covertly or openly, to effect a separation between the countries. But, at the period of the establishment of the Society of United Irishmen, he was nearly alone in these opinions; and it is worthy of remark, that long after the institution of the United Irishmen, he, who was one of its most active founders, continued in the confidence and service of the Catholics. They were not republicans, their principles were monarchical, and it was not until loyalty refused and repelled them, that they unwillingly, and never effectively, joined the republican party. Had Tone made his opinions public, the timid and the servile amongst that party would have shunned him, they would have withdrawn their confidence from him, and avoided his dangerous talents. But he continued one of their most coufidential agents, and warmest partizans to the very last, and until the pressure of circumstances had made their views identical with his own. The letter which the Report would seem to represent as a public document, was a private communication. Its contents could not bind the society, and it is clear they did not-for the principles which he announces to be his, were not adopted by them till a much later period. With regard to the prospectus, it has all the appearance of a vulgar artifice, an invention containing what the committee might wish to find in the original constitution of the society, but certainly not containing the open and avowed doctrines on which it acted up to the dispersion by force of the Dublin branch of the Union, in May, 1794. If it be not an invention, yet no more than Tone's letter could it bind the United Irishmen. It was not adopted at their meetings; it formed no part of their constitution; it lays down propositions which were far in advance of the acknowledged principles of the first society. Neither does the plan of reform mentioned in the Report of the Secret Committee, and proposed to the Union, contain any republicanism, nor manifest any desire of effecting a separation from England. Its doctrines have since been recognized as fundamental doctrines of radical reform-have been discussed in the English House of Commons—and, judging from the progressing strength of popular opinion, are likely to become, at no very distant period, as much a portion of our constitution as the other obnoxious measures proposed by the original Society of United Irishmen."

Such is the passage in which Mr. M.Nevin charges the Report of the Secret Committee of 1797 with misrepresentation, and indeed " direct

falsehood;" and such the arguments on which he rests the charge for proof. If he persist in his accusation after a re-perusal of the passage we have cited from his work, he must very much misunderstand the statement which he arraigns as a falsehood, or very unduly estimate the power of his argument. He himself distinguishes between the views of United Irishmen in general, and those entertained by leaders in their society; in distinguishing the "acknowledged principles of the first Society," he seeins to intimate that the Society entertained principles which were not acknowledged-and in stating that, "at the period of the establishment of the United Irishmen, Tone was nearly alone in his opinions," (namely, that a separation from England, and a republic in Ireland were desirable,) he makes it matter of obvious and necessary inference that he was not quite alone, but had one or more participators in his treasonable views or purposes. Is not this the natural drift and meaning of the passage which Mr. M'Nevin stigmatizes "direct falsehood." The Report of the Secret Committee does not say that the United Irish Society acknowledged principles of disloyalty, or avowed purposes of treason; it does not say that they declared an intention of severing the connection between their country and Great Britain, and erecting an independent government in Ireland; it does not say that the members of the Union, generally, even entertained, much less avowed, such a design; but it says, that there were leaders among the United Irishmen who looked forward to extreme results, which they did not divulge to their subordinates, but to the attainment of which, they endeavoured to make them, whether consciously, or unconsciously, effective instruments. This is the amount of the statement which Mr. M'Nevin calls a "direct falsehood," when made by the Committee of Secresy and which, while seeming to disprove it, he himself reiterates and confirms.

as

But the defence which may be thus made for the parliamentary report is not its only, nor would it be, we admit, a sufficient defence. The question at issue between the Irish government at the close of the last century, and the parties whom they prosecuted for trea

son or sedition, is of too grave moment to admit of being decided on imperfect or secondary evidence. Either the leaders of the United Irish Society entertained, from the first, the purposes imputed to them in the parliamentary report, and thus justified the strong measures adopted by government; or else, their views having been, originally, constitutional and safe, the government should be held accountable for having driven them into treason by its uncalled for severities. This is the question to be determined-a question too solemn to admit of cavil or indirectness in its decision. The case of the government, especially, must be proved by evidence altogether beyond attaint. We shall take this case as Mr. M'Nevin has represented it, and the very passage, which he selects from a long report, to be condemned and branded as falsehood, is that on which we shall call for judg

ment.

