Lord Muskerry was not one of the first conspirators, but he joined the movement soon after it had spread to Munster. After the surrender of Ross Castle he went to Spain, but he had been a determined opponent of Rinuccini, and he found the clergy so hostile that his life was not safe. At Lisbon his reception was little better, and he gave up his plan of raising troops for the Peninsula, returned to Cork, and threw himself upon the mercy of Parliament. This was in February 1653, and he remained a prisoner in Dublin until his trial in December. In the meantime Lady Ormonde had arrived there, and naturally interested herself in his behalf. If Carte was rightly informed, Lowther did what he could by privately informing her of the line which the prosecution would take, and so enabling the prisoner to be prepared for his defence at all points. He was not tried for treason, but as accessory to the murder of Mrs. Hussey and others in 1642; and this resulted in an acquittal. There was another charge for the murder of William Deane and others, also in 1642, and it was held that the prosecutors had proved the facts, but that the prisoner had no real share in what was done, and was in any case protected by the Ross articles. It was, moreover, shown that he often acted a humane and merciful part. A separate count, for the murder of Roger Skinner, also resulted in an acquittal. Muskerry was not finally discharged for some months, and this delay may have been caused by the discovery that a printed copy of the Ross articles produced on the trial differed from the original which had been retained by Ludlow. He was charged in May 1654 with the murder of a man and woman unknown, but there was a verdict of 'Not Guilty.' Muskerry's speech after his acquittal on the Hussey and Deane charges has been preserved. He admitted that he had had a fair trial, and that if there had been any leaning it was in his favour. 'I met,' he said, 'many crosses in Spain and Portugal. I could get no rest till I came hither, and the crosses I met here are much affliction to me; but when I consider that in this court I come clear out of that blackness of blood by being so sifted, it is more to me than my estate. I can live without my estate, but not without my credit.' He raised men for the Venetian service, and went later to Poland, and regained most of his property after the Restoration.[251]