Mackenzie's Memorials of the Siege of Derry; including his narrative and its vindication. With an introduction and notes, by W. D. Killen

Introduction

AND NOTES, BY W. D. KILLEN, D.D. ASSEMBLY'S COLLEGE, BELFAST. BELFAST: C. AITCHISON, 9, HIGH STREET. LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, <fc CO. MDCCCLXI. TO % $tfr. Ma^n %\m %t*Xu, ONE OF THE SUCCESSORS OF THE REV. JOHN MACKENZIE IN THE PRESBYTERIAN MINISTRY AT COOKSTOWN ; THIS EEPRINT OF THE NAERATIVE OF THE SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY, AND ITS VINDICATION, IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, l:V %\t Visitor. CONTENTS. PAGE. Introduction vii NARRATIVE OF THE SIEGE. Preface 3 Chap. I. The Transactions of the City of Derry, from the Shutting of the Gates to the Descent of the Irish Army 7 Chap. II. The Affairs of the other parts of Ulster and Sligo 17 Chap. III. What passed at Derry, from the Retreat of the British forces from Coleraine thither, till the time that King James' Army appeared before the town 29 Chap. IV.

The Change of Government in Deny 35 Chap. V The Siege • 39 Chap. VI. The New Establishment by Major-General Kirke 57 Appendix of Documents :— 1. Letter from the inhabitants of Derry to Lord Mountjoy 69 2. Letter from the inhabitants of Derry to the Society at London . . . . . . 59 8. Letter to David Cairns, Esq., from Enniskillen . . . . . . . . . . 60 4. Declaration of the inhabitants of Derry .. .. .. .. .. .. 60 5. Articles of Agreement between Lord Mountjoy and the City of Derry . . . . 01 6. The Antrim Association's Declaration .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 62 7. The King's Letter to Ireland by Captain Leighton . . . . . . . . . . 63 8. The Declaration of the Protestants of Sligo . . . . . . . . . . 63 9. Colonel Lundy's Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . . VI 10. Captain James Hamilton's Instructions . . . . 11.

The King's Letter to Lundy 65 12. Instructions to David Cairns, Esq. .. .. .. •• •• •• •• 6i> 13. Certificate to David Cairns, Esq. • • • 65 14. Articles at a Council of War at Derry, 10th April, 1689 66 15. Orders and Instructions to John Cunningham, Esq. .. .. .. •• •• 66 16. Additional Instructions to John Cunningham, Esq. .. .. .. .. •• 67 17. Tiffin's and Lyndon's Certificate to Colonel Cunningham . . . . . . . . 67 18. Instructions to Robert Lundy, Esq . • 68 19. Proposals to be made by the people of Derry to General Hamilton . . . . 08 20. Commission of the Deputies . . . . . . . . . . • • . . . . 70 21. Certificate to Louther 71 22. Twisleton's Certificate 71 23. Account of the Officers killed and taken by the besieged . . 71 24. Account of the Bombs thrown into the city . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 25.

Account of the Subsistence out of the stores to the soldiers . . . . . . 72 26. Names of Conforming and Non-conforming Ministers in the city during the siege 73 Supplement — Osborne's Vindication 73 DR. WALKER'S INVISIBLE CHAMPION FOILED INTKODUCTION. The Siege of Londonderry in 1689 has been justly described by Lord Macaulay as " the most memorable in the annals of the British Isles." The city was closely invested from the 18th of April to the 1st of August ; and though reduced by famine to little more than half their original numbers, and obliged to live on food to the use of which nothing but dire necessity could have reconciled them, its brave defenders continued fearlessly to withstand the foe, and to persist in their cry of ' No Surrender.' Their resolution was not sustained by the genius and enthusiasm of a great military chief; for neither Baker or Mitchelburn possessed more than average ability : it was the loftier inspiration of a love of truth and liberty.

