However, the regiment arrived on the river bank, and some of its officers crossed and entered the city.

When they were in council with some of the leading citizens, a party of apprentices, with some of the rabble, shut the gates.

For some time there was great debate.
The older citizens were mostly in favour of admitting the earl's regiment.

Why, they asked, should Derry alone defy the power of Tyrconnell and King James?
If King William made his cause good, and came over to Ireland to aid the Protestants, it would be time enough for the men of Derry to join him, and to fight for their faith; but if they now stood alone, they could do no good to the cause of King William, and would bring destruction on themselves and their city.
"But these arguments were of no avail.

The apprentices and all the young men of the town, and the fugitives who had come in from the country round, were all for fighting, and so the gates were kept shut; and Lord Antrim, seeing that he could do nothing against such a strong place as Derry, marched away with his regiment.