Above : Picture Of Ormond

The departure of Ormond, if it did not improve, certainly simplified the state of parties in Ireland. The Royalists for the time disappear, and there remain only the Confederates ; still, however, divided into the two sections of the Anglo-Irish and the Old Irish, and the Parliamentarians. The ascendancy of the Nuncio’s party in the Supreme Council did not long endure.

Above : Picture Of Rinnucini

At the end of July, the Ormond Peace, which till then had been kept secret, was publicly proclaimed at Kilkenny. Great was the indignation of the Nuncio to find how he had been, as he considered, deceived, and a peace, to which he had in the name of the Pope so vehemently objected, concluded without his consent or even knowledge. He summoned a meeting of the clergy at Waterford, and urged them to formally reject the treaty. Their consent was readily obtained, and armed with this, Rinuccini issued a decree of condemnation. In several of the southern cities the population adopted his views, and drove out those who endeavoured to proclaim the Peace.
So far Eoghan Ruadh, although disapproving of many of the acts of the Supreme Council, had obeyed its decrees. Now, however, he ranged himself with the Nuncio, and acting on a letter received from him, began to march his army towards Kilkenny. Preston, for once, was of the same mind as the Ulster general, and announced his adherence to Rinuccini’s side.
Rinuccini and O’Neill, on reaching Kilkenny, threw into prison those members of the Supreme Council who had shown themselves most prominent in promoting the Ormond Peace, and with the rest formed a sort of Provisional Government.