Animated by this principle every common soldier became a hero. The announcement of the raising of the siege diffused joy throughout the Protestants of the three Kingdoms. The successful defence of the Maiden City had humbled a tyrant, and prevented him from extending to Scotland and England the horrors of civil war. No wonder that the victors were greeted with the applause of the Empire. Upwards of six weeks before the termination of the siege, a fleet of thirty sail, carrying troops, arms, and provisions for the relief of the town, appeared at the mouth of the Lough. This armament was under the command of Kirke— a man of the worst character, who had already acquired a most unenviable notoriety by his cruelties in the West of England at the close of Monmouth's rebellion. It has been thought strange that William entrusted the care of such an expedition to so atrocious a scoundrel.

But the new Sovereign did not well know whom to trust : he was surrounded by traitors , and he, perhaps, considered that the Major General might be as safely employed at Derry as elsewhere. Kirke's conduct soon showed that he had no heart for the service. Had he boldly proceeded up the Lough when he first came in sight of the beleaguered city, he could at once have relieved the garrison ; for the boom across the river was not yet completed, and there was no obstacle of importance to obstruct the passage. A man of skill should not have been deterred by so puny an affair as the boom itself ; as, at the Siege of Antwerp, upwards of a century before, means had been found to burst through a framework fifty fold more formidable. But Kirke had no taste for prompt action. James had lately arrived in Ireland with money and war like stores from France ; almost the whole country now acknowledged his authority ; his partisans were in arms in Scotland ; and many in England were beginning to look wistfully towards the expatriated sovereign.

At such a crisis Kirke might deem it prudent to watch the course of events, and not to increase the irritation of his old master by displaying any superfluous bravery in the cause of William.* With the soldiers and citizens of Derry the Major-General had little sympathy. The men who were exhibiting such prodigies of valour in defence of the last refuge of Irish Protestantism, and who were meanwhile dining on salted hides or horse flesh, were, with some exceptions, the co-religionists of the Presbyterians • Sir John Fenwick. who was executed in 1696 as a conspirator against the life of King William, states in his Confession that, " at his going into Ireland Major-General Kirke had promised to go in" for King James. Dalrgmple's Memoirs, III. Appendix, 279. Though this Confession artfully im plicates the friends us William, it is, as Lord Macaulay has stated, " made up of stories too true for the most part."

History of England, VII. 351. London 1860. of Scotland and the Puritans of England ; and such were the men whom, of all others, Kirke abhorred. Ths rude soldier, who delighted to drink the health of Judge Jeffreys, could not be expected to peril his life for the friends of John Howe and Richard Baxter. It was, therefore, not at all singular that he remained so long inactive. When the besieged were perishing with hunger, even a Church Dignitary had been heard to say — " no matter how many of them die — they are but a pack of Scotch Presbyterians."* Lord Macatday ascribes the deliverance of Derry to a despatch signed by Schomberg, in which Kirke was peremptorily commanded to attack the boom. But if other agencies had not been at work it is probable that the Major-General would have contrived to evade the performance of the dangerous commission.

He had long before been expressly required to relieve the place ; and yet, when the difficulties were much less to be feared, he had found apologies for procrastination. Therp was now, however, a pressure from another quarter, which he did not deem it convenient to disregard. The minister who had persuaded the apprentice boys to shut the gates — the intrepid James Gordon, of Glendermot— had found his way on board the little fleet, and had been exhorting some of the officers and men to attempt the passage to Derry. Kirke heard of his proceedings ; stormed, cursed, and threatened to hang him ; but the God-fearing preacher was not to be intimidated by any blaspheming bully. Mr. Gordon, who was well acquainted with the locality, pointed out to the Com mander how the impediment of the boom could be surmounted, and informed him that Captain Browning and others were prepared to encounter the hazard of the enterprise.

