ed, set out for those spots in Ulster which were the strongholds of
their race and of their faith. The flower of the Protestant population
of Munster and Connaught found shelter at Enniskillen. Whatever was
bravest and most truehearted in Leinster took the road to Londonderry,
[160]

The spirit of Enniskillen and Londonderry rose higher and higher to
meet the danger. At both places the tidings of what had been done by the
Convention at Westminster were received with transports of joy. William
and Mary were proclaimed at Enniskillen with unanimous enthusiasm,
and with such pomp as the little town could furnish, [161] Lundy, who
commanded at Londonderry, could not venture to oppose himself to the
general sentiment of the citizens and of his own soldiers. He therefore
gave in his adhesion to the new government, and signed a declaration
by which he bound himself to stand by that government, on pain of being
considered a coward and a traitor. A vessel from England soon brought
a commission from William and Mary which confirmed him in his office,
[162]

To reduce the Protestants of Ulster to submission before aid could
arrive from England was now the chief object of Tyrconnel. A great force
was ordered to move northward, under the command of Richard Hamilton.
This man had violated all the obligations which are held most sacred by
gentlemen and soldiers, had broken faith with his friends the Temples,
had forfeited his military parole, and was now not ashamed to take
the field as a general against the government to which he was bound
to render himself up as a prisoner. His march left on the face of the
country traces which the most careless eye could not during many years
fail to discern. His army was accompanied by a rabble, such as Keating
had well compared to the unclean birds of prey which swarm wherever the
scent of carrion is strong. The general professed himself anxious to
save from ruin and outrage all Protestants who remained quietly at their
homes; and he most readily gave them protections tinder his hand. But
these protections proved of no avail; and he was forced to own that,
whatever power he might be able to exercise over his soldiers, he could
not keep order among the mob of campfollowers. The country behind
him was a wilderness; and soon the country before him became equally
desolate. For at the fame of his approach the colonists burned their
furniture, pulled down their houses, and retreated northward. Some
o