government of Derry, and lowered every thing before their power.*-(Ib.)

1648. Sir Charles Coote + (a parliamentarian General,) treacherously seized Sir Robert Stewart, forced him to give orders for the surrender of his castle of Culmore, and then sent him prisoner to London. By this means the independents were not only masters of Great Britain, but of all the north of Ireland, and of all the forts of Ulster except Charlemont.-(Ib.)

1649. The Marquis of Ormond endeavoured, by every means, to draw over Sir Charles Coote to his Majesty's interest (Charles I.) but in vain; and the royalist troops were necessitated, in the last week of March, to block Sir Charles up in Derry.-(Ib.)

In the same year, Derry and Culmore were both besieged by Sir Robert Stewart. The garrison consisted of 800 foot and 180 horse, under the command of Sir Charles Coote. Neither of them could have held out any time, if any ships had been sent to guard the coast, and lie in the mouth of the river to intercept the supplies of men, money, ammunition, and victuals, which Sir Charles had expected soon from England, but this was neglected; Sir G. Monroe advanced at the end of May with a good party to strengthen the royalists before Derry, and Lord Montgomery joined his forces to them soon after. These two officers were devoted to the service of Charles II. (Charles I. having been shortly before decapitated,) and held commissions under him; and that monarch was, with great solemnity, proclaimed in the camp before Derry. The execution of the late king had, at this time, caused such a general feeling of disgust among the Presbyterians, as well as among the Protestants, in Ulster, that they rose in arms, declared

* During these proceedings there was considerable contention in Derry between the Episcopalians and Independents, for the right of Occupying the Cathedral,

Son to Sir Charles Coote, a distinguished officer under Lord Mountjoy in the warfare against Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone.— Coote, the elder, was an Englishman, obtained rapid promotion with a baronetcy, and extensive property, under Queen Elizabeth and King James I. His linen works at Mountrath, and his property in Cavan, Queen's County, Leitrim, and Sligo, having been mostly destroyed by the "troops" of Sir Phelim O'Neill, he joined his forces to those of the Royalists under the Marquis of Ormond He was killed in 1642.

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against the English rebels; and made themselves masters of all the towns and places of strength in the north, except the forts of Derry and Culmore. After a siege of four months, and when it was reduced to the greatest extremities, Derry was relieved by Colonel Owen Roe O'Neill *

on

Colonel Owen O'Neill, though not, it appears, equal in descent (from Matthew, Earl of Dungannon,) to Sir Phelim, was superior as a man and a soldier, and the only one of his sept and predecessors who could have any pretentions as a military tactician. At an early age he entered the Spanish army, gradually rose in promotion; "well versed in the ways of men, brave, cautious, skilful in war, and possessing the manners and habits of a gentleman."

Having passed through all the subordinate ranks, he was made a Colonel, and obtained very distinguished reputation by his successful defence of Arras against the French in 1640. The state of their affairs in Ulster was at the point of desperation, when a fresh impulse was given to their hopes by the arrival of Colonel Owen O'Neill, in July, 1641, who landed in Donegal with arms and ammunition, and 100 officers: other formidable armaments and supplies began to crowd in rapid succession from foreign ports: two ships arrived in the harbour of Wexford with military stores, followed by a ship of the line and two frigates, with a train of artillery, a company of engineers, and 500 officers. after, 12 other vessels arrived with further stores, officers, and men, sent from France by Richelieu, and well disciplined in continental war.— Towards the end of the year a fresh supply came from abroad: 2,000 muskets arrived at Wexford from the Pope, of which 500 were sent by the council of Kilkenny to Colonel O'Neill. Backed by the Clergy

Soon

of every grade, he joined his banners with those of Abbe Renuncini, and both comnianded the "Nuncio's army:" the Nuncio desired nothing short of the complete subjection, temporal and spiritual, of the "Island of Saints " to his master; and Owen nothing less than the re-acquisition of the princely territories of the O'Neills of Tyrone,He condemned and disowned any participation with the atrocities of his kinsman, Sir Phelim, and Colonel Mac Mahon.

After experiencing various reverses in this desultory and desolating warfare, he became, at length, only desirous to preserve the armed posture on which all his prospects were dependent, and ready to join with any party whose views tended to war, that his military importance might be sustained: he formed an alliance with Jones, the General of the Independents; and by this step, contrived to preserve his affairs for some time, and to maintain a large body of men at the expense of that party. In this position O'Neill was courted by two parties, and, in turn, listened and consented to each. Although he performed considerable services in the north, yet he soon discovered that he was held in contempt by his new allies, who had purchased his assistance from necessity alone. In consideration of " 2,000 cows,' "* he raised the Siege of Londonderry, where Coote, who held the City for the parlia

* Borlase.

the promise of receiving from Sir C. Coote the "sum of £5,000 for this service ;" and, in the year following, Coote, by the defeat of Ever Mac Mahon, a General in the "Catholic army," in Donegal, reduced all Ulster under the power of the "parliamentarian or republican army."—(Ib.)

