In a tour de force of collective biography, Clarke breathes life into the bones of the 138 elected members. From this survey, there emerges evidence of the growing unity of purpose and harmony of interests among the Protestant community, comprising Old Protestants whose roots lay in pre-1640s Ireland and the more recent arrivals. Thus, when the moment of restoration approached, the General Convention was in a position to ensure that the concerns of the Protestant interest were to the fore and clearly articulated in readiness for the royal takeover. Some compromises were necessary, and some allies were ditched, but the middle ground held firm in embracing an episcopalian church and a solidly Protestant land settlement. The Cromwellian holding was built into the new era of consolidation.
Timing is shown to have been everything.
The confederate association built up an impressive governmental structure, but a skilled moderate party triumphed in defeat with the doomed Ormonde peace of 1649. What made the difference was that the confederates were dependent on the whim and pleasure of the monarchy because of their illegal religious position. The Protestants, while divided among themselves about the best form of church government, were confident in their own legality once the regime remained Protestant. They were on the right side at the right time. 8 Colm Lennon National University of Ireland, Maynooth Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only.