Kirke now felt that his own head was in danger should he not make an immediate effort to aid the besieged. Were the city, in the meantime, captured, he could not hope, confronted with witnesses such as Gordon and Browning, to convince either Schomberg or the King that he had faithfully done his duty.t He was thus compelled to give the orders which issued in the relief of Derry. Mr. Gordon, who had passed over to Scotland about the beginning of the year, returned there immediately after the siege, and became minister of the now far-famed parish of Cardross. He survived his removal from Ireland only a few years ; but the tradition that he had instigated Kirke to attempt the breaking of the boom was long preserved among his Scottish parishioners. Wodrow, who was ten years of age at the time of the siege, and who was, subsequently, well acquainted with the people of Cardross, heard the story from more than one intelligent and respectable witness.^ Lord Macaulay rejects it as " the gossip of a country parish in Dumbartonshire ;" but the author of " The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland," though not so brilliant a writer, was quite as good a judge of evidence as the great essayist ; and many of the statements which adorn the most graphic descriptions of the " History of England," rest on the authority of " gossip" not nearly so well authenticated.

That Mr. Gordon claimed the credit of the relief of Derry there can be no reasonable doubt ; and that his version of the affair is clear, consistent, and correct as to details, cannot be disputed. His account of the manner in which Kirke at first resented his interference, contains internal evidence of its truth, for the Major-General is exhibited to the life when he is represented as pouring forth imprecations, and threatening to hang a Presby terian minister. » Apology for the Failures charged on the Rev. Mr. Geo. Walker's Printed Account of the late Siege of Derry, p. 18. + As it was, he narrowly escaped a court-martial. " There was a Council of War designed be tween Major-General Kirke and Sir Henry Inglesby, about the business of Derry, the latter saying that Derry might easily have been relieved much sooner, with a great deal more to that purpose but it came to nothing, and was no more talked of."— Story's Impartial History of the Wars of Ireland v 24.

London, 1693. " ' r J See Note, p. 54 of this volume. When this brutal commander entered the rejoicing city a few days after the breaking of the boom, he fully sustained his infamous reputation. The men who had so nobly fought the battle of civil and religious freedom were entitled to an ample recompense. They were woefully disappointed. The weak and sick soldiers, who wished to resume their industrial occupations, were denied assistance out of the public stores ; and many of them, on their way homewards, perished by starvation. The regiments were remodelled ; and not a few of the officers, instead of obtaining promotion, were immediately reduced. Strangers who had taken no part in the siege supplanted captains who had endured its privations and perils. The treatment experienced by Colonel Adam Murray was superlatively base.

Murray was the bravest of the brave : he had charged Lundy to his face with treachery, and had com pelled him to resign a trust which he betrayed : he had taken charge of the city during the short interregnum created by the traitor's expulsion ; and, had he pleased, he might have continued Governor, as he had won the hearts of both citizens and soldiers. During the siege, wherever there was hard lighting, Murray's athletic form was seen, and his manly voice was heard cheering on the Protestant combatants : his very name carried terror through the ranks of the enemy : he was now slowly recovering from wounds received a few days before the deliverance of the city, and he had every right to expect the rewards of distinguished fidelity and valour. But it soon transpired that his regiment was to be joined to another under the command of a new colonel, and that he was to be deprived even of the favourite horse which had borne him through many a bloody struggle !

His men, no longer permitted to follow a leader whom they loved as a father, and admired as the very soul of chivalry, withdrew in disgust from the service. It was in vain to attempt to remonstrate with such a despot as the Major-General. When one officer ventured to complain, Kirke, true to his character, ordered a gallows forthwith to be erected, and threatened to hang the murmurer. But this unprincipled chief was not unmindful of his own interests. Aware that his conduct in the Lough was not above suspicion, he endeavoured to stifle inquiry by a piece of rather dexterous management. An address to the King and Queen was drawn up in the name of the officers and gentlemen of the city, and in this document there was a special acknowledgment of " the indefatigable care of Major-General Kirke."

Some, probably, subscribed the paper without reading it ; whilst others, who were aware of its contents, and who objected to the compliment paid to the commander, deemed it imprudent to incur the suspicion of disloyalty by withholding their signatures. The next care of Kirke was the selection of a suitable representative to present the address to William and Mary. His choice rested on Mr. George Walker, a beneficed clergy man of the county of Tyrone, who had acted a conspicuous part throughout the siege. Many were dissatisfied with the selection of an agent who had himself fallen under some suspicion, but they did not care to oppose the nomination of the Major-General ; and the reverend gentleman, after some well understood expressions of modesty, consented to under take the mission. Mr. Walker was born in 1618, so that at the time of the siege he was upwards of seventy years of age.

