ained in Londonderry when on the
28th of July an English ship broke the boom across the river, and the
besiegers sullenly withdrew.

[Sidenote: James and Ireland.]

Their defeat was turned into a rout by the men of Enniskillen who
struggled through a bog to charge an Irish force of double their number
at Newtown Butler, and drove horse and foot before them in a panic which
soon spread through Hamilton's whole army. The routed soldiers fell back
on Dublin where James lay helpless in the hands of the frenzied
Parliament which he had summoned. Every member returned was an Irishman
and a Catholic, and their one aim was to undo the successive
confiscations which had given the soil to English settlers and to get
back Ireland for the Irish. The Act of Settlement, on which all title to
property rested, was at once repealed in spite of the king's reluctance.
He was told indeed bluntly that if he did not do Ireland justice not an
Irishman would fight for him. It was to strengthen this work by ensuring
the legal forfeiture of their lands that three thousand Protestants of
name and fortune were massed together in the hugest Bill of Attainder
which the world has seen. To the bitter memory of past wrongs was added
the fury of religious bigotry. In spite of the king's promise of
religious freedom the Protestant clergy were everywhere driven from
their parsonages, Fellows and scholars were turned out of Trinity
College, and the French envoy, the Count of Avaux, dared even to propose
that if any Protestant rising took place on the English descent, as was
expected, it should be met by a general massacre of the Protestants who
still lingered in the districts which had submitted to James. To his
credit the king shrank horror-struck from the proposal. "I cannot be so
cruel," he said, "as to cut their throats while they live peaceably
under my government." "Mercy to Protestants," was the cold reply, "is
cruelty to Catholics."

[Sidenote: The Revolution and the Monarchy.]

The long agony of Londonderry was invaluable to England: it foiled the
king's hopes of an invasion which would have roused a fresh civil war,
and gave the new Government time to breathe. Time was indeed sorely
needed. Through the proscription and bloodshed of the new Irish rule
William was forced to look helplessly on. The best troops in the army
which had been mustered at Hounslow had been sent with Marlborough to
the Sambre, and the political embarrassments which grew