k, and ailing. Did
James demand that we should renounce our religion, I would say let us all
die by sword or Famine rather than consent; but he has offered toleration
to all, that none shall suffer for what has been done, and that the
property as well as the lives of all shall be respected.

"Truly, it seems to me that resistance would be not bravery, but a sort
of madness. There are promises of aid from England; but how long may we
have to wait for them? And there are but ten days' provisions in the
town. If these English officers of King William think that resistance is
hopeless, why should I, who know nought of war, set myself against them?"

"Because they have not faith," the minister said, "and you should have
faith; because they think only of carnal weapons, and you should trust to
the Lord. Remember Leyden, how help came when all seemed lost."

"I do," the tanner replied, "and I remember how the women and children
suffered and died, how they dropped in the streets and perished with
famine in their houses. I remember this, and I shrink from saying 'let us
resist to the end.' I should rejoice if they had decided that Derry
should be deserted, that the women and children should be sent away to
shelter in the mountains of Donegal, and that every man should march out
and do combat with the army of James. We are numerous, and far better
armed than the Papists, and victory might be ours; but, were it
otherwise, were every man fated to fall on the field, I would still say
let us march forward. It is not death that I fear, but seeing these weak
and helpless ones suffer. I should not envy the feelings of the men who
decided on resistance, when the time came that the women and children
were dying of hunger around them. There is a time to fight; and a time to
sheath the sword, and to wait until a chance of drawing it successfully
again arrives; and methinks that, having such good terms offered, the
present is the time for waiting."

The preacher waved his hand impatiently, and, wrapping himself in his
cloak, left the house without another word. The next day the capitulation
was signed, and the following day the army of James was seen approaching,
and presently halted, on a hill within cannon shot of the town.

Londonderry stands in a bend of the river Foyle, and the position which
the army took up at once isolated it from the surrounding country. The
offer of capitulation had already been sent out to General Hamilton by