He had not imbibed the doctrine of passive obedience so deeply as most of his episcopal brethren, and yet he possessed a considerable share of the spirit of a high-churchman. He was endowed with much natural eloquence ; but his mind was indifferently cultivated ; and the few tracts published in his name, if really written by him, display a very moderate amount of literary talent. He seems to have mistaken his profession, as he had a far greater taste for military occupations than for the functions of a minister of the Gospel ; and during the siege, as well as afterwards, he delighted in the title of Colonel Walker. About the beginning of the Revolution he was b X employed by Lord Charlemont to raise soldiers for the defence of the Protestant interest a commission which he undertook with great alacrity : he was afterwards placed at the head of the new regiment ; and on more than one occasion, when under fire, he exhibited intre pidity and self-possession.

When Lundy was set aside, Major Baker was elected m his stead ; and the new Governor, with the concurrence of the garrison, nominated Mr. Walker as his assistant or deputy, and entrusted him with the care of the stores. The superintendence of the commissariat department was not so much at variance with the clerical character as direct interference with the stern realities of war ; and it was, perhaps, thought that the aged divine would be less exposed to scandal were his attention confined to the distribution of the rations, and the husbanding of the provisions. He was a ready and popular speaker ; and, when chosen vice governor, the influence he was likely to exert over the mob of a besieged city was, doubtless, not overlooked. But the pompous old man was not duly mindful of his secondary position.

Soldiers and citizens soon saw that they could always put him in good humour by saluting him Governor ; and as Baker was in declining health, Walker sometimes actually usurped the chief authority. He appeared to think that, as a clergyman and the most aged of the Colonels, he was entitled to take honorary precedence of all his military colleagues ; and when public documents were signed by those in command of the garrison, he had more than once the assurance to foist in his name above that of the Governor. Baker, who was fast sinking into the grave, was willing to overlook his vanity ; but others began to be much dissatisfied with his management ; and at length four or five of the Colonels, with upwards of one hundred officers of lower rank, proceeded formally to prefer charges against him for misconduct,* with a view to obtain his removal from the post he occupied.

Anxious at such a crisis to maintain peace among the defenders of the city, Baker prevailed on the complainants to withdraw their accusations, on the condition that Walker should no longer be permitted to act alone, and that the supervision of the stores, as well as of the garrison, should be vested in a Council of Fourteen, of which the Governor himself was to be president. About a month before the close of the siege, Colonel Baker died. When no longer able to perform the duties of his office, he had appointed Colonel Mitchelburn to take his place ;t and this gentleman continued subsequently to act as Governor, though Mr. Walker still retained his former position. As the privations of the garrison increased, the absurdity of contending about questions of precedence became more and more apparent.

The conduct of the military divine again created some uneasiness ; but as matters stood, it was vain to think of investigation. When Kirke entered the city, Walker became his confidant and counsellor. In public the voluble theologian lost no opportunity of extolling the services of the Major-General, and the Major-General returned these compliments by bearing testimony to the ability and bravery of Governor Walker. After a few days spent in mutual congratulations, Walker set out for * See page 45. — To this day no attempt has been made to disprove this statement. In the tract, entitled, " Mackenzie's Narrative a False Libel," not a tittle of evidence is produced to show that Mackenzie has given even an exaggerated report of the transaction. + Ash, in his Diary, thus describes this affair : " A council of war was held at Colonel Mitchel burn's to choose a Governor in place of Governor Baker, until he should recover of his sickness.

