An extract of Lord Macauley's account of the Siege

The people of Londonderry shared in the alarm which, towards the close of the year 1688, was general among the Protestants settled in Ireland. It was known that the aboriginal peasantry of the neighbourhood were laying in pikes and knives. Priests had been haranguing in a style of which, it must be owned, in the Puritan part of the Anglosaxon colony had little right to complain, about the slaughter of the Amalekites, and the judgments which Saul had brought on himself by sparing one of the proscribed race.

Rumours from various quarters and anonymous letters in various hands agreed in naming the ninth of December as the day fixed for the extirpation of the strangers. While the minds of the citizens were agitated by these reports, news came that a regiment of twelve hundred Roman Catholics, commanded by a Roman Catholic, Alexander Macdonnell, Earl of Antrim, had received orders from the Lord Deputy to occupy Londonderry, and was already on the march from Coleraine.

The consternation was extreme. Some were for closing the gates and resisting; some for submitting; some for temporising. The corporation had, like the other corporations in Ireland, been remodelled. The magistrates were men of low station and character. Among them was only one person of Anglosaxon extraction; and he had turned Roman Catholic. In such rulers the inhabitants could place no confidence. Lord Antrim was meanwhile drawing nearer and nearer.

At length the citizens saw from the walls his troops arrayed on the opposite shore of the Foyle. There was then no bridge: but there was a ferry which kept up a constant communication between the two banks of the river; and by this ferry a detachment of Antrim’s regiment crossed. The officers presented themselves at the gate, produced a warrant directed to the Mayor and Sheriffs, and demanded admittance and quarters for his Majesty’s soldiers.

Just at this moment thirteen young apprentices, most of whom appear, from their names, to have been of Scottish birth of descent, flew to the guard room, armed themselves, seized the keys of the city, rushed to the Ferry Gate, closed it in the face of the King’s officers, and let down the portcullis. James Morison, a citizen more advanced in years, addressed the intruders from the top of the wall and advised them to be gone. The stood in consultation until they hear him cry, “Bring the great gun this way.” They then thought it time to get beyond the range of shot. The retreated, re-embarked, and rejoined their comrades on the other side of the river.

The flame had already spread. The whole city was up. The other gates were secured. Sentinels placed the ramparts everywhere. The magazines were opened. Muskets and gunpowder were distributed. Messengers were sent, under cover of the following night, to the Protestant gentlemen of the neighbouring counties.

The Protestants of the neighbourhood promptly obeyed the summons of Londonderry. Within forty eight hours hundreds of horse and foot came by various roads to the city. Lord Antrim, not thinking himself strong enough to risk an attack, nor disposed to take perish rather than yield. They packed up such valuable property as could easily be carried away, burned whatever they could not remove, and, well armed and mounted, 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 in Enniskillen. Whatever was bravest and most truehearted in Leinster took the road to Londonderry.

The spirit of Enniskillen and Londonderry rose higher and higher to meet the danger. At both places the tidings were of what had been done by the Convention at Westminster were received with transports of joy. King William and Queen Mary were proclaimed at Enniskillen with unanimous enthusiasm, and with such pomp as the little town could furnish. Lundy, who commanded at Londonderry, could not venture to oppose himself to the general sentiment of the citizens and of his own soldiers, and signed a declaration by which he bounded himself to stand by that government, on pain of being considered a coward of a traitor.

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