66

On the 1st of

tober came the news of Valmy. The Duke of Brunswick was hurled back, the Revolution was triumphant, and aspiring Ireland breathed again.1 The Bishop of Killala, a little startled at the tone of things, suggested that he and his brother prelates might as well have more influence in the Committee. "Damned kind," was Tone's remark. 66 Gog revolts like a fury and tells Mr. Hutton he begins to see the Catholic Bishops are all scoundrels." November the Catholic parts of Dublin were illuminated for Dumourier's victory. Singular," observed Major Hobart, "that the same event should have produced mourning in Beaconsfield and illumination in Dublin; but in proportion as Popery declines in France Mr. Burke is determined to make it flourish in Ireland." 2 Tone, Hamilton Rowan, McCormick, and the rest of the United leaders had a dinner on the same occasion. The chief talk was of " tactics of treason." Tone was surprised to see two glasses before him, and that Hamilton Rowan had four eyes. He was himself, "like the sun in the centre of the system, perfectly sober when all else were drunk;" but "when he attempted to walk across the room he was unable to move rectilineally from his having eaten a sprig of watercresses."

There needed still but a firm word from England for faction to slink into its den, but the word was not spoken, and the impression prevailed, which Dundas's ons, and massacred the prisoners. An Irish mob would have plundered, but shed no blood. Which is best? I lean to the Frenchmen - more manly. Our mob very shabby fellows. Never would have stood as the Parisians did on August 10. A sergeant's guard would drive the mob of Dublin." - Journal, September, 1792.

1 October 11.- Dumourier's victory. Huzza! If the French had been beaten it was all over with us. All safe for this campaign."

2 "Major Hobart to Evan Nepean, November 1, 1792.” — S. P. O.

private letter certainly justified, that Pitt intended to leave Irish Protestantism to its fate.1 A revolution was now openly talked of, and Tone was applied to for protection when the rebellion should break out.2 The signal was to be the meeting of the Convention, and the patriots prepared for action. Arms were privately imported. Rowan and Tandy, under cover of the lingering respect for the Volunteers, raised two battalions of a National Guard, each a thousand strong, with green uniform, harp buttons, and in the place of the crown a cap of liberty. Mr. Jackson, an ironmonger, gave them the use of his forge to cast cannon. The Whiteboys in the provinces, or Defenders, as they were now generally called, made haste in the winter nights to disarm the Protestants.4 Donegal was in the hands of a mob of incendiaries. In Meath a bold attempt was made to carry off a battery of field artillery. Under these conditions the Convention was about to assemble.

Major Hobart had brought back strict injunctions from Dundas that the elections were not to be interfered with. The gentry did not mean to part with their property without a struggle, and on their side were arming also. Three weeks before the meeting Lord Westmoreland made another effort to open Pitt's eyes, or at least to obtain from him some definite directions.

1 "I am persuaded that a steady and declared intention on the part of the British Ministry to support the Irish Government against violence will prevent mischief here; but, however strange it may appear to say so, it must be declared. - Major Hobart to Evan Nepean, November 1."

2 Tone says that Plunket asked him for Carton, when the land should be redistributed. He replied that Plunket could not have Carton, because the Duke of Leinster was his friend, but that he might have Curraghmore. 8 "Westmoreland to Dundas, December 5." S. P. O.

4 In Louth alone, in this year, a hundred and eighty houses of Protestants were entered and plundered of arms.

"However opposed to these measures," he wrote, "the threats of the democratic leaders have forced the clergy into coöperation and the gentry into acquiescence. The elective franchise is accepted by them all. They mean to press it as a prelude to the abolition of all distinctions. The attainment of the franchise they consider decisive of their future power in the State. They have coalesced with the United Irishmen and with every turbulent spirit in the country. . . . . The Committee already exercise the functions of Government, levy contributions, issue orders for the preservation of the peace-a circumstance perhaps more dangerous than if they could direct the breach of it. Their mandates are taken by the lower class of people as laws. Their communications are rapid, and are carried on, not by the post, but by secret channels and agents. The lower Catholics connect the franchise with the non-payment of rents, tithe, and taxes.

"As universal as is the Catholic demand for it so is the determination of the Protestants to resist the claim. There is no risk they will not run rather than submit to it! In Down a thousand Protestants are in arms, but to preserve the peace, and their object is to keep the Catholics down. They are arming in Monaghan on the same principle, and Volunteering will become general if Government will not act. I have consulted the Chancellor and the other confidential friends of Government. All are unanimous not to yield anything at present, and all agree that the British Government must speak out plainly, to quiet the suspicions of the Protestants. I asked if they were prepared for the consequences of their language, and what means they could employ for resist

ance. On this head I found in no one the smallest apprehension, provided Government spoke with firmness. They apprehend no immediate convulsion, nor any convulsion, if Great Britian is firm.

"If the hour is not come it may not be distant when you must decide whether you will incline to the Protestants or the Catholics; and if such necessity should arise it cannot be doubted for a moment you must take part with the Protestants. If the Protestants, after being forced into submission, should, contrary to their expectations, find themselves secure of their possessions without British protection, they will run into the present State-making mania abroad in the world. You must expect resentment from the Protestants, and gratitude from the Catholics is not to be relied on. Concession of the franchise will make no difference in the conduct of the Catholics, nor will the question come before you in that shape. The question will be, whether England will permit the existing Government to be forced in Ireland. Suppose the Ministry to propose a relaxation of the Popery laws, and be defeated in Parliament. If the Catholics resort to violence the force of the empire must necessarily be exerted in support of Parliament." 1

The reply of the Cabinet to this important letter was to inform Westmoreland curtly that "England required all the force she possessed at home to protect herself from her foreign and domestic enemies." "He must therefore act on his own responsibility." The "comfortless communication " was unattended with so much as a hint of what the Ministers really de

1 "The Earl of Westmoreland to Dundas, November 17, 1792. Secret." -S. P. O.

sired, or why "the Viceroy was left so completely independent." To leave him thus, however, was perhaps better than to have hampered him with ambiguous utterances. Flung on his own resources, Lord Westmoreland turned to the Chancellor, who knew better than Pitt what Dublin sedition was made of. The danger was for the Convention to meet, and to find an armed force at its disposition. The National Guard was rapidly organizing; other battalions were expected from Belfast, and notice had been given of a review which was to be held on the 9th of December.1 Fitzgibbon issued a proclamation against unauthorized bodies assembling in arms. The National Guards would meet at their peril. It was an anxious moment. Rowan, Keogh, and Tandy roared their loudest; hired bands of vagabonds roamed about the streets at night, crying "Liberty, Equality, and no King! "What they are to attempt," Major Hobart wrote to the Ministers on the 5th, "when the Marseillais arrive from Belfast, a short time must develop. You have more at stake in Ireland than you are aware of. You think it is a mere question between Catholic and Protestant. I wish it was. It is of deeper concern to us all, and goes to the complete overturning of the Constitution."

The result proved how well Fitzgibbon knew his countrymen. When the day came for the force to show itself which was to overthrow the Constitution, there appeared on the parade-ground Napper Tandy, Hamilton Rowan, and Carey, the printer. These three were present in their green uniforms, their buttons, and their cap of liberty, and no more.

1 Belfast was going fast and far. There, too, there was an illumination for Valmy. One of the transparencies was a gallows, with an inverted crown, and the words, "May the fate of all tyrants be that of Capet."