* * * * *
Europe at the close of the Eighteenth Century was a
turmoil of conflicting ideas and battling ideologies. With the American
Revolution opening the question of modern popular sovereignty, and the French
Revolution establishing the overthrow of the Ancien Régime, the
precedent was set for popular rebellions against traditional, aristocratic
societies. This newfound shift towards revolutionary action was soon taken up
by one of Europe's most oppressed nations,
Ireland. For centuries, the Catholic majority of Ireland had been
systematically ostracized and exploited by a Protestant minority supported by
the English Crown. Yet, this Irish Question was not always the most important
issue facing Ireland.
While exacerbated by religious differences,
the English suppression of Ireland was not fully rooted in faith-based
sectarianism; many Irish Protestants also felt the intense need to throw off
their English overlords. The resentment towards English rule, coupled with the
revolutionary principles of the era, led to the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
However, this rebellion was not a spontaneous, chaotic rise. Instead, it was
underpinned by intense, international diplomacy, namely towards France. One Irishman,
Theobald Wolfe Tone, served as an ambassador to Paris, working tirelessly to
gain French martial support in the years preceding the rebellion. For Tone, religious
divides were unimportant. As a Protestant leading a country of Catholics, only
separation from England mattered. This was his Irish Question: how best to attain Irish
independence. Despite the failed nature of the eventual uprising, Tone's vital diplomatic
work must not be underestimated; it aimed at securing French military forces,
an international recognition of the sovereignty of Ireland, and in part, helped
spur and unify a population towards rebellion.
The earlier life of Tone, the eldest
son of a Dublin coach maker, was fraught with political activism in Ireland,
notoriety among the English, and eventual exile to America (Tone 21, 35-40). The
purpose of this paper, however, will focus on his time in preparation for the
Irish Rebellion of 1798.
Tone traveled from America and arrived
in Paris in the winter of 1796. He immediately began petitioning the French
Directory, the revolutionary government, for assistance in gaining Irish
independence. He was met favorably. Tone writes in his diary that "Madgett
[a longstanding Irish representative to Revolutionary France] assures me again
that the government here has their attention turned most seriously to Irish
affairs; that they feel that unless they can separate Ireland and England, the
latter is invulnerable" (Tone 41). With favorable listeners, Tone set about
grafting Ireland to the principles of the Tricolore.
Tone understood the strategic power
of Ireland's geographic and ideological positions. By controlling or aligning
with a free Ireland, France would be able to undermine English antagonism; the
possibility of an invasion of England by way of Ireland would be too dangerous
to ignore. "Differences and antipathies between
France and England in character, customs, forms of government, and commercial
relations were set forth as reasons for an attack by the French. The best way
to deliver this attack and to check the power and riches of England was to
detach Ireland from the British Empire" (Come 181). In order to secure
this detachment, Tone required a military intervention from France; he did not trust
the ability of poorly trained Irish rebels to succeed on their own. As history
would eventually show, his fears were correct. An Irish rebellion, unsupported
by significant numbers of French troops, could not succeed.
But, in 1796, hopes were high. With a level of French
sympathy to the Irish cause, Tone set about convincing the Directory of the
necessity and soundness of his strategies. In this, the Irishman turned to
Lazare Carnot, a powerful French politician and one of the five Directors.
Carnot was one of the most powerful men in France, had organized the draft that
saved the French Republic, and had survived the backlash after the Terror
despite being on the Committee for Public Safety; this politician was one to
respect and fear. Tone was understandably intimidated. "What shall I say
to Carnot? Well, 'whatsoever the Lord putteth into my mouth, that surely shall
I utter'" (Tone 142). Knowing the importance of his mission and the vital
need for French assistance, he "plucked up a spirit . . . and mounted the
stairs like a lion" (Tone 142). The following interview would pave the way
for French support.
The two politicians greeted each other amiably and
proceeded to discuss the merits of a proposed invasion. Tone discussed the
overwhelming Catholic support for independence, as well the fallibility of the
English military. "With unwarranted optimism Tone asserted that two-thirds
of the British army . . .were Irishmen who would offer no resistance to a
French invasion. Whatever the merits of all of Tone's arguments, it was a case of
a fast-talking Irishman convincing a group of keen-minded Frenchmen" (Come
181). In the end, the French government decided to support the rebellion;
French troops would sail to Ireland.
