It handed back to
Cromwell the power it had received from him. He became the lord
protector of the realm. The revolutionary government had drifted,
despite itself, into a despotism. A despotism it was to remain while
Cromwell lived.
_THE RELIEF OF LONDONDERRY._
Frightful was the state of Londonderry. "No surrender" was the ultimatum
of its inhabitants, "blockade and starvation" the threat of the
besiegers; the town was surrounded, the river closed, relief seemed
hopeless, life, should the furious besiegers break in, equally hopeless.
Far off, in the harbor of Lough Foyle, could be seen the English ships.
Thirty vessels lay there, laden with men and provisions, but they were
able to come no nearer. The inhabitants could see them, but the sight
only aggravated their misery. Plenty so near at hand! Death and
destitution in their midst! Frightful, indeed, was their extremity.
The Foyle, the river leading to the town, was fringed with hostile forts
and batteries, and its channel barricaded. Several boats laden with
stone had been sunk in the channel. A row of stakes was driven into the
bottom of the stream. A boom was formed of trunks of fir-trees, strongly
bound together, and fastened by great cables to the shore.
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