When the council met, Colonel Lanee and Lieutenant-Colonel Fortescue were sent to the Bishop's where Mr. Baker lay, to know whom he would depute. He named Colonel Mitchelburn, saying he was the fittest person to fill that station. The major part of the council consented, and Mitchel burn was confirmed Governor." Walker, as usual, magnifies himself when reporting the transac tion : he says, " At this time Governor Baker is very dangerously ill, and Colonel Mitchelburn is chosen and appointed to assist Governor Walker."— True Account, p. 32. A house in Butcher's Street was long pointed out as the place where "Walker resided during the siege. It has been recently rebuilt. Had he been Chief Governor he would have taken up his residence in the Bishop's palace London, travelling by way of Glasgow aud Edinburgh, and bearing the address to the King and Queen from the officers of the garrison and the citizens of Derry.

His fame had pre ceded him, for at least one letter* written by himself during the siege had already been widely circulated ; and Kirke had taken good care to inform the English Government of the merits of a gentleman to whom the Empire owed such a debt of obligation. When he reached the British capital, every one was anxious to obtain a sight of the clergyman who, in the hour of danger, had exchanged the surplice for the sword, and maintained his post with such unflinching resolution in the Thermopylæ of Protestantism. He was most graciously received by William and Mary, presented with a gift of .£5,000, and given to understand that he was to be promoted to the rich see of Derry, then supposed to be vacant by the abdication of Bishop Hopkins.t It was not extraordinary that Mr. Walker was elated by the praises heaped on him so profusely.

In an evil hour his vanity overcame his prudence. Very shortly after his arrival in the English metropolis he was induced to put his name to a publication which eventually involved him in great obloquy, and exposed him to much sharp criticism. It is entitled, " A True Account of the Siege of Londonderry, by the Rev. Mr. George Walker, Rector of Donaghmore,+ and late Governor of Deiry, in IrelandV'§ Several writers have intimated that the diligent old warrior kept a diary during the siege, and that the work presented to the public is merely an expansion of notes taken down by him from time to time, as the operations proceeded.|| But the reputed author himself makes no such averment, and it is obviously destitute of foundation. It is even somewhat doubtful whether Walker was the sole compiler of " The True Account," for though it bears his name, it has been thought that, during his short stay in England immediately before its publication, he was kept in a state of such excitement that he had little time for composition.

He, no doubt, furnished the materials, and perhaps dictated a portion of the narrative, but he was probably assisted in its preparation. Some of his contemporaries were impressed with the conviction that others had a share in the performance. One of his assistants was believed to be Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam, a native of Coleraine, known to the student of Irish ecclesiastical his tory as the author of a life of the intolerant Bramhall, Archbishop of Armagh. Vesey was, at this time, an exile in England, having been driven out of his Archdiocese by the party of Tyrconnell ; and as he was of an officious disposition, as well as a violent partisan, it is not at all improbable that he aided Walker in drawing up " The True Account."1T * See this letter appended to the " True Acnouut of the Present State of Ireland, by a Person that with great difficulty left Dublin, June 8th, 1689."

London, 1689. The letter is republished iu Derriana. " The True and Impartial Account," written by Walker's friend, Bennet, had also afready appeared. + After all Hopkins did not resign. He took the oaths to William and Mary, and died a very few days before the battle of the Boyne, in the following year. J Walker heie conceals the fact that, in addition to the parish of Donaghmore, one of the richest rectories in Ulster, he held the living of Lissan, and perhaps another. — bee Ulster Journal of Archæology, II. 133. The Douaghmore of which he was rector is not that near Strabane, but the parish of the same name at Dungannon. § Licensed, September 13, 1089. It, passed through several editions in the course of a few weeks. || The " True Account" is often called Walker's " Diary" by parties anxious to add to its historical authority, and ihe reputed author himself once gives it that title, but he never ventures upon any more particular statement.

The gross chronological blunders it contains supply clear proof that it was drawn up afterwards. Thus, it misrepresents the date of the breaking of the boom, assigning it to the 30th, instead of Sabbath, the 28th of July. Again, it makes Darcy, as a prisoner, sign a letter to Hamilton about the beginning of July, when it is well known that he was liberated in the end of April. It states, farther, that Kirke's ships were discovered ou the 15th of June, but it is well kuown that they were seen on the 13tb. The keeper of a diary would not be thus perpetually giving incorrect dates. f He himself admitted that the manuscript had been submitted to him. " I often heard him say," writes a friend, " he could safely be deposed he never read half of it before it was printed." — Never was the spirit of sectarianism in a state of much greater excitement than about the time when this pamphlet appeared.