In proof of the allegation, that "the purpose of those who were at the head of the institution (of United Irishmen) was to separate Ireland from Great Britain," &c., the Parliamentary Committee referred to three pieces of documentary evidence the letter of Wolfe Tone-a prospectus which appeared in the year 1791-the plan of reform recommended to the people. The reader has seen Mr. M.Nevin's opinion of these testimonies; he may now be not indisposed to see something of the testimonies themselves.

First, for the Prospectus :

It

"The date of this memoir," writes Alexander Knox, "seems to be nearly the same with that of Tone's letter, appeared in Dublin, in the month of June, 1791, was closely printed on a quarto sheet, (of which it occupied nearly three pages and a half) and was handed about in the form of a circalar letter, with indefatigable assiduity. Its peculiar style, marked throughout with that turbulent and gloomy rhetoric, which had distinguished the well-known Helot's letters, made it scarcely possible to doubt, that the same hand which had formerly been busy in stimulating the Ulster volunteers, was now employed to diffuse through the kingdom, at large, a better concocted, and far more deadly poison."

Some paragraps of the paper thus described are worthy of being cited.

"IDEM SENTIRE, DICERE, agere.

"It is proposed that at this conjuncture, a society shall be instituted in this city, having much of the secrecy, and somewhat of the ceremonial attached to Free Masonry, with so much secrecy as may communicate curiosity, uncertainty, and expectation to the minds of surroundir men; with so much impressive and affecting ceremony in all its internal economy, as, without impeding real business, may strike the soul through the senses, and addressing the whole man, may animate his philosophy by the energy of his passions.

"SECRESY IS EXPEDIENT AND NECESSARY; it will make the bond of union more cohesive, and the spirit of this union more ardent and more condensed; it will envelope this dense flame with a cloud of gloomy ambiguity, that will not only facilitate its own agency, but will, at the same time, confound and terrify its enemies by their ignorance of the design, the extent, the direction, or the consequences. It will throw a veil over those individuals whose professional prudence might make them wish to be concealed, until a manifestation of themselves became absolutely necessary. And lastly, secresy is necessary, because it is by no means certain that a country so great a stranger to itself as Ireland, where the north and the south, and the east and the west meet to wonder at each other, is yet prepared for the adoption of one political faith, while there may be individuals from each of these quarters ready to adopt such a profession, and to propagate it with their best abilities-when necessary with their blood."

The brotherhood thus contemplated, to which a secresy so very suspicious was to be ensured, was to form, in the first instance, a transcript or digest of the doctrine which it was ultimately to reduce into practice; and certain questions were proposed upon which the brethren were to meditate and to pronounce. Among these themes for deliberation, there were a few which we feel ought to be placed before the reader.

"Can the renovation in the constitution, which we all deem necessary, be

accomplished by the ways of the constitution? The evil,' says Junius, 'lies too deep to be cured by any remedy less than some great convulsion, which may bring back the constitution to its original principles, or utterly destroy it.' Is this opinion still true when applied to this country, or is it false?"

"Can the right of changing the constitution rest any where but in the original constitutive power — the people?"

"Is the independence of Ireland nominal or real, a barren right, or a fact regulative of national conduct, or influencing national character ""

"Is there any middle state between the extremes of union with Britain, and separation, in which the rights of the people can be fully established, and rest in security ?"

"What is the form of government that will secure to us our rights with the least expense and the greatest benefit ?"

