HISTORY OF ENGLAND

26 XINUCCINI AND CROMWELL IN IRELAND. XI. 2.A.D. 1647.of calling in another prince as Protector of Ireland. The oldEnglish colony thought of the King of France; the Frenchconsidered that the Nuntio would prefer Spain. Yet thatwas not precisely his intention or his position. He wouldhave liked to secure the protectorate for the Pope himself.And since there was some hesitation in Rome about seizingit so directly, the idea occurred to the Nuntio that one ofthe brothers of the Grand Duke of Tuscany might come toIreland to act there as the deputy of the see of Kome.He cherished the hope that he might one day obtain alsothe crown of Ireland, and then be recognised by the twoCatholic powers l.It is singular to what extremes his ambition for his countryand dynasty led him. His great idea seems to have been incombination with the native party to win Ireland in its urholeextent for the Catholic world.Very unexpected however was the effect of his scheme.In the face of this danger, Ormond, who had been all his lifean Episcopalian and a Royalist, forced himself to hand overthe capital which he could no longer defend, to the Parliamentarytroops, Presbyterians though they were. The bloodwhich flowed in his veins, and his Protestant sympathies (forhe would not allow Ireland ever to come into the hands of thenatives and of the Nuntio) 2, enabled him to enter into alliancewith a party which he had opposed all his life, but withwhich he stood on common ground in these respects. Hebetook himself to the King to justify to him his determination.It would be scarcely too much to say that on this actdepended the preservation of Ireland for the Protestant andEnglish interest.The Parliamentary troops, to whom Ormond handed overDublin, knew thoroughly how to defend it. The Irish bandsthat were pressing forward suffered a decisive defeat at Trim,1 Rinuccini to Cardinal Paucirolo, November 1647, Nunziatnra 266 : ' Le qualidovrebbono concordemente aver caro, che questa pezza si smembrasse del parlamentoe cadesse in un principe oggi indifferente.'Rrienne, from the reports of the Commissaries Talon and du Moulin. ' Le Msd'Or~~r.3nd est seul qui etnpCche 1'11lande lonlber entre les mams des Espagnols.'z. RINUCCrNI AND CROMWELL IN IRELAND. 27A.D. 1648.and another in Munster. This disaster, which clearly showedthe impossibility of attaining their proposed end, reacted.generally on the Nuntio's prestige. In the next assemblyat Kilkenny, a con~plete reaction against him took place:a government was installed, from which the clerical elementwas excluded. The Catholics of English descent and moderatesentiments had the superiority over the allied nativesand priests in opposition to the Nuntio, who insisted on theprosecution of the war. A truce was concluded with Lord~nchiquin (who commanded in Munster, and who now passedover again from the Parliament to the King) which led at onceto a close agreement. In consequence, Ortr~ond was recalledby Catholics and Protestants, and the Nuntio, who would nottreat with a government at whose head stood a Protestant,thought it prudent to leave the country. He retired home tohis archbtshopric at Fermo.The return of Ormond, who once more in virtue of his oldpatent entered Ireland as Lord Lieutenant, and his activitythere, are connected with the Presbyterian rising in 1648.While the latter depended on the agreement that the mostextreme demands of the Covenanters should no longer bepressed upon the King, Ormond aimed at bridging over thegulf which separated Catholics and Protestants in Ireland.He conceded that the Catholics should be relieved from thepenal laws which oppressed them, and should not for thefuture be restricted in the practice of their religion. Theywere to be left in possession of the churches which they thenheld, and of the estates connected with them. The Catholics,on their part, gave up the design of replacing their religion inits old supremacy over the island. They merely demanded,and to this Ormond agreed, that a commission should beappointed to secure the observance of the treaty until it couldbe confirmed in a formal meeting of Parliament. After thevarious attempts that had been made to raise one or theother of the two religions to an exclusive supremacy, recourseWas had in this treaty to an equalisation of their respectiveclaims, which deserves greater attention than it has hithertomet with. At Kilkenny Castle, seated in his chair of state,Lord Ormond, as the King's representative, announced the