3-021-302 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Prince Arthur in Ireland: Londonderry, 1869. 'This town is indeed one of the most interesting places in the British islands. Standing upon a hill which is more than half-surrounded by the broad estuary of the river Foyle, at the head of Lough Foyle, about fifteen miles from the open sea, it still retains...the circuit of its walls, built in an oval shape around the city founded by the "Irish Society of London," in the reign of James I...The ancient Irish town of Derry had, in fact, been entirely destroyed in the wars of the Irish factions; the modern town, though situated in Ireland, is a Scottish and English colony; which has never at any time lived on amicable terms with the Irish population of its neighbourhood. The celebrated siege of Derry, at the time when James II. was attempting, after the revolution in England, to hold his other kingdom of Ireland against the forces of William III., is one of the most notable events in our national history; but it has, like the Battle of the Boyne, tended to preserve the fatal spirit of sectarian animosity which is the chief or sole cause of all that grieves us in the condition of Ireland. The story of the heroic defence of this city...is, of course, quite familiar to all our readers'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.