First, as I told you, I think it were better to leave Derry alone, until the main issue is settled.

Secondly, King James has no military experience whatever, and if ought goes wrong with the expedition, he will lose prestige.

Thirdly, although it were well for him to be with the army when it fights a foreign foe, it were better that he should not lead it against men who are, however much they may rebel against him, his own subjects.
"I know Tyrconnell has set forth these objections to him; but, unhappily, obstinacy is a fault of all the Stuart race, and it generally happens that they are most obstinate when most wrong.

However, I trust that when Derry sees so strong a force marching against it, it will open its gates without resistance.

A siege can only entail horrible suffering on the town; and that suffering will, in the end, tell against James's cause, for it will excite the sympathy of the Protestants in England and Scotland, and make them all the hotter to conquer Ireland." The following day, the troop was mustered in front of the castle, and, after a tender farewell to his wife and mother, Captain Davenant placed himself at their head and rode off.