Page:Studies in Irish History, 1649-1775 (1903).djvu/257

Derry and Limerick untenable: both, with newly levied troops, had successfully defied a monarch at the head of a victorious army; both, too, had their unsolved problems of treachery and intrigue. The influence of sea power was one of the chief factors in deciding the fate of each. Had James possessed a navy, Derry would have fallen and Limerick been relieved. Had Louis not possessed a navy superior, at the time, to William's, neither of the sieges would have taken place. Both cities depended for relief upon sea-borne aid from a foreign king. But while William threw his whole energy into the Irish struggle, Louis, until it was too late, regarded it as a side issue, and took but a mild interest in the result. At Derry James lost two crowns, at Limerick the third. Upon the fate of the small city on the Foyle hung the fate of Scotland and England. But for its long defence James might have sent an army to Scotland and entered England with the Highlanders. Even had it surrendered at the end, the result would have been unchanged. Had the city on the Shannon held out, William could not have transferred an army to the Continent to aid the confederacy against Louis, whose foes would have been compelled to sue for peace, leaving him free to restore the Stuart, who was an importunate beggar at his Court. 245