who had a hand in the peace had 'faithfully and sincerely carried and demeaned themselves in their said negotiation pursuant and according to the trust reposed in them, and given thereof a due acceptable account to this assembly.' This important matter being settled, a new and stringent oath of association was taken by which all bound themselves to make no peace without the consent of the General Assembly. One of the conditions precedent was that the Roman Catholic clergy should enjoy all churches and church property in as ample a manner as the Protestants enjoyed them on October 1, 1641, in all places which the Confederates should at any time possess 'saving the rights of Roman Catholic laymen according to the laws of this kingdom.' The law, in other words, was to protect Roman Catholics, but not Protestants. All this referred to the secular clergy only, for the question of abbey-lands was too dangerous to touch. To avoid the appearance of an open breach with the Lord Lieutenant, Dr. Fennell and Geoffrey Baron, who had just returned from France, were deputed to see him. Their proposals for a sort of offensive and defensive alliance with Ormonde came to nothing, but successive truces were patched up until April 10.[105] FOOTNOTES: [82] _Embassy in Ireland_, November and December, 1645, pp. 98, 103, 554, 569. Correspondence between Glamorgan and Ormonde in _Confederation and War_, v. 197-200; 208-210. It appears from Dumoulin's letters to Mazarin that Leyburn was at Limerick in April 1645, _ib._ 314, 325. [83] Lord Lieutenant and Council to Secretary Nicholas, January 5, 1645-6, printed in appendix to Carte's _Ormonde_ and in _Confederation and War_, v. 234. Interrogatories, etc., _ib._ 211-222. Digby's letter to Nicholas, January 4, 1645-6, was one of those which Fairfax rescued from the sea at Padstow, _Husband_, p. 816. [84] The King's declaration, January 24, 1645-6, printed (from Reliquiæ Sacræ Carolinæ) in _Confederation and War_, v. 252. Glamorgan to Ormonde, January 7, 20 and 29, _ib._ 244, 255; Supreme Council to Ormonde, January 16, _ib._ 246; _Embassy_, p. 115; the King to Ormonde, January 30, _Carte MSS._ vol. lxiii. _f._ 386. [85] Rinuccini to Pamphili, March 5, 1645-6, in _Embassy_; Fr. Barron to Wadding, May 11, 1646, in _Spicilegium Ossoriense_, ii. 24; Charles I. to Henrietta Maria, January 8 and February 8, 1645-6. Nuncio's Memoirs (April or May) in Birch's _Inquiry_--"Pamphilius et nuncius in hoc negotio caste et sincere partes egerunt suas; alii vero Regem Reginamque impulerunt ad deferendum tractatum pontificium, et spem in baculo arundineo, hæreticorum brachio, collocandam." Colepepper to Ashburnham, Feb. Cal. of _Clarendon S.P._ 2135.