her, 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

[Footnote 1: Philopater Irenaeus, 50-60. Castlehaven, Memoirs, 83.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1648. Jan. 4]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1648. Feb. 27]

given for the fidelity of a man who, by repeatedly changing sides, had
already shown that he would always accommodate his conscience to his
interest? It were better to march against him now that he was without
allies; and, when he should be subdued, Jones with the parliamentary
army would necessarily fall. To this reasoning it was replied, that the
expedition would require time and money; that provision for the free
exercise of religion might be made in the articles; and that, at a moment
when the Catholics solicited a reconciliation with the king, they could not
in honour destroy those who drew the sword in his favour. In defiance of
the remonstrances made by Rinuccini and eight of the bishops, the treaty
proceeded;[a] and the nuncio believing, or pretending to believe, that he
was a prisoner in Kilkenny, escaped in the night over the wall of the city,
and was received at Maryborough with open arms by his friend O'Neil.[b] The
council of the Catholics agreed to the armistice, and sought by repeated
messages to remove the objections of the nuncio.[c] But zeal or resentment
urged him to exceed his powers.[d] He condemned the treaty, excommunicated
its abettors, and placed under an interdict the towns in which it should be
admitted. But his spiritual weapons were of little avail. The council,
with fourteen bishops, appealed from his censures; the forces under Taafe,
Clanricard, and Preston, sent back his messengers;[e] and, on the departure
of O'Neil, he repair