Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/627

 LONDONDERRY 621 quadrangular area, is situated in the centre of the town, and contains the corporation hall ; and from the middle of the sides of this four principal streets lead to the four original gates. A Doric column, surmounted by a statue of the Rev. George Walker, celebrated for his defence of the town in the siege of 1689, was erected in 1828 at a cost of 4,200. In 1873 the inward shipping amounted to 260,823 tons, and the customs duties to 107,188. The ancient town of Derry, originally called Derry Calgach, took its rise from a monastery which St. Columba founded here in 546. It was repeatedly pillaged by the Danes and by the neighboring Irish chiefs, and was burned several times. In 1198 the English under De Courcy captured it. It was garrisoned in 1566, during Tyrone's rebellion, and in 1568 the fort and nearly the whole town were de- stroyed by the explosion of a powder maga- zine. It was rebuilt in 1600, and eight years later Sir Cahir O'Dogherty captured it, slaugh- tered the garrison, and burned a large part of the town, because of its resistance to the au- thority of James I. The land on which it stood, as well as that of the whole county, was declared forfeit to the crown, and James made it over to the mayor, aldermen, and council of London. They constituted a body for its gov- ernment, which still exists, called the " Irish Society," and parcelled out much of the county among the twelve city companies of London. The new city which they built on its ruins was called Londonderry. It became a stronghold of Protestantism, and in December, 1688, its gates were closed against James II., who laid -siege to it on April 18, 1689. The siege was kept up for 105 days, when a man-of-war and Londonderry. two ships loaded with provisions ran past the batteries and the obstructions in the river, and relieved the starving inhabitants. The greatest cruelty had been practised by the besiegers, and the utmost suffering endured by the be- sieged, who had eaten all their horses and dogs, and were on their last ration of tallow and salted hide when relieved. The garrison of 7,000 men had been reduced to 3,000 ; the loss of the besiegers was estimated at 8,000. Since this famous siege, the city has advanced steadily in growth and prosperity. LONDONDERRY. I. Robert, second marquis of. See OASTLEEEAGH. II. Charles William Stewart Vane, third marquis of, a British sol- dier and diplomatist, half brother of the pre- ceding, born in Dublin, May 18, 1778, died in London, March 6, 1854. He was made ensign of a foot regiment, and served in the Nether- lands in 1794. Subsequently, while attached to the British mission at Vienna, he was severely wounded at the battle of Donauworth. He commanded a regiment of dragoons during the Irish rebellion of 1798, and also in the expedi- tion to Egypt under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, in the course of which he was again dangerously wounded. In 1803 he became under-secretary of state for the war department, but resigned to take command of a hussar brigade under Sir John Moore in the Peninsula, and covered the retreat of the British army to Corunna (1809). He was adjutant general under Sir Arthur Wel- lesley until May, 1813, signalizing himself at Talavera and elsewhere, and receiving the thanks of the house of commons. In 1814 he was made a lieutenant general, was military commissioner of the armies of the allied sover- eigns, and was appointed ambassador to Aus- tria, having in the preceding year exercised similar functions at the court of Berlin. He