ince
the loss of Munster by the defection of Inchiquin's forces, they had
entertained an incurable distrust of their English allies; and to appease
their jealousy, he dismissed the few Englishmen who yet remained in the
service. Finding them rise in their demands, he called a general assembly
at Loughrea, announced his intention, or pretended intention, of quitting
the kingdom; and then, at the general request, and after some demur,
consented to remain. Hitherto the Irish had cherished the expectation that
the young monarch would, as he had repeatedly promised, come to Ireland,
and take the reins of government into his hands; they now, to their
disappointment, learned that he had accepted the invitation of the Scots,
their sworn and inveterate enemies. In a short time, the conditions to
which he had subscribed began to transpire; that he had engaged to annul
the late pacification between Ormond and the Catholics, and had bound
himself by oath,[b] not only not to permit the exercise of the Catholic
worship, but to root out the Catholic religion wherever it existed in any
of his dominions. A general gloom and despondency prevailed; ten bishops
and

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1650. March 28.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1650. August 6.]

ten clergymen assembled at James-town, and their first resolve was to
depute[a] two of their number to the lord lieutenant, to request that he
would put in execution his former design of quitting the kingdom, and
would leave his authority in the hands of a Catholic deputy possessing the
confidence of the nation. Without, however, waiting for his answer, they
proceeded to frame[b] a declaration, in which they charged Ormond with
negligence, incapacity, and perfidy; protested that, though they were
compelled by the great duty of self-preservation to withdraw from the
government of the king's lieutenant, they had no intention to derogate from
the royal authority; and pronounced that, in the existing circumstances,
the Irish people were no longer bound by the articles of the pacification,
but by the oath under which they had formerly associated for their
common protection. To this, the next day[c] they appended a form of
excommunication equally affecting all persons who should abet either
Ormond or Ireton, in opposition to the real interests of the Catholic
confederacy.[1]

The lord lieutenant, however, found that he was supported by some of the
prelates, and by most of the aristocracy. He replied[d] to the s