Mountjoy yielded.

The two ambassadors departed together, but with very different commissions.

Rice was charged to tell James that Mountjoy was a traitor at heart, and had been sent to France only that the Protestants of Ireland might be deprived of a favourite leader.

The King was to be assured that he was impatiently expected in Ireland, and that, if he would show himself there with a French force, he might speedily retrieve his fallen fortunes, [146] The Chief Baron carried with him other instructions which were probably kept secret even from the Court of Saint Germains.
If James should be unwilling to put himself at the head of the native population of Ireland, Rice was directed to request a private audience of Lewis, and to offer to make the island a province of France, [147] As soon as the two envoys had departed, Tyrconnel set himself to prepare for the conflict which had become inevitable; and he was strenuously assisted by the faithless Hamilton.

The Irish nation was called to arms; and the call was obeyed with strange promptitude and enthusiasm.