restless, acts of robbery were frequent, debts were not paid, Protestants could obtain but small redress from magistrates and sheriffs.
Finally, late in 1688, not long after the successful landing of the Dutch army in England, but before the flight of James, portions of Ulster revolted.[1] Tyrconnell was not the man to cope with this emergency; in any case the means at his disposal were insufficient; the rebellion grew in strength; and before long the authority of James was defied over a large portion of the province.
Then in February the English proclaimed William and Mary as sovereigns. The greater portion of the Irish Protestants openly or secretly acquiesced in this; but some Protestants and all the Catholics still clung to the cause of James.
The loss of Great Britain did not involve the loss of Ireland. There the government had sufficient forces at its disposal to keep down the disaffected, and the administration continued as before to be carried on in the name of James.
It must be remembered that the theory that the de facto ruler of England becomes automatically the de jure ruler of Ireland was by no means looked on as established in the seventeenth century. Just as it was quite certain that the execution of Charles I. and the proclamation of a Republic in England could not affect the rights of Charles II. to the Crown of Scotland, so many, if not all, of the legal authorities in Ireland were of opinion that a successful revolt in England did not release
- ↑ Derry shut its gates on Dec. 7th. Enniskillen revolted a few days later.
