The English colonists in Ireland were naturally most unwilling to break with the King. The Scots were less so, though the Presbytery of Belfast had in some sort taken the part of Charles I. against the Parliament. The position occupied by the covenanted King before Worcester had not increased their respect for the royal office, nor had the boot and the thumbscrew done much to revive it. Ezekiel Hopkins, Bishop of Derry, was for non-resistance at any price. Dr. William King, who succeeded him after the Boyne, held the same doctrine, but he realised that James was on the road to ruin, and has left an interesting account of the steps by which he came to see that his allegiance was due to King William. It was a comfort to him to reflect that he had done nothing to bring about the change, and might become an archbishop under the sovereign whom Parliament had chosen. Less fortunate was William Stewart, Viscount Mountjoy, whose father had fought against Cromwell at Dunbar, who had been Master of the Ordinance since 1684, and who had seen foreign service. It was his regiment which was withdrawn from Londonderry to replace one sent to England. On account of his great influence the purge had been sparingly used in this case, and many, perhaps most, of Mountjoy’s men were Protestants. After Londonderry had shut its gates Mountjoy was admitted alone, but the town was induced to receive two companies, chiefly Protestants, under the command of Lundy, who has thus gained an unenviable place in history. Mountjoy then went to Dublin, where Tyrconnel persuaded him to go to James in France, to say that he would destroy Ireland, but not save it, and to ask leave for the Deputy to treat with the usurper. Tyrconnel promised upon his word and honour not to raise or arm additional troops and to sign no fresh commissions, to keep the new levies in quarters, and to send no more into Ulster, to molest no one for any tumultuous meeting or disorder before January 10, and to quarter no soldiers in any private gentleman’s house. The sequel is well known. Chief Baron Rice accompanied Mountjoy to Paris with secret orders directly opposite to those avowed. The deceived soldier was at once shut up in the Bastille, where he remained for over three years, and was then exchanged for Richard Hamilton. Having by this time had enough of passive resistance, he joined William as a volunteer, and was killed at Steenkirk. James was no party to the imprisonment, and would have been satisfied to let Mountjoy leave France. Tyrconnel at once proceeded to do all the things he had promised on his word and honour not to do—the honour which stooped to traduce Anne Hyde, and the word which had gained him the name of lying Dick Talbot. The treacherous detention of Mountjoy was a blunder, for the Protestants found other leaders, and were confirmed in their opinion that no faith would be kept with heretics.

On the same day that the Comber letter reached Londonderry there came another from George Philips of Limavady, who had been governor in Charles II.’s time. He was a descendant of that Philips who had been conspicuous in the Ulster Settlement. He informed the townsmen that Lord Antrim was near with his regiment, and cautioned them against admitting it. Antrim’s men were raw levies, some 1200 Highlanders and Irish, not properly clothed and very imperfectly armed, and, of course, all Roman Catholics. The men on the wall saw the motley crowd, and thought that they had come to fulfil the predicted massacre. Against the advice of the bishop and disregarding the fears of their elders, some young apprentices shut the gates in the face of Lord Antrim’s officers. He withdrew to Coleraine, and ten days later Tyrconnel ordered him to be ready to march at a moment’s notice. The Lord Deputy was about to send an army against the rebellious town, and would follow himself in a short time. In the meantime Mountjoy had received a somewhat apologetic letter from the citizens, in which the apprentice boys are called a rabble; but in writing to the Irish Society in London the same men say only that ‘just as the soldiers were approaching the gates, the youthhood, by a strange impulse, ran in one body and shut them.’ Old and young combined to form themselves into companies. Philips accepted the office of governor, and, while seeking a pardon from the Lord Deputy, the offenders made it quite clear that they would stand on their defence. Mountjoy entered the town alone, but it was agreed that two companies of his regiment, chiefly Protestants, should be quartered there under Colonel Robert Lundy, who became governor, and that future reinforcements should be at least one-half Protestant. When the flight of James was known, the determination to hold out became stronger, and when William actually became King of England all restraint was withdrawn. Lundy received a commission from the new sovereign. When James landed in Ireland he found the state of war fully established between his own Government and the Protestants of Ulster.[180]

