Two characteristics, seemingly irreconcilable, are attributed to him by his enemies;--that he was at once an "enthusiast" and a "bigot,"--and they may be accepted. His enthusiasm was that of a good, rather than of a great mind; but that he was a "bigot," in the repulsive application of that term, cannot be accepted from histories which are in themselves but tissues woven of the darkest intolerance. "_Enthusiasm_" and "_bigotry_" are terms much at variance; but when applied to his whole life, they are easily reconcilable, and not unlovely. He was a _bigot_ so far as to be a firm believer in the doctrines of the Catholic Church, but not to the extent of prescribing them as the _panacea_ for the sins of others, nor of making it penal not to believe as he believed: and he was an _enthusiast_ in so far as he imagined that he could harmonize the discordant religious elements of the country to abide in peace and good-will, and establish a name and an era in the history of England to which all her people henceforth could point with gratitude and admiration. He was a _bigot_ and an _enthusiast_ just to the extent that Washington and O'Connell were bigots and enthusiasts, and no more. The good that he intended for his own kingdom died with him, but his principles were carried to the Western continent by the Irish emigrants, and established there.[37] He failed; not because his object was unjust, or his reforms unnecessary, but because an evil spirit, not yet cast out, rendered the hearts of his people obdurate and insensate. Two things, however, that should not be forgotten, are manifest from the history of that period and the century succeeding it: that Ireland is the precursor and exemplar of American liberty, and that James II. was the first, the only English king that had the true idea of popular government; the first that had the virtue to practise it, and was at once its apostle and its martyr. CHAPTER XI. THE SURRENDER OF DROGHEDA AND DUBLIN--THE FIRST SIEGE OF ATHLONE. After the departure of King James from Dublin, Colonel Simon Loutrell, then military governor, in pursuance of the royal order, released all the prisoners, and, assembling the principal Protestant inhabitants, surrendered the government of the city into their hands. Those parties having constituted a provisional governor until the arrival of the Prince of Orange, Loutrell withdrew the Irish garrison from the city, and marched to Leixlip, where he was joined by Tyrconnell and De Lausun, and took up the route for Limerick. In the mean time, the French troops had been partially disbanded. One half of them, under De la Hoquette, had marched towards Cork to avail themselves of transportation to France; and the other, under Brigadier De Surlaube, brought up the rear of the Irish army, and followed De Lausun to Limerick.