"By the BROTHERHOOD," the prospectus continues, "are these questions, and such as these, to be determined. On this determination are they to form the chart of their constitution, which with honour and good faith they are to subscribe, and which is to regulate their course. Let the society at large meet four times in the year, and acting committee once a month, to which ail members shall be invited. Let these meetings be convivial, but not the transitory patriotism of deep potation-confidential, the heart open, and the door lockedconversational, not a debating society. There is too much haranguing in this country already; a very great redundaney of sound," &c.

"The external business of this society will be, 1st, publication, to propagate their principles, and effectuate their ends. All papers for this purpose to be sanctioned by the committee, and published with no other designation of character than ONE OF THE BROTHERHOOD. 2ndly, communication with the different towns to be assiduously kept up, and every exertion used to accomplish a national convention of the people of Ireland, who may profit by past errors, and by many unexpected circumstances which have happened since the last meeting. 3rdly, communication with similar societies abroad, as the Jacobin Club in Paris, the Revolution Society in England, the Committee for Reform in Scotland. Let the nations go abreast. Let the interchange of sentiment among mankind concerning the rights of man, be as immediate as possible. A correspondence with distinguished men in Britain or on the Continent, will be necessary to enVOL. XXV.-No. 145.

lighten us, and ought to be cherished. Eulogies on such men as have deserved well of their country until death, should be from time to time delivered by one of the brotherhood; their works should live in a library to be formed by this society, and dedicated to liberty, and the portraits of such men should adorn it," &c.

"What is the time most applicable for the establishment of this institution? Even Now. Le grand art est dans l' apropos. Why is a demonstration so imperious? Because the nation does not act. The Whig Club is not a transfusion from the people. We do not thoroughly understand that club, and they do not feel for us."

"On the 14th of July, the day which shall ever commemorate the French Revolution, let this society pour out their first libation to European liberty, eventually the liberty of the world; and with their hands joined in each other, and their eyes raised to heaven, in His presence who breathed into them an ever-living soul, let them swear to maintain the rights and prerogatives of their nature as men, and the right and prerogative of Ireland as an independent kingdom." &c.

The prospectus from which these extracts are given, was, we believe, circulated unsold throughout Dublin, and in all directions where it was likely to be well received; while a studious concealment of the source from which it emanated, heightened its effect, by imparting to it an air of mystery. It is given without curtailment in Taaffe's History of Ireland, and with only the following brief introduction:

"The political world was in motion. The Whigs of the capital prepared to circulate the Rights of Man;' the newspapers devoted their columns to it; and the following design of a political society was circulated in Dublin."

The character of this dangerous paper has been written by Alexander Knox-a man to whom we believe a suspicion of party virulence never attached itself. We shall cite his concluding observations, written June 1st, 1797 :

"The reader is now in possession of what may be fairly considered as the United Irishmen's own development of their original design. And let it be observed, that it is a development made, not in the ferment of irritated zeal, but

C

at the moment when it might be supposed their passions would be calmest, and their reason least mislead. Other similar designs have at first been but rudely conceived, and have owed their after maturity to experience, and not seldom to accident; but this Minerva of the United Irishmen seems to have come forth at once from the head that gendered it, complete in every limb and lineament. The melancholy evils which have taken place of late imply no advance in the theory-they are no more than that theory reduced to practice. By comparing both, every man may judge for himself whether all the enormities which we lament, and all that we can dread, were not as much contained in the past idea of this association, as a brood of living vipers, that now hiss and sting, were once contained in the bowels of the reptile which produced them.

Such is the opinion of this great and liberal man, friend as he was to the measure entitled Catholic Emancipation, respecting a document of which he had said previously, that by propositions couched in the form of ques tions, it inculcated the necessity of "separation from Great Britain, as essential to the full establishment of the national rights, and last of all, the formation of such a government, as secret, self-elected representatives of the people shall be pledged to appoint."†

The author of the prospectus thus characterised, it is, we believe, now known, was Dr. Drennan.

