264  THE  TURN   OF  THE  TIDE  [chap,  i

Rev.  George  Hill,  as  in  duty  bound,  supports  this  statement
in  his  McDonnells  of  Antrim.  We  have,  however,  the
clearest  proof  that  this  statement  is  incorrect,  and  that  it
was  merely  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  a  royalist  historian
to  throw  discredit  on  a  parliamentary  General,  for  Carte
himself,  in  a  private  letter  to  a  "  Member  of  the  House  of
Commons  "  written  May  12,  1714,  contradicts  his  own
statement  and  admits  that  Antrim  delivered  the  Castle
to  Monro. ^  This,  too,  is  Antrim's  own  version  of  the
affair,  for,  in  his  account  of  his  journey  from  Dublin  to
Dunluce,  he  mentions  the  plain  fact  that  Monro  arrested
him,  but  makes  no  suggestion  of  any  treachery.  Mul-
hollan's  version  is  that  Dunluce  was  surrendered  as  the
result  of  a  siege.
Antrim's  imprisonment,  as  events  turned  out,  did  not
greatly  incommode  him,  for,  with  a  little  friendly  assist-
ance from  inside,  he  soon  effected  his  escape  from  Carrick-
fergus,  and,  after  some  adventures,  reached  Lord  Moore's
house  at  Mellifont.*

Monro  remained  nearly  two  months  at  Dunluce  doing
nothing.  He  was,  in  point  of  fact,  debarred  from  making
any  aggressive  movement  by  the  mutiny  of  his  troops
and  the  shortage  of  food,  the  former  being  directly  oc-
casioned by  the  latter.  The  county  of  Antrim,  on  which  he
had  to  rely  for  his  supplies,  was  devastated  during  the
summer  of  1642  by  a  famine,  which  Monro's  enemies
suggested  was  in  part  brought  about  by  his  own  action
in  shipping  so  many  of  the  Antrim  cattle  to  Scotland.
