The Siege of Deny.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2947, 26 July 1878, Page 2

The Siege of Deny.

The Eev. S. J. Neill delivered a lecture on the above subject at the Presbyterian Church last evening. There was a very good attendance An efficient choir, under the leadership of Mr Grigg, was present, and rendered several pieces at intervals of the lecture.

Mr James Rensbaw occupied the chair, and he called on the Rev- R. S. Bunn to engage in prayer. This being done, after the choir had sung a hymn, the Chairman made a few opening remarks, and then introduced the lecturer. The Rev. S. J. Neill, on coming forward, was received with applause. He introduced his lecture by referring to the troubled state of Europe at the time of the siege of Londonderry. 200 years ago Londonderry was only a small town not as large as the Thames. It did not contain more than 2000 inhabitants, and though poorly fortified it held out for three months against all the forces King James could bring against it. After referring to the troubled state of Europe at the period, and the abdication of James, the lecturer said at the time Tyrconnell was Lord Deputy, and held out for James, though it has since been discovered he had thoughts of becoming king himself. He sent a garrison to Derry under Antrim. A short time before a letter had been received stating that all the Protestants were to be murdered, and though this afterwards proved to be a hoax, the people were suspicious. When the troops were close to the town, seven or eight apprentice boys ran and closed the gates, and the soldiers retired. This was rebellion, and a declaration of war; and when the Lord-Deputy had heard of it, he sent Mountjoy and Lundy to reduce the town. After come parley they were admitted, Lundy taking command, while Mountjoy was sent on a fool's errand to Paris, where he was shut up in the Bastile. When the people of Londonderry beard how Mountjoy had been treated, and that Tyrconnell was sending an array to subdue the North, they became alarmed. Lundy did little in the way of defensive preparations, and, in fact, had secretly determined to surrender, but Colonel Murray, in whom the people had every confidence, arrived just as Lundy was preparing the papers of surrender. Murray accused him of treachery, but he made his escape in the guise of a peasant, though he was afterwards captured, and placed in the Tower of London. Murray placed the town in a defensive condition, and the soldiers of James arrived and besieged it. Shot and shell then rained constantly into the town for three months. Baker had been elected Governor, and Walker, an Episcopalian clergyman, superintended the stores. Roser, a fierce French general, commanded the besiegers, and pressed the people with great vigor, and the stores and food were soon exhausted. The towns-people could see the ships with the provisions lying in the Lough, but they could not get up because of a boom across the river. The third month of the siege, however, they determined to relieve the the famishing people by breaking the boom.. The Mountjoy went at the boom, but rebounded and stuck in the mud, and another, the Phcßnix.^hen dashed at the fractured boom, and sailed up to the city despite the shower of musket bullets falling on it. The Mountjoy got off the bank, and the town was relieved. The joy in the city was intense, and five days after the siege was raised. Thus ended the siege of Derry, which, according to Alacaulay, was one of the most memorable events in British History, as, if Derry had fallen, all Ireland would have been at King James' feet, and his troops would have crossed to Scotland and we might now have been under a different dynasty. This concluded a highly interesting lecture which kept the attention of the audience all the time of its delivery.

Mr T. James moved a vote of thanks to the lecturer, to Mr Grrigg and the choir, and the committee of the Church. This was carried with applause, after which, the Chairman announced that another lecture on the " Pilgrim Fathers " would soon be given. The lecture then closed as it began—with singing and prayer.