[Sidenote a: A.D. 1649. July.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1649. August 2.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1649. Nov. 13.]

himself these misfortunes appeared as benefits, for he distrusted Preston
and Taafe on account of their attachment to Ormond; and their depression
served to exalt his friend and protector, Owen Roe O'Neil, the leader of
the men of Ulster. But from such beginnings the nation at large anticipated
a succession of similar calamities; his adversaries obtained a majority in
the general assembly; and the nuncio, after a declaration that he advanced
no claim to temporal authority, prudently avoided a forced abdication,
by offering to resign his office.[a] A new council, consisting, in equal
number, of men chosen out of the two parties, was appointed; and the
marquess of Antrim, the Lord Muskerry, and Geoffrey Brown, were despatched
to the queen mother, and her son Charles, to solicit assistance in money
and arms, and to request that the prince would either come and reside in
Ireland, or appoint a Catholic lieutenant in his place.[b] Antrim hoped to
obtain this high office for himself; but his colleagues were instructed
to oppose his pretensions and to acquiesce in the re-appointment of the
marquess of Ormond.[1]

During the absence of these envoys, the Lord Inchiquin unexpectedly
declared, with his army, in favour of the king against the parliament, and
instantly proposed an armistice to the confederate Catholics, as friends to
the royal cause. By some the overture was indignantly rejected. Inchiquin,
they said, had been their most bitter enemy; he had made it his delight
to shed the blood of Irishmen, and to pollute and destroy their altars.
Besides, what pledge could be