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238 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
duke before beginning preparations to march on Dublin. Contemporay accounts inform us that James’s progress towards the capital was like a triumphal procession. He left Cork on the 20th and reached Lismore that evening; on the 21st he stopped at Clonmel; on the 22nd at Kilkenny; on the 23rd at Kilcullen; and on the 24th he entered Dublin about noon. We are told that when he arrived in Dublin the houses of the capital were decorated, the streets new laid down with gravel, harpers played “God save the King,” and “The King shall have his own again,” and girls strewed flowers before him on his way from James’s-Gate to the Castle. James rode on a “pad nag” in a plain cinnamon-coloured cloth suit, a black slouching hat, and a George hung over his shoulder with a “blew” ribbon. Loyal addresses poured in on all sides.
Once settled in Dublin James speedily convened a Parliament. Even though there were considerable numbers of Protestant members in both houses, few attended, and the Parlia- ment which sat was made up mainly of partisan Catholics. Many laws were enacted-The Act of Settlement was repealed, as was Poynings Law, liberty of religion was extended to all, and the estates of many of William’s most prominent supporters were declared forfeit.
This Parliament, which afterwards became known as the ‘Patriot Parliament,’ was the last legislative assembly of the older Irish until 1922. None of the laws enacted ever came into force, as the outcome of the war dictated otherwise. They were, as one writer of the day said ‘mere expressions of opinion.’
From Dublin James marched north to Derry which by then was besieged by Tyrconnell’s forces. The willingness of the Governor of Derry, Robert Lundy, to surrender, was overruled by the citizens and shouting out their motto “No Surrender,” the Apprentice Boys bolted the gates of the city against the Jacobite forces.So began one of the most memorable and heroic events of Irish history, an event now referred to as ‘The Siege of Derry.’ With inadequate artillery and no siege equipment, James’s army could only try and starve the defenders into submission, a tactic which initially looked likely to succeed in a city over-crowded with refu- gees. One account states that Derry was ‘poorly equipped for a siege, provisions were scarce, horses were few and the guns were ill-mounted’.
The Siege of Derry began in the middle of April and dragged on through the months of May, June, and July. By July, starvation and disease had taken a heavy toll on the citizens and the position of the defenders was desperate. Early in June two vessels laden with provisions for the relief of the besieged arrived in Lough Foyle, but were prevented from reaching the city by an iron boon constructed across the Foyle and ably protected by Jacobite artillery batteries.
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