Whilst the Irish army lay encamped around the walls of Derry, -the English Parliament had passed the Act of Toleration ; but other measures, recommended by William for the relief of Dissenters, had met with strenuous opposition ; and the breach between the Established Church and the Non-conformists was wider than ever. In Scotland, Presbyterianism, after nearly thirty years of proscription, had recovered the ascendency ; and the ministers who, shortly before, had been hunted among the mountains and the moors, expected soon to meet under royal auspices, and hold another General Assembly. As their co religionists constituted the major portion of the Protestants of the North of Ireland, some of them were, perhaps, so sanguine as to hope that their ecclesiastical polity would be established by law in Ulster; for the King regarded the Presby terians as his best friends, and the service they had rendered to the Empire by the defence of Derry had signally illustrated their claim to political encouragement.

When Walker reached London with the Address from the Maiden City to the new Sovereigns, the public mind was mightily agitated by politico-religious controversies. An Act of Parliament had been passed requiring all functionaries, whether of the Church or State, to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary, and it was understood that the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other prelates, were prepared to refuse. The Episcopal clergy in Scotland were unfavourable to the revolution settlement,* and the Episcopal clergy in Ireland had acted most equivocally, for when the Presbyterians were manning the walls of Derry in the service of the Prince of Orange, four of the Protestant Bishops were sitting in Dublin in the Parliament of King James. But Walker, happily for his party, had acted otherwise ; and had thus, to some extent, redeemed its reputation.

When he reached London he was, therefore, received by his prelatic brethren with the utmost enthusiasm. The friends of " the Church" did not well know how to do him sufficient honour. The University of Cambridge hastened to tender him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.t The University of Oxford soon afterwards bestowed on him the same academic distinction. Derry, it was said, owed its preservation to a churchman. The city was saved by the vigilance, courage, and capacity of the great Doctor Walker. " The True Account" is designed to promote this impression. The very title page is deceptive. Though Walker was only Colonel Baker's assistant, and never, even according to the testimony of his most ardent partisans, had any thing more than a joint command, he does not scruple to style himself " Governor of Derry."

In the Dedication to William and Mary he quietly appropriates to himself all the credit of the struggle, as he informs his royal patrons that God " by making use of a poor minister, the unworthiest of the whole commun ion of which he is a member, would intimate to the world by what hand he would defend and maintain" their Majesties' interest and the Protestant religion. The story of the siege is written in this style of self-glorification ; and, in his statement of matters of fact, Walker is " Mackenzie's Narrative a False Libel," p. 18. He affirmed, also, that he had not " altered one word of what he read ;" but he may, notwithstanding, in various ways have assisted Walker. • In a letter from Mr. Hugh Magill to Sir Arthur Rawdon, dated London, March 25, 1690 it is stated that " one of the frigates cruising near Dublin took a Scotch boat going into the bay wherein were thirty-five passengers, with several letters of intelligence, and Æ8,000 in silver sent' to King James by the Episcopal clergy of Scotland."

Rawdon papers, p. 314. London, 1819. ' + A writer in the Ulster Journal of Archæology has disputed this statement— (See Vol II 272, note). It is attested by Walker's particular friend a few months afterwards ' Thus we read— " They [the Universities of England] unanimously confer on him the honourable degree of Doctor in Divinity. Cambridge begins, andjpresents him with a degree, though absent: it w-as done when the King was there last summer at the commencement. Oxford makes him a solemn invitation to give them a visit, and on the 26th of February, 1689, he is created Doctor in Æ-Ctairt lS M99 "l fenCe °f Ge°- WriUen hy his fHend in his not particularly scrupulous. The author himself stands out in the foreground of the picture. He issues the orders, he negotiates with the enemy, he plans the military operations, he heads the sallies, he rushes to the rescue, he preaches, he promises victory.