[Sidenote: Charles II. invited to Ireland.]
[Sidenote: But Scotch influences prevail.]
The peace was signed on January 17, and on the 22nd Ormonde sent Lord Byron to invite the Prince of Wales to Ireland. If he could bring money and supplies with him he would be doubly welcome, but in any case his presence would be of the greatest value. All England and Scotland were either engaged in rebellion or subdued by the rebels, otherwise Ormonde would not have invited the Prince 'so far from the more vital part of his hopes.' Byron found Charles at the Hague nearly two months later surrounded by Scotch lords, who were for the most part opposed to an Irish venture, though Montrose strongly favoured it. On his way through Paris Byron had seen Henrietta Maria, who thought the change of her son's condition from prince to king 'an argument rather to hasten than retard his repair thither.' Charles himself was anxious to go, but he had no money and the States would give none unless he would go to Scotland and take the Covenant. Among the Scots the extreme Presbyterians even insisted on his parting with Montrose. The idea of going to Ireland was not abandoned for some months, but the means were wanting, and Charles spent some time at St. Germains, where he divided his attentions between Lucy Walter and Mademoiselle de Montpensier. He reached Jersey in the middle of September, and there heard for the first time of the defeat at Rathmines. Henry Seymour, who carried a garter for Ormonde, was sent to find out how things were really going in Ireland, but the news of the fall of Drogheda and of Cromwell's progress arrived before he could start. When he reached Ireland he found Ormonde still anxious for the King's appearance, but he must have seen that the cause was hopeless. Seymour was back in Jersey about the end of January 1650, and Charles left the island, which he had found intolerably dull, about a fortnight later. He went to Breda to make arrangements for becoming a covenanted King of Scotland and for denouncing Ormonde's treaty with the Irish Confederates, with which he had before declared himself highly satisfied.[143]
Prince Rupert left Helvoetsluys January 21, 1649, with 'three flagships, four frigates and one prize ... in company with the _Amsterdam_, a Dutch ship of 1000 tons, and two others of less burden.' His own second-rate had but forty sailors and eighty soldiers instead of the normal complement of 300. The frigates, whose business it was to prey upon merchantmen, were a little better manned. The Duke of York was invited to sail with this fleet, but Hyde says he was dissuaded by 'his old Presbyterian counsellors.' Rupert was blown as far as Crookhaven, but by the end of the month he had collected his ships at Kinsale. Fanshawe was at hand to receive such part of the expected plunder as might help to fill the exiled King's exchequer, and Hyde impressed upon him the importance of maintaining friendly relations between Rupert and Ormonde. The Prince of Wales wrote to the same effect, but Rupert preferred to play an obscure game of his own and to intrigue with Antrim, O'Neill, and the Irish generally against the Lord Lieutenant. As a sea-rover he was at first successful enough, keeping a squadron at Scilly, which had revolted from the Parliament, and announcing his intention to make a second Venice of the little archipelago. A great many prizes were taken, but Rupert lost one frigate, taken at sea by Parliamentarian cruisers. His great difficulty was want of men, but he picked them up wherever he could about the Irish coast in sufficient numbers to man some extra ships. The depredations upon commerce lasted until May, when a powerful fleet under Deane, Popham, and Blake came before Kinsale. Towards the end of June Rupert made a show of attempting to break through the blockade, but had to draw back without fighting. He had greatly strengthened the fortifications at the harbour's mouth, which prevented the republican squadron from entering. Then provisions and crews began to dwindle again, and nothing more was attempted throughout the summer. In October Blake was driven off the coast by a storm. Rupert seized the opportunity to slip out, and Ireland knew him no more. His presence at Kinsale had no real influence on events.[144]