The prospectus was circulated in June, 1791 the following memorandum from the Journal of Wolfe Tone bears date the fourteenth of July following:

"I sent down to Belfast, resolutions suited to this day, and reduced to three heads-1st, That English influence in Ireland was the great grievance of the country. 2nd, That the most effectual way to oppose it was by a reform in parliament. 3rd, That no reform could be just or efficacious, which did not include the Catholics-which last opinion, however, in concession to prejudices, was rather insinuated than asserted."

These were resolutions framed with

a view to their being published-the real purposes of the framer of them were stated in a private letter, by which they appear to have been accompanied:

"The foregoing," says this important document,"contain my true and sincere opinion of the state of the country so far as in the present juncture it may be advisable to publish it. They certainly fall short of the truth; but truth itself must sometimes condescend to temporise. My unalterable opinion is, that the bane of Irish prosperity is in the influence of England: I believe that influence will ever be extended while the connexion between the countries continues; nevertheless, as I know that opinion is, for the present, too hardy, though a very little time may establish it universally, I have not made it a part of the resolutions, I have only proposed to set up a reformed parliament, as a barrier against that mischief which every honest man that will open his eyes must see in every instance overbears the interest of Ireland: I have not said one word that looks like a wish for separation, though I give it to you and your friends, as my most decided opinion, that such an event would be a regeneration of this country."

Thus far the coincidence between the June prospectus and its sequel in the resolutions and epistle of Tone, is sufficiently evident. Both contemplated a purpose of great magnitude not declared by either, and both agreed in recommending the means whereby this momentous object should be accomplished.

"I soon," writes Wolfe Tone in his

Autobiography,‡ "formed my theory, and on that theory I have unvaryingly acted ever since. To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country. These were my objects. 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 views."

Such were Tone's real views-views no less discernible in the gloomy eloquence of the prospectus circulated in Dublin, than in the more direct and express language of the communication addressed to Belfast.

"Sympathies of sentiment," to use a happy expression of the Rev. Robert M'Ghee, or community of design, may account for this general coincidence; there is a correspondence in detail which is perhaps still more remarkable. The two manifestoes agree in censuring the Whig Club, and in selecting the 14th of July as the day on which the society to be formed should hold its first great public meeting. Passages to this effect have been cited already from the prospectus. following are from the letter of Wolfe Tone. Of the Whig Club he writes thus:

The

it affirmed that "the real purposes of those who were at the head of the institution" were such as Tone has so

unequivocally avowed. That enterprising and unhappy man, according to Mr. M'Nevin, was "nearly alone in" his more hardy "opinions. His letter was a private communication. Its contents could not bind the society, and it is clear they did not, for the principles which he announced to be his, were not adopted by them till a much later period." This may be true, and it may confirm, rather than disprove, the judgment pronounced by the parliamentary committee. It certainly verifies the anticipations of Tone. He knew his letter did not bind, but he hoped that sentiments which were not to be immediately adopted, would, in due time, have their influence upon it.

Tone, however, had, very early, as his journal attests, partners in his extreme opinions. In his diary for Oct. 16, 1791, written during his sojourn at Belfast, he says

"Put the plump question to Digges, relative to the possibility of Ireland's existence, independent of England. His opinion decidedly for independence. England would not risk a contest, the immediate consequence of which would be the destruction of her funds," &c.

"October 19. Breakfast, Mr. Aughtrey, Digges, and Bryson. Digges took me out to ask my opinion of the United Irishmen. I told him I thought them men of spirit and decision, who seemed thoroughly in earnest. He said he thought so too. I asked him whether they any way resembled the committees of America in 1775, and afterwards. He said, precisely,' &c. &c.

"October 26. M'Tier asked what we could do against England. Sinclair hot. He and P. P. agree that the army in Ireland would be annihilated, and could not be replaced. Sinclair defies the power of England as to our trade; admits that she would check it for a time, but that, after the revolution, it would spring up with inconceivable rapidity, Ireland being unencumbered with debt."*

Thus, even on his first visit to Belfast, before he had sojourned there a month, Tone either found partisans for his anti- Anglican opinions, or else