them an immense advantage
over the royal army. So much has been already said and written, and sung
of the bravery of the Derry men, that nothing more remains to say. That
they were brave, and that they bravely defended the cause which they had
adopted, there is no doubt; but if polemics had not mingled with
politics in the encounter, it is quite possible that we should have
heard no more of their exploits than of those other men, equally gallant
and equally brave. The Enniskilleners, who have obtained an unenviable
notoriety for their merciless cruelty in war, occupied the King's troops
so as to prevent them from assisting the besiegers. Several encounters
took place between the Derry men and the royalists, but with no other
result than loss of lives on each side. On the 13th of June, a fleet of
thirty ships arrived from England with men and provisions; but the Irish
had obtained the command of the river Foyle, and possession of Culmore
Fort at the entrance, so that they were unable to enter. De Rosen was
now sent by James to assist Hamilton. He proposed and carried out the
barbarous expedition of driving all the Protestants whom he could find
before the walls, and threatening to let them starve there to death
unless the garrison surrendered. His plan was strongly disapproved by
the King, it disgusted the Irish, and exasperated the besieged. The next
day they erected a gallows on the ramparts, and threatened to hang their
prisoners then and there if the unfortunate people were not removed. It
is to the credit of the Derry men that they shared their provisions to
the last with their prisoners, even while they were dying themselves of
starvation. Perhaps the example of humanity set to them by General
Hamilton was not without its effect, for kindness and cruelty seem
equally contagious in time of war. Kirke's squadrons at last passed the
forts, broke the boom, and relieved the garrison, who could not have
held out forty-eight hours longer. It was suspected that English gold
had procured their admittance, and that the officers who commanded the
forts were bribed to let them pass unscathed. The siege was at once
raised; the royal army withdrew on the 5th of August; and thus
terminated the world-famed siege of Derry.

James now held his Parliament in Dublin, repealed the Act of Settlement,
passed the Act of Attainder, and issued an immense quantity of base
coin. He has been loudly condemned by some historians for these
proce