‘We stand upon our guard,’ said Gustavus Hamilton, governor of Enniskillen, ‘and do resolve, by the blessing of God, rather to meet our danger than expect it.’ The great men of the neighbourhood were timid or lukewarm, but the people did not hesitate, and their chosen governor identified himself with them. His grandfather, who was Archbishop of Cashel, had died in exile after being plundered by the rebels in 1641. His mother was a Swede, his father and uncle had served under the great Gustavus, and he himself had been turned out of the army by Tyrconnel. At Enniskillen, as at Derry, there was great unwillingness to oppose King James, but circumstances were too strong, and the party of resistance soon got the upper hand. The Comber letter arrived on December 7, and the effect was immediate. The Irish were drilling and arming in the neighbourhood, and the news from Dublin grew daily worse. It was hard to get a horse shod, for the country smiths were busy making pikes, and staves were being cut openly in the woods. On December 13 came news that two companies were actually on their way to garrison the town. From that moment country people with horses and arms flocked in to reinforce the inhabitants, who were under a hundred in number. Three days later the dreaded companies, with a convoy of arms for the rabble, reached Lisbellaw, some four miles away. By this time the townsmen could muster 200 foot and 150 horse, and they resolved to be the attacking party. Hamilton had raised another 100 horse on his own account, and was ready to support them. The invaders fled without striking a blow to Maguire’s Bridge, and the next day to Cavan. Hamilton then accepted the office of governor, and a few days later the news came of James having left London, after which there was no hesitation, though it was long before the full facts were known. Some said he had gone to Rome, others to a monastery, and others that he was dead. Until after his landing in Ireland there was no further attempt against Enniskillen. Lundy was accepted as commander-in-chief, and on March 11 William and Mary were joyfully proclaimed with as much ceremony as circumstances admitted.[181]

The panic extended to Sligo, and the gentry there, chiefly under the guidance of Robert, Lord Kingston, determined to resist. As at Londonderry and Enniskillen, Roman Catholics were excluded from the town, and the Protestants resolved to cast in their lot with the English Government and Parliament. Troops and companies were formed, Kingston and Colonel Chidley Coote were chosen commanders-in-chief, and care was taken to provide for communication with Enniskillen. One outpost was at Manor Hamilton, which had played a part in 1641, and another at Dromahaire, the old O’Rourke stronghold near Lough Gill. The Protestants of Roscommon, Mayo, and Leitrim flocked to Sligo, and when James landed it was still in Protestant hands.

The Protestant gentry of Down and Antrim met at Comber and formed an association. Lord Mount Alexander, who was only a nominal soldier, was made commander of the forces raised, which were considerable in point of number. A council was established at Hillsborough, where there was a fort, and stores were collected there; but from the first ill-success attended the movement. The general showed little ability, and his heart was not really in the business, while he complained of being ill seconded by others. The local magnates quarrelled among themselves. No real leader made himself known. A plot to seize Belfast and Carrickfergus, which were undefended, failed through want of promptitude, and an attempt to surprise the latter place after it had received a garrison was ill-managed and unsuccessful. Just before James landed in Ireland, Tyrconnel sent Richard Hamilton with a thousand good soldiers and twice that number of raw levies to the North. The Protestants were scattered about in small bodies and never came properly together. Those at Rathfriland and Loughbrickland fled at Hamilton’s approach. A stand was made at Dromore, but he fell upon them before they were all assembled, and a complete rout followed. Tradition says the struggle was so short that a woman left her baking to see the fight, and on her return found the bread not burnt. Some delay was caused by the strong fort at Hillsborough, but there was no serious resistance. The general and most of the chief men fled to England or Scotland, and the rest flocked to Londonderry and Coleraine. By the time that James reached Dublin opposition to him was practically confined to the territory controlled by Londonderry and Enniskillen. Sligo was evacuated by special orders from Lundy, who laid the blood of all Ulster on Lord Kingston’s head, if he did not come at once to the relief of Londonderry. The holder of King William’s commission was obeyed, but when the Sligo men got to Ballyshannon they were ordered to stop there and defend the Erne. Afterwards they were told to go to Cladyford, but the order came too late. Lundy, who had at first demanded every man, then offered to take in a few as a sort of favour. Lord Kingston made his way to England, but he left Colonel Lloyd behind, who became the fighting hero of the Enniskillen garrison.’[182]