There are promises of aid from England; but how long may we
have to wait for them? And there are but ten days' provisions in the
town. If these English officers of King William think that resistance is
hopeless, why should I, who know nought of war, set myself against them?"
"Because they have not faith," the minister said, "and you should have
faith; because they think only of carnal weapons, and you should trust to
the Lord. Remember Leyden, how help came when all seemed lost."
"I do," the tanner replied, "and I remember how the women and children
suffered and died, how they dropped in the streets and perished with
famine in their houses. I remember this, and I shrink from saying 'let us
resist to the end.' I should rejoice if they had decided that Derry
should be deserted, that the women and children should be sent away to
shelter in the mountains of Donegal, and that every man should march out
and do combat with the army of James. We are numerous, and far better
armed than the Papists, and victory might be ours; but, were it
otherwise, were every man fated to fall on the field, I would still say
let us march forward. It is not death that I fear, but seeing these weak
and helpless ones suffer. I should not envy the feelings of the men who
decided on resistance, when the time came that the women and children
were dying of hunger around them.
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