"If the whole force of Ireland does not suffice to take a single town, the prospect of our waging war successfully against England is not hopeful." "It seems to me that it would have been much better to have left Derry alone, father," Walter said.
"It would have been better, as it has turned out, Walter; but had the king taken the place, as he expected, without difficulty, he would have crossed with a portion of the army to Scotland, where a considerable part of the population would at once have joined him.

The defence of Derry has entirely thwarted that plan, and I fear now that it will never be carried out.
"However, it has had the advantage of making soldiers out of an army of peasants.

When we came here, officers and men were alike ignorant of everything relating to war.

Now we have, at any rate, learned a certain amount of drill and discipline, and I think we shall give a much better account of ourselves, in the open field, than we have done in front of a strong town which we had no means whatever of storming.

Still, it has been a frightful waste of life on both sides, and with no result, beyond horribly embittering the feeling of hatred, which unfortunately prevailed before, between the Catholic and Protestant populations." The mortification and disgust, caused by the failure of Londonderry, was increased by a severe defeat of a force under General Justin McCarthy, Lord Mountcashel, at Newtown Butler, on the very day that Derry was relieved.