tion, were necessary, and ought not to be withheld." When pressed to undertake the command he replied that, "If Ireland was invaded, or was in immediate danger of invasion, he would go there;" but that otherwise he was convinced that no force that England could employ would reduce the country to obedience, and "that he could not honestly undertake a task which he believed could not be accomplished." 1 1 "Portland to Camden, June 10. Most private."—S. P. O. SECTION V. WOLFE TONE meanwhile, inspired by steady hate of England, and refusing to be dispirited by his disappointment at Bantry, had unweariedly kept the cause of his country before General Hoche, who had taken Ireland for his peculiar province. The spring passed without fresh efforts; but with the summer came Lewines and MacNeven, and on the 21st of June Hoche told Tone that a second expedition had been resolved upon, but on a scale so large that two months must pass before the preparations for it would be completed. The opportunity of the Mutiny of the Nore had been allowed to pass unused. It was now over, and the men had returned to their duties; but the impression prevailed in France that the fleet was still unfit for active duty. Both Tone and Lewines besought instant action. If a landing could be effected in Ireland at once, they undertook that the Irish seamen would again make themselves masters of the Channel squadron, and that 5,000 men at that moment would be worth more than 25,000 in the autumn or winter. Hoche listened; the Directory listened. There was a Dutch fleet prepared for sea in the Texel, and a Dutch army of 15,000 men eager to distinguish itself. General Dandaels offered to go as commander of the land forces. Admiral De Winter said his ships could be ready in a fortnight. To the Dutch the Irish campaign was made over; and Tone, who was in despair at parting from Hoche, was con soled by hearing from him that French jealousy would be piqued, and that he would himself be dispatched immediately after with a second expedition from Brest. De Winter had not overstated his forwardness. In the first week in July the army was on board. Tone, who was to accompany the admiral, was delighted with the appearance of the ships-sixteen sail of the line and ten frigates, all in excellent fighting order, with seven-and-twenty transports. Here once more was hope. Admiral Duncan lay outside with the blockading squadron. Twelve and sometimes fourteen sail could be counted from the shore, but in Tone's eager eyes they were filled with his injured countrymen, whose hearts were beating time with his own. There was no fear of Duncan, either in him or in the Dutch commander, who was looking forward to an engagement outside the harbor with enthusiasm and confidence. The difficulty was to sail out and meet him. In Bantry Bay a gale from the east had divided the French fleet and prevented a landing. In the Texel a steady wind from the west confined the Dutch to their anchorage. Day followed day, week followed week, and still the west wind blew, while, warned by MacNeven's memoir, the Admiralty sent Duncan reinforcements, and the twelve ships increased to twenty. Once more we observe the scene through Tone's impatient jottings. "July 16. A spy sent out. Returns last night with news that the English fleet is twenty-four sail of the line. I believe it is a lie. Duncan has fifteen or sixteen at most. We sail instantly that the wind will let us. July 17.-A wind foul as the devil. Cannot Foul as possible this morning. There July 18. be worse. never was and never will be such an expedition as ours, if it succeeds. It will change the destiny of Europe, open the sea to the commerce of the world, and subvert a tyranny of six hundred years. Gun exercise every day. They fire incomparably well. July 28. — Fair wind yesterday at last, but so late and feeble we could not weigh anchor. July 29.Wind fair, but so light we cannot stir. The admiral counted to-day the English fleet at anchor. Twentyfive three-masters, fifteen or sixteen liners, the rest frigates. Wind excellent to-night. We are off tomorrow." 1 At daybreak the signal was flying to weigh. the sails were dropping from the yards, the rigging of sixty vessels all black with busy figures clinging to the ropes. If the wind held, they would be engaged before noon. The perverse wind which had mocked their hopes edged to the south and thence to the southwest, with a gale and a thunder-storm. "There is a fate in this business," was the entry of the 2d of August. "We have been twenty-five days on board when twenty-five hours are of moment. For five or six weeks the sea was open through the mutiny. We could have gone where we pleased. Nothing was ready, and the chance was lost. Had we been in Ireland at the moment of the insurrection at the Nore, we should, beyond a doubt, have had that fleet at least." 66 August 8.- Wind foul. They talk now of the lateness of the season. England is a second time saved by the wind. I begin to grow desperate." 1 Wolfe Tone's Journal, July 1797. The delay was exhausting the provisions. There were no longer stores to enable De Winter to risk a voyage round Scotland, with the chance of detention at sea. A council of war was held, at which two of the Belfast Committee, Lowry and Tennant, were present, and De Winter suggested sending off a small squadron and three thousand men. The Irish leaders Isaid that before Lake had disarmed Ulster five hundred would have been sufficient. The conditions were now changed, but the organization was not yet completely broken up. They thought that with three thousand men the venture might be made. Now, however, Dandaels made a difficulty. Dandaels refused to go with less than four thousand, and De Winter said he could not provide for so many. Finally, the Dutch Government decided that the original design must be adhered to. The troops must be landed for the present, the transports revictualled, and De Winter meanwhile must go out when an opportunity offered and destroy Duncan. Readers of English naval history know what followed. On the 11th of October De Winter sailed out of the Texel, not to destroy Duncan, but, after a desperate engagement, to be utterly ruined by him. This time the Irish gentry had no reason to complain that the English fleet neglected their defence, and the brief absurd dream that Catholic Ireland was to find a champion in Calvinist Holland was ended at Camperdown. A second blow to Tone's hopes almost more severe was the death of General Hoche by rapid consumption. In Hoche he lost the only Frenchman in whom he had been able to kindle a genuine interest in his country. The direction of the foreign military policy |