After nearly a year of negotiations and discussions to
settle upon logistics, a French force set sail for Ireland in December of 1796.
In composition, it was led by French General Lazare Hoche, a veteran of great
skill, as well as fifteen thousand troops (Jackson
15). The troops carried additional supplies, such as muskets, to be distributed
to the Irish rebels. These ancillary revolutionaries would then support a
French advance across the island, sweeping up the British garrisons in their
wake. Together, the French and the Irishmen would free the country from English
tyranny.
Theobald Wolfe Tone had accomplished
his diplomatic aims. He had united the two nations, aligning to defeat a common
enemy and achieve liberation for his homeland. "Huzza! Vive la Republique! I am a pretty fellow to . . . pull down a monarchy and
establish a republic; to break a connection of 600 years standing, and contract
a fresh alliance with another country" (Tone 147). The ambassador eagerly
boarded a ship, and the force loosed her anchors to enact Tone's plans.
Sadly, the strategy's execution
would not be fulfilled. Hoche, Tone, and the French liberators sailed
"only to be dispersed by Atlantic gales rather than the Royal Navy"
(Jackson 15). As they approached Bantry Bay, high winds and rough waves
attacked the vessels. Hoche's ship had become separated from the expedition.
His subordinates could not come to a consensus about attempting a landing; they
decided to err on the side of caution and not attempt one at all. The entire
expedition was forced to turn around without landing a single troop. In rage,
Tone lamented that "England has not
had such an escape since the Spanish armada" (Tone 231). There would never
again be an opportune time for an invasion by significant numbers of French
troops.
Very small parties of Frenchmen
would eventually land and aid the rebellion in 1798. But Tone, and all of his
contemporaries, would never live to see an independent Ireland. Instead, only
sadness waited for the Irish rebels. Without French aid, the British garrisons
destroyed the Irish troops in battle after battle. Heinous atrocities were
committed against the Irish population and captured rebels. As for Theobald
Wolfe Tone, fate would also not be kind. "The capture and suicide of Tone
came as a quiet coda to a rebellion that was already all but crushed"
(Jackson 20). The diplomat was taken when a French ship, the Hoche,
was seized by the Royal Navy. He was tried and found guilty of treason against
the state and sentenced to hang. In protest of the government's refusal to give
him a military execution by firing squad, he slit his wrists, taking his own
life and preserving his own honor.
Yet, whatever his end, Tone's work
must not be forgotten. In a country rife with religious sectarianism, Tone
refused to advocate division. In regards to the Irish Question, Tone strove for
unification; a Protestant Irishman wanted freedom for his country from an oppressor of
his own faith. Religious divides did not matter in the face of independence. To
unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past
dissensions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the
denominations of Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter -- these were my
means" (Tone 62). Tone understood that Ireland could not meet her full
potential as a religiously divided state. She could never rise to greatness
unless she threw off a foreign government that propagated religious divides and
tensions.
While he never fully achieved his
ends, Tone's powerful work towards Irish unification, towards Irish
independence, should be remembered and lauded when examining the Irish
Question. Acting in an era of radical, governmental shifts and religious
divides, Tone sought to unify all members of his country in a struggle against a foreign
power. Tone attempted to settle his own Irish Question -- one of Irish
independence -- by securing French military aid, an international recognition
of the sovereignty of Ireland, and unifying Ireland in the bid for freedom. For
this, the Tricolore Irishman must never be forgotten.
Bibliography
Come, Donald R.. "French Threats to British Shores,
1793-1798." Military Affairs,
Vol 16.4 (1952): 174-188. Print.
Jackson, Alvin. Ireland
1798-1998: Politics and War. Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing, 1999. Print.
Tone, Theobald Wolfe. The
Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone. Ed. William
Theobald Wolfe Tone. London: Whittaker, Treacher, and Arnot, 1831. Print.
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