasion of England. But soon perceiving the error he had committed in leaving this important place to the government of its protestant inhabitants, he dispatched the Earl of Antrim to take possession of it with a body of twelve thousand Scottish highlanders. This wild and savage looking force, whose exploits in the west of Scotland had spread a general horror throughout the land, had halted at the village of Limavaddy, about twelve miles from the city, at the very time when the rumour of the intended massacre reached the ears of the people of Londonderry. The citizens, alarmed at the approaching danger, were collected in the streets, consulting as to what was to be done, when messengers arrived from the village where the highlanders had halted, giving. the most alarming account of their numbers and savage appearance. There was obviously no time to lose. Already were two companies of the force in sight, and two officers of the corps were actually in, the town seeking quarters for their men, when at this critical moment, nine young men of the populace, "'prentice lads," as they were termed, drawing their swords, snatched up the keys of the city, and making towards the ferry-gate, they suddenly raised the drawbridge, and shut the gates in the face of the approaching enemy. The adventurous spirit of the youths spread like wildfire. They were soon joined by numbers of citizens of their own class, and the guns were pointed against the advancing troops, who retired without farther trouble. The example of Derry quickened the protestant spirit of the north; numbers of men from the surrounding neighbourhood flocked into the city to aid in its defence; and several other places, Enniskillen among the number, determined also to hold out for the protestant cause.

In the meantime Tyrconnel was playing a deep game,-amusing the friends of the revolution with delusive assurances of submission and aid, and at the same time urgently inviting James to make his appearance in Ireland, where he assured him that all the Roman catholics would take up arms on his behalf. Tyrconnel also resorted to a wily expedient to get rid of Montjoy, the great leader of the protestants in the north of Ireland. He persuaded him to undertake a mission to France, to assure James that the defence of Ireland was impossible, and that the lord-deputy, in making his submission, was compelled to yield only to absolute necessity. At the same time, James was secretly told to make the dangerous, Montjoy fast, and accordingly, as soon as he reached Paris, he was safely immured in the Bastille. The negociation with William,

however, continued; that prince offering to the catholics full security of person and property, and the possession of one-third of the churches in the kingdom, if they would submit to his authority. The agent whom William employed was an unfortunate one for the purpose, namely, Richard Hamilton, who had led over a body of Irish troops to England on the invasion of William, and was at heart a violent partizan of James. Instead of persuading Tyrconnel to submit, Hamilton urged him to hold out, as it required only a general effort to restore their monarch to his throne, and rid the kingdom of "the usurper." Tyrconnel accordingly proceeded vigorously in the completion of his plans: after disarming the protestants, he set to work and recruited his army, and in the course of two months he had raised it to between 40 and 50,000 men, all catholics, and all eager to establish their religion, and to recover their ancient possessions. It is but justice to William to state, that the terms which he proposed to Tyrconnel were of a liberal character, namely, to the catholics liberty in the exercise of their religion, an equality of civil rights, full security of person and property, and the possession of one-third of the churches in the kingdom. It may be said that these promises were offered with the reserved intention of breaking them at the first opportunity, as the treaty of Limerick was afterwards so shamefully violated. But it is more than probable that William was in all these transactions made the instrument of the violence and intolerance of the English parliament, and acted rather in obedience to English hostilities and prejudices, rather than to his own deeply-cherished feelings and convictions. When he found himself obliged to give in to the religious violence of the protestant sectaries as regarded England, how much more likely was he to yield to them in the case of the catholic, despised, and persecuted Irish people.

Everything now seemed to promise success, and all that was wanted was the appearance of James himself as the signal for a general demonstration in his favour. James had been well received at the French court, and Louis was now making great preparations to aid him in the recovery of his dominions. A fleet and army were now assembled at Brest, whither crowds of English and Irish were also resorting, to take part with James in his expedition to Ireland. The French army amounted to 2,500 men, under a" skilful German general, De Rosen: the fleet consisted of fifteen sail, manned and commanded by some of the best sailors and marine officers of France. At last James embarked, and after being long detained by contrary winds, he landed, on the 12th of March, at Kinsale, in the south of Ireland, and was received with great demonstrations of joy by the native Irish. He advanced to Cork, where he met Tyrconnel, whom he immediately created a duke, His progress towards the capital was a continued jubilee; and he entered Dublin amidst the enthusiastic plaudits of an immense multitude of people. He was followed by a splendid train of Irish