such novices were they then in military matters, that they were, with the loss of about an hundred of their party, repulsed by the fire of only thirtyfive soldiers, on whose side the brave Major Vallotton fell, by the stroke of a scythe-blade fixed in the end of a pole.

Some of the Romish gentry are said to have regretted that their party had let slip such an opportunity as might not again occur, of striking home, by a general insurrection, at an earlier time, when government was less prepared for the attack. In 1795, however, under the lord lieutenancy of Earl Fitzwilliam, the successor of Lord Westmoreland, an ample field was expanded to their hopes; and in obedience to a mandate of the permament committee petitions, on a model prescribed, were addressed to parliament by the whole body of that persuasion, demanding a completion of what they termed catholic emancipation. This nobleman, being one "of the disciples of Edmund Burke, was a warm friend to the Romanists, and a bitter enemy to the French republicans, who had renounced their communion, and yet on whom, notwithstanding, the Romanists of Ireland depended in great measure for the exaltation of their church by their assistance in a revolution; but before he could gratify the wishes of his favourites, the Earl was recalled, and the Earl of Camden sent as lord lieutenant in his place. Their discontents

in consequence of this disappointment were con siderably augmented: speeches and resolutions of a seditious nature were published by the authority of the committee, by whose invitation an assembly of Romanists was convened at a chapel in Dublin, and disturbances increased in several parts of the country.

The United society in this ferment was not idle. After unremitted exertions to engage in the promotion of their design men of activity and literary talents throughout the kingdom, and also to tincture the minds of their countrymen with republican ideas, by the dissemination of Payne's Rights of Man, and other democratic publications, this knot of reforming politicians assumed in the same year, 1795, with little disguise, a revolutionary cast. The original declaration offered for signature to each man on his admission into the society was this: "I, ** in "the presence of God, do pledge myself to my "country, that I will use all my abilities and in"fluence in the attainment of an impartial and "adequate representation of the Irish nation in "parliament; and, as a means of absolute and "immediate necessity in the establishment of "this chief good of Ireland, I will endeavour "as much as lies in my ability to forward a "brotherhood of affection, an identity of in

terests, a communion of rights, and a union of power, among Irishmen of all religious per

"suasions, without which every reform in parliament, must be partial, not national: inade

quate to the wants, delusive to the wishes, "and insufficient for the freedom and happiness "of this country."

But now the mention of parliament was omitted in the new test, or oath of admission, which was expressed in these words: "In the awful

presence of God, I, **, do vuluntarily declare, "that I will persevere in endeavouring to form a brotherhood of affection among Irishmen "of every religious persuasion; and that I will " also persevere in my endeavours to obtain an equal, full, and adequate representation of all "the people of Ireland. I do further declare, "that neither hopes, fears, rewards, or punish"ments, shall ever induce me, directly or indi

rectly, to inform on or give evidence against 26 any member or members of this or similar so"cieties, for any act or expression of theirs, "done or made collectively or individually, in

66

or out of this society, in pursuance of the "spirit of this obligation."*

That not merely a reform of parliament, however, but a total overthrow of the existing system of government, and the erection of the Irish nation into an independent republic, unconnected with Britain, was from the beginning an object

Appendix to the report, &c. No. 24..

C

with some of the original framers of the society, we have reason to suppose, particularly from their own declarations and correspondence.

In their original declaration are the following" words:" In the present great ærea of reform, "when unjust governments are falling in every "quarter of Europe; when religious persecution "is compelled to abjure her tyranny over con"science; when the rights of men are ascertained "in theory, and that theory substantiated by

practice; when antiquity can no longer de"fend absurd and oppressive forms against the << common sense and common interests of man"kind; when all government is acknowledged

to originate from the people, and to be so far "only obligatory, as it protects their rights and promotes their welfare, we think it our duty, as Irishmen, to come forward and state what

we

feel to be our heavy grievance, and what we know to be its effectual remedy.

"We have no national government. We are "ruled by Englishmen, and the servants of "Englishmen, whose object is the interest of "another country; whose instrument is cor

ruption; whose strength is the weakness of "Ireland; and, these men have the whole of the

་

power and patronage of the country, as means "to seduce and subdue the honesty and the spirit of her representatives in the legislature. Such an extrinsic power, acting with uniform

force in a direction too frequently opposite to the true line of our obvious interests, can be "resisted with effect solely by unanimity, deci"sion, and spirit in the people-qualities which

may be exerted most legally, constitutionally, "and efficaciously, by that great measure essen"tial to the prosperity and freedom of Irelandan equal representation of all the people in (6 parliament.

That the reform here professed was rather an ostensible than real object, exhibited for the purpose of uniting reformers with revolutionists,. appears from a letter, addressed on the occasion to his friends in Belfast, by Theobald Wolfe Tone, a lawyer of uncommonly high talents and industry, and one of the original framers of the institution, of which letter the following is an extract. "The foregoing contain my true and "sincere opinion of the state of this country, so "far as in the present juncture it may be ad"visable to publish it. They certainly fall "short of the truth, but truth itself must some

times condescend to temporise: my unalter"able opinion is, that the bane of Irish pros"perity is in the influence of England: I be"lieve that influence will ever be extended "while the connexion between the two coun"tries continues; nevertheless, as I know that

Appendix to the report, &c. No. 2.