The means of locomotion were of the poorest, and it was three weeks before Avaux could report that all the French officers had reached Dublin, except a few whom Boisseleau kept at Cork. James made the senior captain a lieutenant-colonel, the rest majors, the lieutenants were made captains, and fifteen cadets became lieutenants. Most of them were sent to Londonderry. When the arms came to be distributed they were found to be very bad, muskets of many patterns, and swords even worse. Louvois was a man of detail, and it seems likely that he purposely allowed refuse stores to go to Ireland. It took Stevens a fortnight to get from Bantry to Dublin, generally on foot, for it was seldom possible to hire a horse. Parliament was sitting, and but little attention was paid to military matters. The royal army, on the highest estimate, was about 50,000, but everything was expected from France, and there was talk of arms arriving sufficient for the host of Xerxes. A commission was what Stevens wanted, but he was too modest to apply to James. Lord Limerick, Maguire the Roman Catholic Primate, and the Duke of Powis, who had known him in prosperous days, all put him off with empty promises. More forward applicants had better success, and were not deterred by the divinity that hedges a king. Stevens was horrified to see an ensign pluck His Majesty by the sleeve because he had passed without noticing him, while he himself was not only not employed but almost starving. He sold every valuable he had, including his father's rings and the silver hilt of his sword, 'so that I might be truly said to live by my sword,' though as yet no soldier. The only kindness he received was from a Protestant to whom he had been civil in Clarendon's time and who volunteered to lend him 10_l._ The money was repaid, but the borrower deeply regretted that he had never been able to requite the kindness. When Londonderry was relieved, officers flocked to Dublin, and among them Usher, a captain in the Grand Prior's regiment, who had travelled with Stevens from England and easily got a lieutenancy for him.[203] FOOTNOTES: [183] Bonrepaus' letter of September 4, 1687, and Seignelay's answer of September 29 in Lingard x. appx. IIII., and other extracts in appx. KKKK. Bonrepaus says: 'Tyrconnel presse incessament le roi d'Angleterre pour que cela se fasse en moins de temps; et effectivement Sa Majesté Britannique y a envoyé [to Ireland] depuis huit-jours un vaisseau chargé de poudre, armes, et mortiers à bombe.' Dangeau, January 11, 1686, and May 6, 1687. See also Macaulay, chap. iii. Bishop Cartwright's Diary, August and September 1687. Barillon to Louis XIV., October 16, 1687, in Dalrymple, ii. 262. [184] Seignelay's instructions to Pointis, January 12, 1689, in Campana-Cavelli, doc. 529, and the report in the following month. 'Quo magis nuda erant castra et fortilitia eo facilius prevideam eos posse ad obedientiam reduci.'--Archbishop King's _Autobiography_.