Immediately on the conclusion of the treaty, Jones, the parliamentarian governor of Dublin, marched against Pres ton; at first he was unsuccessful, but being reinforced, a desperate battle took place at Dunganhill, in which the ar my of Preston was routed with dreadful slaughter. O'Neil was immediately called to the defence of Leinster by the Nuncio and his party, who rather rejoiced than grieved at the defeat, as it thus rendered O'Neil of more conse quence.
In Munster the forces of the parliament were command ed by Lord Inchiquin, and the Catholic army by Lord Taafe. The latter was as anxious to avoid a general bat tle as the former was to draw it on, and for this purpose, as well as to obtain subsistence to his troops, he reduced the castle of Cahir, and thus opened to himself the fettile plains of Tipperary He next took Cashel by storm. Taafe was soon obliged to put himself in motion, and to hazard a battle. The two armies met at a place called Knockoness, and the Catholics were defeated with great slaughter. The state of the confederates, at least of the more moderate part of them, seemed now desperate : their two principal armies under Prcstdn and Taafe had been defeated, and it might be apprehended, that as soon as spring arrived, the army of the parliament would follow up their success to the complete destruction of their cause. Thus situated, a new attempt was made to treat with the King, or rather with the Queen and Prince of Wales, who were at this time in France, while the Nuncio, by his influ ence, obtained the sending at the same time a deputation to the pope. The Queen promised to send a person in a short time to Ireland ; and the moderate confederates were pri vately assured that this should be Ormond.
This pleasing intelligence was soon followed by the de fection of Inchiquin from the Parliament ; hut as the Nun cio still continued opposed to all moderate measures, the affairs of the confederates were more injured by him than they were benefited by any other circumstance. He even influenced O'Neil so far as to induce him to declare war against the supreme council, and to his army all who were inimical to the peace and to the English flocked. It became therefore necessary to proclaim O'Neil a traitor, which was accordingly done.
In 1648, Ormond arrived : his first object was, if possi ble, to unite the Protestant and Catholic royalists ; and this object was rendered more attainable by two events ; in the first place, the return of the Nuncio's commissioners from Rome without supplies, or even promises of assistance ; and secondly, the intelligence that the English army had demanded the death of the King. Peace, therefore, was concluded on nearly the same terms as in 1646 ; all the pe nal statutes against the Catholics were to be repealed, and they were to be allowed the free exercise of their religion ; but the point relative to the establishment of the Catholic religion was left unsettled.
The intelligence of the execution of Charles, which ar rived soon afterwards, proved that this treaty could be of no service to the royal cause in England, by enabling Ormond to send Irish forces thither ; but in other respects this event, by the indignation which it excited, was beneficial to the royal cause in Ireland. Of this indignation, Ormond re solved to take advantage without loss of time. The go vernor of Dublin was, however, firmly attached to the par liament, and Sir Charles Cootc, who occupied Derry, re turned no answer to Ormond's offers. On the other hand, the British forces in Ulster declared for the. royalists, and blockaded Coote. Ormond soon found, however, that he could not take advantage of the favourable change of cir cumstances, without a supply of money to support his troops ; and this he could not obtain ; the confederate Catho lics could not raise it, and Prince Rupert, who had come to Ireland for the express purpose of aiding Ormond, not only refused to supply him with money, but even embarrassed his plans.
Jones, the governor of Dublin, a man of penetration, in trigue, and activity, was not,. in the mean time, idle ; he even endeavoured, and not without success, to detach O'Neil, and carried his intrigues into the very heart of Preston's army. Ormond, though disappointed in many of his expectations, was convinced that if he was inactive, or discovered his disappointment, he would injure the royal cause ; he therefore put his troops in motion, and being sen sible of the effect which would he produced on all parties by gaining possession of the capital, he took advantage of Jones having marched to some distance from it, and laid siege to it. He had some expectation that on his approach, such of the inhabitants as were royalists would discover themselves, and raise a disturbance in the city ; but this not being the case, he deemed it prudent to encamp at Fin glass, two miles from it. While there, he dispatched In chiquin to Drogheda, whither Jones had sent his cavalry for the purpose of intercepting the supplies of the besieg ers. Inchiquin on this occasion being anxious to spew his sincerity and zeal in the cause to which he had come over, exerted all his talents and activity ; he surprised the ca valry of Jones ; took Drogheda ; defeated some parliamen tary troops which were conveying ammunition to O'Neil ; reduced Dundalk, and then returned safely to Ormond.