[195] Louis XIV.'s instruction to Avaux, February 1/11, 1688-9, and March 2/12, and Avaux's answer, March 17/27. Avaux to Louvois, April 4/14. Louvois to Avaux, June 3/13. [196] Avaux to Louis, May 27. Writing to Croissy on October 21 he calls Melfort 'grand fourbe et qui ment plus effrontément qu'aucun homme que j'ai jamais vu.' For Melfort's opinion of Avaux, see Pointis on September 5 in Rousset's _Louvois_, ii. 214. Afterwards, when Melfort was at Rome, Mary of Modena insisted on his forgiving Tyrconnel. He obeyed: 'but without a fault to let loose a pack of about fifty nephews against me, besides the females, and all the time protest all manner of friendship and respect for me, swearing he could not tell what could be done when I was gone, to send his Duchess to cry an hour at my lodgings and make me cry too for company, and all this while harbour malice in his heart is horrible,' Ellis's _Original Letters_, 2nd series, iv. 187. 'The King went to Ireland only in order to go to England,' Melfort's memorial of October 20, 1689, in Macpherson, i. 334. [197] Proclamations of March 25 and April 1, 1689. [198] Mackenzie's _Narrative_. Macpherson's _Original Papers_. Avaux to Louvois, March 4/14. Belfast was effectually protected by King James's Government until Schomberg's arrival made it no longer necessary, document in Benn's _Belfast_, p. 165. [199] Instructions to Lundy, February 21, and to James Hamilton, February 22, in Mackenzie. Declaration of Union in Walker's _True Account_. [200] Walker's _True Account_. Mackenzie says a shot was fired and threats made to burn the gates. _Light to the Blind._ Avaux to Louis XIV. and to Louvois, April 13/23 and 15/25. [201] Walker and the author of _Light to the Blind_ substantially agree. Clarke's _Life of James II._, ii. 333. Macpherson, i. 186. [202] Stevens says 1500 English, Scotch, and Irish were landed, but Dangeau (April 20) says 'plus de quatre mille,' which must include those in the first fleet. _Life of Sir John Leake_, chap. iii. Troude, _Batailles navales de la France_, pp. 189-194. _Clarendon and Rochester Correspondence_, ii. 45, 65. Captain Mahan observed (_Sea-power_, chap. iv.) that in spite of Bantry Bay and of the numerical superiority of the French at sea, Rooke never lost command of St. George's Channel. Schomberg landed unopposed, and 'the English communications were not even threatened for an hour.' [203] Stevens, pp. 54-59. Avaux to Louvois, and May 28/June 7 and June 17/27. Stevens followed what was afterwards the mail-coach road from Cork to Dublin by Clogheen, Clonmel, and Callan to Kilkenny. The MS. of his journal in the British Museum has been published with valuable notes by Dr. Robert H. Murray, Oxford 1912. CHAPTER LI THE PARLIAMENT OF 1689 [Sidenote: King James's Irish supporters. Tyrconnel.]