1656. The services of the citizens of Derry, in the cause of the parliament, were not forgotten by "the usurper."— The original charter of James I. having been condemned and cancelled by two warrants of Charles I. was regranted by Cromwell, with additional liberties and privileges.(Ordnance Survey.) In this year marriages were solemnized in Derry, before John Hansford, Mayor. On the termination of the rebellion, the Londoners sent over commissioners to settle affairs at Londonderry and other places; the companies demised their proportions when leases were expired, and received their rents where leases were still subsisting: and the Society's commissioners received all the leases in Derry and Coleraine, and at both places left the commons and wastes as before, for general accommodation and advantage. (Concise View.)

1660.-Upon the restoration of Charles II. the City of London petitioned the crown for a reversal of the judgment given against their first letters patent (Cromwell's grant being deemed insufficient ;) the king proposed a new charter, (1662,) and letters patent were made out, which contained, with little alteration, all the clauses of the first charter of James I. under which the Irish Society, and the (late) corporation of Londonderry, have acted.—(Ib.)

ment, was besieged. It appears, however, that O'Neill having entered into articles with Coote for assistance against Lord Montgomery, in consideration of receiving "a large sum of money, 30 barrels of gunpowder, and 300 beeves," marched from Clones, in Monaghan, with 2,000 men to Ballykelly, within ten miles of the City. Lord Montgomery being informed of his approach, considered it prudent to withdraw his troops. On the arrival of O'Neill on the opposite bank of the river, he was visited and complimented by Sir C. Coote, who, in a short time, entertained him and his officers sumptuously. He was, at length, compelled to retire, and soon after received proposals from the Marquis of Ormond to declare for the cause of royalty; he signed the articles, by which he engaged to bring an army to the field. He did not, however, live to fulfil his engagement, but died at Cloghater castle, in the county of Cavan, in December, 1649. Thus ended the military glory of O'Neill," with the first Siege of Derry.-(Car te Leland, Lives of Illustrious Irishmen.)

-

1668. The Irish Society required from the corporation of Londonderry a certificate, under seal, of their by-laws for confirmation of the Society, agreeably to the provisions of the charter, and expressed their unwillingness to receive any communications purporting to be the acts of the common council of Londonderry, unless they were under the seal of that (Derry) corporation.-(Ib.)

In this year, a great part of the City of Londonderry was destroyed by fire.

1684. The corporation of Londonderry, by letter to the Society, offered to hold a correspondence with them, and to render a faithful account of their concerns when desired.—Ib.

1685. During this year, there was a great decay of trade in Londonderry. The corporation complained that the government of the place was too expensive for the magistrates to sustain, and supplicated the Society for abatement of rent, who promised them assistance.—(Ib.)

CHAPTER XI.

THE EVER-MEMORABLE SIEGE, 1688-9.

Preliminary observations on the policy of Charles II. James II. and William, Prince of Orange-National Conspiracy to subvert the established Institutions and the established Religion-Tyrconnell's determination to subdue the colonists -Preparation to defend the City of Derry-The Siege. THE restoration of Charles II. (1660,) though it caused, for a time, a cessation of hostilities in Ireland, did not finally establish peace. The old, as well as the recent wounds, inflicted on the social body during the late calamitous struggles, were still liable to fester, as a latent poison was rankling in the marrow," which, no remedy, then nor since, has been found, it appears, sufficiently able to eradicate.— All parties concerned were impatient to be restored to their ancient possessions, or confirmed in their new ones; and each regarded the other with suspicious jealousy. To relieve himself from perpetual embarrassment, and with an attempt, at least, to tranquillize his Irish subjects, the king passed an "act of settlement," in 1662, for this country, by which the adventurers were to be established in the estates

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possessed by them in 1659; the soldiers, to have those lands confirmed to them which they had already acquired, except such as belonged to the Church: Protestants of every denomination, not concerned in the rebellion, and innocent Roman Catholics, were also to have their properties restored; but the requisitions towards being considered innocent, were so various and doubtful, that the Roman Catholics who had been so cruelly driven away from their lands by Cromwell and his adherents, were deeply and justly dissatisfied. The investigation did not allay resentment. Two parties became extremely provoked-they who lost what they had unjustly acquired and they who were disappointed in not getting their own. To these two parties of malecontents was added a third, in the old republicans, "who were but too ready to join in any conspiracy against royalty." Several plots were again formed, but speedily discovered by the "faithful Ormond," who had been lately created duke, and whom the king declared to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. A temporary good followed :—trade, manufactures, and agriculture, began to be a little more attended to unfortunately, however, the Duke was doomed once more to be involved in the turmoil of Irish affairs.

At this time (1677) the situation of Charles II. was gradually becoming involved in perplexity: he soon found himself entangled in such opposite motives and engagements, as he had not resolution to break, nor patience to unravel; he regarded his alliance with France as a sure resource in case of necessity at home; and whatever schemes he might retain for altering the established religion in England, it was from that quarter only, he could expect assistance. fact, he secretly sold his neutrality (as arbiter,) to France, and received remittances of a million of livres a year, which sum was soon increased to two millions.

In

His continual dissensions with his parliament, combined with the promptings of his brother, James, induced Charles to endeavour to govern without a parliament. In 1681, he acordingly dissolved it, without attempting to call a new one: his authority for a time advanced. During the latter period of his reign, he is said to have been almost absolute; but, notwithstanding the continual and urgent promptings of James, to rivet the fetters of tyranny, he surely did not forget the lamentable circumstances attending his father's