Soul on Fire: A Life of Thomas RussellThomas Russell, the United Irishman and close friend of Wolfe Tone, had an eventful and varied life. He fought in India as an armed officer, was a journalist with the radical Northern Star, librarian with the Linen Hall Library, and one of the most important radical political activists of the 1790s. Russell played a key role in the founding of the United Irishmen, and in transforming the constitutional society into a revolutionary conspiracy. He is also accepted as the most socially radical of all the United Irish leaders, and was a fervent opponent of the slave trade and industrial exploitation. He was seen by the government as perhaps the most dangerous of the United Irishmen, and as a result he spent six years in prison without a trial. He emerged from prison in 1802 still intent on revolt, and is unique in being the only founder of the United Irishmen to participate in the society's last stand - the Emmet revolt of 1803. To assist Emmet's efforts in Dublin, he attempted to raise Ulster, but failed and was hanged in Downpatrick. There was, however, much more to his life than politics. He participated fully in the intellectual ferment of the late eighteenth century, and had wide-ranging interests in philosophy, politics, science, literature and Gaelic culture. On a personal level, he was a fascinating man, his dark striking looks and engaging personality winning him the admiration of both men and women. Yet he was an enigmatic and tortured soul, his heavy drinking and sexual promiscuity sitting uneasily with his deeply-held Christian beliefs. Born a Protestant, he was a deeply religious man, sympathetic to all forms of Christianity, and his religious views, most notably his belief in the advent of a Christian utopia or millennium, offer the key to understanding his life. |
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... Place of Thomas Russell ' strung : the United Irishmen and the rise of Irish literary nationalism ( New York , 1994 ) T. W. Moody , R. B. McDowell and C. J. Woods ( eds ) , The writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone 1973-98 : volume I : Tone's ...
... Place of Thomas Russell ' strung : the United Irishmen and the rise of Irish literary nationalism ( New York , 1994 ) T. W. Moody , R. B. McDowell and C. J. Woods ( eds ) , The writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone 1973-98 : volume I : Tone's ...
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... place . In a speech delivered to the Irish parliament on 7 June 1800 he opposed the government's plans for union on the grounds that , by obliterating a country whose independence ' is written in the immutable records of heaven ' , they ...
... place . In a speech delivered to the Irish parliament on 7 June 1800 he opposed the government's plans for union on the grounds that , by obliterating a country whose independence ' is written in the immutable records of heaven ' , they ...
Page 304
... place of execution , Russell uttered the words ' is this the place ? 10 Even on the admission of the authorities , he went to his death with courage and serenity , and readily forgave those who were about to hang him . Attended with ...
... place of execution , Russell uttered the words ' is this the place ? 10 Even on the admission of the authorities , he went to his death with courage and serenity , and readily forgave those who were about to hang him . Attended with ...
Common terms and phrases
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