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 English parliament for help. By 2 Nov. Dublin was for a few days besieged by Preston and O'Neile. On the 14th the parliamentary commissioners arrived, and a treaty with them was immediately begun, but conditions could not be arranged, and the commissioners were forced to retire to Ulster. The agreement between Preston and the nuncio, however, and the rejection of the peace by the general assembly of the catholics at Kilkenny in February 1646-7, on the nuncio's advice, determined Ormonde again to approach the parliament. Dublin was relieved by an English force in the spring, and on 7 June the commissioners of the parliament again arrived. On the 19th the treaty was concluded. Ormonde was to give up the sword on 28 July or sooner, on four days' notice. The protestants were to be secured in their estates; all who had paid contributions were to be protected in person and estate; all noblemen, gentlemen, and officers who wished to leave Ireland with Ormonde were to have free passes; popish recusants who had remained loyal were to be in all respects favourably regarded by the parliament ; and the debts he had incurred in the defence of Dublin were to be paid. This last condition was very imperfectly fulfilled. On the 28th Ormonde delivered up the regalia and sailed for England, landing at Bristol on 2 Aug. Having reached London, he had an interview with Charles at Hampton Court, when he received a full approval of his conduct in Ireland, and where he had directions to agree, if possible, upon measures with the Scotch commissioners, who had just arrived in London. Warned in February 1647-8 that the parliament intended to seize his person, he escaped to France, and at Paris found the Irish agents who had been sent by the Kilkenny assembly to treat with the queen and Prince of Wales, with the particular object of inducing the latter to come over with arms and money, but also with wide demands for the restoration of the native Irish to their estates. Under Ormonde's advice an answer was returned that the queen and the prince would send a representative to treat with the assembly on the spot, and in August he himself began his journey thither. On leaving Havre he was shipwrecked and had to wait in that port for some weeks; but at the end of September he again embarked, arriving at Cork on the 29th. At the end of October he received full instructions from Charles, who was in the Isle of Wight. He was ordered to obey the queen's commands, and to disobey all issued by the king publicly till he should give him notice that he was free from restraint. On 6 Oct. Ormonde had published a declaration against both the rebels and the independents, promising equal favour to all who remained loyal. Having pacified the mutiny which had broken out in the army under Inchiquin, he succeeded in bringing about a general peace between the royalists and the Irish rebels on 17 Jan. 1649.

Upon the death of the king Ormonde at once proclaimed Charles II, and strongly urged the young king to come to Ireland. With the utmost difficulty he collected forces to attack Dublin. He took Drogheda, and in July blockaded the capital, but was defeated at Rathmines, with the loss of all his artillery, by Jones, who commanded in Dublin, and who made a determined sally. He thereupon managed to conclude a treaty with O'Neile, who had kept aloof from the general pacification; but all dreams of reconquering the country were finally ended by the landing of Cromwell on 15 Aug. On 9 Sept. Drogheda, which Ormonde had strongly garrisoned, was stormed by Cromwell, Ulster was overrun, Wexford betrayed, and Ross surrendered. So hopeless were the king's affairs, that in December Ormonde requested to be recalled. Charles, meanwhile, had come to terms with the Scots at Breda, and Ormonde was commanded to remain until it was seen whether the alliance would not bring about a more favourable state of things in England. Cromwell's uninterrupted successes again brought Ormonde to the necessity of leaving the kingdom. To the last, however, he held haughty language. To Cromwell, who had sent a pass to him to leave the kingdom through Dean Boyle, he replied: 'I have by this trumpeter returned your papers, and for your unsought courtesy do assure you that when you shall desire a pass from me, and I think fit to grant it, I shall not make use of it to corrupt any that commands under you'(Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1650, p. 236). The bishops in August 1650 requested Ormonde to give up the government, and raised forces independently of him. Under the pressure of the extreme covenanting party in Scotland, moreover, Charles had on 16 Aug. unwillingly annulled the Irish peace of 1648 (Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. 695 α), and in his letter announcing this step urged Ormonde to mind his own safety and withdraw to Holland or France. This advice he repeated in November. Leaving Clanricarde therefore as his deputy, Ormonde set sail on 6 Dec., and, after delaying to consider some proposals made by a number of nobles and bishops assembled at Loughreagh, arrived, after a three weeks' voyage, at Perose in Brittany. He had left his family at Caen on his return to