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 royalists in the critical years of the civil war could have overcome the puritan party in England. Or if the extreme party had carried the day they could easily have conquered all Ireland, and then have made their own terms with Charles.

But the two Irish parties were so evenly balanced that neither could definitely gain the upper hand. They could not agree as to coming to terms with the King, and they would not prosecute the war with the necessary vigour against his representatives in Ireland.

For a moment the warring factions were reduced to two by the disappearance of the Protestant royalists. Ormond, acting on the King's orders to surrender Dublin, if hard pressed, rather to his English rebels than to his Irish rebels, left Ireland in 1647, and handed over Dublin and Drogheda to the parliamentary General Jones. Jones was in close alliance with the Scots, and the disappearance of the Royal authority caused the two Irish parties to join against the common foe, the English rebels.

But scarcely was the Royal authority withdrawn from Leinster than it was restored in Munster. Inchiquin, having grounds of complaint against the parliament, made overtures to the royalists. Ormond was invited back, Inchiquin brought the Protestant garrisons of Cork, Youghal and Kinsale over to the King's side, and the two managed at last to come to terms of peace with the majority of the Confederate Catholic Government at Kilkenny.

Scarcely was peace made when the execution of Charles I. by his rebellious subjects sent a thrill