And now the pressure of famine became every day more severe. Astrict search was made in all the recesses of all the houses of the city; and some provisions, which had been concealed in cellars by people who had since died or made their escape, were discovered and carried to the magazines. The stock of cannon balls was almost exhausted; and their place was supplied by brickbats coated with lead. Pestilence began, as usual, to make its appearance in the train of hunger. Fifteen officers died of fever in one day. The Governor Baker was among those who sank under the disease. His place was supplied by Colonel John Mitchelburne.246Meanwhile it was known at Dublin that Kirke and his squadron were on the coast of Ulster. The alarm was great at the Castle. Even before this news arrived, Avaux had given it as his opinion that Richard Hamilton was unequal to the difficulties of the situation. It had therefore been resolved that Rosen should take the chief command. He was now sent down with all speed.247On the nineteenth of June he arrived at the head quarter of the besieging army. At first he attempted to undermine the walls; but his plan was discovered; and he was compelled to abandon it after a sharp fight, in which more than a hundred of his men were slain. Then his fury rose to a strange pitch. He, an old soldier, a Marshal of France in expectancy, trained in the school of the greatest generals, accustomed, during many years, to scientific war, to be baffled by a mob of country gentlemen, farmers, shopkeepers, who were protected only by a wall which any good engineer would at once have pronounced untenable! He raved, he blasphemed, in a language of his own, made up of all the dialects spoken from the Baltic to the Atlantic. He would raze the city to the ground: he would spare no living thing; no, not the young girls; not the babies at the breast. As to the leaders, death was too light a punishment for them: he would rack them: he would roast them alive. In his rage he ordered a shell to be flung into the town with a letter containing a horrible menace. He would, he said, gather into one body all the Protestants who had remained at their homes between Charlemont and the sea, old men, women, children, many of them near in blood and affection to the defenders of Londonderry. No protection, whatever might be the authority by which it had been given, should be respected. The multitude thus brought together should be driven under the walls of Londonderry, and should there be starved to death in the sight of their countrymen, their friends, their kinsmen. This was no idle threat. Parties were instantly sent out in all directions to collect victims. At dawn, on the morning of the second of July, hundreds of Protestants, who were charged with no crime, who were incapable of bearing arms, and many of whom had protections granted by James, were dragged to the gates of the city. It was imagined that the piteous sight would quell the spirit of the colonists. But the only effect was to rouse that spirit to still greater energy. An order was immediately put forth that no man should utter the word Surrender on pain of death; and no man uttered that word. Several prisoners of high rank were in the town. Hitherto they had been well treated, and had received as good rations as were measured out to the garrison. They were now, closely confined. A gallows was erected on one of the bastion;and a message was conveyed to Rosen, requesting him to send a confessor instantly to prepare his friends for death. The prisoners in great dismay wrote to the savage Livonian, but received no answer. They then addressed themselves to their countryman, Richard Hamilton. They were willing, they said, to shed their blood for their King; but they thought it hard to die the ignominious death of thieves in consequence of the barbarity of their own companions in arms. Hamilton, though a man of lax principles, was not cruel. He had been disgusted by the inhumanity of Rosen, but, being only second in command, could not venture to express publicly all that he thought. He however remonstrated strongly. Some Irish officers felt on this occasion as it was natural that brave men should feel, and declared, weeping with pity and indignation, that they should never cease to have in their ears the cries of the poor women and children who had been driven at the point of the pike to die of famine between the camp and the city. Rosen persisted during forty-eight hours. In that time many unhappy creatures perished: but Londonderry held out as resolutely as ever; and he saw that his crime was likely to produce nothing but hatred and obloquy. He at length gave way, and suffered the survivors to withdraw. The garrison then took down the gallows which had been erected on the bastion.248When the tidings of these events reached Dublin, James, though by no means prone to compassion, was startled by an atrocity of which the civil wars of England had furnished no example, and was displeased by learning that protections, given by his authority, and guaranteed by his honour, had been publicly declared to be nullities. He complained to the French ambassador, and said, with a warmth which the occasion fully justified, that Rosen was a barbarous Muscovite. Melfort could not refrain from adding that, if Rosen had been an Englishman, he would have been hanged. Avaux was utterly unable to understand this effeminate sensibility. In his opinion, nothing had been done that was at all reprehensible;and he had some difficulty in commanding himself when he heard the King and the secretary blame, in strong language, an act of wholesome severity.249 In truth the French ambassador and the French general were well paired. There was a great difference doubtless, in appearance and manner, between the handsome, graceful, and refined diplomatist, whose dexterity and suavity had been renowned at the most polite courts of Europe, and the military adventurer, whose look and voice reminded all who came near him that he had been born in a half savage country, that he had risen from the ranks, and that he had once been sentenced to death for marauding. But the heart of the courtier was really even more callous than that of the soldier.
同类推荐
热门推荐
追妻无门:女boss不好惹
青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。城市里的蒲公英
这是一个发生在繁华大都市的故事。一个心比天高的音乐学院大四女生有着遥不可及的明星梦,她在城市的地下通道邂逅了一个手拿木棉吉他的流浪歌手。这个心比天高的女孩儿叫李漠然,那个流浪歌手叫苏文生。李漠然为了她的梦想疯狂的寻求机会,一旦有了机会,她的内心就不平静,她疯狂地追随过去,就这样,在生活中掀起一阵又一阵的波澜。苏文生对于她来说就像一剂良药,总是很及时地出现在她的生活中,用爱抚平她的伤口,她渐渐地适应了这剂良药,也理所应当感觉这剂良药应该出现在她需要抚慰的时刻。城市的浮华背后暗藏着太多人的悲伤,不光是李漠然,书中的其他人物都有着自己或大或小的梦想,他们就像是一个个蒲公英,带着自己的梦飘在柳庆市上空。在经历了一番风雨之后,终归是在城市的某个角落扎下了根。病世子,娶我吧
穿越成父不详、母不知所踪的杜家表小姐,君无忧认了,被上至官员富商、下至市井流氓亲切地称作小土匪,君无忧也认了,舅母苛待、姐妹嘲讽,君无忧也可以不在意,反正姐会赚钱,可是,舅母居然想毁她清白,逼她嫁给一个好色纨绔?!表姐不想嫁给娘娘腔也算计着要她代嫁?!这下君无忧可就不能忍了,怎么办?赶紧找人嫁了吧。可是莫名其妙的一道圣旨竟然将她许配给了据说自己病得活不长,还克妻绝子的定国王世子!君无忧这下真觉得自己命苦了。老天!人家刚刚跟一绝世美男求婚成功好不好?第一次见面,她趁醉强吻了他,第二次见面,她忘了他还大胆的向他求婚,第三次见面,死女人,你再忘了我试试?!精彩片段——求婚记君无忧:你娶妻了么?某男:没有。君无忧:那好,你娶我吧!某男:你没看见我是个废人吗?君无忧:没事儿,我不嫌弃你,虽然我倾国倾城、活泼可爱、心地善良还聪明伶俐,而且还会赚钱。某男:好。诶?真的?某男:既然你都倾国倾城、活泼可爱、心地善良还聪明伶俐,而且还会赚钱,我也就勉强不嫌弃你了。